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acts of the General Assembly as were not adopted in contravention of the National Constitution, or in derogation of its authority.

IV. That the ordinance of the Convention which assembled at Raleigh on the 20th of May last, proclaiming the secession of this Commonwealth from the Federal Union, such secession being legally impossible, is of no force or effect; and said ordinance, together with all other ordinances and acts of said Convention, or of the General Assembly, made and done in pursuance of the treasonable purposes of the conspirators against the Union, is hereby declared ab initio null and void.

V. That whereas it is desirable that this State shall be represented in the Federal Congress, and maintain her due weight in the councils of the Union, therefore the Provisional Governor be directed hereby to order special elections, in accordance with chapter sixtynine of the Revised Code, as soon as practicable and expedient, in any district or districts now unrepresented. And, in view of the prevalence of armed rebellion and disorder in many portions of this Commonwealth, the Governor is hereby directed to issue his certificates of election upon presentation of such evidence as shall satisfy him of the fact of an election.

VI. That the Governor be authorized and empowered to fill such official vacancies by temporary appointment, and to do such acts as, in the exercise of a sound discretion, he may deem expedient for the safety and good order of the State.

The Convention adjourned, subject to be reassembled upon the call of the President.

GOV. TAYLOR'S PROCLAMATION. STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. To the People of North Carolina :

Whereas, an ordinance of the Convention of North Carolina, passed on Monday, the 18th November, 1861, directs the Provisional Governor of this Commonwealth in the following | words, to wit: "Whereas, it is desirable that this State shall be represented in the Federal Congress, and maintain her due weight in the councils of the Union, therefore, the Provisional Governor be directed hereby to order special elections in accordance with chapter sixty-nine of the Revised Code, as soon as possible and expedient, in any district or districts now unrepresented;" and whereas the Revised Code of this State, chapter sixty-nine, and section fifth, provides as follows, to wit: "If, at any time, after the expiration of any Congress, and before another election, or if at any time after any election, there shall be a vacancy in the representation in Congress, the Governor shall issue a writ of election, and by proclamation shall require the voters to meet in their respective counties, at such time as may be appointed therein, and at the places established by law, then and there to vote for a representative in Congress to fill the vacancy, and the election shall be conducted in like manner as regular

elections." And it appearing that the second Congressional district is unrepresented,

Now, therefore, I, Marble Nash Taylor, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby notify and require the good and loyal people of the second Congressional district of this State, qualified to vote for members of the House of Commons of the General Assembly, to attend at the several voting places in the said district, on Thursday, the 28th day of November, 1861, and cast their ballots for a representative of the State in Congress.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed, at Hatteras, this, the eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

MARBLE NASH TAYLOR. By the Governor, ALONZO J. STOW, Private Secretary.

HATTERAS, Nov. 18, 1861.

Doc. 174.

ALBERT PIKE'S "SAFEGUARD."

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 1861.

A LETTER from A. G. Boone, Indian Agent for Upper Arkansas, has been received at the Indian Bureau, enclosing letters of safeguard issued by Albert Pike, who calls himself "Commissioner of the Confederate States" to the Indian nations and tribes west of Arkansas, in favor of a band of the Comanches. This document was obtained from the band in council. They were greatly astonished on being informed that they had made a treaty with enemies of the Government and of their Great Father at Washington, and wished the safeguard to be sent to Washington to be destroyed, or used as their Great Father might see fit.

Armed Indians are at Fort Wise in great numbers, and are anxious to make a treaty and enter in the agency at that place. They number five hundred or six hundred lodges, and, from their number and bravery, more trouble may be apprehended from them than from all other tribes, if they are not satisfied. The following is a copy of a safeguard:

LETTERS OF SAFEGUARD.

The Confederate States of America, to all their officers, civil and military, and to all other persons to whom these presents shall come:

The bearer of this is Bis-te-va-na, the principal chief of the Ya-pa-rih-ca band of the Ne-um or Comanches of the prairie, and those who accompany him are the head men of that band; all of whom have this day concluded and signed in behalf of the whole Ya-pa-rih-ca band articles of a convention of peace and friendship between that band and other bands of the Ne-um with us, and have thereby agreed to settle and live upon reserves in the country

between Red River and the Canadian, leased by us from the Choctaws and Chickasaws; and the said chief has also agreed to visit the other bands of the Ne-um, not parties to the same convention, and now on the Staked Plain and elsewhere, and persuade them also to settle upon reserves in the same country.

