Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1867-01-22
uow President Lincoln Sought to Avoid
War.

W
Hon. JOIN ". Bolts Of Virginia, has
written book entitled, The Great Rebel
lion," which has Just been published by
Harper and brothers. Ii il an inside view
"a secret history Of the rebellion. Mr..
/ Bolts claimsto possess knowledge on this
subject which few men possess, and the
book itself is IN exposure Of Southern plots
and devices fr the last thirty years, such as
will make may Southern politicians blush,
if that were possible. The following pas
sage will interest our readers as showing how
earnestly President Lincoln, in the begin
ming Of his acminizt-ation, sough; to avoid
war:
Mr.. Bolts HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH Nj. L!S-
COLIN.
About his tim. Nr. Lincoln sen. mes
! seneer 70 Richmend, inviting = distinguish
ed member cf the nion party 20 come i'm
! meliatciy to Washington. and If he coa.d
not come himself, to send some other prom
nent Union man, as he wanted te see him
on business Of the first importance. The
gentleman thus addressed, Nr Summers,
did not 20, but sent another, Mr.. j. b.
Baldwin, who had distinguished himself by
his zeal in the Union caGie during the ses-
sion of the Convention bat this gentleman
was slow in getting to Washington, and did
not reach there for somahing ike a week
after thetilne he was expected be reach>
ed Washington on Frida, the fifth of April.
and, on calling on Mr.. Lincoln. the follow
ing Conversation in substance took place, as
learned from Mr.. Lin.oln himself. After
expressing some re-retthat be had not come
sooner. Mr.. Lincoln sad. Ny object IN ce-
string the presence Of Mr. Sun Iaers, or
some other iatiueniis ard leading member
Of the Union party n your Convention, was
to submit q proposition by which think the
peace of the c0anrr can b preserved; bit
/ fear you are alm0g too late. However
viii make It yet.
"This alternooa,1 said he, "A feet is to
sail from the larbor Of New York for
Charleston: your Convention has been III
session for nearly two months, and you have
done nothing bat hold aud shake the rod
over .ny head. You have Just taken a vote.
by which It appears you have a majority o.
two to one against secession. NoN. 50 great
is my desire To preserve the peace CT the
country, and to save the Border States 70
the Union. that If YOU gentlemen Of the
Union party viii adjourn without passing an
ordinance OF secession, l viii telegraph al
once to New York. arres. the sailing Of the
feet. and take the responsibility Of EyacrA-
TING FoRT SUMTER" The proposition was
declined. On the following Sunday night
was with Mr. Lincoln. aud the greater part
Of the time alone, when Mr.. Lincoln related
the above facts to me. | enquired, " Well !.
Mr. Lincoln, what reply did Mr.. Baldwin
make?" "0a.n sam he. throNing up his
hands, :" He wouldn't listen to il all; scarce
ly treated me with civility asked me what
| meant BY an adjournment; was il an ad-
iournment .sine der" .-of course" said
Mr.. Lincoln, +" don't want YOU TO adjourn,
and. after | have evacuated the fort, meet
again to adopt an ordinance cf secession
! then said, = Mr. Lincoln, viii you author
ize me to make that proposition for wall
start tomorrow morning, and have meet
ing Of the Union men tomorrow night, who,
l have no doubt, viii gladly accept it. To
which he replied. I" 1t is too late nov; the
fee, sailed on Friday evening" He then
said to me, Bolts. have always been an
Old-line Henry-Clay Whig, and IT your
Southera people will let me alone. l will ad-
minister this government; as nearly upon the
principles that he would have administered
it as il is possible for one man to follow in
ihe path Of another all Of which / be>
lieved then, and believe row he would have
DONE He said, moreover, "We have sew
enty odd men in Fort Sumter, who are short
Of provisions. / cannot and Will no; let
beef. SO much pork, potatoes, ETC., but their
bread viii not last longer than next We'd
nesday, and have sent a special messenger
to Governor Pickeas, to say that l have dis
patched a steamer loaded with bread -
that was his expression, though l suppose
he meant provisions generally and that If
he fired upon that vessel he would fire upon
an unarmed vessel, with bread only for the
troops; and that if he would supply them,
or let Major Anderson procure bis markets
ing in Charleston, would stop the vessel !;
but, that had also sent fleet along with the
steamer to protect her il she was fired into.
v hat do | want of war;" said be. 4
am no war man; want peace more than
any man in this country, and will make
greater sacrifices to preserve it than any
other man il the nation.
This is part Of the history of this war
that is not generally known; think i,
ought to be made public, and therefore give
it. l have often wondered why Mr.. Lincoln
had not himself, made it known to tie coun-
try. | suppose it was because he felt that
he had assumed heavy responsibility in
thus proposing to surrender fort Of the
United States, and did not want it known in
the North; but now a knowledge Of the
fact that be had gone so far, and was ready
to make such sacrifice of himself to pre-
serve the peace Of the nation without avail,
would greatly strengthen his position in the
North as well as in the South.
When ] returned to Richmond, l mention
ed this conversation to several Of my friends
in the Convention, among them John T.
Lewis, who no. oaly expressed great sur
prise, but doubt Of the reality Of any such prop
osition having been made to the gentleman
in question, and expressed his confident op-
inion that he could not have rejected it ii
made, and il was thought such proposition
would have been most gladly welcomed by
the majority Of the Convention. Mr.. Lewis
then asked me if he might mention it to the
gentleman to whom the proposition was sub
mitted. told him certainly: that l pre-
ferrcd he should, as. if his doubts were well.
founded, ! should like to know it. He did
mention il, and Mr.. Lineola's representa-
ton was confirmed BY Mr.. Baldwin both to
Mr.. Lewis and myself.
In three weeks from this time, Ir. Bald
win had accepted a military commission in
the Confederate service, and was soon after
elected 10 the Confederate Congress (both Of
which positions he held to the close Of the
war;, and soon became as violent a disu-
nionist as any 10 be found in the military
or civil service Of the Confederacy.