DIVISION V.

CHAPTER L

EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE FEDERAL CONGRESS.

MESSAGE

OF THE PRESIDENT. REPORTS OF THE SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY, WAR AND NAVY. IMPORTANT LEGISLATION BY

CONGRESS.

Meeting of the
Two Houses.

The President's Message.

CONGRESS met in extra- | pied the Senate's attention up to the hour of ordinary session at Wash- adjournment. The lower House spent the ington, July 4th, according day in effecting an organization by the electo the Proclamation of April 15th. Both tion of a Speaker and Clerk. The balloting Houses organized at noon. The attendance resulted in the choice of Galusha A. Grow, of was quite full from twenty-four States, in- Pennsylvania, Republican, as Speaker. Emcluding, in the Senate, full delegations from erson Etheridge, Unionist, of Tennessee, was Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and elected Clerk. one from Tennessee. In the House of Representatives, one hundred and fifty-seven names answered the first roll-call. Matters for legislation were so well matured as to give promise of a brief session-all the most important bills having been perfected by a number of leading members who had been in Washington for several weeks prior to the 4th. In the Senate, after organization, Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, gave notice of the following bills:

1. A bill to ratify and confirm certain acts of the President for the suppression of insurrection and rebellion.

2. A bill to authorize the employment of volunteers for enforcing the laws and protecting public property.

3. A bill to increase the present military establishment of the United States.

4. A bill providing for the better organization of the military establishment.

5. A bill to promote the efficiency of the army.

The President's Message and accompanying Department Documents were sent in on the 5th. The Message read as follows: "Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and

House of Representatives: "Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary subject of legislation.

"At the beginning of the present Presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally suspended within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, excepting only those of the Post-office Department.

"Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dockyards, custom-houses, and the like, including the movable and stationary property in and about them, had been seized, and were held in open hostility to

this Government, excepting only Forts Pickens, Tay

lor and Jefferson, on and near the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, South Carolina The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition; new ones had been built, and

6. A bill for organizing a volunteer militia armed forces had been organized, and were organforce, to be called the National Guard of the izing, all avowedly with the same hostile purpose. United States. "The forts remaining in the possession of the The reading of these important acts occu- Federal Government in and near these States were

The President's Message.

nue,

The President's Message.

either besieged or menaced by | could not be thrown into that warlike preparations, and espe- fort within the time for his relief, cially Fort Sumter was nearly rendered necessary by the limitsurrounded by well-protected, hostile batteries, with ed supply of provisions, and with a view of holding guns equal in quality to the best of its own, and possession of the same, with a force of less than outnumbering the latter as perhaps ten to one. A twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men. disproportionate share of the Federal muskets and This opinion was concurred in by all the officers of rifles had somehow found their way into these his command, and their memoranda on the subject States, and had been seized to be used against the were made inclosures of Major Anderson's letter. Government. Accumulations of the public reve- The whole was immediately laid before Lieutenantlying within them, had been seized for the General Scott, who at once concurred with Major same object. The Navy was scattered in distant Anderson in opinion. On reflection, however, he seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the took full time, consulting with other officers, both immediate reach of the Government. Officers of of the Army and of the Navy, and, at the end of the Federal Army and Navy had resigned in great four days, came reluctantly, but decidedly, to the numbers; and of those resigning, a large propor same conclusion as before. He also stated at the tion had taken up arms against the Government. same time that no such sufficient force was then at Simultaneously, and in connection with all this, the the control of the Government, or could be raised purpose to sever the Federal Union was openly and brought to the ground within the time when the avowed. In accordance with this purpose, an or- provisions in the fort would be exhausted. In a dinance had been adopted in each of these States, purely military point of view, this reduced the duty declaring the States, respectively, to be separated of the Administration in the case to the mere matter from the National Union. A formula for instituting of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. a combined Government of these States had been promulgated; and this illegal organization, in the character of Confederate States, was already invoking recognition, aid and intervention from foreign powers.

'Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an imperative duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if possible, the consummation of such attempt to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of means to that end became indispensable. This choice was made, and was declared in the Inaugural Address. The policy chosen looked to the exhaustion of all peaceful measures, before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only to hold the public places and property not already wrested from the Government, and to collect the revenue; relying for the rest on time, discussion and the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of the mails, at Government expense, to the very people who were resisting the Government; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to any of the people, or any of their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, everything was forborne, without which it was believed possible to keep the Government on foot.

"On the 5th of March, (the present incumbent's first full day in office,) a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the 28th of February, and received at the War Department on the 4th of March, was, by that Department, placed in his hands. This letter expressed the professional opinion of the writer that reenforcements

"It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position, under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries. and go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that, in fact, it would be our National destruction consummated. This could not be allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison; and ere it would be reached, Fort Pickens might be reenforced. This last would be a clear indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent for the landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the longer and slower route by sea. The first return news from the order was received just one week before the fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself was that the officer commanding the Sabine, to which vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration, (and of the existence of which the present Administration, up to the time the order was dispatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix atten tion,) had refused to land the troops. To now reen. force Fort Pickens, before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter, was impossible, rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions in the latter named fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture, the

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

227

The President's Mes sage.

