The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-04-13
3itbnlunh 4ispatrb.
MORNING :, .ARRII ia. lssl


- a. G - u e r.
SATURDAY MORNING. -, APRIL Ia. lse1
The War Begun.
twill b seen that, under the military com.
paision OF the immsnse Meet and army which
the Black Republican President has sent to
subjngass Charieston, the Carolina force.
have been forced. in self.defence, to attempt
the reduction Of that fort which 80 long has
menaced their homes and flresides, and which
LIxcoLx had formally notified them he was
Ahont 70 auppay with psovisions,-s'peaceably
II he can, yoretely ifAe mesf, "a notification
which. backed mp by an immense naval and
military force, WINS Of course a declaration Of
war.
The war thus inauguratcd by the Executive
representative Of the irrrepreesibie conflict,
south Carolina and the Confederate States
have sought, by every honorable means, to
avoid. As long as Major ANDERSON remained
In Fort Moaitrie, In accordance with the un.
derstandtng between the Carolina and Federal
authorities that the military status of the
haroor was not to be changed, not a Carolina
Rand was laid upon single fort in the har-
Dor. Fort Sumter was well known to be the
key Of the whole position, yet, though the
Oarolinians might easily have seized, at any
time. this undefended stronghold, they stood
Tisidiy by their pledge, until availing him
self OF the darkness OF night, aud in ut
ter disregard Of the compact between the
two Governments, Major ANDERSON seized,
occupied and possessed Fort Sumter, .pik-
ing the guns and burning the gun-car
riages Of Fort Moultrie an act Of war. re-
cognized as such by all military al thoritiss as
we'll as by common sense, and the first act of
war In that irrepressible conflict w hich ARA
HAN LINCOLN has now fully inaugurated. 1t
was only when this first act of hostilities had
been perpetrated that the volunteers of
Charleston took possession Of Fort Moultrie
and commenced the erection of defensive for
ttncations in the harbor. But, even then, in
stead OF resorting TO an immediate lombard
ment OF the fort, as they would have been
justified in doing, and which Maj ANDERSON
did not then possess the means Of returning
with effect, they sent Commissioners to
Washington earnestly soliciting the Federal
Government to restore peacefully the former
state Of things and place Mai. ANDERSON once |
more in Fort Moultrie. We all know how !
utterly frui,less was this respectful and fra. |
tsrnal invocation. Instead OF the dread of |
peace which they asked, the Government |
gave them "stone,' in the Star of the |
West, crowded with armed msn and |
death dealing instruments Of war. Not salts |
fed with these efforts for pacific solution of |
the difficulty, the Confederate States also sent |
Commissioners to Washington, who for more
than q month have been eadeavoring to per-
suade the Administration peacefully to aban-
don Fort Sumter. These appeals he Admin
tstration have artfully pretended to heed, and
q mon tn ago caused ii 10 be given out that
Fort Sumtsr was to be abandoned whereas,
Ii now appears that all the time they were
theoretically preparing men and munitions of
war for its reinforcement. In the meantime
the people Of Charleston have been actually
supplying Major ANDERSON and his officers
with provisions, exhibiting spirit of for
bearaEce and generosity unprecedented in the
annals Of war. In the midst of the negotia-
lions neet, larger than England keeps up in
the Channel, an army of three thousand
soldiers, with an immense amount of mum.
tons Of war, has been suddenly sent by the
Government to attack Morris Island, and
force provisions, and probably men, into Fort
Sumter. simultaneously with this most me-
nacing movement, the Southern Commission.
ers have been cavalierly dismissed from Wash.
layton. and formal notification sent by LIN
ooLN to Gov. PIcKESs that he was about to
provision Fort Sum ter, peaceably, if he could;
forcibly, If he must
Even then, with this thunderbolt suspended
over their heads, the Confederate Govern
ment gave Major Anderson an opportunity
Tor peaceable eyacuatio of the fortress
But their call for surrender he refused. init
mating that he might be compelled by starya-
lion 10 evacuate in few days, whereas it WAS
that very necessity which LINCoLS's fleet and
army had been sent to prevent, a fact of which
Major ANDERSON may have been ignorant, but
which was none the less operative upon the
confederate States In requiring his surrender.
Still, however, determined if possible to Sc.
cure peaceable surrender of the tort, the
Confederate Government proposed to Major
ANDERSON not to lombard Fort Sumter. if
Major ANDERSON would state the time at
which, as indicated by him, he wolld evacu-
Ate, and agree that, in the mean time. he
would not use his guns against the
Confederate Army, unless theirs should be
employed against Sumter, adding that this
was made to avoid the effusion of
blood. If Major ANDERSON really expected to
,e starved out in a few days. he could have
lad no reasonable objection to compliance J
with this just and humane request. But he
refused this proposition also, and thereby COM
pelled the return -blow for the first act of hos
ility, which he himself committed in spiking J
he guns OF Fort Moultrle, and Selling Fort |
Sumter, and which has been withheld for l
hree months and a half, in order to exhaust Il
very possible means for peaceful solution S
4 the difficulty. Nor was it until the an
of an immense fleet and army in the q
leighborhood Of Charleston harbor, in tended d
o slaughter and destroy their people, and to y.
lothe the whole Southern cline in sackc,<.r t
nd ashes, that the citizen soldiers Of ~. t
outh have made at last, whep, No o,ha, 80 Il
ource was left them, soi,enn ,rne., - .ho a
In that appessaa shey will be sus tanned by the v
s ny'o .sszed world. May the God of Bat i
les Irs the hearts, nerve the arms, and give Il
ictory to the banners of those patriots strug. p
ling for their firesides and their affairs The Il
lme of orbearance and Cancellation has passed, t
he hour Of just and long delayed vengeance d
az come. The 'irrepressble conflict which h
as been forced upon the peaceful homes and v
ne unofending citizens of the South, will be S
let by people who will drench their native O
oil with the blood of their invaders or perish, 81
0 the last man, in vindication of all that man IL
olds dear. G.
secession aud Cotton.
Amid me scathing woes of Revolution and y
Var King CorroS waves his sceptre with a =
"A rH,o~a d