EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 THE 
 
 GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE 
 
 AND 
 
 (CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 COMMISSIONERS FROM VIRGINIA. 
 
 CHARLESTON : 
 
 STEAM-POWER TRESSES OF EVANS *. COGSWEJ.L, 
 No. 3 Broad and 103 East Bay Streets. 
 
 1861. 
 
EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 THE 
 
 GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 COMMISSIONERS FROM VIRGINIA. 
 
 CHARLESTON: 
 
 S T K A M - !• W i: tS P II K S S B S OF E V A X S A C O O S W B L L, 
 
 No. .3 Broad and 103 East Bay Street. 
 
 1861. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/governorsmessageOOsout 
 
THE FLOWERS COLLECTION '^K 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 No. 1. 
 [message of the governor.] 
 
 State of South Carolina, 
 Executive Depart.aient, January 28, 1861. 
 
 To the Speaker and Members 
 
 of the House of Representatives : 
 
 Gentlemen : His Excellencj', the Governor of Yircjinia, has 
 transmitted to me the enclosed Resolutions, passed In* the 
 Legislature of that illustrious Commonwealth. 
 
 It Avill be seen that their object is to induce the Lcg-islature 
 of South Carolina to send on Commissionei'S to meet Commis- 
 sioners from Virginia, and also from all the States that think 
 proper to send similar Commissioners, on the fourth of Febru- 
 ary next, in AVashington City, to ''consider, and, if practicable, 
 to agree upon some suitable adjustment" of the great issues 
 that have been made in the Confederacy. 
 
 We are disposed to treat with the most profound considera- 
 tion every proposition that may emanate from the State of 
 Virginia, and to yield to her almost everj'thing, except what 
 may involve vital principles. More than a year ago the State 
 of South Carolina, actuated by a most sincere desire to do 
 everything in her power to avert the dangers that it was mani- 
 fest then threatened the Federal Union, sent a Commissioner 
 to Virginia; and made an urgent appeal to her to step forward 
 and devise some plan upon which the States, immediately con- 
 cerned, might act together; and save their peace and their 
 rights, and yet preserve the common Constitution as a blessing 
 for all the States. It Avas then thought unnecessar}', on the 
 part of Virginia, to take an^- steps to act in concert with South 
 
Carolina. If our sister States had acted at that period, perhaps 
 something might have been done to secure new guarantees, by 
 which our peace and our chartered rights miglit have been pro- 
 tected in a common Union. As far as the Northern States are 
 concerned, they have, many of them, often violated their obli- 
 gations as States under the Federal compact; and the com- 
 promises that have been made between the two great sections 
 of the Confederacy have been wantonly set aside. We have 
 appealed in vain to their plighted faith, and to the integrity of 
 the covenant. AYe have been traduced and denounced throup-h 
 their puljDits, their press, their orators and their statesmen, as 
 unworthy of equality with them as States, and even as their 
 inferiors in a social point of view. Their people have united 
 in overwhelming majorities, at the recent elections, upon issues 
 which openly involve our peace and existence, to put into 
 power a party who entertain the deepest and most malignant 
 hostility to our institutions and to our people. This is the 
 great overt act of the people at the ballot box, from which 
 there is no appeal to any higher tribunal, under our system of 
 government. They have agTced to place at the head of the 
 army and nav}' a President, not for the protection of the rights 
 and the peace of our people, under a common inheritance; fixed 
 and transmitted by express charters from the very origin of 
 the Government ; but with open and avowed principles of deep 
 and settled hostilit}^, and with pledges made by him, at the 
 head of a powerful party, for the final extermination of insti- 
 tutions essential to our power as a people, and to the peace of 
 our society. We have been forced to resume our original 
 powers of government, and to assert our separate sovei-eignty 
 as a State, in order to seek that protection which we were com- 
 pelled to believe would not be given to us and to our people, 
 under the power of such a party and such a Chief Magistrate. 
 
