Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[123] Fort Moultrie and occupied Fort Sumter with all his people. Rage and vexation rose to a high pitch in Charleston when, on the morning of the 27th, the Federal flag was seen hoisted over the walls of Sumter. The rebel authorities began by taking possession of the abandoned forts; great military preparations were ordered; the militia redoubled their activity, and the arms taken from the arsenal were distributed among them; the guns of Moultrie were turned against the fort which sheltered the little Federal garrison, and new batteries were begun on the beach to support their fire; finally, the commissioners appointed by South Carolina were instructed to again demand of the President the restoration of the fort, which was no longer in danger of a sudden attack.

Notwithstanding Mr. Buchanan's weakness, it was too much to exact from him the surrender of Fort Sumter; public opinion in the North was unanimous in reminding him that it was his duty to protect the Federal property. He refused to comply with the demands of the commissioners, contrary to the advice of his Secretary of War, who, thinking that he had done enough in that capacity for the cause of the South, availed himself of this disagreement to tender his resignation, on the 31st of December.

The year 1861 began under the gloomiest auspices. South Carolina had shown that secession was not an idle threat. Six of the Southern States were preparing to follow her example; the others, while deploring the dismemberment of the Union, declared themselves opposed to any energetic measures against the seceders. The North——divided into two parties, one of which looked upon the election of Mr. Lincoln as a victory, the other as a defeat—could not realize the magnitude of the danger, and was wasting precious time in idle declarations of attachment to the Constitution. The President, sincere but weak, oscillating between his public duties and party obligations, surrounded by traitors to the Republic, found himself isolated, forsaken by those who might have given him judicious advice, and reduced to the most deplorable helplessness.

He could not, however, bear the arrogance of the Carolina commissioners, and on the 1st of January he broke off all intercourse with them. The leaders of the slave party had only waited for this explosion to cause the rebellion to take another step. Those