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On the 9th of February, a committee of one from each State was appointed, to report upon a flag. The Government assumed, February 12th, charge of the questions pending between the several States of the Confederacy and the Government of the United States, relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and other public establishments, and directed that act to be communicated to the several States; and again, on the 15th of March, 1861, the Congress recommended the respective States to cede the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and other public establishments within their respective limits, to the Confederate States; and, in case of such cession, authorized and empowered the President to take charge of the said property. It was also provided by act of February 28th, that the President be directed to assume control of all military operations of the Confederate States; and he was authorized to receive the arms acquired from the United States and then in the forts, arsenals, and navy-yards of the several States, and all other arms and munitions which they might desire to turn over and make chargeable to the Confederate Government.

On the 9th of March, the Confederate Congress passed an act for the organization of the army, to be composed of one corps of engineers, one corps of artillery, one regiment of cavalry, and six regiments of infantry, and to number ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven officers and men.

CHAPTER III.

Meeting of Congress.-President's Message.-Resignation of Secretaries Cobb, Cass, Floyd, and Thompson.-Defalcations.-Special Message of the President.-Committee of Thirty-three.-Crittenden Resolutions.-Border States' Plan.-Virginia Resolutions.-Peace Convention-Close of Congress.-New Territories.-Finance.Constitutional Amendment.-Mr. Lincoln's Arrival at Washington. - Inaugural; its Effects.-Southern Commissioners.-Supplies to Fort Sumter.-Policy of the Government. Charleston Harbor.-Events at the South.-Bombardment and Surrender of Fort Sumter.-Fort Pickens Reinforced.

WHILE preparations for conventions of the Southern States were on foot, with the view of bringing about disunion, the Congress of the United States met at Washington, as usual, on December 3d. The South Carolina representatives were present, but the Senators having resigned November 11th, were absent. The other Southern representations were generally full.

The message of the President was largely occupied with a discussion of the state of the country. He declared that the long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with Southern interests had at length produced its natural effects in sectional discord; and that the true cause of the Southern disquiet was neither the personal liberty bills of the Northern States, nor the claim to exclude slavery from the national territory, but the fact that continual agitation was inspiring the slaves with the hope of freedom, and thus daily undermining the security of the Southern people. The apprehensions

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from this cause, he alleged, would make disunion inevitable. The President stated that, with the possible exception of the Missouri Compromise, no act had ever passed Congress impairing in the slightest degree the rights of the South to their property in slaves; no act had passed, or was likely to pass Congress, excluding slavery from the Territories; that the Supreme Court had decided that slaves are property, and that the owners have a right to take them into the Territories under the protection of the Constitution; and that no territorial legislature possesses the power to exclude slavery from the Territories. The power belongs nowhere except to the whole people when forming a State Constitution. That neither Congress nor the President are responsible for the State personal liberty laws, which, he said, have all been declared unconstitutional and void, by all courts before which the question has been brought, with the exception of a single State court in Wisconsin, and there the decision had been reversed before the proper tribunal. He argued strongly against the right of secession, declaring it to be simply revolution. He then summed up the powers of the executive under the constitution, and the laws of 1795 and 1807; "but these," he said, "do not apply in a State where there are no Federal officers through whose agency the laws can be executed. The property of the United States in Charleston had, with the consent of the State, been purchased by the Federal Government, and Congress has the exclusive power to legislate therein; hence there were no obstacles to the collection of the duties in Charleston."

"It is not believed," he added, "that any attempt will be made to expel the United States from the property. The officer in charge has orders to act on the defensive, and if he should be assailed, the responsibility would rest rightfully on the heads of the assailants."

The President, in relation to the power of coercing a State that attempts to withdraw from the Confederacy, held that the power to do so"was expressly refused by the convention which framed the Constitution." The President advised an explanatory amendment to the constitution on the subject of slavery.

