Hagars Daughter | Page 4

Mr. Pinchen as I live; jest the very man I want to see." As the
reverend gentleman entered the enclosure, the trader grasped his hand,
saying: "Why, how do you do, Mr. Pinchen? Come down to Charleston
to the Convention, I s'pose? Glorious time, sir, glorious; but it will be
gloriouser when the new government has spread our institootions all
over the conquered North. Gloriouser and gloriouser. Any
camp-meetin's, revivals, death-bed scenes, or other things in your line
going on down here? How's religion prospering now, Mr. Pinchen? I
always like to hear about religion."
"Well, Mr. Walker, the Lord's work is in good condition everywhere
now. Mr. Walker, I've been in the gospel ministry these thirteen years,
and I know that the heart of man is full of sin and desperately wicked.
Religion is a good thing to live by, and we'll want it when we die. And
a man in your business of buying and selling slaves needs religion more
than anybody else, for it makes you treat your people well. Now there's
Mr. Haskins--he's a slave-trader like yourself. Well, I converted him.
Before he got religion he was one of the worst men to his niggers I ever
saw; his heart was as hard as a stone. But religion has made his heart as
soft as a piece of cotton. Before I converted him he would sell
husbands from their wives and delight in doing it; but now he won't sell
a man from his wife if he can get anyone to buy them together. I tell
you, sir, religion has done a wonderful work for him."
"I know, Mr. Pinchen, that I ought to have religion, and that I am a
great sinner; and whenever I get with good, pious people, like you and
the doctor, I feel desperate wicked. I know that I would be happier with
religion, and the first spare time I have I'm going to get it. I'll go to a

protracted meeting, and won't stop till I get religion."
Walker then invited the gentlemen to his office, and Pompey was
dispatched to purchase wine and other refreshments for the guests.
Within the magnificent hall of the St. Charles Hotel a far different
scene was enacted in the afternoon. The leading Southern politicians
were gathered there to discuss the election of Lincoln, the "sectional"
candidate, and to give due weight and emphasis to the future acts of the
new government. There was exaltation in every movement of the
delegates, and they were surrounded by the glitter of a rich and
powerful assemblage in a high state of suppressed excitement, albeit
this meeting was but preliminary to the decisive acts of the following
week.
The vast hall, always used for dancing, was filled with tables which
spread their snow-white wings to receive the glittering mass of glass,
plate and flowers. The spacious galleries were crowded to suffocation
by beautiful Southern belles in festive attire. Palms and fragrant shrubs
were everywhere; garlands of flowers decorated the walls and fell,
mingled with the new flag--
the stars and bars--gracefully above the seat of the chairman.In the
gallery opposite the speaker's desk a band was stationed; Negro
servants in liveries of white linen hurried noiselessly to and fro. The
delegates filed in to their places at table to the crashing strains of
"Dixie"; someone raised the new flag aloft and waved it furiously; the
whole assembly rose en masse and cheered vociferously, and the ladies
waved their handkerchiefs. Mirth and hilarity reigned. The first
attention of the diners was given to the good things before them. After
cigars were served the music stopped, and the business of the day
began in earnest.
There was the chairman, Hon. Robert Toombs of Georgia; there was
John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, Stephen A. Douglas, Alexander H.
Stevens, and Jefferson Davis.
"Silence!" was the cry, as Hon. Robert Toombs, the chairman, arose.

"Fellow Delegates and Fellow Citizens: I find myself in a most
remarkable situation, and I feel that every Southern gentleman
sympathizes with me. Here am I, chairman of a meeting of the most
loyal, high-spirited and patriotic body of men and their guests and
friends, that ever assembled to discuss the rights of humanity and
Christian progress, and yet unable to propose a single toast with which
we have been wont to sanction such a meeting as this. With grief that
consumes my soul, I am compelled to bury in the silence of
mortification, contempt and detestation the name of the government at
Washington.
"I can only counsel you, friends, to listen to no vain babbling, to no
treacherous jargon about overt acts; they have already been committed.
Defend yourselves; the enemy is at your door; wait not to meet him at
the hearthstone,--meet him at the door-sill, and rive