EIGHTH DAY. *

Mr. Cochran, from the Committee on the Constitution, reported the following ordinance, which was adopted:

AN ORDINANCE to change the oath of office in this State.

Be it declared and ordained, and it is hereby declared and ordained, by the people of the State of Alabama in convention assembled, That the first section and sixth article of the constitution of the State of Alabama be amended by striking out of the fifth line of said section the words "Constitution of the United States and the" after the word "the" and before the word "Constitution" where they occur.

And be it further ordained as aforesaid, That all officers in this State are hereby absolved from the oath to support the Constitution of the United States heretofore taken by them.

MONTGOMERY, ALA., January 15, 1861.

His Excellency ANDREW B. MOORE,

Governor of Alabama:

SIR: Under the authority of the commission conferred by Your Excellency, and in discharge of the duties imposed by it, I reached Tallahassee on the 3d day of January, at which place and time the convention of the State of Florida assembled. That body, without having effected a permanent organization, after a very brief session, adjourned until Saturday, the 5th instant, the intervening Friday having been observed as a day of fasting and prayer. On Saturday His Excellency Governor Perry, to whom my credentials had been previously presented, communicated the fact of my presence as commissioner from Alabama to the convention. On Monday, the 7th instant, I was, together with the commissioner from South Carolina, Hon. L. W. Spratt, formally introduced to the convention by a committee appointed for that purpose, and had the honor to set forth in an address before that body the views entertained by the State of Alabama, as since indicated by the action of here convention, as to the best mode of protecting the rights, interests, and honor of the slave-holding States, urging the promptest action as, under the circumstances, the truest wisdom and as furnishing the best hope of a peaceful solution of our difficulties. The friendly voice of Alabama, however feebly uttered, was heard with the most respectful attention, and the opinions expressed seemed to meet the hearty countenance of a large proportion of the convention. On the evening of Monday a resolution affirming the right and necessity of speedy secession, which had been introduced on Saturday, was adopted by a vote of 62 to 5, and a committee was appointed to prepare the ordinance of secession, which was reported on Wednesday, the 9th instant. Several amendments, intended to delay any action until after the secession of Georgia and Alabama should be first accomplished or until the ordinance of secession should be ratified by a vote of the people of Florida, were proposed, but they were all lost be decisive votes. On Thursday, the 10th instant, several gentlemen of the minority, who had warmly supported these amendments and attached very great importance to them, avowed their purpose, notwithstanding their failure, to record their votes in favor of the ordinance of secession, thus nobly sacrificing their personal views upon the altar of their country, and at 12. 20

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*From the Journal of the Alabama Convention, January 15, 1861.

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