704 



UNITED STATES. 



mined purpose not to commence it, nor even to furnish 

 an excuse for it by any act of this Government. My 

 opinion remains unchanged, that justice as well as 

 sound policy require us still to seek a peaceful solution 

 of the questions at issue between the North and the 

 South. (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) 



On the 8th of January, Jacob Thompson, of 

 Mississippi, the Secretary of the Interior, dur- 

 ing Mr. Buchanan's administration, resigned. 

 He had telegraphed to Charleston and other 

 places at the South that no more troops would 

 be sent to Charleston for the present, and learn- 

 ing that more had then been ordered, he thought 

 that his honor had been compromised, and 

 therefore resigned. From the correspondence 

 between him and Mr. Buchanan, it appears that 

 the former had mistaken the action of the Cab- 

 inet. Mr. Thompson, on tendering his resigna- 

 tion, addressed the President as follows : 



SIR : It is with extreme regret I have just learned 

 that additional troops have been ordered to Charleston. 

 This subject has been frequently discussed in Cabinet 

 Council ; and when on Monday night, Slst of Decem- 

 ber ultimo, the orders for reinforcements to Fort Sum- 

 ter were countermanded, I distinctly understood from 

 you that no order of the kind would be made without 

 being previously considered and decided in Cabinet. 

 It is true that on Wednesday, January 2, this subject 

 was again discussed in Cabinet, but certainly no con- 

 clusion was reached, and the War Department was not 

 justified in ordering reinforcements without something 

 more than was then said. I learn, however, this morn- 

 ing, for the first time, that the steamer Star of the 

 West sailed from New York last Saturday night with 

 two hundred and fifty men, under Lieutenant Bartlett, 

 bound for Fort Sumter. Under these circumstances I 

 feel myself bound to resign my commission, as one of 

 your constitutional advisers, into your hands. 



With high respect, your obedient servant, &c. 



To this President Buchanan replied on the 

 next day : 



SIR : I have received and accepted your resignation 

 on yesterday, of the office of Secretary of the Interior. 



On Monday evening, 81st December, 1860, I sus- 

 pended the orders which had been issued by the War 

 and Navy Departments to send the Brooklyn with re- 

 enforcements to Fort Sumter. Of this I informed you 

 on the same evening. I stated to you my reason for 

 this suspension, which you knew, from its nature, 

 would be speedily removed. In consequence of your 

 request, however, I promised that these orders should 

 not be renewed ''without being previously considered 

 and decided in Cabinet." This promise was faithfully 

 observed on my part. In order to carry it into effect 

 I called a special Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 2d 

 January, 1861, in which the question of sending ree'n- 

 forcements to Fort Sumter was amply discussed both 

 by yourself and others. The decided majority of opin- 

 ions was against you. At this moment, the answer of 

 the South Carolina " Commissioners" to my communi- 

 cation to them of 31st December was received and read. 

 It produced much indignation among the members of 

 the Cabinet. After a further brief conversation I em- 

 ployed the following language : " It is now all over, 

 and reinforcements must be sent." Judge Black said, 

 at the moment of my decision, that after this letter the 

 Cabinet would be unanimous, and I heard no dissent- 

 ing voice. Indeed, the spirit and tone of the letter left 

 no doubt on my mind that Fort Sumter would be im- 

 mediately attacked, and hence the necessity of sending 

 reenforcements there without delay. 



Whilst you admit " that on Wednesday, January 2, 

 this subject was again discussed in Cabinet," you say, 

 " but certainly no conclusion was reached, and the 

 War Department was not justified in ordering reen- 

 forcemeiits without something more than was then 



said." You are certainly mistaken in alleging that 

 " no conclusion was reached." In this your recollec- 

 tion is entirely different from that of your four oldest 

 colleagues in the Cabinet. Indeed, my language was 

 so unmistakable that the Secretaries of War and the 

 Navy proceeded to act upon it without any further in- 

 tercourse with myself than what you heard, or might 

 have heard me say. You had been so emphatic in op- 

 posing these reenforcements that I thought you would 

 resign in consequence of my decision. 1 deeply regret 

 that you have been mistaken in point of fact, though I 

 firmly believe honestly mistaken. Still, it is certain 

 you have not the less been mistaken. 



Yours, very respectfully. 



'On his return home to Mississippi, he was 

 welcomed by a number of neighbors and friends, 

 to whom he made an address, stating the opin- 

 ions which existed in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet. 



He said that there was "no serious difficulty" in 

 the Cabinet until after the presidential election, when 

 there arose a discussion upon the rights and powers of 

 the General and State Governments. On the right of 

 a State to secede, the Cabinet split at once ; but on the 

 right of the General Government to coerce a State, all 

 agreed in the negative. Mr. Thompson held strongly 

 to the right to secede, but kept his place, in the hope, 

 as he says, of preserving peace. He agreed with the 

 President that it was his duty to enforce the laws and 

 hold public property, but held that the army and navy 

 could only be used as a posse to aid the civil authority, 

 and as all the civil and executive officers in South Car- 

 olina had resigned, there could be no attempt to uphold 

 the laws. He held, also, that the forts in the seceding 

 States could not be occupied as military posts without 

 endangering the peace of the country. He not only 

 pressed this view of the subject, but insisted that the 

 President had no right to recnforce the defences in 

 Charleston harbor. He says : " As I was writing my 

 resignation, I sent a dispatch to Judge Longstreet, 

 that the Star of the West was coming with reinforce- 

 ments. The troops were thus put on their guard, 

 and when the Star of the West arrived she received a 

 warm welcome from booming cannon, and soon beat a 

 rstreat." 



Philip F. Thomas, of Maryland, who had been 

 appointed Secretary of the Treasury, on the res- 

 ignation of Howell Cobb, of Georgia, on the 

 10th of December, 1860, discharged the duties 

 of the office one month, and on the llth of 

 January tendered his resignation. His state- 

 ment of reasons for this step is important, so far 

 as it manifests any of the views entertained by 

 the Cabinet at this time. He writes to Presi- 

 dent Buchanan : 



Mr DEAR SIR : It has not been in my power, as you 

 are aware, to agree with you and with a majority of 

 your constitutional advisers in the measures which 

 have been adopted in reference to the present condi- 

 tion of things in South Carolina ; nor do I think it at 

 all probable that I shall be able to concur in the views 

 which you entertain, so far as I understand them, 

 touching the authority, under existing laws, to enforce 

 the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston. 



To avoid embarrassment on the one hand, 

 and the exposure of himself to just criticism by 

 those who knew his views, his resignation was 

 tendered, &c. To this the President replied, 

 accepting the resignation, by saying, " I very 

 much regret that circumstances, in your opin- 

 ion, have rendered this necessary." 



On the same day John A. Dix, of New York, 

 was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and 

 confirmed by the Senate. lie was a citizen of. 



