Southern recorder. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1820-1872, January 15, 1861, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text3 XLII. ,r OKME & E^rOKSANDrEOPR & SON, RIETOES E I)l'fOl urroRDER published weeklv, at th« Tin I' 1 ' n,„ , UK ner annum, when MJU iut i is —to be paid always in advance. 1 "" I"- nl ail iu registered letters at onr risk. RelU^ ^> oot ' l{yu tin"' ,r the direction of their paper s from what office it is to be ^nVfciied- . TS ctmS pieuously inserted at ft 00 UpvtKfH; " f ; rst insertion, and 50 cents per subsequent insertion. Those sent .. .jie f" r ^.jin'-uiou of the number of insertions, until ordered out, and charged ac- ,illbeP ttl ’ Usl , irJitf ' i ..ml Venrocs, by Administrators, Ex- $*D” ! L p,nriliaus.are required by law to be held 'editors, or ‘ j. iv the mouth, between the hours outte.^ 1 forenoon, and three iu the afternoon, at often' 111 , ' dm county iu which tin: proper- ti,« Ce' irl . Notices of these sales must be given tvis^'^ltte FOKTV WAVS previous to the day i Ut pabb c ?« ei of site- ( j sa ] e „f personal property must be Notice- 1 ' ])Ai S previous to the day of sale, given at 1 |’‘ l jj e btors and Creditors of an Estate must. be'umlication will be made to the Court Notice ' lia ‘ ! , sell Land or Negroes, must ofotiiBsr fm ii e u. hed for TWO ■ . . be P n “ 1,: , , r Letters of Administration must be ^ditirtg days—tor Dismission from Admin- inuntlis—for Dismission from ‘’“■"jiniKbiP ' ll "d s ' G" sr f 0 r foreclosure of Mortgage must be pub- «(*/# for four months—for establishing lost 1 iiiniUiii l ,n 1 ' f r iiu 'full sillier, of three months—for compel- |>'' l P o: .y . •pspeutorsand Administrators, where lingt'.tle- 11 - . , j a .L-r-.i, iveu bv the deceased, the full space Lilias been £ <'J'"V'.-atiotiswill always be continued according to tl ’se the le*ml requirements, unless otherwise or- iere,i ' ,: ness in the line of PRINTING will meet with AIH" attention a' the Recorder Office. RABUN 8o SMITH, Factors and Commission Merchants, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. Order* far Banging, Rope, and other family supplies promptly attended to. July 24, ishh^ 30 6m RIVERS & STANLEY, ATTORNEYS at law, IKWINTON, GA. TV' 1 nractice in the Ocmulgee and Southern r; " a ;'.‘ JONA. RIVERS, AnrilklSM. 15 ROLIN A. STANDBY. “f. g. ITana, late HAN’a & WASHBURN) & SAY ASSAM, GEORGIA. I CONTINUE the above business at the old stand of DAK A A WASHBURN, 114 Bay Street, and am prepared to make liberal advances on all produce totuigned to my care. August 7, I860 23 26t NEW LAW FIRM. BtlHERFORI) & HARRIS, MACON, GA. IUILL practice Law in Bibb and adjoining It counties, and in the United States Court at Savannah and Marietta. —ALSO— In my comity in the State by Special contract. JouvEhthiKroi.tr. Charles J. Harris. March 101860. lltf. JONES'<3z> WAY, " (Successors to WAY & TAYLOR,) S it COMMISSION' MERCHANTS, CULVER DAY AND DRAYTON STREETS, SAVAN N AH, QA- jcujosrs, c.R.war. , Pnticularattention paid to selling Cotton, Rice, Core,Flour, Bacon and Produce generally'. Liberal advances made on consignments. July 12. ISij'J 28 tf & SPARKS, HOUSE m COMMISSION MERCHANTS IvIeiooii, G-eo. WILL GIVE prompt attention to all business committed to their charge and hope to receive a liberal hereof patronage. THOS. HARDEMAN, Sen., . OVID G. SPARKS. m «mh,August21, I860 34 ly ISAAC C. WEST & CO., AGENTS PLANTERS’ CONVENTION, &tral Commission Merchants, S.41 'ANNA H G EORGIA. COMMISSIONS—Fifty Cents per Bale for Cotton. 1 f WEST. Ac ?ust 14,1,^0 A. R. RALSTON. 33 6m Tailoring Establishment. rpHE SUBSCRIBER JL is now receiving Lis stock of Pall and Winter •S W N® 'US 1 and flatters himself that lie can please all tastes in bis selections of CLOTHS, fciiiieres, cfco. a<Je to order, with NEATNESS and ial and be your own judge. THOMAS BROWN. ■ Sept. 25, IftHIO 39 tf Tailoring. <T. C. SPERLING-, thankful for past favors, would in form his old fi iends and customers, that he is still at Lis business, and • ■'in be found next door to the Re corder Office. His fits a«d work, warranted to give satisfaction- September "45,1860 39 tf lllr ) ami Fireman’s Hat and Cap manufacturer. M LENTZ, MilledgcAiUe, Ga.. is gg now prepared to till any order in his A ! ue of business. The Dress Caps of the Governor's Horse Guard, is a spe IV,„, < ’T n °f B's workmanship. H.VTs 1 at,, ‘ ut >on given to renovating OLD iH^ev‘]le,No v . jr., |«((0 47 tf “^lER & WILSON’S SEWING machines. ' !K deduced *5 to $10 on each, AND ^FMMER included. X {i iiixes warranted one year. &re 4t a ventra l Agency for the State •‘tbiues of all kinds repaired by— 1 J- JOHNSTON & Co., Matchmakers and jewelers Ha b ^Uib, CON, T 4, IrKiO * 49 tf MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1861. CRUDITIES OS THE CONSTITUTION. The Difficulties that Surround Is. The subjoined article from the Boston Post, is interesting for the historical facts it tecalls, aud the forcible mauuerin which it sets forth the duties and powers of the i resident, uuder the constitution, as appli cable to the present threatening condition of the country : Certain people at the North will iusist that the United States government is military despotism, and that President Buchanan has all the powers of the Shah of Persia to seize and imprison, and hang men at