The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-02-12
FORT SUMTER.
SOU TIL G. A ROLlNA'S DE MAND
THE PRESIDENTS REPLY.

the demand of Col. Haync that Fort Sumter
| shall be delivered up to South Carolina:
THE FINAL REPLY MR.. HAYSE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, February G, 1851
SIR-The President of the United States has
received your letter of the 31st ultmo and
has charged with the duty of replying
| thereto
In the comm unication addressed to the
| President by Governor Pickens, under date
| of the 18th of January, and which accom-
| panies yours now before me, his Excellency
| says:
| Il have determined to send to you Hon l.
w Hayne, the Attorney General of the State
of South Carolina, and have instruc ted him to
! demand the surrender of Fort Sumter, in the
| harbor of Charleston, 10 the constituted au-
| thorites of the State of South Carolina. The
| demand have made or Major Anderson, and
| which now make OF you, is suggested be-
| cause OF my earnest desire TO avoid the blood
shed which persistence in your attempt to
| retain the possession Of that fort will cause
| and which will be unayailing TO secure TO you
| that possession, but induce Il calamity most
| deeply to be deplored'
| The character of the demand thus authorized
| to be made, appears, under the infiu nee |
| presume of the CORES pondence with the Sena-
| tors to which you refer, to have been modified
| by subsequent instruc tions of his Excellency,
| dated the 26th, and received by yourself on
| The 30th of January, IN which he says:
| ''If it be so that Fort Sumter is held as
| property, then as property The rights, what
| ever they may be. of the United States can be
| iscertained and for the satisfaction Of these
| rights the pledge of the State OF South Caro-
| lima You are authorized 10 give"
The full scope and precise purport OF your
tlons, as thus modified, you have eH-
| pressed i'll the following words
| 81 do not come as a military man TO demand
| the surrender of Il fortress, but as the legal
officer of the State-is Attorney General--to
claim for the State the exercise of its undoubt-
ed right of eminent domain, and to pledge the
State to make good ali injury to the rights of
| property which arise from the exercise of the
claim"
And lest this explicit language should not
! sufficiently define your position, you add
| 1.-The proposition now is that her South
| Carolina 81 law officer should under the
| authority of the Governor and his Council,
distinctly pledge the faith of South Carolina to
make such compensation, in regard to Fort
| Sumter and its appurtenances and contents,
| TO the full extent of the money value of the
property of the United States delivered over
| to the authorities of South Carolina by your
| command"
| You then adopt his Excelency'S train of
| thought upon the subject far as TO suggest
| that the possession of Fort Snmter by the l..
| States, 50 it continued long enough, must lead
to collision and that 'an attack upon it
| would scarcely improve it as property, what
| ever the result, and, if captured, it would no
| longer be the subject of account"
| The proposal, then, now presented to the
| President, is simply offer on the part of s.
| Carolina to buy Fort Sumter and contents as
| property of the United States, sustained by n
declaration in effect, that if she is not permit
| ted to make the purchase, she will seize the
| fort by force OF arms. As the initiation of a
| negotiation for the transfer of property be-
| tween friendly Governments, this proposal
| impresses the President having assumed a
most unusual form. He has, however, in
| vestigated the claim on which it processes to
| be based, apart from the declaration that ac-
| companies il. And it may be here remarked
that much stress has been laid upon the EN-
| ployment of the words property" and s'pub-
| lie property by the President in his seyera, 3,
messages. These are the most comprehensive
| terms which can be used in such connection
| and, surely, when referring to q fort or any
| other public establishment, they embraced the
| entire and undivided interest of the Govern
| ment therein.
| The title of the United States 10 Fort Sum
| ter is complete and lncontestible. Were its in
| teIest in this property purely proprietary, in
| the ordinary acceptation of the term, it might
| probably be subjected to the exercise of the
| right of eminent domain /; but it has also po-
litical relations to it of 4 much higher and
| more imposing character than those of mere
| proprietorship. 1t has absolute jurisdiction
over the for; and the soil on whiah it stands.
