ARBITRARY ARRESTS 
 
 IN THE SOUTH; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SCENES 
 
 FROM THK 
 
 EXPERIENCE OE AN ALABAMA UNIONIST. 
 
 BY 
 
 R. S. THARIN, A.M., 
 
 A NATIVE OP CHARLESTON, S. C. ; FOR THIRTY YEARS A RESI 
 DENT OP THE COTTON STATES, AND COMMONLY KNOWN 
 IN THE WEST AS " THE ALABAMA REFUGEE." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN BRADBURN, 
 
 (SUCCESSOR TO M. DOOLADY,) 
 
 49 WALKER-STREET. 
 
 1 863. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S63, 
 BY E. S. THAEIN, 
 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States 
 for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 RENNIE, SHEA & LINDSAY, 
 STKKKOTYPEHS AND EI.KCTROTYPBRS, 
 
 R. CRAIG HEAD, 
 Printer. 
 
 81, 83 & 85 Centre-street, 
 
 NEW VOBK 81,83 & 85 CSNTKK-ST. 
 
TO THE 
 
 "POOR WHITE TRASH" 
 
 OF THE SOUTH, 
 
 AND 
 
 "THE MUDSILLS" 
 
 OF THE NOKTII, 
 THIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS RESPECTFULLY 
 
 15 Y THEIR FELLOW-CITIZEX AND ADVOCATE, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 222205 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION In which the author, by irrefragable tes 
 timony, establishes his claim to the reader s confidence. 11 
 
 SCENE THE FIRST. 
 THE LAWYER S OATH 47 
 
 SCENE THE SECOND. 
 SOUTHERN RIGHTS 83 
 
 SCENE THE THIRD. 
 THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE 105 
 
 SCENE THE FOURTH. 
 THE MOB 121 
 
 SCENE THE FIFTH. 
 THE VERDICT 145 
 
 SCENE THE SIXTH. 
 IN EXILIUM 166 
 
 SCENE THE SEVENTH. 
 
 "THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING" (COTTON); or, Mont 
 gomery as Capital of the Confederate States in Feb 
 ruary ,"l861 194 
 
 LETTER from the Author to his Mother, in Charleston, 
 S. C. . ... 241 
 
PREFACE* 
 
 THE hoar has at last arrived, when the truth, long 
 trampled under the feet of frenzied rnobs, must be heard 
 in the South ; and when the conservative element of the 
 North, long lost sight of and denied, must be attended 
 to and obeyed. 
 
 The time when conservative views (Unionism) have 
 been visited with "punishment" in the South, is passing 
 away ; and the time when the same conservative pa 
 triotism was brow-beaten in the North, is also passing 
 away. 
 
 The liberty of speech, the rights of personal liberty, 
 personal security, and personal property these must 
 hereafter remain intact from the inroads of Radicalism 
 in both sections. 
 
 In this great hour of national purification, it is crim 
 inal to advocate the perpetuation of selfish feuds. Un 
 less the factious ravings of Radicalism be quelled, the 
 Union cannot be restored. Radicalism caused our 
 troubles ; conservatism alone can cure them ! 
 
 If the cotton-planters calculated on the radical course 
 Abolition has been pursuing, -denying the existence of 
 any Union feeling in the South, and forcing down the 
 throats of truer men than themselves, their own wild doc- 
 
 * Written before the Proclamation of the President, and be 
 fore the 22(1 of September, 1802. 
 1* 
 
6 MJKFACE. 
 
 trines as a test of loyalty, if, I say, the courtiers of 
 "King Cotton" based their calculations on such a course 
 in the present administration, and if they acted purposely 
 to produce that very effect, then has their rascality been 
 equaled by their skill and foresight, and we must yield 
 them our admiration as statesmen, although we must 
 execrate them as men. 
 
 Again, if the advocates of Radical Abolition com 
 pletely alienate the two sections, in order to preserve 
 the Union, then their statesmanship is worthy of the 
 contempt of all history ; and their hypocrisy will receive 
 its just reward from the hands of an indignant and long- 
 suffering citizen soldiery ! 
 
 No one denies that slavery is an evil ; 
 
 No one denies that adultery is an evil ; 
 
 But the Shakers, who advocate absolute non-inter 
 course between the sexes in order to destroy adultery, 
 are not a whit less ridiculous than those Abolitionists 
 who advocate the utter extermination, or provincial vas 
 salage, of the people of the South in order to destroy 
 slavery. They would " make a wilderness, and call it 
 peace." 
 
 The personal narrative which follows, embraces the 
 record of that Unionist who, although a Southerner by 
 birth, claims the honor of having dealt the first bloiv 
 against Secession, and who narrowly escaped to tell the 
 tale. 
 
 While lie avoids all allusion to slavery, except in 
 cidentally to his narrative, it will, nevertheless, be seen 
 that he considers himself as owing no allegiance to any 
 one institution, North or South, however "peculiar," un 
 less that institution retain its proper dimensions among 
 others. 
 
PREFACE. i 
 
 The reader is invited to the following pages, as a 
 chapter in this strange Rebellion, wherein he may learn 
 how " Southern Rights" were respected in Alabama, in 
 the person of a non-slaveholder of that State, a native 
 of South C.-ivKii.i, a graduate of the College of Charles 
 ton, S. C., and a former law-partner of William L. Yan- 
 cey, whose only offense consisted in his being true to 
 his oath to support the Union, and the Constitutions, re 
 spectively, of the United States and of Alabama. 
 
 There are some beings, who, wearing the form of man, 
 consider it the sacred duty of every one to think with 
 the crowd who happen to surround him at the time of his 
 utterances. According to this very large class, which 
 has its representatives in every age and clime, sodomy 
 was right until Sodom was destroyed. The only idea 
 they have formed of LOT, is, that public opinion now 
 sustains his course, and, therefore, they sustain it also. 
 Had they inhabited Sodom, however, in LOT S own 
 time, they would have vociferously condemned the old 
 patriarch as eccentric, and would have been as noisy as 
 the other Sodomites in the mob, which they would 
 have certainly joined, as a sacred duty to sodomy and 
 Sodom. 
 
 There is another class, who would, to-day, justify the 
 mob of Sodom, as having acted to the best of their 
 knowledge and belief. 
 
 Another class seize upon an inflamed state of public 
 opinion, to launch upon their neighbors unmitigated 
 evils, on which they fatten and grow great at the public 
 cost. 
 
 I may add still another sort of human beings, who, 
 availing themselves of a status belli, exasperate the bel 
 ligerents and the struggle itself, in order to carry a cer- 
 
8 rtJKFAOK. 
 
 tain point by its prolongation. Every new element of 
 vindictiveness and of barbarism, which is added by any 
 cause, even by the defeat in battle of their own side, 
 they hail as a promise of the success of their own fanatical 
 notions. 
 
 The first class, represented in this unhappy country 
 by the Secessionists of the South, will have neither the 
 desire nor the opportunity to listen to reason until mob- 
 ocracy shall have received a check from the outraged 
 people of the South. 
 
 The second, "of which the traitors of the States still 
 loyal are an example, have the opportunity, but not the 
 desire, to hear the truth. Because they see around them 
 much to condemn, they discover in Jeff. Davis every thing 
 to praise. They offer but an apology for treason. 
 
 The third class is to be seen in the perjured leaders of 
 the Rebellion. They seized upon an inflamed state of 
 feeling which they themselves had excited, to bring upon 
 the country a revolution, which they are to ride, they 
 hope, into power and greatness. Under the cry of 
 " Southern Rights," they openly trample upon Southern 
 Rights. 
 
 The other class the Radicals of the North seize 
 upon the belligerent state of the country as a glorious 
 opportunity for the consummation of their cherished 
 plans, and, in order to bring about the emancipation of 
 the slave, deliberately render it almost impossible to 
 save the Union, or close the war. Under the cry of 
 "the war for the Union," they fight against the Union.* 
 
 * I beg pardon, they do not fight for any thing. They 
 " stay at home in order to shape the policy of the Nation." 
 Vide Fremont s speech at Boston this month (Sept., 1862 >. 
 
 Tli us, like the Radicals of the South, who, after precipitat- 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 But there is another class of men, who, aware of the 
 existence and motives of all the others, will yet pursue 
 the even tenor of their own way, and who, before com 
 ing to a conclusion on public or private matters, will 
 weigh the arguments on both sides, and judge for them 
 selves, in accordance with the facts. 
 
 I believe this class to be scattered over the length 
 and breadth of this whole nation, both in loyal and dis 
 loyal communities, and to them I appeal for a hearing 
 and a just verdict. 
 
 To the historian if he belong to this class I am not 
 unwilling to leave the rest. 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 11, 1862. 
 
 ing their poorer neighbors into bloodshed and ruin, are exempt 
 from conscription, if owners of twenty negroes, these Radi 
 cals of the North, after having deceived hundreds of thousands 
 by the cry, now, alas ! no longer true, even in semblance, " the 
 war for the Union," exempt themselves from service in the 
 field, if stealers of one. 
 
 " Were I the Queen of France, or what s better, Pope of Rome 
 I d have no fighting men abroad nor weeping maids at 
 
 home ; 
 All the world should be at peace, and if fools must show their 
 
 might, 
 
 Why let those who made the battles, be the only ones to 
 fight." Old Song. 
 
INTKODUCTION* 
 
 IN the month of February, in the year of our 
 Lord 1861, and of American Independence the 
 85^A, there appeared in Cincinnati a homeless ref 
 ugee, whose heart was almost broken, and whose 
 sensitive soul was writhing under wrongs, which 
 his unassisted efforts had been insufficient to obvi 
 ate or resist. 
 
 The victim of that most untamable of all wild 
 beasts, an infuriated and unreasoning mob, he had 
 been exiled from his native South, because the 
 oath he had taken to support the Constitutions of 
 Alabama and of the Union, he kept with scrupu 
 lous and undisguised devotion to truth and patriot 
 ism. The Southern newspapers favorable to 
 Secession, were loud in their hired denunciations. 
 The Charleston Courier, a paper which opposed 
 Secession in 1852, denominated him a " renegade" 
 who opposed it in 1861. His offense consisted in 
 undeviating and unadulterated UNIONISM ! 
 
 O 
 
 It is to the personal narrative of that political 
 refugee, that the reader s indulgent attention is 
 respectfully invited. It will be advisable to de 
 tain the reader, in limine, in order to explain mat 
 ters necessary for the comprehension of the in- 
 
 * In sinsAVfir to the question, " "Who is IIP V" 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 terior and exterior life wliicli is recorded in the 
 ensuing pages. 
 
 My first care was to find some one who woukl 
 recognize me. I was not about to skulk through 
 the world like a whipped cur, but to appeal from 
 my persecutors to the true, the brave, and the 
 conservative all over the country. I was not 
 ashamed, but proud of the cause of my expatria 
 tion ; and I was conscious that misfortune can 
 never overcome entirely a true and loyal heart, 
 unless that misfortune be deserved. 
 
 I, therefore, consulted a Directory, proceeded to 
 the a Cincinnati Female Academy," inquired for 
 Professor Milton Sayler (since a prominent mem 
 ber of the Ohio Legislature), who had met me at 
 Richmond, Ya., in 1857, at a " Convention of the 
 Young Men s Christian Associations of the United 
 States and British Provinces." By him I was 
 immediately recognized, and introduced, by let- 
 t T, to Rev. E. G.Robinson, pastor of the 9th-street 
 Baptist Church, and, through him, to the member 
 ship generally. 
 
 It would be voluminous to mention all the good 
 people who sympathized with me. Levi Coffin, 
 a noble Quaker, afforded the exile an asylum be 
 neath his roof. Col, B. P. Baker, a young, talent 
 ed, and Christian merchant, now doing business at 
 02 Front-street, New York, showed me every 
 kindness. Judge Bellamy Storer I was happy to 
 include among my warm personal friends. He 
 indorsed a letter from me to his friend, the Presi- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 dent, asking for my appointment as commissioner 
 to Europe, to repel the misstatements of the rebel 
 commissioners, among whom, it will be remem 
 bered, was William L. Yancey, my former law- 
 partner, whose antecedent rascalities, and pro- 
 &\a,ve-trade proclivities, had come under my own 
 observation in Alabama. Judge J. B. Stallo was 
 peculiarly kind and sympathizing. Commissioner 
 Schwartz assisted me in sending for my family, 
 and did all he could to smooth my pathway among 
 strangers. 
 
 I soon began to find myself an object of public 
 interest. The newspapers formally announced 
 my presence in the city. I became a subject of 
 constant conversation and comment. I need not 
 say how unsolicited and how unpleasant were the 
 every-day attentions which were becoming fashion 
 able. The Unionists hailed my presence as a 
 proof of the wickedness of Secession. The Abo 
 litionists hailed my advent as a proof of the wick 
 edness of Slavery. I was not a little amused by 
 the persistent suggestions of the latter, who con 
 sidered me as, ex necessitate, one of their number. 
 One of the ladies who resided at " Friend Coffin s," 
 told me I ought to have received " seventy eight 
 lashes, well laid on, to make me an Abolitionist." 
 This lady, who, in other respects, is quite rational, 
 although not national, commences her surname 
 with a " C" and concludes it with an " n." Her 
 first name is Elizabeth. 
 
 A Mr. Essex, from Missouri, was also an in- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mate. He was a democrat and a gentleman, who 
 sympathized with my sufferings, and will testify 
 to these facts. 
 
 I had been able to bring to Cincinnati no docu 
 mentary proof of the correctness of my statements ; 
 and this circumstance began to operate upon the 
 minds of some who had never seen me, and whose 
 politics were never considered particularly obnox 
 ious to Jeff. Davis. Started by these, surmises 
 began to travel through the community as to my 
 loyalty, veracity, etc. 
 
 These surmises soon became rumors, which be 
 came magnified, in timid eyes, to the most ludi 
 crous proportions. Not hearing these things my 
 self, and not supposing such things possible among 
 sensible people, I was somewhat startled to see in 
 the columns of the Cincinnati Enquirer , a short 
 editorial, saying I had not told the truth in de 
 claring myself a former partner of Yancey ; that 
 I was but a law-student in his office at most, 
 as my youthful appearance would show. These 
 wonderful outgivings of those "pantalooned old 
 women" who began to look upon me as a Seces 
 sion bomb-shell about to explode in the streets of 
 Cincinnati and deprive them of their modicum of 
 brains, were suddenly brought to a close by the 
 two following extracts, one from the Maysville 
 (Ky.) Eagle, the other from the Cahawba (Ala 
 bama) Gazette. 
 
 The following, which I mention first, occurred 
 last in point of time, but I place it, in substance, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 here, in order to comment upon the other extract 
 referred to : 
 
 " R. S. Tharin, Esq., a former law-partner of William L. 
 Yancey, was mobbed at Collirene, Lowndes county, Alabama, 
 and exiled because lie opposed Secession with its own weap 
 ons secret leagues ! 
 
 " So that is the way you manage down in Dixie ! Mr. Yan- 
 cey may get up a secret league to destroy the old Union ; 
 but the moment his former law-partner, Mr. Tharin, attempts 
 to counteract his plans by a similar method of procedure, he 
 is barbarously maltreated and unconstitutionally exiled. 
 
 "Mr. Tharin is now a political refugee, who, in his own 
 person, is a monument at once of his own daring and of the 
 unsparing villainy of his persecutors." 
 
 This needs no comment ; it speaks for itself. 
 
 It will be proper to state that the Cahawba 
 Gazette is, or was, when it could get paper, pub 
 lished in Dallas county, Alabama. The Cincin 
 nati Daily Press copied from it the following : 
 
 From the Cahaicba (Ala.) GAZETTE. 
 
 " ORDERED OFF. We learn from Col. R. Rives,* Collirene, 
 Lowndes county (Alabama), that a man named Robert S. 
 Tharin, a lawyer of Wetumpka (Ala.), was taken up at Colli 
 rene last week, tried by a jury of citizens, convicted, punished, 
 and banished from that community for expressing and en 
 deavoring to propagate sentiments that were dangerous to the 
 peace of society. He had conversed with several non-sl&ve- 
 holders in the neighborhood, and proposed to them the or 
 ganization of a secret Abolition society, and said he was 
 going to establish a newspaper (at Montgomery), to be called 
 the Non-Slaveholder. The evidence against him was conclu 
 sive. The punishment inflicted was physically slight, although 
 it was degrading." 
 
 " Pronounced Recces. 
 
1C INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There are several features of this short editorial 
 which would repay criticism : 
 
 1st. ITS THOROUGH MENDACITY; that word, "Ab 
 olition," the " fruitful source of all our woe," being 
 skillfully interpolated for the basest of purposes. 
 The thing itself, as predicated, was a physical im 
 possibility. In the whole cotton region there are 
 not, and never have been (as every Southern man 
 knows), enough Abolitionists to form a " society" 
 of fifty ; nor can any one not even a sap-headed 
 editorial tool of " King Cotton" really suppose 
 that I would be now living to narrate the events 
 of my miraculous escape, had I been actually con 
 victed of that greatest offense known to the mob 
 in the Sunny South. They would have hanged 
 me without even the form of a trial. The pub 
 lication of the charge was intended to consum 
 mate my destruction, because Col. Robert Hives 
 desired to destroy my testimony (which he knew 
 he could only do by destroying my life), and thus 
 to " save his party." 
 
 2d. ITS UNBLUSHING EFFRONTERY. I " danger- 
 ous to the peace of society!" Why, look at this 
 Rebellion ! look at its assassinations,* its unparal 
 leled outrages upon American citizens upon 
 natives of the South ! look at its bloody hands, 
 which would " incarnadine the deep" in the effort 
 
 * Dr. James Slaughter, to whom was addressed the famous 
 Slaughter (scarlet) Letter by Yancey, soon after his (unau 
 thorized) publication of that " private letter," was found dead 
 in his bed, from the effects of poison ! 
 
1 N TRODUCT ION . 1 7 
 
 to wash them clean ! look at its mobs at one 
 time burning (at Montgomery, Alabama) the 
 works of the distinguished Spurgeon ; at another, 
 drunk with blood and blind with fury, sipping 
 out of the skulls of slaughtered soldiers ! Yes, 
 look at its mobs, at its pirates, at its utter destitu 
 tion of moral principle, at its Radicalism, and say 
 whether, in my attempt to restrain Alabama from 
 Secession, / was dangerous to the peace of society ! 
 
 3d. ITS INSOLENT AND SILLY CHARGES. " He (I) 
 
 had conversed with several new-slaveholders in 
 the neighborhood." " Conversation" with " non- 
 slaveholders" a crime ! I consider it a glorious 
 thing to tell the non -slaveholders of their wrongs 
 and of their rights "Southern rights!" So far 
 from conversation with non-slaveholders being a 
 crime, you will yet learn to your own cost, Mr. 
 Editor, that it is conversation (and coalition) with 
 cotton-planters and their editorial dupes, that con 
 stitutes the political crime of treason ! another 
 name for which is Radicalism. 
 
 " And proposed to them the organization of a 
 secret Abolition society !" When Robert Rives 
 inserted that word "Abolition," he thought he 
 did a politic thing. He had told me, after my 
 maltreatment, I " should not escape." He was 
 determined I should die l>y another mob, since 
 he had failed to convince the second that " death 
 Avas not too severe a punishment ;" and so he 
 thought he would slay me, and save himself by 
 this unfounded charge. 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " And said lie was going to establish (at Mont 
 gomery) a paper, to be called the Non- Slave 
 holder: " 
 
 " Angels and ministers of grace defend ns !" 
 Xo wonder the planters and the editors trembled 
 in their boots ! Indeed ! the " poor white trash" 
 have an " organ /" " Crucify him ! crucify him ! !" 
 Why, that s as much as to say that all white men 
 were born free and equal ! why, that s returning 
 to first principles with a vengeance ! why, that s 
 agrarianism ! " Crucify him !" What use is 
 there in Calhoun s wonderful and convenient dis 
 covery that the Declaration of Independence is a 
 lie and Thomas Jefferson a humbug, if this young 
 ster, Tharin, self-educated, mi-cottoned, dares to 
 think, speak, and even write for himself and his 
 fellows ? 
 
 " We are informed," commences the Gazette, 
 " by COL. ROBEKT RIVES." Arid who is COL. ROB- 
 EKT RIVES ? 
 
 Col. Robert Rives was descended from the Hu 
 guenots, of whom a portion, as refugees from the 
 barbarous decree of an intolerant Louis of France, 
 selected the banks of the Ashley, in South Car 
 olina, as the place of their exile. Unlike their 
 victim, no blood of 1776 coursed through his 
 veins ; but he was a convert to the senseless doc 
 trine of the Charleston Mercury, that " minorities 
 should rule" 
 
 Rives had been mainly instrumental in raising 
 the mob, voted against postponing the publica- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 tion of the "verdict" until the wife of his victim 
 should be out of danger, and declared that Mr. 
 Tharin should not " escape," if lie could pre 
 vent it. 
 
 In spite of the vote of the very mob which he 
 had raised, to suspend the publication of their 
 "proceedings" for four weeks, in order to save the 
 life of an unoffending Southern lady, we find the 
 same Col. Robert Rives sneaking to the office of 
 the Cahawba Gazette, a paper not mentioned in 
 the "verdict," and, weeks before the period desig 
 nated by the mob for its publication elsewhere, 
 procuring, in the very face of his promise to abide 
 by the voice of the meeting, the premature, the 
 murderous advertisement of the very thing he had 
 promised to postpone ! 
 
 Had the voice of the majority suited his " pecu 
 liar" views, Rives would have acted with them ; 
 but, being in a minority, he got rid of all diffi 
 culty on the subject by a very simple process he 
 seceded ! i 
 
 For such a miserable ignoramus to secede, when 
 his contemptible minority had ceased to rule^ was 
 perfectly natural. Thus, on an exceedingly small 
 scale, he illustrated the " principles" of that stu 
 pendous crime, which set up the despotic will of 
 a few cotton-planters, and their worse than Hel 
 vetic clienteles, against the will of the overwhelm 
 ing majority of the American people, constitu 
 tionally expressed. 
 
 There is something maddening in the influence 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of a mob on a spirit uncontrolled by love of truth. 
 All the passions of the breast, inflamed with fury, 
 then leap up, like fiends above the lava-waves of 
 hell. The eyes roll in liquid insanity ; the heart 
 glows with the fires of revenge; the venom of 
 hydrophobia is on the tongue ; and, intoxicated 
 by the presence of a concurring mob, deeds of 
 dastardly malignity become the desire and the 
 fruit, which naught save the popularity of the act 
 is quoted to extenuate. 
 
 Such a being is no longer a man ! he is lost to 
 manhood, and to all the qualities which elevate 
 man above the brute creation. Saturated with 
 the poison of his disease, he riots in images of 
 horror and of blood a Moloch in a Pandemonium 
 of cruel thoughts. 
 
 What should be the fate of such a man ? What 
 would you do to a dog, mad and foaming, which 
 rushes at the throat of your son ? 
 
 This Republic owes it to " the Alabama Ref 
 ugee," and to all her other children who have 
 suffered like him, that the murderous hands which 
 dealt the fiendish blows be no longer uplifted for 
 destruction. In other words, the National and 
 State Governments owe to Unionists, everywhere, 
 protection. 
 
 " The wicked shall fall into his own snare/ 
 The sneaking behavior of Rives produced the op 
 posite effect from what he designed : it saved me 
 much inconvenience^ if not danger, by bringing 
 before the attention of the people of Cincinnati a 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 perfect eorroboration of tlie story I myself liacl 
 told, and that from the most unexpected, and, 
 therefore, most reliable source my very enemies ! 
 The charge of Abolitionism -no sensible man be 
 lieved, except the Radicals, from whom it pro 
 tected me. 
 
 The news of the battle of Fort Sumter, 12th 
 April-, found Cincinnati wrought up to a degree 
 of excitement unparalleled in the annals of that 
 city. A spontaneous meeting of many thousands 
 collected one night in front of the steps of the 
 Post-office, and various gentlemen addressed the 
 meeting. Some one called my name. The call 
 became general universal. I rose and com 
 menced thus : 
 
 " Fellow-citizens of the United States ! I stand 
 before you the representative of the Union men 
 of the State of Alabama." 
 
 This was enough. One spontaneous burst of 
 welcome rose upon the air. Hats were waved ; 
 men grasped each other by the hand ; the vast 
 crowd rocked and shouted with an impulse which 
 showed how the heart of Cincinnati bounded with 
 delight at the reception of such intelligence. 
 
 The following letter, written by an eye-witness 
 of that scene, will convey the facts better than I 
 could, or would : 
 
 "No. 62 FRONT-STREET, NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 1862. 
 
 " DEAK SIR : Yours of late date is received, and, but for the 
 fact that I have been slightly indisposed, and a little over- 
 
22 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 worked in consequence of the absence of my partner, B. C., 
 would have had an earlier reply. 
 
 " You do right to call me your friend ; for since I heard your 
 earnest and heartfelt plea for the Union before that immense 
 audience at the Post-office at Cincinnati, which chained not 
 only me but hundreds to the spot while you were speaking-, 
 I have not ceased to believe you not only loyal and true, but 
 that you deserved something at the hands of Unionists. Your 
 taking a private soldier s place to assist in putting down the 
 Iiebellion, shows your pluck and courage. I was glad, while 
 in Washington, to say a word in your behalf, and only wish I 
 could have done more. You ask me to address a letter to the 
 President (in behalf of your appointment as Provisional Gov 
 ernor of Alabama). I regret I cannot render you service in 
 that way, as I do not feel sufficiently acquainted with Mr. Lin 
 coln ; and although I am known to some people in Washing 
 ton as a Union man, I feel a delicacy in addressing a letter to 
 Mr. Lincoln, even for my friend Tharin. 
 
 " As you are at liberty to show this letter, to that intent let 
 me here say, that I believe you to be a true Union man, a real 
 patriot, a Christian, and a man of ability and honor. 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " B. P. BAKER. 
 
 " R. S. TIIARIN, ESQ., Washington, D. C." 
 
 The following letter comes in here, as a kind of 
 post scriptum to the above : 
 
 From HON. CALEB B. SMITH, Secretary of Interior. 
 
 " DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
 
 " Washington, Aug. 25, 1862. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I am in receipt of your letter of 18th instant, 
 in reference to your appointment as provisional governor of the 
 State of Alabama. 
 
 " This is a matter, of course, with which my department has 
 no official connection, and I can only aid you so far as my rec 
 ommendation mav do so. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 " I have placed your letter before the President with my 
 recommendation in favor of your appointment, and shall be 
 gratified to learn that your application is successful. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Very respectfully, 
 "CALEB B. SMITH, 
 
 " Secretary. 
 " R. S. THARIX, Esq.". 
 
 I have other recommendations for the same 
 place from other sources; but will not insert them 
 here. 
 
 I will here state, however, that this application 
 was made while Mr. Lincoln was the unstultified 
 author of the Greeley letter. 
 
 From the Sunny South I had brought nothing: 
 with me. About three months after my expatri 
 ation, however, my wife and two children arrived 
 in Cincinnati. She brought my letter-book, con 
 taining, among others, the following letter, in the 
 autograph of Yancey : 
 
 " MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, Oct. 23, 1859. 
 " DEAR SIR : I am in receipt of yours of the 20th instant. 
 My business in Coosa county is not large. In fact I have 
 not cultivated it, having, for several years, been expecting 
 to abandon it, to practice in one of the wealthier counties 
 "below this. If a legal connection can benefit you in Coosa, I 
 am willing to form one with you, confined to that county. 
 You to receive one-third and I two-thirds of all receipts. If 
 this is agreeable to you, you may consider it as formed, com 
 mencing from 1st November next. 
 
 " Yours, truly. 
 
 " W. L. YAXCEY. 
 " R. S. TIFARTX, Esq." 
 
2i INTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 Mr. William L. Yancey and his Coosa county 
 partner did not get on very well together, it seems, 
 for the following is an extract from another let 
 ter from the former. I have "both letters entire in 
 my possession : 
 
 " MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, Dec. 17, 1859. 
 ****** Be so good, therefore, if you" have advertised 
 our connection, to advertise its dissolution. * * * * * * " 
 
 I am glad to have it in rny power, not only to 
 prove the fact of the partnership, which the Cin 
 cinnati Enquirer was base enough to deny in be 
 half of its friend Yancey, but also to show that I 
 did not long affiliate, even in business, with such 
 a man as Yancey. 
 
 But Mr. Yancey is estopped from ever saying a 
 word against me, even in the South, by a " P. S." 
 to the notice of dissolution, in which he " recom 
 mended his late law-partner to the confidence of 
 the public, of which he was every way worthy." 
 This appeared in the Hayneville (Lowndes county) 
 Chronicle, for the space of a year. 
 
 The impossibility of supporting my family in 
 the Queen city of the West, on account of the 
 universal prostration of business, caused me to 
 seek my fortunes in Richmond, Indiana. My 
 friend, James Reeves, wrote me from that city 
 that the opening for a lawyer was good, and I 
 availed myself of the prospect. Before leaving 
 Cincinnati, I deemed it advisable to secure the 
 following letters, which are laid before the reader, 
 
IK TEODUCTION . 2 5 
 
 in the spirit in which this whole chapter is writ 
 ten, in order to prepare his mind for succeeding 
 chapters, by placing my word, my character, and 
 my experience beyond the possibility of a reason 
 able doubt : 
 
 Letter from HON. MILTON SAYLER. 
 
 "CINCINNATI, OHIO, June 3, 1801. 
 
 " It gives me very great pleasure to state that I met the 
 bearer, Robert S. Tharin, Esq., in the annual convention of the 
 Young Men s Christian Associations of the United States and 
 British America, held in the city of Richmond, Va., in May, 
 1857, to which convention Mr. Tharin was one of three dele 
 gates from Charleston, S. C. Mr. Tharin occupied a worthy 
 position in that convention, and, though my acquaintance 
 with him since has been slight, yet I do not hesitate, from 
 my knowledge of him, to commend him to those among -vhom 
 he may go, as a gentleman in every respect worthy of their 
 good-will and confidence. 
 
 " MILTON SAYLEK." 
 
 Letter from SAMUEL LOWRY, Escj. 
 
 "CINCINNATI, June 4, 1801. 
 
 "I met the bearer, Mr. R, S. Tharin, at a convention of 
 delegates from the Young Men s Christian Associations of 
 the United States, held at Richmond, Va., May, 1857. He 
 was one of three representatives from the association of 
 Charleston, S. C., had the confidence of his colleagues, and, 
 by his deportment, made a favorable impression on the mem 
 bers of the convention and the citizens of Richmond. 
 
 " SAMUEL LOWRY." 
 
 Letter from JUDGE J. B. STALLO. 
 
 "Mr. R. S. Tharin, a former law-partner of Mr. Yancey, 
 has been driven from the State of Alabama on account of 
 his anti-secession sentiments, and since his expatriation has 
 
 a > 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 spent some months in the city of Cincinnati. During his 
 stay here it has been my pleasure to meet him occasionally, 
 and I cheerfully testify that he is a gentleman of culture and 
 of unexceptionable habits, and that he has won the confidence 
 and respect of all who had the good fortune to make his ac 
 quaintance. 
 
 " J. B. STALLO." 
 
 P. S. l}y REV. E. G. ROBINSON. 
 
 " I cheerfully and heartily concur in Judge Stallo s com 
 mendation of Mr. Tharin. 
 
 " E. G. ROBINSON, 
 Pastor 9t7i-street Baptist ChurcJi, Cincinnati. " 
 
 A Pleasant Reminiscence. 
 
 " RESPECTED SIR : By the consent, not only of the teachers 
 and of the committee, but by the request of the pupils of the 
 Hughes High School in general, it was unanimously agreed 
 to tender our heartfelt thanks to you for the eloquent and 
 patriotic oration which you delivered at the unfurling of the 
 Stars and Stripes from the summit of our school. 
 
 " With respect, 
 
 " J. L. THORNTON, 
 "J. M. EDWARDS, 
 " J. T. POMPILLY, 
 " AMELIA S. WRIGHT, 
 " MRS. H. B. COONS, 
 "ELLEN FREEMAN, 
 " SIDNEY OMOHONDRO, ; 
 " JOSEPH S. PEEBLES, 
 
 "CINCINNATI, OHIO, April 25, 1861. 
 
 " LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I deem it no more than proper 
 to acknowledge, in writing, the receipt of your highly appre 
 ciated favor of the 24th instant. 
 
 " Your letter of thanks, now before me, will ever be classed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 among my most cherished mementoes ; and the kindness which 
 dictated it will always retain my affectionate and respectful 
 gratitude. 
 
 " In contemplating the many evidences of Cincinnati s Chris 
 tian hospitality toward myself, I can almost bless the trials 
 which drove me to find a home amid a community so sympa 
 thetic and so loyal. 
 
 "May our beloved national banner in triumph still Avave 
 over our city and your school ! 
 
 " I liaA*e the honor, ladies and gentlemen, to subscribe my 
 self, with high regard, 
 
 " Your obedient serA*ant, 
 
 " R. S. THABIN. 
 
 " To the Teachers and Committee 
 
 of the Hughes High School." 
 
 With my wife and children, now trebly dear to 
 the heart which had lost all other associates save 
 them, I took up the line of my wanderings west 
 ward. I bore with me the consciousness of sin 
 cerity, and desired nothing so much as repose. I 
 longed for some spot of earth where I might sup 
 port and educate my family, and heal my bleed 
 ing wounds with the balm of quiet and study. 
 Richmond, Indiana, generally known as the Qua 
 ker City, seemed to invite me to seek needed 
 tranquillity beneath her maples. Alas ! how lit 
 tle tranquillity I found there is known to my 
 numerous friends in the State of Indiana. 
 
 When I look back upon that period, my soul 
 sickens at the contemplation. Called from my 
 retirement by the voice of the people, at their 
 frequent meetings I would express my views upon 
 the crisis without reserve. My popularity became 
 
28 -INTRODUCTION. 
 
 greater than I desired, and offensive to those 
 whose only earthly desire is popularity. 
 
 At length I proposed to the citizens the forma 
 tion of a " Union .Eights Club," at a meeting ap 
 pointed for the purpose. 
 
 The next Saturday there appeared in the "Broad- 
 axe of Freedom," which is as much a Union paper 
 as Jeff. Davis is a saint, a ridiculous and menda 
 cious criticism of my effort on the night alluded 
 to. I replied, and the editor acknowledged (in 
 advertently) that he lied. The next issue of the 
 Richmond Palladium showed the admission of 
 the Broadaxe of its own falsity, and derided the 
 position of the editor, who had charged me with 
 being the author of a piece in the Palladium (of 
 the very existence of which I was utterly ignorant) 
 charging the Broadaxe with Secession proclivi 
 ties. 
 
 The editor of the Broadaxe now perpetrated an 
 act of which any gentleman would be ashamed. 
 Instead of acknowledging himself in the wrong, 
 and retiring gracefully from a controversy, to wage 
 which decently he showed himself incompetent, 
 he seized upon the weakest and most vulnerable 
 point in my fortress. 
 
 This was rny Southern origin, my former law- 
 partnership with Yancey, and my omission to vol 
 unteer ! 
 
 Pantalooned old women reside in every com 
 munity. Give them the slightest pabulum for 
 gossip, and at it they go, as if it was indispensable 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 to their own happiness to prove every wild sur 
 mise of every hair-brained babbler to be true. 
 
 The suggestion of the JBroadaxe did its dirty 
 work. At the expense of every principle of honor, 
 the editor of the Broadaxe (U. S. Hammond) was 
 victorious. The record of that controversy proves 
 that he admitted that he lied! What of that? 
 lie was victorious ! ! At least he, poor fool, so 
 thought, and, doubtless, so thinks to day. 
 
 Driven to the wall by the most unmistakable 
 signs of mobocraey, which, alas ! I had learned to 
 detect, I involuntarily volunteered, inviting him to 
 accompany me, which he disgracefully declined. 
 
 But why should /, who suffered so much from 
 Secession, be driven to volunteer? Why was I 
 not already in the armies of the Union ? 
 
 I had a wife, whom I had promised, when she 
 came, a picture of despair, to Cincinnati with our 
 two small children, that I would never leave her 
 without her consent. 
 
 For me, she had left every relative she had on 
 earth, the sacred dust of her dead, the scenes and 
 companions of her childhood, her brothers im 
 pressed into the armies of "King Cotton." 
 
 Delicate in health, shattered in constitution, yet 
 heroic and devoted, this young Southern lady, un 
 accustomed to hardship, her mother s favorite, 
 most indulged daughter, was, even then, almost 
 heartbroken at the thought of never seeinir a:aiii 
 
 O o o 
 
 her friends in the South. 
 
 She was a stranger in a strange land. She had 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 no old associations in Richmond, Indiana ; she 
 was chilled by the hard, cold, icy manners of the 
 ladies of Richmond, so different from the caress 
 ing kindness of Alabama s fair daughters ; her 
 little boy was an invalid; her strength was re 
 duced, by our unparalleled sufferings, to the verge 
 of prostration. 
 
 Did she not need her husband s presence ? Did 
 she not need his guardian care? No mother, no 
 friends, no society, the wife of an exile, a volun 
 tary exile at his side, she did need his whole and 
 most devoted society ; and it was for the purpose 
 of recuperating her energies, of restoring her 
 health, and of earning a support for her and her 
 children, that I had gone to Richmond. 
 
 When she saw the printed demand for the sac 
 rifice, she threw her arms around my neck, and, 
 in a voice broken by sobs, said that she would 
 withhold her consent no longer. 
 
 Had she not granted her consent, I would have 
 rotted in Fort Lafayette ; I would have suffered 
 myself to be torn into atoms by a Northern mob, 
 headed by an editorial empiric, before I would 
 have broken my word to her. This she knew, and 
 she consented. 
 
 Many a regiment would have received me 
 among its field-officers, had I agreed to recruit for 
 it. But my preference fell on the 57th Regiment 
 Indiana Volunteers, the Colonel of which was a 
 native of Virginia, a preacher of the Gospel, and 
 my professed friend ! 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 When I first went to Richmond, I had been 
 introduced to this man by my true friend James 
 Reeves. He, the former, had introduced me to the 
 first audience (at Star Hall) I ever addressed in that 
 city. Elated at my success, he " stuck closer than 
 a brother" to my growing fortunes, was almost 
 every day in my law-office, called at my house 
 and took me to walk almost every Sunday. lie 
 would even point me out in church as a perse 
 cuted patriot. 
 
 What a wonderful instinct has woman ! My 
 wife said to me, one day, that she distrusted the 
 sincerity of this clerical gentleman. 
 
 I told her that her fears were utterly ground 
 less ; and that if the preacher proved false, I would 
 doubt the sincerity of all men. 
 
 It is universally known in Richmond that the 
 colonel and lieutenant-colonel of the 57th Regi 
 ment both promised me that I should not have 
 to go as a private, on account of my family. The 
 first promised me a field-office anyhow, and the 
 other promised me to use his efforts to obtain 
 for me a lieutenancy, in order that I might be 
 appointed adjutant by the former, if I should de 
 sire it. 
 
 The lieutenant-colonel handed me a recruiting 
 
 o 
 
 permit at the People s Bank, authorizing me to 
 recruit a company. 
 
 I commenced to address the people of the Fifth 
 Congressional District. The main feature of my 
 speeches was simply " Union:" I denounced JEny- 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 land as the fomenter of our dismemberment, and 
 prophecied difficulties with that power on the oc 
 currence of the first pretext. This was before the 
 " Trent affair." I always had overflowing audi 
 ences, and the good results of my efforts were 
 soon discernible in the communities I visited. 
 
 The success of my undertaking was doubtful, 
 however. The emissaries of the JBroadaxe fol 
 lowed me like my shadow. In private they cir 
 culated the hellish invention that I was a " South 
 ern spy." I began to realize the fact that those 
 who had first attacked me were organized for my 
 destruction. Probably they felt that as they dared 
 not "go to war" to light Secessionists, the next 
 best thing they could do would be to destroy the 
 family and prospects of loyal refugees from Rebel- 
 dom ! The regiment itself became changed to 
 ward me. By a few judicious puffs, the Broad- 
 axe had completely bought up its vain colonel, 
 who began to turn away at my approach. Poor 
 man ! he had promised so many people the same 
 thing, that his rapidly-increasing regiment was 
 in danger of having more officers than privates. 
 Some must be thrown overboard ! /was, of course, 
 a selected victim ! 
 
 The regiment attained the minimum number ; 
 but, although I had labored for that regiment 
 with indefatigable industry (for I desired the pay 
 of an officer for iny family made destitute by 
 exile), I was, by the blackest ingratitude, con 
 signed to its ranks. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 The following, from the Palladium of Dec. 14, 
 1861, expresses the public feeling of the conserva 
 tives* of Richmond : 
 
 " Our friend Tharin, failing to raise a company, mainly 
 through the slanders propagated and started by the Broadaxe 
 in regard to him, volunteered as a private soldier in the ranks 
 and shouldered his musket, thus showing his faith in our 
 glorious institutions by his works, and giving the lie to the 
 foul insinuations against him by his persecutor Ham an. The 
 57th has no braver man belonging to it than E. S. Tharin ; and 
 we predict that, should the opportunity occur, he will win his 
 way by deeds of valor to promotion, which he already so richly 
 deserves for his exertions in recruiting for this regiment." 
 
 From the TRUE REPUBLICAN (Radical) of December 19, 1861, 
 published at Centre-mile, Indiana. 
 
 " R. S. Tharin, Esq., the Alabama refugee, whose name has 
 been so much associated with that of the traitor Yancey, entered 
 McMullen s regiment as a private. Mr. T. has resided for 
 several months at Richmond. Failing in an effort to raise a 
 company, he has gone into the ranks. He deserves great 
 credit for his patriotism." 
 
 While encamped at Indianapolis I had an in 
 terview with the reverend colonel, and demanded 
 that he keep his word, which, it will be remem 
 bered, was that I should not have to go as a pri 
 vate in his regiment. 
 
 After much exciting argument, I forced from 
 him an acknowledgment of his promise, and the 
 next day received a discharge. By-the-by, he 
 himself never went with his regiment. 
 