his pleasure. Thus the republican presses are demanding of the President that lie shall seize commissioners from South Caiolina, and try them for treason. If you ask them what is treasou, they can’t tell, hut they insist that the President ought to hang somebody, because Parton, iu w hat lie calls his “Lite of Andrew Jack- son,” (compiled too much from street talk and newspaper slanders,) sets it down that Gen. Jackson proposed to hang Mr. Cal houn for nullification, which is false. No citizen can be punished or deprived if life or liberty iu this country without due pro cess of law. Massachusetts contrived the Hartford convention in the war of 1S14 to set up a northern confederation, aud South Caroliua has got up a secession convention to pre cipitate the slaveholding States into southern confederation. Massachusetts, in 1814, sent two ambas sadors of the Hartford convention to Y\ ashington to demand of President Madi son the separation of New England from the Union, in carrying on the war. Wil liam Sullivan and Harrison Gray Otis were the commissioners. Mr. Madison did not propose fo hang them. But, Mr. John Quincy Adams says, of the peace of Ghent, and news of which came while the commissioners were at Washington, “the interposition of a kind Providence averted the most deplorable of catastroplis” —the establishment of a northern conf’ede- acy.” South Carolina now follows the exam ple of Massachusetts by sending her com promisers to President Buchanan, and President Buchanan is abused by Massa chusetts in particular pecausc he won’t hang them for treasou withut judge or jury ? Now let us inquire wliati treason is, and what the constitution says about seizing and hanging people in this country. The constitution of the United States say’s: “Treason against the United Utates shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” This last applies only to aiding a for eign enemy and giving them comfort, as the Hartford convention did in 1814. The United States not being at war, treason now can consist only is levying war upon the U nited States, and the constitu tion says there must he some overt act, proved by two wilness. And what is levy ing war is thus defined by the Supreme Court in the United States vs. Aaron Burr: “To levy war is to raise, create make or cary on war. War can be levied only by the employment of actual force—troops must me embodied, men must be openly raised,” Ac. And the purpose must he to make war on the United States. Thus “to march in arms with a force marshaled and arrayed, committing acts of violence and devastation, in order to compel the resignation of a public officer, or to render ineffective an act of Congress, is high trea son,” says Chief justice Marshall. That was the nature of the offence which Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, and their associates were charged with when they incited the mob in Eaueuil Hall to go to the court house and rescue Burns, the fugitive slave, in which unlawful en terprise Batchelder, one of the marshal’s deputies, was murdered. Aud here again South Carolina is only following this ex ample of Massaciiusetts in the attack upon the forts, if she has really used military force to take them. That is treason in the men who committed and incited the act, unless South Carolina has a right to secede from the Union. But it is not trea son iu the State, for a Slate cannot com mit treason. It is only treason in the indi viduals who commit the overt art. And if jit he treason or misdemeanor, where is the authority of the President to seize or hang anybody, as the republicans are in sisting he ought to do, and charge him with being a traitor for not doing it ? The constitution i6 very plain on this point. It reads thus: “The trial of all crimes shall be by ju ry, and such trial shall be held in the Slate where the said crime shall have been committed.” “No person shall he held to answer for a erinie unless on a presentment or indict ment of a grand jury, nor he deprived ef life, liberty or property without due pro cess of law.” Aud “the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury of the State where the crime has been com mitted.” These are the limitations of that despotism which certain people so incon siderately claim uow-a-days for the Presi dent. . , If any citizen or body of men in boutli Carolina have levied war against the Uni ted States they cannot be arraigned or tried for it any where but in South Caro lina. There must first be an indictment found by a grand jury in South Carolina. There must be a District Attorney to pre pare and attest the indictment. There must be a court to receive it and arraign the prisoner, and a jury to tiy him. This last was the protection which Par ker and Phillips and their associates found when they were indiated for what they called “free speech.” in connection with the murder of Baclieldcr, and the obstruc lion ef the laws of the United States for the rendition of fugitive slaves. The Pres blent could not seize them, nor could they be tried anywhere but in Massachusetts ; and though there were all the officers of law here and a grand jury iudicted them, they escaped a trial and got off upon a very small technicality, which was, that the commissioner who issued his warrant of arrest had signed it only as commissioner without saying