Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1861-08-14

Such are the simple facts Of the case q
they are presented to the new President upol
his assuming the reins Of Government; ant
We speak adviscdly and from knowledge whel
we say, that while the country has been wick
edly made to believe, that the time of th
Administration has been occupied with tn
disposal of offices, fourffths Of all the hours
spent in consultation by the Cabinet hav'
been devoted to the consideration Of the all
important question-how to save Fort Sunte
and avert from the Government the dishono
Of abandoning it to the miserable Traitors
who for months have been in open rebellion
against the authority Of the Government
Generals Scott and Totten, and all the mill
tary and naval chiefs at Washington, have
been consulted: every plan which military
science could conceive or military daring sug
gest, has been attentivcly considered ant
maturely weighed, with hope at least, tha
! the work of the Traitor Buchanan, was no
4 so complete as he ano his associates supposed
But all in vain. There stands the isolated
/ naked fact-E0rt Su,nter connot be relieret
because of The Treason ci the late Adm'nis
tration: anil .Hujor ANDERSON and his com
mana mast perish By starrotioD nnless o0iA
dra'cn.
What, then, is 10 be done? Could the
! President leave them to starre? Chi Bono:
Would the sacrifice Of handful Of gallant
men to the treason of thieves and rebels
have been grateful to their countrymen
But, says the indignant yet thoughtless Pa
triot, think of the humiliation and dishonol
of abandoning Sumter 10 the Rebels" +" We
do think of it, and weep tears Of blood over
the humiliation thus brought upon the coun,
try By the Traitor President who has just
retired to Whcatland to gloat over his con
summated treason. And we are assured too
and do not doubt the truth Of the assurance
that when Abraham Lincoln was compelled
to yield his reluctant consent to this most
humiliating concession to successful treason
he did not attempt to suppress the sorrow and
tears which it called forth. But he had nc
alternative Necessity kaous no laT;" and
to save the lives of the gallant men who have
so long held Fort Sumter against an over,
whelming force Of heartiess traitors and
wicked and unprincipled rebels, whose treason
has been stepped in fraud and theft, vulgarly
known as Southern chivalry," the President
of the United States in the discharge Of n du.
ty to humanity, has signed the order for the
evacuation of iSumter.
Had war, not Peace been his objcct-had
he desired to raise throughout the mighty
North n feeling of Indignation, which in nine
ty days would have emancpated every slave
on the continent and driven their masters into
the sea if needs be-hc had only to have said
:" let the garrison of Fort !San'ter do their
duty and perish beneath its walls; and on
the heads of the Traitors and Rebels of the
Slavery-propagandists be the consequences. >
Such decision would have carried JOY to the
bosoms Of Phillips and Garrison and their
ianalical associatcs, who so justly consider
abolitiolism and disunion synonymous; but
it would have brought upon the country such
scenes Of horror as the mind shrinks from
contemplating. Verify, the blood of the mar
tyrs, would have been the seed Of Negro
rmaacipatioa." For every patriot soldier thus
sacrificed to the revival OF the African Slave
trade nnd the establishment Of a hideous
Slavcocracy at the South, ten thousand negro
slaves would hare been emancipated and as
many Of their masters been driven into the
ocean TO eXpiatc their crimes on earth.
But Mr.. Lincoln desired TO rouse no such
feeling Of revenge among the people OF the
Free States. He knew-no man knew bet
;er-thst he had but to hold on to Fort Sum-
ter agreeably TO the plainly expressed will OF
,he people AM. leave is gallant garrison to
the fate prepared tor them by rebels and trail
tors, to insure an uprising which would at
once have wiped ont Slavery from the face of
the country; and with it, all engaged in this
atrocious rebellion against the Government
But his purpose is Peace, not War. His OBJ
.ject is to restore. Ia rebuild and to preserve
The Government, and the Constitution which
enacted it: and his great aim is, while main
tanning the Constitution and enforcing tie
laws, to bring hack good men to their allegi-
ance, and leave the thieves and rogues, and
braggarts who compose the great mass of the
Rebels under the cognomen of "Southern
Chivalry," TO the uninterrupted enjoyment Of
their own precious society and the reflections
which time must awake cYrn in them. lie Is
mindful Of his oath registered in Heaven
TO preserve tue Constitution and enforce the
laws; and he feels that his mission is 10 re-
claim and not eXlnguish; OF most assnrcdly
he coald have left Fort Sumter to its fate;
and that fate, would hare been speedy, cer-
tain, and absolute annihiation 10 the traitors
now in rebellion against the Government, and
to the very existence Of the institution OF Sla-
very on the American Continent. But he
has been faithful to his oath Of Office and to
the Constitution; and by yielding to the ne
cessity OF the case aud listening to the cry OF
humanity, Slavery has had accorded to it its
last victory over freedom and the Consttu-
ton of the United States.
The decd has been accomplished; the sac.
riGcc has been made; Traitors and iicbels