270 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

he was a member, giving his opinion as to the probable effect of
such proceedings in settling the distracting questions of the day.
Although the notice was very brief, having only appeared at
midday in the town papers, the hall was densely crowded by an
eager and attentive audience, among whom were many ladies.”

The report of the speech is full, and deals with all the vital

questions which were discussed at the Peace Congress. Mr.

Davis said that he shrunk from no criticism upon his course,
but, indeed, invited and sought for it the most rj

tion. He had endeavored to discharge the duties
imposed in him faithfully, manfully, and conscientiously, and
whatever might be thought of his policy, he felt that he had a

right to demand the highest respect for the motives which actu-
ated him in pursuing that policy.

Referring to his own previous position, what he believed to
be the position of the State, the course of the Legislature in
appointing commissioners, and the objections to the action of
the Peace Congress, Mr. Davis said he had gone to the Peace
Congress to exhaust every honorable means to obtain a fair, an
honorable, and a final settlement of existing difficulties. He
had done so to the best of his ability, and had been unsuccessful,

for he could never accept the plan adopted by the Peace Con-

gress as consistent with the rights, the interests, or the dignity
of North Carolina.

Mr. Davis concluded by emphatically declaring that the
South could never—never obtain any better or more satisfactory

terms while she remained in the Union, and for his part he
could never assent to the terms contained in this report of the

Peace Congress as in accordance with the honor or the interests
of the South.

duties of his position as a commissioner from North Carolina.
The motion was enthusiastically carried.

On June 18, 1861, Mr. Davis and Mr. W. W. Avery were
elected by the State Convention delegates for the State at large
to the Confederate Congress, and they took their seats in the
Senate. In alluding to his election the J ournal, the organ of
the Democratic party in this section, said:

“Mr. Davis, in old party times, was an ardent and consistent
member of the opposition, and was opposed to a severance from

The War Between the States 271

the North until he felt satisfied by the result of the Peace Con-
ference that all peaceful means had been exhausted.” At the
following session of the Legislature he and W. T. Dortch were
elected Confederate States Senators, and later he became a
member of the Cabinet.

Through the courtesy of Mrs. Parsley, whose husband, Col.
William M. Parsley, of Wilmington, gave his brilliant young
life to the cause of the Confederacy, I include as worthy of all
honor the following narrative, to which her well-known devotion
as one of the leaders of the Ladies’ Memorial Society and as
president of the Daughters of the Confederacy gives added au-
thority and interest:

“In 1861, when, amid great popular excitement and enthusi-
asm, South Carolina seceded from the Union of States, the peo-
ple of Wilmington were deeply stirred by conflicting emotions.
Meetings were held at various local points, and speakers for and
against secession swayed the multitudes which attended them.
At a town meeting, an address by Dr. James H. Dickson, urging
moderation and advising against hasty action as to secession,
was regarded with close attention and respect, for Dr. Dickson
was a man universally trusted and beloved, and one of the fore-
most to act in any movement for the welfare of Wilmington.

“His speech was followed by one from Mr. O. P. Meares,
afterwards a colonel in the Confederate Army, and later a judge.
He was an ardent secessionist and a fiery speaker, and the
younger element was carried away by his eloquence, but the
older citizens, devoted to the Union, were loath to break the
bonds, and the community seemed equally divided until Mr.
George Davis returned from the Peace Conference in Washing-
ton City, with his full account of the utter failure to arrive at
an agreement, and gave as his judgment that the Union could
only be preserved with dishonor to the South. The immense
crowd gathered in the opera house received his words in pro-
found silence, as though the speaker’s judgment settled that of
each one who heard him.

Tur Response to Lincoun’s Cath For TROOPS.

“Later, when Lincoln’s call was made for 75,000 men ‘to put
down the rebellion,’ the whole of the Cape Fear section was
fired, and with scarcely an exception looked upon secession and
war as the inevitable outcome.