That he was of opinion that secession was " unconstitutional," but also of opinion, " after much serious reflection "' that the United States " had no power to coerce a seceding State," closing this part of the argument with the remark : " The fact is, the Union rests on public oi)inion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war." A week after the secession of South Carolina the Eastern Stale Journal published a aermon, by Rev. H. S. Van Dyke, in Brooklyn, on "Abolitionism," in which the Bible defense of slavery was promulgated, and Abolitionists were denounced as " infidels." This srrmon occupied ten columns of the paper, in small type, and the editor drew attention to the leading point -- the " identity of Abolitionism and infidelity." Extracts from Southern papers form the staple of news for the next few weeks, and on January 11th the editor announced, '' The mission of Black Republicanism is the destruction of the Union. The mission is rapidly being accomplished. South Carolina leads offin seceding. . . . Those who organized the Republican party are responsible for the present condition of affairs." January 18th, the statement was made that " Yancey, Toombs and Rhett are no more disunionists than Horace Greeley." In this morbid strain the opinion of the majority of the county appears to have run till February 1st, when a "State Convention of Democrats" was announced, to ^insist" that there shouUl be " no coercion, no civil