Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

The President's

Answer.

[blocks in formation]

construed into an agreement on my part, which I never would make. They said that nothing was further from their intention-they did not so understand it, and I should not so consider it. It is evident they could enter into no reciprocal agreemnt with me on the subject. They did not profess to have authority to do this, and were acting in their individual character. I considered it as nothing more, in effect, than the promise of highly honorable gentlemen to exert their influence for the purpose expressed. The event has proven that they have faithfully kept this promise, although I have never since received a line from any one of them, or from any member of the Convention on the subject. It is well known that it was my determination, and this I freely expressed, not to reinforce the forts in the harbor, and thus produce a collision, until they had been actually attacked, or until I had certain evidence that they were about to be attacked. This paper I received most cordially, and considered it as a happy omen that peace might be still preserved, and that time might be thus given for reflection. This is the whole foundation for the alleged pledge.

[blocks in formation]

The President's
Answer.

derson had left Fort Moultrie and
proceeded to Fort Sumter, my
first promptings were to com-
mand him to return to his former position, and there
to await the contingencies presented in his instruc-
tions. This would only have been done with any de-
gree of safety to the command by the concurrence
of the South Carolina authorities. But before any step
could possibly have been taken in this direction, we
received information that the "Palmetto flag floated
out to the breeze at Castle Pinckney, and a large
military force went over last night (the 27th) to Fort
Moultrie.' Thus the authorities of South Carolina,
without waiting or asking for any explanations, and
doubtless believing, as you have expressed it, that
the officer had acted not only without but against
my orders, on the very next day after the night
when the removal was made, seized by a military
force two of the Federal forts in the harbor of Char-
leston, and have covered them under their own flag
instead of that of the United States.

"At this gloomy period of our history, startling events succeed each other rapidly. On the very day, the 27th instant, that possession of these two forts was taken, the Palmetto flag was raised over the Federal Custom-House and Post-office in Charles

But I acted in the same manner as I would have done had I entered into a positive and formal agree-ton; and on the same day every officer of the Cusment with parties capable of contracting, although such an agreement would have been on my part, from the nature of my official dnties, impossible. The world knows that I have never sent any reinforcements to the forts in Charleston harbor, and I have certainly never authorized any change to be made in their relative military status.' Bearing upon this subject, I refer you to an order issued by the Secretary of War, on the 11th inst., to Major Anderson, but not brought to my notice until the 21st inst. It is as follows:-[See page 125 for these orders.]

toms-Collector, Naval Officer, Surveyor, and Appraiser-resigned their offices. And this, although it was well known from the language of my message that, as an executive officer, I felt myself bound to collect the revenue at the port of Charleston, under the existing laws. In the harbor of Charleston we now find three forts confronting each other, over all

Buell.

The President's
Answer.

"This is in conformity to my instructions to Major "JOHN B. FLOYD, "Secretary of War." "These were thelast instructions transmitted to Major Anderson before his removal to Fort Sumter, with a single exception, in regard to a particular which does not in any degree affect the present question. Under these circmstances it is clear that Major Anderson acted upon his own responsibility, and without authority, unless, indeed, he had 'tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act on the part of South Carolina, which has not yet been alleged. Still he is a brave and honorable officer, and justice requires that he should not be condemned without a fair hearing.

[ocr errors][merged small]

of which the Federal flag floated only four days ago; but now, over two of them, this flag has been supplanted, and the Palmetto flag has been substituted in its stead. It is under all these circumstances that I am urged immediately to withdraw the troops from the harbor of Charleston, and am informed that without this negotiation is impossible. This I cannot do this I will not do. Such an idea was never thought of by me in any possible contingency. No such allusion had been made in any communication between myself and any human being. But the inference is that I am bound to withdraw the troops from the only fort remaining in the possession of the United States in the harbor of Charleston, because the officer there in command of all of the forts thought proper, without instructions, to change his position from one of them to another.

[ocr errors][merged small]

The President's
Answer.

"Comment is needless. After this information, I have only to add, that whilst it is my duty to defend Fort Sumter as a portion of the public property of the United States, against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they may come, by such means as I possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such a defense can be construed into a menace against the city of Charleston. With great personal regard I remain, yours very respectfully,

"JAMES BUCHANAN.

"To Hon. Robert W. Barnwell, James H. Adams, James L. Orr."

The Commissioners'
Rejoinder.

The Commissioners replied to this in the following strongly personal communication: "WASHINGTON, D. C.,) Jan. 1, 1861. "SIR:We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th December, in reply to a note addressed by us to you, on the 28th of the same month, as Commissioners from South Carolina.

