Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1861-01-03
Progress of the Rebellion.

at Institute Hall, in Charleston, having
been driven from Columbia by the small
pox, and signed the Ordinance of Seces-
sion, the first formal act Of rebellion ever
becun against the government of these
States. II had been engrossed beautifully
ON parchment, says the telegram convey
ing us this information. The time is not
far distant, when that parchment and its
contents and its signatures, will have any
thing but beauty in the eyes of its sign
ers, and of the people whom they have de-
luded into revolution against the most just
and glorious government the sun ever
shone upon
On the next day the Convention sat
again, and perpetrated the complement
of the folly of the previous day in the form
of aDeclaration of Independence 1t is
unworthy of the name of a State paper
the only thing worthy of attention in it,
being tEo or three eloquent passages, stolen
| from the declaration of the Thirteen Colo
nies, and desecrated by forced appliea-
ton to this reasonable act of theirs.
Messrs Barnwell, Adams and Orr have
been deputed as Commissioners to proceed
to Washington to treat with the govern
ment of the United States for the acknowl-
edgement of the independence of South
Carolina, and for an equitable division of
sthe common property of the United States,
of which that State claims a share, The
appearance of those gentlemen in the Cap
itol on such mission, if Jackson were at
the head of the government, would be apt
to be the most uncomfortable act of their
lives. We can imagine, says the Balti-
more Patriot, the hero Of New Orleans,
bringing his staff down to the floor with an
increased energy, and saluting the emissa-
ries of State in rebellion against the
United States with an oath that would
overwhelm them with confusion. And we
can imagine the next act which the public
safety would demand Mr.. Buchanan,
however, has since received these Commits
sioners into his honse, and no doubt dis
cussed disunion with them as calmly as if
they were not guilty of treason
The propositions submitted to the revo-
lutionary convention bore unmistakable ev-
idence of the fact that the authors of Sc
cession had got the tiger by the ears-had
plunged into a sea Of difficulties that
threatens to ingulf them. Not one propo-
sition was submitted that could lead them
! out of their perplexitics They are in the
wilderness, and they have no cloud by day
nor pillar of fire by night to lead them for
ward All is darkness, confusion, ruin.
Every thing done, was in the way of pull
| ling down. That's an easy work, at all
times. They rescinded the oath of alle-
glance to the Federal Government, on the
part of the State officers, and substituted
one for the State only. Secret sessions
were resolved on and held They are
afraid of the public eye and public ear
How different the course of the body that
declared our independence of the Colo
nies
Since then discussions have been going
on as to the proper course to be pursued
relative to the collection of revenue and
postage, and the convention finally resolved
to continue the present officers as State
officers, but as no government will recog-
nize cIearances, the commerce of Charles
ton will, unless an adjustment is made,
dwindle down to nothing.
The news from Charleston, first received
by dispatch from the Baltimore Ameri-
cans correspondent at that point, on last
Thursday, created an intense excitement
throughout the United States. The an
nouncement of the evacuation of Fort
Moultrie and the occupation of Fort Sum
ter was received with various expressions
of opinions, but the predominant one was
feeling of admiration for the determined
conduct and military skill of Col. Ander
son in abandoning an indefenible position
and, by strategetic coup de main, which
has reversed the whole position Of affairs
transferring his force to Fort Sumter, the
strongest of the Charleston Notifications
and the key of its defences. Col. Ander
son is believed to have acted in this mattel
without special orders, but as he has charg'
of all the forts, the disposition of the forc'