 The following letters explain themselves : 
 
 * Unionists alone are entitled to this epithet. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 From JUDGE JAMES PERRY to the Colonel of the Sixteenth 
 Regiment, I. V. M., then stationed at Camp Hicks, Md. 
 
 " COL. P. A. HACKLED AN :* I beg leave to introduce to your 
 acquaintance, Robert S. Tharin, Esq., a member of the bar, a 
 gentleman of very fair literary and scientific attainments, a 
 native of the South, an emigrant from that land of terror and 
 distress, and loyal to the banner of the Union. Mr. Tliarin 
 has rendered valuable services in filling up Col. McMullen s 
 regiment ; but, not being very well satisfied with the officers 
 of that regiment, he has by them been permitted to choose 
 another, and has made choice of your regiment, into which he 
 enters as a private soldier. Two motives have directed him 
 to the choice of your regiment : first, the term of service is 
 shorter, and he leaves a family far from any relatives, in a 
 strange land ; secondly, if the country should need his ser* 
 vices, after the expiration of the time of enlistment of your 
 regiment, he intends to strive for a better position than that 
 of a private in the service. In his behalf, I ask for such kind 
 ness as you have in your power to bestow. 
 
 " I am, very sincerely, yours, etc., 
 
 " JAMES PERRY." 
 
 From BENJ. W. DAVIS, Junior Editor of the "Richmond (Ind.) 
 Palladium." 
 
 " RICHMOND, Jan. 12, 1862. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : Permit me, although personally a stranger to 
 you, but oth&ricise intimately acquainted with you, to introduce 
 R. S. Tliarin, formerly of Alabama, but now of this city, who 
 was driven from that State in consequence of his devotion to 
 the old flag, and who is now a private, a new recruit, in your 
 regiment. It is rumored here that my friend ORAN PERRY is 
 about to be promoted to another regiment in the three years 
 service, which he well deserves for his sterling good qualities ; 
 and could the appointment of sergeant-major, which he now 
 holds, and which place would be vacant by his transfer, be 
 conferred on my friend R. S. Tliarin, either that post, or the 
 
 * Now General. 
 
INTRODUCTION. o-> 
 
 adjutancy, which, I learn, will be vacated tor a similar reason, 
 would be filled by him with equal satisfaction to yourself 
 and regiment as now, and it would be rendering a deserved 
 honor to one who is every way worthy and well qualified, be 
 side being appreciated by the numerous friends he has made 
 since sojourning in our little Quaker city. 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " BENJ. W. DAVIS, 
 " Jun. Ed. R. Palladium. 
 " COL. P. A. HACKLEMAN." 
 
 Let me liere mention that the officers and mem 
 bers of the Sixteenth Indiana are deserving of their 
 great popularity and reputation. It was in the 
 tent of the chaplain of the Sixteenth, Rev. Ed 
 ward Jones, that I wrote the personal narrative 
 which, follows. To the gallant and distinguished 
 Col. Hackleman, I owe a brother s love. I have 
 just learned that in the late battle of Corinth, 
 while leading on his brigade in the most gallant 
 and heroic manner, the Stars and Stripes waving 
 triumphantly above his head, his gleaming sword 
 encouraging his men, his noble countenance ani 
 mated with a halo of patriotic zeal, with the word 
 "Forward" upon his lips, he fell into the arms of 
 victory, leaving no stain on his escutcheon, and 
 for his children a heritage of glory. 
 
 The following, from the Maryland Union (Fred 
 erick), is the next link in the chain of the refugee s 
 steps : 
 
 "MR. THARIN S LECTURE. 
 
 " FREDERICK, February 10, 1862. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : Understanding, from undoubted authority, 
 that in our very midst is a gentleman, a former law-partner of 
 
JO INTRODUCTION. 
 
 William L. Yancey, who lias experienced in Ms own person 
 the extreme of Secession cruelty, and whose love for the Union 
 of his forefathers has been the cause of a martyrdom which 
 history will record as the most remarkable of the nineteenth 
 century, we take the liberty of requesting, in behalf of the 
 patriotic people of Frederick, that you will gratify us by ap 
 pointing an evening on which to give a narrative of adventures 
 in Alabama, with such remarks in application as you may see 
 lit to deliver. 
 
 " We feel warranted in the assurance that the theme will 
 attract an audience second to none which Frederick has pro 
 duced, and hope you will feel no backwardness in accepting an 
 invitation which is made in good faith. 
 
 " In any event, be assured of the sympathy and apprecia 
 tion of " Respectfully, 
 
 " Your fellow-citizens, 
 " WM. G. COLE 
 " D. J. MARKET, 
 " CHARLES COLE, 
 " W. MAIIONET, 
 " M. NELSON. 
 " R. S. THARIN, Esq. 
 
 " P. S. With our compliments, will you please invite the 
 field-officers of your regiment (Sixteenth Indiana, we believe) 
 to be present on the occasion T 
 
 " CAMP HICKS, February 11, 1862. 
 
 " FELLOW-CITIZENS : Your nattering and highly-apprecia 
 ted favor, of yesterday s date, containing an invitation to 
 deliver a lecture on the subject of my adventures and suffer 
 ings in behalf of the Union, is just received. 
 
 " I hold myself ever ready to address my fellow-citizens of 
 this endangered nation upon the great events which have 
 swept over the Cotton States like a conflagration, consuming 
 as stubble the once sacred rights of American citizens, and 
 threatening to wrap in inextinguishable flames the temple of 
 Liberty. My duty and my inclination alike impel me to ex 
 pose the horrors of that Reign of Terror which aims at the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 destruction of republican institutions and the subversion of 
 free speech and free conscience. My own eventful and disas 
 trous experience is the property of the public, who have a 
 right to know just what Secession means. 
 
 " Secession aims at the heart of loyalty, whether it pulsates 
 in Northern or Southern breasts. Myself a native of Charles 
 ton, S. C., an adopted citizen of Alabama, my wife and children 
 natives of the latter State, my rights were trampled upon the 
 moment I declared my intention to respect the obligation of 
 my oath to support the Constitution of the United States and 
 the Constitution of Alabama. Mobbed, scourged, and exiled, 
 I now wander amid a people far from the scenes of my child 
 hood, but not without a feeling of gratitude to that kind Provi 
 dence who has delivered me from King Cotton, and at the 
 same time afforded me the opportunity of bearing arms in de 
 fense of the flag which waved over my ancestral antecedents, 
 which shadowed my cradle with a blessing, and which will 
 receive my corpse when expiring. 
 
 " I am happy, therefore, to respond to your kind communica 
 tion in the affirmative. 
 
 " If agreeable to you, I will appoint Saturday evening, the 
 22d instant, as the time of my lecture leaving the arrange 
 ment of place and hour, etc., to your kind supervision. 
 
 " I have the honor, gentlemen, to remain, with highest con 
 sideration, " Your fellow-citizen and servant, 
 
 " R. S. THARIN, 
 
 "Private, 16th Regt. Indiana Vol. 
 " MR. W. G. COLE and others. 
 
 " P. S. The field-officers of the Sixteenth Indiana will be 
 present, if public duties conflict not with their inclinations." 
 
 From tlie MARYLAND UNION. 
 
 " AN INTERESTING LECTURE. It will be seen from the cor 
 respondence in to-day s paper, that R. S. Tharin, Esq., former 
 law-partner of Win. L. Yancey, and at present attached to the 
 Sixteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, a gentleman of the 
 highest respectability, of fine accomplishments, endowed with 
 rare talents, and an eloquent speaker, will deliver a lecture in 
 4 
 
38 IXTKODUCTION. 
 
 tliis city on Saturday evening, the 22d instant. Due notice of 
 the hour and place of meeting will be given, and we hope 
 there will be a general outpouring on the part of our citizens 
 to hear him, as we feel assured that the lecture will be un 
 usually interesting, and delivered in the finest style." 
 
 One of the aids to Gen. Banks about this time 
 detailed me from my regiment to write for him 
 at headquarters, where I remained until some time 
 after the battle of Winchester. 
 
 The lecture was never delivered. The division 
 of Gen. Banks was ordered to march into Vir 
 ginia. I went with my regiment, of course. 
 The following certificate will explain what I was 
 about in Virginia : 
 
 Certificate from CAPT. M. C. WELSH, I. V. M. 
 
 " WOODSTOCK, VA., April 2, 1862. 
 
 " I take pleasure in stating that R. S. Tharin, Esq., of the 
 16th Indiana, although exempt from such duty at the time, as 
 clerk on Gen. Banks staff, to my certain knowledge borrowed 
 a gun and accouterments from one of my men (Evans Arm 
 strong), and did his devoir at the great battle of Winchester, 
 on Sunday, 23d March, 1862. 
 
 " M. C. WELSH, 
 " Capt. of Comp. D, 1th Lid. Vols" 
 
 Having finished my duties at headquarters, I 
 was proceeding, via Washington, to rejoin my 
 regiment, when I was detained in this city (Wash 
 ington) by the reception of a small office in the 
 Treasury Department. My regiment s term of ser 
 vice in a few days afterward expired. I received my 
 discharge and my pay, and proceeded to Indiana 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 for my family, who are now, tliank God, once 
 more with their natural protector. 
 
 I will conclude this introductory chapter with 
 a letter to the London Daily Ntwz, to a careful 
 perusal of which the reader is invited, as it proves 
 the pro-slave-trade proclivities of William L. Yan- 
 cey, then commissioner in London of the Confede 
 rate States, so called. It appeared in the columns 
 (4rth and 5th) of the London Daily Ntws of Xo- 
 vember 27, 1861 (page 2). 
 
 "YANCEY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 
 
 CONNER SVILLE, INDIANA, October, 1861. 
 " To the Editor of the Daily New*: 
 
 " SIR : In a recent issue of the Times I see a letter from 
 Hon. William L. Yancey, one of the commissioners of the 
 pasteboard Confederacy/ of which he is chief architect, in 
 which epistle he attempts to show that, in the Southern 
 Commercial Convention at Montgomery, State of Alabama, in 
 May, 1858, he was not in favor of the renewal of the African 
 slave-trade. 
 
 " To that Convention which has identified itself with the 
 most obnoxious measures ever resorted to for the violation of 
 the time-honored principles and reciprocal stipulations of both 
 Great Britain and America it was my good, or bad, fortune 
 to be a delegate. 
 
 " Interested as, in spite of my indignation, I felt myself in 
 the great debate, that for five consecutive days occupied the 
 exclusive attention of the body, I followed up the argument in 
 all its sickening details, watched every parliamentary and un 
 parliamentary shift to keep it exclusively before the conven 
 tion, and, although, disgusted by the sophistries used by all 
 the parties to the discussion, watched its inception, progress, 
 and conclusion as I would have watched a gathering avalanche 
 upon a mountain-top. 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " The eloquent champion of the slave-trade on that memo 
 rable occasion was William L. Yancey ! In fluent periods he 
 poured out the cataract of his oratory in favor of a measure 
 which, if successful, could prove no less than the revival of 
 the accursed traffic in human flesh. 
 
 " Leonidas Spratt, of South Carolina, whose whole notoriety 
 and Southern popularity are derived from his slave-trade mon 
 omania, and who has since published in Mr. Yancey s organ/ 
 the Montgomery Advertiser, his prediction of anpther revolu 
 tion/ on account of the temporary prohibition (by the Provi 
 sional Congress) of his darling measure, had, at the previous 
 session of the Southern Commercial Convention (1857), intro 
 duced a resolution expressly demanding its revival. Of a 
 committee appointed to report, at the next session, on the 
 advisability of reopening the African slave-trade/ Mr. Spratt, 
 by virtue of his motion, was constituted chairman, and Mr. 
 Yancey enjoyed the honor of being named second on that 
 humane committee. 
 
 " The year s recess having expired, we find, at Montgomery, 
 in 1858, Yancey, Spratt, and the Southern Commercial Con 
 vention. Mr. Spratt introduced a long, elaborate, and in 
 comprehensible report, abounding in scientific terms, and 
 propounding a new governmental and social theory, which 
 to nine-tenths of the assembly was like the handwriting on 
 the wall, in need of an interpreter. When, to the great relief 
 of the unscientific ear of the Southern Commercial Conven 
 tion/ Mr. Spratt had concluded his long-spun production, Mr. 
 Yancey arose and said, substantially, that 
 
 " Although he agreed with every word of his amiable and 
 patriotic friend, Mr. Spratt, still he considered the magnificent 
 report of that gentleman too unwieldy for parliamentary pur 
 poses, and that, therefore, as a minority report, which he 
 would move as a substitute to the original, he would offer the 
 following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That the Federal laws repealing the African 
 slave-trade ought to be repealed. 
 
 " Mr. Yancey was too good a lawyer to be ignorant of the 
 full force and meaning of the legal term repealed/ which was 
 enunciated with significant and sonorous emphasis. Whether, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 4:1 
 
 at its inception, the slave-trade was customary or statutory, 
 the repeal of the statute prohibiting its continuance is 
 susceptible of but one meaning, and that its resumption. 
 In effect, Mr. Yancey s resolution, without the least change in 
 its meaning, might have been worded : 
 
 " Resolved, That the African slave-trade ought to be re 
 vived. 
 
 " In fact, the debate which ensued on the introduction of 
 the Yancey substitute, ajid which consumed about five days, 
 to the exclusion of all other matter, was conducted altogether 
 upon the supposition that the resolution contemplated the re 
 vival of the trade. With this universal opinion the conven 
 tion listened to the arguments pro and con. Upon the square 
 issue of renewal, or non-renewal, each debater took his ground. 
 The most prominent of these were Roger A. Pryor, editor of 
 the Richmond South, published in Virginia, and William L. 
 Yancey, of Alabama. 
 
 " Mr. Pry or opposed Mr. Yancey on several grounds, one of 
 which I remember to have been that the minimum of labor 
 produces the maximum of value/ which Mr. Yancey com 
 bated with great enthusiasm. He showed that the minimum 
 of labor would benefit Virginia, who raises the laborers, but 
 would injure the cotton States, which consumes them. He 
 ridiculed Virginia for her want of Southern sentiment, and 
 foretold her dismemberment, if not her entire defection to Ab- 
 olitiondom, as he was pleased to call the public opinion of 
 Christendom. 
 
 " No ! substantially exclaimed the advocate of piracy, No ! 
 I hope the hour is not far distant, when the cotton States, no 
 longer dependent on the slave-producers of Virginia, will 
 scatter among their people a wealth of negroes, which will 
 enable every white man to own one or more. At the present 
 ruinous prices, which accrue to the benefit of Virginia and 
 Kentucky only, there is danger of such a reduction in the 
 number of owners that there might be a collision between the 
 slaveholders and non-slaveholders, which would dethrone King 
 Cotton and destroy his influence forever ; and that the only 
 way to avert this impending crisis, was to import, from Africa, 
 cheap laborers for the benefit of the cotton-growing States. 
 
42 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lie said that Virginia was incapable of supplying the increas 
 ing demand at any price, and that, even if she could, the result 
 must be fatal, for that the Africans were rapidly losing their 
 color and other valuable qualities in the great Caucasian race, 
 and needed a fresh infusion of pure African blood to prevent 
 their entire absorption. 
 
 " It is not my intention to give a synopsis of the fiery de 
 nunciations that constituted the staple of Mr. Yancey s speeches 
 in that assembly. Suffice it to say, that, while in his whole 
 tirade, he did not once, even by implication, disclaim his de 
 sire to reopen the African slave-trade, he denounced the Federal 
 laws prohibiting it, as partial to the Northern manufacturers, 
 and hostile, in spirit, to the agricultural and commercial in 
 terests of the cotton-growing States. He did not hesitate to 
 denounce Wilberforce as a whimsical sentimentalist, and even 
 pronounced England herself a pseudo-philanthropist, who, if 
 ever she dared to interfere against King Cotton, would find 
 herself reduced, before the eyes of the world, to the melancholy 
 alternative of domestic misery and revolt, or of confining her 
 charities to her own suffering subjects at home. 
 
 " Here let me parenthesise, that whenever such men as Wil 
 liam L. Yancey speak of the South, they never mean the non- 
 slaveholders, who represent the numerical proportion of fif 
 teen to one as compared with the planters, or slaveholders. 
 
 " Although, in this republican form of government, which 
 claims the people as the sovereign, and a majority as the 
 ruler, the non-slaveholders are, by far, the most important 
 class, yet, on account of the skillful agitation of the slavery 
 question, the slaveholders have obtained a despotic mastery, 
 and allude exclusively to themselves and their property, when 
 they use the expressions the South, Southern interests, &c. 
 
 " In order to defend the South and her institutions, from 
 the encroachments of the public opinion of Christendom, and 
 the uncomfortable juxtaposition of light with darkness, secret 
 leagues and associations were inaugurated, consisting entirely 
 of sworn conspirators, who, being silently armed with the 
 stolen guns of the unsuspecting government, resisted the laws 
 by seizing the forts, arsenals, and property of that government, 
 to the great astonishment of the uninitiated of both the South 
 
INTRODUCTION. 4J 
 
 and the North. Thus, possessing all the implements of mili 
 tary power, this diabolical mob stifled every breath of remon 
 strance, and almost every thought of resistance. Some of the 
 oppressed and insulted Unionists (myself among the number) 
 openly opposed the reign of terror, which was studiously pro 
 duced by Yancey and his colleagues. False imprisonments, 
 murders, expatriation, cruel and unusual punishments/ the 
 torture by cowhide, tar and feathers, and fence-rails, public 
 and private confiscations, these were the coercives which en 
 sued, and which immolated, on the very altars whereon these 
 men had sought to sacrifice their country, the freedom of the 
 press and the liberty of speech. 
 
 " The writer of this, formerly the partner in law of Yancey, 
 but true to his oath to support the Constitution and the Union, 
 was mobbed in Alabama, not far from Montgomery, because 
 he determined to lose his life, before he would consent to gain 
 it by submitting to such an unholy usurpation. Frequently 
 approached on the subject of identifying himself with the 
 secret league of United Southerners (the offspring of Yancey s 
 perfidy and genius), he persistently refused ; frequently cried 
 down at public meetings, when he but endeavored to fulfill 
 his obligations to his non-slaveholding brethren, he would try 
 it again, until he was finally mobbed, maltreated, and exiled 
 by some of the most respectable citizens of Lowndes county, 
 contrary to the laws of the United States, of the Confederate 
 States, and contrary to the unrepealed statute of the State of 
 Alabama. 
 
 " But, although ill-used, he still survives, and, from that 
 unmerited obscurity to which his enemies have endeavored to 
 consign him, he keeps a bright lookout upon the game which 
 his country s (and his own) enemies are playing, and now and 
 then defeats the intentions of corrupt players when they en 
 deavor to cheat. 
 
 "If I can advance the cause of truth, justice, and our still 
 glorious, because righteous, Union, I will be better pleased 
 with my humble fate, than to enjoy all the hospitalities of a 
 gorgeous court by a system of intrigue and falsehood unparal 
 leled in history. No true gentleman considers me degraded 
 
44: INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by what has been done by a brutal mob, and, despite my mis 
 fortunes, I remain infinitely above my late partner in law, be 
 cause I have ever refused to become his partner in crime ! 
 
 " Independently of the patriotism which impels me to cherish 
 the Union of my fathers, I am really solicitous that Great 
 Britain, the land of my ancestry on both sides of the house, 
 shall not ignore all her grand legislation on this subject, and 
 lend her powerful aid to reinstate the foulest traffic known to 
 history. 
 
 "Of my British descent I am justly proud. Col. William 
 Cunnington, whose relations of that name still live (in Lon 
 don, I believe), was the lineal maternal ancestor of my father. 
 In the time of nullification in South Carolina (1832), my 
 father was the only Unionist out of four brothers. I have the 
 proud satisfaction of being true, therefore, not only to my 
 country and my oath, but also to the memory of him, whose 
 sacred dust I am interdicted by the fiends of mobocracy from 
 revisiting. 
 
 " I am not permitted to correspond with the mother from 
 whose presence I was illegally and cruelly torn. I know not 
 whether she be still alive. If she be, may these tearful lines 
 convey to her the assurance, so necessary to a mother s heart, 
 that her ill-used son (with his expatriated family) is alive and 
 well. 
 f " Oh ! if there be, in this world of care, 
 
 A boon, an offering, Heaven holds dear, 
 
 Tis the last libation Liberty draws 
 
 From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause ! 
 
 " This reflection is my rich reward and my consolation. 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 " ROBERT S. THARIN." 
 
 The following, from the Richmond (Indiana) 
 Palladium of January 4, 1862, edited by the Hon. 
 D. P. Holloway, and the high-sonled, patriotic, 
 and talented Ben. Davis, is, not inappropriately, 
 added here : 
 
INTRODUCTION. 45 
 
 " THARIN vs. YANCEY. 
 
 " Some time ago, R. S. Tharin, Esq., of this city, informed 
 us lie had written to the London News, refuting the position 
 taken by Yancey in the London Times, that he (Yancey) was 
 not nor ever had been in favor of reopening the African slave- 
 trade. We notice in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial of Dec. 
 21, the following allusion to that letter. The Commercial 
 locates our friend Tharin as being in London at the time of 
 his writing the letter, which is a mistake, as he was at Con- 
 nersville on a recruiting expedition for the 57th Regiment, at 
 the time he penned the article. The Commercial says : 
 
 " In a recent letter to the London Times, Mr. William L. 
 Yancey, one of the so-called commissioners from Jeff. Davis a 
 bogus government, tried to conciliate our English brethren by 
 asserting that he had never been in favor of the renewal of 
 the African slave-trade. Unfortunately for Yancey, this in 
 trepid falsehood fell under the notice of his old law-partner, 
 Mr. Robert S. Tharin, in London at the time, and who, in a 
 letter to the News, shows that Yancey is as big a liar as lie is 
 a traitor. Both Mr. Yancey and Mr. Tharin were delegates to 
 the Southern Commercial Convention at Montgomery, May, 
 1 858 ; and, at that convention, Yancey " denounced the Federal 
 laws prohibiting the slave-trade, as partial to the Northern 
 manufacturer, and hostile in spirit to the agricultural and 
 commercial interests of the cotton-growing States." He, at 
 the same time, offered the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That the Federal laws prohibiting the African 
 slave-trade ought to be repealed. 
 
 " This disposes of Yancey s claim to veracity, and shows 
 how worthy a representative he is of that prince of liars and 
 repudiators, Jeff. Davis. " 
 
 Before proceeding with my adventures and suf 
 ferings in Alabama, I will here premise, that this 
 chapter was written merely for the purpose of pre 
 paring the reader for what is to follow, by placing 
 before him such Northern and Southern testimony 
 
46 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as will give me a title to his attention in the en 
 suing pages. 
 
 For all real or apparent egotism in this and in 
 the ensuing chapters, I must apologize on the very 
 threshold. I know how difficult it would be to 
 avoid egotism in an autobiography. The very un 
 dertaking is an egotism. But, from my adven 
 tures, if any legal fact or any oilier truth ~be re 
 trieved from oblivion, I shall not regret the risk to 
 which I subject myself in entering, at this time, 
 the field of literature. 
 
 I hope I am writing more for the good of my 
 country than for my own. Of this the reader 
 must form his own judgment from the moderation, 
 or the contrary, of my style, and my manner of 
 treating facts. 
 
 It will be necessary, of course, to give some 
 preliminary remarks at the outset, explaining my 
 presence in Alabama, my antecedents, and some 
 few occurrences immediately preceding the out 
 rages upon my Southern Rights, which it is the 
 duty of this work to record. 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 
 
 MY OATH. 
 
 " I do solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the 
 United States and the Constitution of Alabama ; and never, 
 for considerations personal to myself, to neglect the cause of 
 the defenseless and oppressed." 
 
 Oath of admission to the Alabama Bar. 
 
 FOR this hour I have waited with all the pa 
 tience of one who always knew that it must come 
 who always anticipated the present glorious 
 attitude of the Democratic party. 
 
 Radicalism must, of necessity, fail to administer 
 the government of a nation so extensive and so 
 free as ours. The Union is at once the cause and 
 the effect of Conservatism. It was to be expected 
 that the inception of hostilities, by action and re 
 action, would bring about sectional antagonisms. 
 This was the aim and the hope of the diabolical 
 clique who " precipitated the Cotton States into a 
 revolution." Unionism in the South was " tarred 
 and feathered ;" Unionism in the North was de 
 nounced as "proslavery." Yancey in the South, 
 Greeley in the North, belong, in fact, to the same 
 party Disunion ! 
 
 But it was also to be expected that the un 
 natural excitement would wear off, and common 
 
48 THE ALABAMA RKFUGEE. 
 
 sense reinstate itself, when mobocracy and Lynch 
 law would disgust even their own advocates. 
 Freedom of speech and of the press will be the 
 outgrowth of the very oppressions which have 
 muzzled the expression of conservative Unionism 
 in the South and in the North. The very names 
 of "North" and "South" will perish from the 
 memory, and the malignity of sectionalism will 
 die for the want of a basis of operations. 
 
 If this book, baptized in the blood and charred 
 by the fires of a revolution, the occurrence of 
 which I periled my life to prevent, shall add one 
 atom ol success, one drop of power, to that great 
 Niagara of Conservative Unionism which is soon 
 to burst over both sections in irresistible force 
 washing out the blood-stains of Radicalism, to 
 gether with the unpatriotic names of " North" 
 and " South," it will, just so far, accomplish the 
 principal purpose for which it is now dedicated to 
 my whole my bleeding country. 
 
 I was born on the paternal estate of "Mag 
 nolia," just outside of the corporate limits of the 
 city of Charleston, S. C., on the 10th day of Jan 
 uary, 1830. After many hardships, I obtained, by 
 my own perseverance, from the College of Charles 
 ton, my degree of A. B. in March, 1857; and in 
 the State of Alabama, to which I had emigrated 
 in September, 185T, I received my degree of A. M. 
 in 1860. 
 
 My ancestry, on both sides of the house, were 
 decent people, I am not ashamed to record that 
 
SCENE THE FIKST. 49 
 
 William Cunnington, my lineal paternal ancestor, 
 was a revolutionary colonel, under Gen. Francis 
 Marion, the great " Swamp Fox" of Carolina his 
 tory. Nor will it bring the blush of shame to my 
 cheek to say that my maternal grandfather, the 
 Eev. Robert S. Symmes, was a graduate of Queen s 
 College, Oxford, in England, of which realm he 
 was a native, and that he held a high place among 
 the literati of the Queen city of the South. My 
 honored father may he rest in peace ! needs no 
 higher eulogy than that, in 1832, he was the only 
 Unionist of four brothers; and that, in 1852, and 
 even up to the time of his decease, he remained 
 firmly devoted to the integrity of the nation ! 
 
 My uncle Theodore, a Co-operationist .in 1852, 
 a Secessionist in 1862, rejoices in the possession of 
 the life-size likeness of Col. Wm. Cunnington, his 
 Union grandfather ! 
 
 My uncle Edward keeps, as an heir-loom, the 
 likeness of the Father of his country, presented by 
 his own sacred hand to my grandmother under 
 the following inspiring circumstances : 
 
 Under the magnificent " magnolia," from which 
 the whole Cunnington estate was called and un 
 der whose mighty branches my early boyhood 
 was mostly passed was grouped a dinner party, 
 in honor of a visit from Gen. George Washington 
 to his intimate friend Col. Cunnington. The toasts 
 were over, the company were about to rise, when 
 a lovely apparition riveted all eyes to the table. 
 
 Arrayed in a dress, composed of the stars and 
 
50 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 stripes, stood a little girl, with a full-blown mag 
 nolia (or " laurel," as it is commonly called there) 
 in her right hand. With childish simplicity she 
 approached the great Washington who was ac 
 customed to such tributes, and who was not at 
 all abashed, although a very modest man, by so 
 pointed an action and lisped these words : 
 
 " Will General Washington, who has won so 
 many unfading laurels already, accept of this em 
 blem of his greatness from a very little girl ?" 
 
 Amid the smiles of the company, the Father of 
 his country, taking the gift, rose, and, being a 
 man of but few words, took from his finger a ring, 
 containing a likeness of himself (which I have 
 often seen), and handed it to my grandmother, 
 whom he at the same time affectionately kissed. 
 
 Could General Washington rise from his grave, 
 he would see most of the descendants of that little 
 girl, who has long since left this world of trouble, 
 struggling to overthrow that Union for which he 
 spilled his blood, and the perpetuation of which 
 he strenuously and repeatedly urged upon them 
 in his prophetic Farewell Address ! 
 
 Could Col. Cunnington revisit the scenes of his 
 usefulness, he would request that the name of 
 " Cunnington be dropped from the names of 
 those of his descendants who have disgraced it 
 
 o 
 
 by disunionism, retained by my deceased Union 
 father, and added to the name of him who writes 
 these filial words. 
 
 My immigration to Alabama was not the result 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 5J 
 
 of a preference for that State. I was invited 
 thither by letter. "William B. Penrifoj, an old 
 school and college friend and classmate, wrote me 
 that my presence in Wetumpka was solicited as a 
 teacher of the male academy at that place. I went 
 in consequence of that letter, and found the city 
 of Wetumpka, like Washington, a " city of mag 
 nificent distances." The buildings, however, were 
 neither so large nor so numerous as those of the 
 latter city. From the refined " Queen city of the 
 South" to the rural town of Wetumpka was a 
 letting down ; but I determined to do my duty to 
 the children under my charge, and I did it. 
 
 In the spring term of 1859, I was admitted to 
 the practice of law at Eockford, Coosa county, 
 Alabama. Judge Porter King, now a Secessionist, 
 and always a Disunionist, administered the oath, 
 which I signed in open court, and by which I 
 solemnly swore (as every admitted lawyer in the 
 room, including the judge himself and Win. L. 
 Yancey, had done) " to support the Constitution 
 of the United States and the Constitution of Ala 
 bama, and never, for considerations personal to 
 myself, to neglect the cause of the defenseless and 
 the oppressed" As this narrative is developed, 
 the reader will become convinced that it was for 
 making myself an exception to the members of 
 the bar, and the national and State officials, ly 
 religiously and firmly keeping my oath, that I 
 suffered the horrors of persecution in the reign 
 of terror so soon to ensue. 
 
52 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 No sooner had I opened my law-office in Wc- 
 tumpka, than an opportunity occurred for me to 
 risk something for the sake of my oath. One of 
 the " poor white trash" was dragged down to the 
 margin of the river, laid across a log, and whipped 
 by a throng of blackguards, on the charge that he 
 sold liquor to negroes. They had charged him 
 once with being a negro, and, afterwards, with 
 associating with negroes. lie was ridden on a 
 rail until his clothes were literally torn off his 
 body. From the lintel of his own door he was 
 repeatedly hanged until he was black in the face. 
 
 This victim of unauthorized power sought my 
 office and asked my advice. He was a pitiable 
 object. Fright and general bad usage had left 
 their marks upon him. I could not refrain from 
 smiling, as he entered in palpable alarm, lest I 
 should kick him down stairs for asking for his 
 rights. My eyes were not "quite closed to the 
 condition of the South even then (1859). I had 
 felt some very unpleasant and some very indig 
 nant emotions, when seeing the prostration of the 
 many at the footstool of the few 1 -. 
 
 Franklin Veitch, as he called himself, com 
 menced his story. During its recital, sometimes 
 he would stand on one foot, sometimes on the 
 other, his hat traveling about from one hand to 
 the other, from his head to the chair, from the 
 chair to his head. He sat down at my invitation, 
 but, the seat of his pants having been ridden off 
 on the jagged fence-rail the .night before, the cold 
 
SCKNK THE FIRST. 53 
 
 contact of the chair started him back to his feet ; 
 and I involuntarily burst into loud laughter. My 
 mirth was echoed from the pavement beneath my 
 window. 
 
 Poor Yeitch was overwhelmed. Seizing his 
 
 O 
 
 hat, and turning upon me a reproachful glance, 
 which conveyed a lugubrious " d. tu, J?/ i titr," ex 
 pression, he muttered in a tone which cut me to 
 the heart, " There aiiCt no justice in Alabama!" 
 
 I felt humiliated. I approached the poor trem 
 bling victim of mobocracy. 1 looked with changed 
 feelings upon him. Encouraged by my manner, 
 he raised his cowering eyes. Fear had added a 
 gleam of almost insanity to their expression ; but 
 there was a ray of hopeful intelligence, as he 
 caught my pitying glance, which was very touch 
 ing. 
 
 " Mr. Vcitch, who sent you to me* 7 
 
 "Mr. Hill." 
 
 " "What do you want ?" 
 
 " Fair play.*" 
 
 " Do you want my services as a lawyer?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " You are too much excited now come to me 
 next week." 
 
 "Will you take my case tlten?" 
 
 " May be so." 
 
 Veitch retired. 
 
 Having made inquiry as to the facts of the 
 case, I found that Yeitch had been a victim to 
 even Avorse than that of which lie complained. 
 
54: THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 My oath, " never, for considerations personal to 
 myself, to neglect the cause of the defenseless and 
 oppressed" returned to my recollection. I found 
 that to keep that oath would subject me to great 
 loss of popularity, because the ringleaders of the 
 little mob were the most popular of the young 
 men of the town, long residents, and endowed 
 with negro property, that great passport to im 
 punity. 
 
 In order to show the reader the fatal alternative 
 which was presi i.ting itself before my mind, I will 
 explain to him that I was not myself a slaveholder, 
 and that I was ambitious of success in the noble 
 profession of my choice, for which I have always 
 had a passion. 
 
 I almost hoped that Yeitch would not come 
 back. As the time drew near I thought he had 
 forgotten ; but no ! he came, and again asked me 
 to take his case. He even urged me to take it for 
 the sake of justice. 
 
 I did not believe him to be a worthy man. I 
 thought him a low-minded wretch, as he after 
 ward proved ; but I knew him to be "defenseless 
 and oppressed." 
 
 This was an unpleasant predicament. I felt a 
 strange anger against Yeitch ; I almost hated him 
 for being "defenseless" and for being "oppressed." 
 
 But I took his case. Thank God, 1 kept my oath ! 
 How few lawyers, alas ! can say that they kept 
 their oaths when interest opposed duty ! 
 
 Then dawned DAY THE FIRST of my bitter but 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 55 
 
 virtuous experience a struggle that shook the 
 whole community. The parties sued became more 
 than ever unmerciful to Veitch. They threatened 
 to kill him, if he did not leave the community 
 in so many hours ; they offered him bribes. The 
 poor whites of the town secretly encouraged him 
 to remain. The case was docketed, and the time 
 of court was approaching. What the defendants 
 had to do must be done quickly. Yeitch disap 
 peared. I appeared at court; the case was called, 
 and a paper was produced by the defendants dis- 
 
 His 
 
 missing the case, and signed " Franklin x Yeitch." 
 
 mark. 
 
 I offered to prove duress ; but the judge dismissed 
 the matter with indecent haste. 
 
 This ^^-slaveholder had yielded his rights 
 through fear, and had allowed himself to be taken 
 out of the town.* I have never heard ^r^m him 
 since, but it seemed to me, at one time, I would 
 never cease to hear of him. I became the most 
 unpopular man in Wetumpka. Lies had been 
 freely circulated pending the trial. For keeping 
 iiuj oath in that case, I almost lost all. But there 
 were other counties in which I practiced with im 
 mediate success. 
 
 Franklin Veitch was sent into my office by a 
 divine power, in order that I might receive my 
 sight. Before that circumstance, I had seen events 
 dimly, and "men, like trees walking;" but, with 
 
 * To Columbus, Georgia, I believe. 
 
56 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 a sudden unpleasant awakening, I found myself 
 in a modern Sodom, and felt my blood curdle 
 within me at the recollection that the class to 
 which Yeitch belonged had been growing more 
 and more degraded, more " defenseless" and more 
 " oppressed," ever since I could remember. 
 
 In my native South Carolina I had been too 
 young to note the workings of aristocracy upon 
 the oppressed poor. Every one in that State is 
 too busy in the praiseworthy task of identifying 
 him or herself with the " powers that be," in 
 tracing their " respectability" to the fountain-head 
 of the first families, whether whig or tory, and in 
 finding out some unfortunate family upon whom 
 to look down, too much absorbed in such de 
 lightful and ennobling pursuits to pause for the 
 scrutinizing of the flaws in the " system of civili 
 zation" in which, as primaries or satellites, they 
 all unconsciously revolve. Reared in the midst 
 of aristocratic pretension, my youthful days were 
 stained with a pride of which I am now heartily 
 ashamed, and the utter meanness of which it has 
 been given me to discover and renounce. I pity, 
 from my soul, the bigoted vacuity of the man who, 
 in the hard-handed mechanic, upon whose perspi 
 ration he lives, as the fly lives in the exhalations 
 of the horse or the ox, can see only society s 
 " mudsill," and in himself discovers the super 
 structure, which debases the system upon which 
 it rests. But I was gradually drawn to this 
 higher stand-point. I ascended the slope of dis- 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 57 
 
 covery with painful steps. The sensible horizon 
 is ever in the way of the rational horizon. I had, 
 as it were, to mount above and beyond the petty 
 elevation of education, and, by actual insight, by 
 ocular revelation, coupled with the sublime influ 
 ence of a recorded and a solemn oath, to meet the 
 usurper face to face, before I could discover the 
 cause of so much woe, the origin of so much evil 
 as was constantly passing before my eyes. 
 
 There are many Franklin Yeitches in the South 
 to-day many in the army of Secession ; and for 
 every Franklin Yeitch there is a perjured lawyer; 
 and for every perjured lawyer, an outraged State 
 Constitution. The leaders of the conspiracy are 
 loud in their exclamations for State rights j but 
 their whole scheme is based upon the destruction 
 of State and personal rights. They pretend to 
 timthem independence, but ignore the personal 
 independence of the white people of the South ; 
 they shout " Southern rights," yet they have com 
 pletely annihilated Southern rights: mine, alas! 
 are where? 
 
 The Secessionists have trampled upon the Con 
 stitution of the United States, tlie bills of rights of 
 the several Southern States, and the " Constitution 
 of the Confederate States of America" every 
 provision of each of which relating to personal 
 security they have, from first to last, deliberately 
 ignored. 
 
 This occurred in 1859. Thus early my mind 
 was, unhappily for myself and family but for 
 
58 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 some good purpose I must think set to work upon 
 the subject of "Southern Rights" 
 
 There was another cause, which placed me in 
 an unpopular attitude in Alabama. I had advo 
 cated, in a series of articles, in the "Wetumpka 
 Enquirer, the establishment of small farms, and 
 the use of the water-power of the falls and rapids 
 of the Coosa, which flows through that village. I 
 had proved the injurious effects upon the " the 
 people" of over-grown plantations, and had ex 
 pressed the belief that Wetumpka would soon 
 eclipse Montgomery, should a judicious application 
 be made of the water-power and the mineral, 
 medicinal, and agricultural elements of success 
 which abounded all around and within her. I 
 also advocated the abolition of all monopolies : 
 such as the penitentiary system, by which the 
 crime of the State was engaged in industrial pur 
 suits, to the loss of the virtuous poor mechanic. I 
 was never popular with the cotton-planters after 
 that. Small farms would benefit the " masses," 
 and that would injure them; agricultural pursuits 
 would make white men see their interests, and 
 that would diminish the power of "King Cotton. 
 But greater events soon occupied the attention of 
 all minds. 
 
 It was some time before the occurrence just re 
 corded, that the infamous John Brown raid occur 
 red. I make no apologies for my own course at 
 that time, which was to offer a series of resolutions, 
 at a large public meeting at Wetumpka, strongly 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 59 
 
 condemnatory of such diabolical outlawry, and 
 demanding the protection of the Federal power to 
 preserve the States from invasion. These resolu 
 tions were unanimously adopted. The resolutions 
 were published in the Montgomery Advertiser of 
 that period. 
 
 I had been led to suppose the John Brown raid 
 to be the first of a series. I had not yet heard 
 the truth nor was it until long afterward that I 
 perused the declaration of John Minor Butts, in 
 his appeal to the people of Virginia, that the gov 
 ernor of Virginia admitted that he knew it to be 
 a farce, and only seized upon it to stir the blood 
 of Virginia to the notes of war. 
 
 I must not omit to mention that, at that meet 
 ing, contrary to my crjnws (lexire, a vigilance 
 committee was appointed, that I was included in 
 that committee, and that, at their first meeting, 
 which was in my office, I proposed to them the 
 resolving ourselves into a nucleus for a new na 
 tional party , to be called the Union f)arty . I pre 
 sented them a paper, fur their signatures. The 
 proposition was met with indignation, and my 
 name Avas, at my desire, dropped from the mem 
 bership of the committee. 
 
 I then appealed to the citizens of Wetumpka 
 personally. A few only responded each saying 
 lie wanted the Union, but the democratic party 
 would save it. (This was before the "split" in 
 Charleston, S. C.) I remember Col. Saxon espe 
 cially said it was a good thing, but that the Ka- 
 
60 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 tional Democracy would yet save the Union a 
 prophecy which will, I think, be soon fulfilled. 
 
 About this time, at Montgomery, fourteen miles 
 off, an advertisement, appeared calling upon the 
 citizens to meet for the formation of a " LEAGUE 
 OF UNITED SOUTHERNERS." A great deal of ex 
 citement was the consequence, and so it was 
 announced, a short time afterward, that it had 
 failed. But it had not failed. It was formed 
 into a secret league, although I, among others, 
 supposed at the time it had failed. I believe it 
 exists to-day. Yancey was and is the chief. 
 
 The State of Alabama, after the call for a 
 League, became alive with transparencies. Every 
 town was full of " Knights of Malta." "VVetump- 
 ka had its secret order of Knights, who carried 
 about their transparencies illuminated with sym 
 bolic characters. "R., 1861" was conspicuous 
 on them. I was asked if I would join them. I 
 demanded to know their objects. The objects 
 were secret, but for the benefit of the " South." 
 In what way ? Joining was the only way to 
 know. 
 
 I did not join. I was at my homo each night 
 at early candlelight, and never left till morning ; 
 but /, too, was working for the good of the true 
 South. I was studying the census of 1850, and 
 preparing myself to tell the people truths which 
 they never had been permitted to know before. 
 
 But I must not anticipate. 
 
