The National tribune., 1909-06-10
ABR RAHAM LINCOLN.
Continued from page one.)

the Northerf people, led by such men
as Gov. Seymour, of New York, whose
daily talk. and possibly nightly dreams,
was of avoiding any further irritation"
IF the South. seymour, and those who
thought iike7him had very much the
most to sayain the Northern papers, SO
much that they seemed to be the en-
tire voice of the people. On the other
hand, the great mass of common-sense,
sober-minded. straightforward people,
who had well-defined ideas as to what
the Government should do, and who
were deeply stirred by the impotence
of the Government before its arrogant
enemies, did not relish for an instant
that the garrison at Fort Sumter should
be sneaked out of United States tort
at the insulting demand of the South
Carolinians.
There was far from unity in the Cab
met as to what should be done. Seward
could not persuade himself that the
Confederate leaders meant war, ana
he cluhg desperately to the hope that
some turn would end the controversy
and maintain the peace. There was
stormy Cabinet session March Il, IN
which Seward was overruled, and 1T was
determined to send. relief to the suffer-
ing fort. Tho overruled, Seward perse-
vered. Secretary Welles was instructed
to prepare expeditions for both Sumter
and Pickens, and, aided by such in
tensely-loyaI naval officers as G. v. Fox,
David d. Porter and John A. Dahlgren,
made his preparations with such Sc
crecy that even the alert Southern spies
in Washington and New York discov-
cred nothing.
The expedition to Sumter was to be
led by the frigate POwhatan, and here
Seward got in his frustrating work. He
persuaded the President to sign pa
per, which detached the Powhatan
from the Fort Sumter expedition and
ordered her to Fort Pickens. When
Lincoln's attention was called to the
fact that he had taken away from the
Fort Sumter expedition a ship vitality
essential to it, he said that he had been
led into the mistake by confusing the
names of Pocahontas and Powhatan.
Seward insisted that the Powhatan
should go on to Pjckens, but Lincoln
ordered him to telegraph and order her
to go to Fort Sumter. The dispatch
was not received at the brooklyn Navy
Yard until the Powhatan had sailed, but
it was sent off in a tug which overlook
the frigate. Her commander, seeing
that the order was only signed by Sew
ard, assumed that it was obligatory
upon him to obey the order which had
the Presidents name attached to 1t,
and sailed on, thereby changing the
face of history. Had the POwhatan
sailed under her first orders, she would
have fought her way past the Confeder-
ate batteries to Fort Sumter, and the
beginning of the war would have been
different, how different Omniscience
only knows. f
Gen. Scott had sent one of his staff,
Col. G. W. Lay, to Charleston, to report
upon the situation, and President Lin
coin had also sent to that city Col.
Ward III. Lamon,s his intimate friend
and law partner, who would be accept
ed as his confidential agent and as rep
resenting his views. Col. Lamon had
an Interview with Gen. Beauregard and
Gov. Pickens, and had been permitted
by them to go to- Fort Sumter and talk
with Maj Anderson. Mai. Anderson
had said that his provisions would only
last until the middle of April, and that
he believed the relief of the fort was
impracticable. Col. Lamon concurred
with this view in the report he made to
the President.
Shortly after this Mai. Anderson sent
Lieut.. Talbot to Washington to say that
he would be starved into surrender un-
less he was supplied at once. Talbot
returned to Charleston from this visit
with a notice to the Governor of South
Carolina and Gen. Beauregard that the
fort would be provisioned at all hazards
Beauregard telegraphed this to Mont
gomery, and received orders from the
Confederate Secretary of War to de-
mand the surrender of the fort If this
demand were refused, he was to pro
ceed to reduce it."
Indeed. there was no other course
possible for the new1y-established Con-
federate Government If it was to main
tain its hold upon the people. The
South Carolinians were daily growing
more impatient for some decisive act
which would seal their separation from
the Union and make their step IRE,
vocable. Their papers and speakers
were vieing with each other in arousinp
the passions of the people and demand
ing energetic action. What was being
done in Charleston went with lightning
swiftness thru the other Secession
States, and the tumultuous heart-beats
of the "chivalrous' South Carolinians
sent responsive vibrations thru the
breadth Of the Confederacy. They were
eager for fight, and the truculent JEFF
ferson Davis proclaimed the necessity
of "sprinkling blood in the faces of the
people,"