UNITED STATES. 



707 



surance that " South Carolina has every disposition to 

 preserve the public peace;" and, since he is himself 

 sincerely animated by the same desire, it would seem 

 that this common and patriotic object must be of cer- 

 tain attainment. It is difficult, however, to reconcile 

 with this assurance the declaration on your part that 

 " it is a consideration of her (South Carolina's) own 

 dignity as a sovereign, and the safety of her people, 

 which prompts her to demand that this property 

 should not longer be used as a military post by a 

 Government she no longer acknowledges, and the 

 thought you so constantly present that this occupa- 

 tion must lead to a collision of arms and the preva- 

 lence of civil war. 



Fort Sumter is in itself a military post, and nothing 

 else ; and it would seem that not so much the fact as 

 the purpose of its use should give to it a hostile or 

 friendly character. This fortress is now held by the 

 Government of the United States, for the same objects 

 for which it has been held from the completion of its 

 construction. These are national and defensive ; and 

 were a public enemy now to attempt the capture of 

 Charleston or the destruction of the commerce of its 

 harbor, the whole force of the batteries of this fortress 

 would be at once exerted for their protection. How 

 the presence of a small garrison, actuated bv such a 

 spirit as this, can compromise the dignity or "honor of 

 South Carolina, or become a source of irritation to her 

 people, the President is at a loss to understand. The 

 attitude of that garrison, as has been often declared, is 

 neither menacing nor defiant, nor unfriendly. It is 

 acting under orders to stand strictly on the defensive, 

 and The Government and people of South Carolina 

 mu.sr well know that they can never receive aught but 

 shelter from its guns, unless, in the absence of all 

 provocation, they should assault it, and seek its de- 

 struction. The intent with which this fortress is held 

 by the President is truthfully stated by Senator Davis 

 and others, in their letter to yourself of the loth Jan- 

 uary, in which they say : " It is not held with any 

 hostile or unfriendly purpose towards your State, 

 but merely as property of the United States, which 

 the President deems it his duty to protect and pre- 

 serve." 



If the announcement so repeatedly made of the 

 President's pacific purposes in continuing the occupa- 

 tion of Fort Sumter until the question shall have been 

 settled by competent authority, has failed to impress 

 the Government of South Carolina, the forbearing con- 

 duct of his Administration for the last few months 

 should be received as conclusive evidence of his sin- 

 cerity. And if this forbearance, in view of the circum- 

 stances which have so severely tried it, be not accepted 

 as a satisfactory pledge of the peaceful policy of this 

 Administration' towards South Carolina, then it may 

 be safely affirmed that neither language nor conduct 

 can pos'sibly furnish one. If, with all the multiplied 

 proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for 

 peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pur- 

 sued it, the authorities of that State shall assault Fort 

 Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of brave 

 and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus 

 plunge our common country into the horrors of civil 

 war, then upon them and those they represent must 

 rest the responsibility. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant. 



The question of safety to South Carolina is 

 set aside, and her right and title to the posses- 

 sion of the fort thus denied by the Secretary 

 with unanswerable force. It was at this time 

 believed to be impossible that the authorities 

 of South Carolina would incur the tremen- 

 dous responsibility of commencing hostilities 

 at Charleston by an attack on the handful of 

 men shut up in the fort the surrender of 

 which had been thus demanded. 



On the 19th of January, the Legislature of 

 Virginia passed the series of resolutions which 



led to the Peace Conference at Washington on 

 February 4. (See page 178, also PEACE CON- 

 FERENCE.) Under ono of the resolutions, ex- 

 President Tyler was appointed a commissioner 

 to the President of the United States, and John 

 Robertson a commissioner to the State of South 

 Carolina, and the other States that had seceded, 

 or should secede, with instructions to request 

 the President of the United States, and the 

 authorities of such States, " to agree to abstain, 

 pending the proceedings contemplated, from 

 any and all acts calculated to produce a col- 

 lision of arms between the States and the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States." 



On the 24th of January, ex-President Tyler 

 called upon President Buchanan to discharge 

 the duties of his mission. On his return to 

 Virginia he made a report to the Legislature, 

 respecting his mission. So much of this report 

 as serves to explain the views of the President, 

 and thereby those of the Government, was as 

 follows: 



On the next morning, at the hour of ten, I repaired 

 to the President's mansion, and met from him a warm 

 and cordial reception. I lost no time in handing him 

 Vour letter of appointment, attested by the seal of the 

 State and the legislative resolutions. He said that 

 they were the first full copies of the resolutions which 

 he nad seen ; and, after reading them, he remarked that 

 he considered them very important, and was good 

 enough to add that, being borne by myself, he should 

 feel it his duty to make them the subject of a special 

 Message to Congress. Either I suggested, or he vol- 

 untarily remarked, most probably the latter, that he 

 should accompany them with a strong recommendation 

 to Congress, with whom, he said, rested the entire 



Eower over the subject of war or peace, to abstain 

 om all action of a hostile character until Virginia 

 should have had a fair opportunity to exert all her ef- 

 forts to preserve the public peace and restore harmony 

 to the Union. I said to him that my mission was to 

 him ; that he was Commander-in-chief of the army and 

 navy ; could regulate the movements of soldiers and 

 ships in peace and in war, and that every thing Virginia 

 desired was that the status quo should be observed. 



I represented to him that the people of Virginia were 

 almost universally inclined to peace and reconciliation ; 

 that I need not inform him of the sacrifices the State 

 had made for the Union in its initiation, or of her in- 

 strumentality in the creation of the Constitution ; that 

 her efforts to re-construct or preserve depended, for 

 their success, on her being permitted to conduct them 

 undisturbed by outside collision. He replied that he 

 had in no measure changed his views as presented in 

 his annual Message; that he could give no pledges ; 

 that it was his duty to enforce the laws, and the whole 

 power rested with Congress. He complained that the 

 South had not treated him properly; that they had 

 made unnecessary demonstrations by seizing un- 

 protected arsenals and forts, and thus perpetrating 

 acts of useless bravado, which had quite as well been 

 left alone. I suggested to him that while those things 

 were (I admitted) calculated to fret and irritate the 

 Northern mind, yet he would see in them only the ne- 

 cessary results of popular excitement, which, after all, 

 worked no mischief in the end, if harmony in the 

 States was once more restored ; that the States where- 

 in the seizures had been made would account for all 

 the public property, and that, in the mean time, the 

 agencies for its preservation were only changed. He 

 repeated his views of the obligations which rested on 

 him ; could give no pledges but those contained in his 

 public acts, and recurred again to the proceedings of 

 the Legislature and his intention to send them to Con- 

 gress in a special Message, accompanied with a strong 