On December 10th, the Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, resigned. In his letter of resignation, he stated that he agreed with the President in the policy and measures of the Administration, although he differed from some of the theoretical doctrines expressed in the message, as well as from the hope expressed in it, that the Union could yet be preserved. Mr. Thomas, of Maryland, was appointed to succeed Mr. Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury. The resignation of Mr. Cobb was followed by that of the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, on the ground that the President had refused to reinforce the garrison at Fort Moultrie. This work, situated on Sullivan's Island, in Charleston harbor, was one of the few fortifications in Southern ports in which the Government maintained an armed force, and was watched with great jealousy by the authorities of South Carolina. He was succeeded by Attorney-General Black, and Mr. Stanton, of Pennsylvania, succeeded Mr. Black as Attorney-General. While General Čass resigned because the President would not strengthen Major Anderson's command, John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned on the

ground that he had, with the assent of the President, assured the authorities of South Carolina that, pending the adoption of some decided line of policy, there should be no change in the position of forces in Charleston harbor. On the evening of December 26th, the garrison was transferred from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, which he claimed was a violation of that pledge, and on the refusal of the President to redeem it, by withdrawing the troops, he declared he could not remain in the cabinet. His resignation was at once accepted, and Mr. Holt, Postmaster-General, appointed to the War Department ad interim. Mr. Horatio King was appointed Postmaster-General.

The position of Major Anderson at Fort Sumter was not much improved from what it had been at Fort Moultrie. He was safe from immediate attack, but his supplies were becoming exhausted, and it became necessary to succor him. An attempt was made to extort a pledge from the President that no reinforcements should be sent; but no such pledge was given, and the Star of the West left New York, January 5th, with supplies and two hundred and fifty men, to be thrown into the fort. In consequence of this, Mr. Thompson resigned as Secretary of the Interior, January 8th. On the 11th, Mr. Thomas, who had succeeded Mr. Cobb in the Treasury Department, also resigned for a similar reason. General John A. Dix was appointed in his place.

At this juncture, when the frequent changes in the cabinet were causing universal uneasiness, the country was startled with accounts of immense frauds in the War Department. It appeared that there had been outstanding large contracts with Russell, Majors & Co., to convey army supplies across the plains to Utah, during the Mormon war. The capital required to conduct these was very great, and it had been customary for the contractors to give drafts on the Government at three and four months. These were officially accepted by Mr. Floyd, the amount to be charged at maturity upon the sum then due to the con

tractors.

In consequence of the growing commercial difficulties, Russell & Co. found it no longer possible to raise money on the drafts. Under these circumstances, Mr. Russell induced Godard Bailey, a clerk in the Department of the Interior, to abstract from the department eight hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars of stocks belonging to the Indian Fund, and loan them to him for the purpose of raising money to meet his contracts. The discovery of these facts produced immense excitement. There is no doubt but that this incident had a powerful influence upon the course of events. The policy of the President seemed to be in some degree strengthened by the changes that had taken place in the cabinet. The immediate difficulty was the position of Major Anderson at Charleston, and the departure of the Star of the West from New York, January 5th, with men and stores for that point, under a clearance for Havana, had given the President renewed confidence. On the 8th of January, therefore, the day on which the Star of the West should have succeeded in her mission, the President sent to Congress a special message upon the state of the country, reiterating his opinion previously expressed, in opposition to the right of secession, and his views in relation to his own duty and that of Con

gress. He suggested that the questions at issue be "removed from political assemblies to the ballot-box, and the people themselves would speedily redress the serious grievances that the South have suffered." He intimated that the proposition to let the North have exclusive control above a certain geographical line, and to protect Southern institutions below that line, ought to receive universal approbation.

In this message, the President reasserted the sentiment that "the Union must and shall be preserved," declaring his purpose to use the military power against all who resisted the Federal authority.