Government had a few days be- | ly of man the question, whether
a constitutional republic, or de-
mocracy-a Government of the
people by the same people-can, or cannot, maintain
its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.
It presents the question, whether discontented indi-
viduals, too few in numbers to control administra-
tion, according to organic law, in any case, can al-
ways, upon the pretenses made in this case, or on
any other pretenses, or arbitrarily, without any pre-
tense, break up their Government, and thus practi-
cally put an end to free government upon the earth.
It forces us to ask: 'Is there, in all republics, this
inherent and fatal weakness?'
'Must a govern-
ment, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of
its own people, or too weak to maintain its own ex-
istence?'

The President's Mes-
fore commenced preparing an
sage.
expedition, as well adapted as
might be, to relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition
was intended to be ultimately used or not, according
to circumstances. The strongest anticipated case for
using it was now presented; and it was resolved to
send it forward. As had been intended in this con-
tingency, it was also resolved to notify the Governor
of South Carolina that he might expect an attempt
would be made to provision the fort; and that, if
the attempt should not be resisted, there would be
no effort to throw in men, arms or ammunition,
without further notice, or in case of an attack upon
the fort. This notice was accordingly given;
whereupon the fort was attacked and bombarded
to its fall, without even awaiting the arrival of the
provisioning expedition.

"It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They knew -they were expressly notified that the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison, was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution-trusting, as herein before stated, to time, discussion and the ballot-box, for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object-to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution. That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having said to them, in the Inaugural Address, you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains, not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight, or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort, sent to that harbor years before, for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue: 'Immediate dissolution or blood.'

"And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole fami

"So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government; and so to resist force employed for its destruction, by force for its preservation.

"The call was made, and the response of the country was most gratifying, surpassing in unanimity and spirit the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the States, commonly called slave States, except Delaware, gave a regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments have been organized within some others of those States, by individual enterprise, and received into the Government service. Of course, the seceded States, so called, (and to which Texas had been joined about the time of the Inauguration,) gave no troops to the cause of the Union. The border States, so called, were not uniform in their action; some of them being almost for the Union, while in others -as Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas-the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable, perhaps the most important. A Convention, elected by the people of that State to consider this very question of disrupting the Federal Union, was in session at the capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. To this body the people had chosen a large majority of professed Union men. Almost immediately after the fall of Sumter, many members of that majority went over to the original disunion minority, and, with them, adopted an ordinance for withdrawing the State from the Union. Whether this change was wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or their great resentment at the Government's resistance to that assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted the ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then somewhat more than a month distant, the Con-ention and the Legislature, (which was also in session at the

The President's Mes

sage.

same time and place,) with leading men of the State, not members of either, immediately commenced acting as if the State were already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations vigorously forward all over the State. They seized the United States armory at Harper's Ferry and the Navy Yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. They received-perhaps invited-into their State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, from the so-called seceded States. They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alliance and cooperation with the so-called Confederate States,' and sent members to their Congress at Montgomery. And finally, they permitted the insurrectionary Government to be transferred to their capital at Richmond.

"The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders; and this Government has no choice left but to deal with it where it finds it. And it has the less regret, as the loyal citizens have, in due form, clamed its protection. Those loyal citizens this Government is bound to recognize and protect, as being Virginia.

The President's Message.

"Other calls were made for volunteers to serve three years, unless sooner discharged, and also for large additions to the regular army and navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon, under what appeared to be a popu lar demand and a public necessity; trusting then, as now, that Congress would readily ratify them It is believed that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional competency of Congress.

"Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize the Commanding-General, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in other words, to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exercised but very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it are questioned, and the attention of the country has been called to the proposition that one who is sworn to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' should not himself violate them. Of course, some consideration was given to the questions of "In the Border States, so called-in fact the power and propriety, before this matter was acted Middle States-there are those who favor a policy upon. The whole of the laws which were required to which they call 'armed neutrality;' that is, an arm- be faithfully executed, were being resisted, and fail. ing of these States to prevent the Union forces passing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. ing one way, or the disunion the other, over their soil. This would be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it would be the building of an impassable wall along the line of separation-and yet, not quite an impassable one; for, under the guise of neutrality, it would tie the hands of the Union men, and freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke, it would take all the trouble off the hands of secession, except only what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the disunionists that which, of all things, they most desire-feed them well, and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to maintain the Union; and while very many who have favored it are, doubtless, loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in effect.

"Recurring to the action of the Government, it may be stated that, at first, a call was made for seventy-five thousand militia; and rapidly following this, a proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insurrectionary districts by proceedings in the nature of blockade. So far all was believed to be strictly legal. At this point the insurrectionists announced their purpose to enter upon the practice of privateering.

Must they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear, that by the use of the means necessary to their execution, some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citizen's liberty, that practically, it relieves more of the guilty than of the innocent, should, to a very limited extent, be violated? To state the question more directly, are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the Government itself to go to pieces, lest that one be violated? Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken, if the Government should be overthrown, when it was believed that disregarding the single law would tend to preserve it? But it was not believed that this question was presented. It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision of the Constitution that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion the pub lic safety may require it,' is equivalent to a provi sion--is a provision-that such privilege may be sus. pended when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ, which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power. But the