Chapter 2

_Ten months later. Seward's room at Washington_. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State, is seated at his table with_ JOHNSON WHITE _and_ CALEB JENNINGS, _representing the Commissioners of the Confederate States_.

_White_: It's the common feeling in the South, Mr. Seward, that you're the one man at Washington to see this thing with large imagination. I say this with no disrespect to the President.

_Seward_: I appreciate your kindness, Mr. White. But the Union is the Union--you can't get over that. We are faced with a plain fact. Seven of the Southern States have already declared for secession. The President feels--and I may say that I and my colleagues are with him--that to break up the country like that means the decline of America.

_Jennings_: But everything might be done by compromise, Mr. Seward. Withdraw your garrison from Fort Sumter, Beauregard will be instructed to take no further action, South Carolina will be satisfied with the recognition of her authority, and, as likely as not, be willing to give the lead to the other states in reconsidering secession.

_Seward_: It is certainly a very attractive and, I conceive, a humane proposal.

_White_: By furthering it you might be the saviour of the country from civil war, Mr. Seward.

_Seward_: The President dwelt on his resolution to hold Fort Sumter in his inaugural address. It will be difficult to persuade him to go back on that. He's firm in his decisions.

_White_: There are people who would call him stubborn. Surely if it were put to him tactfully that so simple a course might avert incalculable disaster, no man would nurse his dignity to the point of not yielding. I speak plainly, but it's a time for plain speaking. Mr. Lincoln is doubtless a man of remarkable qualities: on the two occasions when I have spoken to him I have not been unimpressed. That is so, Mr. Jennings?

_Jennings_: Certainly.

_White_: But what does his experience of great affairs of state amount to beside yours, Mr. Seward? He must know how much he depends on certain members of his Cabinet, I might say upon a certain member, for advice.

_Seward_: We have to move warily.

_Jennings_: Naturally. A man is sensitive, doubtless, in his first taste of office.

_Seward_: My support of the President is, of course, unquestionable.

_White_: Oh, entirely. But how can your support be more valuable than in lending him your unequalled understanding?

_Seward_: The whole thing is coloured in his mind by the question of slavery.

_Jennings_: Disabuse his mind. Slavery is nothing. Persuade him to withdraw from Fort Sumter, and slavery can be settled round a table. You know there's a considerable support even for abolition in the South itself. If the trade has to be allowed in some districts, what is that compared to the disaster of civil war?

_White_: We do not believe that the Southern States wish with any enthusiasm to secede. They merely wish to establish their right to do so. Acknowledge that by evacuating Fort Sumter, and nothing will come of it but a perfectly proper concession to an independence of spirit that is not disloyal to the Union at heart.

_Seward_: You understand, of course, that I can say nothing officially.

_Jennings_: These are nothing but informal suggestions.

_Seward_: But I may tell you that I am not unsympathetic.

_White_: We were sure that that would be so.

_Seward_: And my word is not without influence.

_Jennings_: It can be used to bring you very great credit, Mr. Seward.

_Seward_: In the mean time, you will say nothing of this interview, beyond making your reports, which should be confidential.

_White_: You may rely upon us.

_Seward (rising with the others)_: Then I will bid you good-morning.

_White_: We are profoundly sensible of the magnanimous temper in which we are convinced you will conduct this grave business. Good-morning, Mr. Seward.

_Jennings_: And I--

_There is a knock at the door_.

_Seward_: Yes--come in.

A CLERK _comes in_.

_Clerk_: The President is coming up the stairs, sir.

_Seward_: Thank you.

THE CLERK _goes_. This is unfortunate. Say nothing, and go at once.

LINCOLN _comes in, now whiskered and bearded._

_Lincoln_: Good-morning, Mr. Seward. Good-morning, gentlemen.

_Seward_: Good-morning, Mr. President. And I am obliged to you for calling, gentlemen. Good-morning.

_He moves towards the door_.

_Lincoln_: Perhaps these gentlemen could spare me ten minutes.

_White_: It might not--

_Lincoln_: Say five minutes.

_Jennings_: Perhaps you would--

_Lincoln_: I am anxious always for any opportunity to exchange views with our friends of the South. Much enlightenment may be gained in five minutes. Be seated, I beg you--if Mr. Seward will allow us.

_Seward_: By all means. Shall I leave you?

_Lincoln_: Leave us--but why? I may want your support, Mr. Secretary, if we should not wholly agree. Be seated, gentlemen.

