He did not seek to be President. Divine Providence has called him; the people elected him. A trust of unparalleled greatness has been committed to him-the trust bequeathed by Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, the patriots of the Revolution. The Constitution is assailed, the laws defied. The life of the nation is threatened. The people are divided in opinion. Traitors are around him; he knows not whom to trust. A great crowd of men seeking office swarm into the White House and through the departments, blind to the peril of the nation, seeking only individual advancement.

The Cabinet is sitting around the table in the executive chamber, considering the vital question of the hour. One member, the March 29. Attorney-general, in order to condense his ideas into a few words, writes his conclusion. The President reads it.

"Gentlemen, will you all write your opinions as to what shall be done?" the request of the President. In brief, these are the responses:

Mr. Bates-" It is my decided opinion that Forts Pickens and Key West ought to be reinforced and supplied, so as to look down opposition at all hazards. As to Fort Sumter, the time has come either to reinforce or evacuate."

Blair "It is acknowledged to be possible to relieve Fort Sumter. South Carolina is the head and front of this rebellion, and when that State is safely delivered from the authority of the United States it will strike a blow against our authority, from which it will take years of bloody strife to recover. For my part, I am unwilling to share the responsibility of attempting to relieve Sumter."

Smith-" Believing that Fort Sumter cannot be defended, I regard its evacuation as a necessity, and I advise that Major Anderson's command shall be unconditionally withdrawn."

Welles-"I concur in the proposition to send an armed force off Charleston, with supplies of provisions and reinforcements for the garrison of Fort Sumter. . . . Armed resistance to a peaceable attempt to send provisions to one of our own forts will justify the Government in using all its powers."

Chase "I am in favor of maintaining Fort Pickens and provisioning Sumter. .. If war is to result, I see no reason why it may not begin in consequence of military resistance to the efforts of the Administration to sustain troops of the Union in a fort of the Union."

Seward "I advise against the expedition in every view. . . . I would instruct Major Anderson to retire forthwith.” (")

President Lincoln paces the floor. The Cabinet is divided in opin

ion. He must decide. He has sworn to maintain the Constitution. He cannot abandon a fort. If war comes, those who bring it about must bear the responsibility. He directs that an order shall be issued for the relief of Sumter and Pickens.

Mr. Seward's ideas and opinions on many points are not in accord with those of the President nor with a majority of the members April 1, of the Cabinet. He has been out voted. While the order for fitting out a ship is on its way to Brooklyn he is writing a communication to the President.

1861.

This the opening sentence: "We are at the end of a month's administration, and yet without a policy, either domestic or foreign." These the closing words: "But what

ever policy we adopt, there must be an energetic prosecution of it. For this purpose it must be somebody's business to pursue and direct it incessantly. Either the President must do it himself and be all the while active in it, or devolve it on some member of his Cabinet. Once adopted, debates on it must end, and all agree and abide."

It is as if Mr. Seward had said: I will take the reins, if you please, Mr. President.

A little later the Secretary of State reads a letter written by Mr. Lincoln:

GIDEON WELLES.

"Upon your closing proposition-that 'whatever policy we adopt, there must be an energetic prosecution of it; for this purpose it must be somebody's business to pursue and direct it incessantly, either the President must do it himself and be all the while active in it,' or 'devolve it on some member of his Cabinet; once adopted, debates on it must end and all agree and abide '-I remark that if this must be done, I must do it. When a general line of policy is adopted, I apprehend there is no danger of its being changed without good reason or continuing to be a subject of unnecessary debate; still, upon points arising in its progress I wish, and suppose I am entitled to have, the advice of all the Cabinet. A. LINCOLN." (")

Your ob't serv't,

Mr. Seward awakens from his dream of being the one to direct the affairs of the nation. Abraham Lincoln is still President-himself Secretary of State-nothing more. The President is calm and unruffled, and his greeting is as kind and hearty as ever when next they meet. The man whose school-days were comprised in a twelvemonth,

who has had little acquaintance with public affairs, has become master and teacher, and the cultured and honored Secretary is sitting at his feet and learning a lesson.

