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... We mean to be loyal to the Union, but we will hire nobody, bribe nobody, pay nobody, cajole nobody to remain in it. ...
And now a firmer note is heard:
The South Carolina secessionists openly proclaim their intention of treading the stars and stripes under foot.
The only security the President can have that Fort Moultrie will not be violently seized upon is the presence of a force sufficient to protect it.
After
Major Anderson had transferred his little garrison from
Fort Moultrie to
Fort Sumter, there follows, December 28, 1860, a word of warning as hard as adamant:
Let us entreat all who meditate treason to pause ere it is too late, and avoid at once the traitor's crime and his doom.
On January 17, 1861:
... Stand firm!
No compromise; no surrender of principle!
No cowardly reversal of the great verdict of the sixth of November.
Let us have the question of questions settled now and for all time!
There can never be another opportunity so good as the present.
Let us know once for all whether the slave power is really stronger than the Union.
Let us have it decided whether the Mexican system of rebellion can be successfully introduced in this country as a means of carrying an election after it has been fairly lost at the polls.
It will be time enough to talk of redressing grievances of long standing and of minor consequences after this startling novelty has been disposed of ...
... The only adequate remedy is to be found in the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and, above all, in the enforcement of the laws. ...