SEWARD _places a chair for_ LINCOLN, _and they sit at the table_.

You have messages for us?

_White_: Well, no, we can't say that.

_Lincoln_: No messages? Perhaps I am inquisitive?

_Seward_: These gentlemen are anxious to sound any moderating influences.

_Lincoln_: I trust they bring moderating influences with them. You will find me a ready listener, gentlemen.

_Jennings_: It's a delicate matter, Mr. Lincoln. Ours is just an informal visit.

_Lincoln_: Quite, quite. But we shall lose nothing by knowing each other's minds.

_White_: Shall we tell the President what we came to say, Mr. Seward?

_Lincoln_: I shall be grateful. If I should fail to understand, Mr. Seward, no doubt, will enlighten me.

_Jennings_: We thought it hardly worth while to trouble you at so early a stage.

_Lincoln_: So early a stage of what?

_Jennings_: I mean--

_Seward_: These gentlemen, in a common anxiety for peace, were merely seeking the best channel through which suggestions could be made.

_Lincoln_: To whom?

_Seward_: To the government.

_Lincoln_: The head of the government is here.

_White_: But--

_Lincoln_: Come, gentlemen. What is it?

_Jennings_: It's this matter of Fort Sumter, Mr. President. If you withdraw your garrison from Fort Sumter it won't be looked upon as weakness in you. It will merely be looked upon as a concession to a natural privilege. We believe that the South at heart does not want secession. It wants to establish the right to decide for itself.

_Lincoln_: The South wants the stamp of national approval upon slavery. It can't have it.

_White_: Surely that's not the point. There's no law in the South against slavery.

_Lincoln_: Laws come from opinion, Mr. White. The South knows it.

_Jennings_: Mr. President, if I may say so, you don't quite understand.

_Lincoln_: Does Mr. Seward understand?

_White_: We believe so.

_Lincoln_: You are wrong. He doesn't understand, because you didn't mean him to. I don't blame you. You think you are acting for the best. You think you've got an honest case. But I'll put your case for you, and I'll put it naked. Many people in this country want abolition; many don't. I'll say nothing for the moment as to the rights and wrongs of it. But every man, whether he wants it or not, knows it may come. Why does the South propose secession? Because it knows abolition may come, and it wants to avoid it. It wants more: it wants the right to extend the slave foundation. We've all been to blame for slavery, but we in the North have been willing to mend our ways. You have not. So you'll secede, and make your own laws. But you weren't prepared for resistance; you don't want resistance. And you hope that if you can tide over the first crisis and make us give way, opinion will prevent us from opposing you with force again, and you'll be able to get your own way about the slave business by threats. That's your case. You didn't say so to Mr. Seward, but it is. Now, I'll give you my answer. Gentlemen, it's no good hiding this thing in a corner. It's got to be settled. I said the other day that Fort Sumter would be held as long as we could hold it. I said it because I know exactly what it means. Why are you investing it? Say, if you like, it's to establish your right of secession with no purpose of exercising it. Why do you want to establish that right? Because now we will allow no extension of slavery, and because some day we may abolish it. You can't deny it; there's no other answer.

_Jennings_: I see how it is. You may force freedom as much as you like, but we are to beware how we force slavery.

_Lincoln_: It couldn't be put better, Mr. Jennings. That's what the Union means. It is a Union that stands for common right. That is its foundation--that is why it is for every honest man to preserve it. Be clear about this issue. If there is war, it will not be on the slave question. If the South is loyal to the Union, it can fight slave legislation by constitutional means, and win its way if it can. If it claims the right to secede, then to preserve this country from disruption, to maintain that right to which every state pledged itself when the Union was won for us by our fathers, war may be the only way. We won't break up the Union, and you shan't. In your hands, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. You can have no conflict without yourselves being the aggressors. I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, do not allow it to break our bonds of affection. That is our answer. Tell them that. Will you tell them that?

_White_: You are determined?

_Lincoln_: I beg you to tell them.

_Jennings_: It shall be as you wish.

_Lincoln_: Implore them to order Beauregard's return. You can telegraph it now, from here. Will you do that?

_White_: If you wish it.

_Lincoln_: Earnestly. Mr. Seward, will you please place a clerk at their service. Ask for an answer.

SEWARD _rings a bell_. A CLERK _comes in_.

_Seward:_ Give these gentlemen a private wire. Place yourself at their disposal.