 Under these circumstances, however much I might be 
 disposed to yield the most jjrofound respect to the State of 
 Virginia, and to any suggestion from her, yet it is dilhcult to 
 perceive upon what ground this State could agree to send Com- 
 missioners to Washington to meet Commissioners from the 
 Northern States as well as from the Southern States. It might 
 only result in deeper and wider difficulty and confusion. I re- 
 fer the whole matter, with great deference, to your wisdom and 
 decision, hoping in any event that the kindest and most respect- 
 ful reply may be made to Virginia. 
 
Perhaps it is not improper to state that this State has agreed, 
 through her Convention, to meet delegates from other seceding 
 States, at Montgomery, on the fourth of February-, and our 
 Convention has actuall}' appointed dek^gates to attend this 
 meeting from these States. The object of this Convention of 
 States at Montgomerj^, will be to form immediately a common 
 Government for the States that have seceded : and by efficient 
 organization to secui'e their permanent independence beyond 
 the reach of anj' contingenc}'. It would obviously be impolitic 
 for this .State to send delegates to a meeting at Washington, 
 appointed for the same day, to meet the States of the North 
 Avith a view to preserve or to re-construct the Federal Union 
 with them; wlien we have agreed first to meet our sister seced- 
 ing States, to whom we owe our deepest obligations, and feel 
 bound by ever}' tie to make no compromises with any other 
 Powers until we have first formed with tliem a separate and 
 independent Union. 
 
 f". W. PICKEXS. 
 
 Xo. 2. 
 
 [resolutions of the LEr.ISL.\TUKE.] 
 
 Resolved, unanimously, That tlio (reneral Assembly of Soutli 
 Cai'olina tenders to the Legislature of Virginia, their acknowl- 
 edgments of the ft'iendly motives which have inspired the 
 mission entrusted to the Hon. Judge Eobcrtson, her Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 .Resolved, unanimotisly, Tbat the candor which is due to the 
 long continued sympathy and respect which has subsisted be- 
 tween Virginia and South Carolina, induces this G-eneral Assem- 
 bly to declare with frankness that they do not deem it advisable 
 to initiate negotiations, when they have no desire or intention 
 to promote the ultimate object in view: that object is declared 
 in the Eesolutions of the Legislature of Virginia, to be the pro- 
 curement of amendments, or new guarantees to the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 Jiesoliu'd, unanimousli/, That the separation of the State of 
 South Carolina from the P'ederal Union is final, and slio has no 
 
6 
 
 further interest in the Constitution of the United States ; and 
 that the onl}- appropi'iate uegotiations between her and the 
 Federal Government, are as to their mutual relations as For- 
 eign States. 
 
 Resolved, unanimoushj. That this General Assembly fui'ther 
 owes it to her friendly relations with the State of Virginia, to 
 declare that the}^ have no confidence in the Federal Govern- 
 ment of the United States; that the most solemn pledges of 
 that Government have been disregarded; that, under pretence 
 of preserving property, hostile troops have been attempted to 
 be introduced into one of the fortresses of this State, concealed 
 in the hold of a vessel of commerce, with a view to subjugate 
 the people of this State; and that even since the authorities at 
 "Washington have been informed of the present mediation of 
 Virginia, a vessel of war has been sent to the South with troops 
 and munitions of war, concentrated on the soil of Virginia. 
 
 Resolved, nnanbnoushj, That under these circumstances this 
 General Assembly, with renewed assurances of their cordial 
 respect and esteem for the people of Virginia, and of high con- 
 sideration for the Commissioner whom the}" have sent, declines 
 entering into the proposed negotiations. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 [HON. JOHN ROBERTSON TO THE GOVERNOR.] 
 
 Charleston, January 2dth, 1861. 
 
 To his Excellency, 
 
 The Governor of South Carolina : 
 
 Sir : The intelligence of the sailing of the Brooklyn from 
 Hampton Eoads, received here on the 25tli instant, determined 
 me at once not to press an immediate reply to my note of that 
 date, communicating the mediatorial propositions of the Gen- 
 ei-al Assembly of Virginia. 
 
