The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1861-03-23
FORT sUMrER.

It is with profound regret and no small de
gree of disappointment, not to say ehagrin
that wefnd ourselves forced to give credene'
to the telegraphic reports which have come
to us uncontradicted for the past week, tina
Fort Sumter is about to be abandoned by The
United States troops. Of the considerations
which have induced this extraordinary step
SO directly in opposition to the line of policy
which Mr.. Lincoln's Inaugural foreshad
owed, the public are as yet uniformed
at one time it is said by the newspaper cor.
respondents that Gen. Scott demands it OF
military grounds. At another time it i:
said to be induced by the reluctance of the
Government to shed blood. And one writer
of course in the n. Y. Hsrald-graveIy
declares that it is a subtle scheme for the
overthrow of secession, which is to come
to an untimely end by obtaining possession
of the forts.
We apprehend that none of these reasons
are those which move the President and his
Cabinet. The vacilIation and weakness Of
Buchanan and the criminal completely OIL
his advisers, have undoubtedly enabled the
rebels greatly to strengthen their position al
Charleston. and increased beyond measure
the difficulty of reinforcing Sumter. 1t may
be that such reinforcement is now an i'm
possibility; but if il is aught less than an
impossibility, we feel sure that we speak the
sentiments of all true friends of the Govern
ment among the people, when we say that
it should be done at all hazards and at what
ever expense. The brave words of the In
augurai. SO universally approved by the
people, were as universally applied to Major
Anderson's position, and to aid in their full
fllment they would unite almost as one
man. But the surrender of the fort would
throw such damper upon all their hopes.
anG-unless shown to be an absolute neces-
sity-so weaken their faith in the Admins
tration, as TO cripple its power for usefulness
far more than the positive additional strength
it would give to the rebels. Besides, the
whole world is now watching us to see if we
have a Government. Let Sumter be aban-
doned-which is but another name and
mode for its surrender-and in the eyes of
the world the bogus Government of the
South will have gained military victory,
and thus established and virdicated its ma
tional existence.
The following from the New York Yri6-
une so nearly expresses our ideas that we
publish it
ut is not for us to Judge of the iustif
cation the Government may have for sur
rendering-or abandoning, for there is no
difference in the two acts-a nost of so
much importance, for the circumstances BY
which they are Influenced are not yet fully
known to us. But we may, at least. express
the wish no determination to take so impor-
tant and irrevocable a step be come to
through any hasty counsel. War. and the
consequences Of war, are a possible near
future from which few shrink with more in
stinctiye dread than we do; but there are
worse sacrifices in the conduct Of human
affairs than human life. For four months,
the Federal Government has surrendered to
rebellion because it wanted, not material,
but moral strength. If the cost of re-en-
forcing Sumter be SO great in blood and
treasure that its surrender or abandonment
may seem advisable, there can, at least, be
no immediate haste for such step, and Mr..
Lincoln may divide the responsibility with
Congress by appealing to them for aid. For
the surrender of post by the new Admin
istration, before it has been fortnight in
power, which the outgoing Administration,
with all its imbecility and pusillanimity,
persisted in holding, is an act which can
not fail to have most important consequent
ces. Il is, to begin with, an acknowledge
ment of the defeat of the Federal Govern
ment, and that the doctrine announced in
Mr.. Lincoln's Inaugural is found to be un-
tenable on the very first trial. 1t is an ac-
acknowledgement that the Union is utterly dis
solved past all possibility of reconstruction,
except by the most AFFECT concessions. 1t
is, moreover, question whether these &C
acknowledgements will not so demoralize the
North, and SO strengthen the South, that
the hideous front of Compromise may be
again raised with renewed hopes and 1e-
newed strength, and whether the vigor
which has hitherto opposed it may not, by
this act, have gone out from us forever.
AS we said before, we cannot Judge of the
wisdom of this or that step, without bet
ter knowledge of all the circumstances than
we now possess; but We cannot help think
ing that if We are to accept the terms Of
Disunion which the Confederate States offer
US, we may begin with some act less humil'
iating than the surrender of Fort Sumter
III