| This jurisdiction consists in the authority to
| exercise exclusive legislation over the pro-
perty referred to. and is therefore clearly in
compatible with the claim of eminent domain
| now insisted upon by South Carolina This
| authority was not derived from any question
| able, revolutionary source, but from the peace
| ful cession of South Carolina herself, acting
through her Legislature, under Il provision of
| the Cons titutlon OF the United States. South
| Carolina can no more assert the right of emf
| nent domain over Fort Sumter than MARYLAND
| can assert it over the District of Columbia
| The political and proprietary rights of the U.
| States in either case rest upon precisely the
| same ground.
| The President, however, is relieved from
| the necessity of further pursuing this inquiry
| by the tact that, whatever NAV be the claim
| of South Carolina to this fort, he has con-
| stitutional power 10 cede or surrender it. The
| property OF the United States has been ac-
| Quired by force of public law, and can only
| ba UjSDOSpd he
| tionS. The President, us the head OF the En-
| ecutive branch of the Government only can
| no more sell and transfer Fort Sumter to
| South Carolina than he can sell and convey
| the Capitol OF the United States to Maryland,
| or to any other State or individual seeking to
| possess it. His EAcclency the Governor is
! TOO familiar with the Cons tuition of the Uni
| ted States, and with the limitations upon the
powers OF the Chief Magistrate of the Gov
eminent 1t has stabliSlled, not to appreciate
| at once the sOundness of this legal proposition.
| The question of reinforcing Fort Sumter is
| so fully disposed OF in my letter to Senator
Slidell and Others under date of the 22d of
| January-a copy OF which accompanies this
| that its discussion will not now be renewed.
| l then said ''At the present moment it is
| not deemed necessary TO reinforce Major An
| dersOn, because he makes no such request
| Should his safety, however, require rein
| forcements, every effort Will he made to sup
| ply them" l can add nothing to the expli-
| citness of this language, which still applies
| to the existing status. The right to send for
| Waru ftlnlOrceucHtS, WHICH III judgment
| of the President the safely of the garrison re-
| qures them, rests on the same unquestiona-
| BILE foundation as the right TO occupy the for
| tress itself.
| Fort Sumter is in itself military post, and
nothing else and it would seem that not so
much the fact as the purpose of its use should
| give TO it hostile or friendly charac ter. This
for tress is now held by the Government of the
| United States, for the same objects for which
| it has been held from the compile tion of its con
struction. These are national and defensive
and Were public enemy now to attempt the
| capture of Charleston or the destruction of
| the commerce of its harbor, the whole force Of
the batteries of this fortress would be at once
exerted for their protection. How the pres
ence of a small garrison, actuated by such
spirit this, can compromise the dignity or
honor OF South Carolina, or become source
of irritation to her people, the President is at
a loss to understand. The attitude of that
garrison, as has been often declared is neither
| menacing nor defiant, nor unfriendly. 1t is
acting under orders TO stand strictly on the de-
fensiye, and the Government and people OF
| South Carolina must well know that they
| can u ever receive aught but shelter from its
guns, unless, in the absence OF all proyoeation
| they should assault it, and seek its destruc-
| ,ion. The intent with which this fortress is
| held by the President is truthfully stated by
Senator Davis and others, IN their letter to
| yourself Of the 18th January, in which they
| say: ssIt is not held with any hostile or un-
| friendly purpose towards your State, but
merely as property of the United States,
which the President deems it his duty to pro-
| tect and preserve.
| In the letter of Senator Davis and others to
| Yourself under date of the 18th ultimo, they
saw: awe, therefore, think 1T especially due
| from South Carolina to our States-to say
nothing of other slayeholding States-that she
should, as far as she can tehtiy with her
| and the United States or any other Power"
| and Won now yourself give 10 the President