UNITED STATES. 



the United States for the delivery of the forts, 

 magazines, light-houses, and other real estate, 

 with their appurtenances, in the limits of South 

 Carolina ; and also for an apportionment of 

 the public debt, and for a division of all other 

 property held by the Government of the United 

 States, as agent of the Confederated States, of 

 which South Carolina was recently a member, 

 and generally to negotiate as to all other meas- 

 ures and arrangements proper to be made and 

 adopted in the existing relation of the parties, 

 and for the continuance of peace and amity be- 

 tween that commonwealth and the Government 

 at Washington. 



They further laid before the President an 

 official copy of the ordinance of secession, by 

 which the State of South Carolina, as they said, 

 'has resumed the powers she delegated to the 

 Government of the United States, and has de- 

 clared her perfect sovereignty and independ- 

 ence." They then proceed to say : 



It would also have been our duty to have informed 

 you that we were ready to negotiate with you upon all 

 such questions as are necessarily raised by the adop- 

 tion of this ordinance, and that we were prepared to 

 enter upon this negotiation with the earnest desire to 

 avoid all unnecessary and hostile collision, and so to 

 inaugurate our new relations as to secure mutual re- 

 spect, general advantage, and a future of good will aud 

 harmony, beneficial to all the parties concerned. 



But the events of the last twenty-four hours render 

 such an assurance impossible. We came here the 

 representatives of an authority which could, at any 

 time within the past sixty days, have taken possession 

 of the forts in Charleston harbor, but which, upon 

 pledges given in a manner that we cannot doubt, de- 

 termined to trust to your honor rather than to its own 

 power. Since our arrival here an officer of the United 

 States, acting, as we are assured, not only without, 

 but against your orders, has dismantled one fort and 

 occupied another thus altering to a most important 

 extent the condition of affairs under which we came. 



Until these circumstances arc explained in a manner 

 which relieves us of all doubt as to the spirit in which 

 these negotiations shall be conducted, we are forced 

 to suspend all discussion as to any arrangement 

 by which our mutual interests may be amicably ad- 

 justed. 



And, in conclusion, we would urge upon you the im- 

 mediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of 

 Charleston. Under present circumstances, they are a 

 standing menace which renders negotiation impossible, 

 and, as our recent experience shows, threatens speed- 

 ily to bring to a bloody issue questions which ought to 

 be settled with temperance and judgment. 



The reply of the President is dated on the 

 30th. He alludes to his Message to Congress 

 on the 3d of .December, in which his position 

 was defined. He states that he could meet 

 them only as private gentlemen of the highest 

 character, and was entirely willing to com- 

 municate to Congress any proposition they 

 might have to make to that body. He then re- 

 fers to that portion of their letters which speaks 

 of the events of the previous twenty-four hours, 

 and the change in their position, and says: 



This brings me to a consideration of the nature of 

 those alleged pledges, and in what manner thev have 

 been observed. In my Message of the 3d of Decem- 

 ber last, I stated, in regard to the property of the 

 United States in South Carolina, that it " has been 

 purchased for a fair equivalent, by the consent of the 



Legislature of the State, for the erection efforts, mag- 

 azines, arsenals, &c., and over these the authority 

 ' to exercise exclusive legislation,' has been expressly 

 granted by the Constitution to Congress. It is not 

 believed that any atteir.pt will be made to expel the 

 United States from this property by force; but if in 

 this I should prove to be mistaken, the officer in com- 

 mand of the forts has received orders to act strictly on 

 the defensive. In such a contingency, the responsi- 

 bility for consequences would rightfully rest upon the 

 heads of the assailants." This being the condition of 

 the parties on Saturday, December 8, four of the rep- 

 resentatives from South Carolina called upon me, 

 and requested an interview. We had an earnest con- 

 versation on the subject of these forts, and the best 

 means of preventing a collision between the parties, 

 for the purpose of sparing the effusion of blood. I 

 suggested, for prudential reasons, that it would be best 

 to put in writing what they said to me verbally. They 

 did so, accordingly, and on Monday morning, the 10th 

 inst., three of them presented to me a paper signed by 

 all the representatives of South Carolina, with a single 

 exception. (See page 654.) 



And here I must, in justice to myself, remark that 

 at the time the paper was presented to me, I objected 

 to the word " provided," as it might be construed into 

 an agreement on my part, which I never would make. 

 They said that nothing was further from their inten- 

 tionthey did not so understand it, and I should not 

 so consider it. It is evident they could enter into no 

 reciprocal agreement 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 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 reenforce 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 re- 

 ceived 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. 



But I acted in the same manner as I would have 

 done had I entered into a positive and formal agree- 

 ment with parties capable of contracting, although 

 such an agreement would have been, on my part, from 

 the nature of my official duties, 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 llth inst., to Major Anderson, but not 

 brought to my notice until the 21st inst. (See FORTS 

 AND ARSENALS, MOULTRIE.) 



The President then proceeds to say that 

 Major Anderson acted on his own responsibil- 

 ity in removing to Fort Surater, (see PUBLIC 

 DOCUMENTS, Message of January 8,) and justice 

 required that he should not be condemned 

 without a hearing. He then states that his 

 first promptings, on hearing of the removal of 

 Anderson, were to order him to return to Fort 

 Moultrie, but before any steps could be taken 

 to secure the concurrence of the South Carolina 

 authorities, the latter took possession of the 

 abandoned fort, and the other vacant ones. 

 After describing the occurrences, the President 

 thus proceeds: 



It is under all these circumstances that I am urged 



