Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/482

450 The South begins the War. [isei speaking by a striking thought, or expressing a firm conviction, it became positively handsome. The policy announced in his inaugural address was eminently peaceful and conservative. He declared the Union to be perpetual and unbroken, and secession ordinances and resolutions legally void. He announced that to the extent of his ability he would execute the laws in all the States. He would hold the exterior boundaries of the nation, and collect duties and imposts. He would not force obnoxious officials upon disaffected interior communities, and would furnish the mails unless repelled. After an earnest and patriotic appeal to the South he added : " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow- countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors."" On the following day his Cabinet was nominated and confirmed. Its members were William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, Edward Bates, Attorney General, and Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General. It was a composite council, comprising representatives from the principal parties out of which the new Republican party had been formed. Four of the members, Seward, Chase, Cameron, and Bates, had been candidates for the Presidency. (2) NORTH AND SOUTH. The very first question presented to the new Administration was both unexpected and serious. Instead of being, as the public believed, secure in Fort Sumter, Major Anderson reported that in a few weeks his provisions would be exhausted, and that the rebel siege-works had become so formidable that it would require an army 20,000 strong to relieve him. Since the government neither possessed such an army nor could create one in time, the alternative presented was one of starvation or withdrawal of the garrison. Commissioners also arrived at this time from the Confederate authorities to discuss terms of separation and independence for the South; but their application was rejected, and the envoys were not even recognised. After about a month of investigation and discussion, President Lincoln caused an expedition to be prepared, and gave notice to the governor of South Carolina that an attempt would be made to send provisions to the fort ; and, if this were not resisted, no further effort to throw in either men, arms, or ammunition would be attempted until further notice or in case of attack. Upon this the Confederate government immediately sent an order to reduce the fort; and after two days' bombardment the garrison capitulated on April 14. It had not lost any men, but was forced to surrender by want of provisions and the burning of wooden buildings in the course of the bombardment.