 |
| Isaac W Hayne. |
January 16, 1861. |
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
“
[284]
of that fort would cause, and which would be unavailing to secure that possession.”
Commissioner Hayne was authorized to “give the pledge of the Stated” that the valuation of the public property within Fort Sumter should be “accounted for by the State, upon the adjustment of its relations with the United States, of which it was a part.”
1
Mr. Hayne arrived in Washington City on the 13th of January, when ten of the disloyal Senators, still holding seats in Congress,2 advised him, in writing, not to present the letter of Pickens to the President until after the Southern Confederacy should be formed, a month later.
They proposed to ask the President to agree not to re-enforce Fort Sumter, in the mean time.
“I am not clothed with power to make the arrangement you suggest,” Mr. Hayne replied, in writing; “but, provided you can get assurances, with which you are entirely satisfied, that no re-enforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval, and that the public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility toward South Carolina, I will refer
your communication to the authorities of South Carolina, and, withholding the communication with which I am at the present charged, will await further instructions.”
This correspondence was laid before the President
by Senators Slidell, Fitzpatrick, and Mallory, and the President was asked to consider the matter.3 He replied, through Mr. Holt, the Secretary of War, that he could not give such pledge, for the simple reason that he had no authority to do so, being bound as an Executive officer to enforce the laws as far as practicable.
He informed them that it was not deemed necessary to re-enforce Major Anderson at that time; but told them, explicitly, that should the safety of that officer at any time require it, the effort to give him re-enforcements and supplies would be made.
He reminded them that Congress alone had the power to make war, and that it would be an act of
1 Letter of Francis W. Pickens to President Buchanan, January 11, 1861.
2 These were Wigfall, Hemphill, Yulee, Mallory, Jefferson Davis, C. C. Clay, Jr., Fitzpatrick, Iverson, Slidell, and Benjamin.
3 The boldness and impunity of the conspirators in Congress, at this time, is illustrated by this correspondence which they laid before the President, and asked that he would “take into consideration the subject of said correspondence.” In their letter to Hayne, signed by the ten Senators, they assure him that they “represent States which have already seceded from the United States, or will have done so before the 1st of February next,” and which would meet South Carolinians “in convention on or before the 15th of that month.” “Our people,” said these conspirators to Mr. Hayne, “feel that they have a common destiny with your people, and expect to form with them, in that convention, a new con.federation and provisional government. W e must and will share your fortunes, suffering with you the evils of war, if it cannot be avoided, and enjoying with you the blessings of peace if it can be preserved.”
This letter was written on the 15th of January, the day after several of these Senators had written to the conventions of their several States, intimating that it might be well for them to retain their seats in Congress, in order to more effectually carry on their treasonable work. These men were not only not arrested, but their request was responded to by the Secretary of War, under the direction of the President, as courteously and considerately as if they were true and loyal to their Government.
Scanned printed text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.