February 22, 1861. |
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action.
They had demanded changes in the Constitution so as to nationalize Slavery, and would not recede a line from the position they had assumed, while the true men of the nation, determined not only to defend and preserve the Union, but to defend and preserve the Constitution from abasement, were willing to meet them more than half way in efforts to compromise and pacify.
The Virginians, in particular, were supercilious, dictatorial, and exacting, as usual.
They assumed an air of injured innocence when they saw the precautions taken by the Secretary of War and General Scott to preserve the peace and secure the safety of the National Capital by increasing the military force there; and Tyler seems to have gone so far as to have given President Buchanan to understand that the appearance of National troops as participators in the celebration of Washington's Birthday,
would be offensive to the Virginians, and unfavorable to the harmony of the Peace Convention.
They did participate in the festivities of the occasion, for which offense the President, not unaccustomed to a kindly yielding to the wishes of the Slave interest, wrote an apologetic letter to Tyler.1
The failure of the Peace Conference caused much disappointment throughout the country among a large class, who earnestly desired reconciliation, and who had hoped much from its labors; while to many of those who went into the Convention as delegates, and others who had watched the movements of the Oligarchy with care, the result was not unexpected.
The demands made in the Virginia resolutions foreshadowed the spirit that was to be met; while the lofty and confident tone of the conspirators in Congress, and the energy with which their friends were at work in the Slave-labor States, promised nothing but failure.
It was believed by many then (and events have confirmed the suspicion) that the proposition for the Conference was made in insincerity, and that it was a scheme to give the conspirators more time, while deluding the country with pretended desires for reconciliation, to perfect their plans for securing success in the impending conflict.
Henry A. Wise, a chief actor among the Virginia politicians at that time, had declared, as we have seen, two months before:--“Our minds are made up. The South will not wait until the 4th of March.
We will be well under arms before then.”
2 John Tyler, one of the chief promoters of this Peace movement
1 When, in 1862, the National troops went up the Virginia Peninsula, they took possession of “Sherwood forest,” the residence of Tyler, near Charles City Court House, which the owner, one of the leaders among the enemies of his country, had abandoned. There Assistant Adjutant-General W. H. Long found the letter alluded to. The following is a copy:--
2 See page 43.
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