_Clerk_: Yes, sir.

WHITE _and_ JENNINGS _go out with the_ CLERK. _For a moment_ LINCOLN _and_ SEWARD _are silent,_ LINCOLN _pacing the room_, SEWARD _standing at the table.

_Lincoln:_ Seward, this won't do.

_Seward_: You don't suspect--

_Lincoln_: I do not. But let us be plain. No man can say how wisely, but Providence has brought me to the leadership of this country, with a task before me greater than that which rested on Washington himself. When I made my Cabinet, you were the first man I chose. I do not regret it. I think I never shall. But remember, faith earns faith. What is it? Why didn't those men come to see me?

_Seward_: They thought my word might bear more weight with you than theirs.

_Lincoln_: Your word for what?

_Seward_: Discretion about Fort Sumter.

_Lincoln_: Discretion?

_Seward_: It's devastating, this thought of war.

_Lincoln_: It is. Do you think I'm less sensible of that than you? War should be impossible. But you can only make it impossible by destroying its causes. Don't you see that to withdraw from Fort Sumter is to do nothing of the kind? If one half of this country claims the right to disown the Union, the claim in the eyes of every true guardian among us must be a cause for war, unless we hold the Union to be a false thing instead of the public consent to decent principles of life that it is. If we withdraw from Fort Sumter, we do nothing to destroy that cause. We can only destroy it by convincing them that secession is a betrayal of their trust. Please God we may do so.

_Seward_: Has there, perhaps, been some timidity in making all this clear to the country?

_Lincoln_: Timidity? And you were talking of discretion.

_Seward_: I mean that perhaps our policy has not been sufficiently defined.

_Lincoln_: And have you not concurred in all our decisions? Do not deceive yourself. You urge me to discretion in one breath and tax me with timidity in the next. While there was hope that they might call Beauregard back out of their own good sense, I was determined to say nothing to inflame them. Do you call that timidity? Now their intention is clear, and you've heard me speak this morning clearly also. And now you talk about discretion--you, who call what was discretion at the right time, timidity, now counsel timidity at the wrong time, and call it discretion. Seward, you may think I'm simple, but I can see your mind working as plainly as you might see the innards of a clock. You can bring great gifts to this government, with your zeal, and your administrative experience, and your love of men. Don't spoil it by thinking I've got a dull brain.

_Seward (slowly):_ Yes, I see. I've not been thinking quite clearly about it all.

_Lincoln (taking a paper from his pocket_): Here's the paper you sent me. "Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration. Great Britain ... Russia ... Mexico ... policy. Either the President must control this himself, or devolve it on some member of his Cabinet. It is not in my especial province, but I neither seek to evade nor assume responsibility."

_There is a pause, the two men looking at each, other without speaking_. LINCOLN _hands the paper to_ SEWARD, _who holds it for a moment, tears it up and throws it into his basket_.

_Seward:_ I beg your pardon.

_Lincoln (taking his hand_): That's brave of you.

JOHN HAY, _a Secretary, comes in_.

_Hay:_ There's a messenger from Major Anderson, sir. He's ridden straight from Fort Sumter.

_Lincoln_: Take him to my room. No, bring him here.

HAY _goes_.

_Seward_: What does it mean?

_Lincoln_: I don't like the sound of it.

_He rings a bell_. A CLERK _comes in_.

Are there any gentlemen of the Cabinet in the house?

_Clerk_: Mr. Chase and Mr. Blair, I believe, sir.

_Lincoln_: My compliments to them, and will they be prepared to see me here at once if necessary. Send the same message to any other ministers you can find.

_Clerk_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_.

_Lincoln_: We may have to decide now--now.

HAY _shows in a perspiring and dust-covered_

MESSENGER, _and retires_. From Major Anderson?

_The Messenger_: Yes, sir. Word of mouth, sir.

_Lincoln_: Your credentials?

_The Messenger (giving_ LINCOLN _a paper_): Here, sir.

_Lincoln (glancing at it_): Well?

_The Messenger_: Major Anderson presents his duty to the government. He can hold the Fort three days more without provisions and reinforcements.

LINCOLN _rings the bell, and waits until a third_ CLERK _comes in_.

_Lincoln_: See if Mr. White and Mr. Jennings have had any answer yet. Mr.--what's his name?

_Seward_: Hawkins.

_Lincoln_: Mr. Hawkins is attending to them. And ask Mr. Hay to come here.

