New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-11
THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF

This is the title under which the Convention of
the six Gulf States have organized Provisional
Government, with Constitution, President, a
Vice President, a Congress, and as our teegrapbc
dispatch declares, /" with full powers and ample
funds" Whether this pecuniary amplitude
will enable the repudiating States OF Florida and
Mississippi to pay the long standing debts of
which they have so long defrauded their creditors,
is a point on which no information is furnished
by any reporter about the Convention.
The Provisional Constitution adopted on Satur-
day night at Montgomery, by the Representatives
of the Seeding States, is based on that of the
American Union. 1t differs from that instrument,
however, in speaking of slaves as slaves es-
chewing the circumocutiQ which describes them
as persons held to services or labor; it prohibits
the importation of negroes from any foreign
country other than the Slaveholding States of the
United States, and even with these the trade III
slaves may be prohibited by the Congress OF the
COnfederacy. Fugitive slaves are to be surren-
dered by the Executive of the State where they
are found; and in case of abduction or forciDe
rescue, the State where such event happens shall
pay to the owner the value OF the slave and oil
costs and expenses. The Congress is also author
lied to levy tariff, whose imposts shall be the
same in all the States and also to levy taxes
and excuses for revenue only.
Under this Constitution, which has been
adopted without being submitted to the several
States, q Provisional Government has been or
ganized by choosing Jefferson Davis as President,
and Alexander II. Stephens as Vice-President-
Appointments which have been foretOld for some
time past. permanent Constitution is at once TO
be elaborated by a Committee of the Convention,
which has now taken the title of Congress;
and tariff is to be enacted, and the various E1-
ecutiye Departments of Foreign Affairs, Finance,
War, Navy, and Post-Office are to be immedl-
atey put in operation. Meanwhile, all laws OF
the United States are continued in force
Our Montgomery dispatch AYERS that no prop
osition for compromise or reconstruction will be
entertained by the new Confederacy. Very likely
this is the sentiment of the more vociferous men,
bers of the Convention; but it is notorious that
their feeling is not shared by Messrs Davis and
Stephens. Both those leaders aim at reconstruc-
ton, that is, at returning to the Union and IN
Producing into its Constitution such Pro-Slavery
amendments as they may deem proper. This
delusOn has been much cultivated in the South.
II is Oh this ground that efforts have been made
to drag Tennessee into the secession movement,
and we find in a late impression of The Memphis
Inquirer the following exposition of the policy OF
this very Montgomery Convention:
at well known beforehand that the Contribution as it is
will resdopted and such explanations OF contested sections OF
that added amendments to leave not the
shadow doub, concerning their effect the Southern social
system That i 1 be the though The CoHIituoH
The United taken UP and amended at me d''siioh
of SouheSn satesmea far aGeef' Southern right all
without the oppoioE interruption 9 Northern mtubuI
,va not be touched AT PRgEsr further than TO be zen.
dered perfectly undmbguous TO the domote iHfufoHi
Of the South. any body in the South any objection
to this The very cri.is that weighs like lead on
every mind has arisen from diversity In the inter
probation Of certain clauses Of The Constitution which IL the
anne thing anac,m Of the North has been wheeded into
the idea that sectional character h at least not adverse to the
Constitution itself 1t viii be that The CoH'i
tuition of the United States huI explained and amended uoud
, authorize The reception Of Stlt JHn az has diodyi done
should Tennessee ecede she would Of have obec
ton the acknowledgment Of the Constitution made secure
any uunderstsndng which held by to justify
It does originate the divisions rife in the country
Ahy other State, rheh might be pH9 10 accept the
Con,titution TN, amended Southern Convention euId Of
course fairly Teoered Ii may be recoected that Mppi
refused by vote Of sItyeyen twenty three say tina,
she would receive any Free States into Southern Con
federacy The Southern Rights advocates have objection
equality under their Constitution Ind
his bais hey opposed far k7ot.
Many man true may doubt Thether this Be dose
ba. certainly has any objection 10 Vh Be done
Ind the ray 10 test rhesv il practicable sAKE rBK
TRIAL the Montgomery Coareatoa o Byocad direeyt
gire opportunity Will then Tennessee prefer the Constu.
ton interpreted by Southern statesmen interpreted
and acted by Northern men We repeat perhaps h.
twentieth time that Secession here proposed both security
and peace and is efficacy accomplish its
purpose plainly incresseds the number Of States adopting
increases"
From the fact that Messrs. Davis and Stephens
have got the lead in the new Government, we
conclude that the programme thus clearly laid
down by The Enquirer has prevailed and that
every effort will now be made to bring the North
to give to the Constitution Of the Union a thor
Oughly PrO-Slavery character as the condition of
the return of the seeding States. How far this
attempt is likely to be successful, it is impOs-
slble to say with certainty. We believe, however,
that it will be defeated and that Slavery can
never obtain any better guarantees than it now
has. We know there are towards and apOstates
who are ready to 90 down on their knees and
beg pardon of these traitors; but there is no
reason to doubt that the mass of the NOrtherR
people are still unterrfed, and heartily resolved
to stand by the Constitution as it is.
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