Washington, which was adopted, and under which Colonel Stone was appointed inspectorgeneral and ordered to organize and drill the militia of the District of Columbia. This duty he faithfully discharged, and on the 5th of February reported the existence of some thirteen volunteer companies, constituting a total of 925 men, "which can be at once called into service"; adding also, "the number of volunteers for service can be doubled within seven days with proper facilities." Not underrating either the moral or military aid of raw levies of militia, General Scott was nevertheless too old a soldier to rely exclusively upon them in an emergency. He therefore obtained consent to concentrate at the capital available regular forces to the number of eight companies, a total of about 480 men.

Stanton, appointed Attorney-General on the 20th of December, was, with his ardent and positive nature, one of the most energetic and uncompromising unionists in the Cabinet. For him, the expulsion of Floyd, the reënforcement of Sumter, and the other military precautions hastily ordered, were not yet sufficient. Chafing under the President's painful tardiness, he turned to Congress as a means for exposing and thwarting the intrigues of the conspirators. Sacrificing his party attachments to the paramount demands of national safety, he placed himself in confidential correspondence with Republican leaders in that body, giving and receiving advice as to the best means of preserving the Government.

On the 8th of January Mr. Buchanan transmitted to Congress a special message on the state of the Union, discussing also the rumors of hostile designs against the capital. The Republicans in the House of Representatives seized the occasion to secure the appointment of a Committee of Investigation, of which Mr. Howard, of Michigan, was made chairman. He has left us an interesting account of its origin and purpose:

"That committee was raised at the request of loyal members of the Cabinet. The resolutions came from them, and were placed in my hands with a request that I should offer them and thus become, if they should pass, chairman of the committee. At first I refused to assume so fearful a responsibility. But being urged to do so by members and senators, I at last consented, on condition that the Speaker would allow me to nominate two members of the committee. I selected Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Reynolds, of New York. Mr. Reynolds was elected as a Democrat, but he was true as steel, and a good lawyer. I do not know that Mr. Stanton wrote the resolutions creating the

committee. I did not see him write them. I never

heard him say he wrote them. It would be easier, how ever, to persuade me that Mr. Jefferson did not write the Declaration of Independence than that Mr. Stanton did not write those resolutions."

With this committee Mr. Stanton and perhaps other members of the Cabinet continued

to correspond confidentially and coöperate. This has been characterized as disrespect and treachery to their chief; but in the face of Mr. Buchanan's repeated neglect and avowed impotence to resist open insurrection, discriminating history will applaud the act. The committee found no substantial proof of an organized plot to seize the capital; nevertheless its investigation and report quieted the apprehensions of the timid, at the same time that they afforded a warning to mischief-makers that the authorities were on the alert and would make such an enterprise extremely hazardous. While the Howard Committee was yet pursuing its inquiry, and as the day for counting the presidential vote approached, General Scott requested permission from the Secretary of War to bring several additional companies of regulars from Fortress Monroe, to be replaced by recruits. This would augment his regulars to some seven hundred men, which, with the police and militia, he deemed sufficient for all contingencies. Before the day arrived a confidential arrangement of signals was communicated to the officers, the regular troops being placed under command of Colonel Harvey Brown. General instructions were issued in strict confidence, and to officers alone. The militia was charged with the care of the various bridges of the Potomac; the regulars were stationed at convenient points in the city.

Happily no alarm occurred. On the 13th of February an unusually large and brilliant throng filled the galleries of the House of Representatives to witness the proceedings of the presidential count. Vice-President Breckinridge, one of the defeated candidates, presided over the joint convention of the two Houses. Senator Douglas, another, was on the floor, and moved to dispense with certain tedious routine. The sealed returns of the electoral votes, cast by the chosen colleges of the several States on the 5th of December, were opened and registered. The tellers officially declared the result already known, viz.: that Lincoln had received 180 votes; Breckinridge, 72; Bell, 39; Douglas, 12. Vice-President Breckinridge thereupon announced that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is elected President of the United States for four years commencing the 4th of March, 1861."

