The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-02-02

, 4
p16o, eitsii q sEIsms sNHni9ni
5Qua nie bsi4s;bsu mA D0'
=. ., .asisssag a..s, SaA :s..,a..s;
/ fand the rs.s.s,SS-al.s.All..ii.iisssssiipn.-
appended q Hd to RIs Refaa salsr Sf shatoD oui
, strsRg e8pyessiop Of i bis gratitude teI
: the firm and generous support, which
: Mr,Bdehaiian had constantly fe3tehd
; ed tpphins sUand pays asEarm tribute &c
) the. "enighte4ed, statesmanship eanG
;, unsullied patriotism of the. outgoing
President. General Dix 4 was a $ not there there
at aIPwhefi Mr.. iStafton can1e in He
!. %assappDinaedramonth afterwarda Ifj
therstsEe,, Nm Stantgntwas at Hhystinie
& engaged intdragooning ). the, President
and hectoring his colleagues, he could
Paop Have had MI. 9H6R and Gehsraal
DizIfdrhiscbaclsets iioi.iiTo ed1 10 :
Il ! Before the eelestonlit ltyas determin-
led that,the forts in Eharleston harber
i Should be strengthened so as to make
them iibbr9enablei Pie g 26risr7 isr7 Was Was
HfgiveffsbLh f6esexeerftiofi Of It was 9iti-
aoceuntablyeputoofHi naFiien General
HGass ascertained that the dslagsyas se-
quiesced in by the President he, re:
fsigned. Two weeks .afterWard Major
Andersen, ,csfiimAifding Fort 'Motiltrie,,
andiapprehehtingan aftaak threMlms
garfison. mte Fort Suaater. ysSiHultai
neously came certain q Com isSiopers
4 from South Carolina demanding the
iisuffefsder tie 4atteri fefttii to The
State. The character of the answer
that should.i besE Egiyens4tet the Conc
i'missioners, and the question whether
Fort Sumter should be furnished with
! mem and provisions, were discussed FOR
three, daysdeach day trriuhing far into
lthe night. .szuo sd Iiiu hsa1
fsif On the one side it was insisted that
| jthe surrender Of the, fortress was so ut
Isterly incompatible wita DUP pfainest
duty thatf demand itself fwasa gross
insult. To leave .itsinsaa ucsndition
which would enable rshsllenss seitizens
Ito take it If they pleased was still
Morse, fisthaEB@0uM beAAerely anoth-
er mode of making the surrender, and
a worse ene,g because il weald be fraddJ
.nlent and deceptive 'dNajor Anderson
should; therefore 2 ibel iimnaediatel5 So
reinforced thar tAisr ieastle,s strength
wodldalaugh a siege TO 'scorn, "and then
no attack would, ,ebe made: L T his last,
instead of being dangerous was the
onlyEmeasure that gave us d chance Of
safetyp itwouldinot bring on liostilities,
but avert them, and ifswar rndstpeome
at all events,s the possession sofoF Oft
| Sumter, which commanded tlieh other
forts, the harbof and the city. would.
! be ofyinealcnlablei valde to the Gov.
ernmetit ofsthe u MON. 'iEi si!1 "a bs3s
;" To this there was absolutely no an
swer, Gekceptswimts consisted Gin saying
thatithe fort eouldgnot 1be relieved
without dihculty anld danger of sue
cessful opposition that Soathl Carolina
would take it as an1afront,i and ;athaH
it was tantamount,to q threat OF, ,-eoeEc,
'cfon. The replication was easily made;
There was no danger of even. ain at
tempt at resistancelto' a ship oof war ),
the statements uiadeofthe hostile pow!
er We're mere ebrag If South Caro-
|ihna. took offense at our preparati9nl ,f9 for
the safety Of our own men and our own.
property she must already be IN
temper to- make Observation-Disclosures
bic /; and as Ttp coercion, rlet her take
care not to coerce-us, and she, would
be safe enough.
az At length the President produced
his decisionin the form sof an answer
to the, Commissioners, While it was.
far. from satisfactory, to;the, Southern
inelmbefs, it filled Us With, consterna:
ton and grief. f. RI .-f3is.'i' 4o l'''lli' |
sd Them came the desperate struggieIof
'one3alone to do what all had fnilad to /
effect 1t was painful in the extremes
but .qnex pectedly short, and decisive, !,
The 2 resident gave up his first q ound;
Welded the points Oh which Z he had
seemed most tenaciohs; ;atheliauswer to
South Carolina 3wasessentially- changed;
and twas agreed that Fort Sumter
should have men and provisions:
r + During Itkese discussions Mr. tStafi-t
ton was aIwaps true esobnt the partt hes
took was hy no means q leadingsi one
he said many times that he was there
only that l might hays tMo votes in
there theG slig ghtestl conflict be !
tween him and me. He exhibited
none of the coarsenkss whiehLsohle of
his later friends havez,attribated tod
him, He never spoke, without Jthe1
greatest respect for his colleagues and
the 2fprofoundest reference TO the
Presidential He said MOI word to- the
President about ores igning. He; told
me that he would resign it 4 did but
when certain concessions were made
to my wishes he expressed himself |
satisf, d. + He did not flif'
nish. one atom Eof thetinAuehce which Z
brought, the President round on the
answer to South Caralina. Nor did
he ever propose or carry any measure !
of his own directly or indirectly, re-.
lating to the seeessioni troubles. aFei
uniformly ,protessed 70, be, as anxious
for the preservation of the: PUBLIC
peace as any man there.
q, 1t wonld be a wrong to the memory
Of Mr. ,Stanton,not=t TO add that! SO, far
Is, know, he never gave untenance
IL. encouragement to those fabulous
stories of his behavior.
~, JEsEMIAH S. 'BLkcKz@ +
49,, ~ ,1...-..... ...-......a.-. ..i......ii.l1..1n Il
ii, xdFfoms I erry'sI Satrapy. '2ansf
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