The Commissioners'
Rejoinder.

a disposition might be made of
the whole subject by Congress,
who alone possess the power,
to prevent the inauguration of a civil war between
the parties in regard to the possession of the Federal
forts in the harbor of Charleston; and I therefore
deeply regret that in your opinion the events of the
last twenty-four hours render this impossible. We
expressed no such opinion; and the language which
you quote as ours, is altered in its sense by the
omission of a most important part of the sentence.
What we did say was, But the events of the last
twenty-four hours render such an assurance impossi-
ble.' Place that 'assurance,' as contained in our
letter, in the sentence, and we are prepared to re-
peat it.

"Again, professing to quote our language, you say: Thus the authorities of South Carolina, without waiting or asking for any explanation, and doubtless believing, as you have expressed it, that the officer had acted not only without, but against my orders,' &c. We expressed no such opinion in reference to the belief of the people of South Carolina. The language which you have quoted was ap mes-plied solely and entirely to our assurances obtained here, and based, as you well know, upon your own declaration--a declaration which, at that time, it was impossible for the authorities of South Carolina to have known. But, without following this letter into all its details, we propose only to meet the chief points of the argument.

"In reference to the declaration with which your reply commences, that your position as President of the United States was already defined in the sage to Congress of the 2d instant;' that you possess no power to change the relations heretofore existing between South Carolina and the United States,' 'much less to acknowledge the independence of that State,' and that consequently you could meet us only as private gentlemen of the highest character, with an entire willingness to communicate to Congress any proposition we might have to makewe deem it only necessary to say that the State of South Carolina having, in the exercise of that great right of self-governmenf which underlies all our political organizations, declared herself sovereign and independent, we, as her representatives, felt no special solicitude as to the character in which you might recognize us. Satisfied that the State had simply exercised her unquestionable right, we were prepared, in order to reach substantial good, to waive the formal considerations which your constitutional scruples might have prevented you from extending. We came here, therefore, expecting to be received as you did receive us, and perfectly content with that entire willingness, of which you assured us, to submit any proposition to Congress which we might have to make upon the subject of the independence of the State. The willingness was ample recognition of the condition of public affairs, which rendered our presence necessary. In this position, however, it is our duty both to the State which we represent and to ourselves, to correct several important misconceptions of our letter, into which you have fallen. "You say:

It was my earnest desire that such

[ocr errors]

Some weeks ago the State of South Carolina declared her intention, in the existing condition of public affairs, to secede from the United States. She called a Convention of her people to put her declaration in force. The Convention met and passed the Ordinance of Secession. All this you anticipated, and your course of action was thoroughly considered in your Annual Message. You declared you had no right, and would not attempt, to coerce a Seceding State, but that you were bound by your constitutional oath, and would defend the property of the United States within the borders of South Carolina if The Commissioners, an attempt was made to take it Rejoinder. by force. Seeing very early that this question of property was a difficult and delicate one, you manifested a desire to settle it without collision. You did not reinforce the garrison in the harbor of Charleston. You removed a distinguished and veteran officer from the command of Fort Moultrie because he attempted to increase his supply of ammunition. You refused to send additional troops to the same garrison when applied for by the officers appointed to succeed him. You accepted the resignation of the oldest and most eminent member of your Cabinet, rather than allow the

[ocr errors]

The Commissioners' Rejoinder.

THE COMMISSIONERS'

REJOINDER.

147

The Commissioners' Rejoinder.

garrison to be strengthened. | lated the pledged faith of the
Government, and that unless the
pledge was instantly redeemed,
he was dishonered, denial was impossible; you
did not deny it. You do not deny it now, but you
seem to escape from its obligation on the grounds,
first, that we terminated all negotiation by demand-
ing, as a preliminary, the withdrawal of the United
States troops from the harbor of Charleston; and,
second, that the authorities of South Carolina, in-
stead of asking explanation, and giving you the op-
portunity to vindicate yourself, took possession of
other property of the United States. We will exa-
amine both.

[ocr errors]