To comprehend more clearly the transactions growing out of the event, it is necessary to repeat that immediately after the beginning of the Cabinet régime it was resolved to send reënforcements to Fort Sumter. The first arrangement was to dispatch them in the sloop-of-war Brooklyn, but owing to certain difficulties and objections which presented

themselves, General Scott decided to send two hundred recruits with supplies from New York in the merchant steamer Star of the West, hoping she might enter the harbor and effect their landing at the fort without suspicion of her real errand. But, among others, Secretary Thompson, who was still a member of Buchanan's Cabinet, sent the Charleston conspirators notice of her coming. When on the morning of January 9th about daylight the Star of the West attempted her entrance, she was fired upon from a battery which had been erected since New Year's Day under the order of Governor Pickens; and, though the vessel suffered no serious injury, the apparent danger caused the officers to desist from their attempt and turn and run the vessel out of the harbor. The whole occurrence came upon Major Anderson unexpectedly; and before he could well comprehend the design or decide to encourage or assist the ship with the guns of Fort Sumter, she had retreated, and the opportunity was gone. But the insult to the national flag roused his anger, and he demanded an apology from Governor Pickens for the hostile act. So far from retracting or apologizing, however, the governor boldly avowed and sustained his conduct; and Major Anderson, instead of making good the threat which accompanied his demand, proposed as an alternative to "refer the whole matter to my Government." With great tact Governor Pickens at the same time made use of the occasion to send Attorney-General Hayne, of South Carolina, to President Buchanan, bearing a new written demand (the third one made by the State), for the possession of the forts in Charleston Harbor; and the two messengers arrived in Washington on the 13th of January. But the central cabal at Washington, which in its caucus resolutions of January 5th had issued orders for immediate secession, seeing the danger and complication likely to arise from this headlong separate action of South Carolina's governor, now took possession of Hayne and his mission. By a skillful device of dilatory diplomacy they kept open the question of the demand Hayne had been instructed to make, and thereby prolonged the military truce at Charleston which it involved, until the 6th of February following, when Secretary of War Holt officially wrote the President's refusal of the governor's demand. The advantage of this course to the conspirators became quickly apparent. Between the 12th of January and the 6th of February the insurrection at Charleston worked day and night in building batteries and preparing men and material to attack Sumter. In other States the processes of secession, seizure, drill, equipment, and organization had also been going on with

similar activity. Receiving no effective discouragement or check, the various elements of rebellion had finally united in a provisional congress at Montgomery, which two days later (February 8th) perfected a provisional government for the rebellion.

As part of the same intrigue another incident, which for convenience may be called the Fort Pickens truce, must also be mentioned. One of the most important naval and military sɩations of the United States was that at Pensacola, Florida. Near it on the mainland were Fort Barrancas and Fort McRae, and on Santa Rosa Island, immediately opposite, Fort Pickens, a powerful work, built for a war garrison of 1260 men, but now entirely empty. Lieutenant Slemmer held military command with a garrison of only forty-six men, in Fort Barrancas. When on January 3d General Scott under the Cabinet régime admonished him to prevent the seizure of these forts by surprise, Slemmer repeated the strategy of Anderson, spiking the guns and destroying the powder in Barrancas and McRae, and transferring his command, increased by thirty ordinary seamen from the Navy Yard, with all available supplies, to Fort Pickens, on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of January. Lieutenant Slemmer was not a moment too quick. The Florida convention passed an ordinance of secession on the 10th, and two days afterwards a regiment of Florida and Alabama rebels appeared and took possession of the Navy Yard and the two abandoned forts. A considerable rebel force was within a short time concentrated to attempt the capture of Fort Pickens, but in the mean time sundry ships of war had been ordered there by the Government. On January 21st the Brooklyn, with a company of regular artillery under Captain Vodges, was dispatched thither as a further reënforcement to the fort. The rebels now perceiving that this preponderance of military strength might enable the Government to recapture the Navy Yard, the central cabal at Washington resorted to an intrigue to paralyze it. They proposed that "no attack would be made on the fort if its present status should be suffered to remain," thus beguiling President Buchanan into a new truce. A joint order was thereupon issued by the Secretaries of War and the Navy, January 29th, that Captain Vodges's artillery company should not be landed from the Brooklyn "unless said fort shall be attacked or preparations made for its attack." The advantages of this stipulation were all on the side of the insurrection, and its existence proved a most mischievous complication, and caused perilous delay when the new Lincoln Administration began its dealings with the rebellion.