 My politics were national democratic. I was 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. Cl 
 
 for the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, as the 
 only candidate who could save the Union by his 
 election. When the "great split" occurred at 
 Charleston, I was completely undecided what to 
 do. I was disposed then to condemn the persist 
 ency of the Douglas wing in keeping their nom 
 inee before the convention, when they must have 
 seen the danger of disruption which such a course 
 involved. Kot to detain the reader, however, on 
 mere questions of expediency, suffice it to say that, 
 after deep reflection upon the duties of every 
 American citizen in such a crisis, I resolved to 
 select those candidates who were most unequivo 
 cally for the " Union, the Constitution, and the 
 enforcement of the Laws." This I did without 
 any sacrifice of my national democracy. 
 
 During the great presidential canvass, which 
 resulted in the lamentable elevation of Abraham 
 Lincoln to the chief magistracy, I was frequent in 
 my addresses to the people on the one inexhausti 
 ble theme of the Union and the Constitution. 
 
 As an elector for the Bell-Everett ticket, my 
 favorite argument in support of my position was 
 the Farewell Address of that greatest of Southern 
 ers, George Washington. While I obtained the 
 plaudits of my own party, I became the object of 
 mingled fear and hatred by the disunion dema 
 gogues of my adopted State. Disgraceful scenes 
 would often occur, when, warmed with my noble 
 theme, I would launch a fiery denunciation at the 
 head of Yancey, with whom my law-partnership 
 
 G 
 
62 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 had been some time at an end. Several times I 
 was openly threatened with " tar and feathers," 
 and once was hooted down from the rostrum. 
 
 It was during the heat of the presidential cam 
 paign, that the Hon. Jabez L. M. Curry, member 
 of Congress for the 7th Congressional District of 
 Alabama, advertised himself to speak at the town 
 of "Wetumpka. Haggerty Hall was crowded with 
 a dense mass of people of all parties to hear the 
 Congressman on the exciting questions of the clay. 
 During the progress of his remarks, the orator ex 
 claimed : 
 
 " As soon as Abe Lincoln takes the Presidential 
 chair, five hundred thousand Wide-awakes, al 
 ready drilling for the purpose, will rush over the 
 border, lay waste your fields, emancipate your 
 negroes, and amalgamate the poor man s daugh 
 ter and the rich man s buck-nigger before your 
 very eyes!"* 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the excite 
 ment which this declaration of Mr. Curry pro 
 duced. Of course the Congressman " ought to 
 know." 
 
 Shortly after this remark had been made, I re 
 quested Mr. Curry to permit me to interrupt the 
 thread of his discourse, just to make a short 
 statement. The honorable gentleman audibly con 
 sented. I arose, and turned my face toward the 
 audience with the words "Fellow-citizens!" 
 
 * See page 197. 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 63 
 
 At a signal from the chief of the Secret Asso 
 ciation, of which Mr. Curry was indisputably an 
 honored member, a sudden yell shook the building 
 to its foundation. Every species of noise, and in 
 almost every degree of intensity, pervaded the 
 hall. The clamor was increased by the Uell and 
 Douglas men, who shouted encouragingly to their 
 Union representative. I fully expected Mr. Curry 
 to relieve me of all embarrassment by explaining 
 the facts. But the assistant precipitator, eager for 
 applause, and ignoring his permission just given, 
 remained imperturbably silent. 
 
 Under the circumstances, I contented myself 
 with silencing the most vociferous of my perse 
 cutors with my clenched fist, and sat down. 
 
 After the meeting was over, I dared any man 
 in the town to say that he went into that meeting 
 previously agreed to cry me down. Xo one re 
 sponded, although Kobert Clark was sufficiently 
 alarmed to have been the man. This man, after 
 having been the most conspicuous Secessionist in 
 town during the Presidential canvass, backed down 
 completely when the war actually commenced. 
 His treason was not even extenuated by courage. 
 He planted a little cotton, and so he left the brave 
 non-slaveholders, whom he had helped to madden 
 with false statements, to fight and die in order that 
 he might lounge around Wetumpka and retail the 
 news. I suppose lie was conscrijAcd, if he ever 
 entered the army at all. 
 
 Shortly after the disgraceful affair just alluded 
 
G-i THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 to, I was informed that there would be a meeting 
 for free discussion at Buyckville, a German settle 
 ment about twelve miles from Wetumpka. As 
 such meetings were very rare, I made it my busi 
 ness to be present. I also wanted a,n opportunity 
 to expose the disunionism of John C. Breckenridge 
 and others, and hoped it would be accorded me. 
 
 On my arrival in the village, I perceived that I 
 had been cruelly deceived. I do not think my 
 informant had set a trap for me, but I found my 
 self in the midst of a meeting of Breckenridgers, 
 who were assembled for the purpose of organizing 
 a club for their own party, and who were actually 
 in expectation of Breckenridge speakers from We 
 tumpka, who had engaged to be present. 
 As mere lookers-on in Vienna, there were pres 
 ent five " Bell-Everett men" and eleven " Douglas 
 men," total sixteen Unionists. 
 
 Having comfortably disposed of my horse and 
 buggy, I approached the tavern, which also drove 
 a dry-goods business, and, saluting the crowd, 
 soon found myself in conversation with an old 
 acquaintance, William Speigner, who informed me 
 of my mistake, but insisted I should speak before 
 the crowd, saying that he would manage it. 
 
 A stranger approached us, w r as introduced as a 
 Bell man, and left us to make arrangements. 
 
 There was a slight board partition only between 
 us and several practitioners at the bar in the next 
 room. The following conversation was therefore 
 audible : 
 
SCENE JHE FIRST. 65 
 
 " Did you see Bob Tharin drive up ?" 
 
 " Ya-as." 
 
 " Do you think he ll speak ?" 
 
 " Dunno." 
 
 " But /know he won t , d n him!" 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 " Bekase he s a d d traitor !" 
 
 " You don t tell !" 
 
 " T be sure. He s the very man we hollered 
 down atWetumpky t other day, and we kin do it 
 agin, I reckon." 
 
 " Go in, Pete, I m along!" 
 
 " Hello ! Jo, come in here !" 
 
 An outside voice answered, " Hello !" 
 
 The outsider became an insider. I heard him 
 enter, when he was thus addressed by the first 
 speaker : 
 
 "Jo, you ain t for lettin Tharin speak, ay re 
 you ?" 
 
 " Yes ! most emphatically, I am /" 
 
 "Well, I ain t!" 
 
 " Why ?" 
 
 " Bekase he was hollered down at Curry s meetin 
 at Wetumpky." 
 
 "Well! what of that?" 
 
 " D me if I want to listen to his d Union 
 stuff." 
 
 " Pete, you re a fool. The way to make people 
 want to hear the man is to talk as you do. I am 
 for letting him git up to talk, and then 
 
 Here followed a whispered conversation, when, 
 6* 
 
66 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 with a roar of laughter, the three, having imbibed 
 a last drink, went toward the school-house, which 
 rose dilapidated in its vine-clad grotto, not far 
 off. 
 
 Soon the " Bell man" returned with the invi 
 tation for me to go with him to the " acad 
 emy." 
 
 As I drew near the building, I heard the presi 
 dent of the "club," announce my presence and my 
 willingness to speak. 
 
 It was too late to recede. 
 
 The throng consisted principally of strangers to 
 me, but those who knew rue acknowledged the ac 
 quaintance. I could easily tell every Brecken- 
 ridger present from the expression of malignant 
 hate, or sinister triumph, which sat on the counte 
 nance of each. By my own party and by the 
 Douglas men, I was received with the most 
 marked consideration. A few moments more, 
 and I found myself facing the crowd and ejaculat 
 ing "Fellow-citizens." 
 
 I had already proved that the territorial ques 
 tion was a mere abstraction to at least fifteen out 
 of sixteen of the inhabitants of Alabama, even if, 
 as was not the case, the territories were at all 
 fitted by climate for slavery, and was deliberately 
 weighing the Union, with its countless blessings 
 to the poor white men the majority the people 
 North and South who owned no slaves, against 
 the paltry selfishness of the few aristocrats and 
 their transatlantic allies, who were about to pre- 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 67 
 
 cipitate the Cotton States into a bloody revolu 
 tion, in order to gratify- an unholy lust for 
 power. 
 
 Suddenly a man in the crowd bawled : 
 
 " There ain t no Union now !" 
 
 The crowd here commenced shouting " that s 
 so !" and, fur some moments, nothing else could be 
 heard. 
 
 Waiting patiently until the storm should sub 
 side, I replied : 
 
 " When that declaration shall be true as it 
 would never be if I could prevent it no more 
 will man be civilized or free. The despots of the 
 Old World will reinstate their empire over the 
 New; the Lion of England will again roar in our 
 forests, and her whelps will make lairs of our cot 
 ton fields and cities; the oppressed of this country 
 will seek asylums in other climes, and Liberty will 
 sink beneath a thousand blows. When your dec 
 laration shall be true, sir, freedom of speech will 
 be but a name, and, just in proportion as the Re 
 public shall drift toward the maelstrom of disso 
 lution, will American citizens be insulted, their 
 dearest privileges be invaded, and the right of 
 speech be trampled upon by infuriated mobs. 
 Yes, sir, when there shall be no more Union, the 
 Cotton States will become but a cotton patch 
 of England, over which will reign her viceroy, 
 in the person of John C. Breckenridge, or of Wil 
 liam L. Yancey." 
 
 Here the Bell and Douglas men, who hate 
 
68 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Yancey, as the author of all the trouble, com 
 menced a vociferous applause. 
 
 The president of the " Breckenridge Club" here 
 remarked : 
 
 " Mr. Tharin, you have gone off in circum 
 gyrations of eloquence ; but you have not yet told 
 us the remedy for Southern wrongs. Will you be 
 pleased, as you are a native of Charleston, South 
 Carolina, to tell us what you think ought to be 
 done by the South." 
 
 " With pleasure, sir. The South, however, is 
 rather a general term, and includes a great many 
 elements. You, sir, have, probably, one idea of 
 the meaning of the South, and / have, probably, 
 another. I will proceed to define the term South, 
 according to the idea which I have received of it : 
 
 " The South, when applied to the slaveholding 
 section of the United States, signifies six millions 
 of w r hite and three millions of black inhabitants, 
 by the census of 1850. The blacks are divided 
 into field-hands, house-servants, and mechanics. 
 The whites are divided into slave-owners and non- 
 slave-owners ; the slave-owners or cotton-planters 
 are divided into lawyers, doctors, and office-hold 
 ers ; and the non-slave-owners are divided into 
 field-hands and mechanics, with here and there 
 a professional man snubbed by the planters and 
 neglected by his own class. 
 
 "According to the last census (1850), which, be 
 ing compiled by a native of Charleston, who is a 
 resident of New Orleans, J. B. D. De Bow, is to 
 
SCENE THE FIKST. 69 
 
 be relied on by us as containing nothing adverse 
 to Southern taste, and which I now hold in my 
 hand, the whole population of the United States 
 was in 1850, about twenty-three millions and fifty- 
 eight thousand, of wjiom nine millions six hundred 
 and twelve thousand, nine hundred and seventy- 
 nine are in the South ; by the same statist the num 
 ber of slave-owners in the whole South (and else 
 where in the Union) is three hundred and forty- 
 seven thousand, live hundred and twenty -live, 
 w r hile the balance of the white population in the 
 South is six millions one hundred and eighty-four 
 thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven. We 
 will suppose that the whole increase of the white 
 population of the South is confined to the slave 
 owners, in order to make the latter attain the 
 number of five hundred thousand, or half a mil 
 lion, and suppoxiny the non-slaveholders to have 
 increased nothing, we have them still numbering 
 over six millions. 
 
 "Tims I have proved, from the admission of 
 a native of Charleston, a resident of New Orleans, 
 a graduate of the same college, and a member of 
 the same literary society (the Cliosophic) as my 
 self, that the non-slaveholders of the South are at 
 least twelve times as numerous as the slaveholders. 
 If we take Alabama herself, we will eee that there 
 are over fourteen persons who have no negroes to 
 one who docs own them. In this county, I ven 
 ture to say, that there are at least thirty non-slave 
 holders to one slaveholder. 
 
70 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 "Taking the census of Alabama, we find that 
 there are, in Alabama, only thirty thousand slave 
 holders ; that is to say, about the population of 
 Mobile. The white population of Alabama is put 
 down at over four hundred thousand ; this makes 
 the non-slave-owners fourteen times as numerous 
 as the slave-owners. 
 
 " If Alabama be divided into fifteen cities, about 
 the size of Mobile, the non-slave-owners will have 
 fourteen of them, the slave-owners only one ! In 
 my native South Carolina the proportion is even 
 more marked. 
 
 " Now, we begin to understand what the term 
 SOUTH means, as to the inhabitants of the South ; 
 but we have not yet fully defined it. The South 
 consists of fifteen States, the smallest of which 
 contains an area equal to all Greece. Without 
 particularizing, I will come right down to our own 
 dear Alabama, w T hose wonderful wealth, not yet 
 half realized, or even understood, is destined to 
 make her the great emporium of the Gulf of Mex 
 ico, and whose central railroad, just under way, 
 will, when completed, give her an opportunity to 
 dispose of the vast beds of iron and of copper, of 
 gold and of coal, which enrich her subterranean 
 recesses. (Applause.) On my way hither, a dis 
 tance of only twelve miles, I beheld the evidences 
 of mineral wealth scattered all around me. We 
 have all the facilities, also, for the culture of the 
 grape; our streams are remarkable, even on this 
 continent of great rivers, for their number, navi- 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 71 
 
 gability, and water-power; our vine-bearing hill 
 sides gusli out iii medicinal springs ; our valleys 
 also stand so thick with corn that they laugh and 
 sing. Yes, my Alabamians, our State is the rich 
 est, our rivers the grandest, our land the greenest, 
 our skies the brightest, our climate the sweetest, 
 our girls the loveliest, our boys the bravest in the 
 world (prolonged applause) and our non-slave- 
 holding population who constitute the people of 
 Alabama, irrestrainable in the sublime uplieavings 
 of our volcanic patriotism ever ready to avenge 
 even & fancied insult from a non-resident majority 
 (wild and vociferous applause) will not always 
 ornit to aim a crushing blow at the head of that 
 Heecy usurper who now looms up iti our very 
 midst to crush us into the dust!"- 
 
 Ilere a commotion sprang up in the furthest end 
 of the u academy" between two persons : 
 
 " He shall speak!" 
 
 " He shan t ! I ll kill him ! he lies ! That ain t 
 the way for a Southerner to speak !" 
 
 "Mister!" I exclaimed, "can t you wait until 
 Fm through, before you begin ?" 
 
 Amid great laughter the "president" arose, his 
 lips quivering w r ith fury, and demanded : 
 
 " How much more steam have you got on board ?" 
 
 " Enough to burst your boiler and leave it as 
 empty as your head !" 
 
 The storm of derisive laughter which ensued 
 was very gratifying to the speaker, but not very 
 pleasing to my interrupter, who sat down so sud- 
 
2 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 denly as to add a new element to the already vo 
 ciferous mirth. 
 
 When order was restored, I proceeded thus : 
 " I was saying, when so harmlessly interrupted 
 (laughter) that the people of Alabama are too 
 brave even to permit the appearance of an insult 
 from a non-resident majority (applause). Would 
 to God, J could say as much for them in their in 
 tercourse with that resident minority who, enjoy 
 ing all the offices of profit or of trust, dominate 
 over them with an iron hand ! (Great confusion 
 and voices, which I did not stop for.) Would to 
 God that I could say cotton was discrowned !" 
 
 Of course, I was here interrupted. The sixteen 
 Unionists seemed completely nowhere in the row 
 that ensued ; they hung their heads in shame, as 
 much as to say, " There now ! he s gone and done 
 it." In the midst of the row, a man with a stick 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " Oh, you traitor ! oh, you cuss, you !" 
 " Traitor ! did you say I was a traitor, sir ?" 
 ("Yes I did!!!") "That same word was used to 
 the immortal Patrick Henry, when he said in the 
 Virginia Convention, that George the Third, who 
 had an ear to hear, might have his power over 
 thrown in America. The man who called Patrick 
 Henry a traitor was himself an infamous tory, and 
 the man who says that / am a traitor, when I de 
 nounce King Cotton, who, having no ear to be 
 appealed to by his trampled subjects, is a greater 
 tyrant than King George III., why, that man is 
 
SCKNE TIIK FIKST. 73 
 
 worse even than a tory. King George had some 
 color of title to govern the colonies, but what title 
 has King Cotton to rule Alabama, to mob 
 Southern men, to trample Southern Eights into 
 the dust, and to send his emissaries here even to 
 interrupt and insult ?/i<?, a Southern man, because I 
 call upon my oppressed countrymen to be free I 
 O Alabama ! proud and glorious Alabama ! rise 
 from the ashes of thy desolation ! declare thy in 
 dependence of that single plant, which, monopo 
 lizing the whole surface of thy soil, shuts up thy 
 recesses from the industry of thy children; wash 
 off the stain of Secession from thy symmetrical 
 limbs in tny beautiful streams, and, under the star- 
 spangled banner, defy the Yanceys and the Breck- 
 enridges to rivet thy chains forever upon tliee ! 
 
 " Would to God that Southern Eights could be 
 respected by Southern men / that every possible 
 facility could be afforded for Alabama s full de 
 velopment ; then we would not have negro-equality 
 forced upon us by a resident minority, who now 
 perform the almost entire labor of the State with 
 their Uack field-hands and mechanics, and thus 
 make four hundred thousand slaves drive five hun 
 dred thousand freemen from the culture of the 
 soil, from the work-bench, from the factory, and 
 from that personal equality, without which State 
 equality is but the shadow of a shade !" 
 
 Here several planters abruptly left the academy 
 and gathered under trees outside of the building. 
 
 u I was asked what remedy against Southern 
 
74 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 wrongs, I, as a South. Carolinian, would advocate. 
 South Carolina, gentlemen, has no right to dictate 
 a policy to Alabama, any more than Massachu 
 setts has. Nor lias Massachusetts any right to 
 dictate a policy to South Carolina. We are here 
 as Alabamians, and as an adopted citizen of Ala 
 bama, of which my wife and child are natives, I 
 answer the gentleman s question : 
 
 " The best remedy for Southern wrongs is the 
 vindication of Southern rights not alone the 
 rights to power and influence of the minority 
 whose cotton and niggers and plantations protect 
 their rights but too well but the rights of the 
 poor white man, who owns no niggers, who owns 
 no cotton, who owns no plantation, but in whose 
 veins courses the same red stream which bled on 
 the battle-fields of 1776, to give its descendants 
 the blessings of freedom and equality. In order 
 to do this I would 
 
 " 1. Let perfect liberty of speech prevail ! Let 
 no more mobs prevent me, or other Southern men, 
 from advocating Southern Rights as we under 
 stand them. 
 
 " 2. Let the majority of the people rule their 
 State of Alabama in the Union ; and let not a con 
 temptible power-loving resident minority precip 
 itate the Cotton States into a revolution, which can 
 but end in the perpetual degradation of the ma 
 jority. (Applause by the Bell and Douglas men.) 
 
 " 3. Let every demagogue who preaches dis 
 union be avoided as a madman, and let King Cot- 
 
SCENE THE FIRVr. < ;) 
 
 ton be consigned to the walks of private life, 
 throneless and crownless, and co-equal with the 
 other trees of the field. 
 
 "i. Let the niggers le com fined to the cotton field, 
 let no more negro blacksmiths, and negro carpen 
 ters, and negro bricklayers, and negro wheel 
 wrights be used to drive the poor white man to 
 poverty and to idleness, that root of all evil. 
 
 "Then, and not till then, will Alabama be her 
 self. Then, and nut till then, will the proper 
 remedy be applied, as against Southern wrongs. 
 
 "You see, I am a Southern RiyhU man \\\ the 
 broadest sense. I interfere with no man s rights. 
 I advocate the rights of all ! Of course, I am not 
 indifferent to my own blood-bought rights. In 
 deed, as a Southern man, I cannot permit others 
 whether they be Northerners or Southerners to 
 invade my own. When I was admitted to prac 
 tice law in this very county, only fourteen miles 
 from here, I recorded an oath. Now, what was 
 that oath ? Was it to support King Cotton ?"- 
 
 Here an old gentleman, whose manners had 
 evinced great delight at my whole speech, and 
 who had been my most constant applauder, said, 
 with great glee : 
 
 " No, it wan t !" (laughter.) 
 
 I continued : " Was it to support John C. Breck- 
 en ridge ?" 
 
 " No ! siree ! !" (laughter.) 
 
 " Were you there, sir?" 
 
 " I wan t nothin else." 
 
Y6 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " Did you hear me take the oathf 
 
 " Yes ; and I saw you sign it too !" 
 
 " Was it to support William L. Yahcey?" 
 
 " Not a bit of it." 
 
 " "Well, what was my oath, sir?" 
 
 " You swore to support the Constitution of 
 Alabama." 
 
 " Was that all ?" 
 
 " No : you swore to support the Constitution 
 of the United States." 
 
 " Have I done so to-day ?" 
 
 " Ef you haint, nobody ever did." 
 
 Here the Bell and Douglas men commenced to 
 applaud ; and even the Breckenridgers seemed to 
 think it a plain case, and joined the others. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I keep my oath to-day, yesterday, 
 and forever. That oath is registered in heaven ! 
 I make no light and foolish vows. That oath I 
 intend to keep always, and, if I lose all the tran 
 quillity and peace of mind I possess, that oath 
 shall never, at God s bar, reproach me as it will 
 yet reproach many other lawyers and officers of 
 Alabama with perj ury . 
 
 " In conclusion : what I have said, I have said 
 in strict accordance with SOUTHERN EIGHTS ! If 
 I have the misfortune to differ with men of wealth 
 and influence, it shall, at least, never be said of 
 E. S. Tharm that he was a/raid to give a reason 
 for the faith that is in him. 
 
 " I thank you for your attention." 
 
 After the speech was over, not a solitary insult 
 
SCENE THE FIRST. 77 
 
 was leveled at me. The Bell and Douglas men 
 gathered around me in a manner which showed 
 their intention to protect my (Southern) rights. 
 Around my buggy they arranged themselves. 
 The president of the Breckenridge club approach 
 ed with a crest-fallen countenance. 
 
 " Mr. Tharin, I am sorry I acted as I did, sir. 
 I never interrupted a speaker before." 
 
 " Considering it was the Jim t time, you managed 
 it very well for a new beginner." This was said 
 by a Douglas man, whose size was of itself an 
 argument. 
 
 " If I only knew it to be your last attempt at 
 so unworthy a pastime, I could not only forgive 
 it, but forget it, sir." 
 
 A preacher here came up and said that he would 
 like to discuss the question on the stump with me 
 at any time I should appoint. I told him that I 
 would leave it to my friends to appoint any time, 
 and that I would be happy to meet him, provided 
 there were no interruptions. On these terms, of 
 course, the reverend mobocrat saw fit never to 
 make arrangements. 
 
 But the most stormy elections must come to a 
 conclusion. The contest ended quite too soon for 
 Alabama s interests. Had the campaign lasted 
 two months longer, Bell and Everett would have 
 had a large majority, and she would afterward 
 have refused to be " precipitated 7 into a foolish 
 and a bloody revolution. 
 
 It was generally known that Abraham Lincoln 
 
To THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 was elected. The Secessionists exulted in his ele 
 vation, because they had planned and now claimed 
 it as an argument in favor of Secession. Governor 
 Moore, according to the programme of the con 
 spirators, called a convention. It is not necessary 
 here to state that the convention was called in 
 order to "precipitate" Alabama out of the Union. 
 Just on the eve of the assembling of the conven 
 tion, I published my protest against indecent 
 haste and the misrepresentation of the public 
 opinion of the State, and proposed that the con 
 vention, wiien convened, should proffer to Ala 
 bama s sister States, North and South, a National 
 Convention, for the purpose of amending the Con 
 stitution of the United States in certain important 
 particulars, unnecessary to be enumerated here. 
 Previous to that letter, I had addressed one, 
 through the columns of the Montgomery Con 
 federation, to a Dr. Wm. C. Penick, over my full 
 signature, entitled "THE LIBERTY OF SPEECH," in 
 which it was proved that the right of speech and 
 the liberty of the press had been entirely destroyed 
 by the unparliamentary and unconstitutional sur 
 veillance which the secret societies of traitors and 
 Breckenridge clubs had been too long holding 
 over Union meetings, Union .speeches, and Union 
 men. In this letter was shown the tendency of 
 mobocracy, and the people were warned against 
 the reign of terror, which ensued so shortly after 
 ward, and of which I myself was soon to be 
 among the most persecuted victims. 
 
SCKXE THE FIRST. 79 
 
 When the election of delegates to the Alabama 
 State Convention was approaching, I announced 
 myself the INDEPENDENT UNION CANDIDATE for a 
 seat in that body, and would have been triumph 
 antly returned from Coosa county, had it not been 
 for the contemptible tricks of the Weturnpka branch 
 of the Secret " League of United Southerners," of 
 which the main society, at Montgomery, was pre 
 sided over by the notorious "Win. L. Yancey.* 
 
 Finding that the secret "Committees of Safety, 
 all over the South, were too much for my unas 
 sisted efforts, which only provoked ridicule, on 
 account of the isolation of my opposition, I deter 
 mined to organize " Committees of Safety" for 
 myself and for the non-slaveholders, to rescue 
 whom from the perpetual serfdom of a Cotton- 
 Planters Confederacy was (and is) my design. 
 I solemnly devoted myself to the defence of trtf* 
 " Southern Rights." While I despised the inso 
 lent usurpations of the cotton nobility, I loved, 
 while I pitied, the non-slaveholding whites, whose 
 only hope in this world was the overthrow of 
 King Cotton. 
 
 Although not, by birth and descent, a non- 
 slaveholder, I was one of them at the time I speak 
 of. I knew that never, in Congress, in State legis 
 latures, in conventions, whether political or com 
 mercial, State, sectional, or national, had the non- 
 
 * See the Slaughter Letter, p. 212, in a note. Mr. Y. argued 
 for " Committees of Safety." 
 
SO THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 slaveholders, as a class, Lad any the slightest- 
 representation. On the contrary, "by the aggressive 
 usurpations of the planters, we had been doomed 
 to a condition, as a class, but little, if any, above 
 the negroes themselves. The dominant class, pos 
 sessing unshared legislative sway, easily excluded 
 these, \h& people of the South, under the insulting 
 epithet of " poor white trash," from educational 
 and social advantages, until the mere mechanical 
 operation of choosing which slaveholder, or cotton- 
 planter, should w. ^represent us, was all that was 
 left us. The whole point is conceded in the term 
 which the planters used to describe the modus of 
 Secession. " TF0," wrote Yancey to Dr. Slaughter. 
 ""We" the planters of course "will precipitate 
 the Cotton States into a revolution" This, he said 
 was to be accomplished by " organizing commit 
 tees of safety all over the Cotton States firing the 
 Southern heart, and giving courage to each other." 
 At first, electing Ijfight to preside over their de 
 liberations, they shrouded themselves in mystery ; 
 but, as the conspiracy culminated, after the con 
 spirators had armed themselves with guns, stolen 
 from the unsuspecting government, they became 
 less reticent, and less guarded, and the Unionists 
 found themselves overpowered and subjugated, 
 even before many of them fully understood the 
 signs of the times. What are mere numbers with 
 out organization and without arms, where a small 
 proportion of the population, armed, disciplined, or 
 ganized, and aggressive, hang like a thunder-cloud 
 
SCEXE THE FIRST. 81 
 
 over the country. " Southern Rights were men 
 aced then, from within. A resident minority had 
 obtained the mastery. The indolence of unprepared- 
 ness weighed down the feeble knees of the multitude 1 , 
 and the only way to help ourselves, was to organ 
 ize, as our enemies had done, in secret. But I was 
 not destined to succeed, at that time, with my 
 righteous undertaking. "Whether I shall ercr suc 
 ceed in organizing my enslaved white brethren of 
 Alabama and of the South is known only to Om 
 niscience ! 
 
 The secret societies commenced, at length, to 
 show their transparencies in Wetnmpka. Hag- 
 gerty Hall began to be illuminated at a very late 
 hour, and as the conspirators became less secret, 
 resounded with the tread of armed military com 
 panies. The next move was to " enlist" outsiders " to 
 meet the invading hosts of the damned Abolition 
 ists!" Xo means were neglected to fire the South 
 ern heart. Tales of insurrectionary plots were 
 bruited about the country, and the most ridiculous 
 alarm created in unsuspecting bosoms. Then 
 came those terrible associations, the inevitable 
 outgrowth of all mobocracies, associations of pro 
 scription ! The vigilance committee, the " com 
 mittee of safety," and the Breckenridge club,* by 
 an almost imperceptible transition, degenerated 
 into the Jacobin clubs of a new " reign of terror," 
 
 * The Breckenridge club in Alabama was not, of course, the 
 same kind of club as the Breekenvido-e club XortJi. 
 
82 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 in which he who would not insult the American 
 flag, was considered amenable to the mob, which 
 w r as incited to its brutal acts by the diabolical 
 leaders of the secret associations. In every com 
 munity sprung up some Robespierre, some scent- 
 er of human blood ; and to be suspected of Lin- 
 colnism their new name of Unionism was to 
 suffer, generally to die! How lamentable for 
 the sacred cause of the Union that Mr. Lincoln 
 should have intensified this feeling and weakened 
 our hopes ! 
 
 All this time my secret league of Union men 
 w r as slow- ly finding its way to the few ; but I was 
 alarmed at the thought that I had commenced too 
 late. Still I persevered ; but such was the jealousy 
 with which the villagers regarded my movements, 
 that I w r as reduced to temporary inaction. 
 
 Every now and then, by way of inspiring a 
 w r holesome terror in the minds of Unionists, the 
 Breckenridge club of Wetumpka would denounce 
 and mob some defenseless person. The victim of 
 this persecution, who did not immediately recant, 
 was tarred and feathered, hanged, shot, or acci 
 dentally committed suicide. The club denounced 
 a poor illiterate jeweler, "William S. Middlebrooks, 
 whose only alleged offence was " being a Lincoln- 
 ite!" The modus opcmndi would, doubtless, be 
 not uninteresting. 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 
 
 " SOUTHERN RIGHTS." 
 
 " To bear affronts too great to be forgiven, 
 And not have power to punish !" 
 
 ON the eastern bank of the Coosa river (a trib 
 utary of the Alabama), where it flows through 
 the village of AVetumpka, stands a small square 
 brick building, containing but two apartments, 
 and dignified by the euphonious appellation of 
 the " Calaboose." Herein are incarcerated incor 
 rigible negroes, or belligerent countrymen, who 
 become riotous over the fruits of their exchanges 
 with the stores, which barter for raw produce or 
 sell for cash the calicoes, shoes, hats, or whisky, 
 desired by their customers. 
 
 On a stormy night, whose impenetrable dark 
 ness afforded an appropriate vail for the deed of 
 rascality about to be perpetrated, a low-lived 
 white man, Bob Clark, sneaked up to the only 
 window of the calaboose, and, putting his lips to 
 the grating, whispered 
 
 "Sam!" 
 
 Xo answer being elicited, the monosyllable was 
 repeated in louder and louder tones, until, from 
 
84 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 the floor, a sleepy grunt, well perfumed with bad 
 whisky, was emitted in a guttural 
 
 "Who dat?" 
 
 " Hush ! Listen ! Can you tell me, Sam, who 
 would be a good person to leave some Lincoln- 
 powder with ?" 
 
 " Wha sort o powder dat ?" 
 
 " Lincoln-powder powder to shoot white men 
 with and make niggers free !" * 
 
 " "Who be you ? Wha fur you gwine do dat 
 ting ? You better take care ob youself, talkin 
 sich tings to niggers ? Who you be ?" 
 
 " Never mind, Sam, I m a friend. Do you 
 think, Sam, that William S. Middlebrooks would 
 be a safe man to leave some with ?" 
 
 " What I know bout it ? Lef dis nigger lone ! 
 Dono nuffin bout it, tall. S pose Mr. Middle- 
 brooks would do bout as well as me. Yah, yah, 
 yah !" 
 
 This was all that was necessary to fasten suspi 
 cion upon poor Middlebrooks. I am glad I am 
 not master of invective strong enough to charac 
 terize adequately the perpetrator of such an act. 
 
 The next morning, as I was returning to my 
 law-office, I saw consternation written upon the 
 faces of almost all the people I met. Caution had 
 already become necessary in all Union men, and 
 conversation between them was, by tacit consent, 
 waived in the presence or hearing of Disunionists. 
 
 * Alas, how proplietic were those words of a traitor ! 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 85 
 
 Besides this, the pieces I had published in the 
 Montgomery Confederation, over my own signa 
 ture, had rendered me an object of ill-disguised 
 hatred to the partisan disunion demagogues of the 
 town. It was, therefore, getting more and more 
 unfashionable to be seen in my company, unless 
 on business. But although on that morning no 
 word w T as spoken by them, the faces of my 
 friends were full of communications, and their 
 eyes seemed to appeal to mine to know what 
 ought to be done. 
 
 That some " Secession devilment" had been 
 perpetrated, and that, too, of a bolder and more 
 tyrannical character than usual, even in that lati 
 tude, was too evident to be doubted. 
 
 Not many minutes elapsed after my arrival at 
 my office before a timid knock was heard at the 
 door. It opens, and a friend, whose present and 
 future safety render it improper to mention his 
 name, entered, with 
 
 " Have you heard the news ?" 
 
 " !N"o ; but I perceive there must be something 
 startling by the manners of the people. What s 
 up now ?" 
 
 " Promise me that, for your own safety and the 
 safety of the cause, you will not acquiesce in the 
 request I promised to bear you !" 
 
 " If I view acquiescence dangerous to myself 
 and to the cause of the Union, I will refuse it." 
 
 u Good ! Then I will proceed to tell you some 
 thing startling. As I was passing over the 
 8 
 
8G THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 bridge, a sound of terror filled my ears, while ap 
 peared, at the other end of the structure, a packed 
 mass of howling humanity. From the center of 
 the crowd towered the gleaming bayonets of the 
 Wetumpka Light Guard. Upon their nearer ap 
 proach, I perceived in their midst a white man 
 bound between two neyroes, the three dragged along 
 as prisoners in the hands of their unauthorized 
 captors. He was borne to the Wetumpka Bastile 
 (Haggerty Hall), where he is now confined. I 
 soon met his frantic wife, who was following the 
 maltreaters of her husband. I asked her what 
 was the matter, when, collecting her scattered 
 senses, she turned to me with a look i shall never 
 forget, and said that she was on her way to your 
 office, in order to get you to sue out the proper 
 writ, and requested me to entreat you to befriend 
 her husband." 
 
 " Certainly I will. Who is the prisoner?" 
 
 " William S. Middlebrooks." 
 
 "What! the jeweler?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What s the charge?" 
 
 " L-i-n-c-o-l-n-i-s-m !" 
 
 "Whops that?" 
 
 "Don t know. Some pretext of the secret asso 
 ciation." 
 
 " Why Middlebrooks is a Douglas democrat!" 
 
 " True ; but his enemies are numerous, l^ou 
 know his business improves lately, while the busi 
 ness of McKonichy, the Secessionist, diminishes. 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 87 
 
 It is mighty easy, it seems, for these disunion 
 devils to break up any man, these days !" 
 
 " This is outrageous ! I can t see how the safe 
 ty of the Union, or even my oicn, can be affected, 
 by my befriending this injured American cit 
 izen f 
 
 " Your enemies are even more numerous and 
 more vindictive than /m enemies. You would 
 sooner or later be mobbed, or assassinated ; besides 
 they will call you an Abolitionist, and thus your 
 usefulness and your day* will be brought to a si 
 multaneous close." 
 
 " .But have I not in open court, when admitted 
 to practice law in Alabama, taken and recorded a 
 solemn oath to support the Constitutions of the 
 United States and of the State of Alabama, both 
 of which have been palpably violated this very 
 morning? Did I not, at the same time, swear 
 never, for considerations personal to myself, to 
 neglect the cause of the defenseless and oppress 
 ed. * Is not poor Middlebrooks defenseless and 
 oppressed ? 
 
 u When Luther was informed that his enemies 
 were numerous in Worms, and that he had better 
 not go thither, he exclaimed: Were there in 
 Worms, as many devils as there are tiles upon the 
 housetops, I will enter the city ! This is not the 
 first time that I have risked, and even sacrificed, 
 popularity, for the maintenance of the non-slave- 
 
 * Section 732, Code of Alabama. 
 
88 THE ALABAMA BKFUGEE. 
 
 holder s rights, and I ll take this case, if I die for 
 it!" 
 
 " I was afraid you would ! You are imprudent 
 but you are right /" 
 
 The resolution once taken, I proceeded to ar 
 range my plans. 
 
 The danger of the course determined on was, 
 by no means, inconsiderable. It was, in the ex 
 citement of the hour, suicide to make known my 
 determination. 
 
 But a thought suggested itself to my mind, 
 which was acted upon with promptness. I peti 
 tioned the governor to command the "Wetumpka 
 Light Guard " to protect myself and client during 
 the prosecution of the cases about to be com 
 menced. 
 
 It will be remembered that the Governor of 
 Alabama, Andrew B. Moore, had recorded an 
 oath to support the Constitution of the United 
 States and of the State, respectively, and that he 
 had also sworn " to see that the laws \>e faithfully 
 executed." 
 
 While awaiting an answer from the capitol, 
 only fourteen miles off, still another outrage was 
 .committed, of, if any thing, a baser character than 
 the first. 
 
 Some youths, considering themselves as much 
 authorized to depredate as their mobocratic seniors, 
 visited the abode of the imprisoned Middlebrooks, 
 tore down his fences, insulted his wife, and would 
 have proceeded further ; but the heroic woman 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 89 
 
 0-ave them to understand that she could and would 
 
 O 
 
 shoot, when the terrified young rebels especially 
 Will tarn Me Williams evacuated! 
 
 It was determined to include these also in the 
 suits at law which were preparing. 
 
 It being next to impossible to get a "summons 
 and complaint" through the post-office, on account 
 of the censorship of the mails, which was a part of 
 the Secession system, it was found necessary to 
 <ret the documents to the clerk of court through 
 
 o c 
 
 another channel. 
 
 Let me here intimate that Middlebrooks was 
 discharged on the morning of the third day of his 
 imprisonment. The consequence was that the 
 writ of Jtabeas co/yiux which had been commenced 
 was never sent to the proper officer. In the State 
 of Alabama this is the judge of probate of the 
 county. lie resided at Rockford, twenty-six miles 
 of a difficult mountain road from Wetumpka. 
 
 " Had a whit<> man," so decided the vigilance 
 committee of Wetumpka, "said what Sam, the 
 negro, said concerning Middlebrooks, the latter 
 would have been liancjfd ; but, for want of ir/iif<>. 
 testimony, he is discharged. This was not very 
 complimentary to Bob Clark, but shows how easy 
 it becomes for usurpers to dominate over Southern 
 Eights ! 
 
 The answer of the governor now arrived. Xo 
 letter, no message to his legal correspondent, but 
 an order to the Wetumpka Light Guard to pro 
 ceed at once to Pensacola, via Montgomery. 
 8* 
 
90 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 There can be no doubt that my letter to Gov. 
 Moore was used by that perjured traitor for my 
 destruction instead of for my protection. Xot 
 only was his withdrawal of the Wetumpka Light 
 Guard evidently so intended, but it is not at all 
 unlikely that the forsworn governor set his spies 
 and assassins on my path, because my intentions 
 toward Middlebrooks showed my devotion to the 
 poor white people whom his excellency despised 
 and aided to oppress. 
 
 Poor Middlebrooks, although no longer held 
 "in durance vile," was compelled to languish 
 under the law of public odium and disgrace, after 
 disgrace was heaped upon him, on account of a 
 mere captious suspicion. By an almost unani 
 mous vote, he was expelled from the military com 
 pany and left in the most humiliating condition. 
 This is always the case witli the victim of unau 
 thorized power. What redress has any man, 
 North or South, who is falsely arrested or im 
 prisoned by ruffians and traitors ? 
 
 True to my oath " to support the Constitution 
 of the United States, and the Constitution of Ala 
 bama, and never, for considerations personal to 
 myself, to neglect the cause of the defenseless and 
 oppressed" I had already prepared, in duplicate, 
 the " summons and complaint," which Alabama, 
 in her Code, has made and provided as the only 
 legal commencement of civil and criminal actions. 
 "False imprisonment" was, of course, the main 
 charge alleged, and the defendants consisted of the 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 91 
 
 most influential and wealthy of the planters of the 
 community. 
 
 There was a double danger attendant upon mail 
 ing the summons and complaint in AVetumpka. 
 First, it would probably be ransacked at the post- 
 office and withheld from the mail ; and, next, my 
 own danger would be, by no means, trifling. 
 
 My mother was, at the time, on a visit from 
 my native Charleston, S. C., to "Wetumpka. On 
 her return toward Charleston, she was to stop 
 a few days, on a visit to her brother-in-law s fam 
 ily, at Collirene, Lowndes county, Alabama, and 
 I determined to fulfill a long standing promise, and 
 visit my relations in her company. 
 
 When I embraced my wife and little daughter 
 at Wetumpka, a shadow fell upon my spirit a 
 shadow from that stormy interim, that was to in 
 tervene between that parting and our next meet 
 ing. 
 
 Little did either of us think the time was so 
 near. Three or four months from that parting, 
 the husband and wife, and their two children, met 
 at Cincinnati, which neither of them had ever 
 seen before. 
 
 How appropriate it is that a loyal husband 
 should enjoy the society of a loyal wife ! The 
 former risks his life fur the Union the latter 
 leaves her mother and her childhood scenes, her 
 brothers pressed into the Southern army, the re 
 mains of her sacred dead, and cleaveth unto her 
 husband. 
 