If this energetic announcement had been accompanied, as no doubt was intended, by the news of a successful reinforcement of Fort Sumter, it might have produced a salutary effect, and perhaps have changed the course of events. Unfortunately, the news came of the failure of the attempt, and of an insult to the flag. That event caused much alarm, and aroused fears of the actual approach of war. Such of the Northern State legislatures as were in session-and all were so, except those of New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, and Indiana, some of which meet only once in two years, and the others either in spring or autumn-received the message of the President with favor, and tendered prompt assistance in support of the Government. In the legislature of New York were passed the following resolutions:

"Whereas, The insurgent State of South Carolina, after seizing the post-offices, custom-house, moneys, and fortifications of the Federal Government, has, by firing into a vessel ordered by the Government to convey troops and provisions to Fort Sumter, virtually declared war; and whereas, The forts and property of the United States Government in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, have been unlawfully seized, with hostile intentions; and whereas, Their Senators in Congress avow and maintain their treasonable acts; therefore,

"Resolved, That the legislature of New York is profoundly impressed with the value of the Union, and determined to preserve it unimpaired; that it greets with joy the recent firm, dignified, and patriotic special message of the President of the United States, and that we tender to him, through the chief magistrate of our own State, whatever aid in men and money may be required to enable him to enforce the laws and uphold the authority of the Federal Government; and that, in the defence of the Union, which has conferred prosperity and happiness upon the American people, renewing the pledge given and redeemed by our fathers, we are ready to devote our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honor."

These resolutions were communicated by Governor Morgan of New York to the President, and also to the Governor of each State.

The action of other States was similar, and illustrates the extent to which zeal outran ability. When New York passed her resolution, she had not military resources to equip thirteen thousand men. Massachusetts had been more active. For when, early in December, she tendered her volunteers to the Government, she had five thousand men under drill; but of these only three thousand were armed with Springfield muskets. When the call at a later date actually came for troops, both New York and Massachusetts were obliged to send agents to Europe to purchase arms.

The views of the President, as expressed in his annual message, were received with various manifestations of dissent or approval, according to the light in which they were viewed. The importance of

some mode of adjustment early impressed itself upon Congress, and on the 10th of December, the day on which Mr. Cobb resigned from the Treasury Department, a House Committee of thirty-three, or one from each State, was appointed, and also a Senate Committee of thirteen, on the State of the Union. A variety of propositions were discussed by the latter Committee, without uniting a majority. A plan proposed by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, met with considerable favor. It practically re-established the Missouri Compromise, declared that Congress shall not interfere with slavery where it exists, and provided for the faithful execution of the fugitive slave law. This did not, however, meet the views of either side. The Republicans were willing to recommend an amendment to the Constitution declaring that Congress shall have no power to interfere with slavery in the States, but refused the demand of the Southerners that slave property should be recognized in the Territories under the decisions of the Supreme Court. The Southerners contended that an amendment to the Constitution, declaring that the Federal Government had no right to interfere with slavery, was only declaring what was nowhere disputed, forgetting apparently that the leading secessionists had directly charged the Republicans with asserting the existence of such a right, and with preparing to exercise it. The judiciary of the United States had, however, they said, declared that under the Constitution the South had a right to the protection of the Federal Government for their slave property in the Territories. They wanted assent to that decision. This the Republicans were not prepared to give.

The following is the Crittenden plan of adjustment, offered in the form of immutable amendments to the Constitution :

"First. In all territories north of 36 deg. 30 min. slavery is prohibited; in all territory south of that latitude, slavery is recognized as existing, and shall be protected as property during its continuance. All the territory north or south of said line shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, as the Constitution of the State shall prescribe.

"Second. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the States permitting slavery.

"Third. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia while it exists in Virginia and Maryland, or either.

"Fourth. Congress to have no power to hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another.

"Fifth. Congress to have power to pay for a slave when the marshal is prevented from discharging his duty, the owner to sue the county in which the rescue was made, and the county have the right to sue the individuals who committed the wrong.

"Sixth. No further amendment or amendments shall affect the preceding articles, and Congress shall never have power to interfere with slavery in the States where it is now permitted."

The last resolution declares that "the Southern States have a right to the faithful execution of the law for the recovery of slaves; and such laws ought not to be repealed or modified so as to impair their efficiency. All laws in conflict with the fugitive slave law, it shall not be deemed improper for Congress to ask the repeal of. The fugitive slave law ought to be so altered as to make the fee of the commissioner equal, whether he decides for or against the claimant; and the clause authorizing the person holding the warrant to summon a posse comitatus to be so as to restrict it to cases where violence or rescue is attempted. The laws for the suppression of the African slave-trade ought to be effectually executed."

Another proposition was framed by a Committee of the Border

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