Want of space forbids us to review the

debates and proceedings of Congress during the winter of 1860-61 further than to note the complete failure of the projects of compromise which were originated in and out of it, and brought to its attention. The Senate Committee of Thirteen ended by reporting an irreconcilable disagreement. The various propositions which were apparently adopted by the House Committee of Thirty-three proved to be nothing but the resolves of the several minority factions of that committee, and commanded no united support when reported to the House. The Peace Conference terminated its labors by certain recommendations receiving only a minority vote of that body, and Congress, to which these recommendations were sent, would have nothing to do with them. So also certain other propositions of adjustment offered in Congress, known as the "Crittenden Compromise," failed equally of acceptance.

Nevertheless these many efforts were not entirely barren of result. At a point where it was least expected, they contributed to the adoption by Congress of a measure of adjustment which might have restored harmony to the country if the rebellion of the cotton-States had not been originated and controlled by a conspiracy bent upon revolution as its prime and ultimate object. It is a noteworthy fact that just at the dawn of the civil war through which slavery rushed to a swift self-destruction, that institution received the largest recognition and concession ever given it in American legislation. The report of the Committee of Thirty-three was made about the middle of January, but at that time none of its six propositions or recommendations commanded the attention of the House. The secession stage of the revolution was just culminating. All was excitement and surprise over the ordinances of the cottonStates and the seizure, without actual collision or bloodshed, of the several Southern forts and arsenals. The retirement of the Southern members of Congress, and the meeting of the revolutionary leaders, to unite and construct their provisional government at Montgomery, prolonged what was to the public a succession of dramatic and spectacular incidents resembling the movements of a political campaign, rather than the serious progress of a piece of orderly business-like statesmanship. The North could not yet believe that the designs of the cottonState hotspurs were so desperate.

The more conservative Congressmen from the North and from the border States still hoped that good might come if an effort of conciliation and compromise were once more renewed. Accordingly, near the close of the session (February 27th, 1861), Mr. Corwin, chairman of the House Committee of Thirtythree, brought forward one of the propositions

which had been reported more than a month before from his committee. The original report proposed in substance an amendment of the Constitution providing that any constitutional interference with slavery must originate with the slave-States, and have the unanimous assent of all the States to become valid. Mr. Corwin by an amendment changed the phraseology and purport to the following:

"Article 13. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."

This amendment was adopted by the House on February 28th, yeas 133, nays 65. The Senate also passed it during the night preceding the 4th of March, though in the journals of Congress it appears dated as of March 2d. The variation is explained by the fact that the legislative day of the journals frequently runs through two or more calendar days. In that body the vote was, yeas 24, nays 12, and it was approved by President Buchanan probably only an hour or two before the inauguration of his successor.

Mr. Lincoln alluded to this amendment in his inaugural address, reciting its substance and giving it his unreserved approval. "I understand," he said, "a proposed amendment to the Constitution - which amendment, however, I have not seen—has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable." The new Lincoln Administration soon after transmitted this Joint Resolution to the several States to receive their official action. But nothing came of it. The South gave no response to the overture for peace, and in the North it was lost sight of amid the overshadowing events that immediately preceded the outbreak of hostilities.

It was at this point that the South committed its great political blunder. There is little doubt that in the prevailing anxiety for compromise this constitutional amendment might have been ratified by the necessary threefourths of the States. Had the Southern leaders been sincere in their professed apprehensions for the security of their slave property and polity in their own States, here was an effectual and practically a perpetual guaranty, offered in good faith as such. Their neglect and rejection of it shows that it was not dread

time, and denied not only by him, but by the vote of Congress. It is the duty of a President to execute the laws and maintain the existing Government. He cannot entertain any proposition for dissolution or dismemberment. He was not elected for any such purpose. As a matter of theoretical speculation it is probably true, that if the people, with whom the whole question rests, should become tired of the present government, they may change it in the manner prescribed by the Constitution."* The secrets of the incipient rebellion, and the treachery and conspiracy of a portion of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, which have been al

ready so fully laid bare from data only since become accessible, neither Mr. Lincoln nor any one save the actors themselves had then any means of knowing. But in addition to other current sources of information the confidential letters of Captain Abner Doubleday, second in command at Fort Moultrie, written to the captain's brother in New York, were, so long as mail communication remained, forwarded to the President-elect, giving him an inside view of matters at that critical post.