what commissioner ; and the court held that the iudictment. howev er drawn, could not supply this deficiency, because it could not go beyond the de scription in the warrant. Just so President Buchanan has no> pow er to seize or arraign or try auybody iu Washington or anywhere else. If tliere have been acta of treasou, they have been committed only in South Carolina. The parties charged must be tried in that State by a jury of the State. There is no Uni ted States marshal to arrest them, no dis trict attorney to indict them, no grand ju ry to find a bill, no court to arraign and no jury to try them. How then are the steps to he taken which the constitution demands iu every case of alleged crime? And it there were all the officers of the court and juries, everybody knows that a court in South Carolina would hold that the right of secession absolved the party accused from his liability to the laws of the United States, and no jury would con vict. Jt would be the same in Massachusetts, tf. under the personal liberty bill, a fugi tive fiom labor should be taken before a jury to be tried. No Massachusetts jury could bo found to agree that be was a fu gitive slave. Thus it is obvious that Mas sachusetts and South Carolina stand in the same category of disuuion and secession, so long as these laws remain on her stat ute book, and so long as her people resist and refuse to execute the laws of the Uni ted States within her borders. But it is said, suppose the Judges and all the United States officers have resign ed iu South Carolina, why don’t President Buchanan supply the vacancies 1 But what then ? He could find no men in South Carolina to accept the offices, and the law requires that they shall be ap pointed in the District. Even if lie sent Northern men there they would not be al lowed to act, and if they were resisted, then it comes back to just where we star ted lrom ; those who resisted must be in dicted and tried by a court and jury in the State. If men of sense would look at the facts aud law, and read the constitution, they would see the practical difficulties in the way of the summary process with which they require the President to deal with existing difficulties. He can only move the constitutional machineiy of govern ment in executing the laws. If the ma chinery is all broken up in a State, be cannot invade a State, or send an army there, to enforce martial law, unless the Governor or legislature call upon him to suppress insurrection or domestic violence. He can send troops to the forts, and if the commissioners of South Carolina require him to order troops to one or another fort, they assume what does not belong to them. The President, as commander in chief, is to judge for himself of the expe diency ; and on this point he should insist, and yield to no threats from South Caroli na, or any body, if they are made. It is this question of expediency as to reinfor cing the forts at Charleston which the President has gravely considered. If Major Anderson has solved the diffi culty without bloodshed, so much the bet ter. Of what avail would United States troops have been there if sent, as they must have been, when their presence would have brought on a bloody conflict ? If any were sent in such a crisis, an army should have been sent sufficient to conquer South Carolina, aided as she would be, the moment blood was shed, by the sym pathizing States. That would have been civil war. The President did not bring on this “irrepressible conflict,” and will en deavor to avoid staining his hands with the blood of his fellow-citizens in a fratri cidal war. It is his purpose (and he will prove the true patriot and Christian if he succeeds in doing it) to leave his high of fice without a drop of blood having been needlessly’ shed in this awfully impending battle of the States.” Mr. Uincoln will then take the respon sibility, and be lias four years iu which to carry out his policy. If he means peace and union he will recommend concession and compromise, and a restoration of the fraternal relations of all the States, and endeavor to shed no blood to madden the whole country. In the meantime, Mr. Buchanan must bear all the unreasoning assaults made upon him, until reason shall resume her sway and justify the only peace policy that could save a civil war, if indeed any policy can do it. But really it is not so small a tiling as some people think to sac rifice millions of Ikes in the attempt of one section of the country to conquer an other section of the country and preserve the Union, as they call it, by bathing it in seas of blood and carnage. Let us pause a little while, study the constitution, arid reflect. feeling of extreme indignation toward the North, which has been produced in a great measure by the abuse of the South, pour ed forth in speeches and letters by the more extreme of our politicians. But it is a great mistake to suppose that these repre sent the feelings of the masses iu the North, even in New England. Every man of common sense knows that the abolition of slavery, if desirable, is an utter impos ibilitj, and there is no such thing as a gen eral hatred of the South. It is true that there is a party of fanatical philanthropists who make a great noise, aud are iu fact willing to meet disunion, who do not repre seat the actnal feeling of the masses, al though, owing to the chaotic state of polit ical parties, they may appear to do so; but in this respect it is evident that a great re action is taking place. I was a member of Congress in 1832 and in 1833 when South Carolina was ready for secession, and I then made up my mind that Messrs. Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, &c. were desirous of a separation of the slave Sates into a separate Confederacy, as more favorable to the security of slave prop ertv. This opinion has evidently been the leading principal of action in your own State, as avowed by Mr. Rlielt, to the pres ent day; aud it is apparent that it has made numerous converts in the neighboring States. It is evident that great exertions have been made to make it believe that other advantages will be obtained by these States in a separate Confederacy, so as to constitute them a great and powerful na tion. I cannot but think this is a great mis take. It would make no decided change in the natural condition of the two parts.— Planting States cannot be converted into commercial communities; they can neither build ships nor man them. The union of the North with the South is the most natu ral and beneficial that can be. There is no “irrepressible conflict” between them. YVliat can be more advantageous that the intercourse between South Carolina aud Massachusets ? You furnish us with cot ton, which wc manufacture, and supply you with many wholesome “notions.”— But to my thinking, madness rules the hour. It seems a settled fact that South Caroliua will secede at once, and I suppose there is scarcely a doubt that Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida will follow; but these five States will make a miserable fig ure as n nation. The calculation is no doubt that Virginia and the other Border States will eventually join them. This, to my mind, is the real danger, and but too proba ble. I look on it with dismay. On the snp position that it can bo accomplished with out bloodshed, it will be roost injurious to both parties. I believe the South will suf- fer the most, but that is poor consolation to the North. And what does the South gain ? By secession she gives up the point iu dispute—the right to carry slaves into the Territories and also the restoration of fugitive slaves. It cannot be long before it would lead to a deadly civil and prob ably a servil war. What a breaking up of family and social ties! I sincerely hope and trust it may not reach yours or mine, and, in that belief, subscribe myself your sincere friend. NATHAN APPLETON. TnE TOPICS OF THE DJY The subjoined letter, from the pen of an eminent citizen of Boston, (Mass.) was ori ginally addressed to a gentleman of Charleston, South Carolina, and is repro duced in our columns in tribute to the high character of the writer and the practical force of his suggestions, the fruit of a long and useful life:—Nat. Int. Boston, December 15, I860. My Dear Sir: I have received the Charleston Daily Courier, containing your son’s letter on the secession of South Car olina. The presant state of things is to me most distressing. It is sad to see this pow erful, glorious nation, in the midst ofunpar alleled prosperity, shattering itself into fragments, aud all out of an impracticable idea, a nonentity, connected with the insti tution of slavery. We of the North, es pecialy of Massachusetts, are much to blame ; but the opinions of the South in in relation to us are altogether mistaken, and the existing state of things lias arisen directly from the act of the South. The abolition party in this State were a mere fragment, of no consideration. U nder the compromise of 1850 we were iu a state of perfect quiet and repose, when the fataj measures of the repeal of the Missouri compromise and the passage of the Kansas- Nebraska bill at once changed the face of affairs. It was a firebrand thrown amongst combustibles. It was made to be considered a violent aggression on the part of the South It killed off the Whig party and eventually the Democratic. Many of our best men, most conservative friends of the Union under the Constitution, joined the Republican party, and the abolitionists were eua*bl®d to bold up tbeir beads’ and were even allowed in many cases to take the lead in measures and to otter freely their diatribes against slavery in the ab stract. At the same time I have uo hesi tation in saying that the great body of the people are perfectly sound attached to lb. Uni.., «ad iMdj.to « «»d« the Constitution. It » evident^ teat the South is iu • state of great excitement, a Opinions of the Press. The Alabama State Sentinel presents to its readers the following arguments in op position to the secession of Alabama from the Union and the formation of a separate government. The editor of the Sent inti lias long been a leading Democrat of that State, and in the late contest supported Douglas : “Gur friends would dissolve the Union because Lincoln is elected. “They would dissolve it because we can not get an equal share in the territories. “Would a dissolution briug back the territory ? “But our slaves escape to the North. “Well we have a fugitive slave law, United States Courts, Commissioners aud Marshals. “But they wou’t enforce the law. “But they do enforce in some, iu many cases. “But they ought to enforce in all cases. “So they