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CHAP. the face of these facts they were continually devising means to extend a system of labor which failed to give them success as a people. An exponent of the basis of the confederacy may be found in an address by its Vice President and ablest statesman, A. H. Stephens; he proclaims the true condition of the negro to be that of servitude as an inferior being; Mar. alluding to the United States Constitution and its framers 21. he said: "This stone (slavery) which was rejected by the

1861.

first builders is become the chief stone of the corner in our new edifice." And these disunionists went to war to protect and extend slavery; the National Government, as a matter of defense, to protect the public property and to defend the Union of the States.

The Governors of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, Louisiana, and Alabama took measures to have special sessions of the Legislatures called, or to have conventions held the members of which were to be elected by the people. The States of North Carolina and Arkansas did not take action by their Legislatures, as the majority of the people were opposed to secession. Thus was Tennessee also loyal to the Union. This loyalty was greatly strengthened by Andrew Johnson in the United States Senate and Emerson Etheridge in the House.

The doctrine that the President could not coerce a State was strenuously urged as a political truth; and it gave the disunionists great encouragement to know that Mr. Buchanan, the President, was understood to hold that opinion, hence it became necessary to press matters in order to complete the secession movement before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Meetings to promote the cause were held in prominent places in the Cotton States, and the most remarkable misrepresentations were put forth in respect to the action and the sentiments of the people of the free States; and these passed without contradiction, for that was prevented by the exclusion of Northern declarations to the contrary and Northern newspapers. It is

FEELING IN THE BORDER STATES

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not strange that by these means the people, especially the CHAP. least intelligent, were grossly deceived.

The majority of the people of the border States was opposed to these disunion measures; they knew that in case of war between the two sections they must suffer most from their geographical position, and they did not wish to be made a shield for their rash neighbors. These secession measures were planned and carried out by comparatively very few men, the people scarcely having an opportunity to take action on the subject. When the Colonies complained to England the people had the opportunity of freely expressing their views.

The events transpiring had an influence upon the finances of the country. Business began to decline, and capital, ever sensitive, to withdraw from investment. The vast quantities of merchandise on hand were thrown upon the market both by the importer and the domestic manufacturer. Early in November almost the only trade with. the South was that of fire-arms; and former debts from that section were unpaid, while exchange was so high as to be almost ruinous to the honorable Southern merchants who wished to pay their Northern creditors. Meanwhile some of the Southern State Legislatures authorized the suspension of specie payments by the banks, and also a suspension of payments of debts due Northern creditors. This state of trade affected the National Government, and it was forced to borrow money at high rates of interest to pay the current expenses.

The forts, arsenals, and navy-yards in the South had very few soldiers in them to protect the United States property; only eighty men were in Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor, where, from indications, would be the first assault upon the authority of the Government. The venerable Lieutenant-General Scott urged the President for permission to throw a sufficient number of men into the fort to defend it from any attack the insurgents might make. But in vain. The President in his timidity and

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Nov.

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CHAP. trammels of party would not comply with this patriotic request. The loyal people were astounded at this apathy or remission of duty.

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Dec

3.

The Legislature of South Carolina provided for the military defense of the State; they were henceforth to be "a people happy, prosperous, and free." The army and navy officers-natives of the State, more than sixty in number-were urged to resign their commissions and join the ranks of secession. "Vigilance Associations" were formed throughout the State; these assumed "full power to decide all cases that might be brought before them," "power to arrest all suspicious white persons and bring them before the Executive Committee for trial," to put down all negro preachings, prayer-meetings, and all congregations of negroes, that they (the Associations) might deem unlawful. Under these committees great numbersbecause they were from the North-of men and women, teachers, preachers, travelers, and others were driven from the State.

The second session of the 36th Congress began, and President Buchanan sent in his Annual Message, in which he ascribed the existing evils between the States to the "violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century, which had at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired them with some vague notions of freedom." He announced that the revenue must be collected; he denied the right of a State to secede, but he had no authority under the Constitution to coerce a State-a doctrine very consoling to those who had entered upon the treasonable attempt to break up the Union. He suggested that the late election of President did not afford just cause for dissolving the Union; that the incoming President could not, if he wished, interfere with slavery; he was the executor of the laws, not the maker nor the expounder. These facts the disunion leaders well knew, but they were encouraged by this announcement of non-coercion to urge the

OCCUPATION OF FORT SUMTER.

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slave States into secession before the new President was CHAP. inaugurated.

Discussions continued in both Houses of Congress; resolutions in great numbers were introduced by the members, to be referred to the Committee of Thirty-three, which had been appointed on the state of the country. These resolutions show the state of feeling of the members on the subject, and indeed of all the people, their constituents. Efforts were made by the committee to arrive at a satisfactory result by guaranteeing what the slaveowners desired, but it was soon seen that all conciliatory measures were vain; the secessionists did not want compromises; nothing short of absolute separation would satisfy them; and the thinking portion of the people saw that no concessions would avert the calamity of an attempt to destroy the Union.

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Dec.

Floyd, the Secretary of War, early in December passed over to the Governor of South Carolina the United States arsenal at Charleston under the pretext of preventing its being seized by the mob. Here were 70,000 stand of arms, the quotas designed for several Southern States. On the day on which South Carolina seceded he sent an order to the commandant of the Alleghany arsenal, near Pittsburg, 24. "to ship 78 guns to Newport, near Galveston, Texas, and 46 guns to Ship Island, near Balize, at the mouth of the Mississippi river." These forts were far from being finished or ready for their guns, but they were to be slyly transferred to the secessionists. The loyal people of Pittsburg protested against the shipment and the President countermanded the order. These guns were ten and eight-inch columbiads, the largest and finest in the country.

Three days after South Carolina seceded Major Robert Anderson, who was in command of the forts in Charleston Harbor, dismantling Fort Moultrie, spiking the guns and burning the carriages, evacuated it, taking with him its munitions of war, and occupied Fort Sumter. Prudence dictated this transfer, as no reinforcements came and Fort

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CHAP. Moultrie could easily be taken on the land side, as that was un fortified. Castle Pinckney, another fort, was dismantled in the same manner.

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This movement created the most intense excitement throughout the land; the loyal portion thinking it an indication that the government intended to resist the insurgents. In the South the spirit of rebellion was more than ever rampant. The leaders professed to believe this the first advance in "coercing" a State. Major Anderson had only seventy-nine effective men, but in that little band were no traitors.

Forts Moultrie and Pinckney were at once occupied by the State militia, under orders from Governor Pickens. These were armed from the United States arsenal. It had been proclaimed that "our young men will do the storming and escalading; our slaves will raise the crops, and make our ditches, glacis, and earthworks for our defense." In accordance with this, more than a thousand negroes, sent by their masters, were put to work to repair the forts and mount guns. This could easily have been prevented by shells from Fort Sumter's guns, but Major Anderson had orders to act only on the defensive. Soon as possible commissioners from Charleston came to Washington and demanded of the President either to order Major Anderson to evacuate all the forts in the harbor or reoccupy Fort Moultrie! This demand, so arrogant in its manner and terms, was not granted. From this time onward the "vigilance committees were a greater terror than ever to the Union men and women, especially those of Northern birth. The atrocities inflicted upon them and the free negroes would seem incredible in this age, if the spirit which inspired them is not recognized.

The Collector of the Port of Charleston began to pay over to the State authorities the duties he collected. The President resolved to collect the duties on shipboard by sending a revenue cutter to lie off the harbor. He removed the Collector from office and nominated another; this nom