Most important, however, in its influence, and most valuable in its possible as well as actual consequences, were the correspondence and unity of patriotic confidence which established themselves at an early day between Mr. Lincoln and General Scott. The general was evidently somewhat proud of his famous "Views," written to President Buchanan under date of October 29th, 1860, as a political suggestion. He transmitted a copy of the same to the President-elect, as he had done to many other gentlemen of prominence. A brief acknowledgment was written in reply (November 9th):

"Mr. Lincoln tenders his sincere thanks to General Scott for the copy of his 'views, etc.,' which is received; and especially for this renewed manifestation of his patriotic purposes as a citizen, connected as it is with his high official position and most distinguished character as a military captain." +

The delicate compliment and dignified reserve made their impression on the old hero. Called to Washington about the middle of December, and smarting under the neglect of Secretary Floyd and the discouraging indifference of President Buchanan, his hopes turned toward the elect of the people at Springfield. It was at this juncture (December 17th) that a personal and political friend of long standing called upon the general, and in a confidential but frank interview learned from his own lips the alarming dangers of the Government, the neglect of the Administration to

Nicolay, Manuscript Memoranda.

+ Lincoln to Scott, Nov. 9th, 1860. Unpublished MS. Washburne to Lincoln, Dec. 17th, 1860. Unpub lished MS.

send reënforcements, the defenseless situation of Fort Moultrie, and that Sumter, the key of Charleston Harbor, lay at the mercy of the mob.

"None of his suggestions or recommendations have been acted upon, and of course he is powerless to do anything further, but his heart is sound and true. I wish to God,' said he,' that Mr. Lincoln was in office.' He continued, 'I do not know him, but I believe him a true, honest, and conservative man.' Then he asked earnestly, Mr. Washburne, is he a firm man?' I answered that I had known you long and well and that you would discharge your duty, and your whole duty, then said resolutely and hopefully, ‘All is not lost.'”‡ in the sight of the furnace seven times heated. He

In response to this patriotic expression of the general, the return mail carried back the following letter from Lincoln to Washburne:

"SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Dec. 21st, 1860.

"HON. E. B. WASHBURNE.

giving an account of your interview with General "MY DEAR SIR: Last night I received your letter Scott, and for which I thank you. Please present my respects to the general, and tell him, confidentially, I shall be obliged to him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold or retake the forts, as the case may require, at and after the inauguration. "Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN." ||

A little later Mr. Lincoln again sent messages of esteem and confidence to the general by Senators Cameron and Baker, who made visits to Springfield.

"I have seen General Scott," writes Cameron in re

ply (January 3d)," who bids me say he will be glad to act under your orders in all ways to preserve the Union. He says Mr. Buchanan at last has called on him to see that order shall be preserved at the inauguration, in this District; that for this purpose he has ordered here two companies of flying artillery, and that he will organize the militia and have himself sworn in as a constable. The old warrior is roused, and he will be equal to the occasion. "§

This statement was repeated in an autograph note from the general himself on the following day:

"Lieutenant-General Scott is highly gratified with the favorable opinion entertained of him by the President-elect as he learns through Senators Baker and Cameron, also personal friends of General S., who is happy to reciprocate his highest respect and esteem. The President-elect may rely with confidence on General S.'s utmost exertions in the service of his country (the Union) both before and after the approaching inauguration.'

The general then mentions in detail the measures just taken, under the reorganized Cabinet and the accession of Mr. Holt, to countermand the shipment of the Pittsburg guns, to send reënforcements to Fort Jefferson, and to secure the safety of Washington for the presidential count and the approaching inauguration.

"Permit me," wrote Mr. Lincoln in reply, January 11th, "to renew to you the assurance of my high

Lincoln to Washburne, Dec. 21st, 1860. Unpublished MS.

» Cameron to Lincoln, Jan. 3d, 1861. Unpublished MS. Scott to Lincoln, Jan. 4th, 1860. Unpublished MS.