ought, but what then ? “Why, dissolve she Union. “Dissolve the Union, and you dissolve the fugitive slave law. Do this, and you convert every State into a Canadian prov ince. You could not of right demand your slaves in Arkansas. When did you ever recapture a slave from Canada or Mexico. “Now turn to the map of the United States. Look at the situation ot Delaware and Maryland. What is to prevent their slaves from going to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Turn to Virginia and Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The river is frosen in winter. It is dry or shallow in summer. A man can swim it, cross it in a boat, on a plank, a raft, or on a log, at any season. “Look at Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, particularly Missouri. There is Illinois on the eas f , Iowa on the north, and Kansas on the west, all free States. Dissolve the Union, and they become to Missouri, each of themforeign governmenta, precisely such as Canada aud Mexico, where your slave, once he enters, had as well be dead or free. In the Union as things remain, the slave knows he is liable to be pursued and brought back, and will not hazard the at tempt to escape. Out of the Union, aud he soon learns that every farm house, eve ry hamlet and village is a city of refuge, and beyoud question go any length to get over tbe line. “Here are five States in this condition. They cannot dispense with the Constitu tion and the fugitive slave law. “But wo will form treaties “Yes, when one can make a bargain and have things all his own way. We have treaties with Eugland and Mexico, but none we know of reached the case. If wa cannot live together under tbe Constitution or consent to have the laws enforced, it is folly to delude ourselves w ith tbe hope of a treaty for the return of fugitives from either justice or labor. “But we will pursue our slaves, if need be, with a hundred men. “Yes and they will resist with two hun dred men. “Then we will briug five hnndred. And they will bring a thousand. “Wbat comes next but an armed inva sion. and proclamation offering freedom to slaves? These five States poll nearly half million, more than two-fifths of the entire vote of tbe Booth.” In Stockbridge, Eagiand.thi library of a diets—d clergyman.arid for <£3. and the liqaon in hie cellar for oC276, Correspondence between the President of the United Stales and the Commissioners of South Carolina. The following correspondence was read in the South Carolina Convention on Fri day, in secret session, and from which the injunction of secrecy was removed : Washington, Dec. 28, i860. Sir ; We have the honor to transmit to you a copy of the full powers from the Convention of the people of South Carolina under which we are authorized and em powered to treat with the Government ol the Uuited States for the delivery Gf the forts, magazines, light houses, aud other real estate, with their appurtenances,within the limits of South Carolina, and also lor au apportionment of the public debt and lor a division of all property held by the Government of the United States, as agent of the Confederated States, of which South Carolina was recently a member, and gen erally to negotiate as to all other measures and arrangements proper to be made and adopted in the existing relations of the par ties, and for the continuance of peace aud amity between the Commonwealth and the government at Washington.” In the execution of this, it is our duty to furnish you. as we now do, with an official copy of the Ordinance of Secession, by which the State of South Uaiolina lias resumed the powers she delegated to the Government of the United States; and lias declared her perfect sovereignty and inde pendence. It would also have been onr duty to have informed you that we were ready to nego tiate with you upon ali such questions as are necessarily raised by the adoption of this Ordinance, and that we were prepared to enter upon this negotiation with the earnest desire to avoid all unnecessary and hostile collision, and so inaugurate our new relations as to secure mutual respect, general advantage, and a future of good will and harmony, beneficial to all the par ties concerned. But the events of the last twenty-four hours renders such an assurance impossi ble. We came here the representatives of an authority, which could at any time within the past sixty days have taken pos session of the forts in Charleston harbor, but upon pledges given in a manner that we cannot boubt. determined to trust to your honor rather than to its own power. Since our arrival an officer of the United States acting, as we are assured, not only without but against your orders has dismantled one fort and occupied another, thus altering to a most important extent the condition of affairs under which we came. Until these circumstances are explained in a manner which relieves us of all doubt as to the spirit iu which these negotiations shall be conducted, we are forced to sus pend all discussion as to any arrangements by which onr mutual interests might be amicably adjusted. And, in conclusion, we would urge upon yon the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston. Un der present circumstances, they are a stand ing menace which renders negotiation im possible, and, our recent experience shows, threatens speedily to bring to