No. 2. WASHINGTON, January 17, 1861. GENTLEMEN: I have received your communication dated the 15th instant. You say you represent States which have already seceded from the United States, or will have done so before the first of February next, and which will meet South Carolina in convention on or before the 15th of that month; that your people feel they have a common destiny with our pcople, and expect to form with them in that convention a new confederacy and provisional government; that you must and will share our fortunes, suffering with us the evils of war, if it cannot be avoided, and enjoying with us the blessings of peace, if it can be preserved. I feel, gentlemen, the force of this appeal, and, so far as my authority extends, most cheerfully comply with your request. I am not clothed with power to make the arrangement you suggest, 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 public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina, I will refer your communication to the authorities of South Carolina, and, withholding the communication with which I am at present charged, will await further instructions. Major Anderson and his command, let me assure you, do now obtain all necessary supplies, including fresh meat and vegetables, and I believe fuel and water, from the city of Charleston, and do now enjoy communication, by post and special messenger, with the President, and will continue to do so, certainly until the door to negotiation has been closed. If your proposition is acceded to, you may assure the President that no attack will be made on Fort Sumter until a response from the governor of South Carolina has been received and communicated to him. I am, with high consideration and profound esteem, your obedient servant, ISAAC W. HAYNE. Hon. Louis T. WIGFALL. JOHN HEMPHILL. D. L. YULEE. S. R. MALLORY. C. C. CLAY, Jr. JOHN SLIDELL. J. P. BENJAMIN. No. 3. SENATE CHAMBER, January 19, 1861. SIR: We have been requested to present to you a copy of a correspondence between certain senators of the United States and Colonel Isaac W. Hayne, now in this city, on behalf of the government of South Carolina, and to ask that you will take into consideration the subject of said correspondence. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, His Excellency JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States. JOHN SLIDELL. No. 4. WAR DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1861. GENTLEMEN: The President has received your communication of the 19th instant, with the copy of a correspondence between yourselves and others "representing States which have already seceded from the United States, or will have done so before the 1st of February next," and Colonel Isaac W. Hayne, of South Carolina, in behalf of the government of that State, in relation to Fort Sumter; and you ask the President to "take into consideration the subject of said correspondence." With this request he has respectfully complied, and has directed me to communicate to you his answer. In your letter to Colonel Hayne, of the 5th instant, you propose to him to defer the delivery of a message from the governor of South Carolina to the President, with which he has been intrusted, for a few days, or until the President and Colonel Hayne shall have considered the suggestions which you submit. It is unnecessary to refer specially to these suggestions, because the letter addressed to you by Colonel Hayne, of the 17th instant, presents a clear and specific answer to them. In this he says: "I am not clothed with power to make the arrangement you suggest; 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 public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina, I will refer your communication to the authorities of South Carolina, and, withholding the communication with which I am at present charged, will await further instructions." From the beginning of the present unhappy troubles the President has endeavored to perform his executive duties in such a manner as to preserve the peace of the country and to prevent bloodshed. This is still his fixed purpose. You therefore do him no more than justice in stating that you have assurances (from his public mes sages, I presume) that, "notwithstanding the circumstances under which Major Anderson left Fort Moultrie and entered Fort Sumter with the forces under his command, it was not taken and is not held with any hostile or unfriendly purpose towards your State, but merely as property of the United States, which the President deems it his duty to protect and preserve.' You have correctly stated what the President deems to be his duty. His sole object now is, and has been, to act strictly on the defensive, and to authorize no movement against the people of South Carolina, unless clearly justified by a hostile movement on their part. He could not well have given a better proof of his desire to prevent the effusion of blood than by forbearing to resort to the use of force under the strong provocation of an attack (happily without a fatal result) on an unarmed vessel bearing the flag of the United States. I am happy to observe that, in your letter to Colonel Hayne, you express the opinion that it is "especially due from South Carolina to our States, to say nothing of other slaveholding States, that she should, as far as she can consistently with her honor, avoid initiating hostilities between her and the United States, or any other power. To initiate such hostilities against Fort Sumter would, beyond question, be an act of war against the United States. In regard to the proposition of Colonel Hayne, "that no re-enforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval, and that public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina," it is impossible for me to give you any such assurances. The President has no authority to enter into such an agreement or understanding. As an executive officer, he is simply bound to protect the public property, so far as this may be practicable; and it would be a manifest violation of his duty to place himself under engagements that he would not perform this duty either for an indefinite or a limited period. At the present moment it is not deemed necessary to re-enforce Major Anderson, because he makes no such request, and feels quite secure in his position. Should