Cries of " secession " came across the Atlantic. The
Senators of South Carolina have resigned, the Senators of Georgia promise to resign. The Federal officers in the " Palmetto State" have given up their offices. There is a talk of Conventions. It is proposed to vote money for the defence of the State. Retaliatory acts against the North are mooted and discussed. Mr. Keitt, an accomplice in the attempt to assassinate a senator, declares he will shatter the Union. And all because Mr. Lincoln has carried the North and is to be President! This looks formidable ; but it is doubtful whether secession is practicable; and if it were, whether the South desires to secede. Although Mr. Bell has not, as at first reported, obtained the votes of Delaware and Maryland, perhaps not Virginia, he has gained Missouri, in ad- dition to Kentucky, Tennessee, and New Jersey, and he has polled such a large number of votes in all the Slave States, he has such a huge minority at his back, that we may still estimate the pure Union vote at a very high amount. The South, in fact, is pretty equally divided between Union men, and the old democrats and new fire-eaters, like the South Carolinians. Thus secession would have to encounter this formidable party, formidable not only on account of its numbers, but on account of its weight, for Bell has carried the best men in the South. We may, therefore, expect a good deal of bluster, but there is little to warrant an anticipation of secession.