a bloody issue, questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment. We have the honor to be, Very Respectfully, Your ob’t. serv’ts II. W. Barnwell, 4 J. U. Adams, ; Commissioners. James L. Orr. ) To the President of the United States. Washington City, Dec. 30lb, 1860. Gentlemen • I have had the honor to receive your communication of 28th inst., together with a copy of‘your full powers of the Convention of the people of South Carolina,” authoring you to treat with the Government of the United States on va rious important subjects therein mentioned and also a copy of the Ordinance, bearing date on the 20th inst., declaring that “the Union now subsisting betwecu South Car olina and other States, uuder the name of the United States of America,” is hereby dissolved. In answer to this communication, I have to say, that my position, as President of the United States, was clearly defined in the Message to Congress on the 3d instant. Iu that I stated that, “apart from the-exe cution of the laws so iar as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations be tween the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no jower to change the relations heretofore existing between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere Executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolu tion of the Confederacy among our thirty- three Sovereign States. It bears uo re semblance to the recognition of a foreign dcfacto Government involving no such res ponsibility. Any attempt to do this would on his part, be a naked act of usurpation. It is, therefore, my duty to submit to Congress the whole question in all its bear »‘'gs.” Such is my opinion still. I could there fore meet you only as private gentlemen of the highest character, and was entirely willing to communicate to Congress any proposition you might have to make to that body upon the subject. Of this you were well aware. It was my earnest de sire that such a disposition might be made of the whole subject by Congress, wbo alone possess the power, as to prevent the inauguration of a civil war between the parties in regard to the possession of the Federal forts iu the harbor of Charleston ; and I therefore deeply regret, that, in your opinion “the events of the last twenty-four hours Fenders this impossible.” In conclusion you urge upon me “the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston,” stating that “un der present circumstances they area stand ing menace which renders negotiation im possible, as onr recent experience shows, threatens speedily to bring to a bloody issue questions which ought to be settled with temperance andjndgment.” The reason for this change in your posi tion is that since your arrival iu Washing tou, “an officer of the Uuited States, acting as we (you) are assured not only withont, bot against your (my) orders, has disman tled one fort and occupied another, thus altering to a most important extent the condition of affairs under which we (yon) came.” You also allege that you came here “the Representatives of an authority which could at any time within the past sixty days have taken possession of thri forte iu Charleston harbor, but which upon pledges given in a manner that we (yon) cannot doubt determined to trust to your (my) honor rather than to its power.”- This brings me to a consideraction of the nature of those alleged pledges, and in what manner they have been observed.— In my Message of the 2d ol December last. I stated, in regard to the property of tbe United States in Smith Carolina, that it “has been purchased for a fair equivalent bj r tbe couseut of the Legislature of the State, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, &c., and over these the authority to exercise legislation, has been expressly granted by tbe Constitution to Congress. It is not believed that an attempt will be made to expel the United States from this prtfjierty by force ; but if in this I should prove to be mistaken the officer iu command of the forts has received orders to act strictly on the defensive. In such a contingency, the responsibility for con sequences would rightfully rest upon the beads ot the assailants.” This being the condition of parties, on Saturday, Sth Decmnber. four of the Rep resentatives from South Carolina called on me, and requested an interview. We had ail earnest conversation on the subject of these forts, and the Lest means of prevent ing a collision between the parties, for the purpose of sparing the effusion of blood. I suggested, for prudential reasons, that it would be best to put in writing what they said to me verbally. They did so accor dingly, and on Monday morning, the 10th inst., three of them presented to me a paper, signed by all the Representatives from South Carolina with a single exception, of which the following is a copy : “ To His Excellency^ James Jiarlmnan, President United States : In compliance with our statement to you yesterday, we now expresss to you our strong convictions that neither the con stituted authorities nor any body of the people of the State ot South Carolina, will either attack or molest the United States forts in the harbor of Charleston previous ly to the action of the Convention, and we hope and believe not until ail offer has been made through on accredited repre sentative to negotiate