We have accordingly taken the said chief and the said head men and all other persons of both sexes and all ages, of the said Ya-pa-rihca band, from this day forward, under our protection, until they shall for just cause forfeit the same, and that forfeiture be declared by us; and we have therefore granted and do grant to them and to each of them these our

LETTERS OF SAFEGUARD,

for their protection, and to avail each and all of them as far as our authority and jurisdiction extends.

You are therefore hereby charged to respect these letters, and give all the said persons protection and safe-conduct; and any infraction by any of you of this safeguard, will be visited by us with all the penalties due to those who violate the public faith, and dishonor the Confederacy.

In testimony whereof, Albert Pike, Commissioner of the Confederate States to [SEAL.] all the Indian nations and tribes west of those States, doth hereunto set his hand and affix the seal of his arms.

Done and granted at the Agency of the Confederate States for the Comanches, Wichitas, and other bands of Indians near the False Washita River, in the leased country aforesaid, this twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtyALBERT PIKE,

one.

Commissioner of the Confederate States to the Indian Nations and Tribes west of Arkansas. Countersigned,

WM. QUESENBURY,

Secretary to the Commisioner.

SPEECH OF JUDGE C. P. DALY,

ON THE PRESENTATION OF FLAGS TO THE SIXTY

NINTH REGIMENT N. Y. S. V., Nov. 18, 1861. COL. NUGENT: I am requested by this lady beside me, Mrs. Chaflin, the daughter of an Irishman, and the wife of an officer in the regular army of the United States, and by the ladies associated with her, to offer to your regiment the accompanying stand of colors. In committing to your charge these two flags, I need scarcely remind you that the history of the one is pregnant with meaning in the light which it sheds upon the history of the other. This green flag, with its ancient harp, its burst of sunlight, and its motto from Ossian in the Irish tongue, recalls through the long lapse of many centuries, the period when Ireland was a nation, and conveys more eloquently than by words how her nationality was lost through the practical working of that doctrine of secession for which the rebellious States of the South have

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taken up arms. The period of Ireland's greatness was attained when the petty princes, who ruled separate parts of the country, and kept it in unceasing turmoil, were finally subdued, and the spectacle of a united people under one Government was presented in the wise and beneficent administration of that truly great monarch, the illustrious Brian Boroihme, (tremendous cheering.) It is that happy period in Ireland's history upon which her bards love to dwell, her historians dilate, and around which cluster the proudest of her historical recollections. By what means was that nationality extinguished, and when did Ireland's miseries begin? When her ambitious leaders, the Jefferson Davises of that period, overthrew the fabric of the National Government, and instituted in its stead distinct and separate sovereignties, through whose internal weakness and clashing interests Ireland was finally brought under the power of that stalwart English monarchy that has since held her in its iron grasp. Does an Irishman, therefore, ask what his duty is in this contest? Let him learn it in the history of his own country, in the story of that green flag; let him, contemplating the sorrows of his mother Erin,

"remember the days of old,

Ere her faithless sons betrayed her." What is asked of an Irishman in this crisis? He is asked to preserve that Government which Montgomery died to create, and which those Irishmen who signed the Declaration of Independence, George Taylor, James Smith, and Matthew Thornton, meant to transmit, with its manifold blessings, to every Irishman who should make this country the land of his adoption. To the Irish race it has been, in every sense, a country-a country where their native energy and stimulated industry have met with their appropriate reward; and where they have enjoyed an amount of political consequence, and exercised a degree of political influence, not found in the land of their nativity. Whatever may be the result of our experiment of self-government, the Irish race in America is as responsible for the result as any other. That it has its defects, none of us are vain enough to deny; but if, in view of what it has accomplished, any Irish adopted citizen is willing to give it up, let him go and live under the monarchy of Great Britain. (Renewed applause.) But if he still have faith in the teachings of Tone and the example of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, let him stand by that form of government here which they sacrificed their lives to obtain for Irishmen. To preserve that form of government on this continent, it must be sustained, as it has hitherto been, in the grandeur, integrity, and power of a nation, and not by a Mexican division into weak and rickety republics. (Enthusiastic cheering.) To secure that great end you are now in arms, and as a part of the military force that has come to the rescue of the Republic, you, and the organization of which you form a part, have a weighty and