his safety, however, require re-enforcements, every effort will be made to supply them. In regard to an assurance from the President "that public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina,' the answer will readily occur to yourselves. To Congress, and to Congress alone, belongs the power to make war, and it would be an act of usurpation for the Executive to give an assurance that Congress would not exercise this power, however strongly he may be convinced that no such intention exists. I am glad to be assured, from the letter of Colonel Hayne, that "Major Anderson and his command do now obtain all necessary supplies, including fresh meat and vegetables, and, I believe, fuel and water, from the city of Charleston, and do now enjoy communication, by post and special messenger, with the President, and will continue to do so, certainly until the door to negotiation has been closed." I trust that these facilities may still be afforded to Major Anderson. This is as it should be. Major Anderson is not menacing Charleston; and I am convinced that the happiest result which can be obtained is, that both he and the authorities of South Carolina shall remain on their present amicable footing, neither party being bound by any obligations whatever, except the high Christian and moral duty to keep the peace, and to avoid all causes of mutual irritation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. HOLT, Secretary of War ad interim. Hons. JOHN SLIDELL, BEN. FITZPATRICK, and S. R. MALLORY. No. 5. WASHINGTON, January 24, 1861. GENTLEMEN: I have received your letter of the 23d instant, enclosing a communication, dated the 22d instant, addressed to Messrs. Fitzpatrick, Mallory, and Slidell, from the Secretary of War ad interim. This communication from the Secretary is far from being satisfactory to me. But inasmuch as you state that "we (you) have no hesitation in expressing an entire confidence that no re-enforcement will be sent to Fort Sumter, nor will the public peace be disturbed, within the period requisite for full communication between yourself (myself) and your (my) government," in compliance with our previous understanding I withhold the communication with which I am at present charged, and refer the whole matter to the authorities of South Carolina, and will await their reply. Mr. Gourdin, of South Carolina, now in this city, will leave here by the evening's train, and will lay before the governor of South Carolina and his council the whole correspondence between yourslves and myself, and between you and the government of the United States, with a communication from me asking further instructions. I cannot, in closing, but express my deep regret that the President should deem it necessary to keep a garrison of troops at Fort Sumter for the protection of the "property" of the United States. South Carolina scorns the idea of appropriating to herself the property of another, whether of a government or an individual, without accounting to the last dollar for everything which, for the protection of her citizens or in vindication of her own honor and dignity, she may deem it necessary to take into her own possession. As property, Fort Sumter is in far greater jeopardy occupied by a garrison of United States troops than it would be if delivered over to the State authorities, with the pledge that, in regard to that and all other property within her jurisdiction claimed by the United States, South Carolina would fully account on a fair adjustment. Upon the other point, of the preservation of peace and the avoidance of bloodshed, is it supposed that the occupation of a fort by armed men, in the midst of a harbor, with guns bearing on every part of it, under the orders of a government no longer acknowledged, can be other than the occasion of constant irritation, excitement, and indignation? It creates a condition of things which I fear is but little calculated to advance the observance of the "high Christian and moral duty, to keep the peace and to avoid all causes of mutual irritation," recommended by the Secretary of War in his communication. In my judgment, to continue to hold Fort Sumter by the United States troops is the worst possible means of securing its protection and preservation as property, as it certainly is the worst possible means of effecting a peaceful solution of existing difficulties short of war itself. I beg leave, in conclusion, to say that it is in deference to the unanimous opinion expressed by the senators present in Washington "representing States which have already seceded from the United States, or will have done so before the 1st of February next," that I comply with your suggestions; and I feel assured that suggestions from such a quarter will be considered with profound respect by the authorities of South Carolina, and will have great weight in determining their action. With high consideration, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ISAAC W. HAYNE, Hons. Louis T. WIGFALL, D. L. YULEE, J. P. BENJAMIN, A. IVERSON, JOHN HEMPHILL, JOHN SLIDELL, and C. C. CLAY, jr. SENATE CHAMBER, January 28, 1861. SIR: I have been requested by the gentlemen to whom, with myself, the accompanying letter from Colonel Isaac W. Hayne was addressed, to communicate the same to you. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, His Excellency JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States. JOHN SLIDELL. No. 6. WASHINGTON, January 31, 1861. SIR: I had the honor to hold a short interview with you on the 14th instant, informal and unofficial. Having previously been informed that you desired that whatever was official should be, on both sides, conducted by written communications, I did not at that time present my credentials, but verbally informed you that I bore a letter from the governor of South Carolina, in regard to the occupation of Fort Sumter, which I would deliver the next day under cover of a written communication from myself. The next day, before such communication could be made, I was waited upon by a senator from Alabama, who stated that he came on the part of all the senators then in Washington from the States which had already seceded from the United States, or would certainly have done so before the first day of February next. The senator from Alabama urged that he and they |