Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-10-06

"makes fun " of very serious things, And in the
beginning of the civil troubles which have since
darkened and desolated our lane, 1T is known that
Mr.. Lincoln, then the President elect of the nation,
could see 10 the premonitions of great popular
sonvusion nothing butsigns Of an artificial crisis
On his way to Washington, when seven States had
proclaimed themselves, through their Conventions,
"out Of the Union," and when all the national
forts located within their boun ds were seized and
held by disaffeced and nsurgent population, with
the single exception of Forts Sumter and Pickens,
he proclaimed in jocular tones that nobody was
hurt" and that all the excitement which had been
raised "down South" was nothing more than such
crisis as might be gotten up at any time by tur-
bulent men aided by designing politicians To this
effect he spoke at several points on his way from
Springfield to Washington. We will cite but a
single instance or two, selecting in the first place
from the remark, made by Mr.. Lincoln at Pity
burgh in Pennsylvania, on the 18th of February,
1861. We quote from Mr.. Raymond's biography,
p 85:
Notwithstanding the troubles across the river the
speaker pointed southwardy the Monongahea and
smiled there IS crisis JGt an artificial one What ia
there 10 warrant the condition of affairs presented by
friends over the ver Take their view of the cues
mons involved and there is nothing to justify the course
they are pursuing repeat then there no crisis ex-
cepng such one as may be gotten up any time by tur
Duent men, aided by designing politicians"
10 the same effect he spoke on the 9Th of Feb
ruary, IN Cleveland, Ohio, as follows:
Why all this excitement Why ara these complaints
AS sara before this Crisis all art fetal 1t has ounda
uon IN iact IL was not argued up, and the saying
It innot be argued down. Let sone and oM 90 do,on
U Hsey. Laughter I -
Such was the festive speech and such was the
prcscence with which President Lincoln acceded
to the Presidential chair, at time when the hearts
OF good men and sagacious patriots were failing
them for fear Of the things to come on the land
Safely installed in the Executive Mansion, what
did Mr. Lincoln do in order to a,suage the artif-
cIal' excitement at the South? He had said at
Cleveland that if we would let it alcne it would
60 down of ITSELF" and many who were very far
from concurring with him in the opinion that the
Crisis was an artificial one believed that this was
the best mcde Of treating it.
week or two after the Inauguration Of Mr..
Lincoln 1t was authoritatively "given out" that
this let alone policy would be pursued by the
Administration in regard to the insurgent States,
our garrison would be Withdrawn from Fort Sum-
ter, the only point Of irritating contact in the
South. A few weeks later Mr. Lincoln acting
under what "pres,ure" we are not able to say, re-
considered this determination and dispatched an
expedition to Charleston harbor for the purpose
of reinforcing Major Anderson, peaceably if allow
ed, if not by force. The expedition was placed
under the command of Capt. Fox, the present
energetic Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
We all know what was the upShot Of this expe-
dition, which, though it failed to reinforce Fort
Sumter, gave to the insurgents just the pretext
they wanted for lighting up the flames of civil
war. But perhaps it is not generally known that
the expedition failed through the neglect of the
President to furnish to Capt Fox the cooperation
of war vessel, which he had made condition Of
the expedition. On this point we have to cite the
following extract from letter addressed by the
President to that gentleman under date Of May
lst, 1861. (See Report of the Secretary of the
Navy in relation to armed vessels, p. 607)
WASHINGTON, MAY j, 1861.
MY DEAR SIR: sincerely regret that the failure of
the late attempt provision Fort Sumter should bs the
source of any annoyance to you The practicabty of
your plan not in fact brought to test By reason OF
gale, well koown in advance TO be possible and i'm
probable the tugs essential part Of the plan
reached the ground while by accident for which you
were IN no responsible and possibly Ito ezfcn
you deprived Of pessei ,oi her men, ,ohich
you deemed Of great Importance TO the enterprise"
Thus, by the violence of the insurgents on the
one hand, and by the departure Of the President
from his promised "let alone" policy on the other,
the nation was plunged into civil war. Whether
the crisis was an "artifciap one may be read in
the scenes which have ensued since that fatal 18th
of April, 1861, when the attack on Fort Sumter
became the signal for which the zcalots on both
sides were waiting in their csgsrness to begin the
dreadful fray. Whether the President "under-
| stood his epoch may be read in all that he said
before the conflict was precipitatcd, as it may be
seen in what he has done since the bloody issue
was joined.
The nation sprang to arms at his summons, con-
tanned in his proclamation Of April 15 1861,
calling for $4,000 men for three months He
judged this force sufficient to defend the national
capital, and to recover tho national property seized
by the insurgents in the Seeded States to which
latter task be announced its first efforts would be
directed We need not say that it never engaged
In this enterprise as the President had 40 mscal-