CHAPTER IX

FORT SUMTER

The Senate appoints a committee to ask the President to recall the appointment of Harvey as Minister to Portugal--He had notified Governor Pickens of the Government's intention to relieve Fort Sumter--Trumbull a member of the committee--Seward says that he did not know of Harvey's action till after the appointment was made--In fact, Seward gave the information to Harvey intending that he should send it to Pickens--John Hay's Diary says that Lincoln, before his inauguration, offered to evacuate Fort Sumter--Also that he repeated the offer after inauguration--This confirms a narrative of John Minor Botts--The controversy between Botts and J. B. Baldwin concerning the latter's interview with Lincoln on April 5, 1861--Reasons for believing that Botts's story is true--Remarkable interview between Douglas and Seward as to Fort Sumter 155