while, the people of the North remained in a state between fear and hope. The timid gave expression to their alarms in "union meetings," and petitions counselling concession; while the hopeful deluded themselves with the supposed strength of the loyal men in the South. A few contemplated the possibility of war, but most fondly believed that the country would be spared its horrors.

South Carolina, however, though secured for the present by the pledges of President Buchanan and the corrupt connivance of his cabinet, was yet distrustful of the future, and began to prepare for its possible dangers. A resoDec. lution was offered in the conven26. tion at Charleston that the governor be requested to communicate in secret session any information he might possess in regard to the condition of forts Moultrie and Sumter, and Castle Pinckney, the number of guns in each, the number of workmen and kind of labor employed, the number of soldiers in each, and what additions, if any, had been made since the 20th of December; also, whether any assurance had been given that the forts would not be reinforced, and if so, to what extent; also, what police or other regulations had been made, if any, in reference to the defences of the harbor of Charleston, the coast, and the State.

At the same time the condition of these forts and their capability of defence became a subject of intense interest to the people of South Carolina, who were evidently determined upon possessing themselves of them. A minute survey of the

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works was made and published, in which the efforts in progress to improve their strength were studiously detailed and exaggerated, with the view of exciting the impatient ardor of the South Carolinians to wrest them from the Federal Government.

This account, as it conveys a tolerably accurate idea of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, is here given as published in the Charleston Mercury:

Fort Moultrie is an inclosed water battery, having a front on the south, or water side, of about 300 feet, and a depth of about 240 feet. It is built with salient and re-entering angles on all sides, and is admirably adapted for defence, either from the attack of a storming party or by regular approaches.

"The outer and inner walls are of brick, capped with stone, and filled in with earth, making a solid wall 15 or 16 feet in thickness. The work now in progress consists in cleaning the sand from the walls of the fort; ditching it around the entire circumference, and erecting a glacis; closing up the postern gates in the east and west walls, and, instead, cutting sally-ports which lead into strong outworks on the southeast and southwest angles, in which twelvepounder howitzer guns will be placed, enabling the garrison to sweep the ditch. on three sides with grape and canister. The northwest angle of the fort has also been strengthened by a bastionette to sustain the weight of a heavy gun which will command the main street of the island. The main entrance has also been better secured, and a trap-door,