Page images
PDF
EPUB

СНАР. ІІ.

"Lincoln

Debates,"

tionable features of the personal liberty bills had set in; and movements to that end were in progress in the Legislatures of several Northern States. More important than all was the fact that Mr. Lincoln himself held a proper fugitive-slave law to be constitutional. In the Freeport debate he thus answered Douglas's question on this point: “I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a Congressional fugitive-slave law; further than that, I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening Douglas its efficiency." And the opinion was quite as distinctly reiterated in his inaugural address. But while willing to accord to the South this constitutional right, he did not forget the rights due to all free citizens of the North; for his inaugural address also said: "In any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that the citizen of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the Mar. 4, 1861. several States'?"

Had the South been content to pursue legislative remedies instead of making war, it is quite possible that the questions about fugitive slaves could have been brought to some endurable compromise. Unconstitutional personal liberty bills, on the one

VOL. III.-3

p. 89.

Lincoln, Inaugural,

CHAP. II. hand, might have been repealed by State Legislatures, and the unconstitutional provisions of the fugitive-slave law on the other, repealed by Congress. Both the Supreme Courts of States and the Supreme Court of the United States might have ultimately modified their decisions towards a better mutual accord. The runaway slave could have received a jury trial at the place of his capture, and the master been reimbursed in money damages in case of his unlawful rescue by mobs. But the predetermined action of the Southern conspirators made argument and compromise impossible. The proclamation of a Southern Confederacy by Jefferson Davis and his associate signers on the 14th of December, and the secession of South Carolina on the 20th, were a practical bar to any adjustment through legislative channels.

1860.

CHAPTER III

NOT

THE SURRENDER PROGRAMME

Anderson to Adju

TOT alone in the affair of the forty muskets, CHAP. III. but in the decisions and instructions concerning almost every point of inquiry which was referred to Washington, did the Government exert its discouraging and paralyzing influence upon the Union commander and his loyal officers and men at Charleston. Under his general instructions to initiate no collision, Major Anderson was constantly beset with perplexing questions upon minor details. Thus, for instance, he reported that within easy musket-shot of the eastern wall of Moultrie were several sand-hillocks, "which offer admirable tant-Gencover to approaching parties, and would be formidable points for sharpshooters." Would leveling I., p. 74. these sand-hills be construed into initiating a collision? Again: "I would thank you also to inform me under what circumstances I would be justified in setting fire to or destroying the houses which afford dangerous shelter to an enemy, and whether I would be justified in firing upon an armed body which may be seen approaching our Dec. 6, 1960. works." And not only his own precautions, but the aggressive preparations of the Charlestonians were from time to time thrusting upon his atten

eral, Nov. 23, 1860. W. R. Vol.

Ibid.,

W. R. Vol.
I., p. 88.

CHAP. III. tion irritating conflicts of jurisdiction. "Captain Foster informs me," he wrote, "that an adjutant of a South Carolina regiment applied to him for his rolls [of workmen] stating that he wished to enroll the men for military duty. The captain told eral, Nov him that they had no right to do it, as the men

Anderson to Adjutant-Gen

28, 1860.

W. R. Vol.
I., p. 79.

1860.

were in the pay of the United States Government." What should he do if the State authorities demanded these men from Captain Foster?

All these questions were duly considered by the War Department, and under date of December 14th, Secretary Floyd (through Adjutant-General Samuel Cooper, afterwards of the rebel army) proceeded to answer them with a particularity, a gravity, and a show of reasoning which mark the communication as a piece of delicate irony. The sand-hills and houses were not to be touched, and the workmen were to be surrendered on demand.1

Different circumstances can be imagined which might have justified the passiveness which Ander

1 "If the State authorities demand any of Captain Foster's workmen, on the ground of their being enrolled into the service of the State, and the subject is referred to you, you will, after fully satisfying yourself that the men are subject to enrollment, and have been properly enrolled under the laws of the United States and of the State of South Carolina, cause them to be delivered up, or suffer them to depart.

"If deemed essential to the more perfect defense of the work, the leveling of the sandhills which command the fort would not, under ordinary circumstances, be considered as

initiating a collision. But the delicate question of its bearing on the popular mind, in its present excited state, demands the coolest and wisest judgment. The fact of the sand-hills being private property, and, as is understood, having private residences built upon them, decides the question in the negative. The houses which might afford dangerous shelter to an enemy, being chiefly frame, could be destroyed by the heavy guns of the fort at any moment, while the fact of their being leveled in anticipation of an attack might betray distrust, and prematurely bring on a collision. Their destruc

« PreviousContinue »