The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-12-29
THE SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS WAS
hLULIF ED IN WASHINGTON.
! EIom TIE Cor Of he MN KnrL. LL.,.-LL.L

from the Cor Of the Nc1y Yor: HsralI1
The intelligence that Major Anderson had aban-
3oned ana destroyed the chief material works of
Fort Moultrle was received at the seat of govern
ment Yesterday forenoon At first it was dis
credited and upon the lips fevery person one met
on the avenue were the Inquiries stTTas Major An
derson abandoned Fort Moultrie?" nTs the news
true from Charleston ?" &C.. &C. And the public
opinion was not settled upon the point until the in
teil@ence was confirmed by dispatches received by
the government the South Carolina Commission
erS, and other persons.
Inc confirmation of the important intelligence
sFIe"" "Itn greater rapidity and created more in
tense e%cuement than the publication and circua-
ton OF the hrst report 1t was the tonic every
where, and various the cOniecturas as to the
cause that led to the event. Glad the President
ordered the act to take place in any contingency?'
was one inquiry. A call upon Mr.. Buchanan set
tied that question in the negative. clad the Sec
retary Of War recommended it?" Inquiry in the
proper quarter settled this interrogatory also in
the negative. clad Gen. Scott suggested or sane
toned it, Investigation settled the fact that if
Gen. Scott had suggested it, it was the opinion
that the private advice of an experienced soldier
was to be acted upon when certain emergency
arose. "llaye the South Carolina Comm issioners
connived at the movement for the purpose of pre-
clpitating the action of the government upon the
subject of their mission?" This interrogatory was
set at rest peremptoriy by visit to the residence
OF those gentlemen
After an interesting interview with one of them
we learned that, so far from the Commissioners ap-
pretending any hostile movement of the kind, they
intelligence
reached them. Before they left Charleston for the
seat of government they had the authority of the
South Carolina delegation in Congress for believ-
ing that the government had given the most solemn
assurances that the forts should remain as they
were, in stotu quo ante Jm, until the Commission
ers had an interview with the President, and had
explained their views to Congress through the me-
dium of the Executive. Under these assurances the
preparations which the citizens of Charleston were
making for their protection against the fire of
the forts were stayed. In fact, mutual agreement
was entered INTO, that nothing should be done either
10 strengthen the notifications to capture them
by the citizens pending the negotiations between
the federal government and the Commissioners
When the fact of the, to them, inexpicabe con-
duct of Major Anderson on Christmas nirht last
was communicated to them to-day, their indigna-
tlon may be imagined. They pronounced it un-
hesitatngly breach of faith on the part of the
government, violation of the pledges of the Off
GERS on the station, and declared that the transfer
OF the troops to Fort Sumter was conducted in a
surrepttious manner in defiance of those pledges
Moreover, they declared that unless the whol,
aalr We're satisfactorily explained, the act dsa-
vowed by the government, their negotiation should
cease even before the initiative steps had been taken
and that they would return to their homes imme-
dIately, without making an effort to ACCOMPLISH
anything OF pacific character. In addition thew
said that unless the act was repudated as the oov
ernment of the United States had assumed the re-
sponsibillty of committing the first overt act
against the sovereignty of their State, and that
too in defiance of solemn pledges, they could an
peal to the people Of the South fearless of conse-
quences, and with the certainty that they would
be sustained in abruptly breaking off negotiations
with faithess government.
1t the act Of Major Anderson is disavowed the
Commissioners will remain to treat with the GOV
ernment, although still smarting under the conse-
quences of what they allege to be wanton breach
OF faith. If foherwise, then war may be proclaim
ed and the worst prepared for.
There seems to be doubt of the fact that trOops
nave latterly beer smuggled into Fort Moultrie in
considerable numbers in the garb of laborers
party of thirteen detected by one of the
Charleston vigiiants short time since, through
the admission Of one Of the number. These were
all reported as lab0rers when by the confession of
one OF their own number, they were in reality
Federal troops Sent from the North to menace the
people OF South Carolina. The discovery of this
served to eXasperate the people of Charleston and
1t may not be impossible that some act may have
been committed by them which rendered the sud
den and unexpected movement oi Major Ander-
son warranted under the laws Of military strategy,
as well as Of seli-preservation.
From the Correspondent Of the Philadelphia Enquirer
\ our correspondent has already limited that the
IabOrers who had been dropping along from Balti-
more, to 20 to work on Fort Sumter might sudden
ly clay down the shovel and the hos. :" to man the
battery of heavy Columbiads which commands
Charleston harbor. Major Anderson has probably
some two hundred men under his ORDERS and theT'en-
listed laborers' will, all probability be found among
his best soldiers.
Fran the Correspondence If the " T. Worldl
Col. Anderson sent dispatch to Gov. Floyd sta
ting that he understood, from sources deemed emf
nently reliable, that the forts would be attacked
and opportunity afforded the garrison to surren-
der to the constituted authorities; and therefore as
first in command of the fortiicatious he deemed it
duty to himself and to the men under his command
to remove to fort where he could act on the defen-
sive successfully.