of it was the noble-minded, high-spirited, and gallant officer to whom so much of its after character was due. A descendant by the female line of that illustrious Irish soldier, Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, whose name is identified with the siege of Limerick, and who fell fighting at the head of his brigade upon the bloody field of Landen, Col. Corcoran, in the spirit of his noble ancestor, received that flag with a soldier's promise, and kept that promise with a soldier's faith. It was not brought back from the field of Manassas on that day of disastrous rout and panic; but he, at least, and the little band who stood around him in its defence, went with it into captivity. (Wild huzzas from the regiment.) I need say no more when predies have honored your regiment, than to point to this Irish example of the faith and fidelity that is due by a soldier to his flag. Col. Corcoran is now within the walls of a rebel prison, one of the selected victims for revengeful Southern retaliation; but he has the satisfaction of feeling that he owes his sad, though proud preeminence to having acted as became a descendant of Sarsfield. Of this beautiful American standard, illustrative alike of the munificence of its donors, and of the skill of the hands that wrought it, I say to you, as a parting injunction, in the language of John Savage's 'Song of the Sixty-ninth":

66

"Plant that flag

On fort and crag,

ennobling responsibility. You have chosen to be known by the number of a regiment already distinguished in the beginning of this contest, the reputation of which you have assumed to maintain. But more than this, you, and the organization to which you belong, have designated yourselves by the proudest name in Irish military annals-that of the "Irish Brigade." That celebrated corps achieved its historical renown, not through the admitted bravery of its members merely, but chiefly by the perfection of its discipline, and it will be precisely in the proportion that you imitate it in this respect, that you will or will not be known hereafter. The selection of such a name only renders the contrast more glaring in the event of inefficiency and incompetency, and it were well, there-senting this splendid gift, with which these lafore, that both officers and men should remember that, if any part of the glory which the Irish Brigade achieved upon the plains of Ramillies, the heights of Fontenoy, and at the gate of Cremona, is to descend upon them, it will be not by adopting its name, but by proving hereafter, by their discipline and by their deeds, that they are worthy to bear it. (Enthusiastic plaudits.) You, too, Col. Nugent, have your own responsibility. You bear the name of that gallant Col. Nugent, who, at the head of the Irish horse at the battle of Spires, broke the compact infantry of the Prince of Hesse, and decided the fortune of the day. The Irish soldier has been distinguished by military critics for his recognition of the necessity of implicit military obedience, for the cheerfulness with which he endures the privations and hardships incident to a military life, and for his daring impetuosity in battle. Look to it that you maintain that character. Sir Charles Napier has borne the highest compliment to the merits of a disciplined Irish regiment in the account which he gives of the one led by him at the battle of Meeanee, in the war of Scinde, and which he calls "magnificent Tipperary!" With this single corps of but four hundred men and B. F. Livingston, the agent deputed by the two thousand native troops, he encountered U. S. Government to travel on the steamer and defeated twenty-eight thousand of the war- Platte Valley, was put in charge of that steamer like Beloochees. (Great cheering.) Of the at Cape Girardeau, and brought her to this decisive charge with the bayonet he glowingly port. We learn from him some interesting tells us how this thoroughly disciplined Irish particulars of the trip of the boat since she left regiment moved as on a review across a plain Cairo, Ill. When opposite Price's landing, the swept by the fire of the enemy, the men keep-boat was hailed from shore by two men, attired ing touch and step, and looking steadfastly in the faces of their foe. (Cheers.) These are examples of Irish valor, when regulated by discipline, which, if you may not rival, you can at least strive to imitate. Again, I commit these colors to your charge, and in view of the obligation imposed upon every officer and soldier by their acceptance, it may not be out of place to mention in this connection, that at the commencement of the war, I had occasion to offer, as the gift of my wife, I think, the first flag presented to a regiment departing from this city for the defence of the National Capital. Of that regiment, the old Sixty-ninth, you, sir, were the second in command, and at the head

With the people's voice of thunder."

Doc. 176.