You compelled an officer, stationed at Fort Sumter, to return immediately to the arsenal forty muskets which he had taken to arm his men. You expressed not to one, but to many, of the most distinguished of our public characters, whose testimony will be placed upon the record whenever it is necessary, your anxiety for a peaceful termination of this controversy, and your willingness not to disturb the military status of the forts, if Commissioners should be sent to the Government, whose communications you promised to submit to Congress. You received and acted on assurances from the highest official authorities of South Carolina, that no attempt would be made to disturb your possession of the forts and property of the United States, if you would not disturb their existing condition until the Commissioners had been sent, and the attempt to negotiate had failed. You took from the members of the House of Representatives a written memorandum that no such attempt should be made, 'provided that no reinforcements should be sent into those forts, and their relative military status shall remain as at present.' And, although you attach no force to the acceptance of such a paper-although you considered it as nothing more in effect than the promise of highly honorable gentlemen'-as an obligation on one side, without corresponding obligation on the other-it must be remembered (if we were rightly informed) that you were pledged, if you ever did send reinforcements, to return it to those from whom you had received it, before you executed your resolution. You sent orders to your officers, commanding them strictly to follow a line of conduct in conformity with such an understanding. Besides all this, you had received formal and official notice from the Governor of South Carolina that we had been appointed Commissioners, and were on our Way to Washington. You knew the implied condition under which we came; our arrival was notified to you, and an hour appointed for an interview. We arrived at Washington on Wednesday, at 3 o'clock, and you appointed an interview with us at 1 the next day. Early on that day, (Thursday,) the news was received here of the movement of Major Anderson. That news was communicated to you immediately, and you postponed our meeting until 24 o'clock on Friday, in order that you might consult your Cabinet. On Friday we saw you, and we called upon you then to redeem your pledge. You could not deny it. With the facts we have stated, and in the face of the crowning and conclusive fact that your Secretary of War had resigned his seat in the Cabinet, upon the publicly avowed ground that the action of Major Anderson had vio

In the first place, we deny positively that we have ever in any way made any such demand. Our letter is in your possession; it will stand by this on record. In it we informed you of the objects of our mission. We say that it would have been our duty to have assured you of our readiness to commence negotiations, with the most earnest and anxious desire to settle all questions between us amicably and to our mutual advantage, but that events had rendered that assurance impossible, We stated the events, and we said that until some satisfactory explanation of these events was given us, we could not proceed; and then, having made this request for explanation, we added: "And in conclusion, we would urge upon you the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston. Under present circumstances they are a standing menace, which renders negotiation impossible," &c. "Under present circumstances!" What circumstances? Why, clearly, the occupation of Fort Sumter and the dismantling of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson, in the face of your pledges and without explanation or practical disavowal. And there is nothing in the letter which would, or could, have prevented you from declining to withdraw the troops, and offering the restoration of the status to which you were pledged, if such has been your desire; it would have been wiser and better, in our opinion, to have withdrawn the troops, and this opinion we urged upon you, but we demanded nothing but such an explanation of the events of the last twenty-four hours as would restore our confidence in the spirit with which the negotiations should be conducted. In relation to this withdrawal of the troops from the harbor, we are compelled, however, to notice one passage of your letter. Referring to it, you say: This I cannot do. This I will not do. Such an idea was never thought of by me in any possible contingency. No allusion to it had ever been made in any communication between myself and any human being.'

[blocks in formation]

The Commissioners'

Rejoinder.

[ocr errors]

say, that your conversation with us left upon our minds the distinct impression, that you did seriously contemplate the withdrawal of the troops from Charleston harbor. And in support of this impression, we would add, that we have the positive assurance of gentlemen of the highest possible public reputation and the most unsullied integrity-men whose name and fame, secured by long service and patriotic achievements, place their testimony beyond cavil-that such suggestions had been made to and urged upon you by them, and had formed the subject of more than one earnest discussion with you. And it was this knowledge that induced us to urge upon you a policy, which had to recommend it its own wisdom and the might of such authority. As to the second point, that the authorities of South Carolina, instead of asking explanations, and giving you the opportunity to vindicate yourself, took possession of other property of the United States, we would observe:-1. That even if this were so, it does not avail you for defence, for the opportunity for decision was afforded you before these facts occurred. We arrived in Washing-sition. ton on Wednesday; the news from Major Anderson reached here early on Thursday, and was immediately communicated to you. All that day men of the highest consideration-men who had striven successfully to lift you to your great office-who had been your tried and true friends through the troubles of your administration, sought you and entreated you to act to act at once. They told you that every hour complicated your position. They only asked you to give the assurance that if the facts were so that if the commander had acted without and against your orders, and in violation of your pledges-that you would restore the status you had pledged your honor to maintain. You refused to decide. Your Secretary at War, your immediate and proper adviser in this whole matter, waited anxiously for your decision, until he felt that delay was becoming dishonor. More than twelve hours passed, and two Cabinet meetings had adjourned, before you knew what the authorities of South Carolina had done; and your prompt decision at any moment of that time would have avoided the subsequent complications. But, if you had known the acts of the authorities of South Carolina, should that have prevented your keeping your faith? What was the condition of things? For the last sixty days you have had in Charleston harbor not force enough to hold the forts against an equal enemy. Two of them were empty-one of those two the most important in the harbor. It could have been taken at any time. You ought to know better than any man that it would have been taken,

The Commissisners'
Rejoinder.

