dissolving any conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believed, too, that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his successor a peaceful inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did this duty concern the whole country and the fair fame of our institutions, that to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete. The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution, is the result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet, on the propositions submitted to you by this department.

"Already this display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration, has produced the happiest effects. Public confidence has been restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their purposes has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned, in view of preparations which announce more impressively than words, that this Administration is alike able and resolved, to transfer in peace to the President-elect the authority that, under the Constitution, belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the destruction of the Republic, the presence of these troops is necessarily offensive; but those who sincerely love our institutions cannot fail to rejoice that, by this timely precaution, they have possibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must have suffered had the Capital, like the forts and arsenals of the South, fallen into the hands of revolutionists, who have found this great Government weak only because, in the exhaustless beneficence of its spirit, it has refused to strike even in its own defense, lest it should wound the aggressors.

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

were eager

"JOSEPH HOLT, Secretary of War."

Northern men had so generally been engaged in lucrative employments of industry, that comparatively few sought offices in the army or the navy, where, in a period of profound peace, there was but little scope for enterprise, and where neither wealth nor fame was to be won. But the sons of Southern planters, with nothing opening before them but an indolent life, for these offices. The consequence was that now, in our hour of trial, the large proportion of the officers, in both the army and navy, were from the slaveholding States, and were eager to cooperate with their friends in revolutionizing the government. One after another they resigned their commissions, and entered the service of the Confederacy, where they were nominally reinstated in the possession of the same rank and pay which they had been enjoying. The resignation of men unblushingly avowing their treasonable intent, was accepted by Secretary Toucey, and they were honorably discharged.

One Breshwood, a Virginian, was in command of the United States revenue cutter McLelland. He infamously surrendered his vessel to the rebels at New Orleans. Capt. J. J. Morrison followed the same ignoble example, by surrendering the revenue cutter Cass to the rebels at Mobile. Gen. John A. Dix, one of America's untitled noblemen, just then appointed

Secretary of the Treasury, sent a secret agent, Hemphil Jones, to endeavor to rescue these vessels from their perfidious commanders. To this agent he gave the spirited order, "to shoot down on the spot any man who attempted to haul down the American Flag."

When great depravity is developed, great nobility of character also becomes conspicuous. Lieut. John N. Maffit was in command of the Crusader at Mobile. His steam gunboat was exposed to the fire of Fort Morgan, which the Rebels had just seized. He was commanded to surrender his vessel to the "Alabama Navy."

"I may be overpowered," was his reply, "but in that event what will be left of the Crusader will not be worth taking."

He rescued the vessel, which subsequently rendered signal service in the Gulf. Capt. Porter was ordered by Lieut. J. II. Hamilton, of South Carolina, to surrender his ship to the Rebels. His reply, dated United States Ship St. Marys, Panama Bay, Feb. 3, 1861, contains the following noble sentiments:

"You, sir, have called upon your brother officers, not only to become traitors to their country, but to betray their sacred trust, and deliver up the ships under their command. This infamous appeal would, in ordinary times, be treated with the contempt it deserves. But I feel it a duty I owe myself and brother officers, with whom I am associated, to reply and state, that all under my command are true and loyal to the 'Stars and Stripes,' and to the Constitution. My duty is plain before me. The constitutional government of the United States, has entrusted me with the command of this beautiful ship, and before I will permit any other flag than the 'Stars and Stripes' to fly at her peak, I will fire a pistol in her magazine, and blow her up. This is my answer to your infamous letter."

The week preceding the 4th of March, when Mr. Lincoln was to be inaugurated, was one of intense solicitude and excitement. The air was filled with rumors of conspiracies, to prevent the inauguration by a bloody tumult, and by seizing the Capital. Washington was thronged with strangers, many from the South, armed with bowie-knives and revolvers. Apparently there would have been but little difficulty in a few thousand men, at a concerted signal, making a rush which would sweep all opposition before them. Gen. Scott and Secretary Holt were in the meantime making quiet, but effectual preparations, to meet any emergency. An imposing military escort was provided to conduct the President to the Capitol, and back again, after the inauguration, to the White House.

The eventful morning dawned propitiously. At an early hour, Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged, the centre of attraction being Willard's Hotel, where, thus far, the President elect had occupied apartments. The procession began to form about 9 o'clock. It was very brilliant and imposing. One very striking feature was a large triumphal car, the Constitution, bearing thirty-four very beautiful girls, robed in white, as representatives of the several States. It was thus manifest that the government had no idea of recognizing the Union as dissolved. Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln sat, side by side, in the carriage. They ascended the steps of

the Capitol arm in arm. It was noticed that Mr. Buchanan looked pale, sad, and nervous; he sighed audibly and frequently. Mr. Lincoln's face was slightly flushed, and his lips compressed, with an expression of much gravity and firmness.

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The President elect took his stand upon the platform of the portico of the Capitol. The Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Foreign Ministers, and a vast crowd of privileged persons, soon occupied every seat. A countless throng filled the grounds below, a surging mass of friends and foes. There were exasperated secessionists, watching for a chance to strike a blow, and pure patriots ready to repel that blow, at any hazard of life. Senator Baker of Oregon, introduced the President to the people. Mr. Lincoln then, with strength of voice which arrested every ear, delivered his inaugural address. Speaking of secession, he said: Physically speaking we can not separate,—we can not remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends. can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens, than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war; you can not fight always, and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you."