92 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 The reflections which passed through my mind, 
 as I sat with my mother in the cabin of the 
 steamer, which was " coughing down the river" 
 in the manner peculiar to river-craft, were of a 
 varied character. About three years before that 
 night, I had alighted from the stage at the " Coosa 
 Hall," a stranger to the ways of Alabama. Full 
 of that high-toned feeling which I then denomi 
 nated " Southern chivalry," I had entered upon 
 my duties as a teacher with a high regard for the 
 nobleness of the profession, and not without a 
 secret delight at the feeling of having "all the 
 world before me, where to choose." For many 
 months after I had arrived in Wetumpka, my 
 popularity had increased. The young of both 
 sexes had courted my society. The old had com 
 mended and caressed me. In the parlors of the 
 citizens I w r as ever a welcome guest. My friends 
 were everywhere, and my enemies nowhere. 
 Among the beautiful daughters of the village I 
 found a paradise of innocent recreation. I did 
 not think to proclaim to all the world that I 
 owned no cotton ; for in the innocence of my 
 heart I supposed they all knew it sufficiently well. 
 But I w r as, unknown to myself, floating upon a 
 treacherous stream. The roses which supported 
 my reclining limbs were all artificial. Let me 
 illustrate : 
 
 . From the air of city-life, which I brought with 
 me from the " Queen city of the South," the rustic 
 population of Wetumpka had formed the idea, 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 93 
 
 "he must be rich" Xever to mortal Lad I ever 
 breathed that I was, or was not rich. The idea 
 had been burn of their own good wishes, or else 
 of their sordid desires, concerning me. 
 
 Among the ladies of Wetumpka was one whom 
 I sometimes met in company, and sometimes 
 visited at her cottage home not far from the banks 
 of the Coosa. The good sense, the modesty, the 
 goodness, which illuminated her life, made their 
 impression upon me, as they had universally im 
 pressed all who had ever had the pleasure to know 
 her. Graceful and dignified, she participated, like 
 some superior being, in the gay scenes around her. 
 The cup of pleasure, which others too eagerly, or 
 too noisily quaffed, she sipped with a retiring gen 
 tleness, which, all unconsciously to herself, was 
 the passport to many a youthful heart. 
 
 From the gorgeous temples of affluence, and 
 their bejeweled daughters, I began to steal away 
 to the cool freshness of her moonlit piazza, to 
 listen, with her, to the moekbird s evening hymn, 
 and to a voice more sweet than even his, which, 
 in all ages of the world, has had its entranced lis 
 teners. Insensibly to ourselves, our hearts melted 
 into one, and our hands soon followed the ex 
 ample. On the 20th of April, 1858, I led her to 
 the altar a blooming bride, and never has she 
 given me cause to regret the most happy act of 
 my life. 
 
 The unostentatious manner in which we com 
 menced our married life, soon removed the scales 
 
9tt THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 from the eyes of those who had supposed I " must 
 be rich," and a most marked change became visi 
 ble in the little world of my wife s native town. 
 
 The true condition of things began to dawn 
 upon me. We were non-slaveholders ! We had 
 preferred each other s society to the plantations 
 and negroes, which it is almost invariably the 
 grand object of Southern marriage to secure. 
 Having disdained to ally myself, by marriage, to 
 King Cotton, I was soon to experience the " slings 
 and arrows of outrageous fortune." Men, who had 
 looked up to me as their oracle, in politics, in 
 literature I write without egotism, for to be their 
 oracle was not much, to be sure began to detract 
 from my real merits as much as they had once 
 overrated them. One of these, whose unholy am 
 bition it was to " marry a plantation" and who, 
 after many efforts, had at length succeeded, al 
 though his conduct confessed that it had an en 
 cumbrance an unloved wife was particularly 
 marked in his opposition to myself. His planta 
 tion, in one week after he obtained it, had made 
 him monarch of all he surveyed. I shall not men 
 tion his name ; but, if he ever reads this book, he 
 will recognize his likeness in this description. 
 
 I never envied the planters of Wetumpka, or, 
 indeed, of any part of the South. My dislike to 
 them arose from their contemptible meanness, 
 their utter disregard to common decency, their 
 supercilious arrogance, and their daily usurpa 
 tions of powers and privileges at variance with 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 95 
 
 my rights, and the rights of my class. Xo sooner 
 had I insulted their self-esteem by taking the case 
 of Franklin Veitch, than business deserted my 
 office, and an odium as unjust as it was, at the 
 time, inexplicable, pursued my steps. Even some 
 of those who should, by every tie of friendship 
 and of relationship by marriage, have sustained 
 my honorable course, had yielded to the popular 
 clamor, and dared not show their kindliness, if 
 they felt it. But I had not married the whole 
 family, although I felt bitterly the tame syco 
 phancy which would pander to the mob, and 
 which, while it possessed every opportunity to 
 know the truth, would, nevertheless, "go with 
 a multitude to do evil." 
 
 After all I had suffered, there was still a tie 
 that bound me to A\ r etumpka. It was the native 
 place of my wife, and had been the scene of some 
 happy days to me. I hoped soon to return to it, 
 to clasp my family to my heart. It was not with 
 out a pang, and a fearful augury of evil, that I 
 felt myself receding from its "darkening shores.* 
 I raised my eyes. My mother s sad and tearful 
 countenance met my view, her eyes resting upon 
 me with a commiserating glance that showed that 
 she had read my thoughts. In silence we drifted 
 down the Coosa, both of us thinking of the won 
 derful changes that had transpired in my destiny 
 since, three years before, I had parted from that 
 mother in Charleston, with hope in my eye and 
 elasticity in my step. We had not met once in 
 
96 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 that three years, and now, on her return home 
 ward, I could see that she experienced alarm for 
 the exposures I was subjected to, on account of 
 my uncompromising Unionism. She had come 
 lately from a city and from a State where Seces 
 sion had flung around itself the folds of revolu 
 tionary drapery. What everybody said, she had 
 believed ; but what a different view she must have 
 entertained of " Southern Eights," when her son 
 had to go to another county to mail the writ which 
 was intended to vindicate the inborn rights of an 
 ill-used Southern man ! 
 
 After stopping an hour at Montgomery, which 
 was waving, even then, with significant flags, 
 we continued our voyage until we arrived, at 
 about 10 P. M., at Benton, in Lowndes county, 
 where we disembarked, and waited for morning. 
 The next day we started in a team drawn by two 
 mules, and, sticking about a half-dozen times in 
 the heavy prairie mud, which rose above the hubs 
 of the wheels, by the help of levers of fence-rails 
 we " pried" ourselves out, and arrived, at length, 
 at our destination. 
 
 Nature never made a lovelier spot than Collirene 
 Hill. As the most dramatic event of my life took 
 place upon this arena, it may not be amiss to 
 givo the reader a short description of its topog 
 raphy. 
 
 Collirene Hill, or rather hills, must be conceived 
 of as an abrupt elevation on the Bentonward side, 
 stretching its summit, in the shape of a broad table 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 1)7 
 
 of land for about a square mile, in every direction 
 around my uncle s home, except where a lovely 
 little valley nestled behind his house into a field 
 of several acres which he partially cultivated. 
 To the crest of the hills, from the direction of 
 Benton, the elevation is precipitous. Several fine 
 houses of wood ornament the flat stretch of ground 
 on its top, and the acerose pines twinkle their 
 fronds in unbroken forests beyond the lowland 
 plantations which lie perdu at their limits. The 
 blacksmith shop of Doctor Dunklin, resounded on 
 one side of the road, and my uncle s wheelwright 
 shop was jammed in a hollow, on the other. In 
 the former, the Doctor, a cotton-planter, of course, 
 employed two stalwart black slaves, while in the 
 latter my aged uncle shoved daily his laborious 
 plane. Both the Doctor and the wheelwright 
 would have blazed into frenzy had you told them 
 Edward Everett was not for negro-equality. They 
 had been both for Breckenridge in the last presi 
 dential canvass, and, so, they imagined they were 
 the peculiar guardians of "Southern Rights." 
 The Doctor by " Southern Rights" understood his 
 own rights to employ black mechanics to the ex 
 clusion of his neighbor, the wheelwright ; and the 
 wheelwright, who had grown gray at his work 
 bench, understood, by " Southern Rights," the 
 right of Doctor Dunklin to think as he pleased 
 and act as he pleased in the premises. 
 
 Having mailed the writ to the clerk of court of 
 Coosa county, and having addressed a letter to 
 i) 
 
98 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 my friend, Hon. Lewis E. Parsons, of Talladega, a 
 Douglas democrat, who was entreated to officiate, 
 should accident prevent the writer from being 
 present at the trial, I turned my attention to 
 the elements of which " Collirene Hill" was com 
 posed. 
 
 The little community of Collirene, on account 
 of its natural beauty, consisted almost entirely of 
 "planters." A few persons of the poorer class 
 existed among them, but their numbers were ex 
 ceedingly small, and their influence smaller. 
 
 The wheelwright shop of my uncle, Daniel C. 
 Tharin, was frequented by the "chivalry" of the 
 neighborhood, who amused themselves by shoot 
 ing at a tall board, hewn into the shape of a man, 
 and denominated " Old Abe." This crowd con 
 sisted of Col. Itobert Rives, " Professor" Harris,* 
 Dr. Dunklin, Dr. Dunklin Pierce, and others, 
 whose principal occupation, when they were not 
 shooting at " Old Abe," was the discussion of the 
 relative merits of Jeff. Davis, Bill Yancey, and 
 Alexander H. Stevens. Dr. Dunklin Pierce hav 
 ing just returned from witnessing the inauguration 
 of Davis, at Montgomery, was full, to bursting, 
 with enthusiasm and "chivalry." Such was his 
 delight at the " success" of Secession, which, he 
 claimed, was insured by the inauguration of Jeff. 
 Davis, that he rushed toward the imperturbable 
 " Old Abe, and fired his navy-revolver six 
 times in rapid succession, without a single ball 
 coming out of the muzzle, although the smothered 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. DO 
 
 reports were all heard. Upon examination, it was 
 discovered that the weapon had burst at the side. 
 This event brought an expression of dismal augury 
 upon the face of the crowd. " Old Abe* seemed 
 to chuckle inwardly at the cont re-temps, as much 
 as to say : * Young man, you are spared to die bv 
 
 / O */ v 
 
 a /Htlhr, not a lire-arm, while 1 am destined to 
 outlive this miserable farce/ The next time 1 
 heard the report of gunpowder in commemoration 
 of a president s inauguration, was when, standing 
 on the levee of Cincinnati, an exile as I was, a few 
 weeks afterward, I heard the mighty voices of 
 cannon announcing the accession to the presiden 
 tial chair of the nation, of that man, who, once a 
 conservative patriot, has had the folly to yield to 
 the pressure of radicalism, and who, confused by 
 the clash of arms, has forgotten his letter to Horace 
 Greeley, wherein he promises that he u would save 
 the Union" "Lincoln-powder 1 no longer means 
 any thing. It should signify the u Union of our 
 forefathers," it should mean that all who resist 
 the restoration of the American Union, whether! 
 they swear by the Ivichmond Examiner or the 
 New York Tribune, whatever be their motive, 
 must be classed in the same black category of 
 treason and of crime. 
 
 The would-be inauguration of Davis occurred 
 on the ISth, or llHh of February, 18(51. The 
 dramatic scene of my life was, in a few days, to 
 begin. 
 
 I had next to combat the long-standing preju- 
 
100 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 dices and secession proclivities of my uncle. I 
 was very earnest in my advocacy of my correct 
 views of " Southern Rights." These views were 
 and are defensive of the white n on slaveholders of 
 the South ; first, by restoring the Union through 
 their votes, "by means of previous secret organiza 
 tion ; and then, by confining slave-labor to the 
 cotton-fields exclusively, leaving the anvil and the 
 work-bench, and the trades of life under the con 
 trol of the poor white population. 
 
 The abuse of the " peculiar institution," I ar 
 gued, had overshadowed and destroyed all other 
 institutions of the country. The institutions of 
 free-press, free-speech, and represented taxation, 
 for which last the war of Independence had been 
 waged where were they ? The Legislature, which 
 framed the artful call for a Secession Convention 
 consisted only of cotton-planters, the represent 
 atives, lond fide, of cotton-planters, and there 
 fore of their " peculiar institution." The perjured 
 governor of the State, himself a cotton-planter, of 
 course, had convoked the Legislature and, through 
 it, the Convention, for the avowed supremacy of 
 " King Cotton." The election of delegates to the 
 Convention was an insult to every man in Alaba 
 ma who planted no cotton, who owned no slave, 
 or who thought he was a freeman. In almost 
 every county in South Alabama, the cotton- 
 planters permitted no one to be nominated who 
 did not support Secession. In middle and north 
 ern Alabama, the candidates were all secretly 
 
SCENE TiLE -&ECt>ND. I Ol 
 
 agreed on precipitation. Cotton-planters ^>Y>, and 
 cotton-planters con. The people elected Union 
 men, as thev thought, but the Union men voted 
 
 t> 
 
 disunion, according to previous agreement ; and 
 the people, accustomed to be " sold/ were told 
 that the measure was imperative to save Alabama 
 from "invasion," and, in the next breath, prom 
 ised them that Secession would be "peaceable." 
 Coosa and Tallapoosa counties, adjoining each 
 other, sent men to the Convention, who denounced 
 Secession from every stump; and " pledged their 
 counties to Secession," when overawed by the pres 
 ence of King Cotton. Tom Wats who " planted 
 cotton in Alabama and Texas, and who, by es 
 pousing the cause of Bell and Everett, had gained 
 tremendous power in Alabama showed why he 
 had once advocated the " Union, the Constitution, 
 and the enforcement of the laws/ Mr. Yancey 
 moved that the Secession flag (the State flag he, 
 called it) should be raised, each day at certain 
 hours, from the dome of the State capitol. Tom 
 AVats moved as an amendment, that it " float" 
 therefrom " forever." My uncle listened with a 
 saddened, but acquiescent expression, when I 
 proved that the cotton-planters alone had gotten 
 up this revolution and that they were preparing 
 to rivet the chains which they had already thrown 
 upon the people of the State. 
 
 These conversations I purposely held in the 
 presence of some poor non-slaveholders, who loved 
 the Union, and who, for the first time, had met 
 
102 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 one of its friends, who dared to vindicate it. 
 Gradually I began to suggest the repeal of the 
 ordinance of Secession by means of a secret so 
 ciety. A small, but patriotic association was the 
 result, to which my uncle declined to belong, but 
 which began to take form as an outpost of that 
 which I had already originated in Coosa county. 
 I denominated the Collirene Society, the " TEUE 
 SOUTHEEN RIGHTS CLUB." 
 
 The purpose of this association was to "fight 
 fire with fire," -to band together all who con 
 fessed other interests than those of "King Cotton," 
 and, at the maturity of the plan, to elect a Union 
 governor, pledged to call a convention of the 
 people, and, by the votes of the non-slaveholding 
 population, to repeal the infamous ordinance of 
 Secession, which had been passed, as I have before 
 intimated, without the presence in Convention of 
 a single non-slaveholder, as the representative of, 
 by far, the most numerous class in the State in 
 the United States in the world ! 
 
 But, there was a traitor in that devoted little 
 band, who, owning neither slave nor cotton, but 
 willing to sell his little soul for a nigger and he 
 could not but have been the gainer in such a bar 
 gain betrayed his birthright for a mess of pot 
 tage. 
 
 John Y. Buford, having become the recipient 
 of the Secret, and having become a subscriber to 
 the Non-slaveholder, which I was, in the fullness 
 of time, to have published in Montgomery, in ad- 
 
SCENE THE SECOND. 103 
 
 vocacy of the rights of the " poor white trash, 
 impeached me before the so-called " LEGAL VIGI 
 LANCE COMMITTEE OF COLLLRENE BEAT, LOWNDES 
 COUNTY, ALABAMA," and, one fine morning, while 
 at breakfast, I was informed that five gentlemen 
 of the vigilance committee desired to see me. 
 
 At that dreadful announcement an ominous 
 silence brooded over the scene. The suspended 
 fork remained rigid in mid-air ; the viand, un- 
 tasted, was slowly redeposited upon the plate 
 from which it had just been lifted ; the distended 
 eye glanced from face to face, only to grow more 
 awe-struck from the view. 
 
 AVitli compressed lip and beating heart, I said : 
 " Ask them to walk in. 
 
 In a few moments the shuffling of feet in the 
 
 passage and the movincr of chairs in an adjoining 
 ft > 
 
 room gave token of the commencement of an 
 ordeal from which an escape was, at that period, 
 an unrecorded phenomenon. 
 
 On my way from one room to the other, a 
 lifetime of thought passed through my mind. 
 My oath Franklin Vcitcli, " defenseless and op 
 pressed" William S. Middlebrooks, "oppressed 
 and defenseless and now their unperjured 
 champion all three of us seemed clanking our 
 chains in a vain chorus to assail the ear of nar 
 cotized Liberty. I could not feel my situation as 
 keenly as prudence might require. My indigna 
 tion for a moment overpowered every other feel 
 ing, and I had to curb my wrath in order to enter 
 
104: THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 the room. My partial success was increased by 
 my mother s hand and voice, the one laid on my 
 shoulder, the other breathing in my ear 
 
 " Robert ! Robert ! for my sake !" 
 
 I entered the room with outward composure. 
 The sub-committee, all strangers, exchanged salu 
 tations with me, and a silence of several minutes 
 reigned throughout the apartment. 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 
 
 "THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE." 
 
 "What are fifty, what a thousand slaves, 
 Matched to the sinews of a single arm 
 That strikes for liberty . " J>r<mke. 
 
 " MK. THARIX," said their spokesman, " we have 
 "been appointed by the vigilance committee of this 
 heat to request your presence hefore them, because 
 of certain charges which have been laid against 
 you. The committee is now in session, awaiting 
 your presence;, at the Old Academy/ 
 
 I repressed an imprudent outburst of indigna 
 tion, and then, in the calmest tones I could com 
 mand, I asked 
 
 " I*y what authority does a vigilance committee 
 summon a free-born c d izen of Alabama before 
 tin r:i to answer charges, and so forth ?" 
 
 " By their own authority!" was the fierce and 
 insulting reply. 
 
 " A civil question deserves a civil answer. I 
 am about to show, sirs, that your vigilance com 
 mittee has no authority in the premises, and that 
 its members lay themselves open to an action at 
 law." 
 
10G THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 "What use, Mr. Tharin. in arffiiinu this ques- 
 
 O O "1 
 
 tion ? If you are innocent, you ought to have no 
 objection to appear before any tribunal." 
 
 "That s so!" exclaimed the Hercules of the 
 crowd, who sported an immense white cowhide, 
 white pants, white hair, white eyebrows, eyelashes, 
 eyes the incarnation of his dreaded " king." 
 
 "That s so !" reiterated the others, in sycophan 
 tic chorus. 
 
 "It is not always right," I rejoined, "for inno 
 cent individuals to appear, at their summons, 
 before every unauthorized tribunal.* Innocence 
 would be unavailing, if it did not exempt its pos 
 sessor from illegal and unauthorized restraint. 
 Even guilt is exempt from illegal arrest. 
 
 " Besides, gentlemen, I have taken an oath to 
 sustain tJte Constitution of Alabama, which denies 
 to you such powers as you assume.^ 
 
 " Again : you believe in State sovereignty. 
 You would consider any man worthy of execration 
 (and so do I) who would deny legitimate State 
 sovereignty. State-sovereignty, c State-equality 
 
 * In any section of my country, let me add. 
 
 f " No person shall be acc-ufnd, arrested, or detained, ex 
 cept in cases ascertained by law, and according to the forms 
 which the same has prescribed: and no person shall be pun 
 ished but in virtue of a laic established and promulgated prior 
 to the offence and legally applied." Constitution of Alabama, 
 Art. I., 2. 
 
 Also : " No person shall be deprived, of life, liberty, or prop- 
 erty, but by due course of law." Id., 10. 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 307 
 
 these are the great war-cries of the da} . It is 
 the very foundation-stone of the coining revolution. 
 Xow, on page 113, Hoffman s Chancery Practice, 
 volume i., you will find substantially these words: 
 A State is not sovereign, unices she afford perfect 
 immunity to all her citizens against every species 
 of arrest, except by her own officers and according 
 to her own laws. You are, therefore, invited, 
 gentlemen, to produce your legal warrant, in the 
 hands of a legal >/# > / , containing a xjx-cijir chary* , 
 and appointing a stated day of public trial, in the 
 2>roi> t r p a<-c, and by a jury of my peers.* To 
 such an officer, and to no other, can 1 surrender 
 the sacred person of an American citizen, consist 
 ently with my oath to support the Constitution of 
 Alabama, consistently with my convictions of that 
 personal equality, which is not inferior to even the 
 State equality you boast, or consistently with that 
 view of State sovereignty which ynu and / enter 
 tain, although from different points of view. 
 AVith whatever force, therefore, an American citi 
 zen, claiming for his justification and protection 
 the laws of his nation and the laws of his State, 
 can enunciate such a conclusion, I must decline 
 your invitation to answer charges before the 
 vigilance committee, which you, in part, repre 
 sent/ 1 
 
 * " The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate." 
 Constitution of Alabama, Art. I., ^ 28. 
 
 "No power of suspending; laws shall be exercised, except 
 bv the general assembly or its authority." Id., 15. 
 
108 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " What are we to do, Tharin, with such, doc 
 trines, in times like these ?" 
 
 " The revolutionary period in every country is 
 tlie period most in need of the observance of con 
 stitutional law. The innocent could quite easily 
 be made the victims of proscription, and even of 
 mobocratic violence, were it not for the aegis of the 
 sacred law, which was intended to shelter all per 
 sons in times like these, unless and until repealed 
 by the proper authority. The laws which protect 
 me are beyond the reach of your vigilance commit 
 tee, and even of change, being forever excepted 
 from all legislation infiduro, by the first article, 
 or c declaration of rights, as it is called, of the 
 Constitution of Alabama. * 
 
 " Gentlemen," cried their chairman, " we have 
 been commanded to take this man, dead or alive, 
 before the legal vigilance committee of Collircne 
 Beat, Lowndes county, Alabama : we have ac 
 cepted the commission. Shall we proceed at once 
 to the discharge of our duties ?" 
 
 The speaker and the "accused" simultaneously 
 started to their feet, the former to offer, the latter 
 to repel, violence. While thus they stood at op 
 posite sides of the circle confronting each other, 
 a voice struggled up through a cloud of cigar 
 
 * " Every thing in this article is excepted out of the general 
 powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and 
 all laws contrary thereto shall be void." Const. Ala.> Art. I., 
 part of 30. 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 109 
 
 smoke in the corner, and "Williams, the irate 
 chairman, obeyed the injunction : 
 
 " Sit down, gentlemen." 
 
 The smoker then continued thus : 
 
 " Xo man can listen to Mr. Tharin and not be 
 impressed with the fact that he has studied this 
 whole question better than we have. But only to 
 a certain extent, Mr. Tharin, will our course be 
 imperative. Have you any suggestion, through us, 
 to make to the vigilance committee ( If so, we 
 can carry it up, unless the majority here dissent. 
 If the latter, you must go, nolens vole us" 
 
 The prisoner (for such evidently I was), after a 
 moment s reflection, said : 
 
 u It the vigilance committee will resolve them 
 selves into an assemblage of citizens, without or 
 ganization, I will add/ cM them on subjects of in 
 terest which occupy the universal mind." 
 
 A majority of the sub-committee were found 
 willing to carry up the proposition, and, leaving a 
 guard over their prisoner their prisoner in avowed 
 defiance of all law national, State, and even CON 
 FEDERATE the others departed. 
 
 Four hours of keenest suspense elapsed, and the 
 committee of live reassembled to inform the pris 
 oner that his proposition was acceded to by a ma 
 jority of three! 
 
 The uncle of the accused, who had formerly 
 
 been a member of the vigilance committee, and 
 
 who remained present, as a member, so long as 
 
 he thought good might be eil ected, when the 
 
 10 
 
1 1 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 small majority of three was reported in favor OT 
 a measure which, conscience dictated, ought to 
 have received unanimous o/pprobation, resigned! 
 
 Poor old man ! He had never been of them, al 
 though with them. 
 
 He declared himself " ashamed" of having been, 
 at any time, a member of so merciless and un 
 authorized a body of men. He reported after 
 ward, that knives and revolvers were freely drawn 
 in the heat of debate, and that not a few insisted 
 that the only balsam for the wounded dignity of 
 the vigilance committee, would be the uncondi 
 tional surrender of the person of the accused. 
 Put, by the most cunning brains present, it was 
 urged that they did not know how large a party 
 in other counties Mr. Thar in might have; that, 
 since he had appealed to law, a seeming acqui 
 escence on their part would disarm popular ob 
 jection and forestall organized opposition; that lie- 
 was an outspoken man, and would implicate him 
 self before the assembly he had convoked, by de 
 fending, instead of denying his acts and opinions, 
 and that their future course, as an organization, 
 would be based upon his admissions in his speech, 
 which were sure to be on the side of the Union, 
 and hostile to the " Confederate States of America." 
 
 In custody of his guard (it is best to call things 
 by their right names), in custody of his guard the 
 " orator of the day" advanced into the midst of 
 his enemies, saluting the few whom he knew, and 
 compressing under his arm the Code of Alabama 
 
SCKXE THE THIRD. Ill 
 
 and Hoffman s Chancery Practice, the former of 
 which contained (contains!) enough to consign to 
 the penitentiary, or to a fine of one thousand dol 
 lars, one or both, each of the party who had al- 
 readv invaded his rights by brininnij; him before 
 
 f O / o O 
 
 an unauthorized body. 
 
 The eyes of that crowd of semi-barbarians in 
 voluntarily turned upon the slight figure, who, 
 walking through their midst, entered the building, 
 in and around which they were assembled. ^Num 
 bers were too much enraged to enter the apartment ; 
 but all l:<ti <l what followed. The largest part of 
 the crowd was without. 
 
 The glances of the Unionist traveled around the 
 host of his enemies. The very large majority of 
 youtJis, the general expression of their countenan 
 ces, were unfavorable indications. The building 
 was small, the seats consisting of loose boards 
 laid over pine logs, and at right angles with 
 them. 
 
 The horses of the crowd were tied by their 
 bridles to swinging limbs on the skirts of the hill. 
 Their stolid indifference was in marked contrast 
 to the interest the excitement of the human 
 brutes in their vicinity. 
 
 The day was lovely, the air transparent, reveal 
 ing, far out through the sentinel pines that line 
 the summit of " Collirene Hill, one of the most 
 Eden-like countries on the globe. Here and there, 
 from the lovely valley rose grouped or solitary 
 hills, embosomed in lields ju.-t losing the russet of 
 
112 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 winter in the buds of early spring. In that val 
 ley, as in countless others in that State, slumbered 
 the unappropriated wealth of inexhaustible mines 
 and quarries of almost every species of metalifer- 
 ous and rupiferous deposit. Fountains of medi 
 cinal value gushed from the gorgeous hill-sides 
 "vitiferi collet which, at the proper season, 
 presented their luscious clusters to unrealized 
 vintages. Above them all, obscuring the purple 
 sky, towered the colossal, almost palpable form 
 of " King Cotton," who, monopolizing with des 
 potic sway the whole surface of the earth, locked 
 up her recesses from the miner s shaft, the geolo 
 gist s hammer ; denouncing all such "new-fangled 
 notions" as among the " encroachments of the 
 North." 
 
 The Unionist was disagreeably aroused from 
 his reverie, which had not consumed the time 
 necessary for this allusion, by the harsh voice of 
 "Williams : 
 
 " Mr. Tharin is present," he announced, " and 
 I move that Dr. Dunklin take the chair." 
 
 The motion was carried, nemine contradicente. 
 
 The "object" of the meeting having been suc 
 cinctly stated by the chairman, at once the most 
 passionless, the most unscrupulous, the most in 
 telligent, and, therefore, the most degraded of that 
 assembly, " Mr. Tharin, was permitted to speak, 
 but to speak to the point, without preface or cir 
 cumlocution." 
 
 " Mr. Chairman : According to the permission 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 113 
 
 of this assembly I am here to speak perhaps to 
 die ! I know not and were it not for my family, 
 whom God preserve I care not which ; for 1 
 have lived to see the day in American history 
 when whosoever would save his life all that 
 makes life endurable in the pursuit of true happi 
 ness shall lose it ; when truth must be spoken 
 with cautious smoothness ; when freedom of 
 speech once a right of American citizens, and 
 still theoretically granted all over the land must 
 be begged as a boon, is extended as an unmerited 
 favor, and received as an undeserved privilege ; 
 when secret associations 
 
 Xow bolted upright an uncouth barbarian 
 by the name of CARSON, by former occupation an 
 overseer, and newly promoted by testamentary 
 benevolence to the proud position of a cotton 
 planter. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," he screamed, "I move that 
 Mr. Tharin be required to make no such allusions, 
 but to defend himself from charges made against 
 him, and in the briefest manner possible." 
 
 "That s so!" "That s it!" traveled from lip 
 to lip around the room, and echoed from many of 
 the crowd without, until the president, rapping 
 with his knuckles, obtained (what he called) " or 
 der," and, smiling sarcastically, sneered : 
 
 " Friends, we are here to listen to a speech from 
 
 the orator of the day (laughter). One at a time 
 
 if you please (laughter). You put the culprit (!) 
 
 on his guard by these unseasonable interruptions. 
 
 10* 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Besides we all of us are here as members of the 
 vigilance committee ; therefore his polluting and 
 anti-southern doctrines can demoralize (!) none of 
 us. I feel great curiosity to hear him through." 
 
 " As I was saying, sir, when interrupted, I have 
 lived to see secret associations usurp the functions 
 of the outraged law, and mobs imprison and even 
 execute innocent persons without a trial, judge, or 
 jury ! Alas ! I have lived to see the day 
 
 " You wouldn t live to see many more if I had 
 the will of you," growled Carson. 
 
 "When all the dearest privileges and time- 
 honored rights of Americans are practically de 
 nied ; when taxation without representation 
 oppresses God s poor, for the "benefit of the rich, 
 in every State in this Union, and the non-slave 
 holders of my native section, although a very 
 large majority of the population, are compelled 
 to pay their tribute into the treasury for the ben 
 efit of the cotton planters, who monopolize as, 
 jure divino, their own, all the offices, honors, 
 and emoluments of government, in direct viola 
 tion of the very first section of the very first Ar 
 ticle of the Constitution of Alabama."* 
 
 * "ARTICLE I. Declaration of Rights. (Constitution of 
 Alabama.) 
 
 " That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty 
 and free government may be recognized and established, we 
 declare : 
 
 " SEC. 1. That all freemen, when they form a social com 
 pact, are equal in rights ; and that no man, or set of men are 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 115 
 
 "All white men in Alabama, arc declared unal 
 terably free and coital. But, under the name of 
 Secession, a Iteign of Terror lias already over 
 turned the iua l d<j of white men, and is rapidly 
 degrading, below the level of the negro, every 
 free-born voter who prefers not Secession before 
 liis chief joy. Where now are demoeratical insti 
 tutions ^ Where now is the Democratic Party ? 
 Kiven in twain, powerless to save the Union, or 
 even itself, trampled into dust and mockery! 
 On its ashes Aristocracy has reared a throne, 
 upon whose downy summit reclines a d<spot 
 whom 1 am commanded to obey as ?//// sove 
 reign! King Cotton is his terrible name, lie 
 flourishes his bloody sceptre over the poor white 
 trash who encumber the soil sacred to the patent 
 leathers of the patriarchs of the peculiar in 
 stitution. 
 
 "Why, Dunklin, he s a damned Abolitionist, 
 exclaimed Carson, who could not contain himself 
 another minute. 
 
 " Hush, Carson," hissed the irate president 
 through his clenched teeth, at the same time 
 rolling his basilisk eyes askance at the speaker. 
 
 "If I speak at all, Mr. Chairman, I will speak 
 as a free white citizen of Alabama should speak. 
 I am coerced into speaking thus by my solemn 
 
 entitled to exclusive, separate public emoluments or privi 
 leges, but in consideration of public services." Constitution 
 of Alabama. 
 
118 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 trayed by your passions, and the excitements of 
 the hour, into lending yourselves to a movement 
 fraught with dangers to the State, of which you 
 took no cognizance in the hurry and turmoil of 
 the times. I do not believe now that you will at 
 tempt to carry out any infamous measure upon 
 myself. I am a native of the Southern portion of 
 these United States (sensation), and you had better 
 beware, if such be your intention, lest, in harming 
 me, you show your enmity to Southern Rigid*? 
 (sensation), of which you constitute yourselves 
 the peculiar guardians. I have friends in Ala 
 bama and South Carolina who will avenge my 
 fall by the utter abolition of the illegal tribunals 
 which now burden the country with their dia 
 bolical and unconstitutional oppressions, and who 
 will call to a strict account the human instru 
 mentalities through whom King Cotton conducts 
 his despotic usurpations. The people of the South, 
 although now unprepared to see in me their best 
 friend, will one day do justice to my patriotism, 
 while that small but artful and enterprising mi 
 nority, * the cotton planters of the South, will 
 receive the execrations of civilized mankind ! 
 
 * "All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combi 
 nations and associations, under whatever plausible character, 
 with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the 
 regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, 
 are destructive of this fundamental principle (loyalty) and of 
 fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an 
 artificial and extraordinary force, to put in place of the dele- 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 119 
 
 "I have only to demand, in conclusion, that, 
 for the sake of public justice, and, in order to give 
 a citizen his right of self-justification, you abstain 
 from all manifestations of mobocracy toward un 
 person, and that you obtain a warrant for my ar 
 rest from the proper legal authority, containing 
 specific charges, if there be any, really, with a 
 notice of time and place of trial, by a legally im 
 paneled and sworn jury of my peers. 
 
 "This right 1 claim, together with the right to 
 retire, at once, to my present abode, unmolested 
 and undetained." 
 
 The "orator of the day then sat down, while a 
 deathlike silence pervaded the apartment. His 
 excited vision traveled resolutely if not calmly 
 over that throng, noting the effect of his re 
 marks, and weighing his chances of escape. No 
 word being spoken, he rose, took his books from 
 the bench, and, taking his hat in his hand, looked 
 toward his uncle, who, sitting with bent head, 
 seemed frozen to apprehensive silence. Touch 
 ing him upon the shoulder, he ejaculated, 
 "Come!" 
 
 As the two were proceeding toward the door, 
 one of the banditti, Col. ROBERT RIVES, rose, and, 
 in a voice almost inarticulate with passion, moved 
 that the vigilance committee " now 2:0 into secret 
 
 gated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but 
 artful and enterprixiny -minority "f the community," etc. 
 Farewell Address of Georye Washington, 17tk fccptonbcr, 179G. 
 
118 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 trayed by your passions, and the excitements of 
 the hour, into lending yourselves to a movement 
 fraught with dangers to the State, of wliicli you 
 took no cognizance in the hurry and turmoil of 
 the times. I do not believe now that you will at 
 tempt to carry out any infamous measure upon 
 myself. I am a native of the Southern portion of 
 these United States (sensation), and you had better 
 beware, if such be your intention, lest, in harming 
 me, you show your enmity to Southern Rights 
 (sensation), of which you constitute yourselves 
 the peculiar guardians. I have friends in Ala 
 bama and South Carolina who will avenge my 
 fall by the utter abolition of the illegal tribunals 
 which now burden the country with their dia 
 bolical and unconstitutional oppressions, and who 
 will call to a strict account the human instru 
 mentalities through whom King Cotton conducts 
 his despotic usurpations. The people of the South, 
 although now unprepared to see in me their best 
 friend, will one day do justice to my patriotism, 
 while that small but artful and enterprising mi 
 nority, * the cotton planters of the South, will 
 receive the execrations of civilized mankind ! 
 
 * " All obstructions to the execution of tlie laws, all combi 
 nations and associations, under whatever plausible character, 
 with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the 
 regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, 
 are destructive of this fundamental principle (loyalty) and of 
 fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an 
 artificial and extraordinary force, to put in place of the dele- 
 
SCENE THE THIRD. 119 
 
 "I have only to demand, in conclusion, that, 
 for the sake of public justice, and, in order to give 
 a citizen his right of self-justification, you abstain 
 from all manifestations of mobocracy toward my 
 person, and that you obtain a warrant for my ar 
 rest from the proper legal authority, containing 
 specific charges, if there be any, really, with a 
 notice of time and place of trial, by a legally im 
 paneled and sworn jury of my peers. 
 
 "This right 1 claim, together with tlie right to 
 retire, at once, to my present abode, unmolested 
 and undetained/ 
 
 The "orator of the day then sat down, while a 
 deathlike silence pervaded the apartment. 11 is 
 excited vision traveled resolutely if not calmly 
 over that throng, noting the effect of his re 
 marks, and weighing his chances of escape. No 
 word being spoken, he rose, took his books from 
 the bench, and, taking his hat in his hand, looked 
 toward his uncle, who, sitting with bent head, 
 seemed frozen to apprehensive silence. Touch 
 ing him upon the shoulder, he ejaculated, 
 "Come!" 
 
 As the two were proceeding toward the door, 
 one of the banditti, Col. ROBERT KIVKS, rose, and, 
 in a voice almost inarticulate with passion, moved 
 that the vigilance committee " now ro into secret 
 
 O O 
 
 gated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but 
 artful and enterprising -minority <-,f the community," etc. 
 Farewell Address of George Washington, 17lh ftcptoubcr, 179G. 
 
120 THE ALABAMA KEFUGEE. 
 
 session"* As the nephew, with his uncle, was 
 departing, he heard the question seconded, put, 
 and carried. Here was palpable proof of decep 
 tion and design. The settled purpose of many of 
 them was traceable in their tones, which were 
 " still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm." 
 
 * This was contrary to promise, of course, but the whole 
 course of Rives, from beginning to end, was characterized with 
 a fell and rabid spirit of destruction. He was eager to procure 
 my murder, guilty or not guilty. He had already made up 
 his mind, and regarded no pledges or promises whatever 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 
 
 THE MOB. 
 
 "Ali! can you bear contempt? the venomed tongue 
 Of those, whom ruin pleases? the keen sneer, 
 The rude reproaches of the rascal herd, 
 "Who, for the self-same actions, if successful, 
 Would be as grossly lavish in your praise?" 
 
 THOMPSON. 
 
 " They praise and they admire they know not what, 
 And know not whom, but as one leads the other; 
 And what delight to be, by *//r//, extolled, 
 To live upon their tongues and be? their talk, 
 Of whom to be dixpraixed, iccre no small praise?" 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 "The good old rule 
 SufTiceth them, the simple plan, 
 That they should take, irho Jttirc the pmccr, 
 And they should keep, who can." 
 
 SCOTT. 
 
 AT the door and front yard of my uncle s hum 
 ble abode, we found assembled the whole house 
 hold, who welcomed us back with joy. To their 
 congratulations Uncle Daniel responded in tones 
 of encouragement. My mother wept for joy upon 
 my shoulder. My cousins, with whom " Cousin 
 Robert was no slight favorite, clasped my hands 
 and rejoiced over me. In the vicinity of this 
 touching scene, my aunt and uncle talked in low 
 
122 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 tones, while Tenah, the mulatto servant, and con 
 stant attendant of my mother, retreated kitchen- 
 ward, muttering, u I wonder wlia Mass. Robert 
 been do to gib de wite folks so much trouble." 
 
 I could not find it in my heart to lessen the 
 brightness of that hour by a single desponding syl 
 lable; but the cloud, that overhung my spirit, 
 flung its shadow on my brow. The magnetic ef 
 fect of that secret session thrilled me with instinc 
 tive prescience. I knew my reprieve was not a 
 permanent release ; but a mere lull in the storm 
 which was even then collecting its electricity for 
 another and more formidable outburst. 
 
 The next day was one of unusual quiet at Colli- 
 rene. The male inhabitants were at a muster in 
 Ben ton, where Col. Hives, arrayed in his military 
 trappings, I afterward learned, rendered himself 
 very conspicuous in his efforts to get a mob to 
 visit me forthwith ; but he was dissuaded by Wil 
 liams for the present, as the culprit (!) had already 
 appealed to law. So they repaired to a justice of 
 the peace, who to their excited complaints made 
 the following answers in substance, which ought 
 to be kept in everlasting remembrance as an evi 
 dence of the " chivalry" of perjury : 
 
 1. The culprit could not be found guilty of any 
 crime according to law. 
 
 2. Tie had rightly construed the spirit and letter 
 of the law, which contains no language to de- 
 
 O O 
 
 scribe his acts and intentions, except to justify 
 them. 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 123 
 
 3. The vigilance committee, therefore, could not 
 act, but the people (meaning *ome people, I sup 
 pose, in sufficient numbers) could visit him in 
 such a way as to render the punishment of their 
 acts light upon each, on account of. the responsi 
 bility of all. 
 
 4-. The justice of the p -ac<^ who was sworn to 
 support the State law*, being a Secessionist, from 
 interest, and by nature a tiger, after having ad 
 mitted that the laws were explicitly on the victim s 
 side, wlcixcd his illegal arrest. 
 
 "And Felix willing to show the Jews a favor, 
 left Paul bound. 
 
 Of all this I was at the time profoundly ignorant, 
 for I was in an agony of suspense at Collirene. 
 
 What to do? Flight would involve me in dis 
 grace, perhaps in death. Every man s hand would 
 be against me, and suspicion would gain boldness 
 from any apparent unwillingness to sustain legal 
 measures. Xo ! I would await, in agonized sus 
 pense, the trial of law, which I had challenged. 
 This, I felt apprehensive, would never be accorded. 
 I knew the tiger-nature of a mob, which, disap 
 pointed of its prey, crouches immediately for an 
 other spring at the throat of its selected victim. 
 Should the fiendish leaders of the vigilance com 
 mittee appeal to that tiger propensity by artfully 
 playing upon their prejudices and fears, no power 
 in law could *w/v?, although should law-abiding 
 times be ever known in Alabama, it might accnye 
 me. 
 
124: THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 On the second day after the scenes just recorded, 
 as I was endeavoring to soothe my spirit with a 
 Look, my uncle, pale as death, rushed into the 
 room, exclaiming : 
 
 " Robert, I see a body of men approaching from 
 the side of Benton, whose infuriated gestures are 
 suggestive of any thing rather than of safety to 
 yourself. They are on their way toward the new 
 academy, where many others are awaiting them." 
 
 "Uncle Daniel, where is your gun?" 
 
 a ln the back room, leaning up in a corner." 
 
 "Loaded?" 
 
 " Loaded." 
 
 " Have you any extra caps ?" 
 
 "Yes here are a few." 
 
