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

one side are counterbalanced by exceptional advantages on the other. We must make up our minds that man for man the soldier from the South will be a match for the soldier from the North and vice versa." (") They are the words of one calmly looking into the future.

Through the day men have been coming and going. As the shadows of evening fall, Stephen A. Douglas enters the White House. He ascends the stairs and meets the President. Their hands clasp in cordial greeting. The door closes upon them. They are alone. No ears other than their own hear the words spoken during the two hours' interview. A quarter of a century has passed since they first met in the corridor of the State-house in Vandalia (see p. 82). During this period they have been opposed politically, but on this night Douglas is ready to stand by Mr. Lincoln to secure the enforcement of the laws. Millions of people are reading the proc

lamation of the President-in the Southern States with shouts of laughter, in the Northern with an outburst of gratitude. Monday, April 16, Never has the world beheld such a 1861. spectacle. Political parties disappear in a twinkling. For the moment there is no Republican, no Democratic Party; only one: that for the preservation of the Union, and the avenging of the insult to the flag. One State is ready to respond instantly to the call for troops-Massachusetts. In 1860 Nathaniel P. Banks, Governor, saw the coming of the crisis. In September he marshalled the troops of the State, 13,000 men, upon the field where the first battle of the Revolution began. His successor, Governor John A. Andrew, has in like manner looked into the future, and seen the necessity of being ready to respond to any call which the President might make upon the State.

JOHN A. ANDREW.

One of the delegates from Massachusetts to the Democratic Convention which assembled at Charleston was Benjamin F. Butler, who voted for Breckinridge during all the ballotings. In December, after the election of President Lincoln, Butler visited Washington and talked with the Secessionists.

"Your men of the North will not fight," said a gentleman from Mississippi.

"Yes, they will.”

"Who in the North will fight if we secede from the Union?"

"I will."

"Oh, there will be plenty of men in the South to take care of you." "When we march to the defence of the Union we will hang on the trees every man who undertakes to destroy it," said Butler.

He informed Governor Andrew in regard to the plans of the Secessionists. Measures were at once taken for the complete equipment of the militia.

"If you have troops ready, send them."

So read the telegram from Senator Wilson to the Governor of Massachusetts. Though not an order from the War Department, Governor Andrew, comprehending its significance, issued orders for the immediate departure of the Sixth and Eighth Regiments. (See “Drumbeat of the Nation.")

ness.

On the anniversary of the battle of Lexington the Sixth Regiment was in Baltimore, fighting its way through the streets of that April 19. city, manifesting its forbearance, discipline, steadiness, and power. This regiment reached Washington to aid in holding the Capitol. Never in the history of any nation has there been such a succession of great events as during these April days. Never has there been another such uprising of the people. The Union is dissolved, but there shall be one country, one destiny, for all the people. Cost what it may of blood, treasure, sacrifice, suffering, the Government of the people shall not perish. In every city and town the drum-beat breaks the stillBankers hear it, and hasten to tender their money to the Governors of the several States. Ministers of the gospel hear it, and from this hour through the coming four years they will preach the gospel of patriotism. Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell, Mass., hears it. He is a general, commanding a brigade of Massachusetts militia. For four years the spiders will spin their webs undisturbed on his lawbooks. Ulysses S. Grant, educated at West Point, citizen of Galena, Ill. so obscure that few of his fellow-citizens are aware that such a person walks their streets-hears it, and consents to preside at a public meeting, little comprehending the work which Providence has planned for him. Stephen A. Douglas hears it, and makes his way from Washington westward to arouse his fellow-citizens. "It is not a question of union or disunion. It is one of order; of the stability of Government; of the peace of communities. The whole social system is threatened with destruction and with disruption," the words of Mr. Douglas.