JEFF. THOMPSON'S EXPLOIT

AT PRICE'S LANDING, MO., NOVEMBER 18, 1861. A CORRESPONDENT at St. Louis, Mo., gives the following account of this affair :—

in military overcoats, who were supposed to be Federal scouts. It turned out, however, that they were the redoubtable Jeff. Thompson and his adjutant. As soon as the boat was made fast to the bank, Jeff. raised his hand, and instantly two hundred men sprung in view from their places of concealment in the immediate vicinity, and quickly one hundred rushed on board, preceded by Jeff. himself. The leader inquired for the captain of the boat, and asked if the Platte Valley was a Government steamer. Discovering that she was not, he said he would not injure her, but if she was a Government boat, he would have sacked and burned her, but he would not interfere with private prop

erty. He then requested all the Government | Price's Landing and Cairo. This is a specimen officers to appear before him, and questioned of Jeff.'s gasconading. The Maria Denning did them as to their names, regiments, &c., and get safe to Cairo in spite of him. made prisoners of them. There were on board Captain Larrison, Lieutenant Denny, and a number of non-commissioned officers, passengers on their way to St. Louis. Jeff. talked with them a while, and concluded to let them go on giving their parole, which they did.

Mr. Livingston, not being connected with the military, gave no parole. The names, regiments, and other particulars were written down, and they were molested no further. Jeff. and his band were exceedingly elated at the success of the exploit. He said he intended to take every thing he could lay his hands on belonging to the Government. At Jeff's request, the captain of the boat had a barrel of common whiskey rolled out for the benefit of the band, who were soon enjoying themselves filling and emptying cups and glasses. Fearing that Jeff. would attempt to secure Government documents, Mr. Livingston, having important ones from Gen. Grant, &c., at once had them hidden. No sooner had he done this, than a search of rooms began for documents, which proved fruitless, as far as those in the possession of Mr. Livingston were concerned.

Jeff. saw a gentleman on board, an old acquaintance, and asked him if he remembered how they both got drunk at the railroad celebration at Atchison over a year ago? On being answered, he said that he had not been taking any thing strong since that time, but immediately afterward asked his old friend to the bar, and swallowed about three inches of whiskey. Jeff. was quite communicative, saying, among other things, that he and his men had ridden fifty-three miles in less than ten hours, starting the previous day at four o'clock. He was at Price's Landing when the gunboat came up to escort the Maria Denning, and was so close, his marksmen could have killed every man on board. He had four more cannon in the brush than those visible, and had a full regiment of Indians back of the place, and almost within hail.

The seizure of the Platte Valley took place on Tuesday between four and five o'clock. He intimated his intention of leaving, and as the boat was about leaving also, he told the captain that he would show him how easy it would have been for him to sink the boat. He fired two shots, one from a twelve and the other from a six pounder, which fell near the opposite shore.

Every man of his party was well mounted, and armed to the teeth with a pair of pistols, a knife and gun, and some had sabres; most of them were well clothed. Another thing Jeff. said was, that he was after the Maria Denning. He knew she would be guarded, and that he could not take her, but he wanted to sink her, and "by G-d" she would not get down to Cairo, as he and a squad of his men would be found behind every paw-paw bush between

When leaving, his men gave three cheers for Jeff. Davis, and three more for Jeff. Thompson. During all this, a large number of women on horseback were in the vicinity, but merely looked on. It is supposed they travel with the brigands.

The boat crossed the river, where a man was put out by the Government agent, with orders to ride to Cairo with all speed, and inform the authorities of the state of affairs. The messenger rode the distance, twenty-five miles, in two hours.

Soon after reaching Cape Girardeau, five hundred men went down the river on the Illinois. The boat had not been long at Cape Girardeau, when Capt. Wm. C. Postal and Messrs. White and Lyle were arrested by order of the provost marshal, Capt. Warner, on a suspicion of disloyalty. They were given quarters at the Johnson House.

A lady named Mrs. Brown, accompanied by a lieutenant of the Federal army, went on board the boat at Cape Girardeau. She seemed to be on terms of intimacy with Mr. White. His arrest may have been caused by the fact we learned soon after, that this lady's husband was in a rebel camp. She was overheard to say that "she was travelling around to see what she could." A search of the rooms and passengers was instituted, and Mrs. Brown was seen to burn several letters. When asked why she did so, she said they were 'kind o'" love letters, from St. Louis, etc. This was corroborated by the young lieutenant who accompanied her on board. The search was conducted by the provost marshal, and we understand he arrested Mrs. Brown, as well as the captain and clerk of the boat, and probably the lieutenant and others.

Doc. 177.