 " Uncle Daniel, take your stand at your shop 
 and forbid them entering your house. Tell them 
 there \vill be bloodshed, if violence be attempted." 
 
 " Courage, my boy, and hope for the best." 
 
 The ladies were at the windows for several min 
 utes watching the signs of the multitude. Speak 
 ing their wishes, rather than their belief, they 
 would exclaim excitedly from time to time : 
 
 THE AUNT.* " Margaret, they are going away !" 
 
 THE MoTHER.f " No, no ! they are stationing 
 themselves in the wood to prevent escape don t 
 you see?" 
 
 * Mrs. Martha Tharin, wife of Daniel C. Tharin. 
 f Mrs. Margaret E. Tharin, relict of William C. Tharin, de 
 ceased. 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 125 
 
 THE AUNT. " There are enough of them the 
 cowards !" 
 
 THE MOTHER. " O my God ! save my poor 
 boy !" 
 
 THAT PRAYER AVAR HEARD ! 
 
 "Take heart, mother let me know when they 
 are coming," I said, and stationed myself in a 
 corner, gun in hand, in terrible expectation. Xor 
 
 had I Ion " to wait. A " committee" 1 of about 
 
 o 
 
 twenty-jive was dispatched to -bring the culprit, 
 dead or alive, into the; presence of the mob. 
 
 A shriek from the women and children, and a 
 tumult without, drew me toward a chink between 
 the logs, whence, nnperceived, I peeped out upon 
 a wild and exciting scene. 
 
 Right in their path stood my uncle, who warned 
 the liends against approaching his premises with 
 violent intent, as there would, in such a case, be 
 bloodshed. 1 rnt on. on they swept, brandishing 
 their revolvers and unsheathed knives, swearing 
 windv, but not meaningless oaths, as to their de 
 termination to take the traitor, dead or alive ;* 
 while a bloodhound, which they had brought to 
 render retreat impossible, barked and gamboled 
 in demoniac delight, anxious for some victim upon 
 whom to exert his sanguinary instinct. 
 
 Daniel Tharin now showed himself, every inch, 
 a nidn. Throwing himself before the assassins, by 
 every possible exertion, he endeavored to dissuade 
 or frighten them from their diabolical and unlaw 
 ful designs. 
 
 11* 
 
126 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 But not long did they parley at the door, which 
 soon gave way beneath reiterated blows the 
 shrieks of the women and children arising in wild 
 accompaniment to the ferocious onslaughts. 
 
 Then ensued a scene which beggars description. 
 Those two heroic daughters of South Carolina, 
 the mother and the aunt of the imperiled Union 
 ist, re-enacted the celebrated deeds of their re 
 nowned Union mothers of 1776. They placed 
 themselves before the door of the apartment in 
 which the son and nephew was awaiting certain 
 death with the excusable resolution, however, 
 not to die alone / they denied the right of way to 
 the monsters before them, unless their fangs should 
 first drink their blood ! The voice of the mother, 
 in tones of mingled reproach and intercession, the 
 rebukes and withering denunciations of the aunt, 
 the unhesitating manly warnings of the uncle, the 
 cries of the children, these, interwoven with the 
 bloodthirsty shouts of the frenzied " committee," 
 produced an appalling medley, which was any 
 thing but intelligible to the ears of the only silent 
 individual on the premises. 
 
 In the midst of the confusion, the little cousin 
 of the " culprit, Sallie Tharin, entered the room 
 wherein "cousin Robert" was awaiting his fate. 
 She heard him breathe the words, " O God ! 
 take care of my family ! Lord Jesus, receive my 
 spirit !" This completely overcame the sweet 
 child, and she commenced weeping and wringing 
 her hands. This recalled me to mvself, and, turn- 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. . 127 
 
 ing to her, I said, with such calmness as I could 
 command, 
 
 "Sallie dear, you had hotter retire, and take all 
 the children out of the line of my fire ; fur this 
 gun will discharge its contents in that direction"- 
 pointing toward the door. "Take the children 
 with you, and get your mother and mine, and the 
 rest, to leave the doorway as soon as the ruiHans 
 enter; fur I ll kill as many as possible, and this 
 gun will scatter." 
 
 It was a double-barreled fowling-piece, one 
 barrel of which was loaded with buck and the 
 other with duck shot. 
 
 Controlling her emotion, the child retired, and 
 was making the arrangements, I verily believe, 
 when the voice of Williams, raised to its highest 
 pitch, and evidently intended for me, reached my 
 ears : 
 
 " Mrs. Tharin, we intend no violence to your 
 son ; we only want to afford him that trial he dc- 
 i/ia))d<d day In fore yesterday" 
 
 This //vVi 1 for it proved to be nothing better- 
 succeeded. Uncocking the gun, I leaned it care 
 fully up in the corner, and, to the astonishment 
 of all, advanced into their tumultuous midst, and 
 exclaimed while my aunt struck up a revolver 
 which was aimed at my head u / again appeal 
 to tht- law ! I d< lutind a Jcyal trial /" * 
 
 * No person unlawfully arrested, North or South, should 
 omit to demand, before witnesses, a le^al trial. 
 
128 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Several revolvers were leveled at the prisoner, 
 who said, with folded arms 
 
 " Fire away, gentlemen ! I am an unarmed pris 
 oner, entirely at your mercy. You are numerous 
 and well armed I am single-handed and weapon 
 less. If you are cowardly enough to fire now 
 it is allotted to all men once to die. : 
 
 They now commenced dragging me away, when 
 my mother rushed forward to embrace me. She 
 was restrained by the brutal crowd. I saw it all, 
 and, by a sudden force, hurling Williams to the 
 right and Rives to the left, sprang to her side, 
 and caught her to my breast, exclaiming 
 
 " I will embrace my mother. Mother, if I sec 
 you on earth no more, I beg you to remember I 
 die a victim to my patriotism f" 
 
 " And for your father s principles," groaned the 
 mother. 
 
 Some of the crowd had dashed forward, with 
 ready weapons, to pi-event that embrace perhaps 
 the last on earth of the mother and her first-born ; 
 but the majesty of Nature restrained their hands, 
 and in confusion they turned away, while their 
 victim handed his fainting mother to his aunt, 
 who was sobbing in the wildest emotion near by. 
 
 This, dear mother, perhaps was our last em 
 brace ;* but what cares Secession for the dearest 
 
 * The last time the Unionist heard from his only surviving 
 parent, he was at Cincinnati, an exile from his native South. 
 Her letter was dated March olst, 1861. Whether it will ever 
 again be permitted them to look on each other in this Avorld 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 129 
 
 of human tics ? Tlie man who would violently sun 
 der this glorious Union, would ruthlessly trample 
 upon all humanities, and even mock at God! The 
 man who would fight in hattle for any other pur 
 pose than to restore it, is a murderer ! 
 
 of storm, is a subject for conjecture only. An extract hero 
 may not be quite out of place. It will illustrate the plans 
 of the vigilance committee, and the manner in which they 
 finish up the work they once undertake hesitating at no 
 falsehoods to sustain their " party," as Mrs. Tharin shrewdly 
 suggests : 
 
 " Kobert Rives, who appears to be very busy in saying any 
 thing that has a tendency to save his party, told your uncle 
 Daniel that he heard that you were writing and speaking on 
 the horrors of slavery. I, for one, cannot, neither will I, be 
 lieve such a report ; but misrepresentation and misunderstand 
 ing have caused much real sorrow to us already. Yes! 1 as 
 sure you that after you left, the anguish I felt is indescribable. 
 1 thought I should have died. I could neither eat nor sleep. 
 When I received your letter, and found that you, my deal- 
 persecuted child, were safe and well, and among friends, I felt 
 most grateful to kind Providence for guiding you safelv from 
 cruel foes and a bitter-hearted set of men, who have not (iod 
 before their eyes. If there is any justice in lair, it is my desire 
 and request to you, that you will not suffer these men to go 
 unpunished. You can make every one of them suffer for their 
 unlawful seizure and detention of you. You must vindicate 
 your character, as it is and ought to be dear to us all." (Pear 
 mother, am I not nw and here vindicating my character? I 
 hope this may reach your eye even if its writer never more 
 behold your venerated face.) " You have friends suflicient to 
 help you in the case, and who, 1 feel satisfied, will do so. This 
 case is one in a thousand. Persons all around here are crying 
 shame upon such unlawful and mean conduct. 
 
 " Your aunt Martha and myself were sitting in the room the 
 other day, sewing, when t\vo gentlemen of very respectable 
 
130 
 
 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 The children, led by their father, now pressed 
 forward to kiss " Cousin Eobert," and, after the 
 touching parting, I said, smiling sadly 
 
 " Don t be frightened, little ones : I ll be back 
 soon. The law will vindicate my innocence. 
 Now, sirs, I am ready for trial !" 
 
 appearance rode up to the gate, and, after bowing very respect 
 fully, asked us if this was Mr. D. C. Tharin s hoiise that was 
 broken open to get at Mr. R. S. Tharin ? We told them it was. 
 They then asked if we knew any of their names. Martha 
 called some names, which they took down in their pocket- 
 Look." . . . . " We do not know who these gentlemen can he. 
 They said something about Wetnmpka, whither they were 
 going, or where they had been, I can t say which, but they 
 mentioned Wetumpka." 
 
 Again she writes in the same letter : " I really think this 
 piece of business is already stirring ; therefore, my dear son, 
 I think it advisable that you should remain quiet. Write or 
 say nothing at all on the subject of slavery, as you may again 
 be misrepresented. Brother Edward wrote (from Charleston, 
 S. C.) to In-other Daniel, inclosing a piece, which he cut from a 
 paper, which states that you intended publishing an Abolition 
 paper, to be called the Non-slaveholder leaving out, to suit its 
 own views, that it was to have been published at Montgomery, 
 as the editor knew a paper published in a Southern city could 
 not be one of thai sort. The piece Edward sent to Daniel, said 
 the above was communicated by Robert JUres. I have no faith 
 in that man. They are nil trembling for FEAR. Therefore I 
 say again, be cautious. The piece I allude to says also that 
 the punishment, though physically slight, was degrading. 
 Edward also inclosed to Daniel another piece. Both of the 
 pieces are headed, ORDERED OFF, &c." 
 
 Asa proper comment on this letter, I will here add the 27th 
 section of Art. I. of Alabama s Constitution (Bill of Rights) : 
 
 " Emigration from this State shall not be prohibited, nor 
 shall any citizen be exiled. 1 Art. I., 27. 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 131 
 
 "Trial TIcll ! slioutcd an infuriated mobocrat; 
 "you ve had your trial, and now you will suffer 
 your punishment !" 
 
 " Hold that dog !" cried a voice ; " or he ll ren 
 der a trial a useless formality." 
 
 "Down! down, sir!" commanded the hound s 
 owner, at the same time grasping him hy the collar 
 and calling for assistance. The dog hud eyed the 
 prisoner, as if to make sure that he was the object 
 of all this hubbub, and, having seen the frantic 
 movements of those who were dragging him along, 
 had crouched for a spring at his throat, when the 
 intervention of Williams prevented a catastrophe. 
 
 As the guard and their prisoner approached 
 the "?><// - academy," a barbaric; scene burst upon 
 their view. About two hundred and iifty planters, 
 -Teat and small (manv of whom claimed to beloner 
 
 O v 
 
 to the iirst families i, and their sycophants, are con 
 gregated around the building, awaiting in various 
 attitudes and occupations the return of their mes 
 sengers. As the latter approach, a voice, from the 
 midst of the expecting crowd, demands 
 
 " Have you got the d d rascal f 
 
 " Got him ! 1 reckon we have." 
 
 A shout ascends from the assembly, who, from 
 their recumbent or obli<jue attitudes, start into 
 bustling activity. Some replenish their mouths 
 with new supplies of tobacco ; some ignite fresh 
 
 * It will be remembered that the vigilance committee had 
 met in the old ueudemv. 
 
132 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 cigars, or throw away old ones ; some fire their 
 pistols in the air ; some rush into the building, 
 and some apply themselves to their whisky bot 
 tles, with hilarious enjoyment. 
 
 Carson, who had been quite demonstrative, 
 waiting until the prisoner drew near enough to 
 be seen and recognized, exclaimed 
 
 "Tharin, see hov? popular you are, and how we 
 rejoice at your advent !" 
 
 " Good ! Good ! Bully for you, Carson ; try it 
 again !" shouted the crowd. 
 
 The "prisoner," "traitor," "rascal,* or "cul 
 prit," as I was variously denominated, being con 
 ducted into the house, the others tumultuously 
 followed, and took the seats which ought to have 
 remained sacred to Education and Liberty, but 
 which were now prostituted to the unhallowed 
 and murderous designs of the ringleaders of that 
 tiger-mob. 
 
 "I move," said Williams, "that this meeting 
 appoint Dr. Dunklin our president." 
 
 " Second the motion," said a voice. 
 
 Upon taking his seat, the chairman thanked the 
 meeting for the distinguished honor it had done 
 him in appointing him to preside over so intelli 
 gent and patriotic a body. lie would have pre 
 ferred that some more distinguished gentleman 
 had been elevated to the honorable but respon 
 sible duty of presiding over their deliberations. 
 The great events that were daily transpiring in 
 the South would soon be read in Europe, and 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 133 
 
 bring down the applause of kings and princes. 
 Among the most dangerous enemies of the South 
 were those who, in her very midst, grew dissatis 
 fied with her peculiar and patriarchal institutions, 
 and, of course, -with the rate of thoxe who ailm 
 ent* d and up/ !</ their extension. These men were 
 the more hateful because they considered King 
 Cotton a despot, and his followers, rebels. The 
 misguided vounir man who was to be arraigned 
 
 o \j o r^ 
 
 that day before the majestic, tribunal of public 
 opinion, merited public vengeance, and would 
 doubtless receive it." 
 
 Amid great applause, the "honors" were shared 
 with a secretary, " Professor" Harris, of Virginia, 
 the teacher who daily presided over that very 
 academy; and the meeting was formally declared 
 readv for the transaction of business. 
 
 A lawyer of Monterey, Alabama, named Pow- 
 KI.I., who, like the prisoner, had xwnrn, when 
 admitted to practice law in the courts of the 
 State, to "support the Constitution of the United 
 States and the Constitution of Alabama, and 
 never, for considerations personal to himself, to 
 neglect the cause of the defenseless and op 
 pressed, 7 demanded of the committee, "whether 
 Mr. Tharin had come willingly, or unwillingly, 
 with his captors." 
 
 Mr. Williams answered, that the prisoner cer 
 tainly gave himself up, but that it was very un 
 willingly indeed ; and that he believed the pris 
 oner was still dissatisfied with the course of the 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 people (!),* and that his mother had denominated 
 the committee a brutal mob" 
 
 "The prisoner" here rose and asked Mr. Wil 
 liams if I did not surrender myself in consequence 
 of Mr. Williams own promise that I should have 
 a legal trial, and immediately on receiving that 
 assurance. 
 
 This produced great commotion. Some person 
 shouted, "Shut up, damn you!" The president 
 called " order," and Williams sat down ; while 
 Powell, anxious to increase the excitement, and 
 raging with ebullient fury, demanded of Williams 
 whether the prisoner had not behaved insolently 
 to the committee. 
 
 "Rather so," admitted Williams. 
 
 POWELL. "How did Old-man Tharin behave?" 
 
 WILLIAMS. " I regret to say that Mr. Daniel 
 Tharin being unwilling that the committee should 
 enter his house, we had to do so by force." 
 
 THE PRISONER. "It was natural for my uncle to 
 be excited, under the circumstances. As he acted 
 according to my own suggestions, I hope no one 
 save myself will be held responsible for my acts, 
 /am not ashamed of them." 
 
 THE PRESIDENT (xaraycJy). "Silence, Mr. Tha 
 rin ! You will find it dangerous to interrupt 
 these proceedings again !" 
 
 The applause that greeted this unparliamentary 
 
 * I beg the reader to discriminate between the people and 
 some people. 
 
SCENIC THE FOUliTIT. 135 
 
 act was absolutely deafening. The prisoner sat 
 down, and almost gave up all for lost. 
 
 This desultory discussion was intended to work 
 up the passions of the illiterate mob to the highest 
 pitch, and continued so long as to involve great 
 peril to the prisoner. At length, some one,* pre 
 mising that " since Mr. Tharin had demanded a 
 legal trial, and since the justice of the peace at 
 Benton had told the committee, who had been 
 appointed to see him vesterdav, k tfmt //v/ i /w///-v 
 were )iot IM liable for 1h< <>ffense\ committed In/ j\Ir. 
 TJiarin, or ttitjyjosed t<> h<irc_ b<>n committed l>y 
 /untj and since we cannot wait for \\\QfslowpTO- 
 ceedtiiys oj~ court-house machinery^ he suggested, 
 therefore, that a jury of twelve should proceed to 
 try Mr. Tharin, t/n-n ami tlt<-r< , and that the meet 
 ing pledge itself to abide by its verdict" which 
 motion, without division or repetition, was vocif 
 erously carried. 
 
 \\\ another vote, the chair was authorized to 
 nominate the jury," who iv< re not to l>e sworn, 
 when the miserable caricature of justice com 
 menced, the president, I suppose, being t\\cju<l<jr, 
 
 * I was not in a situation to ask for names. 
 
 \ " The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, pa 
 pers, and possessions, from unreasonable sei/ures or searches; 
 and no warrant to search any place, or xdze (tiry person or tiling, 
 shall issue, without describing them as nearly as may be, nor 
 without probable, cause, supported by oath or affirmation." 
 Constitution <>f Alul/nim, Art. I., sec. 9. 
 
 \ The (juneral excuse all over the whole 1 country for arbitrary 
 arrests. 
 
136 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 but the prisoner being refused the privilege of 
 challenging a single juror, if a man not bound 
 by oath can be considered a juror, and the pris 
 oner, on motion of the chivalrous Carson, being 
 also denied any speech before the "jury."* 
 
 The prisoner demanded time to summon wit 
 nesses from Wetumpka, and procure other testi 
 mony. But this was, of course, refused. * 
 
 " May I ask one favor, Mr. President ?" respect 
 fully demanded the prisoner. 
 
 PitKSinKNT. " Well ! what do you want ?" 
 
 " I want Mr. Powell, who is a lawyer, sworn, 
 like myself, to sujyw/ t the Constitutions of this 
 State, and of the United States, and who also, like 
 myself, recorded his oath, when admitted to prac 
 tice law, that never, for considerations personal 
 to himself, would he neglect the cause of the de 
 fenseless and oppressed to defend my cause be 
 fore this jury." 
 
 "Keally, Mr. Tharin," said Powell, "I start for 
 home immediately, as I have business there." 
 
 * " In all criminal prosecutions, the accused lias a right to 
 be heard by himself and counsel ; to demand the nature and 
 cause of the accusation, and have a copy thereof; to be con 
 fronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory 
 process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and, in all prose 
 cutions by indictment, or information, a speedy public trial by 
 an impartial jury of the county, or district, in which the offense 
 shall have been committed ; he shall not be compelled to give 
 evidence against himself, nor shall he be deprived of his life, 
 liberty, or property, but by due course of law." Count. Ala., 
 Art. I., 10. 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 137 
 
 Saying this, lie left the apartment, but, return 
 ing, five minutes afterward, took the side of the 
 prosecution , and was peculiarly unlawyerlike and 
 violent from beginning to end. 
 
 What a demon is the spirit of Radicalism ! 
 whose votaries jw/ ji.rre- themselves willingly, wn 
 proudly, whenever their oaths to support their 
 own State Constitutions, or the national Constitu 
 tion itself come in conflict with their interests or 
 passions! u State /vy///*/"* " individual rights!** 
 Republicanism ! awav witli the hypocritical 
 cant of Treason. The non-slaveholders the peo 
 ple Xorth and South, who love the Union more 
 than sectionalism, might well exclaim : 
 
 " We ve had wronyxto stir a fever in the blood of 
 age, and make the infant s sinews strong as steel!" 
 
 There is not a single sworn lawyer or official 
 Xorth or South, who sustains the right of Radicals 
 to mob, punish, or arrest Unionists, to rob the 
 public, treasury, to suppress free speech, or to in 
 dulge; in amj unconstitutiunalities whatever, who 
 is not a perjurer before (iod, and deserving of the 
 reprobation of all honest men ! 
 
 Powell but imitated, on a small scale, the 
 leaders of Secession in his own State and else 
 where, and deserves no more reprobation, and no 
 /rw?, than the Yanceys, the Rhetts, the Davises, 
 the Stephenses, the Floyds, the Masons and Sli- 
 dells, ct id oinnc g<n>f*< whose opportunities, or 
 talents, afford them a wider field fur the display of 
 
 i > 
 
138 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 The right of Secession, as it is called, even if it 
 exist in a State, separately, and without the con 
 sent of all her co-States, to dissolve the Union, 
 can not, even in the opinion of its warmest advo 
 cate, if he he a gentleman, not to say patriot, 
 which no Radical can be considered, legalize 
 robbery, false imprisonment, perjury, unlawful 
 duress, murder, exile, libel, and slander. A man 
 may possibly arrive at an honest conviction that 
 this or that State, or even section is wronged, but 
 two wrongs not makiiuj a rujJd, still it becomes 
 him to express himself without mendacity, and to 
 conduct himself without dishonor and dishonesty. 
 
 Political honesty had become so unfashionable 
 in Alabama, that I was about to suffer for being 
 true to my oath, and to my own convictions of 
 duty under that oath. 
 
 Villains seize the darkness of midnight for the 
 perpetration of their rascalities. 
 
 Political villains had seized upon the darkness 
 produced by their own diabolisms, to aim the 
 assassin s dagger at the heart of political honesty 
 and truth. Rioting in the licentiousness of the 
 mob they had engendered, they fattened, like 
 blo\v-flies, upon the garbage which is their natural 
 element. 
 
 Like all noxious vermin, they should have been 
 gotten rid of before the body politic became in 
 fested with their presence, and all its members 
 gre\v rotten with the ulceration of their incisive 
 
SCENE THE FOURTH. 139 
 
 II ad President Buchanan possessed either hon 
 esty or courage, this necessary cautery would have 
 been practiced. 
 
 Powell being the only at least, the most noisy 
 lawyer in the mob. managed to browbeat "the 
 prisoner" into a submission, which he could never 
 have obtained, if, man to man, we had met. Hut 
 as the crowd of Radicals silenced me whenever 1 
 attempted to speak, and encouraged Powell, it 
 was very easy to establish the following facts :* 
 
 1. L had <-onc< r*<<l with several /^^-slavehold 
 ers in the neighborhood on the subject of 1h> ir 
 Southern I tights ! 
 
 2. 1 was about to establish, at "Montgomery, a 
 newspaper to be called Th<- Non-slaveholder. 
 
 3. 1 was organizing the people into secret asso 
 ciations, for the i <j_n-<d, Ly <<>,, r.ntion* of the ( )rdi- 
 nance of Secession. 
 
 Hut the malignity of the mob was not satisfied 
 with thesc/<2r/.y, not one of which was denied by 
 their victim. The measure of their ini<|uitous 
 proceedings could not be full, until they had 
 dragged in the " everlasting nigger. Otherwise, 
 incompleteness would be stamped upon their meet 
 ing, and even reaction might ensue, honorable to 
 the captive and dangerous to themselves. 
 
 .Radicalism in both sections feeds upon only one 
 idea niyy<- r. Take the in<j<j<r out of the dump 
 ling, and Radicalism dies for want of appetite. 
 
 Vide pp. 144-152, inclusive. 
 
14:0 T1IK ALABAMA KKKUGKK. 
 
 Iii spite, therefore, of the. palpable absurdity of 
 supposing that the Secret Uni on Association was 
 an Abolition movement, or that &\Q " Non-slave- 
 lioldo ^ to be published at Montgomery, was to 
 have been an open advocate of Abolition, these 
 tilings were charged upon the Unionist, because 
 thus alone could they get rid of him and his Con 
 servative doctrines on the great national question 
 of Union or Disunion. 
 
 The r/tarf/c of being an Abolitionist was, there- 
 lore, inevitable. /Yr>^\ were not absolutely ne 
 cessary the muiw -itself was enough lor any 
 Southern mob to grow wild on. 
 
 A witness, previously suborned, viz., the same, 
 John Y. Buford, or Beaufort, who had impeached 
 him before the vigilance committee, was intro- 
 
 O 
 
 duoed. Powell led the witness to the, declaration 
 that Tharin was a " rank Abolitionist," because 
 he had heard the latter say he wanted to "abolish 
 monopolies" and that that inuxt hare meant slav 
 ery, in his (Beaufort s) opinion. 
 
 PKISONKR. " May I not ask the witness one 
 question ?" 
 
 Much discussion ensued as to whether this poor 
 privilege should be granted, and finally it was ac 
 corded with a very bad grace. 
 
 PKISONKR. "Mr. Beaufort," 
 
 The witness, who had risen respectfully to an 
 swer Powell, obstinately retained his seat. 
 
 .PKISOXKK (fixing his eye iinnly on the witness). 
 "Mr. Beaufort P 
 
SCENIC THE FOURTH. 141 
 
 ~No better result. 
 
 PRISONER (with a stamp of his foot). " Witness ! 
 rlw when I speak to you!" 
 
 Poor Beaufort was absolutely galvanized to liis 
 i eet. Trembling all over, and pale as death, IK, 
 gasped, with blanched lips and husky throat 
 
 "Sir!" 
 
 " Beaufort, don t answer the d d traitor," 
 shouted Powdl, who was joined by many others 
 with loud shouts, oaths, and threatening gestures. 
 
 The u traitor," as ///ry called the loyal man, still 
 kept his eye upon Beaufort, who had sat down, 
 overwhelmed with shame and the stings of a 
 guilty conscience. 
 
 " Mi 1 . Thar m, do not intimidate the witness," 
 bawled the inevitable Carson. 
 
 u Do not be alantwtl, Mr. Beaufort; I shall ask 
 vou no question. ^ our in<i/tn< r can not i ail to 
 convince anv one of common sense that you have 
 
 - 
 
 Here the confusion became terrific. Some " grit 
 ted" their teeth, others cursed and swore ; but 
 others still seemed disposed to disbelieve Beau 
 fort, exclaiming "Very strange!" One man 
 made bold to say 
 
 ""Why, John Beaufort looks a d d sight more- 
 guilty than Tharin !" 
 
 Seizing upon this opportunity, the beleaguered 
 man sprang to his feet, and exclaimed 
 
 " Fellow-citizens, judge, yourselves, between us! 
 .Here is a man larger than 1, who trembles at my 
 
THE ALABAMA EEFUGEE. 
 
 glance, although lie has two hundred and fifty 
 armed men to "back him. If you take his evi 
 dence against me after that, it is because you thirst 
 for my Uood /" 
 
 A witness was admitted to the stand, who testi 
 fied that Mr. Tharin had met him on the road, 
 asked him if he had any negroes, received an 
 affirmative reply, and remarked to him that he 
 had better sell them quickly, because that kind 
 of property was valueless in civil war, and that 
 Abolition and Secession were identical in their 
 effects. 
 
 One of the "poor white trash," who had agreed 
 to subscribe to the Non-slaveholder, was made to 
 testify, much to the amusement of the crowd, in 
 opposition to his own views and feelings : 
 
 POWKLL (([iiictly). " Mr. Eddings, were you ever 
 down at Monterey?" 
 
 EDDINGS (nervously). " Monterey ! Do you 
 mean Monterey in Mexico?" 
 
 POWELL (sarcastically). "No! Monterey in Ala 
 bama." 
 
 EODINGS (blandly). AVcll, yes !" 
 
 POWELL (courteously). " Have you any objection 
 to say why you left Monterey?" 
 
 EDDINGS (excitedly). " That s my business !" 
 
 POWELL (coolly). " Did you ever know of a man 
 named Powell down there ?" 
 
 EDDTNGS (alarmed). "Mr. Powell, I thought you 
 wanted me here as a witness in this trial !" 
 
 POWELL (insinuatingly). " So we do ! and rf 
 
SCENE THE FOFRTIT. 143 
 
 you ll testify rigid In this trial, I ll say no more 
 about that other matter" 
 
 EDDINGS (briglitening). " Oh ! certainly !" 
 
 POWELL. kt Xow, Mr. Eddings, do you not un 
 derstand ^(^-slaveholder to mean Abolitionist?" 
 
 EDDIXGS. " Xow you speak of it, I begin to see 
 it in that light/ 
 
 POWELL. " Did not Tharin tell you his paper 
 would destroy shivery ?" 
 
 EDDINGS. " Yes slavery of white people." 
 
 POWELL (peremptorily). u Answer my questions 
 as f a*L tJion. Do you think Mr. Tharin cares a 
 damn for the institution of slavery ?" 
 
 EDDINGS. "Xo not for them that own it" 
 
 POWELL. " "Would you like to go to Monterey 
 with me ?" 
 
 Eimixos (alarmed). " Good God ! no ! sir." 
 
 POWKLL. u Does Tharin care a damn for the in 
 stitution of slavery? 
 
 EDDIXUS. " Xo sir-ree !" 
 
 Here the crowd commenced cheering Powell, 
 and, amid much laughter, prepared themselves for 
 the next funny scene. 
 
 THE SKCRETAIIY (Prof. Harris) testified that Mr. 
 Tharin had told him he did not care a cent for any 
 ik peculiar" institution. 
 
 " Big Dudley," a young cotton-planter, a fran 
 tic Secessionist, a member of that dignified body, 
 the unsworn jury of twelve, objected to the ad 
 mission of " old man Tharin on the stand ; be 
 cause," he said, " old Tharin (had) behaved scan- 
 
14-i THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 dalous in not admitting them into his house, with 
 out making such a d d fuss about it." 
 
 But, at length, after much stupid opposition, the 
 prisoner s uncle was admitted as a witness, mainly 
 because he was a member of the same church with 
 some of the "jury" 
 
 Daniel Tharin testified to facts diametrically 
 at variance with the testimony of the crest-fallen 
 Beaufort, who was so completely disconcerted that 
 he did not even raise his eyes, and, when the cross- 
 examination was over, hope began to return to the 
 prisoner s heart. 
 
 The sketch, which lias just been given, of that 
 long trial, is short, in comparison, it is true ; but, 
 from its commencement to its conclusion, it occu 
 pied nearly nine hours of keen suspense to the 
 captive, but of keen enjoyment to his persecutors. 
 As soon as the " testimony" was concluded, at 
 about 7 P. M., it was moved that the " audience" 
 retire, while the "jury," in secret session, should 
 consult as to their verdict. 
 
 A committee of three was appointed to guard 
 the prisoner, and the "jury" was left alone with 
 the president of the meeting. 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 
 
 THE VERDICT. 
 
 "What can innocence hope for, 
 When such as sit her judges are corrupt?" 
 
 MASSINGER. 
 
 "Man is unjust; but (}od is just, and finally justice tri 
 umphs." LONGFELLOW. 
 
 As soon as the recess was known in the village, 
 
 O 
 
 trays, tilled with coffee and eatables, approached 
 upon the heads of female slaves, with the compli 
 ments of " missis," to refresh the gentle men after 
 their patriotic labors. 
 
 I swallowed some coifee, but abstained from 
 eating. Although I felt my life hung upon a 
 single thread, I perceived that thread to be pres 
 ence of mind! That lost, /was lost. I found 
 that many of the mob were departing, and that 
 those who remained were worn out with the 
 tedium of the trial. I perceived that my only 
 hope of saving my life (should the " verdict" of 
 the jury" demand it) was, by at once creating 
 a reaction in the minds of the bystanders. I 
 commenced by praising the coffee, complained 
 of the cramped condition of my limbs, after sit- 
 
1-16 TIIK ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 ting so long in one position, proposed a short 
 walk to the committee, which was willin<rlv 
 
 "} *J 
 
 agreed to, and joined in the conversation with 
 my guard, until their interest was excited against 
 their will. 
 
 I told them how I loved the whole nation, 
 North, South, East, and West, too much to see 
 with pleasure the severance of a Union, that 
 Washington had described as the " palladium of 
 our safety ;" that, when war too soon should 
 drench the land with kindred blood, and when 
 each family was mourning some loved and lost 
 one, when the full consequences of Secession 
 were upon the State of Alabama, they would 
 know, what now they were determined to ignore, 
 that 
 
 "TiiE UNION is TIIK PALLADIUM OF THEIR SAFETY !" 
 I had not ceased talking when we returned to 
 the mob, and I had won the committee, or guard, 
 to a better understanding of my views and feel 
 ings. One by one the crowd gradually collected 
 around us, and listened to the conversation. One 
 of the Dudleys said he believed that Mr. Thariii 
 was in correspondence with Northern Abolition 
 societies. The prisoner stated that, situated as he 
 then was, he could not resent this intended insult ; 
 but that he never saw or communicated with 
 Abolitionists in his life, and that the charge origi 
 nated in either a culpable mistake, or else in the 
 unscrupulous misrepresentations of his Disunion 
 calumniators, who hesitated at no means to de- 
 
SCKNK THE FIFTH. 147 
 
 stroy a man whose views on the subject of " Union 
 were so well defined as his own. 
 
 In this way, although my thoughts were neces 
 sarily more with the future than with the present, 
 I sustained a desultory conversation for (what 
 seemed to me) four or five hours, which, however 
 tedious, I would willingly have prolonged. 
 
 The Southern mind is peculiarly susceptible to 
 change. It admires courage, and despises the 
 reverse. "We do not acknowledge a consciousness 
 
 o 
 
 of fear, and detest those who manifest it. AVe 
 respect even our victims who conceal their appre 
 hensions. It would be an empty panegyric to say 
 that the subject of this sketch /c/*! no fcai\ for he 
 writhed in his inmost soul under the inflictions of 
 suspense ; but, says Shakspeare 
 
 "The brave man is not he who^<7x no f-ar, 
 For that were foolish and irrational ; 
 But he whose steadfast soul despises fear, 
 And nobly dares the danger nature shrinks from." 
 
 The secret session of the "jury" was protracted 
 to a late hour, and the patience of the outsiders 
 was taxed to its utmost. At length the doors 
 were thrown open, and the eager throng resumed 
 the benches. 
 
 A sepulchral silence pervaded the assembly. 
 The "president" called the meeting to order, and 
 announced that the jury would read their verdict 
 through their secretary, "the professor." 
 
 With pedantic emphasis, " Professor" Harris 
 pronounced the following 
 
118 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 "YEKDICT. 
 
 "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty, and 
 decide that his punishment shall be as follows : 
 
 " 1. He shall receive thirty-nine lashes, as a 
 disgrace. 
 
 "2. As soon as this shall be concluded, he shall 
 be escorted, by a committee of five, to Benton, and 
 placed in charge of the captain of the first boat 
 which stops there. 
 
 " 3. Should he ever return to this community, he 
 shall be hanged. 
 
 "4. The proceedings of this meeting shall be 
 published in the Montgomery Advertiser and 
 Post." 
 
 A profound hush attended and followed the 
 sonorous enunciation of the sentence. With a 
 calmness that astonished myself no less than my 
 audience, I said : 
 
 " This, then, is your decision. It would be as 
 unmanly for me to ask any commutation of this 
 punishment, as it is unmanly in you to meditate 
 so gross an outrage. But I do not suppose you 
 make war upon defenseless ivomen and children. 
 The immediate publication in the papers of your 
 proceedings will probably kill my wife, who, I 
 learn, is very sick ; I, therefore, move that a post 
 ponement of four weeks be granted, for the benefit 
 of persons whom even you acknowledge innocent." 
 
 No word was spoken for some time, when a fee 
 ble voice said, "I second the motion." 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 
 
 " We don t war on women ; but we don t intend 
 you to escape that way. You wish to cxcapc ux ; 
 but you can t, and you shan t !" Thus spoke 
 Itives, who, from the same "jury," was followed 
 by Carson, who thus relieved himself : 
 
 "Mr. President, the papers found on this man s 
 person show his statement to be a fact. But I 
 may as well state that his papers also show that 
 lie took a case fur a "William S. Middlebrooks, of 
 Wetumpka, accused of Lincolnisrn / : 
 
 " I will also state, cried the blood-thirsty Itives, 
 "that live of this jury, myself among the num 
 ber, voted to hang the traitor, and only gave way 
 because we could not convince the others that 
 death was not too severe a punishment. Then 
 turning to the victim of mobocracy, he exclaimed, 
 at the same time shaking his list: " \Ve know our 
 rights, and, knowing, <i<ir< maintain !" 
 
 "Considering the disparity of numbers, sir." I 
 retorted, "that is a very cheap declaration. It is 
 my own opinion, there is very little daring in your 
 present course. But, .Mr. President, I insist on 
 my motion, which has received a second." 
 
 Here a Doctor (Somebody) moved that the mo 
 tion be amended, by inserting */,/ instead of four 
 weeks, adducing medical reasons to show that 
 ladies are liable to serious injury by any shock to 
 the nervous system under six weeks. 
 
 By an overwhelming vote the amendment was 
 lost, Riv<s voting In tin: negative. 
 
 This was his chivalry! 
 
150 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 The original motion was barely carried, Rives 
 a gain voting in the negative. 
 
 It was moved that the chairman appoint a com 
 mittee of three to cany into effect the first article 
 of the verdict. 
 
 Messrs. Carson, Dudley, and " Big Dudley" (we 
 know not their Christian names) were honor< d 
 with the appointment, and proceeded to its dis 
 charge with evident trepidation. They were told 
 not to hurt the prisoner, but merely to disgrace 
 him. Remembering the fable of the "Oak and 
 the Reed," I bowed before the storm I could not 
 resist, in order to rise upright after the storm 
 should have passed. This was all I had left to 
 do. Had I resisted those light and harmless 
 blows, which were intended only to "disgrace" 
 me, I would have been murdered, weaponless as 
 I was, in cold blood. Over my grave would have 
 settled the night of oblivion. Calumniators would 
 have detracted from my reputation unchecked, and 
 no one could have defended my memory from their 
 violent attacks. This has been. the fate of hun 
 dreds, thousands ! of Unionists. I submitted to 
 the dreadful ordeal, therefore, because I knew the 
 effects of that outrage would not disgrace me, 
 while my enemies were engraving upon their 
 souls the red stripes of guilt which " all the drops 
 in Neptune s ocean" could not efface. Sustained 
 by a sense of right, even proud to receive the 
 " stripes" for my defence of the " stars," I could 
 almost see the tearful face of Washington leaning 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 151 
 
 from heaven and bidding me, "in patience possess 
 tliou thy soul I 7 I felt not the blows, I saw not 
 the forms of my persecutors ; a sarcastic smile 
 rested on my lip, while a peace of mind, which was 
 as incomprehensible as it was grateful, stole over 
 my interiors. I remembered who was scourged, 
 when Pilate yielded his own convictions to the 
 mob of Calvary. The crown of thorns was the 
 earthly portion of my Saviour. It is true, that 
 Saviour, being Divine, human cruelty and outrage 
 could not "dixy race" him. But Truth, the great 
 sanctifier, sustains the meanest of her disciples, 
 blunts the points of the thorns, heals their un 
 deserved stripes, and, through the conscience, 
 teaches them to defy the terrors of persecution. 
 
 After the outrage had been perpetrated, "7^, 
 I ask, was disgraced? the martyr, or the mob . 
 
 From a lordly height of mental, political, and 
 conscientious superiority, the victim looked dtnni 
 upon his foes. They seemed to have suddenly 
 become dwarfed, in the .stature of the inner man, 
 to Liliputian dimiiiutiveness. From the corrup 
 tion of their thoughts was stripped the vail of 
 opaque flesh. The lava waves of hell were cours 
 ing through their arteries. Mercy, Truth, and 
 Peace had fled forever from their dismantled 
 shrines ; and Cruelty, Perjury, and Murder chased 
 each other, in diabolical sport, through the corri 
 dors of Memory. Thereafter, from worse to worse, 
 the pathways of those mobocrats paralleled into 
 a continuous descent. For them, no more would 
 
152 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 shine tlie sun of Truth. Gross darkness obscured 
 their vision, and they groped their way to ruin, 
 seeking their congenial Tartarus, where their law 
 and their gospel consist in this quintessence of 
 rebellion 
 
 "Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven /" 
 
 A committee of five was next appointed, among 
 whom were Rush, "Big Dudley," Dr. Carver, and 
 Jeff. Rives, to carry out the second provision of 
 the verdict. These were appointed because they 
 w^ere well mounted, and supplied with superior 
 revolvers. 
 
 It was deemed a matter of importance that an 
 animal should be procured for the use of the pris 
 oner suited to the purpose. Some time was passed 
 in preparing a beast and such a beast ! A mule, 
 of medium proportions, whose trick consisted in 
 stopping whenever he was urged forward. 
 
 During the interval, the victim of mobocracy 
 w r as allowed to see his mother, who was, however, 
 so frantic with grief as to be unable to hold 
 connected conversation. Of a sanguineous tem 
 perament, she was naturally excitable, and the 
 irritating cause was of a magnitude sufficient to 
 overthrow stronger nerves. Clasping her son to 
 her bosom, she shrieked rather than said 
 
 "Go to Charleston, my son ! go to Charles 
 ton ! I think your relatives there will protect 
 you 1" 
 
 Quick as lightning the thought flashed through 
 my brain that to appear to acquiesce would mis- 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 153 
 
 lead my enemies who still meditated my death, 
 and, so, I said : 
 
 " Very well ! mother, I will go thither. Cheer 
 up, and you will soon hear of my safety/ 
 
 Then turning to my Aunt Martha, I said : 
 
 " If any thing should happen to me, tell my 
 brother to avenge my death, and, in any case, as 
 sure him solemnly that I never was and never can 
 be an Abolitionist, that my Unionism is my only 
 offence; that Secession Radicalism I hate with 
 a perfect hatred! 5 
 
 "And well you may ! she replied, bursting into 
 tears. 
 
