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PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PERFIDY.

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"You are aware of the great anxiety of the Secretary of War that a collision of the troops with the people of the State shall be avoided, and of his studied determination to pursue a course with reference to the military force and forts in this harbour, which shall guard against such a collision. He has, therefore, carefully abstained from increasing the force at this point, or taking any measures which might add to the present excited state of the public mind, or which would throw any doubt on the confidence he feels that South Carolina will not attempt by violence to obtain possession of the public works or interfere with their occupancy. The smaliness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more. than one of the three forts, but an attack on or attempt to take possession of either one of them will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance."

On the day previous to the date of these instructions, the South Carolina delegation had called on the President; the distinct object of their visit being to consult with him as to the best means of avoiding a hostile collision between their State and the Federal Government. At the instance of Mr. Buchanan, their communication was put in writing, and they presented him the following note:

"In compliance with our statement to you yesterday, we now express to you our strong conviction that neither the constituted authorities, nor any body of the people of the State of South Carolina, will either attack or molest the United States forts in the harbour of Charleston, previously to the action of the convention; and we hope and believe not until an offer has been made through an accredited representative to negotiate for an amicable arrangement of all matters between the State and Federal Government, provided that no reinforcements be sent into these forts, and their relative military status shall remain as at present."

Yet we have seen how this military status was disturbed by Major Anderson's removal to Fort Sumter, an act which greatly strengthened his position, which put him from an untenable post into what was then supposed to be an impregnable defence, which changed the status, quite as much so as an accession of numerical force, and which, to the State of South Carolina, could have none other than a hostile significance. Mr. Buchanan was reminded of his pledge, and asked to order Major Anderson back to Fort Moultrie. He refused to do so. Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, the Secretary of War, in view of the President's violation of faith, and the atempt to make him a party to it, withdrew from the cabinet in a high state of indignation; and thus was accomplished the first act of Mr. Buchanan's perfidy on the eve of war.

The second was soon to follow. After determining not to order Anderson back to Fort Moultrie, President Buchanan determined to take

another step-actually to send troops to Sumter.

Under his direction the War Department chartered a steamer called the "Star of the West," which sailed from New York on the 5th of January, 1861, having on board two hundred and fifty soldiers, besides stores and munitions of war. A specious plea was originated for this expedition, and it was declared that its purpose was to provision a "starving garrison." When the vessel appeared off Charleston Harbour, on the 9th of January, heading in from the sea, and taking the channel for Sumter, a battery at Point Cummings on Morris Island opened upon her at long range. Not daring to penetrate the fire, the Star of the West ran out to sea with all speed; and the soldiers on board of her were subsequently disembarked at their former quarters on Governour's Island.

When the result of this expedition was known, Mr. Buchanan affected surprise and indignation at the reception given the Federal reinforcements, and declared that the expedition had been ordered with the concurrence of his Cabinet. Mr. Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, who yet remained in the Cabinet, repelled the slander, denounced the movement as underhanded, and as a breach not only of good faith towards South Carolina, but as one of personal confidence between the President and himself, and left the Cabinet with expressions of indignation and contempt.

Mr. Buchanan's administration terminated with results alike fearful to the country and dishonourable to himself. He retired from office, after having widened the breach between North and South, and given new cause of exasperation in the contest; obtaining the execrations of both parties; and going down to history with the brand of perfidy. When he ceased to be President on the 4th of March, 1861, seven Southern States were out of the Union; they had erected a new government; they had secured every Federal fort within their limits with two exceptionsSumter and Pickens; they had gathered not only munitions of war, but had obtained great additions in moral power; and although they still deplored a war between the two sections as "a policy detrimental to the civilized world," they had openly and rapidly prepared for it. Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney had been occupied by the South Carolina troops; Fort Pulaski, the defence of the Savannah, had been taken; the Arsenal at Mount Vernon, Alabama, with twenty thousand stand of arms, had been seized by the Alabama troops; Fort Morgan, in Mobile Bay, had been taken; Forts Jackson, St. Philip, and Pike, near New Orleans, had been captured by the Louisiana troops; the Pensacola Navy-Yard and Forts Barrancas and McRae had been taken, and the siege of Fort Pickens commenced; the Baton Rouge Arsenal had been surrendered to the Louisiana troops; the New Orleans Mint and Custom-House had been taken; the Little Rock Arsenal had been seized by the Arkansas troops;

THE COUNTRY AWAITING THE CONFLICT.

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and on the 18th of February, Gen. Twiggs had transferred the military posts and public property in Texas to the State authorities.

It is remarkable that all these captures and events had been accomplished without the sacrifice of a single life, or the effusion of one drop of blood. It was, perhaps, in view of this circumstance, that people lingered in the fancy that there would be no war. Yet the whole country was agitated with passion; the frown of war was already visible; and it needed but some Cadmus to throw the stone that would be the signal of combat between the armed men sprung from the dragon's teeth.

CHAPTER VI.

CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN HISTORY.-ABSURD PANEGYRIC.-THE PERSONAL AND
POLITICAL LIFE OF THE NEW PRESIDENT.-HIS JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON.-HIS SPEECH
AT PHILADELPHIA.—THE FLIGHT FROM HARRISBURG.—ALARM IN WASHINGTON.-MILI-
TARY DISPLAY IN THE CAPITAL.—CEREMONY OF INAUGURATION.-CRITICISM OF LINCOLN'g
ADDRESS.-WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THOUGHT OF IT.-SERIOUS PAUSE AT WASH-
INGTON.-STATEMENT OF HORACE GREELEY.-HOW THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS WAS RE-
CEIVED IN THE SECEDED STATES.-VISIT OF CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS TO WASHING-
TON.-SEWARD'S PLEDGE TO JUDGE CAMPBELL. THE COMMISSIONERS DECEIVED.—MILI-
TARY AND NAVAL EXPEDITIONS FROM NEW YORK.-CONSULTATION OF THE CABINET ON
THE SUMTER QUESTION.—CAPT. FOX'S VISIT TO CHARLESTON. HIS PROJECT.—OBJECTIONS
OF GEN. SCOTT.—SINGULAR ARTICLE IN A NEW YORK JOURNAL.-LINCOLN'S HESITATION.
-HIS FINAL DEVICE.-SEWARD'S GAME WITH THE COMMISSIONERS.-THE REDUCTION
OF FORT SUMTER.-DESCRIPTION OF THE CONFEDERATE WORKS FOR THE REDUCTION
OF SUMTER.-BEAUREGARD DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF THE FORT.-THE BOMBARD-
MENT. THE FORT ON FIRE.—THE FEDERAL FLEET TAKES NO PART IN THE FIGHT.-THE
SURRENDER. GREAT EXCITEMENT IN THE NORTH.-ITS TRUE MEANING. THE CRUSADE
AGAINST THE SOUTH.-DR. TYNG'S EXHORTATION.—CONDUCT OF NORTHERN DEMOCRATS.
-DICKINSON, EVERETT, AND COCHRANE.-PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION.-HIS
PACIFIC PROTESTS TO THE VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS.-SECESSION OF VIRGINIA.-DIS-
CONTENT IN THE WESTERN COUNTIES.-SECOND SECESSIONARY MOVEMENT OF THE SOUTH-
ERN STATES.-VIOLENT ACTS OF THE WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION.-PREPARATIONS OF
THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT FOR WAR.-RUSH OF VOLUNTEERS TO ARMS.-PRESIDENT
DAVIS' ESTIMATE OF THE MILITARY NECESSITY.-REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
TO RICHMOND.-ACTIVITY OF VIRGINIA.-ROBERT E. LEE.-HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE
UNION. WHY HE JOINED THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE.-HIS SPEECH IN THE STATE HOUSE AT
RICHMOND.-HIS ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITARY FORCE OF VIRGINIA.-MILITARY COUN-
CIL IN RICHMOND.THE EARLY REPUTATION OF Lee.

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A LARGE portion of the Northern people have a custom of apotheosis, at least so far as to designate certain of their public men, to question whose reputation is considered bold assumption, if not sacrilegious daring. But the maxim of de mortuis nil nisi bonum does not apply to history. The character of Abraham Lincoln belongs to history as fully as that of the meanest agent in human affairs; and his own declaration, on one occa

MR. LINCOLN'S ANTECEDENTS.

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sion, that he did not expect to "escape" it is sure to be verified, now or hereafter.

We have already stated that Mr. Lincoln was not elected President of the United States for any commanding fame, or for any known merit as a statesman. His panegyrists, although they could not assert for him a guiding intellect or profound scholarship, claimed for him some homely and substantial virtues. It was said that he was transparently honest. But his honesty was rather that facile disposition that readily took impressions from whatever was urged on it. It was said that he was excessively amiable. But his amiability was animal. It is small merit to have a Falstaffian humour in one's blood. Abraham Lincoln was neither kind nor cruel, in the proper sense of these words, simply because he was destitute of the higher order of sensibilities.

His appearance corresponded to his rough life and uncultivated mind. His figure was tall and gaunt-looking; his shoulders were inclined forward; his arms of unusual length; and his gait astride, rapid and shuffling. The savage wits in the Southern newspapers had no other name for him than "the Illinois Ape."

The new President of the United States was the product of that partizanship which often discovers its most "available" candidates among obscure men, with slight political records, and of that infamous demagogueism in America that is pleased with the low and vulgar antecedents of its public men, and enjoys the imagination of similar elevation for each one of its own class in society. Mr. Lincoln had formerly served, without distinction, in Congress. But among his titles to American popularity were the circumstances that in earlier life he had rowed a flat-boat down the Mississippi; afterwards been a miller; and at another period had earned his living by splitting rails in a county of Illinois. When he was first named for the Presidency, an enthusiastic admirer had presented to the State Convention of Illinois two old fence-rails, gaily decorated with flags and ribbons, and bearing the following inscription: "Abraham Lincoln, the Rail Candidate for President in 1860.-Two rails from a lot of 3,000, made in 1830, by Thos. Hanks and Abe Lincoln." The incident is not mentioned for amusement: it is a suggestive illustration of the vulgar and silly devices in an American election.

Since the announcement of his election, Mr. Lincoln had remained very retired and studiously silent in his home at Springfield, Illinois. Expectations were raised by the mystery of this silence; his panegyrists declared that it was the indication of a thoughtful wisdom pondering the grave concerns of the country, and likely to announce at last some novel and profound solution of existing difficulties; and so credulous are all men in a time of anxiety and embarrassment, and so eager to catch at hopes, that these fulsome prophecies of the result of Mr. Lincoln's meditations actu

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