In reference to the policy to be pursued he said, "To the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part. I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisition, or, in some authoritative manner, direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none, unless it is forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion,-no using of force against or among the people anywhere.

Mr. Lincoln closed his noble inaugural with the following words, alike firm and conciliatory: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government; while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it.' I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We

must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

The oath of office was then administered by Chief Justice Taney; the procession was again formed, and Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the White House. Though President Lincoln used with the utmost sincerity the language of conciliation, he was too well informed to believe that the South could be conciliated. The following anecdote, which he once narrated with great effect, proves that he well understood the deadly nature of the conflict.

"I once knew,” he said, "a good sound churchman, whom we will call Brown, who was in a committee to erect a bridge over a very dangerous and rapid river. Architect after architect failed, and, at last, Brown said, he had a friend named Jones, who had built several bridges, and could build this. 'Let us have him in,' said the committee. In came Jones. 'Can you build this bridge, sir?' 'Yes,' replied Jones. 'I could build a bridge to the infernal regions if necessary. The sober committee were horrified. But when Jones retired, Brown thought it but fair to defend his friend. I know Jones so well,' said he, and he is so honest a man, and so good an architect, that if he states, soberly and positively, that he can build a bridge to Hades, why, I believe it. But I have my doubts about the abutment on the infernal side."" So Mr. Lincoln added, "When politicians said they could harmonize the northern and southern wings of the democracy, why, I believed them. But I had my doubt about the abutment on the southern side."

"The

The Charleston Courier, under date of February 12th, says, South might after uniting under the new Confederacy, treat the disorganized and demoralized Northern States as insurgents, and deny them recognition. But if peaceful division ensues, the South, after taking the Federal Capital, and being recognized by all foreign powers, as the government de facto, can, if they see proper, recognize the Northern Confederacy, or Confederacies, and enter into treaty stipulations with them. Were this not done it would be difficult for the Northern States to take a place among nations, and their flag would not be respected or recognized."

The Mobile Advertiser, of about the same date, said, "The Spartans were small in number, but each man a host. Their narrow territory was peopled by two classes proper,-laborers and fighters. The laborers were slaves, and the freemen fighters. The South could detach one-half of its whole male population to wage war, with as much ease as the North could one-fifth; and in case of need the proportionate array of fighters which we could marshal would astonish the world."

The result has proved this statement correct. The slaves furnished the supplies for the war. Though in heart with the North, they were compelled to work for the support of their masters who went to the field. Every voice from the South indicated the undoubting confidence with which the conspirators were moving toward the accomplishment of their plans.

Effectual arrangements were now made for the bombardment and cap

ture of Sumter. Iron-clad batteries had been reared so numerous and so formidable, that no wooden frigate could pass them, and thus it became impossible to send any assistance to the heroic little garrison there beleaguered. On the 12th of April, the rebels sent a demand to the starving garrison to surrender. Major Anderson replied that "his sense of honor and his obligations to the government would prevent his compliance;" but at the same time he admitted that the garrison were nearly starved out, and that, if no supplies reached them before the 15th, they would then be compelled to surrender.

At half past four o'clock on the morning of the 12th of April, the rebels opened the fire upon a fort and the flag of the United States, thus commencing, with tremendous energy, all the horrors of civil war. In that frenzied and exultant hour, little did they imagine the misery and ruin they were inviting upon their own heads. The government, in the hands of the traitors who dominated over the councils of President Buchanan, had succumbed so ignobly to menaces of the conspirators, that they now looked upon that government with contempt, and had no apprehension that it would ever manifest sufficient life to chastise them for their treason.

The fire was almost simultaneously opened upon the fort, from Fort Moultrie, the iron-clad floating battery in the harbor, and from heavy batteries on Mount Pleasant and on Cummings Point. A small fleet, with supplies, was seen outside the harbor, but it was certain destruction for the ships to attempt to pass the forts and batteries, and they could, consequently, render no assistance in the conflict. For two hours the little garrison, secure in their casemates, received the bombardment without reply, solid shot crashing down their walls, and shells exploding everywhere around them. After taking a comfortable breakfast, at half past six o'clock, the command was divided into three reliefs, and the first relief, under Captain Doubleday and Lieutenant Snyder, of the Engineer corps, opened the returning fire. The encircling batteries poured such a storm of shells upon the parapet that no one could stand there, and the guns in the casemates were mainly used. There is perhaps no work more exhausting than manning heavy guns. The garrison, enfeebled by months of siege, with but a scanty supply of provisions, having eaten that morning their very last bis euit, were in a poor condition to contend against an army of ten thousand men, stationed behind the strongest ramparts which modern science could construct. Less than one hundred men were thus arrayed against ten thousand.

Major Anderson, though aware that the fort must fall, yet resolved upon a heroic resistance, while taking the utmost care of his men. A sentinel was kept constantly upon the look-out, who cried out "shot" or "shell," at every shot the enemy made, and thus the men easily obtained shelter. It is difficult for one, not familiar with war, to imagine the power of the missiles which modern science has constructed. Solid walls of brick were crumbled down like powder. Cannons weighing thousands of pounds were thrown from their carriages by the explosion of shells. Red hot shot and bursting shells soon set the wooden barracks of the soldiers on fire, and nearly the whole interior of the fort blazed like a furnace. For thirty-six