The President, accordingly, in his message of the 28th January, submitting the Virginia resolutions to Congress, observed in regard to this one, that "however strong may be my desire to enter into such an agreement, I am convinced that I do not possess the power. Congress, and Congress alone, under the war-making power, can exercise the discretion of agreeing to abstain from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms' between this and any other Government. It would, therefore, be a usurpation for the Executive to attempt to restrain their hands by an agreement in regard to matters over which he has no constitutional control. If he were thus to act, they might pass laws which he should be bound to obey, though in conflict with his agreement. Under existing circumstances, my present actual power is confined within narrow limits. It is my duty at all times to defend and protect the public property within the seceding. States, so far as this may be practicable, and especially to employ all constitutional means to protect the property of the United States, and to preserve the public peace at this the seat of the Federal Government. If the seceding States abstain from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms,' then the danger so much to be deprecated will no longer exist. Defence, and not aggression, has been the policy of the administration from the beginning. But whilst I can enter into no engagement such as that proposed, I cordially commend to Congress, with much confidence that it will meet their approbation, to abstain from passing any law calculated to produce a collision of arms pending the proceedings contemplated by the action of the General Assembly of Virginia. I am one of those who will never despair of the Republic. I yet cherish the belief that the American people will perpetuate the union of the States on some terms just and honorable for all sections of the country. I trust that the mediation of Virginia may be the destined means, under Providence, of accomplishing this inestimable benefit. Glorious as are the memories of her past history, such an achievement, both in relation to her own fame and the welfare of the whole country: would surpass them all."

This noble and patriotic effort of Virginia met no favor from

Congress. Neither House referred these resolutions of her General Assembly to a committee, or even treated them with the common courtesy of ordering them to be printed. In the Senate no motion was made to refer them, and the question to print them with the accompanying message was debated from time to time until the 21st February,* when the Peace Convention had nearly completed its labors, and after this no further notice seems to have been taken of the subject. In the House the motion to refer and print the Virginia resolutions, made by Mr. Stanton, of Ohio, on the day they were received, was never afterwards noticed.† This mortifying neglect on the part of the Representatives of the States and of the people, made a deep and unfortunate impression on the citizens of Virginia.

Con. Globe, pp. 590, 636.

+ H. J., p. 236. Con. Globe, p. 601.

CHAPTER XI.

Fort Sumter again-An expedition prepared to relieve it-The expedition abandoned on account of a despatch from Major Anderson-Mr. Holt's letter to President Lincoln-Fort Pickens in Florida-Its danger from the rebels-The Brooklyn ordered to its relief-The means by which it was saved from capture approved by General Scott and Messrs. Holt and Toucey, with the rest of the Cabinet-Refutation of the charge that arms had been stolen-Report of the Committee on Military Affairs and other documentary evidence-The Southern and Southwestern States received less than their quota of arms-The Pittsburg cannon-General Scott's unfounded claim to the credit of preventing their shipment to the SouthRemoval of old muskets-Their value-Opinion of Mr. Holt in regard to the manner in which President Buchanan conducted the administration.

Ir is now necessary to return to Fort Sumter. This was the point on which the anxious attention of the American people was then fixed. It was not known until some days after the termination of the truce, on the 6th February, that Governor Pickens had determined to respect the appeal from the General Assembly of Virginia, and refrain from attacking the fort during the session of the Peace Convention. It, therefore, became the duty of the administration in the mean time to be prepared, to the extent of the means at command, promptly to send succor to Major Anderson should he so request, or in the absence of such request, should they ascertain from any other quarter that the fort was in danger. From the tenor of the Major's despatches to the War Department, no doubt was entertained. that he could hold out, in case of need, until the arrival of reenforcements. In this state of affairs, on the very day (30th January) on which the President received the demand for the surrender of the fort, he requested the Secretaries of War and the Navy, accompanied by General Scott, to meet him for the purpose of devising the best practicable means of instantly reën

forcing Major Anderson, should this be required. After several consultations an expedition for this purpose was quietly prepared at New York, under the direction of Secretary Toucey, for the relief of Fort Sumter, the command of which was intrusted to his intimate friend, the late lamented Commander Ward of the navy. This gallant officer had been authorized to select his own officers and men, who were to rendezvous on board of the receiving-ship, of which he was then in command. The expedition consisted of a few small steamers, and it was arranged that on receiving a telegraphic despatch from the Secretary, whenever the emergency might require, he should in the course of the following night set sail for Charleston, entering the harbor in the night, and anchoring if possible under the guns of Fort Sumter,

It is due to the memory of this brave officer to state that he had sought the enterprise with the greatest enthusiasm, and was willing to sacrifice his life in the accomplishment of the object, should such be his fate, saying to Secretary Toucey this would be the best inheritance he could leave to his wife and children.

According to General Scott's version of this affair in his report to President Lincoln: "At this time, when this [the truce on the 6th February] had passed away, Secretaries Holt and Toucey, Captain Ward of the navy, and myself, with the knowledge of the President [Buchanan], settled upon the employment under the captain (who was eager for the expedition) of three or four small steamers belonging to the coast survey." But this expedition was kept back, according to the General; and for what reason? Not because the Peace Convention remained still in session, and the President would not break it up by sending reënforcements to Fort Sumter whilst the authorities of South Carolina continued to respect the appeal of the General Assembly of Virginia to avoid collision, and whilst Major Anderson at the point of danger had asked no reënforcements. The General, passing over these the true causes for the delay in issuing the order to Commander Ward to set sail, declares this was kept back "by something like a truce or armistice made here [in Washington] between President Buchanan and the principal seceders of South Carolina," etc., etc., the existence of which has

never been pretended by any person except himself. It soon appeared that General Scott, as well as the President and Secretaries of War and the Navy, had been laboring under a great misapprehension in supposing, from the information received from Major Anderson, that this small expedition, under Commander Ward, might be able to relieve Fort Sumter. How inadequate this would have proved to accomplish the object, was soon afterwards demonstrated by a letter, with enclosures, from Major Anderson to the Secretary of War. This was read by Mr. Holt, greatly to his own surprise and that of every other member of the Cabinet, on the morning of the 4th March, at the moment when the Thirty-sixth Congress and Mr. Buchanan's administration were about to expire. In this the Major declares, that he would not be willing to risk his reputation on an attempt to throw reënforcements into Charleston harbor with a force of less than twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men. Commander Ward's expedition, consisting of only a few small vessels, borrowed from the Treasury Department and the Coast Survey, with but two or three hundred men on board, was necessarily abandoned. On the next day (5th March) the Secretary of War transmitted Major Anderson's letter, with its enclosures, to President Lincoln. This he accompanied by a letter from himself reviewing the correspondence between the War Department and Major Anderson from the date of his removal to Fort Sumter. The following is a copy, which we submit without comment:

"WAR DEPARTMENT, March 5th, 1861.

"SIR: I have the honor to submit for your consideration several letters with enclosures received on yesterday from Major Anderson and Captain Foster, of the Corps of Engineers, which are of a most important and unexpected character. Why they were unexpected will appear from the following brief statement:

"After transferring his forces to Fort Sumter, he (Major Anderson) addressed a letter to this Department, under date of the 31st December, 1860, in which he says: "Thank God, we are now where the Government may send us additional troops at its leisure. To be sure the uncivil and uncourteous action of