_Clerk_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_. LINCOLN _sits at the table and writes_. HAY _comes in_.

_Lincoln (writing):_ Mr. Hay, do you know where General Scott is?

_Hay_: At headquarters, I think, sir.

_Lincoln_: Take this to him yourself and bring an answer back.

_Hay_: Yes, sir.

_He takes the note, and goes_.

_Lincoln:_ Are things very bad at the Fort?

_The Messenger_: The major says three days, sir. Most of us would have said twenty-four hours.

_A knock at the door_.

_Seward:_ Yes.

HAWKINS _comes in_.

_Hawkins_: Mr. White is just receiving a message across the wire, sir.

_Lincoln_: Ask him to come here directly he's finished.

_Hawkins_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_. LINCOLN _goes to a far door and opens it. He speaks to the_ MESSENGER.

_Lincoln_: Will you wait in here?

_The_ MESSENGER _goes through_.

_Seward_: Do you mind if I smoke?

_Lincoln_: Not at all, not at all.

SEWARD _lights a cigar_.

Three days. If White's message doesn't help us--three days.

_Seward_: But surely we must withdraw as a matter of military necessity now.

_Lincoln_: Why doesn't White come?

SEWARD _goes to the window and throws it up. He stands looking down into the street_. LINCOLN _stands at the table looking fixedly at the door. After a moment or two there is a knock._

Come in.

HAWKINS _shows in_ WHITE _and_ JENNINGS, _and goes out_. SEWARD _closes the window_.

Well?

_White_: I'm sorry. They won't give way.

_Lincoln_: You told them all I said?

_Jennings_: Everything.

_Lincoln_: It's critical.

_White_: They are definite.

LINCOLN _paces once or twice up and down the room, standing again at his place at the table_.

_Lincoln:_ They leave no opening?

_White_: I regret to say, none.

_Lincoln_: It's a grave decision. Terribly grave. Thank you, gentlemen. Good-morning.

_White and Jennings_: Good-morning, gentlemen.

_They go out_.

_Lincoln_: My God! Seward, we need great courage, great faith.

_He rings the bell. The_ SECOND CLERK _comes in._

Did you take my messages?

_The Clerk_: Yes, sir. Mr. Chase and Mr. Blair are here. The other ministers are coming immediately.

_Lincoln_: Ask them to come here at once. And send Mr. Hay in directly he returns.

_The Clerk_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_.

_Lincoln (after a pause_): "There is a tide in the affairs of men ..." Do you read Shakespeare, Seward?

_Seward_: Shakespeare? No.

_Lincoln_: Ah!

SALMON P. CHASE, _Secretary of the Treasury, and_ MONTGOMERY BLAIR, _Postmaster-General, come in_.

Good-morning, Mr. Chase, Mr. Blair.

_Seward_: Good-morning, gentlemen.

_Blair_: Good-morning, Mr. President. How d'ye do, Mr. Seward.

_Chase_: Good-morning, Mr. President. Something urgent?

_Lincoln_: Let us be seated.

_As they draw chairs up to the table, the other members of the Cabinet_, SIMON CAMERON, CALEB SMITH, BURNET HOOK, _and_ GIDEON WELLES, _come in. There is an exchange of greetings, while they arrange themselves round the table_.

Gentlemen, we meet in a crisis, the most fateful, perhaps, that has ever faced any government in this country. It can be stated briefly. A message has just come from Anderson. He can hold Fort Sumter three days at most unless we send men and provisions.

_Cameron_: How many men?

_Lincoln_: I shall know from Scott in a few minutes how many are necessary.

_Welles_: Suppose we haven't as many.

_Lincoln_: Then it's a question of provisioning. We may not be able to do enough to be effective. The question is whether we shall do as much as we can.

_Hook_: If we withdrew altogether, wouldn't it give the South a lead towards compromise, as being an acknowledgment of their authority, while leaving us free to plead military necessity if we found public opinion dangerous?

_Lincoln_: My mind is clear. To do less than we can do, whatever that may be, will be fundamentally to allow the South's claim to right of secession. That is my opinion. If you evade the question now, you will have to answer it to-morrow.

_Blair_: I agree with the President.

_Hook_: We ought to defer action as long as possible. I consider that we should withdraw.

_Lincoln_: Don't you see that to withdraw may postpone war, but that it will make it inevitable in the end?