 The solemn leave-taking over, your fellow-citizen, 
 unlawfully captured, unlawfully detained, unlaw 
 fully dealt with, and now unlawfully driven into 
 exile, seized his portmanteau, packed by his 
 mother s trembling hands, and mounted his 
 nondescript animal" for a midnight tramp 
 through roads covered with a thick layer of 
 sticky prairie mud, and under the escort of a set 
 of ruffians, who discharged their pistols, drank 
 whisky, and " patroled for niggers" on the way. 
 Meeting a " nigger" on the road, they asked him 
 for his " pass ;" not having any, his whisky jugs 
 were broken, and, being stripped for the purpose, 
 he was laid prostrate on the earth. These pre 
 liminaries concluded, with a bridle-rein they whip 
 ped him, amid vociferous cheers on the one side 
 and entreaties on the other. I sat my mule like 
 monumental marble, without manifesting either 
 
154 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 surprise or indignation. My own sufferings were 
 too fresh in my mind to permit any outward in 
 dication of the thoughts which were busy within 
 me. I wondered that the Caucasian barbarians, 
 who " escorted me, did not recur to the speech I 
 had made before the vigilance committee in the 
 old academy, when I had said : 
 
 "All white men in Alabama were born free and 
 equal ; but, under the name of Secession, a reign 
 of terror has already overturned even the nominal 
 equality of white men, and is rapidly degrading 
 to the level of the negro every free-born voter who 
 prefers not Secession before his chief joy. On the 
 ashes of democracy, aristocrats have erected a 
 throne, upon whose downy summit reclines a des 
 pot, whom they call King Cotton, whose in 
 visible \\&\\di flourishes the lash over the heads of 
 the poor while trastt who encumber the soil, 
 sacred to the patent-leathers of the patriarchs of 
 the peculiar institution !" 
 
 When our forefathers planned that proud ban 
 ner, the Stars and Stripes, what fiend from hell 
 dared to write this invisible sentence on its folds: 
 
 "The day shall come, when he who would de 
 fend the stars, shall receive the stripes !" 
 
 Interwoven with the stars of Independence, 
 were and are the stripes of despotism ! The slave 
 holder walks with his head among the stars the 
 poor non-slaveholder sinks beneath the glorious 
 stripes! The cotton-planter imports every thing 
 except his negroes from the Xorth, and sends back 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 155 
 
 in return whipped freemen. The cotton- planter 
 makes his black slave a bricklayer, or a black 
 smith, or a wheelwright, and then insolently as 
 serts that the Yankees alone want nctjro e^uali 1 // 
 in the South. The great champion of the cotton- 
 planters, AVilliam L. Yancey, in his " great" speech. 
 at Cincinnati, 24-th October, iSfiO, said: 
 
 " I3ut >/<(* gentlemen, want to place the negro 
 and the white man upon a common level. You 
 do it by appealing to the passions ami prejudices 
 of the people. You will get, by this means, a 
 mu j a to (//Vt-rninoit. And, when you have done 
 this, wlia 1 <ffect <// / It //,//, <>;t tht <jre<d mas* of 
 free laborers. Xow it moves in a higher sphere, 
 the sphere of free-labor, the sphere Q? freedom, but, 
 ilit-n, this vast mas* of slave tabor will be mixed 
 up with it 8 > a* to co:n< in contact 1 1* if ft you daily. 
 They ii iJl elbow you on, f// streets, in Hi, -irurk- 
 X/H>J>S, on tin 1 roads, and in, tie li<l<l. 7 lie/j will 
 underbid you for every species j labor, for the} 
 have no wish beyond the satisfaction of to-day." 
 
 See what a Jtom, -picture Mr. Yancey has drawn. 
 lloir did Mr. Yancey know that the negroes, if 
 allowed to flood Cincinnati with black mechanics, 
 would come daily in contact with the poor white 
 laborer? How did he know that they would un- 
 dcrlj ul him { 
 
 Mr. Yancey Avas drawing a home-picture! lie 
 had seen, all his life, in the cities, and towns, and 
 villages of the South, //// ; very tlfhiy he described 
 so graphically to a Northern audience. lie had 
 
156 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 seen the rich man s negro " come in contact" with 
 the poor white blacksmith, the poor white brick 
 layer, carpenter, wheelwright, and agriculturist. 
 He had seen \k& preference invariably given to the 
 rich man s negro in all such pursuits and trades ; 
 like me, lie had heard the complaints of the poor 
 white mechanic of the South against this very 
 negro equality the rich planters were rapidly 
 bringing about. These things he had heard and 
 seen in Charleston, Xew Orleans, Mobile, Mont 
 gomery, and Wetumpka. It was from ocular and 
 auricular demonstration he spoke, when he ex 
 claimed 
 
 " Are you willing, my hard-handed, hard-work 
 ing countrymen of the North, to be placed on a 
 level with the black man ? Are you willing to 
 get on the platform prepared for you by this 
 fanatical party at the North ? Do you want to 
 compete, in your industrial pursuits, with the 
 black nigger? 1 
 
 Do you, ? brethren of the South, relatives and 
 fellow-citizens of the exile who publishes these 
 lines ? Have not the planters for years condemned 
 every mechanic in the South to negro equality ? 
 Does not Yancey himself confess it? Are my 
 hard-working, hard-handed fellow-citizens of the 
 South willing any longer to be placed on a level 
 with the black man ? 
 
 Oh ! when he asked that question of the me 
 chanics of Cincinnati, how Yancey sneered ! And 
 yet, it was a home-picture. He thought of you, 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 157 
 
 non-slaveholders of Alabama, and of tlic South, 
 and, while he thought, he sneered ! 
 
 And yet, how you cheer him, when he bids you 
 fight fur this n<:<jro (quality, toil for this proud 
 aristocracy, that despises and sneers at, while it 
 uses you. They think all you are fit for is to 
 "turn bullets" fur them your betters, who call 
 you "poor white trash!" 
 
 Degraded America ! 
 
 Gods! if one non-slaveholder, whum I know, 
 could only have his rights to-day in Alabama, I d 
 stump the dear old State fur the Union unce more, 
 and leave the planters, whu stick to treason, to 
 die in the "last ditch, which they so cunningly 
 prepared for you. 
 
 And you would help me if you deserve the 
 name of men, if you be worthy of the glorious 
 ancestry from which you sprung if you be, in 
 deed, superior to the negro, who is now preferred 
 before you ! Yes, preferred before you ; lor, while 
 the rich colonel, or major, who commands a regi 
 ment of such men as you by hereditary right, 
 sends his black body-servant sweeping over the 
 field on his gallant steed, you " poor buckras"- 
 who, owning no negroes, are not exempt, lift your 
 heavy knapsacks to fight for his and his negroeJ 
 interests, not your own rights. It is true, some of 
 the understrappers are put to dig your intrench- 
 incuts but, too often, do they prepare your 
 graves ! 
 
 Cuffy is not permitted to rea<l ; for his uiaster 
 14 
 
158 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 says it unfits him for submission. Why do they 
 prevent 2/<w from reading this? If you are read 
 ing it now, you are doing so by stealth. You dare 
 not read the truth, much less speak it, while you 
 fight for your independence ! 
 
 Oh, my down-trodden brethren of the South ! 
 will you, too, join in the outcry of my enemies 
 and your enemies, who, after they have enslaved 
 you, have exiled your only champion, because he 
 loves you more than life? The Irish venerate the 
 name of John Mitchell; the Hungarian idolizes 
 his Kossuth who, when exiled, found in this 
 country a welcome : has the American citizen 
 quite forgotten Washington? Shall it be said 
 that, blinded by the fruitless hope of "owning a 
 slave some day," or obfuscated by the aristocratic 
 recollection of having once owned one or more, 
 the non-slaveholders of the South persecute one of 
 their own number, who dares to reiterate the sen 
 timents of Washington ? Remember, it was Wash 
 ington, whose last public act was to admonish us 
 against disunion : " The Union is the palladium 
 of your safety /" Precious legacy to a once free 
 and happy people ! When will that people throw 
 off the yoke of bondage, and hail their only safety 
 in a peaceful reunion, in which, the negro slave 
 being confined to the cotton field, there will be no 
 more negro equality ! Has not the event proved 
 the truth of the prophecy of Washington, when 
 he warned us against party spirit? 
 
 One moment of true Southern Rights one day 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 150 
 
 of freedom to the non-slaveliolders of Alaoama 
 one convention of the people who voted for the 
 Union, and whose votes were not counted, and 
 the remotest nation of earth would look with 
 astonishment upon the mighty result ! 
 
 Some of the class to which I address myself, 
 although they cannot be ranked among the plant 
 ers of cotton, taking up the cry of the Charleston 
 Mercury, are loud in their cheers for Yancey, the 
 "Garibaldi" of the South. Little do they know 
 the man they praise. In Cincinnati he proved 
 himself the enemy of the South, and the trampler 
 upon " Southern Rights." Only three months and 
 eighteen days before he advocated, signed, and 
 rejoiced over the Secession ordinance at Mont 
 gomery, on which he opposed giving you and me 
 a ratification vote which we never had, of course 1 , 
 or things would have been different, only three 
 months and eighteen days prior to his voice and 
 vote in the Montgomery Convention, William L. 
 Yancey said : 
 
 " In the Constitution, they ordained that the 
 (U. S.) government was formed for themselves 
 and their posterity ? Who were they? There was 
 no slave in that Convention that formed the Con 
 stitution. There was no negro there ! There were 
 neither slaves nor negroes in that body that 
 wrote the Declaration of Independence. But 
 those men were the representatives of the slave- 
 holding community, SLAVEHOLDERS TIIKMSELVKS, 
 who wrote it down in the Constitution, that the 
 
1GO THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Constitution they made was for themselves and 
 their posterity /" 
 
 None but slaveholders the representatives of 
 slaveholders were in the Convention that formed 
 the Constitution of the United States, says Yan- 
 cey. Moreover, says he, these men " wrote it down 
 in the Constitution, that the Constitution they 
 made, was for themselves and their posterity !" 
 
 "Were they honest and sincere? No man 
 dare say to-night* that they were not! If honest 
 and sincere, and they made that Constitution to 
 confer the blessings of Liberty, on themselves and 
 their posterity, then, most assuredly," exclaimed 
 Yancey, " they never designed that Constitution 
 for the black race, and these were not the men 
 they declared to be free and equal." 
 
 There could not possibly have been framed 
 language more insulting to the great mass of 
 Southern white men than that used by Mr. Yan 
 cey at that time. 
 
 First, he asserts that all the members of the 
 Convention who formed the Constitution of the 
 United States were " slaveholders themselves." 
 
 Secondly, he asserts that they were the " repre 
 sentatives" of slaveholders. 
 
 These two assertions taken together are exactly 
 the same as to say that there were no non-slave 
 holders in the -Convention, either as individuals or 
 as a represented class. 
 
 * At Pike s Opera, Cincinnati, October 24, 1860. 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 161 
 
 Third, lie says that these slaveholders wrote it 
 down in the Constitution, that the Constitution 
 they formed was for themselves and their posterity. 
 
 This third assertion is another way of saying 
 what he had twice said before. It also went fur 
 ther, and denied all participation in the " blessings 
 of Liberty" to the non-slaveholders, the poor white 
 trash who are lower than niggers. 
 
 This is again conveyed in the argument that the 
 negro not being present in the Convention either 
 individually or by representation were not the 
 men declared to be free and equal. 
 
 If the negro was excluded from Liberty, because 
 he was not in Convention, then the non-slavehold 
 er w T as excluded, because he (as Mr. Yancey ex 
 pressly said) was not present in that Convention. 
 
 But Mr. Yancey believes, not less than I do, 
 that slavery rests upon the basis of negro-inferior 
 ity, therefore, he spoke these words against the 
 equality of white men. 
 
 Nationally, then, Mr. Yancey considers the 
 non-slaveholders on a level with the negro. Po 
 litically, the " poor white trash," like myself, for 
 instance, were left entirely out of the Constitution 
 of the United States, and must give way to the 
 privileged class, who intended that instrument for 
 the exclusive benefit of " themselves and their 
 posterity" 
 
 In order to show that I take no unfair advan 
 tage of Mr. Yancey, I will now proceed to notice 
 his actions subsequent to his words and their con- 
 14* 
 
162 THE ALABAMA .REFUGEE. 
 
 nection with those words. As " actions speak 
 louder than words," the views of Mr. Yancey will 
 be best discovered in his actions, coupled with his 
 own words. If the domineering exclusiveness of 
 the cotton-planter be patent all over his speed), 
 his actions are the very quintessence of arrogance 
 and usurpation, and, as I will show, a downright 
 insult to every white man who does not plant cot 
 ton. Remember, too, that the "Southern Con 
 gress * indorses Mr. Yancey. 
 
 Three months and eighteen days only had elaps 
 ed after that speech, when Mr. Yancey stood up 
 in the State Convention at Montgomery, Alabama, 
 and voted for Secession. He also voted against 
 leaving it to the people for a ratification. His 
 opinions prevailed. He has now, having returned 
 from Europe, taken a seat in the Southern Con 
 gress, where he sustains his own former course. 
 
 Let us paraphrase his own language in connec 
 tion with his act, substituting the Secession Con 
 vention for the Convention which framed the 
 United States Constitution : 
 
 " Who were the delegates to that (Secession, 
 Montgomery) Convention? There was no non- 
 slaveholder in that Convention which framed the 
 Secession ordinance. There was no hard-handed 
 mechanic, no hard-working non-slaveholder of 
 the South in that traitor crew. There was nei 
 ther non-slaveholder nor mechanic in that Con 
 vention that framed the Secession ordinance. But 
 these men were (most emphatically) the represent- 
 
SCENE THE FIFTH. 163 
 
 atives of slaveholders, slaveholders themselves! 
 who wrote it down that the Secession ordinance 
 and constitution they made were for themselves and 
 their posterity ! 
 
 " "Were they honest and sincere ? ~No man 
 (within their merciless and unauthorized control) 
 dare say to-night that they are not."* 
 
 If honest and sincere, and they made that or 
 dinance and that Constitution to confer the bless 
 ings of "Southern Independence upon themselves 
 and their posterity, then, most assuredly, they 
 never designed those documents for the non-slave 
 holder, and the non-slaveholder was not the man 
 they declared independent. 
 
 See upon what a shifting sand rests the fabric 
 of "Southern Independence" in a " Southern Con 
 federacy !" 
 
 If a negro is unequal to a white man, only he- 
 cause he was not represented in the Convention 
 that framed the United States Constitution, how 
 can the non-slaveholder be equal to the slave 
 holder, when the former was not represented in 
 the Secession Convention nor in the Southern Con 
 gress ? Mr. Yancey is a palpable advocate for 
 negro equality by debasing the white man, even 
 while he execrates those who advocate the same 
 t?ting by elevating the negro. I am not a politi 
 cal adherent of either the one or the other but, if 
 
 * One man did and does deny their honesty, but he writes 
 these words in exile. 
 
164 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 I must clioose between the degradation of my own 
 race, or the elevation of the black, I prefer the 
 latter, as the least of two evils. My conservatism, 
 however, causes me unequivocally to condemn 
 both forms of negro equality. 
 
 So well did Mr. Yancey reflect the true senti 
 ments and intentions, against what he calls the 
 " poor white trash," of the " slaveholding commu 
 nity," who employed him, that they sent him to 
 Europe to represent " themselves and their posteri 
 ty abroad /" 
 
 downtrodden, deceived, betrayed, insulted 
 " white people" of the South ! those of you who 
 have been duped into shouldering your muskets 
 for Secession, have, through passionate blindness, 
 helped to forge the chain which is, even now, eat 
 ing away the ankles of your liberties. Poor serfs 
 that you are, you have allowed yourselves to be 
 "precipitated into a" political hell, from which 
 you lack the spirit to declare yourselves and your 
 posterity " independent." 
 
 1 thank my God, that, when the impartial pen 
 of history shall record the transactions of Alabama 
 through the last presidential campaign and the 
 stormy times that succeeded it, the chronicler will 
 be compelled to admit that one, at least, of the 
 non-slave-owners of that ill-used State, true to the 
 principles of democracy a*nd to his solemn and re 
 corded oath, defended his equality with the plant 
 ers at the peril of his life ; and, in his speeches and 
 his acts, openly asserted tlie personal independence 
 
SCES~E THE FIFTH. 165 
 
 of all white men to be preferable to sectional inde 
 pendence, individual equality to be better than 
 State equality, and the Union which combines 
 all the blessings Washington fought and Jefferson 
 thought to secure, more to be desired than all the 
 glittering but empty bribes of Secession ! Yes ! 
 Heaven be praised, that the " former law-partner 
 of Yancey, refusing to become his partner in 
 crime," resisted, at the peril of his life, the uncon 
 stitutional encroachments of the aristocrats, as 
 anti- American, and hostile to the liberties of the 
 " people" the " poor white trash" (as the master 
 of the slave calls the master of no slave) ; and, 
 both with pen and tongue, labored to defeat the 
 machinations of the resident enemies of the South, 
 and to overthrow the foul conspiracy of the advo 
 cates of " King Cotton !" 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH, 
 
 "IN EXILIUM." 
 
 " unexpected stroke, worse than of death ! 
 And must I leave thee, Paradise ? thus leave 
 Thee, native soil ; these happy walks and shades, 
 Fit haunt of gods ? where I had hoped to spend. 
 Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day, 
 That must be mortal to us both." 
 
 PARADISE LOST. 
 
 " Home, kindred, friends, and country these 
 
 Are ties with which we never part ; 
 From clime to clime, o er land and seas, 
 
 We bear them with us in our heart ; 
 But oh ! tis hard to feel resigned, 
 When these must all be left behind !" 
 
 J. MONTGOMERY. 
 
 IT is unnecessaiy to enumerate all the incidents 
 of that night s dreary tramp. At about four 
 o clock, A. M., we arrived at Benton, twelve miles 
 from the place of starting, and awaited, at " the 
 tavern," the approach of dawn and of the steamer. 
 
 The steamer, as often occurs, was belated. This 
 fact nearly cost me my life. The news spread like 
 wildfire through the place that " a Lincoln-man* 
 
 * If doing all I could to defeat Mr. Lincoln s election, for the 
 sake of the Union, make me a Lincoln-man, what does my dis 
 approval of his usurpations make me? 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. lf>7 
 
 was in town." The population, excited by a thou 
 sand vague sensations, gathered in knots to discuss 
 the incredible occurrence. The news came to the 
 committee that the next boat would not pass be 
 fore three o clock, P. M. They had retired to bed, 
 in order to sleep, after their patriotic labors of the 
 preceding night. At this news, I demanded that 
 they find some other conveyance than the steam 
 boat. " Why don t you swim the river, sir ?" 
 asked one. "Because I once tried to swim the 
 river of Secession, and w T as washed ashore !" The 
 committee laughed heartily, and sent one of their 
 number down-stairs on a secret mission. He soon 
 returned, and informed them that the request was 
 granted. Through the windows could be seen the 
 gathering mob. Their wild gestures and growing 
 excitement were no pleasing spectacle to me. 
 They pointed to the house where I w r as a prisoner. 
 One of the committee was addressing them in 
 soothing tones. I could hear the words " severely 
 punished already," and " our county has done her 
 share," and " other counties must," and " let him 
 go to Montgomery." 
 
 At the last words, a smile spread from face to 
 face, and significant nods and looks sent a thrill of 
 horror through my veins. 
 
 A hand was laid upon my shoulder : 
 "Mr. Tharin, would you be willing to risk the 
 Montgomery stage ? You ll be in danger if you 
 stay here, and you will run a risk if you go to 
 Mon tgomery 
 
168 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " And I ll be hanged if I venture to return to 
 Collirene !" 
 
 "Yes, sir, and your own choice must guide you." 
 
 " I ll take the stage." 
 
 " It is at the door." 
 
 Through the scowling throng which was collect 
 ing between the door and the stage, the American 
 exile entered the vehicle, amid the growls and 
 execrations of his rebellious fellow-citizens. The 
 driver cracked his whip, and then, as the stage 
 sprang forward with a bounding oscillation, 
 above the roar of the wheels, above the rattling of 
 the strong harness, above the tramp of the horses, 
 above the banging of the luggage, above the wild 
 beating of my heart, I heard the last shout which 
 ever greeted my ears, in times of peace, from a 
 Southern mob. 
 
 This, then, was the farewell which my native 
 clime breathed to my departing form and w r hy ? 
 
 Because I had endeavored to vindicate the in 
 born rights of fourteen -fifteenths of that mob, 
 without subtracting from the equal rights of the 
 other fifteenth.* 
 
 In other words, I had discovered an unpopular 
 truth, for the reception of which the public mind 
 was unprepared. The mists of error were not yet 
 pierced by the rising sun of political enlighten 
 ment. But think not, misguided men, that by 
 driving into exile the first Southern man who ever 
 
 * See p. 48, ante. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 169 
 
 practically grasped the idea of the non-slave 
 holder s rights and the non-slaveholder s power, 
 that yon have extinguished the holy beams of 
 truth, or unseated from his eternal throne that 
 God who dwellcth in the truth ! As surely as that 
 God reigneth, will come a day when the clouds 
 will be rolled away from the door of Liberty s 
 temple, and the non-slaveholder shall enter there, 
 with the song of true Southern Rights upon his 
 lips. That day is not far distant, and perhaps 
 those very men who hissed his retiring form w T ill 
 live to hang their heads in shame, when the re 
 turning footsteps of " the Alabama Refugee" shall 
 be pressed once more on his native soil, while the 
 secret conspirators, who "precipitated the Cotton 
 States into an (unnecessary) revolution," will hide 
 their diminished heads in the dens and caves of 
 public scorn ! 
 
 There was no other passenger in the stage. It 
 was cold at least, I had lost sleep, food, repose 
 of mind, and a chill, like death s breath, perme 
 ated my bones. My thoughts were busy and tu 
 multuous. While actual danger had confronted 
 me, I had, from necessity, concealed my fears, 
 and unflinchingly breasted my advancing fate; 
 but, now, the eyes of the mob and of the com 
 mittee no longer glaring upon me, in the ab 
 sence of any guard, any present peril reaction 
 came ! 
 
 To those, who have suffered days of intense 
 anxiety, nights of sleepless vigil, and hours of un- 
 15 
 
170 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 ceasing suspense, tins terrible word will require no 
 explanation. The nerve that has met and sustain 
 ed a long-continued tension, then relaxes; the will 
 that met the crisis with unbending power, then 
 yields to temporary prostration ; the brain that 
 energized with that sudden and wonderful inspira 
 tion, imminent danger sometimes bestows, then 
 sinks into a kind of collapse, and the heart, that 
 seemed encased in adamant, then melts. 
 
 Through the corridors of memory rushed a host 
 of throng-ing: images. 
 
 o O O 
 
 I thought of my childhood s home. 
 
 In the far, far distance beyond the tree-crown 
 ed hills on my right ; beyond the turgid waters of 
 the Alabama, now receding into the distance; 
 beyond the brown cotton-stalks which rotted in 
 their furrows, on both sides of the road ; beyond 
 the reach of all save imagination was the " Queen 
 city of the South." 
 
 On the northern extreme of the city of Charles 
 ton, S. C., stands the venerable colonial farm-house 
 in which "the exile* drew his first breath. In 
 and around that classic spot, had raged the con 
 flicts of " 76," and its owner, my lineal ancestor, 
 Col. Cunnington, had spent fortunes and poured 
 out his blood for the freedom and equality of the 
 very South Carolinians, some of whose unnatural 
 sons, true to the instincts of their tory progenitors, 
 and to the hereditary desire that " one of the royal 
 family of England should rule over them," hud 
 wantonly sacrificed all the blessings the " whigs" 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 171 
 
 of 76 had won through a seven years war with 
 
 CT> / 
 
 the British and tories. 
 
 In the Claude-Loraine-glass of Memory, how 
 plainly rose iield, mill, forest, stream, and groye ! 
 Alas! would my feet never more wander through 
 the " avenue," the " cottage lane *" Would the 
 breezes of the " Belvidere* never inore lift these 
 storm-tossed locks with their perfumed wings ? 
 Would the jessamines still bloom where the soli 
 tudes speak in the diapason of waving pines but 
 never more for me? Would the mocking-birds 
 
 "> 
 
 mourn my absence? Alas ! the tread of rebellion 
 is all over that soil which, in 1776, drank the 
 blood of my Union progenitors, and the tory de 
 scendants of tory sires will wander through the 
 scenes of my childhood and call it the natal place 
 of a traitor! 
 
 God of lleavcn ! wither the lip that dares thus 
 to desecrate the grave of the Revolutionary hero 
 who died in the Union he helped to frame, the 
 cradle of my Union father, and the monument of 
 Francis Marion ! 
 
 /" a traitor ?" To ichat am I a traitor? To 
 the South? Thou liest, perjured spawn of a base 
 tory, or degenerate offspring of a whig patriot! 
 THE SOUTH CONSISTS OF IIKB SONS, and thou knowest, 
 and treinblest when thou knowest, that the non- 
 slaveholding population of her hills and her val 
 leys, of her cities and her villages, far outnumber 
 the planters, who, with brazen front, ejaculate 
 u li o are the South;"* while echo, through the 
 
172 THE ALABAMA. REFUGEE. 
 
 lungs of Jefferson Davis, consumptively re 
 sponds : 
 
 L etat, c est MOI ! 
 
 Sorrow next washed out the flush of a just in 
 dignation ; for I thought of my sacred dead ! The 
 very ashes of my father, which still repose un 
 easily repose in a Charleston sepulcher, would 
 probably never feel the returning presence of 
 these pilgrim feet. The funeral pall of Secession 
 had been drawn over South Carolina, and had 
 concealed, in a second burial, the hallowed dust 
 of my father. That dear father had ever been 
 a Union man ! In 1832, when Nullification 
 barricaded the streets of Charleston, that father 
 acted, voted, and triumphed with the Unionists 
 although the only one of four brothers who was 
 not a Nullifier. How appropriate that his son 
 should be a Unionist in 1861, and sustain that 
 father s and his own conscientious convictions, 
 with the loss of every thing, save honor, men hold 
 dear. 
 
 I felt an invisible presence with me in the stage, 
 sustaining my spirit with sympathy and guardian 
 love. I breathed a prayer to heaven and took 
 fresh courage. I remembered how I had ever 
 been a victim of the gens patriciana of the South, 
 how the oligarchy had affected to despise me, or, 
 when compelled to admit my equality, to " damn 
 me with faint praise," and my soul grew stern 
 with a sense of wrong. 
 
 The stage was rumbling along the lonely road, 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 173 
 
 but thought was traveling within it with a speed 
 which human ingenuity has not yet rivaled. 
 
 o t> */ 
 
 Again I wandered, a buoyant youth, within the 
 beloved precincts of my Alma Mater. 
 
 A lovely morning beams upon the Queen city 
 of the South. Upon the porch of the College of 
 Charleston stand a throng of students. With one 
 exception, they are all richly dressed. The con 
 versation is somewhat noisy. Asks one : 
 
 "Tom, when are you going to Edisto ?" 
 
 " Whenever we can sell our land at Wadma- 
 law." 
 
 " How much do you ask ?" 
 
 "Fifty thousand!" 
 
 " Quite a sacrifice at that. How many negroes 
 do you move?" 
 
 " One hundred and ten, big and little." 
 
 lou should have witnessed his inflation when 
 he gave the last answer. 
 
 " John," exclaimed a well-dressed but effemi 
 nate youth, "let s compare nigger-rolls. " 
 
 "Done!" 
 
 Each having given his numeral, there was but 
 one left, who had not entered at all into the com 
 petition. To him turned the youth, who had de 
 manded the comparison, and said, while his com 
 panions barely suppressed a titter : 
 
 "Tharin, how many niggers have you f" 
 
 The youth addressed was about eighteen years 
 of age. His collegiate expenses were defrayed by 
 his own efforts. He wrote for lawyers, and thus 
 
174 THE ALABAMA. REFUGEE. 
 
 acquired the means to obtain his much coveted 
 education. He had made many sacrifices health 
 amo-no" the number for this precious boon. His 
 dress, although clean and neat, was unequal to 
 the broadcloth decorations of his bejeweled com 
 panions. Every student in the institution knew 
 that he was not wealthy, and his flushed cheek 
 and flashing eye sufficiently betokened the smart, 
 which had been wantonly, and not for the first or 
 last time inflicted npon his sensitive feelings. 
 Drawing himself up to his full height, he replied 
 in firm but low tones : 
 
 "I do not award the importance to " Ethiopian 
 attachments" which some do. I depend npon 
 what I am, not on what my father hax. It is a 
 mark of a very diminutive character to triumph 
 over honest men because of adventitious posses 
 sions. If I can but successfully imitate the deeds 
 of my forefathers, I do not need to inherit their 
 money. I can make my living." 
 
 Not many years passed away, and that same 
 youth discovered that success in South Carolina 
 intrinsically depends upon those very "Ethiopian 
 attachments" he so heroically despised. On this 
 very account he had found it advisable to emi 
 grate to Alabama, there to find all the pride and 
 arrogance of the cotton-planter, without the ex 
 tenuation of the refinement of the South Carolina 
 patrician; and, after a stern, and, of course, un 
 successful effort to maintain his own blood-bought 
 rights against their steady encroachments, was 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. I < O 
 
 now their persecuted victim, because lie preferred 
 liis privileges as an American citizen to all the 
 "glittering generalities" of Secession clinging, 
 like a drowning man, to the former as the only 
 plank that could save him from the law-submer 
 ging billows of the latter. 
 
 "With panoramic suddenness another scene rose 
 before my vision : 
 
 A wife and little daughter are seated before a 
 fire in a neighboring town. They are alone. The 
 little girl sits by her mothers chair on a low stool, 
 which she has placed for the purpose, her black 
 eyes beaming with affectionate intelligence. Her 
 mother is telling her that her father will soon re 
 turn, and bring her a present, if she will be a good 
 little girl. The child s innocent prattle tills the 
 apartment. She is a sweet little thing about two 
 years old, her auburn hair curling around her sym 
 metrical bead, and her little hands gesticulating 
 gracefully, as, in musical syllables, she paints her 
 bright thoughts. 
 
 The door opens. The child springs up and ex 
 claims : 
 
 " Mamma, papa s come !" 
 
 But, no ! it is a pale and excited face that ap 
 pears at the portal a face that brings a gloom 
 into the room. By the magnetism of that face 
 the child is silenced. 
 
 "Mother," cries the wife, "what s the mat 
 ter?" 
 
 " Prepare yourself, my daughter, for bad news." 
 
176 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " Is my husband dead ?" she gasps. " Tell me ! 
 oh, do not keep me in suspense!" 
 
 ; He is worse than dead." 
 
 The wife falls back with an agonized shriek, the 
 child screams and weeps with an undefined dread, 
 and the occupant of the stage starts up with a 
 groan and recovers from his vision. 
 
 Suddenly the stage stops. 
 
 One of the two men on the driver s box, dis 
 mounts and comes round to the door and gazes in 
 tently at the sufferer. A tear starts involuntarily 
 to his eye as lie sees his passenger convulsively 
 sobbing. 
 
 Returning to his place he is heard to ejaculate, 
 " poor fellow," and the stage rolls on. 
 
 From my portmanteau I drew a pair of black 
 pants and exchanged for them the light purple 
 pair I then wore ; drew off iny overcoat and re 
 placed my beaver hat with a light blue cloth cap. 
 
 As I was replacing the articles I had removed 
 from the valise, my hand encountered a book, 
 which unknown to me, some one, probably my 
 dear mother, had placed therein. I drew it forth 
 and gazed upon a copy of the Holy Bible. "What 
 early associations did that book recall to my mind ! 
 All the reverence of early youth was added to the 
 interest with which I looked upon the gift. It 
 was long before I could collect my thoughts suffi 
 ciently to view the inside. I felt a strange pre 
 sentiment that the Book would say something good 
 to my bleeding heart, and to myself I said that I 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 177 
 
 would read whatever part I opened it at hoping 
 to open it at the Psalms of David. 
 
 I opened it carefully, and was disappointed to 
 find before me the seventeenth chapter of the 
 Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, which I began to 
 read with impatience ; but, as I progressed, the 
 great significance of the chapter and its adaptation 
 to my own views, comforted me no little. I will 
 here insert what I that day read, and ask the read 
 er whether it be not a remarkably correct history 
 of this Rebellion, and a perfect description of what 
 I shall call 
 
 THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND FALL OF KING COTTON, 
 Predicted, and minutely described in the Holy Bible. 
 
 EZEKIEL, CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PARABLE OF THE TWO EAGLES. 
 
 1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2 Son of man, put fortli a riddle, and speak a parable 
 unto the house of Israel ; 
 
 1 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God ; A great eagle 
 with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had 
 divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest 
 branch of the cedar : 
 
 4 lie cropped off the top 11 of his young twigs, and 
 
 1 3d v. A perfect description of the American Eagle the na 
 tional escutcheon. Congress passed resolutions on the subject. 
 Lebanon, By metonomy, for the East. Cedar, commercial 
 prosperity. 
 
 2 The highest commercial prosperity. 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 carried it into a land of traffic 1 ; he set it in a city of 
 merchants. 
 
 2 5 He took also of the seed 3 of the land, and planted 
 it in a fruitful field ; he placed it by great waters, and 
 set it as a willow-tree. 
 
 6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low 
 stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots 
 thereof were under him : so it became a vine, and brought 
 forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. 
 
 4 7 There was also another great eagle with great wings 
 and many feathers : and behold, this vine did bend her 
 roots toward him, and shot forth her brandies toward him, 
 that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. 
 
 8 It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that 
 it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear 
 fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. 
 
 5 9 Say them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Shall it pros 
 per ? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off 
 the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the 
 leaves of her spring, even without great power or many 
 people to pluck it up by the roots thereof. 
 
 10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall 
 it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it ? it 
 shall wither in the furrows where it grew. 
 
 1 The United States. 
 
 2 5th, 6th, and 8th v. A perfect description of the Cotton Plant, 
 5 Cotton seed, introduced into the country by congressional 
 
 enactment by the American Eagle. 
 
 4 7th v. The " Confederate States" under the symbol of an 
 Eagle, seceded from the " divers colors" mentionee in v. 8, 
 but omitted in tins connection. 
 
 5 9th, 10th v. The downfall of Cotton predicted from Ang lo- 
 Indian competition, and, now let me add, the blockade. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 170 
 
 111 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto m:>, 
 paying, 
 
 12 Say now to the rebellious house, 1 Know ye not what 
 these things mean ? Tell them, Behold, the king of 
 Babylon* is come to Jerusalem? and hath taken the kiny 4 
 thereof, and thcjprmces 5 thereof, and led them with him 
 to Babylon. 6 
 
 13 And hath taken of the king s seed, and made a 
 covenant 8 with him, and hath taken an oath of him ; he 
 hath also taken the mighty of the land, 
 
 14 That the kingdom might be base, 9 that it might 
 not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it 
 might stand. 
 
 15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambas 
 sadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and 
 much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that 
 doeth such things ? or, shall he break the covenant, and 
 be delivered? 
 
 1G Ax I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place 11 
 where the king** dicclleth that made him n king, whose 
 
 1 11 tli, 12th v. Why is "the rebellious house" mentioned 
 here, in connection with the two Eagles and the " spreading 
 vine of low stature," unless the above comments be true ? 
 
 2 King Cotton. 3 Washington. 4 Buchanan. 
 r > M. C. and cabinet. 8 Montgomery, Alabama. 
 
 7 John C< BreckenridgO-, Vice President. 
 
 8 Secret League. Breckenridge hesitated, but finally took 
 the oath. 
 
 This word, "base," which could not otherwise be under 
 stood, is now plain. 
 
 10 The House of Bondage, where the oppressed non-slave 
 owners dwell in all the beauty of negro equality. 
 
 11 Montgomery. ] ~ King- rotten. l3 Jefferson, Davis. 
 
180 TIIK ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 oath he 1 despised, and whose covenant 2 he brake, even 
 with him in the midst of Babylon 3 he 4 shall die. 
 
 11 Neither shall Pharaoh 5 with his mighty army and 
 great company, make for him in the war, by casting up 
 mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons : 
 
 18 Seeing he despised the oath 6 by breaking the cove 
 nant, when lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all 
 these things, he 7 shall not escape. 
 
 19 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God; As I live, 
 surely mine oath 6 that he hath despised, and my cove 
 nant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon 
 his own head. 
 
 20 And I will spread my net 9 upon him, and he shall 
 be taken in my snare, 10 and I will bring him to Babylon, 
 and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath 
 trespassed against me. 
 
 21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by 
 the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered 
 toward all winds : and ye shall know that I the Lord" 
 have spoken it, 
 
 12 22 If Thus saith the Lord God : I will also take of 
 
 I King Cotton. The oath of U. S. Senator. 
 
 3 Montgomery. By 10th and llth verses of chapter xi., 
 changed to Richmond, Va. 
 . 4 He (Breckenridge) shall die. 5 Beauregard. 
 
 6 Oath of U. B. Officer. 7 Beauregard. 
 
 8 The oaths of office end with " So help me God !" 
 
 See 10th verse. 
 
 10 " The wicked shall lay a snare for their own feet." 
 
 II 21st v. No party, no leader, no army, can claim the victory, 
 but the Lord alone will create a reaction and prove to the 
 world how insignificant are the rulers whom the American 
 people have elevated to power. 
 
 12 From the 22d to the 24th verses, inclusive, constitutes a 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 181 
 
 the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it ; I 
 will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender 
 one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent : 
 
 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant 
 it : and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and 
 be a goodly cedar : and under it shall dwell all fowl of 
 every wing : in the shadow of the branches thereof shall 
 they dwell. 
 
 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the 
 Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the 
 low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made 
 the dry tree to flourish : I the Lord have spoken and 
 have done it. 
 
 promise of a better day, when "peace, unity, and concord" 
 shall render the land again prosperous, after Radicalism shall 
 have been abated and in all this the emancipation of the 
 negro is not once hinted at by the holy prophet. 
 
 The five last verses of the twentieth chapter of the same 
 Prophet, serve as a key to the above by using the very nomen 
 clature of these times : 
 
 " CHAP, xx., v. 45 ^ Moreover the word of the Lord came 
 unto me, saying, 
 
 " 46 Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop 
 thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of 
 the South field: 
 
 " 47 And say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of the 
 Lord ; Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will kindle a fire in 
 thee* and it shall devour every green tree in thce, and every 
 dry tree : the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all 
 faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein. 
 
 " 48 And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it : 
 it shall not be quenched. 
 
 " 49 Then said I, Ah, Lord God ! they say of me, Doth he not 
 speak parables ?" 
 
 * I will fire the Southern heart. Cotton shall be consumed. 
 
 10 
 
182 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 At a half-way station on the road, the stage 
 halted for the customary change of horses. Here 
 I found an individual emerging from the half-way 
 house leading a fleet-looking horse, covered with 
 
 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel is a received portion of 
 the Holy Bible. The Bible is every day held up to us as a 
 divine book, and yet very few persons trouble themselves as 
 to whether this divine book relates to them. This same care 
 less and superficial view of Scripture leads many persons to 
 pass by the prophecies as already fulfilled or relating to the 
 Day of Judgment, but having no present signification what 
 ever. The Bible, on the contrary, must refer to our country 
 in some part of it, or else it is a defective work. The prophet 
 E/ekiel has certainly given some very wonderful and correct 
 delineations of our own times, not only in the passages just 
 quoted entire, but also in the whole prophecy. 
 
 The scope of the present undertaking precludes a lengthy 
 commentary upon a whole division of Holy Writ ; but the 
 reader is merely referred to the following chapters as corrob 
 orative of what has already been advanced. He will find that 
 they will richly repay scrutiny. 
 
 Chapters i. and x. describe, under the symbol of four cheru 
 bim, the four sections of this country ; while a wheel within a 
 wheel, an imperium in imperio, describes the States contained 
 in the Union. 
 
 Chapters ii. and iii. - The commission of Ezekiel. The roll 
 to be eaten was the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 Chapters iv., v., vi., vii. A miserable picture of disunion 
 and its bloody effects. 
 
 Chapter viii. Jealousy of the North, and mobocracy in the 
 South. Verse 16, foreign intervention asked. Removal of 
 capital from Montgomery to Richmond, Va. The punishment 
 *of Rebellion described. 
 
 Chapter xiii. The Secession orators rebuked. 
 
 Chapter xiv. The negro idolaters of the North rebuked. 
 The Nativity of the United States, and her prostitution to the 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 183 
 
 foam. He rested his eyes upon me, and seemed 
 to approve of my general appearance, for lie smiled 
 and nodded kindly as lie said : 
 
 " Mister, where do you intend to go to !" 
 
 " I m bound for Montgomery." 
 
 u Where are you from ?" 
 
 "I am from Charleston, whither I will soon re 
 turn." 
 
 "I have a fine horse here, you may have cheap. 
 Maybe you loill need Mm before you (jet -very far 
 from here" 
 
 a I am not prepared to purchase now. I don t 
 think I will need a horse very soon ; but he is a 
 noble animal. 
 
 " He is only six years old, and of good breed. 
 You may have him for ninety dollars ; I have a 
 strong saddle and bridle you can buy for fifteen." 
 
 " almighty dollar." Verso 46, Samaria, intended to mean 
 Mexico. 
 
 Chapter xviii. Repentance will be met with mercy. 
 
 Chapters xxvi., xxvii., xxviii. England s power and ruin 
 graphically described. 
 
 Chapters xv., xxii. Minute description of the rise, progress, 
 and fall of King Cotton. 
 
 Chapters xxxi., xxxii. Minute description of the power of 
 King Cotton, and the lamentations of his admirers over his fall. 
 
 Chapter xxxiii. An exhortation to the people of the whole 
 country. 
 
 Chapter xxxiv. The pulpit politicians rebuked, North and 
 South. 
 
 Chapter xxxv. France and her rapacious policy denounced. 
 
 Chapters xxxvi., xxxvii., xxxix. Reunion beautifully de 
 scribed. 
 
184 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " A bargain, no doubt; but I am not purchas 
 ing tins evening." 
 
 " Any time in two days, you can find him in 
 Montgomery, if you want him. Enquire for John 
 Raymond, and you ll find me." 
 
 " Very well, I will remember that." 
 
 " You say you re from Charleston ? How are 
 they getting on at Fort Sumter?" 
 
 Looking with scrutiny upon my interlocutor, I 
 said : 
 
 "We re casting up mounts and building forts 
 to cut off Anderson s supplies. The lighted match 
 is already held over the touch-hole. The first gun 
 of a mighty revolution may even now be booming 
 across the Bay. How are you affected at the 
 prospect out here ?" 
 
