American people. The secretary of state, therefore, avows to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford that he looks patiently but confidently for the cure of evils which have resulted from proceedings so unnecessary, so unwise, so unusual, and so unnatural, not to irregular negotiations, having in view new and untried relations with agencies unknown to and acting in derogation of the Constitution and laws, but to regular and considerate action of the people in those States, in co-operation with their brethren in the other States, through the Congress of the United States, and such extraordinary conventions, if there shall be need thereof, as the Federal Constitution contemplates and authorizes to be assembled.

"It is, however, the purpose of the secretary of state, on this occasion, not to invite, or engage in, any discussion of these subjects, but simply to set forth his reasons for declining to comply with the request of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.

"On the 4th of March inst., the newly elected President of the United States, in view of all the facts bearing on the present question, assumed the executive administration of the Government, first delivering, in accordance with an early, honored custom, an inaugural address to the people of the United States. The secretary of state respectfully submits a copy of this address to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.

"A simple reference to it will be sufficient to satisfy those gentlemen that the secretary of state, guided by the princi

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ples therein announced, is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming that the States referred to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn from the Federal Union, or that they could do so in the manner described by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any other manner than with the consent and concert of the people of the United States, to be given through a national convention, to be assembled in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States. Of course the secretary of state cannot act upon the assumption, or in any way admit that the so-called Confederate States constitute a foreign power, with whom diplomatic relations ought to be established."

The commissioners, in spite of this rebuff, or encouraged probably by the courteous style in which it was conveyed, still lingered at the capital awaiting the issue of events.

The Confederate States continued to pursue with vigor their career of independent government. Having set up a constitution and an administration of their own, they now adopted a flag. In this respect they acted with less than their usual discretion. Presuming, as they still did undoubtedly, however justly or unjustly, upon a strong sympathy in the border and middle States. with their movement, it was not politic in them to disregard the revered symbol of the united glory of the country. They thought, doubtless, that it was merely a matter of a bit of bunting with more or less colored stripes and

are endeared to the heart of a nation when they have once become associated with its history.

The committee to whom was referred the subject of the Confederate flag, seemed not altogether unconscious of the influence of the stars and stripes upon the national sentiment, and in their report thus ingeniously strove to weaken it: "Whatever attachment may be felt, from association, for the stars and stripes' (an attachment which, your committee may be permitted to say, they do not all share), it is manifest that in inaugurating a new government, we cannot," said the committee, "retain the flag of the government from which we have withdrawn, with any propriety, or without encountering very obvious practical difficulties. There is no propriety in retaining the ensign of a government which, in the opinion of the States composing this confederacy, had become so oppressive and injurious to their interests as to require their separation from it. It is idle to talk of 'keeping' the flag of the United States when we have voluntarily seceded from them. It is superfluous to dwell upon the practical difficulties which would flow from the fact of two distinct and probably hostile governments, both employing the same or very similar flags. It would be a political and military solecism. It would produce endless confusion and mistakes. It would lead to perpetual disputes. As to 'the glories of the old flag,' we must bear in mind that the battles of

the South did win her fair share of glory, and shed her full measure of blood under its guidance and in its defence, we think the impartial page of history will preserve and commemorate the fact more imperishably than a mere piece of striped bunting. When the colonies achieved their independence of the 'mother country' (which up to the last they fondly called her), they did not desire to retain the British flag or anything at all similar to it. Yet under that flag they had been planted, and nurtured, and fostered. Under that flag they had fought in their infancy for their very existence against more than one determined foe. Under it they had repelled and driven back the relentless savage, and carried it farther and farther into the decreasing wilderness as the standard of civilization and religion. Under it the youthful Washington won his spurs, in the memorable and unfortunate expedition of Braddock, and Americans helped to plant it on the Heights of Abraham, where the immortal Wolfe fell, covered with glory, in the arms of victory. But our forefathers, when they separated themselves from Great Britain-a separation not on account of their hatred of the English constitution or of English institutions, but in consequence of the tyrannical and unconstitutional rule of Lord North's administration, and because

their destiny beckoned them on to independent expansion and achievement -cast no lingering, regretful looks behind. They were proud of their race and lineage, proud of their heritage in the glories, and genius, and language of Old England, but they were influenced by the spirit of the motto of the great Hampden, Vestigia nulla retrorsum.' They were determined to build up a new power among the nations of the world. They therefore did not attempt 'to keep the old flag.' We think it good to imitate them in this comparatively little matter, as well as to emulate them in greater and more import

ant ones."

