Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/294

236 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS "General Scott s Views." It was the foundation, at a later period, of a charge that President Bu chanan had been warned by Gen. Scott of the danger of leaving the southern forts without suffi cient garrisons to prevent surprises, and that he had neglected this warning. Mr. Buchanan, who had publicly denied the right of secession, could not furnish the southern states with any justification of such a proceeding by prematurely re-enforcing the forts as if he anticipated secession. But, even if the president had wished to adopt such a measure, there were, as Gen. Scott himself said, but five companies of regular troops, or 400 men, available for the garrisoning of nine fortifications in six highly excited southern states. The remainder of the army was scattered over the western plains. Scott s views were clearly impracticable, and pro duced no impression upon the president s mind. Mr. Buchanan has been often and severely re proached for a "temporizing policy" and a want of such vigor as might have averted the civil war; but the policy of Mr. Lincoln s administration, until after the attack on Fort Sumter, was identical w r ith that of Mr. Buchanan. In his annual message of December 5, 1860, Mr. Buchanan stated clearly and forcibly his denial of the right of secession, and also his conviction that if a state should adopt such an unconstitutional measure the federal gov ernment had no power, under the constitution, to