lor au amicable ar- rangment of all matters between the State and the Federal Government, provided that no reinforcements shall be sent to those forts and their relative military status shall remain as at present. John McQueen, h . L. Bonham, W. W. Boyce. Laurence M. Kf.itt. Washington, 9th December, 1S60.” And here 1 must, in justice to myself, remark that, at the time the paper was presented to me, I objected to the word ‘provided,” as it miglit be construed into an agreement on my party which I never would make. They said that nothing was further from their intention—they did not so understand it, and I should not so con sider it. It is evident they could enter in to no reciprocal agreement with me on the subject. They did not profess to have au thority to dotliis, and were acting in their individual character. I considered it noth ing more in effect than the promise ol high ly honorable gentlemen to exert their in fluence for tbe purpose expressed. The event lias proven that they have faithfully kept their promise, although I have never since received a line from any one of them, or from any member of the Convention, on the subject. It is well known it was my determination, and this I freely expressed, not to reinforce the forts in the harbor and thus produce a collision, until they had been actually attacked, or until 1 bad certain evidence that they were about to be attacked. Tills paperl receiv ed most cordially, and considered it as a happy omen that peace might still be pre served, and that time might thus bo given for reflection.- This is the whole foundation for the alleged pledge. But I acted in the manner as 1 would have done had I enter ed into a positive and formal agreement with parties capable of contracting, al though such an agreement would have been on my part, from the nature of my official duties, impossible. The world knows that I have never sent any re inforcements to the forts in Charleston harbor : and I have certainly never author ized any change to be made in their mili tary status. Bearing upon this subject, I refer you to an order issued by the Sec retary of War, on the 11th inst., to Major Anderson, but not brought to my notice until the 21st. It is as follows : "Memorandum of Verbal Insti notions to Major Anderion, 1st Artillery, Comman ding Purl Moultrie, South Cetrolina : “You are aware of the great anxiety of the Secretary of War that a collision of the troops with the people of this State shall be avoided, and of liis studied deter miuation to pursue a course with reference to the military force and forts in this har bor which shall guard against such a collis- He li as, therefore, carefully abstain These were tbe last instruction^ trans mitted to Major Anderson before bis re moval to Fort Snmter, with a single ex'cep- tien, in regard to a particular which does not in any degree affect the present ques tion. Under these circumstances, it is clear that Major Auderson acted npon his own responsibility, and without authority, unless, indeed, be had ‘‘tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act” on the part of the authorities of South Caroli na, which Iia3 not been alleged. Still he is a brave and honorable officer, and justice requires that he should not he condemn ed without a fair hearing. Be this as it inay, when I learned that Major Anderson had left Fort Moultrie and proceeded to Fort Sumter, my fiist prompt ings were to command him to return to his former position, aud there tc await the con tingencies presented in his instructions.— This would only have been done with any degree of safety to the command, by the concurrence of the South Carolina authori ties. But before any steps could possibly have been taken in this direction, we re ceived information that the “Palmetto flag floated out to tbe breeze at Castle Pinck ney, and a large military force went over last night (the 27th) to Fort Moultrie.” Thus the authorities of South Carolina, without waiting or asking for any explan ations, and doubtless, believing as yon have expressed it, tbnt the officer had act ed not only without, but agaiust my or ders, on the very next day after the night when the removal was made, seized by a military force, two of the three Federal torts in the harbor of Charleston, and cov ered them under their own flag, instead of that of the United States. At this gloo my period of our history, startling events succeed each other rapidly. On (he very day, the 27th inst. that possession ot these two forts was taken, the Palmetto flag was raised over the Feder al Custom House and Postofliee in Charles ton, and on the same day every officer of the Custom—Collector Naval Officer, Sur veyor and Appraiser—resigned their offi ces. And this, although it was well known from the language ot my Message, that, as an Executive officer, I felt myself bound to collect the revenue at the port of Charleston under the existing laws. In the harbor of Charleston we now find three forts confronting each other, over all of which the Federal flag floated only four days ago; but now over two of them this flag has been supplanted, and the Palmetto flag has been substituted in its stead. It is under all these circumstances that I am urge! immediately to withdraw the troops from the harbor of Charleston, and am informed that without this, negotiation is