 A curious smile flitted across his face, as the 
 stranger said in a voice which was as much like a 
 taunt as a certain covert exultation could render it: 
 
 " Bully for you ! " 
 
 I felt the startled blood rush from my face to 
 my heart, which beat a rat-tat-too against my side 
 was I discovered f 
 
 My feelings were not rendered pleasanter by 
 the suppressed laughter of the two stage-drivers, 
 who evidently heard every word. 
 
 I was reassured, however, by the discovery that 
 my interlocutor seemed as much annoyed by the 
 eavesdropping as myself. 
 
 " Have you much experience in horses?" I de 
 manded, in order to escape the oppressive silence. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 185 
 
 "I used to drive the stage on tlie Nashville and 
 Chattanooga line." 
 
 Soon the stage was on its way Montgomery- 
 ward. I looked back from the window, and saw 
 John Eaymond saddling his horse, and gazing at 
 the stage with an excited air, to me inexplicable. 
 His motions were convulsive and hurried, and he 
 seemed fevered by some secret emotion which, at 
 times, broke out into kicks administered to his 
 spirited steed. 
 
 Could it be, thought I, that all this indignation 
 was the result of my refusal to purchase his horse? 
 
 I drew no good augury from this mental reply : 
 
 "He must be a spy !"* 
 
 After about a half-hour s ride, one of the men 
 in front called aloud to me to come outside, as 
 I would suffer, if I did not, from the rough 
 "puncheon" or " corduroy" road we were about 
 to traverse. Not desiring to be visible to passers- 
 by, I declined. The invitation was repeated at 
 various points on the road, until, finding my re 
 fusal annoyed the men, I went out and ran the 
 gauntlet of about a mile, when, complaining of 
 the cold, I re-entered the stage. 
 
 A significant look passed between my conduc 
 tors as I sprang into the coach, which was not 
 particularly gratifying to my feelings. I began 
 to doubt their disposition to serve a fellow-creature 
 
 * How often have I had the same suspicion when convers 
 ing with Northern Radicals ! 
 
 16* 
 
186 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 in distress ; but I resolved to show no mortification 
 or displeasure at their manners toward myself. 
 
 Of course, invention was busy in my brain as 
 to what I should do upon my arrival at the capital 
 of the so-called Confederate States. 1 was well 
 known at Montgomery among the public men ; 
 but these were the very men to avoid, not to ap 
 ply to. 
 
 To illustrate the danger I was about to encoun 
 ter, I must here digress from the thread of my 
 narrative to a scene not very long antecedent to 
 the point the reader has reached. 
 
 The Democratic State Convention had sent its 
 delegates to what many of them fondly hoped 
 would prove the last of the National Conventions 
 of that party,* and, in consequence of the prede 
 termined disruption of the Charleston Convention, 
 another Democratic Convention had been assem 
 bled at Montgomery, " to see what was best to be 
 done." 
 
 To that large Convention I was a delegate and 
 offered a series of resolutions to the Assembly, ad 
 vocating a proposition by Alabama to her sister 
 States, North and South, for a National Con veil, 
 tion, for the purpose of proposing amendments to 
 the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 During the speech which, in favor of peaceful 
 and conciliatory measures, I attempted to make, 
 
 * But, by the grace of God, that hope will doubtless be 
 frustrated. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 187 
 
 there was a universal confusion. The Convention 
 was not permitted to listen because certain emis 
 saries of Yaneey passed rapidly around the room, 
 and informed the audience in audible stage-asides 
 that YanceAj wanted to speak. I had not spoken 
 more than three minutes, when the whole Conven 
 tion became convulsed with stormy excitement. 
 Cries of "Yancey," " Yancey !" shook the dome 
 of the capitol. rinding it in vain to proceed 
 in the teeth of so strong a determination to re 
 ject my resolutions without a hearing, I ex 
 claimed : 
 
 " One word, if you please only one ! "Words 
 of wisdom sometimes fall from the lips of persons 
 who are unblessed with plantations. If cotton 
 must be King here, and, if none but his courtiers 
 can speak (cries of "none else," and "Yancey"), 
 let the result be noted on the page of history. I 
 wash my hands of all personal responsibility. 
 Proceed with your wild work. Youthful pru 
 dence retires abashed from the presence of hoary 
 "precipitancy." 
 
 Mr. Yancey, amid an ovation of applause, then 
 rose, and advocated his own views, to the delight 
 of the courtiers of his " King." He was not as 
 happy in his speech as usual ; but he had won 
 the approbation of the cotton-planters by his anti- 
 democratical course in Charleston, and was ap 
 plauded to the echo by those whose unconstitu 
 tional power he was so ably supporting. 
 
 Having temporarily ceased to act with the 
 
188 THE ALABAMA EEFTJGEE. 
 
 Democratic Party, which, during the period of its 
 dislocation, could not effect any thing for the 
 <Union which I had sworn to support, hut to 
 which party I now publicly and solemnly renew 
 my adherence, as to the only one which possesses 
 within itself the ingredients of Nationality and 
 Union, I spoke during the subsequent canvass 
 in Montgomery before the Bell-Everett club, and 
 advocated the Union as the only salvation of Ala 
 bama and of the South. The Montgomery Adver 
 tiser Yancey s organ had then made me the 
 object of spiteful vituperation, and, afterward, the 
 frequent contributions, over my own name, in the 
 Montgomery Post (Bell-Everett), and the Con 
 federation (Douglas), had not made me less known 
 than I was otherwise rendered by my former law- 
 partnership with Yancey himself. 
 
 I said invention was busy in my brain as to my 
 course after I should have found myself in the 
 , Confederate capital. In vain I strove to think of 
 a single chance of escape. To go home was out 
 of the question. Although but fourteen miles, by 
 land, from Montgomery, Wetumpka was the most 
 dangerous place to me in Alabama. I do not 
 think any of its inhabitants would have harmed 
 me unless some fanatical planter like Dr. Pen- 
 ick, who, of course, would seek my destruction, 
 seeing he had never forgiven me for my exposure 
 of his mobocrasy, or some tool of King Cotton, 
 such as Bob Clark, who, after inciting the youth 
 of Wetumpka to enlist against their government. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 189 
 
 refused to expose his forfeit life in their com 
 pany, could have been so base as to perpetrate 
 the murderous deed. But the roads to my resi 
 dence were sure to be blockaded by the secret 
 emissaries of Robert Rives and his coadjutors, 
 who were evidently determined to assassinate me. 
 
 It was clear I must not remain in Alabama, be 
 cause, nowhere could I find adequate protection 
 not even among my Union confreres of Coosa 
 county, who were unarmed and unprepared tin- 
 self-defence. I determined not to involve my 
 friends in a bootless clanger. I must temporarily 
 leave Alabama ! 
 
 But how ? My decision must be quickly formed. 
 My mind, it is true, did revert to scenes where a 
 friendship was formed which can never die. For 
 not asking aid of that friend, whose name, al 
 though -engraved upon the tablets of my heart, 
 must not be written here, my apology must be 
 that I would have perished a thousand times be 
 fore I would have involved my friend in danger. 
 
 And yet, thought recoiled upon itself, when 
 ever it essayed to discover any other means of 
 escape. In that modern Babylon, there was no 
 refuge from King Cotton, except in acknowledg 
 ing his omnipotent sway. This I had not done 
 would never do. I was even then fleeing from 
 his vengeance. His dreadful form, like a modern 
 Colossus of Rhodes, seemed to bestride the city, 
 whose steeples and capitol loomed up in the dis 
 tance against the starlit skv. liis awful decrees 
 
 O - 
 
190 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 were, even then, pronounced from the Exchange, 
 and fell, in thunder, upon the ears of sovereign 
 States, who respectfully removed their glittering 
 coronets and laid them at his feet. The gas-lights 
 of the city, becoming visible, seemed the Argus- 
 eyed guardians of his power. As we drew nearer, 
 die occasional stroke of a Sabbath bell melodiously 
 summoned the inhabitants to their evening praises. 
 The venial clergy would soon be busy in exhort 
 ing his subjects to obey the behests of a king, upon 
 whose head is denounced the vengeance of the 
 Most High God, in Ezekiel, xvii. 19. 
 
 There lay the great Babylon of the "Western 
 World, like a beast of prey crouching for a spring 
 at the throat of every Alabamian who still loved 
 the national Union, respected his oath, and reject 
 ed the claims of the usurper " King Cotton." 
 
 I could not but feel the awful proximity of that 
 city weighing upon my lite. 
 
 While filled with the most gloomy reflections, 
 I was roused from my meditations by the clatter 
 ing hoofs of an approaching horse. Xearer and 
 nearer came the rider, until close to the vehicle, 
 where he reined up for a moment, scrutinized the 
 stage and especially its inside occupant, when, 
 seeming satisfied with the survey, he again put 
 spurs to his horse, raised a derisive whoop, waved 
 aloft his cap, and darted into the city at the top 
 of his speed. 
 
 I recognized John Raymond on his foaming 
 
 O / O 
 
 steed. 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 191 
 
 My position was critical in the extreme. This 
 man was about to rouse the town for my warm re 
 ception. As we rumbled into the " city of the 
 great kino- * my heart fainted within me. My 
 
 o ZD/ *j j 
 
 worst enemy could not wish me to be in a more 
 utterly abject state of hopelessness. My friends, 
 alas ! knew not even where I was at that moment. 
 The news of my victimization could not possibly 
 have readied my friends even in Montgomery, 
 much less Wetumpka. The good, who dwelt in 
 the capital of King Cotton, could not the wicked 
 would not interpose the outraged law for my 
 protection. 
 
 The stage suddenly stopped. We had entered 
 the city through a suburb unseen by me before. 
 
 / O / 
 
 One of the men dismounted from the driver s box, 
 and coming to the door, said : 
 
 " Mister, I m going to stop here, and perhaps 
 you d like to get out too. This is a private house, 
 and here you can be accommodated about as Avell 
 as anywhere else. If you don t like the place 
 after you get here, you can change it, you know, 
 and I ll help you make a selection." 
 
 There was genuine kindness in the tones. I 
 consented. As we entered the house, I turned 
 toward the street, and received a bow from the 
 ubiquitous John Raymond, who rode composedly 
 by, singing these words, which I did not then un 
 derstand : 
 
 " Wlien tlie devil was sick, tin; devil a saint would be, 
 When tlie devil was well, tlie devil a saint was lie." 
 
102 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 A derisive laugh formed the chorus. 
 
 Was it the chilliness of the evening, or this new 
 
 o" 
 
 cause for watchfulness which sent a cold shudder 
 through my frame, as I drew near the blazing oak 
 fire? 
 
 The lady of the house, about forty years of age, 
 was blessed with the society of four or five hand 
 some daughters. Between the stage-driver and 
 his wife at least his affectionate manner seemed 
 to point out his interlocutrix as such was con 
 ducted a whispered conversation, the result of 
 which was a warm supper for the guest. 
 
 My respectful manner brought an astonished 
 expression to their faces. One of the young ladies 
 eat beside me, held my plate, smiled upon me, and 
 asked me whether " any thing ailed" me .; " for," 
 said she, " you are thoughtful and silent." Rais 
 ing my eyes, they encountered a pair of beautiful 
 brown orbs resting upon them with an expression 
 which caused me involuntarily to smile in return ; 
 but it was a sad, sad smile ; so much so that my 
 fair companion exclaimed : 
 
 " Something does ail you ! You look miserable." 
 Then, lowering her voice, she whispered : " Con 
 fide in me." 
 
 There was a sudden inclination in my thought 
 to tell her all ; to claim her sympathy as a woman, 
 and obtain her aid for my escape ; but, swallow 
 ing the sob which human sympathy was evoking, 
 I forced myself to say : 
 
 " Although I am much obliged to you for your 
 
SCENE THE SIXTH. 103 
 
 sympathy, I can not tell you my troubles. They 
 involve important secrets." 
 
 " Well, well, your secret shall not be invaded. 
 But cheer up, man ! Don t look so heartbroken." 
 
 This was said with an odd admixture of play 
 fulness, petulance, and pity, and soon the refugee 
 and his pretty tormentor were conversing more 
 freely together. 
 
 But time was precious. Reminding William, as 
 the ladies called the driver, that I must be going, 
 I was about to leave, when the former caught 
 Hatty to his heart, gave her a pronounced kiss, 
 then started off with his quondam passenger. 
 
 " You do not seem to have been long married, 
 sir," I innocently remarked. 
 
 A loud laugh shook William s frame, as, slap 
 ping me familiarly upon the back, he exclaimed 
 
 " Come along, man ; you re green !" 
 
 I could not forbear to mingle a smile with the 
 conscious flush which attended my conviction that 
 I had unconsciously entered one of those gilded 
 portals which introduce so many of our race to the 
 vestibule of ruin. 
 
 " Soni soit qui mal y pense" 
 17 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 
 
 " THE CITY OP THE GREAT KING." * 
 
 " For now I stand as one upon a rock, 
 Environed by a wilderness of sea, 
 Wlio marks the waxing tide grow, wave by wave, 
 Expecting ever when some envious surge 
 Will, in his brinish bowels, swallow him." 
 
 ON the plea of business at the Exchange hotel, 
 the fugitive left his companion at a crossing, and 
 found himself alone ! 
 
 Think of it ! a Unionist of 1861, outlawed, hunt 
 ed, wearied, despairing, in the streets of the Con 
 federate capital alone ! 
 
 Say ! can you imagine a situation of more total 
 abandonment? Is there, on God s green footstool, 
 a spot more dangerous to human tread, than the 
 streets of Montgomery tlien\ were to the presence 
 of E. S. Tharin ? 
 
 The crater of Vesuvius is not inaccessible to 
 human visitation, when the soft breezes whisper 
 through its caverns, and the vine-bearing hills lift 
 their summits in the purple sunset; but, when the 
 lav a- waves of Nature s fiercest convulsion wrap 
 
 Cotton. f Not so to be always, however. 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 195 
 
 city and forest in lurid glare, while the rocking 
 earth hurls fragmentary temples from their bases 
 then f 
 
 "Why, then ! to tread upon the brink of that 
 earthly hell, is quite a different thing! 
 
 It is the holy Sabbath eve (February 24th, 1861), 
 and Montgomery s Christian temples are pouring 
 out their retiring congregations under the peaceful 
 stars. Reverend gentlemen, with snowy cravats 
 and mincing gait, walk in the midst of gayly 
 dressed damsels, who court their clerical smiles ; 
 elders and vestrymen, Sunday-school teachers and 
 exhorters, laymen and deacons, presbyters and 
 bishops how multitudinously their feet patter,- or 
 strut, or stamp, or scrape, over that gas-lit pave ! 
 To see the happy throng, you would suppose them 
 all to be on a starlit promenade direct to heaven, 
 and that this pave is the " narrow way." 
 
 But you would be mistaken ; for this although 
 quiescent is Vesuvius still ! 
 
 Should that mincing Pharisee, the cut of whose 
 orthodox garment proclaims the clerical Brum- 
 inell, as he saunters by with virgin innocence 
 resting upon his arm, detect the presence, and its 
 cause, of that traveler who, portmanteau in hand, 
 is crossing toward the line of the Christian cara 
 van, his lips, yet warm with pulpit strains of peace, 
 and rhetorical flourishes about the vrujb of Cal 
 vary, would sound the tocsin of persecution ; and 
 his delicate hands, yet red with pummeling the 
 gospel according to St. Matthew, or the martyr- 
 
196 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 dom of St. Stephen, would hold the garments of 
 those who would arrange the martyr s noose 
 around a patriot s neck, consenting to his death ! 
 
 Should that delicate female, whose intellectual 
 brow is crowned with golden ringlets, and whose 
 celestial eyes are upturned with worship to meet 
 the rapt glance of her spiritual guide should she 
 perceive that a friend of tlie Union of her fore 
 fathers had just passed "by, with mingled rage and 
 hate she would shriek aloud, and the cry false 
 as hell ! "Abolitionist ! hang him !" would be 
 the chivalrous response. "At that cry accurst," 
 the heavenward throng would pause, attent, upon 
 the " narrow way," and, catching up the celestial 
 sound, would spring upon the fugitive s path like 
 bloodhounds after their prey. Should their chase 
 be crowned with success, they would add another 
 element of thanksgiving to their next Sunday s 
 praises, and lift their blood-stained hands to 
 : heaven, in attestation of their pious devotion to 
 that Cotton who (for them) is supreme " in heaven 
 above, in earth beneath, and in the waters that 
 are under the earth." 
 
 Alone, then, and fecauseloy&l and law-abiding 
 outlawed and hunted an American citizen, in 
 his own country, stood upon the crater of a mut 
 tering volcano. Humble though he was un 
 blessed with wealth is there not something anom 
 alous in the situation ? Can you not almost see 
 the forms of the great tutelaries of America, who 
 lived, bled, and died in and for the Union, bend- 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 197 
 
 ing from on high to keep watch over his destinies ? 
 And he, the father of that exile, was not excluded 
 from that august band, as he watched over the 
 steps of his persecuted son, while the enemies of 
 American equality were lurking in wait for his 
 life. 
 
 Time was precious. I felt the precarious nature 
 of my footing. The only visible sympathizers 
 with my agony were the stars ! whose distant, 
 but encouraging eyes seemed to say, "Look up!" 
 I tried to look up, and beheld the accursed flag of 
 Secession, to me henceforth the detestable emblem 
 of strides alone, flaunting from the very building 
 I was about to enter ; but I was glad to see the 
 twinkling stars beyond and above it, shining se 
 renely in the " azure dome of night," out of the 
 reach of treason or of change. They seemed to 
 invite to beckon me, saying 
 
 " Come up hither, where the stars are free !" 
 
 Have I not obeyed their mute but eloquent 
 invitation? Am I not enjoying a hard-earned 
 semi-tranquillity in the light of that constellation 
 which still sheds its loyal rays upon the national 
 banner? When the stars of heaven fell, the pow 
 ers that were in heaven were only " shaken." 
 Passed is now the convulsion, and the pillars of 
 Liberty rock only on account of a recent vibration. 
 
 " It was (mirabile dicta /) into the Exchange 
 hotel that L was about to enter. In that hotel, 
 the perjured members of the illegitimate "South 
 ern Congress" were even then concocting then* 
 17* 
 
198 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 flagitious schemes for the overthrow of that gov 
 ernment the loyal citizen was risking his very life 
 to maintain. 
 
 The editor of the Charleston Mercury and one 
 of the members of the " Southern Congress" are 
 the sole occupants of "No. 6." 
 
 A muffled knock is heard at the door, and in 
 response to the invitation " come in," a pallid face 
 and eager eyes burst upon the twain. 
 
 The member of the Southern Congress rises and 
 
 o 
 
 extends his hand : 
 
 " Mr. Tharin, how do you do ? Where have you 
 come from ? You look badly, but I can never for 
 get that face." 
 
 " Mr. Miles, I have come far to see you, and 
 would prefer to communicate with you alone." 
 
 Exit K. Barnwell Rhett, Jr., editor of the 
 Charleston Mercury. 
 
 As this man has played a conspicuous part in 
 hounding on his class, the cotton aristocrats, 
 advocating every species of excess in the polished 
 periods of a cultivated pen, it may not be amiss 
 to give a short sketch of his origin, of which he is 
 very proud. 
 
 In 1712-13 the Tuscaroras, Corees, and other 
 Indian tribes in North Carolina, broke out into sud 
 den hostilities against the white settlers along the 
 Neuce and Roanoke rivers. The " Palatines" of 
 the old North State, then under colonial vassalage 
 to Great Britain, could not sustain themselves 
 without assistance, and a swift messenger was dis- 
 
SCE]SrE THE SEVENTH. 199 
 
 patched to Port Royal (South Carolina) for aid. 
 The " Lords Proprietors" sent Col. Barnwell, with 
 a large force (eight or nine hundred, I think), 
 to reduce the Indians to submission. He found 
 them intrenched in a fort of palisades. Being 
 afraid to attack them, Barnwell entered into a 
 treaty with them. 
 
 On his return march he invaded certain peace 
 able Indian villages, and, contrary to the stipula 
 tions of the treaty^ kidnapped not a few of the 
 inhabitants, whom he imported into South Caro 
 lina, as slaves, to till the indigo-fields of that 
 colony.* 
 
 R. Barnwell Smith, not more than a dozen or 
 two years ago, changed his name to Rhett, for an 
 inheritance. R. Barnwell Rhett, Jr., ne Smith, 
 is the hopeful scion of this most illustrious house. 
 
 But all is not yet told. In consequence of the 
 outrage against civilization committed by Col. 
 Barnwell, the massacres of the Neuce river were 
 renewed, when the Lords Proprietors of South 
 Carolina sent a smaller body of men, most of them 
 Indians (in the whole six hundred there were not 
 more than fifty whites), under Col. James Moore, 
 afterward governor of the colony, who stormed the 
 same fort, under more difficult circumstances, and 
 reduced the Indians to complete quiescence. 
 
 lie committed no outrages on the return march, 
 and so the peace was lasting. 
 
 * See Carroll s Historical Collections of South Carolina. 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Barnwell, the coward, faltered in attacking the 
 fort ; Barnwell, the pirate, kidnapped peaceful 
 Indians as slaves for his indigo-fields. 
 
 From this distinguished slave-pirate is descended 
 the modern advocate of the world-wide execrated 
 " African slave-trade." 
 
 There is a wonderful persistency in blood to 
 betray its origin ! This is exemplified in the life 
 and writings of R. Barnwell Rhett, Jr. 
 
 From this short digression, begging the reader s 
 pardon, return we to "No. 6 Exchange Hotel, 
 Montgomery, after its evacuation by the editor of 
 the Charleston Mercury, the " organ" of the "first 
 families" of South Carolina. 
 
 The following conversation then took place : 
 
 THARIN. "Honorable William Porcher Miles, 
 once of the Federal, now of the Confederate Con 
 gress, have you forgotten auld lang syne? Do 
 you remember when my class at college, the Col 
 lege of Charleston your alma mater and my alma 
 mater presented the assistant professor of Mathe 
 matics with a silver cup ?" 
 
 MILES. " I have not the bad taste to forget 
 it." 
 
 THARIN. "It was a handsome gift ! It ought to 
 be a link between the past and the present." 
 
 MILES. "It is! it is!" 
 
 THARIN. "I m sure, professor, if you were in 
 danger, not one of that class would refuse to save 
 you if he could !" 
 
 MILES. " Ah ! I see ! I see ! You are in danger ! 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 201 
 
 I perceive it in your whole manner. Dear pupil 
 confide in me. What can I do for you ?" 
 
 TIIAKIV. "Save me!" 
 
 MILES. " ITow ? when ? where ? why ?" 
 
 THAKIN. " By aiding me on my way to Cincin 
 nati, immediately !" 
 
 MILES. "But why?" 
 
 THARIN. " An infuriated mob has already visited 
 me with undeserved barbarities. Other mobs are 
 gathering for my destruction. I ain a fugitive 
 from mobocracy ! "Will you save me ?" 
 
 MILKS. "What have you done?" 
 
 THARIN. " Nothing wrong." 
 
 MILES. " What is the nature of your offense ?" 
 
 THAEIN. " Political !" 
 
 MILKS (with a darkening brow). " Ha !" 
 
 THARIX. " I was about publishing, in this city, 
 a newspaper to be called the Non-slavehold- 
 
 MILES (starting to his feet). "Good Heaven !" 
 
 TIIARIN. " My only object, professor, was to ad 
 vocate the rights of that class to representation 
 and equality." 
 
 MILES. "Worse and worse! I can t help you, 
 Mr. Tharin, wait here a minute or two." 
 
 The victim of mobocracy had learned, by bitter 
 experience, to read the dark thoughts of men by 
 the light of their own eyes. There was a glitter 
 in the glance of Miles which revealed, like the 
 lightning from a black sky, the abyss below. 
 Without awaiting his return, I made my way into 
 
202 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 the street, and was about to proceed, with rapid 
 steps along the pavement, when, suddenly stepping 
 from the side of the door, a man lightly laid his 
 detaining lingers upon my arm. 
 "Stop, Mister!" 
 
 With a sudden movement, I was about to grasp 
 my captor s throat. My instantaneous discovery 
 of John Raymond did not diminish my energy, 
 when, in a conciliating tone, he said : 
 " Step this way, Mr Tharin." 
 " Who told you that was my name ?" 
 He drew me gently to the shade of a lamp. 
 Then, glancing cautiously around, he said in an 
 almost whisper : 
 
 " I was at Collirene both times you were mob 
 bed. I was not a member of the vigilance com 
 mittee, or of your association, but I am now, by 
 G- ! I made up my mind to follow and to save 
 you !" Here his voice grew thick and his breath 
 ing hard. "I got to Benton in time to prevail on 
 the stage-driver to take you on. I took a short 
 cut across the country and met you at the half 
 way-house. You know the rest. To be seen in 
 your company now would be certain death. You 
 will be hung as high as Hainan if you stay in the 
 State. Don t think, for a moment, of going to 
 your own town (Wetumpka), for you are to be 
 waylaid. Don t stay here another moment. You 
 know very w r ell that this hole is full of your ene 
 mies. Go to Montgomery Hall, register your 
 name, call for a room, and, to-morrow I ll call for 
 
SCKNE THE SEVENTH. 203 
 
 you in a hack and take you to the depot of the 
 West Point railroad." 
 
 " Many many thanks for your 
 
 "Hold your hush. You re foolish ! People"? 
 passing !" 
 
 We separated. 
 
 When I reached the hotel he had indicated, I 
 advanced, with a beating heart, to the register, 
 upon which I entered this fictitious name : 
 
 " B. T. Hainan, Charleston, S. C.," and called 
 for a room. 
 
 And now, if any Secessionist ventures to deny 
 my statement, thus I prove its correctness, and 
 the clanger to which I was subjected, on account 
 of my loyalty : 
 
 Take the hotel register of the Montgomery Hall 
 for Sunday the 24th of February, look at the end 
 of the arrivals for that clay, and you will find the 
 name " B. (better) T. (take), Hainan, Charleston, 
 S. C." You won t find the words " better take, 1 
 but you will will find their initials, " B." and " T/ 
 
 Again : in order to place the matter beyond the 
 possibility of a doubt, I will here describe the very 
 way, the surname is written 
 
 H-a-y-m-a-n . 
 
 The "y" was added, in order to prevent any 
 association of ideas from pointing me out until too 
 late to destroy me and my testimony forever. 
 
 " ISTow," thought I, as I entered that room, from 
 which I might never emerge alive, " now, if John 
 Raymond meant to catch me bv advising me to 
 
20-i THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 register my own name, I have completely foiled 
 him that s all ! If he be a friend indeed, to-mor 
 row he shall find me." 
 
 I drew off my boots, disencumbered myself of my 
 coat and seizing the candle approached the mirror, 
 with a vague notion that I must have changed 
 some little in the last two or three days. 
 
 I started at the spectral face which presented 
 itself before me. Want of rest, food, and mental 
 peace, nights of intense misery, doubt, anxiety, 
 suspense, hope, fear, unceasing thought, had done 
 their work. Replacing the candle, I threw myself 
 upon my bed, but how could I sleep ? Burying 
 my face in the pillow, I thus meditated : 
 
 "Had I commenced with perjury and ended 
 with murder ; had I been guilty of some flagrant 
 act of violence upon the constitutional rights of 
 some unprotected poor white man ; had I accom 
 panied the act with language of brutal contempt ; 
 had I precipitated the low and fiendish rabble to 
 persecute, upon suspicion, a helpless wretch for 
 the sake of the example I had, this night, been 
 rewarded with office, popularity, and applause. 
 But I have dared to do an act more just than pop 
 ular, to keep my heaven-registered oath, to support, 
 the Union, the Constitution, and the cause of the 
 defenseless and oppressed, and - - here am I! a 
 violent death closing upon me from a circumfer 
 ence of horror. In the center of that circle, al 
 most overpowered with the mightiness of the cri 
 sis too soon to 2:1 ve wav beneath a load of woe 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 205 
 
 and distress, growing, every moment, more and 
 more intolerable, I must not make a single false 
 step. My wife and daughter, only fourteen miles 
 off, I may never more behold ! Little do they 
 think to-night how much I suffer. May God pro 
 tect my Mollie ; may he watch my little Claudia s 
 unfolding heart and mind. O God ! save us all 
 to meet in other lands, where barbarism has given 
 place to an enlightened civilization !" 
 
 Just then, through the corridor, I heard the ap 
 proach of trampling feet. 
 
 " Suppose," said Apprehension, " suppose John 
 Raymond should prove false. Suppose he should 
 bring with him a brutal mob, and betray the fugi 
 tive with a kiss." 
 
 The feet came to the very door they stopped 
 there came a loud rap, which was echoed in the 
 caverns of my bosom. 
 
 " Is Mr. Hainan in ?" 
 
 With the inward ejaculation, " If I die for my 
 principles, it shall not be by the felon s rope !" I 
 opened wide the door and approached the open 
 window as the party entered. 
 
 First appeared a negro waiter, candle in hand ; 
 then a well-dressed, but not prepossessing, gentle 
 man ; and then slowly, but excitedly, John Ray 
 mond himself. 
 
 " That will do, boy," said Raymond, and the 
 negro retired. 
 
 With one bound he put down the window, with 
 his back to which lie stood confronting me. 
 is 
 
206 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 " Tharin, put on your coat and boots ; here, 
 take your luggage, let me have your money, and 
 follow me." 
 
 I watched the quivering muscles of his face, and 
 said : 
 
 " Do you come as a friend, or as an enemy ?" 
 
 " As a friend. Follow me !" 
 
 " Your hand, in token of honest friendship, and 
 I ll go." 
 
 Raymond saw my emotion and nervously whis 
 pered : 
 
 " Quick, quick man, we re loosing precious mo 
 mentsfollow me !" 
 
 " How do I know your intentions ?" 
 
 Here Raymond could stand it no longer. He 
 not only clasped my hand but my form ; he wept, 
 as a strong manly heart alone could weep. 
 
 " D n you ! come, be quick ! My heartstrings 
 are breaking for you ! I will save you ! D ri me 
 if I don t. But I m afraid you ll be recognized 
 down-stairs. Your excited appearance has created 
 a great deal of gossip down there already. Give 
 me your money ! I ll pay the bill, while you, with 
 Mark here, slip out." 
 
 Was it a dream ? Was I awake ? Would I be 
 permitted to again behold God s beautiful world? 
 to see in it those I loved ? It was too much. For 
 one brief moment, consciousness almost forsook 
 me in my delirious joy ! 
 
 Almost without knowing how, I again found 
 myself in the gas-lit streets of the Confederate 
 
SCKNK THE SEVENTH. 54U< 
 
 capital, with my two companions, one on each 
 side of me. We soon arrived at a place which I 
 will not here describe, on account of the persecu 
 tions to which my friends might be subjected. 
 Up stairs we groped, through the darkness, to a 
 comfortable room, where we found ourselves soon 
 in one bed. There were other beds in the room, 
 but we wished to converse. 
 
 The first word I had ever heard Raymond s sin 
 gular companion sa-y was, after we were under the 
 coverlid, 
 
 "Fools!" 
 
 " Who f asked Raymond. 
 
 " You, and this other man. Why the devil 
 couldn t you leave Montgomery Hall without 
 hugging and crying like women ?" 
 
 u Never mind, Mark ; you go to sleep, now." 
 
 " Well, don t cry any more, John." 
 
 " You be d d !" said the latter. 
 
 That was their " good-night !" 
 
 George was soon snoring in the most unequiv 
 ocal manner. 
 
 I was myself rapidly sinking into the deep sleep 
 of exhaustion, when a hand shook my shoulder, 
 and Raymond s voice whispered, 
 
 " Are you asleep ?" 
 
 " Almost." 
 
 " Wake up !" 
 
 "What s the matter?" 
 
 " When George and I leave you in the morning, 
 he will to his work I ll come back with a 
 
208 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 hack ; step boldly into it and ride to the depot, 
 buy a ticket it will be early. Take your place in 
 the car, and then take care of yourself 1" 
 
 " I will do as yon tell me." 
 
 " And now go to sleep. Feel no dread you re 
 safe. Yon need sleep take it while yon can !" 
 
 These refreshing words added fragrance to my 
 slumber. My visions were the thoughts of Inno 
 cence, as my actions had been her suggestions. 
 No Abolition incendiarism filled my dreams with 
 the charred remains of conflagrated houses ; but 
 the white dove of returning peace nestled over the 
 land, the curtain of futurity lifted, and Alabama 
 emerged upon the stage of action, crowned with 
 the star-spangled glories of her first love, and 
 purified from her sin ! 
 
 The next morning, two persons stood together 
 in a chamber in the " City of the Great King." A 
 hack w r as at the door, its negro driver composedly 
 seated in front, its door open, and clouds of vapor 
 rising from the expanding nostrils of its bay horses. 
 The hands of the two men were warmly inter- 
 clasped. He who held a portmanteau was say 
 ing 
 
 " And we may never, on earth, meet again ; but 
 as you have done to me, in this awful crisis of my 
 life, may God do to you, in your greatest need, 
 and more too. Never never will I forget you ! 
 Good-by!" 
 
 The sincere warmth with, which this was said 
 brought a quiver to the other s lip. With elo- 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 209 
 
 quent eyes, but silent lips, lie pressed the Refugee s 
 hand, then vanished out of the door. As he went 
 noisily, but rapidly, down the steps, his voice was 
 overheard exclaiming 
 
 " D n it all ! I m getting fond of the fel 
 low!" 
 
 JSToble ! kind -hearted ! patriotic man ! Avhen God 
 shall number his jewels, many a wealthy and re 
 fined cotton-planter, who, by virtue of a fortunate 
 marriage or a lucky descent, noAV lords it over 
 God s green heritage, shall be weighed in the 
 balances and found wanting; while tliou, the poor 
 neglected stage-driver, whose earthly opportuni 
 ties never equaled theirs, will hear these gracious 
 words from a King more to be dreaded than King 1 
 
 O O 
 
 Cotton : 
 
 u Come, thou blessed of my Father, inherit the 
 kingdom prepared for thee from the foundation of 
 the world ; for I was an hungered, and thou gav- 
 edst me meat ; I was thirsty, and thou gavedst me 
 drink ; I was naked, and thou clothedst me ; I was 
 sick, and in prison, and thou didst minister unto 
 
 ME." 
 
 Then, covered with modest confusion, thou shalt 
 say: 
 
 " Lord, when saw I thee an-hungered, or a-thirst, 
 or naked, or sick, or in prison, and ministered unto 
 
 thee?" 
 
 Then shall the King of kings reply : 
 
 " Inasmuch as thou didst it to this, the least of 
 
 these my brethren, thou didst it unto ME." 
 18* 
 
210 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 Where, then, shall the conspirator, William 
 Porcher* Miles, appear? 
 
 Methinks I hear the thunder-tones of the last 
 Judge pronouncing these words : 
 
 " Depart from me, accursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (i. e., 
 for the first Seceder and his followers) ; " for I 
 was hungry, and tliou gavedst me no meat ; I was 
 thirsty, and tliou gavedst me no drink ; I was sick 
 and in prison, and tliou visitedst me not. Inas 
 much as tliou didst it not to this, the least of these, 
 my brethren, tliou didst it not to ME !" 
 
 Then, while the humble stage-driver shall be 
 carried to the skies in a triumphal procession of 
 the holy angels, the crest-fallen ex-congressman, 
 arm in arm with Jefferson Davis and William L. 
 Yancey, will secede into that outer darkness con 
 genial to their political antecedents. 
 
 Reader, do you want a friend ? 
 
 Go not to the proud Pharisee, who stands at the 
 corners of the streets that men may see him pray ; 
 but betake yourself to the stall and the shamble, 
 where honest poverty wrestles with fate, and from 
 her reluctant palm extorts a scanty subsistence. 
 Go not to the happy and the refined / the cry of 
 anguish, shocks their delicate ears, and their hearts 
 
 o 
 
 prefer to break over the imaginary sufferings of 
 " Uncle Tom," rather than to " minister to minds 
 diseased, pluck from the soul a rooted sorrow, and 
 
 Pronounced PorsJidy. 
 
SCKNE THE SEVENTH. 211 
 
 rid the spirit of that perilous stuff that weighs 
 upon the heart." Above all, go not to a perjured, 
 partisan demagogue ; for, if a man be untrue to 
 his country and his oath, how can he be true to 
 the dictates of humanity ? 
 
 We may never meet again on earth, but the 
 daguerreotype of John Raymond shall ever re 
 main bright in the picture-gallery of memory. 
 
 Having run the gauntlet of Main-street in the 
 hack, I approached the depot. A gilded sign, 
 reddening in the rays of morning, met my view. 
 In mocking syllables, its ample letters arranged 
 themselves before my eyes : 
 
 CHILTON & YANCEY. 
 
 Yancey ! the ablest and the most unscrupulous 
 man that ever plotted the overthrow of popular 
 rights ! The cotton aristocracy could not, by any 
 possibility, have produced such a man. Originally 
 created in God s own image, with qualities the 
 most engaging, powers the most wonderful, genius 
 the most transcend ant, he seemed one of those 
 whom nature throws off in her most inspired 
 moods, and crowns with every talent that can add 
 dignity to the forum or enthusiasm to the popu 
 lace. But she had not adjusted her gifts with 
 that nice equipoise which is essential to harmony 
 and perfection. His ambition she made greater 
 than his love of truth, and just a fraction larger 
 than his vanity. Mr. Yancey commenced his po 
 litical career at Cahawba. and afterward removed 
 
212 THE ALABAMA JRKFDGEE. 
 
 to Wetumpka, wliere lie became the editor of the 
 Wetumpka Argus, Working his way to Con 
 gress by means of that paper, he placed himself 
 among the " yeas and nays" in favor of the annex 
 ing of the " Wilmot Proviso" to the admission of 
 Oregon. Reflecting afterward the political sen 
 timents of the men upon whom he depended for 
 promotion, nothing became too self-contradictory 
 for him to do, if it but served his ultimate end. 
 I have heard him say (at the Commercial Conven 
 tion at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1858) that he 
 resigned his place in Congress, in consequence of 
 his inability to support his family at Washington. 
 This proves that the cotton aristocracy did not 
 produce him, as I have already intimated. 
 
 His inventive genius being ever on the alert 
 for his own aggrandizement, the coronation of 
 Cotton soon placed him in the category of the 
 " King s" most humble subjects. Uncottoned him 
 self, he paid his court to the wealthy courtiers of 
 the woolly monarch, and, by his unscrupulous ad 
 hesion to His Majesty, won the post of Grand Cham 
 pion of his throne. Inflated by the popularity 
 which he received from the dispensers of public 
 favor, the planters, there was no deed too black, 
 no means too corrupt for the achievement of his 
 ends.* What w r ould have been in a good cause, 
 
 * " MONTGOMERY, June 15, 1858. 
 "DEAR Sin: 
 
 " Your kind letter of the 15th is received. I hardly agree 
 with you that a general movement can be made that will clean 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 213 
 
 sustained by truth, a divine enthusiam, was in 
 the mind of a perjurer, but the excitement of am 
 bition in its hot pursuit of personal success. 
 
 It is my firm conviction that Mr. Yancey s am 
 bition aspires to the throne itself. What easier 
 lor an eloquent man, after filling the public tongue 
 with the enthusiastic monosyllable " King," ap 
 plied to an invisible but omnipresent idea, than to 
 
 out tlie Augean Stable. If the Democracy were overthrown, it 
 would result in giving place to a greater and a hungrier sicarm 
 of flies. 
 
 " The remedy of the South is not in such a process. It is in 
 a diligent organization of her true men for the prompt resist 
 ance of the next aggression. It must come in the nature of 
 things. No national party can save us, no sectional party can 
 ever do it. But, if we should do as our fathers did organize 
 committees of safety all over the Cotton States (and it is only in 
 them we can hope for any effective movement), we shall fire 
 the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind, give courage 
 to each other, and, at the proper moment, by one organized, 
 concerted action, we can precipitate the Cotton States into a 
 revolution. 
 
 " The idea has been shadowed forth in the South by Mr. 
 Ruffin, has been taken up and recommended by the Adver 
 tiser under the name of League of United Southerners/ who, 
 keeping up the old party relations on all other questions, will 
 hold the Southern issue paramount, and will influence parties, 
 Legislatures, and statesmen. I have no time to enlarge, but to 
 suggest merely. 
 
 " In haste, Yours, &c., 
 
 "W. L. YANCEY. 
 
 "To JAMES SLAUGHTER, Esq." 
 
 Dr. Slaughter, having published the above "private letter," 
 as Mr. Yancey afterward called it, was found dead in his bed 
 from the effects of poison ! 
 
21-1: THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 fill that same tongue with his own name, as the 
 main prop of the monarchy, and, in the absence 
 of any tangible superstructure, to become the 
 very " King in name he had already become in 
 substance. There is no question in my mind that 
 Jefferson Davis also beholds the same glittering 
 vision. Alexander II. Stephens, had retired to 
 private life, until the mandate of " King Cotton" 
 called him forth to contradict himself, for a pro 
 motion higher than any he had ever before dream 
 ed of. 
 
 The abilities of William L. Yancey will ulti 
 mately make him the first in the Confederacy, 
 unless a reaction occurs, which could easily be pro 
 duced by the rise of a National party in the North. 
 From the non-slaveholders he has stolen their 
 rights ; but he has made the slaveholders his 
 dupes, his instruments for they are his only 
 beneficiaries. He is ever wedded to their in 
 terests, and they to his by the base disintegration 
 of the Democratic party, at Charleston. The res 
 toration of Nationality to that party would be his 
 greatest punishment. 
 
 The subject however interesting must be, for 
 the present, abandoned, as the personal narrative 
 of one of Mr. Yancey s many victims progresses. 
 
 The depot is reached a ticket purchased the 
 car is entered a rear seat occupied a newspaper 
 unfolded, and the persecuted, but guiltless citizen, 
 apparently engrossed in its contents, keeps a con 
 tinual scrutiny upon the persons entering the train. 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 215 
 
 Soon, the gathering feet of incomers, the musi 
 cal voices of women, the harsher tones of men, all 
 commingling in denunciation of the Union, are 
 the sounds ; Secession cockades, blue ribbons, in 
 scribed with " Resistere Lincolni est obedientia 
 Deo" Secession newspapers these are the sights. 
 