Two steamers with provisions sailed from New York to Sumter. A messenger was sent by President Lincoln to inform Governor Pickens that no arms or ammunition, but only provisions, would be landed.

Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet were in consultation at Montgomery. What should be done? Virginia had not seceded. The convention in session at Richmond was composed largely of men who hesitated about leaving the Union.

"I will tell you what will put Virginia in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour: sprinkle blood in their faces!" said Roger A. Pryor, in a speech to the people of Charleston.

Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs, and the men composing the Confederate Cabinet, knew the seven States then forming the Confederacy must be joined by Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and the other Slave States to succeed in what they had undertaken: the formation of a nation with slavery for its corner-stone. The time had come when they must strike a blow. All the world would laugh at them if, after they had planted cannon on Morris Island, built a floating battery, they allowed provisions to be landed. To open fire on the fort would be war, but war it must be. The telegraph flashed an order from Montgomery to General Beauregard :

April 11, 1861.

"Demand the immediate surrender of Fort Sumter."

The reply of Major Anderson to the summons:

"I cannot surrender the fort. I shall await the first shot, and if you do not batter me to pieces, I shall be starved out in three days."

The vessels with provisions had not arrived. Why did not Jefferson Davis wait till they came, and open fire upon them rather than upon the fort? Because he and his fellow-conspirators did not wish to wait. So long as the Stars and Stripes floated above Sumter the Confederacy amounted to nothing. Starving out the garrison would not be victory. The booming cannon must announce to the world that the Confederacy was a power by itself, entitled to a place among the nations. The United States must be the first to feel and acknowledge its power.

With the first glimmer of day (April 12, 1861) the bombardment began. (See "Drumbeat of the Nation.") The fleet made its appear

ance, but did not attempt to relieve the fort. Major Anderson's provisions were gone. He could no longer continue the contest, and surrendered, the garrison being allowed to depart for New York, Sunday April 14, 1861.

Let us recall the words uttered by Abraham Lincoln, March 4, when he took the oath to support the Constitution: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, are the momentous issues of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors."

He has kept his word. War has begun, but not by him. He has done what he could, consistent with his oath to support the Constitution, to avert it. Never before such a Sunday in the United States. The telegraph has flashed the news to every city. Bulletins read: Fort Sumter surrendered! The flag humiliated! Two governments:

one in Washington - the other in Montgomery. The great republic crumbling to pieces! Government by the people a failure! In Montgomery, predictions that before April is ended the flag of the Confederacy will be waving in triumph over the Capitol at Washington, and Jefferson Davis installed in the White House!(")

In Charleston the people were wild with excitement. Governor Pickens, from the balcony of the Charleston Hotel, addressed a surging crowd:

"Thank God, the day has come! The war is open, and we will conquer or perish. We have defeated their twenty millions, and we have humbled their proud flag of the Stars and Stripes that never before was lowered to any nation. We have lowered it in humility before the Palmetto and Confederate flags, and have compelled them to ask surrender. I pronounce before the civilized world that your independence has been baptized in blood, and you are now free in defiance of the world in arms."

Throughout the North the people are gazing into each others' faces in wonder and amazement. Never before such sinking of hearts. Tears glisten in the eyes of men unaccustomed to weep. The Constitution defied! The Government a wreck! What will Abraham Lincoln, untried in statesmanship, do in this woful extremity?

In Washington the church-bells are tolling the hour for worship. Mournful their pealing in the ears of loyal men. The President needs no one to tell him what he ought to do. That question is settled. It is a government of the people, and the people alone must decide whether or not their authority shall be defied. He will call for 75,000 men from the several States to suppress this combination against the laws. The laws shall be enforced.

The members of the Cabinet discuss the question. Seventy-five thousand! Will that number of men respond to the call? It is a great army. Do we need so many? How can they be armed? How fed? What can be done with them? Will the "gentlemen" of the South, as they call themselves, fight? Will they not soon weary of military restraint? President Lincoln hears the opinions.

"We must not forget," he remarks, "that the people of the seceded States, like those of the loyal ones, are American citizens, with essentially the same characteristics and powers. Exceptional advantages on