 It was arranged, between Ex-President Tyler and mj-self 
 previous to our departure from Richmond, that we would en- 
 deavor to obtain from the Government at Washington and the 
 authorities of the seceded States mutiial assurances of absti- 
 
nence from acts calculated to produce hostile collision during 
 the iDeriod designated by the General Assembh', which assur- 
 ances being interchanged, Avould be reciprocally biiuiing. 
 
 Last evening, I received a despatch from ]\Ir. T^-ler, inform- 
 ing me that the President declines to give a written pledge. I 
 do not understand that he has given or proposes to give a ver- 
 bal one. 
 
 Under these circumstances — informed, moreover, that South 
 Carolina does not consent to send Commissioners to Washing- 
 ton, as proposed by Virginia — it seems wholly unnecessary, if 
 not unreasonable, to ask from the authorities of your State 
 assurances of the character contemplated, Avhich the Govern- 
 ment at Washington on its part declines to give. At the same 
 time, though regarding my mission as tei-minated, it will afford 
 me sincere pleasure to be the bearer of any response which the 
 authorities of South Carolina may think pi'oper to make through 
 me, to the friendly interposition of the State I luive the honor 
 to represent. 
 
 Permit me, in conclusion, to express m}" grateful sense of the 
 courtes}- and kindness extended to me b}^ the authorities and 
 citizens of South Carolina during my brief sojourn among them. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 JOHN ROBEETSON. 
 
 i^o. 4. 
 
 [reply of the governor, through the state department, to 
 hon. john robertson.] 
 
 State of South Carolina, 
 Executive Office, State Department. 
 Charleston, January 20, 18G1. 
 Sir : The Governor of the State of South Carolina directs me 
 to acknowledge his reception of 3-our letter of this date, and to 
 communicate to you the great satisfaction which he has derived 
 from 3'our visit to this State. 
 
 To the General Assembly of this State, the Governor has 
 transmitted the " Preamble and Eesolutions adopted by the 
 General Assembly of Virginia, January the 19th, 18G1," with 
 
8 
 
 an accompanying Message. In the General Assembly certain 
 Eesolutions were adopted ; copies of which, with the Message 
 of the Governor, are hercAvith enclosed. 
 
 The Governor is able to inform you, that the dispatch from 
 Mr. Tyler to you, in which he communicated to you, that the 
 President refused to give the written pledge which was asked, 
 contained the renewed expression of the refusal of the Presi- 
 dent to the same pledge, proposed to him by the Senators of 
 the several seceding States. 
 
 The refusal of the President to give this pledge — a refusal, in 
 fact, to abstain from the commission of acts of hostility — was 
 not unexpected by the Governor. But it has been gratifj^ing 
 to him, that you should have become possessed of this informa- 
 tion while you were in this State j from sources which, in afford- 
 ing you that information, enabled you thoroughly to undei'- 
 stand the motives of the authorities of this State in not having 
 relied upon assurances; which, hitherto, to your honored Com- 
 monwealth, may have seemed sufficient to have justified, and 
 demanded, perhajjs, confidence in the sources by which they 
 were made. 
 
 With the evidence you now have of the purposes of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States, it is unnecessary for the Governor 
 to add to it anything, from the more than sufficient testimony, 
 which has for some time led him to the conclusion which you 
 have reached. 
 
 The Governor is well satisfied that the ancient Common- 
 wealth, whose honored envoy you are, will receive the report of 
 your mission with the spirit which has given to its name the 
 respect which it everywhere receives. 
 
 You carry with you to Virginia, from the General Assembly 
 of this State, " the assurances of their cordial resjDect and 
 esteem." In this, the Governor requests me to say he heartily 
 concurs. And with equal pleasure does he unite with the 
 General Assembly, in the expression of its " high consideration" 
 for you. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 A. G. MAGEATH. 
 
 To Hon. John Eobertson, 
 
 Commissioner from Virginia. 
 
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