The committee (of which it may not be impertinent to say that a South Carolinian was chairman, who, from the traditional disloyalty of his native State, was less likely to sympathize with the reverence of the nation for the symbol of its union) therefore recommended a new flag for the Confederate States, which was adopted. This consists of a red field with a white space extending horizontally through the centre and equal in width to one third the width of the flag, the red spaces above and below being of the same width as the white; the union blue extends down through the white space, but terminates at the lower red one. In the blue are stars corresponding in number to the States of the confederacy. "The three colors, red, white, and blue, are the true republican colors. In heraldry they are emblematic of the three great virtues, of valor, purity, and truth," reported the

5.

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committee, while they added, "the colors constrast admirably, and are lasting.” The Confederate Government began to prepare actively for war. The goveruors of the several States having been ordered by President Davis, issued proclamations, calling upon the militia to muster. General Beauregard, formerly a major in the United States engineer corps, was dispatched to take March command of the works and forces at Charleston. In the mean time the South Carolinians had made great progress in strengthening and manning their defences. The people of Charleston were becoming each day more excited as they contemplated the flag of the Union persistingly raised in their harbor. "The fate of the Southern Confederacy hangs," they said, "by the ensign halliards of Fort Sumter." The Governor of South Carolina made repeated calls for troops, until seven thousand men had been gathered, and immense gangs of negro slaves brought from the plantations in the interior and set to work upon the fortifications. The floating batteries, which had been in course of construction for months, were now finished, mounted, manned, and anchored in the harbor. Ardent gentlemen of South Carolina volunteered as privates, among whom there was a large number of the members of the convention, which had lately adjourned. journed. Senators and members of Congress from Carolina and other seceded States had offered their services, and while some, like Senator Wigfall, of Texas, received appointments on General

ranks.

In the mean time, however, there were still rumors that a conflict would be avoided by the evacuation of Fort Sumter by Major Anderson, with whom there continued to be preserved a courteous relation by the citizens of Charleston, who not unfrequently had him to dinner, or supplied him with delicacies from their tables and madeira from their cellars. Messengers traveling by land passed between the Federal Government and the fort, with the concurrence of the authorities of South Carolina. The batteries in the harbor, however, abated not a jot of their vigilance, and were determined not to let a vessel enter under the flag of the United States. A trading schooner of Boston, laden with ice, having drifted in a dense fog over the Charleston bar, close to the fort on Morris Island, was fired at. The captain hoisted the stars and stripes, but this only increased the intensity of the attack; and he was glad finally to make his escape to sea, after having received several thirty-two-pounder shots in his rigging.

At Washington, the President and cabinet were supposed to be a long time perplexed how to act in regard to Fort Sumter, but finally came to a decision. It was determined to make a demonstration at least of sustaining Major Anderson. A fleet was hurriedly fitted out for the purpose, and prepared to sail, the destination of which it was not doubted was Charleston, although

The Southern Confederacy accepted this as a menace of hostility. The people of Charleston were roused to a high degree of excitement. "We have patiently submitted," they said, "to the insolent military domination of a handful of men in our bay for over three months after the declaration of our independence of the United States. The object of that self-humiliation has been to avoid the effusion of blood while such preparation was making as to render it causeless and useless.

"It seems we have been unable, by discretion, forbearance, and preparation, to effect the desired object, and that now the issue of battle is to be forced upon us. The gage is thrown down, and we accept the challenge. We will meet the invader, and the God of battles must decide the issue between the hostile hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny, and the people of South Carolina defending their freedom and their homes. We hope such a blow will be struck in behalf of the South, that Sumter and Charleston harbor will be remembered at the North as long as they exist as a people."*

The commissioners of the Con- April federate States now left Washing- 9.

Charleston Mercury.