opposition. Toombs came down from Washington to take part with
the secessionists. From South Carolina and Alabama, both
ceaselessly active for secession, commissioners appeared to lobby
at Milledgeville, as commissioners of Alabama and Mississippi had
lobbied at Columbia. Besides the out-and-out Unionists, there
were those who wanted to temporize, to threaten the North, and to
wait for developments. The motion on which these men and the
Unionists made their last stand together went against them 164 to
133. Then at last came the square question: Shall we secede? Even
on this question, the minority was dangerously large. Though the
temporizers came over to the secessionists, and with them came
Stephens, there was still a minority of 89 irreconcilables
against the majority numbering 208.

"My allegiance," said Stephens afterwards, "was, as I considered
it, not due to the United States, or to the people of the United
States, but to Georgia, in her sovereign capacity. Georgia had
never parted with her right to demand the ultimate allegiance of
her citizens."

The attempt in Georgia to restrain impetuosity and advance with
deliberation was paralleled in Alabama, where also the
aggressives were determined not to permit delay. In the Alabama
convention, the conservatives brought forward a plan for a
general Southern convention to be held at Nashville in February.
It was rejected by a vote of 54 to 45. An attempt to delay
secession until after the 4th of March was defeated by the same
vote.

The determination of the radicals to precipitate the issue