impossible. This I cannot do ; this I will not do. Such an idea was never thought of by me in any possible emergen- gency. No snch allusion bad been made iu any communication between myself and any human being. But the inference is, that I am bound to withdraw the troops from the only fort remaining in the posses sion of tbe U. S. in the harbor of Charles ton, because the officer there in command of all the forts thought proper, withont in structions, to chance his position from one of them to another. At this point of writing I have received information by telegraph, from Captain Humphreys, in command of the Arsenal at Charleston, that “it has to-day (Sunday, the 30th,) been taken by force of arms.” It is estimated that the munitions of war belonging to the United States in this Ar senal arc worth half a million of dollars. Comment is needless. After this infor mation, I have only to add, that whilst it is my duty to defend Fort Sumter, as a portion of the public property of the Uui ted States, against hostile attacks from whatever quarter they may come, by such means as I may pcs-ess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such a defence can be construed into a menace against the city of Charleston. With great personal regard, I remain yonrs very respectfully, JAMES BUCHANAN. To tbe Hon. Robert Barnwell, James H. Adams, James L. Orr. GENERAL SCOTT. Temporarily in this city, is, we have seen, the subject of several notices in tbe newspapers; such as, 1, that he is about to resign his commission in the army ; 2, that lie has matured a plan for invading and conquering any seceding State or States; and 3, that he is opposed to garrisoning our Southern forts so as to place them be yond capture by heated mobs or unauthor ized squads of volunteers. w e can say with confidence that there is not the least truth in any of those ru mors.— National Intelligencer. ed from increasing the force at this point, or taking any measures which might add to the present excited state of the public mind, or which would throw any donbt on the confidence he feels that South Caroii na will not attempt by violence to obta*n possession of the public works or interfere with tbeir occupancy. “But as the counsel and acts of rash and impulsive persons may possibly disappoint these expectations of the Government, he deems it proper that you should be pre pared with instructions to meet so unhap py a contingency. He has th'-refore di rected me veibilly to give such instruc tions. “You are carefully to avoid every act which would needlessly tend to provoke aggression, and for that reason yon are not, withont necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into tiie assump lion of a hostile attitude: but you are to hold possesoion of the forts in this harbor, and if attacked you are to defend yourself to the last extremity. “The smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, bat an attack on, or attempt to take possession of either of them, will be regarded as an act of hostili ty, and yon may then put your command similar steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a. boa- tile act. D. F. Butler, Ast- Adj. Gen. “Fort Moultrie, S. C., Dec. 11, 18fiQ. This is in conformity to my instructions to Major Buell. John B. Flo to, “Secretary of War.” Man Worship.—There is a story going the rounds that tbe Rev. A. S. Laurie once had occasion to exchange pulpits with the Rev. E. H. Chapin, of New Y'ork. Many members of Mr. Chapin’s congregation have an idea that nobody else can preach a sermon as well as their pastor, and when they enter their church and find a stranger occupying his place, they are apt to turn and go out. So it happened on this occa sion that not a few persons departed, and others were on the point of doing so, when Mr. Laurie arose, kym-book in baud, and gravely remarked: “All those wbo came here to worship E.H. Chapin will have an opportunity to retire, and those who came fo worship tbe Everlasting God will please unite in singing tbe following bymu.” Tbe following is an extraet from a speech recently made by Chancellor Dur kin, iu tbe South Carolina Convention, viz: “i learn that Secretary Cobb has said that the revenue of South Carolina from the custom-house would not near pay the expense of the custom-hotrse for the last qearter. I a Uo learn from the best au thority that the post offices of South Caroli ua cost tbe Government from thirty to for ty thousand dollars per quarter, and that tbe receipts have been less than $50,000 per annttm.” Hence it seems that neither the custom house nor the pest offices in South Caroli na pay expenses. The post offices of the whole State yield less than $50,000 yrr annum, while the expenses are about $40,- into either of them which you may deem most proper, to increase its power or resist- fP tar,er » ** 1GD.000 per annum, ance You are also authorized to take f be “accitrsed Union,” therefore, pays #110,000 per annum, or thereabouts, for the postal accommodation of the people of South Carolina, more than it coNecta from T)^ British ship Birmingham, loading for’Liverpool in Mobile Boy, on the €rVrts burned with 80S bales of cotton on board.

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Southern recorder. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1820-1872, January 15, 1861, Image 1