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PROCLAMATION OF GOV. HARRIS. EXECUTIVE HEAD-QUARTERS, NASHVILLE, TENN., Nov. 19, 1861. To the Officers in command of the Militia of the State of Tennessee in the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions:

THE danger of invasion upon the part of the Federal forces is imminent. This invasion threatens the quiet and security of your homes, and involves the security of your sacred rights of person and property. The warning example of Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky bids you, if you would preserve your firesides, your homes, and the sanctity of your wives and daughters, to meet the despotic invader and his minions at the threshold of your State and drive him back. Let the soil of Tennessee be preserved from his unhallowed touch, and let him know that in defence of our liberties and our altars every Tennesseean is ready to yield

up his life. General A. S. Johnston, commanding the forces of the Confederate States in this department, in view of this threatened danger, has called upon me to send to the field such force as can be armed by the State.

In obedience to which requisition, and to repel the invader, thirty thousand of the militia of this State are hereby called to the field.

Officers in command of the militia of the Second, Third and Fourth divisions, will hold their commands in readiness to receive marching orders by the 25th instant, unless in the mean time a sufficient number of volunteers shall have tendered their services to fill this requisition.

Special orders to the commanders of the military, apportioning this requisition among the different brigades of said divisions, will be immediately forwarded, accompanied with such instructions and directions as may be necessary for the movement of troops to the place of rendezvous.

In the mean time, captains will direct their companies to parade on some given day, with whatever arms they may have, and they will take all other proper and legal steps to possess the arms within the bounds of their respective districts, and immediately report to the commanding officer of their regiments the number of arms and accoutrements, as well as the strength of their companies.

Doc. 178.

ISHAM G. HARRIS.

MESSAGE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS,

NOVEMBER 19, 1861.

THE Congress of the Confederate States met at Richmond, Va., on the 18th instant. There was barely a quorum present, and no business was done. The only interesting incident of the sitting of the 19th was the reception of the Message of Jefferson Davis, which is as follows: To the Congress of the Confederate States:

The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournment, have brought us so near the close of the year that we are now able to sum up its general results. The retrospect is such as should fill the hearts of our people with gratitude to Providence for His kind interposition in their behalf. Abundant yields have rewarded the labor of the agriculturist, whilst the manufacturing industry of the Confederate States was never so prosperous as now. The necessities of the times have called into existence new branches of manufacture, and given a fresh impulse to the activity of those heretofore in operation. The means of the Confederate States for manufacturing the necessaries and comforts of life within themselves, increase as the conflict continues, and we are gradually becoming independent of the rest of the world for the supply of such military stores and munitions as are indispensable for war.

The operations of the army, soon to be partially interrupted by the approaching winter, have afforded a protection to the country, and shed a lustre upon its arms, through the trying vicissitudes of more than one arduous campaign, which entitle our brave volunteers to our praise and our gratitude.

From its commencement up to the present period, the war has been enlarging its proportions and expanding its boundaries so as to include new fields. The conflict now extends from the shores of the Chesapeake to the confines of Missouri and Arizona; yet sudden calls from the remotest points for military aid have been met with promptness enough, not only to avert disaster in the face of superior numbers, but also to roll back the tide of invasion from the border.

When the war commenced the enemy were possessed of certain strategic points and strong places within the Confederate States. They greatly exceeded us in numbers, in available resources, and in the supplies necessary for war. Military establishments had been long organized, and were complete; the navy and, for the most part, the army, once common to both, were in their possession. To meet all this we had to create not only an army in the face of war itself, but also military establishments necessary to equip and place it in the field. It ought, indeed, to be a subject of gratulation that the spirit of the volunteers and the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under Providence, to grapple successfully with these difficulties.

A succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas, Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has checked the wicked lowed lust of power brought upon our soil, and invasion which greed of gain and the unhalhas proved that numbers cease to avail when directed against a people fighting for the sacred right of self-government and the privileges of freemen. After seven months of war, the enemy have not only failed to extend their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Territories have been added to our Confederacy, while, instead of their threatened march of unchecked conquest, they have been driven, at more than one point, to assume the defensive; and, upon a fair comparison between the two belligerents as to men, military means, and financial condition, the Confederate States are relatively much stronger now than when the struggle commenced.

Since your adjournment, the people of Missouri have conducted the war, in the face of almost unparalleled difficulties, with a spirit and success alike worthy of themselves and of the great cause in which they are struggling. Since that time Kentucky, too, has become the theatre of active hostilities. The Federal forces have not only refused to acknowledge her right to be neutral, and have insisted upon making her a party to the war, but have invaded her for the purpose of attacking the Confederate

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