circumstances, impracticable. There never was an intention to evacuate it. The embarrassment of the government was, to avoid the difficulty of military reinforcements by some artifice that would equally well answer its purposes. That artifice continued for a considerable time to be the subject of secret and sedulous consultation. While a portion of the public were entertained in watching the surface of events, and were imposed upon by deceitful signs of peace, discerning men saw the inevitable consequence in the significant preparations made on both sides for war. These preparations had gone on unremittingly since the inauguration of the Lincoln government. The troops of the United States were called from the frontiers to the military centres; the Mediterranean squadron and other naval forces were ordered home; and the city of Washington itself was converted into a school where there were daily and ostentatious instructions of the soldier. On the other hand, the government at Montgomery was not idle. Three military bills had been passed by the Confederate Congress. The first authorized the raising of one hundred thousand volunteers when deemed necessary by the President; the second provided for the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, which was to be formed from the regular and volunteer forces of the different States; and the third provided for the organization of a Regular Army, which was to be a permanent establishment. But among the strongest indications of the probability of war, in the estimation of men calculated to judge of the matter, and among the most striking proofs, too, of devotion to the cause of the South, was the number of resignations from the Federal army and navy on the part of officers of Southern birth or association, and their prompt identification with the Confederate service. These resignations had commenced during the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration. On the accession of Mr. Lincoln, Adjutantgeneral Cooper had immediately resigned; and the distinguished example was followed by an array of names, which had been not a little illustrious in the annals of the Federal service. While the South was entreating peace, and pursuing its accomplishment by an amicable mission to Washington, a strong outside pressure was being exerted upon the administration of Mr. Lincoln to hurry it to the conclusion of war. He had been visited by a number of governors of the Northern States. They offered him money and men; but it was understood that nothing would be done in the way of calling out the State militia and opening special credits, until the Southern revolutionists should be actually in aggression to the authority of the Federal government. Another appeal was still more effectively urged. It was the argument of the partisan. The report of the intended evacuation of Fort Sumter, and the apparent vacillation of the administration, were producing disaffection in the Black Republican party. This party had shown a considerable loss of strength in the municipal elections in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and other parts of the West; they had lost two congressmen in Connecticut and two in Rhode Island. The low tariff, too, of the Southern Confederacy, brought into competition with the high protective tariff which the Black Republican majority in Congress had adopted, and which was popularly known as "the Morrill Tariff," was threatening serious disaster to the interests of New England and Pennsylvania, and was indicating the necessity of the repeal of a law which was considered as an indispensable party measure by the most of Mr. Lincoln's constituents. For weeks the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln had been taxed to devise some artifice for the relief of Fort Sumter, short of open military reinforcements (decided to be impracticable), and which would have the effect of inaugurating the war by a safe indirection and under a plausible and convenient pretence. The device was at length hit upon. It was accomplished by the most flagrant perfidy. Mr. Seward had already given assurances to the Southern commissioners, through the intermediation of Judge Campbell, that the Federal troops would be removed from Fort Sumter. Referring to the draft of a letter which Judge Campbell had in his hand, and proposed to address to President Davis, at Montgomery, he said, "before that letter reaches its destination, Fort Sumter will have been evacuated." Some time elapsed, and there was reason to distrust the promise. Colonel Lamon, an agent of the Washington government, was sent to Charleston, and was reported to be authorized to make arrangements with Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, for the withdrawal of the Federal troops from Fort Sumter. He returned without any accomplishment of his reported mission. Another confidential agent of Mr. Eincoln, a Mr. Fox, was permitted to visit Fort Sumter, and was discovered to have acted the part of a spy in carrying concealed dispatches to Major Anderson, and collecting information with reference to a plan for the forcible reinforcement of the fort. On the 7th of April, Judge Campbell, uneasy as to the good faith of Mr. Seward's promise of the evacuation of Sumter, addressed him another note on the subject. To this the emphatic and laconic reply was: "Faith as to Sumter fully kept-wait and see." Six days thereafter a hostile fleet was menacing Charleston, the Lincoln government threw down the gauntlet of war, and the battle of Sumter was fought. On the day succeeding the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, General P. G. Toutant Beauregard* was put in command of the Confederate troops besieging Fort Sumter. His military record was slight, but gave evidence of genius. He was the son of a wealthy and influential Louisiana planter. He had graduated at the military academy at West Point, taking the second honors in his class, and had served in the Mexican war with distinction, being twice brevetted for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field-the first time as captain for the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, and again as major for the battle of Chapultepec. He was subsequently placed by the Federal government in charge of the construction of the mint and custom-house at New Orleans. He had been ordered by Mr. Buchanan to West Point as superintendent of the military academy. The appointment was revoked within forty-eight hours for a spiteful reason-the family connection of the nominee with Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana; and Major Beauregard, resigning his commission at once, received higher rank in the army of the Southern Confederacy. *Beauregard is forty years of age. He is small, brown, thin, extremely vigorous, although his features wear a dead expression, and his hair has whitened prematurely. Face, physiognomy, tongue, accent-every thing about him is French. He is quick, a little abrupt, but well educated and distinguished in his manners. He does not care to express the manifestation of an ardent personality which knows its worth. He is extremely impassioned in the defence of the cause which he serves. At least he takes less pains to conceal his passion under a calm and cold exterior than do most of his comrades in the army. The South found in him a man of an uncommon ardor, a ceaseless activity, and an indomitable power of will. |