The widespread belief in the North that the South had secretly prepared
for war, was utterly false, and yet the impression was of the utmost
importance to the President of the Confederacy. It gave his weak
government a fictitious strength, and gave him a brief time in which to
prepare his raw recruits for their first battle.
Day and night he prayed for peace at any sacrifice save that of honor.
The first bloodshed would be the match in the powder magazine. He
pressed his Commissioners in Washington for haste.
The inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln had been so carefully worded,
its utterances so conservative and guarded, his expressions of good will
toward the South so surprisingly emphatic, that Davis could not believe
an act of aggression which would bring bloodshed could be committed by
his order.
And yet day dragged after day with no opportunity afforded his
Commissioners to treat with the new Administration save through the
undignified course of an intermediary. The Southern President ordered
that all questions of form or ceremony be waived.
Seward, the Secretary of State, gave to these Commissioners repeated
assurances of the peaceful intention of the Government at Washington,
and the most positive promise that Fort Sumter would be evacuated.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188