but for the efforts of those who
put their trust in your honor.
Believing that they were threat-
ened by Fort Sumter especially, the people were with
difficulty restrained from securing, without blood,
the possession of this important fortress. After many
and reiterated assurances, given on your behalf,
which we cannot believe unauthorized, they deter-
mined to forbear, and in good faith sent on their
Commissioners to negotiate with you. They meant
you no harm-wished you no ill. They thought of
you kindly, believed you true, and were willing, as
far as was consistent with duty, to spare you un-
necessary and hostile collision. Scarcely had these
Commissioners left than Major Anderson waged
war. No other words will describe his action. It
was not a peaceful change from one fort to another;
it was a hostile act in the highest sense, an
and only
justified in the presence of a superior enemy, and
in imminent peril. He abandoned his position,
spiked his guns, burned his gun-carriagss, made
preparations for the destruction of his post, and
withdrew, under cover of the night, to a safer po-
This was war. No man could have believed
(without your assurance,) that any officer could
have taken such a step, not only without orders,
but against orders.' What the State did was in
simple self-defence; for this act, with all its attend-
ing circumstances, was as much war as firing a
volley; and war being thus begun, until those
commencing it explained their action and disavowed
their intention, there was no room for delay; and
even at this moment while we are writing, it is more
than probable, from the tenor of your letter, that
reinforcements are hurrying on to the conflict, so
that when the first gun shall be fired, there will
have been on your part one continuous, consistent
series of actions, commencing in a demonstration
essentially warlike, supported by regular reinforce-
ments and terminating in defeat or victory. And all
this without the slightest provocation; for, among
the many things which you have said, there is one
thing you cannot say you have waited anxiously
for news from the seat of war, in hopes that delay
would furnish some excuse for this precipitation.
But this tangible evidence of a design to proceed
to a hostile act, on the part of the authorities of
South Carolina,' which is the only justification of
Major Anderson you are forced to admit,‘has not
yet been alleged.' But you have decided, you have
resolved to hold, by force, what you have obtained
through our misplaced confidence; and by refusing
to disavow the action of Major Anderson, have con-
verted his violation of orders into a legitimate act of
your executive authority. Be the issue what it
may, of this we are assured, that, if Fort Moultrie

PROCEEDINGS OF

FIFTH

CONGRESS.

149

The Commissioners'
Rejomder.

has been recorded in history as a memorial of Carolina gallantry, Fort Sumter will live upon the succeeding page as an imperishable testimony of Carolina faith.

"By your course, you have probably rendered eivil war inevitable. Be it so. If you choose to force this issue upon us, the State of South Carolina will accept it, and, relying upon Him who is the God of Justice as well as the God of Hosts, will endeavor to perform the great duty which lies before her hopefully, bravely, and thoroughly.

"Our mission being one for negotiation and peace,

drawal of the troops from Fort Sumter, or of the re-
storation of the status quo existing at the time of our
arrival, and intimating, as we think, your determin-
ation to reinforce the garrison in the harbor of
Charleston, we respectfully inform you that we pur-
pose returning to Charleston to-morrow afternoon.
"We have the honor to be, Sir, very respectfully,
your obedient servants,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The correspondence above given was first published in the Charleston Courier of Jan

and your note leaving us without hope of a with uary 5th. It was regarded as equivalent to an opening of hostilities, and every hour was expected to bring news of an assault on Sumter. In view of such an event, the steamer Star of the West departed, secretly, from New York harbor on the evening of Saturday, January 5th, with a heavy store of provisions and 250 troops for Major Anderson, in command of men of tried patriotism and efficiency. The President, under the influence of the loyalty and vigor infused into his counsels by the new members of the Cabinet,

R. W. BARNWELL,

J. H. ADAMS,

JAMES L. ORR,

Commissioners.

"To His Excellency, the President of the United seemed, for the moment, to awaken to his

[blocks in formation]

THE PROCEEDINGS

SPEECHES

OTHERS.

OF

OF

CONGRESS CONTINUED. FIFTH WEEK. THE SENATORS BENJAMIN, BAKER, DOUGLAS, AND

[blocks in formation]

In the Senate, Monday, December 31st, Mr. | inform the Senate what disposition had been Powell, from the Special Committe of Thirteen, reported that it had not been able to agree upon any general plan of adjustment. Mr. Crittenden then asked that some day be set apart for the consideration of the joint resolution offered by him. The resolution was, thereupon, made the special order for Wednesday, when Mr. Douglas would have the floor. Mr. Wilson (Republican) of Massachusetts, introduced a resolution of inquiry, that the Secretary of War be requested to

made of the arms made at the National Armories, if any had been sold, and, if so, at what prices and to whom, what number there were in the arsenals, and how they were protected. This was immediately objected to by Southern members, and was laid over under the rules. Mr. Benjamin, of Lousiana, having the floor, addressed the Senate on the state of the country. The audience was unusually large, and the interest manifested was intense, owing not more to the Senator's ability as a

« AnteriorContinuar »