 It w r as, of course, a relief to me, when the 
 whistle blew, and, with its living freight, the loco 
 motive started. The rattling of the cars soon 
 drowned all voices save that of Memory. 
 
 Whither was I going ? Should I successfully 
 run the gauntlet of the State of the South what 
 spot of earth could I call home f Where could I 
 find a mother brother wife? Was I leaving 
 my children, my home, forever ? What eyes 
 would weep at my departure, outside of my own 
 immediate family ? I had friends in Montgom 
 ery would they dare to defend the exile f Would 
 they, without a single exception, unite their voices 
 in reproach of my oath-keeping actions ? or would 
 some unquenchable spirit vindicate my name, 
 cherish my memory, and await the day of my 
 return f 
 
 Such was the agony of my mind, that I almost 
 resolved to return to the city and to invite my 
 fate. It would have been a consolation, at that 
 moment, if, devoting myself for the good of my 
 fellow- citizens, 1 could have seen on? soulful face 
 catch my spirit as it ascended and beam it upon 
 the crowd. If there was in the " City of the Great 
 King," a soul attuned to the music of true South- 
 
216 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 ern Rights, that soul knew not the fate of him who 
 was being so rapidly hurried away from the pos 
 sibility of communication ! 
 
 The cars stopped, as if merely to breathe, at a 
 station. The whistle blew, again we started in the 
 race (of life for some, of death for others), and 
 against the background of the forest which lined 
 the railroad, the following lines, from Moore, 
 seemed traced in one lonec telegram : 
 
 O O 
 
 " Far lie fled indignant fled, 
 
 The pageant of his country s shame ; 
 While every tear her children shed 
 
 Fell on his soul like drops of flame ; 
 And, as a lover hails the dawn 
 
 Of a first smile, so welcomed he 
 The sparkle of the first sword drawn " 
 
 For non-slave-owners Liberty. 
 
 Alas ! I have not yet seen, although I feel assured 
 I will some time see, that bright day-spring from 
 on high, when my country s flag will be the 
 cherished emblem of true Southern Rights ! 
 
 O 
 
 The " nigger" can not long continue to be the all 
 absorbing idea ! There must soon come a day when 
 the poor white men of this whole country will 
 come in for their rights. 
 
 So deeply has the administration party become 
 infatuated with one idea, that it hesitates at no 
 constitutional obstacle for the perpetration of its 
 single design. He who refuses to go to the ultima 
 thule of their desperation, and to advocate the in 
 discriminate massacre of every loyal and disloyal 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 217 
 
 man, woman, and child of the whole South, is 
 denominated a traitor ; and, whatever may be his 
 love of the flag of our common country, whatever 
 his devotion to the name and the written prin 
 ciples of Washington, he is tormented with the 
 suspicion of those whose unpatriotic aspiration is 
 the subjugation to provincial vassalage of the 
 Southern States, rather than their restoration to 
 the Union. 
 
 Borne, the greatest military despotism ever 
 known on earth, after conquering a nation, per 
 mitted it to become an honored part of her em 
 pire ; but the Sumners and the Greeleys would 
 be unsatisfied with any thing short of the per 
 petual vassalage (if they could only secure it) of 
 every white person of the South. A loyal South 
 ern man they hate and despise, unless he be also 
 a greater friend to the black man than to his own 
 downtrodden race. I speak solemnly and truly, 
 when I profess my incompetency to discover any 
 other future for the poor African than utter exter 
 mination, if the exasperating policy of the admin 
 istration be persisted in. 
 
 The Southern people (and I know them well) 
 will never permit the negroes to live among them, 
 nominally their equals. They will make the South 
 too hot for them, even if this war were to become a 
 nigger-success, and the protegees of " Massa Gree- 
 ley " would precipitate themselves like an avalanche 
 upon Northern communities naturally expecting 
 fraternization and protection. These, everybody 
 
 19 
 
THE ALABAMA UEKUGKiO. 
 
 knows, would be peremptorily denied them, and 
 thus they would become a race of vagabond ma- 
 rauders upon society, until mobocracy, that cruel 
 scourge of our country, would perpetuate itself 
 upon their destruction. If wholesome laws were 
 enacted for their regulation, their antecedents 
 would render it necessary to coerce them into an 
 involuntary obedience. Negro equality in the 
 North, as well as in the South, is an ethnological 
 impossibility. In saying this, I pay the same 
 compliment to the white men of the North as to 
 those of the South, Then would cc me the next 
 danger. Those who say the negro is superior to 
 the white man would, of necessity, join him in his 
 resistance of law, which his white friends would 
 call another kind of slavery. This would increase 
 the numbers of the negroes, but not their respecta 
 bility, and scenes of horror would be the result, 
 which would render the brutalities of Southern 
 mobs no longer a " peculiar institution." 
 
 The proposition I made to the non-slaveholders 
 of Alabama, to confine, by law, the institution to 
 the cotton-fields, including, of course, the menial 
 offices of the household, and thus to rescue in the 
 South lier mechanical pursuits from the hated 
 negro equality, while it would not have impaired 
 the intrinsic value of the property of the planters, 
 would have restored the "poor white trash," or 
 Southern " mudsills," to their long-lost Southern 
 Eights. This moderate course was one of the 
 causes of my banishment; and yet, were I to 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 210 
 
 suggest the same thing as the best policy of the 
 United States Government, Kadicals of all kinds 
 would be ready to re-echo the old cry, " Crucify 
 him !" 
 
 A proclamation by the President, rescinding 
 the emancipation proclamation, and declaring all 
 mechanical pursuits in the South to be sacred to 
 the white man s free labor, at the same time 
 confining the negroes in the Gulf States to the 
 cultivation of cotton, sugar, and rice, and to 
 menial household occupations; while, in the Bor 
 der States, the mechanical pursuits being made 
 equally free, the slaves shall be confined to the 
 culture of tobacco and hemp, and to menial 
 household employments, would create an awaken 
 ing and a revulsion in the South w T hich would 
 restore the Union and save the administration. 
 
 The looms of manufacturing cities, domestic and 
 
 O 
 
 foreign, would then be better than ever supplied, 
 the planters would be reduced from their aristo 
 cratic pretensions, while not the least of its bless 
 ings would be the disinthrallinent of the non- 
 slave-owners, and, at the same time, the Union 
 feeling of the South, so long held in check by the 
 un-national, un-Caucasian, and un-constitutional 
 course of the present infatuated administration. 
 
 After what seemed to be an age, I arrived at 
 West Point, Georgia, whence I dispatched several 
 letters to my brother, Marion C. Tharin, an engi 
 neer on the Charleston and Hamburgh railroad, 
 
220 THE ALABAMA HOT GEE. 
 
 requesting him to bring, or send, some money to 
 me, as I was fleeing from Mobocracy, and had left, 
 in my haste, all save a few dollars. 
 
 Two days of suspense elapsed hut no letter came. 
 Not only was my money ebbing away but my ex 
 posure was becoming imminent. To earn enough 
 to bear me away was my first thought. I am an 
 excellent penman, and my previous occupation of 
 teaching suggested something in that line as the 
 proper mode. 
 
 I saw some young ladies amusing themselves 
 on the green, in front of a long, low, white 
 building, which I judged to be the seminary. 
 I approached the building and inquired whether 
 it was an academy. I was politely informed, 
 by a young lady, that it was, and that its pre 
 ceptress was then expected every moment that, 
 if I would walk in and be seated, she would be in 
 formed, upon her arrival, that some one wished to 
 see her. 
 
 I entered the building and sat down in a kind of 
 parlor, where I had not long to wait before the in 
 tellectual face of the principal was presented at the 
 door. I rose respectfully, bowed profoundly, and 
 gave my name as Percy. Presenting the lady a 
 chair, w r e were soon immersed in a conversation, 
 which I am afraid detained her from more import 
 ant, if not more interesting occupations. 
 
 After a pleasant and rather discursive conversa 
 tion, I bowed myself out of the door, hat in hand, 
 with a vague presentiment that, unless relief came 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 221 
 
 soon, my failure to obtain a writing-class in that 
 seminary would result in the most disastrous fail 
 ure of my life. 
 
 Turning away I was proceeding toward the 
 hotel, when a beautiful and intelligent face beamed 
 a recognition upon me. For one brief moment 
 I stood transfixed with incertitude, not knowing 
 whether or not to speak. The last time I had seen 
 that face was in "Wetumpka, Alabama, where a 
 frequent visitor at the house of Col. Saxon, a 
 staunch Democrat of the Senator Fitzpatrick 
 School, I was often thrown, before and since my 
 marriage, into her company. 
 
 My hesitation was but momentary, however. 
 For the first time in my life, I purposely turned 
 away without speaking, from a lady of my ac 
 quaintance. Assuming the disguises of a stoop 
 and a limp neither of which is even remotely 
 characteristic of my ordinary mode of procedure, 
 I hobbled away to the infinite surprise of Miss 
 Charlotte Cherry, whose wonder-stricken counte 
 nance had not yet recovered its wonted expression, 
 when I threw a retrospective glance over my 
 shoulder. 
 
 The presence of an acquaintance in the Cotton 
 State of Georgia, who knew me to be in West 
 Point if she had recognized me, and who, if she 
 had not, would, woman-like, inform her friends in 
 Alabama of the singular likeness between me and 
 the gentleman who had visited the school was a 
 spur to my speed. The idea of remaining there 
 19* 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 was simply ridiculous. I might have applied, 
 with impunity, to Miss Cherry for aid in pro 
 curing a situation in that academy ; but I would 
 not involve her young life in the mesh of ruin in 
 which King Cotton had involved me. 
 
 I had already suffered considerable anxiety, on 
 account of the manner toward me of the railroad 
 conductor from Montgomery, who rested each day 
 a scrutinizing glance upon me, and, even, at last, 
 asked me whether we had met before. There had 
 been no previous acquaintance, and so 1 said. The 
 man looked dissatisfied. 
 
 As soon as the return train started for Mont 
 gomery, I repaired to a teacher of the town, and 
 laid my case before him. The good Christian 
 heard me with tears, and invited me to dinner. 
 There I was introduced to his family, who seemed 
 very kind and sympathizing, although no word 
 from the reverend gentleman described my pre 
 dicament. The next northward train approaching, 
 that true Christian gentleman went to the cars in 
 company with his guest whom he had furnished 
 with money to Chattanooga, Tennessee. 
 
 The reader will remember the great excitement 
 of that time, the hatred of the cotton-planters to 
 myself and my cause, and will not fail to see how 
 important to the subsequent advantage of the 
 non-slaveholding whites of the South was my 
 escape that is, the preservation of my testi 
 mony. 
 
 Arrived at Chattanooga, I registered my name 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 223 
 
 as R, Seymour (which is a part of my name); I 
 
 was about seeking my apartment when I was 
 
 "brought up all standing at the door by the 
 
 familiar sound : 
 " Robert!" 
 I turned and beheld a fair complected youth 
 
 standing in the " passage." 
 
 REFUGEE. " You have the advantage, sir." 
 YOUTH. "Don t you remember me, Robert?" 
 REFUGEE. " I expect you make a mistake." 
 YOUTH. " Don t you remember Joseph Ren- 
 
 ard ?" 
 
 REFUGEE. " You still have the advantage, sir." 
 YJOUTH. "Did you not attend the Sunday-school 
 
 at St. John s Chapel, Charleston, many years 
 
 REFUGEE. " I did." 
 
 YOUTH. " I was a pupil in the class taught by 
 your Uncle Edward. >: 
 
 We shook hands where we had conversed, full 
 in view and hearing of the book-keeper. 
 
 We took a walk together. Renard was an en 
 gineer on the Charleston and Chattanooga rail 
 road. He expressed great sympathy for the 
 nephew of his former Sunday school teacher, and 
 offered to procure me a free passage on the engine 
 to Nashville, the engineer being his friend. But, 
 repenting of his shallow impulse, the backslidden 
 Sunday-scholar left his "friend" to his fate. I 
 blush to admit that Renard is a non-slave 
 owner. 
 
22-i THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 No time was to be lost. The mob feeling had 
 not yet culminated at Chattanooga ; but to my 
 eye which was somewhat initiated, I may say- 
 there were unmistakable signs in the political 
 horizon. Again betaking myself to a clergyman 
 I w r as aided on my way to Cincinnati. 
 
 Not feeling secure in the fidelity of Joseph Een- 
 ard, I returned to the hotel, paid my bill, and 
 started for the Lookout station on foot. As I was 
 leaving the desk, the bookkeeper said : 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Tharin." 
 
 I suppose I owe that salutation and its accom 
 panying wink to Joseph Renard, or else to him 
 and my interlocutor together. The clerk looked 
 surprised, when, with a calm smile, I returned his 
 salutation. 
 
 I was completely exhausted when I arrived at 
 the station. Some workmen were employed in 
 bringing clay in cars, and emptying it along the 
 road. Upon inquiry I found that some time would 
 elapse before the train would pass. A gentle 
 manly person approached and invited me to sup 
 per. I accepted ; but much did I wish afterward 
 that I had declined. The language of the host 
 consisted in an interminable panegyric on Jeffer 
 son Davis. Several times I was on the eve of be 
 traying myself by an imprudent outburst. I took 
 good care seemingly to agree with mine host, and 
 evinced an intimate knowledge of the late move 
 ments of his pet, to the great delight of himself, 
 and of his gaping family. But, even the most 
 
SCENE THE SEVKNTH. 
 
 unpleasant circumstances have an end, and the 
 whistle of the locomotive cheered the sinking 
 heart of the impatient traveler. 
 
 Of my arrival at Cincinnati I have already 
 treated in the Introduction to this personal narra 
 tive, to which the reader s attention is again invited 
 for any personal testimonials he may have lost sight 
 of. It will be remembered that in that chapter are 
 set forth the proofs of my statements from the Ca- 
 hawba Gazette (Dallas county, Ala.), as dictated by 
 one of the mob, Kobert Eives, and of the Mays- 
 ville (Ky.) Eagle. In that chapter also are contained 
 letters from Hon. Milton Sayler and Samuel Low- 
 ry, Esq., of Cincinnati, establishing my identity; 
 from Judge Stallo and Rev. E. G. Robinson, of 
 the ^nth-street Baptist Church, as to my habits 
 and character; from William L. Yancey, dated 
 1859, in relation to our former law-partnership; 
 from B. P. Baker, Esq., then of Cincinnati, now of 
 New York, dated August 11, 1862, recommending 
 me for loyalty, and alluding to the Union speech 
 I had the honor to deliver to a large concourse of 
 Cincinnatians ; extracts from the Richmond (Ind.) 
 Palladium, and the Centerville (Tud.) True Re 
 publican, in relation to my (involuntary) enlist 
 ment, as a private in the ranks, to the credit of 
 which the Radicals of that little town are entitled ; 
 letters from Judge Perry and Benjamin Davis, 
 Esq., to the Colonel of the 16th Indiana; the cer 
 tificate of Captain Welsh, 7th Indiana, Com- 
 
226 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 pany D., as to my actions at the Union victory at 
 Winchester, Mffrcli 23, 1862, and a copy of my 
 letter to the London Daily News, entitled " Yan- 
 cey and the Slave-trade," which was written in 
 reply to a note from Mr. Yancey to the London 
 Times , denying his advocacy of its renewal. My 
 reason for commencing this "Personal Narrative" 
 with the documents, alluded to above, was avow 
 edly to prove my claim to the attention of my 
 fellow-citizens to "pave the way" to a better 
 understanding of the autobiography which was to 
 follow. 
 
 Living all my life, up to the time of my exile, 
 in the sunny South, I claim to be better acquaint 
 ed with her domestic condition than those who 
 have only seen the country through the eyes of 
 others ; and it may not be amiss for me to dwell 
 for a short time upon the exciting subject of this 
 gigantic rebellion, viewed in the general relations 
 of the North with the South, and vice versa. 
 
 In the second chapter of this narrative, I have 
 given the concluding portion of my speech to the 
 citizens of Buyckville and vicinity, which affords 
 a veracious and unanswerable exposition of the 
 relative number and actual condition of the tw T o 
 classes of the Cotton States, viz., the owners of 
 slaves, and the owners of no slaves. In that 
 speech, I protested against the tyranny of King 
 Cotton, and contrasted the non-resident majority 
 of the North with the resident minority of the 
 South, in a manner which was by no means flat- 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 
 
 00 
 
 tering to either the one or the other. It will he 
 remembered that I concluded that address with 
 this peroration : 
 
 " That oath is registered in heaven! I make no 
 lio-lit and foolish vows. That oath I intend to 
 
 o 
 
 keep always ; and, if I lose all the tranquillity 
 and peace of mind I possess, that oath shall never, 
 at God s bar, reproach me, as it will yet reproach 
 many other lawyers and officers of Alabama with 
 perjury !" Also : 
 
 " In conclusion : what I have said, I have said 
 in strict accordance with Southern Rights? If I 
 have the misfortune to differ with men of wealth 
 and influence, it shall, at least, never be said of 
 K. S. Tharin, that he is afraid to give a reason 
 for the faith that is in him !" 
 
 The reader will perceive, from this quotation, 
 that I feel as much bound " to support the Con 
 stitution and the Union as I ever did, and that I 
 am still unpledged to any other course ! 
 
 From the manner in which I have already de 
 fended the Constitution and the Union in the 
 South, it is easy to see whether a radical course 
 can consistently be expected of me now, or at any 
 future time, in the North. 
 
 I have now completed a part of the undertaking 
 I have assumed ; and, perhaps, here I should 
 pause, as at the last milestone on a rough and 
 perilous road, but I can not. The same oath, 
 
228 TFIE ALABAMA EEFUGKK. 
 
 which, in the sight of God and man, I registered 
 in the sweet spring of 1859, at Rockford court 
 house, Coosa county, Alabama, still animates my 
 conscience, and demands my activity. 
 
 In the foregoing pages, I have attempted to de 
 pict the atrocities of that Reign of Terror which 
 culminated in deeds of license and of blood, which 
 violated the sanctity of law, which disregarded 
 the awful sanction of solemn oaths, which ravened 
 at the throats of Justice, Mercy, and the Constitu 
 tion. I have "nothing extenuated, nor set down 
 aught in malice ;" but, were I to stop here, I would 
 be unworthy the martyrdom I have suffered for 
 the liberty of speech- that birthright of Ameri 
 cans everywhere; unworthy of my whig ancestry 
 of 1776, who fought to insure me the rights of 
 Magna Charta under the Constitution of the 
 United States ! Action and Reaction being " equal 
 and in opposite directions," the scenes which filled 
 the South with horror and disgrace, have been, 
 alas ! re-enacted in the North, and, long after a 
 shadow of excuse seems, even to the most bigoted 
 Radical, to exist for the most unconstitutional pro 
 cedures, American citizens are, upon the slightest 
 pretences, hauled before military satraps, antl in 
 carcerated in loathsome dungeons, hopeless of re 
 lease, and beyond the benign reach of the Consti 
 tution itself. 
 
 It is the duty of every lawyer who has taken the 
 lawyer s oath, to remonstrate openly and at the 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 229 
 
 risk of life, if need be, against these unjustifiable 
 and unconstitutional usurpations! 
 
 Here, in the Northern States here, in the na 
 tional capital where armed rebellion has left no 
 footprint upon the soil, the people should be left 
 to discuss, in primary assemblages, their interests 
 as a people. The people of the Northern not less 
 than of the Southern Slates, are denied that right 
 by armed minorities, who madly persist in making 
 a political bias the test of loyalty. The man who 
 submits to such an outrage, North or South, is a 
 slave. The voice of Washington has long since 
 been drowned in the clamor of demagogues ad 
 the roar of artillery. The 22d of February, 1863, 
 which has scarcely left the present, bears to the 
 record of the past only reproaches for our slavish- 
 ness and demands on our thoughtful and rnoet 
 candid consideration. Is the Union, bequeathed to 
 us by the Father of our country, to be lost in the 
 maelstrom of war, because no man dare incur the 
 fearful risk of proposing a plan of reconstruction ? 
 Are American citizens, North and South, the abject 
 slaves of their respective tyrannies? Why do 
 they not restore the democratic party to its na 
 tionality, and reconstruct the Union upon the 
 ruins of sectionalism ? "Would any humble citizen 
 of either section be the worse off because of the 
 re-establishment of law ? Are we so much at 
 tached to the names of our corrupters as to desire 
 the perpetuity of their sanguinary rule? lias 
 martial law done so much for the sections that both 
 
 20 
 
230 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 preterit to the Union of our forefathers? Does a 
 military despotism in either section delight the 
 victims of an artificial crisis on the despotic and 
 un-American basis of " military necessity ?" Have 
 the people of the " loyal North" forgotten the prin 
 ciple adopted by an almost unanimous Congress 
 for the prosecution of this war ? What were their 
 words ? 
 
 " That this war is not waged on their part in any 
 spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of over 
 throwing or interfering with the rights and estab 
 lished institutions of the States, but to defend and 
 maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and 
 to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, 
 and rights of the several States unimpaired, and 
 that, as soon as these objects are accomplished, 
 the war ought to cease." 
 
 The duty of a State in rebellion is to return to 
 the Union but radicals insinuate that, having 
 seceded, they have degenerated into territories 
 and must become subject to the will of the minor 
 ity who now hold the archives of the National 
 Government. The wildest theories and most crazy 
 theorists have perforated the brain of the Cabinet, 
 and CHASE each other, like maggots, around the 
 raw head and bloody bones of the Presidential 
 edict. The President, despairing of the support 
 of the conservative people of the country in car 
 rying out his own personal notions, has appe aled 
 in " the proclamation" to the negroes, whose ante 
 cedents have proved them no warrior race, who, 
 
SCRNK THE SEVENTH. 231 
 
 us a people, cannot read his decree, and whose 
 masters have coerced not only them, but, also, the 
 white Unionists who once doubted the designs of 
 
 O 
 
 the ISTorthern radicals. 
 
 In the chapter of this work, styled SCENE TIIK 
 FIFTH, I have shown that the non-slave-owners of 
 the South are doomed to a partial negro-equality 
 through the abuse, by the planters, of the institu 
 tion of Slavery, which, like all other institutions, 
 is subject to abuse, and that the only shadow of 
 superiority left them by the Rebel leaders is the 
 nominal and actual slavery of the inferior race. 
 
 There was may it soon return ! a time when 
 the division between the Disunionists and Unionists 
 of the South constituted the greatest obstacle in the 
 path of the Rebellion, although covered up by the 
 plastic hand of Deception. Skillfully and patriot 
 ically addressed, the old Union feeling of the 
 South, which for almost half a century had stood 
 the test of the united efforts of the Aristocrats, 
 would have risen in overwhelming force to 
 crush out rebellion in their midst; but the Ad 
 ministration has seen fit to address the negroes on 
 a subject beyond their comprehension (and their 
 true interests, by the by), and thus has disgusted 
 and alienated the conservatism of the white people 
 of the South, who can only be won back to their 
 Unionism by the wise and prudent action of the 
 Conservatives of the North. 
 
 The following extract from " Jeff. Davis s Mes 
 sage," while it confirms the historical portion of 
 
THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 the above argument, at the same time, enforces 
 the conclusion by -admitting the premises: 
 
 " In its political aspects this measure possesses 
 great significance, and to it, in this light, I invite 
 your attention. It affords to our whole people the 
 complete and crowning proof* of the true nature of 
 the designs of the party which elevated to power 
 the present occupant of the Presidential Chair at 
 Washington, and which sought to conceal its pur 
 pose by every variety of artful device, and by the 
 perfidious use of the most solemn and repeated 
 
 pledges on every possible occasion The 
 
 people of the Confederacy, then, can not fail to 
 receive this proclamation as the fullest vindica 
 tion of their own sayacity in foreseeing the uses to 
 which the dominant party in the United States 
 intended from the beginning to apply their power ; 
 nor can they cease to remember with devout 
 thankfulness that it is to their own vigilance in 
 resisting the first stealthy progress of approaching 
 despotism that they owe their escape from conse 
 quences now apparent i>o the most skeptical^ 
 
 " It is, also, in effect, an intimation to the peo 
 ple of the North that they must prepare to submit 
 to a separation, now become inevitable \\ for that 
 people are too acute not to understand that a resto- 
 
 * Of wliat the planters most eagerly desire of all things. 
 
 f Now apparent to those who were for the Union while 
 they doubted it he means. 
 
 \ Because of the blind folly of the Administration in antag 
 onizing every element of the South. 
 
SCEXE THE SEVENTH. 233 
 
 ration of the Union lias been rendered forever im 
 possible by the adoption of a measure which, from 
 its nature, neither admits of retraction nor can co 
 exist with them.* 
 
 "Humanity shudders at the appalling atrocities 
 which are being daily multiplied under the sanc 
 tion of those who have claimed temporary \ pos 
 session of the power in the United States, and who 
 are fast making its once fair name a by-word of 
 reproach among civilized men. Not even the 
 natural indignation inspired by this conduct 
 should make us, however, so unjust as to attribute 
 to the whole mass of the people, who are subjected 
 to the despotism that now reigns with unbridled 
 license in the city of Washington, a willing ac 
 quiescence in the conduct of the war. There 
 must necessarily exist among our enemies, very 
 many , perhaps a, majority, whose humanity recoils 
 from all participation in such atrocities, hut who 
 can not he held wholly guiltless, while permitting 
 their continuance without an effort at repression" 
 A bid to Northern Secessionists. 
 
 The last sentence of the above message of the 
 
 * You see lie does not desire its retraction, having labored 
 to produce it but the Conservatives will yet repeal it in time 
 to save the Union. Foreign mediation we do not want will 
 not permit but the mediation of the common sense of the 
 American masses that we will have ! 
 
 f This word is used to confound the counsels of the Union 
 ists of the South, who are willing to return under certain 
 circumstances, and is used as a dissuasive argument. 
 20* 
 
234: TUE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 despot of the South, is a two-edged sword which 
 militates against his own desires as well as against 
 the desires of the despot of the North. Both have 
 become obnoxious to the majority in both sections, 
 and both will perish in the indignation which, now 
 agitates the American blood of the "very many 
 (in both sections) perhaps majorities, whose hu 
 manity recoils from all participation in such atroci 
 ties, ~but who can not he held wholly guiltless while 
 permitting their continuance (in either section) 
 without an effort at repression" 
 
 Let Jeff. Davis remember that there are Con 
 servatives South as well as North, and in the name 
 of both I proclaim that " the Union must and shall 
 be preserved," forcibly if we must peaceably if 
 we can ! 
 
 The proclamation of the President is impolitic 
 as a "war measure," because, in theory, it removes 
 from the poor conscript of the South the only 
 proof of his superiority to the black slave, and 
 thus arms him with a vengeance against the Pres 
 ident, which, with all his vaporing, he never felt 
 before. It affords an excuse, also, for the con 
 scription of the black into the armies of Secession 
 to meet the " black soldiers" of the President, and 
 tends to the ultimate extirpation of the negro race 
 by a " military necessity." Such is the philan 
 thropy of the measure ! 
 
 The duty of this Government is to weaken the 
 Rebels by its good policy, while it overwhelms their 
 armies by its power. If it fails to conquer them 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 235 
 
 by arms and good policy combined, it must be 
 because of their numbers, or of their intrench- 
 ments, or of their strategy, or of their unity, or 
 of some or all of these combined. If any act of 
 the Government, or of him who dictatorially con 
 stitutes himself the Government, be calculated, 
 proprio vigore, to increase the numbers or the 
 unity of the Rebels, to strengthen their intrench- 
 inents, to improve their strategy, or to produce 
 some or all of these bad results, then is that act 
 impolitic and unmilitary. 
 
 Now I have proved, and have made Jeff. Davis 
 himself an unwilling witness, that the Emancipa 
 tion Proclamation is the very best means of har 
 monizing the otherwise conflicting interests of the 
 Rebels, by taking away from the non-slave-owner 
 of the South the only proof he has of his political 
 superiority to the slave-owner s black serf, and his 
 only argument against the planter. Therefore, I 
 have proved from a Southern point of view, that 
 the proclamation is impolitic and unmilitary. 
 
 From a Northern point of view, the "imperial 
 policy" of the President is very poor policy, be 
 cause it obviously produces the most lamentable 
 results upon the people and the soldiery. There 
 fore, again I say it is impolitic and unmilitary. 
 
 But does not the President claim the right of 
 
 O 
 
 issuing his imperial edict by virtue of a " military 
 necessity ?" 
 
 How can that be a military necessity which is 
 itself ^military ? 
 
236 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 During the Presidential contest, which resulted 
 in the lamentable elevation of Jeff. Davis to the 
 first office in the so-called Southern Confedera 
 cy, it was the favorite argument of the precipita 
 tors in the Cotton States, that negro equality was 
 the intention of the Kepublican party.* It seems 
 to me I can see William L. Yancey addressing the 
 people of some Southern community in these words : 
 
 "Did we not tell you so? Compare our pre 
 dictions with the event, and you behold the perfect 
 proof of our declarations !" 
 
 Thus, the shallow policy of the Administration 
 is calculated to produce the result of confirming 
 predictions upon which the rebellion was founded ! 
 
 This work was written except a few notes and 
 some alterations necessitated by the last act of the 
 Radicals long before September 22d, 1862, and, 
 therefore, is much more calm in its strictly narra 
 tive parts than in these concluding remarks, which 
 are written in alarm lest the last rail split by 
 " Old Abe" be the Union, for which I risked my 
 life in the South, and for which I risk my liberty 
 in the North ! But the " imperial policy," so- 
 called, of the radical cabinet is the very policy 
 most desired by the chiefs of the Rebellion, for, 
 while it shocks the common sense of the country, 
 even of Abolitionists, if they have any, and thus 
 divides the "loyal North," it "fires the Southern 
 
 * See p. 44, for extract of Speech of Hon. Jabez L. M. Curry, 
 at Wetumpka, Alabama. 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 
 
 heart* more universally than did the mere election 
 of him who " presides over our destinies," but is 
 blind to his own ! 
 
 There is, however, one aspect of this "imperial 
 policy," which is not calculated to soothe a spirit, 
 who has borne open testimony in the North* and 
 in the Southf to his heart-rending conviction that 
 .England is the fomenter of our troubles, and that 
 it is her imperial policy to divide and conquer this 
 Union, even as the two Grecian States of Athens 
 and Sparta were divided and conquered by the 
 machinations of Philip of Macedon. Our Philip 
 of Macedon sits (in petticoats) upon the English 
 throne. Hob-nobbing with the heads of rebellion, 
 over which she suspended glittering coronets, and 
 over one a vice-royal crown, she promised them 
 her support, and after she found them engaged as 
 " belligerents," she professed through the London 
 Times her willingness to "recognize - them, be 
 cause the North was upholding slavery by adher 
 ing to the Constitution of the country. Thus, by 
 skillfully manipulating her puppet vicegerents of 
 the North, she has inaugurated her "imperial 
 policy" through Mr. Chase, and scarcely waits for 
 the ink of the (British) proclamation of the Presi 
 dent to dry, before she publishes, through the Lon 
 don Ti ititS) that slavery is to be justified on Scrip 
 tural grounds. During all this time, by her 
 "proclamation" of neutrality, she puts in practice 
 
 * See Introduction, p. IS. f See p. 47. 
 
238 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 the " masterly inactivity," which the Roman his 
 torian Tacitus unconsciously suggested to Mr. 
 Calhoun, who plagiarist as he was appropriated 
 the credit due to another man. 
 
 It is the old story. " History is ever re-enacting 
 itself." Sparta was the enemy of Athens, even as 
 the Rebels of the South are the enemies of the 
 North, and the Macedonian monarch, seizing upon 
 domestic feuds, first aggravated, then dismembered 
 Greece, which soon fell a victim to the " imperial 
 policy" of a weaker but more insidious foe. 
 
 The three classes of society in Sparta, or Ancient 
 Secessia, were exactly similar to the three classes 
 of society in Modern Secessia. If the first had her 
 Homoii,* or Superiors, who alone held office, the 
 second has her First Families, or Planters, who 
 illegally monopolize the official honors, emolu 
 ments, and influence of the South ;f if the first had 
 her Hypomeiones4 or Inferiors, who were allowed 
 to vote but not hold office, by law, the second has 
 her " poor white trash," who are excluded from 
 office against law ;f if the first had her Helots, or 
 Slaves, who held neither office nor vote, which, as 
 they were white men, was wrong, the second has 
 her Africans, or Slaves, who, being black, right 
 fully hold neither vote nor office. 
 
 Thus you perceive that Philip of Macedon nat 
 urally sought, as allies, the Homoii or Superiors of 
 Sparta, who, growing tired of Grecian Union, 
 
 * o/*o. f See p. 70, Ante. ^ Y^/mom. lUor f . 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. Zo J 
 
 manifested the spirit of " Oh ! that we had one of 
 the royal family (of Macedon) to rule over us!"* 
 
 Ancient Secessia had by law two kings. 
 
 Modern Secessia has " King Cotton," and longs 
 for a British Prince. 
 
 Thus the parallel is complete, and as Greece fell 
 from disunion, before the Macedonian phalanx, so 
 we will fall, if we remain dismembered l>otJi 
 sections will fall before European diplomacy.f 
 
 It becomes the war-ridden people of both sec 
 tions, therefore, to reconstruct the Union, and to 
 present to foreign nations, once and forever, a 
 front unbroken and one. 
 
 Washington was right when he said, " The 
 Union is the palladium of your safety" !N"or was 
 he wrong when he wrote : 
 
 * London Times Russell. 
 
 f The name of NAPOLEON is prophetic of his purpose. By 
 dropping letter by letter from the Greek name, N*-wAiov, we 
 have a Greek sentence complete, which signifies Napoleon 
 being a lion, is going forth from a lion, the destruction of 
 cities. 
 
 We all know that he took refuge, for a time, in England, 
 the emblem of which is a Lion ; when he went to France and 
 became emperor, he, therefore, went from a lion, and proved him 
 self a lion ; and now he roars at the cannon s mouth at Puebla 
 (next door to the United and Confederate States), that he has 
 come to devour American cities. For the information of the 
 curious I will here state that the Greek sentence, foreshadow 
 ing all this, runs thus : Ntf-oAcwv. aroAeov, TroAfuu , oAswv, ASCJV, ewv, o . 
 
 Let my countrymen then beware of mediation from Napo 
 leon and of Jewett, whose name is capable of a damaging and 
 ignoble construction. 
 
94:0 THE ALABAMA KEFUGEE. 
 
 " There can be no greater error than to expect, 
 or calculate upon, real, favors from nation to nation. 
 It is an illusion which experience must cure, which 
 a just pride ought to discard" * 
 
 But, in these days of tumult, the radical howl- 
 ings, North and South, have drowned the voice of 
 the Father of his Country. In vain he pleads 
 with his disobedient children. The Radicals of 
 the South and of the North have alike invited 
 England to interfere in our troubles, the one by 
 bidding for recognition, and the other by bidding 
 against it. It is treason to the whole people to 
 bid for the subjugation of any part of them. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Lion of England steals through 
 the forest, scenting his prey. His hot breath is 
 almost on our faces, his inane is gradually bristling 
 
 * " FAREWELL ADDRESS" all of which seems at this time 
 more like the inspiration of a prophet than the production of a 
 mere statesman. The reader can not too often peruse Washing 
 ton s Farewell Address. For instance, what can be more sub 
 lime than the following tearful plea : " In offering to you, my 
 countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I 
 dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting im 
 pression I could wish ; that they will control the usual current of 
 the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course 
 which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations; but if I may 
 even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial 
 benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur 
 to moderate, the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs 
 of foreign intrigues, to guard against the impostures of pretend 
 ed patriotism; THIS HOPE will be a full recompense for the 
 solicitude for your welfare by which they hav^e been dictated." 
 
 Shall that hope be disregarded? 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 241 
 
 with anticipated vengeance, his roar will soon shake 
 the atmosphere will my countrymen, North and 
 South, permit all the blessings achieved by the 
 sword of our "Washington, to be lost through neg 
 lect of his farewell advice? 
 
 With the above pregnant question, I conclude 
 this work, which will soon be followed by another, 
 entitled " Results of my Southern and Northern 
 Experience," which will be presented under the 
 form of three historical parallels, with a proposed 
 plan of reconstruction. 
 
 Hoping soon to meet the reader again, I now 
 bid him a temporary adieu, and as I stand, pour 
 prendre conge, with the door-knob in my left hand, 
 with my right I wave him an Au revoir! 
 
 LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 NEW YORK, February 15th, 1863. 
 MY DEAR MOTHER: 
 
 This month, two long and dreary years ago, 
 I was dragged from your arms by an infuriated 
 mob of demons, and driven a fugitive from my 
 adopted State of Alabama. 
 
 Since that hour, the war, which to foretell and 
 endeavor to prevent was my only crime, has del 
 uged your native Virginia in blood, and double- 
 locked the portals of intelligence, at which I have 
 knocked and waited in vain for news of you and 
 my only brother. 
 
 21 
 
242 THE ALABAMA REFUGEE. 
 
 During that fearful time, while Liberty has bid 
 den adieu to the whole country, and arbitrary ar 
 rests have filled the bastiles of the South and of 
 the North with victims of a duplicate despotism, 
 I have many times essayed to write to you and 
 brother Marion ; but no means of transportation 
 for letters has been offered, because Mr. Lincoln 
 was afraid I would say something revealing the 
 Union element of the North, which is not tainted 
 with Abolitionism, and Mr. Davis was afraid I 
 would say something appealing to the Union ele 
 ment of the South, which is untainted with Seces 
 sion ism. 
 
 The mutual jealousy of these two satraps of each 
 other, and of every thinking mind and speaking 
 tongue and pen in the Eepublic, would be amus 
 ing, dear mother, if it were not so dreadful in its 
 results. Radicalism, or Sectionalism, South and 
 North, delighting in extremes and rioting in an 
 archy, has planted the dagger into our bleeding 
 hearts, and then commands the mother and her 
 persecuted son to hold no intercourse in a country 
 once free to the feet and the lips of millions of now 
 trampled serfs. 
 
 Having failed so often in getting news of you 
 or to you by the ordinary modes of communica 
 tion, I include this letter in my book, hoping that 
 some good soul will convey the whole work to 
 your hand and thus soothe your sorrows by this 
 fleeting glimpse of your exiled son. 
 
 I am agonized with the unwelcome but often 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 243 
 
 recurring thought that, perhaps, we are never 
 more to see each other in the flesh. The fearful 
 vision of your decease is even now rending asunder 
 the chords of my heart. The shroud and the cof 
 fin may, ere this, have intervened their spectral 
 folds, the spring verdure may be even now waving 
 above a new-made grave, in which reposes the 
 uriwaking eyes of my aged mother ! while I am 
 not permitted by the fiends of mobocracy to drop a 
 tear, or to plant a rose upon her last resting-place. 
 
 These thoughts have preyed upon my mind and 
 upon my health. In addition to these reflections, 
 my wife and children are in very poor health, and 
 the former mourns, like me, over absent relations, 
 whom she may never more behold. Her old 
 mother, like you, is bereaved of a child by the 
 atrocious usurpations of King Cotton and Emperor 
 Davis. Like you, she has a son forced, by cir 
 cumstances beyond his control, into the armies of 
 Southern Despotism. Thus I carry a triple burden, 
 and can only see in a peaceful reconstruction of 
 the National Democratic Party on a constitutional 
 basis, and a reconstruction of the old, or a more 
 liberal, Union, by means of the united action of 
 Unionists South and North, any hope of ever see 
 ing again my kith and kin, any hope of civiliza 
 tion, or of what our Litany prays every Sabbath, 
 that God will give to all nations " unity, peace, 
 and concord."" 
 
 If this letter ever reaches you, dear mother (and 
 I sometimes indulge the fond hope that it will find 
 
THE ALABAMA KEFUGEE. 
 
 its way by some benevolent hand to your posses 
 sion), let it assure you, a thousand times, of my 
 safety, my affection, and my uncorrupted Union 
 ism and honor. I am still as true to my oath, as 
 when I resisted arbitrary arrests in the Cotton 
 State of Alabama. / counsel all patriots every 
 where to resist them, and to unite on "Washington s 
 Farewell Address, Magna Charta, the bills of 
 rights of the several States, and the Constitutional 
 guarantees of the whole nation, and conserve the 
 interests of Religion, Liberty, Law, Commerce, 
 and Common Sense, ere the foreign powers, see 
 ing our divisions to be incurable, pounce down 
 upon the sheepfold, and raven like wolves at the 
 throats of our blood-bought rights and national 
 glories. 
 
 You see how impossible it is for me to write 
 without advocating the Union before I stop. For 
 this I was arbitrarily arrested in Alabama, and 
 may be again despotically arrested in the North ; 
 but " sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, 
 I give my hand and my heart" to the Union and 
 to the liberties of its oppressed citizens. 
 
 There are two parties in this country who desire 
 the destruction of the Union, viz. : the Abolition 
 ists and Secessionists. To neither of these do I 
 belong. " When I forget thee, O Jerusalem ! 
 may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth !" 
 
 Remember me affectionately to all my kinsfolk 
 and acquaintances. God made men to differ, /Sa 
 tan converts differences, which are in themselves 
 
SCENE THE SEVENTH. 245 
 
 good gifts for the enlargement of knowledge, into 
 hatred and war. I do not hate but love my 
 friends who differ rationally from me. If, under 
 the madness of the hour, any old friend turn 
 against me on account of opinion, I suppose I 
 must wait for the cooling of the nation in the 
 tears of repentance before I can win him back. 
 
 To my beloved brother convey my unwavering 
 love. Please, mother, plant upon dear father s 
 grave a rose for me. I will yet press his sacred 
 dust with pilgrim feet, when war shall cease and 
 a nation s wounds are closing up. 
 
 God bless you. Good-by. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 ROBERT. 
 21* 
 
In Press, 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 RESULTS 
 
 OP 
 
 My Southern and Northern Experience, 
 
 PRESENTED IN THE FOKM OF 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 REC D LD 
 61958 
 
 LD 21A-50m-8, 57 
 (C8481slO)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
20236 
 
 322205 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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