Year: 1861

t The associated press dispatch of yes
terday morning, explanatory Of the posi-
ton aud purposes of the administration
bears the marks of authenticity, an'
agrees with the development of event
thus far. Ii asserts that the declaration
of President Lincoln's inaugural have
from the beginning formed the basis o
the administration policy, but that theil
reduction to practice has been somewhat
impeded by the exceedingly embarrassed


condition in which all branches of the
pubic service were left by the preceding
administration, and that many Of tn,
steps taken have necessarily been with
held from the public as the only method
Of securing their efficiency. By lighI


of this explanation, the policy of the ad.


ministration appears alike admirable in


its intent and in its development, because


in both respects it conforms closely to the
demands of the exigency with which il
has to deal,


And here let US briefly notice a clamor
started by Mr.. Douglas and echoed by
certain portions of the press, that Mr..
Lincoln ought to come out with detail
ed enumeration of what he means to do
and what he wishes others to do toward
the settlement of the crisis. Now, to our
mind, he has done that very thing, so far
as it is possible or proper for him to do it.
He has stated his duty as President
and nobody disputes the truth of it. He
says he shall discharge this duty to the
extent of his constitutional power--and
what more or what less could he say ?
If he is foiled therein, which he has no
right to make the subject Of express cal
culation, then his course must be varied
by the nature of the obstacles--a contin-
gency which none but prophet could
have foreseen with the requisite clearness
on the 4th of March. Mr.. Lincoln might
for instance, have stated just what dispo-
sition he was going TO make of General
Twigg's division of the army but the
subsequently discovered treason Of that



officer would have made the statement Of
no avail. And so of other details-they
are all shifting with the times and with
the voition of traitors, and the govern
ment plans must change accordingly
This is an inevitable consequence of the
non-aggressive constitutional stand, the
abandonment of which on the part of the
administration would be censured by none
more violently than by those who are
thus clamorous for an unreasonable or
impossible publicity.


But to return to the actual policy Of
the administration as seen in its acts and
in these recent explanations. 1t is emf
nently a peace policy 1t opens war on
nobody-and It hBithet persecutes for the
past nor threatens for the future. The
people Of the seeded states are not ar
bitrarily restrained from the continued
prosecution of their folly. The people |
of the border states are not furnished /
with the shadow of an excuse for abating
their loyalty to the Union. The govern
ment most temperately measures its prac-
iical duties, not merely by its clear rights,
not even by its probable powers, but by
those powers whose exercise ought not to
disturb even the disaf1ected and wrong
minded. 1t might, and perhaps it onght
to collect the duties in some Of the sece-
ded ports but for the present it forbears.
1t might easily recover some Of the stO-
len forts, but it valves the right. On the |
other hand, it becomes a solemn national .
duty to reinforce Fort Pickens, but no |
man can say that the act is a rightful
cause of any disturbance to the seeded
states. The people of Florida can new
er know the difference whether that for
tress is reinforced or not. So, too, the
simple provisioning of Major Anderson's
little corps at Fort Sumter-an act Of
and Of imperative national du-
ty-cannot be fnagnifed into a hostile
by any fair mind north or
south of Mason and Dixon's line.


Being thus right in spirit and in view
of constitutional obligations, The policy of
the administration must necessarily be
1t is so, as will be seen
from these points Of view which we brief
ly indicate : First, it sets us right before
foreign nations. If the government had
abandoned Forts Pickens and Sumter,
the envoys of the Southern Confederacy
abroad would at oEce claim the entire ex-
pulsion Of the Federal authority from :
their dominions as sufficient ground for
recognising their independence and the
would have too much weight. ;
the policy invigorates the pa ;