_Smith_: It is inevitable if we resist.

_Lincoln_: I fear it will be so. But in that case we shall enter it with uncompromised principles. Mr. Chase?

_Chase_: It is difficult. But, on the whole, my opinion is with yours, Mr. President.

_Lincoln_: And you, Seward?

_Seward_: I respect your opinion, but I must differ.

_A knock at the door_.

_Lincoln_: Come in.

HAY _comes in. He gives a letter to_ LINCOLN _and goes_.

_(Reading):_ Scott says twenty thousand men.

_Seward_: We haven't ten thousand ready.

_Lincoln_: It remains a question of sending provisions. I charge you, all of you, to weigh this thing with all your understanding. To temporise now, cannot, in my opinion, avert war. To speak plainly to the world in standing by our resolution to hold Fort Sumter with all our means, and in a plain declaration that the Union must be preserved, will leave us with a clean cause, simply and loyally supported. I tremble at the thought of war. But we have in our hands a sacred trust. It is threatened. We have had no thought of aggression. We have been the aggressed. Persuasion has failed, and I conceive it to be our duty to resist. To withhold supplies from Anderson would be to deny that duty. Gentlemen, the matter is before you.

_A pause_.

For provisioning the fort?

LINCOLN, CHASE, _and_ BLAIR _hold up their hands._

For immediate withdrawal?

SEWARD, CAMERON, SMITH, HOOK, _and_ WELLES _hold up their hands. There is a pause of some moments_.

Gentlemen, I may have to take upon myself the responsibility of over-riding your vote. It will be for me to satisfy Congress and public opinion. Should I receive any resignations?

_There is silence_.

I thank you for your consideration, gentlemen. That is all.

_They rise, and the Ministers, with the exception of_ SEWARD, _go out, talking as they pass beyond the door_.

You are wrong, Seward, wrong.

_Seward_: I believe you. I respect your judgment even as far as that. But I must speak as I feel.

_Lincoln_: May I speak to this man alone?

_Seward_: Certainly. _He goes out_. LINCOLN _stands motionless for a moment. Then he moves to a map of the United States, much larger than the one in his Illinois home, and looks at it as he did there. He goes to the far door and opens it_.

_Lincoln:_ Will you come in?

_The_ MESSENGER _comes_.

Can you ride back to Major Anderson at once?

_The Messenger_: Yes, sir.

_Lincoln_: Tell him that we cannot reinforce him immediately. We haven't the men.

_The Messenger_: Yes, sir.

_Lincoln_: And say that the first convoy of supplies will leave Washington this evening.

_The Messenger_: Yes, sir.

_Lincoln_: Thank you.

_The_ MESSENGER goes. LINCOLN _stands at the table for a moment; he rings the bell_. HAWKINS _comes in_.

Mr. Hay, please.

_Hawkins_: Yes, sir.

_He goes, and a moment later_ HAY _comes in.

Lincoln:_ Go to General Scott. Ask him to come to me at once.

_Hay_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_.

THE CURTAIN FALLS.

_The two Chroniclers_: You who have gone gathering Cornflowers and meadowsweet, Heard the hazels glancing down On September eves, Seen the homeward rooks on wing Over fields of golden wheat, And the silver cups that crown Water-lily leaves;

You who know the tenderness Of old men at eve-tide, Coming from the hedgerows, Coming from the plough, And the wandering caress Of winds upon the woodside, When the crying yaffle goes Underneath the bough;

_First Chronicler_: You who mark the flowing Of sap upon the May-time, And the waters welling From the watershed, You who count the growing Of harvest and hay-time, Knowing these the telling Of your daily bread;

_Second Chronicler_: You who cherish courtesy With your fellows at your gate, And about your hearthstone sit Under love's decrees, You who know that death will be Speaking with you soon or late.

_The two together_: Kinsmen, what is mother-wit But the light of these? Knowing these, what is there more For learning in your little years? Are not these all gospels bright Shining on your day? How then shall your hearts be sore With envy and her brood of fears, How forget the words of light From the mountain-way? ...

Blessed are the merciful.... Does not every threshold seek Meadows and the flight of birds For compassion still? Blessed are the merciful.... Are we pilgrims yet to speak Out of Olivet the words Of knowledge and good-will?

_First Chronicler_: Two years of darkness, and this man but grows Greater in resolution, more constant in compassion. He goes The way of dominion in pitiful, high-hearted fashion.