Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-01-08

troops 10 the same garrison, when applied for by
cepted the resignation Of the Oldest and most en-
fnent member Of your Cabinet, rather than allow
| the garrison TO be strengthened. You compelled
an ofcer stationed az Fort Suuupter 20 return i'm
msdiately to the Arsenal forty N usAets which he
had taken TO arm his men. You expressed, not 20
one, but TO many OF the most distinguished Of cur
public characters. whose testimony will be placed
| upon the record, whenever IL Is necessary your
anxiety for a peaceful termination Of this contro-
| versy, and your willingness not TO disturb the
be sent to the government, whose coniruunica-
tons you promised 20 submit TO Congress.
| You received and acted on assurances from the
highest official authorities Of South Carolina, that
| no attempt would be made 20 disturb your pos
session Of the forts end property Of the United
States IL yoo would not disturb their existing
| condition until the commissioners had been sent,
and the attempt TO hegotiate had fsiled. You
| took from the members Of the House Of Represen-
| tatives written memorandum that no such at
| tempt should be made, provided that no rein-
relative military status shall remain as at present"
And although you attach no force to the accept
ence Of such paper-although you ''considtfed
IL as nothing more in Effect than the promise Of
| highly honorable gentlemen as an obligation
on one side without corresponding obligation
| on the other, 10 must be remembered az we
| rightly inform a. that you were pledged, IL you
ever did send tenforcements TO return 10 70 those
| from whom you had received 81 before you exc
cuted your resolution.
You sent orders to your officers commanding
1 a
| fOrmiiy with such an understanding Besides all
this, you had received formal and official notice
| from the Governor Of South Carolina that we had
been appointed commissioners, and were our
way 20 Washington. You knew the implied
condition under which we came; our arrival was
notified TO you, and an hour appointed for In
| terview. We arrived In Washington on Wed.
| nesday, at three o'clock, and You appointed al
| interview with US at one the next day. Early on
that day (rhursday) the news wae received here
of the movement Of Major Anderson. Thst news
| was communicated to you Immediately, and you
postponed our meeting until half past two O'Clock
| on Friday, in order that You night consult your
cabinet On Friday we saw you and We called
upon you then to redeem your pledge. You
| stated, and in the face of the crownihs and con-
| elusive fact that your Secretary Of War had re-
| signed his seat In the cabinet upon the publicly
| avowed ground that the action Of Major Anderson
had violated the pledged faith Of the government,
and that unless the pledge was Instantly redeemed
he was dishonored, denial was impossible.
You do not DENY 1t now, but You seek TO escape
from its obligations on the grounds, lst-that we
| terminated all negotiations by demanding, as q
preliminary, the withdrawal OF tie United States
troops from the harbor Of Charleston; and 2d-that
the authorities Of South Carolina instead Of ask.
| ing an explanation, and giving you the opportu-
nifty to vindicas Yourself took possession Of other
property Of the United States. We will examine
| both
In the first place, we deny positively that we
/ have ever In any way, made any such demand.
Our letter is in your possession; IL will stand by
4
| OF our mission. We say that IL would have been
| our duty to have assured you of our readiness 10
| commence negotiations with the most earnest de-
| sire to settle all questions between amicably
and to our mutual advantage but that events had
| rendered that assurance impossible. We stated
the events, and We said that until some satisfac-
tory explanation Of these events was given US,
could not proceed, and then, having made this re-
quest for explanation, we added: And, In con.
| ClusiOn, we would urge upon you the immediate
withdrawal of the troops from the harbor Of
I Nhar Late I'D.
are standing menace which renders negotiation
| impOssi ble," &c
| "under present circumstances :" What cir
| cumstancesa Why, clearly the OCCUPATION OF
Fort Sumter and the dismantIing Of Fort MouItrie
! by Major Anderson, in the face Of your pledges,
and without explanation or practical disavowal
And there Is nothing in the letter which would
| or could have prevented you from declining to
withdraw the troops and offering the restoration
| Of the status TO which you were pledged IL such
! had been your desire. 1t would have been wiser
| and better, In our opinion, to have withdrawn
| the troops; and this opinion we urged Upon you,
but we demanded nothing but such an explana-
ton Of the events Of the last twentyfour hours
would restore our confidence in the spirit with
which the negotiations should be conducted.
In relation TO this withdrawal Of the troops from
the harbOr, we are compelled, however, TO notice
one passage Of your letter. Referring to IL you
| say, "This cannot do. This will not do Sucb
| an idea was never thought Of by me In any pos
sible contingency. Ne allusion TO It had ever
been made in any communication between my
4
| In reply to this statement we are compelled to
say II, that your conversation with left upon our
minds the distinct impression that you did seri.
ously contemplate the withdrawal Of the troops
! from Charleston harbor And in support of this
| impression we would add that we have the posi-.
tive assurance Of gentlemen of the highest posi- Die
| public reputation and the most unsullied integ-
| Ilty-Inen whose name and fame, secured by
/ long service and patriotic achievement place
! their testimony beyond cavil-that such surges-
| tons had been made TO and urged upon YOU by
hem hal Co.., .l4 .
| one earnest discussion with you And ft was this
| knowledge that induced US to urge upon YOU a
/ policy which had, TO recommend Il, Its own wis
dom and the weight of such authority
As to the second point, that the authorities of
| South Carolina, instead Of asking explanations
and giving you the opportunityto vindicate your.
sell, took possession Of other property Of the
| United States, we would observe, first that even
II this Were so it does not avail YOU for defense
for tue opportunity for decision was afforded YOU
before these facts occurred. We arrived In WASH
/ ington on Wednesday. The news from Major
! Anderson reached here early on Thursday and
| was Immediately communicated to you. All that
! day men Of the highest consideration men who
had striven successfully to lift you to your great
| orhce-who had been your tried and true friends
through the troubles of your administration
sought you, and entreated you 10 act-to act at
once
They told you that every hour complicated YOUR
position. They only asked you to give the assur-
ance that If the facts were so-thaf IL the COM
mander had acted without and against your orders,
restore the status you had pledged your honor 70
maintain. You refused TO decide Your Secre-
tary Of War-your immediate and proper adviser
In this whole matter-waited anxiously for your
decision until he felt that delay was becomIng
dis5ouOr.
More than twelve hours passed, and two Cabi-
net meetings had adjourned before you knew
what the authorities Of South Carolina had done
and your prompt decision at any moment Of that
time would have avoided the subsequent compli-
cations. But If you had known tae acts of the
authorities Of South Carolina, should that have
prevented your keeping your faith What was
the condition Of things! For the last sixty DAYS
you have had In Charleston harbof not force
enou: b to hold the forts against equal enemy
Two Of them were empty; one Of those, too the
most important in the harbor. Ii could have been
taken any time. You ought to know better than
any man that il would have been taken but for
the Efforts Of those who put their trust In your
honor.
Believing that they were threatened by Fort
Sumter especially, the people were with dirsculty
restrained from securing, without blood the pos
session Of this important fortress. After many
and reiterated assurances given on your behalf
which we cannot believe Unauthorized they de-
termined to forbear, and in good faith sent on
their commissioners to negotiate with you. They
meant you no harm; wished you no i'll. They
fhnn ht ~