[21] Extract from President Davis’ address before the Mississippi Legislature, December, 1862.
[22] By the steamer “Star of the West,” which was driven back by the South Carolina batteries.
[23] It was not until the 8th of April that the commissioners obtained a reply to their official communication of March 12th. From this reply, it appeared that “during the whole interval while the commissioners were receiving assurances calculated to inspire hope of the success of their mission, the Secretary of State and the President of the United States had already determined to hold no intercourse with them whatever; to refuse even to listen to any proposals they had to make, and had profited by the delay created by their own assurances, in order to prepare secretly the means for effective hostile operations.”—President Davis’ Message, April 29th, 1861.
[24] Message to Confederate Congress.
[25] This expedition, ostensibly “for the relief of a starving garrison,” consisted of eleven vessels, with two hundred and eighty-five guns and twenty-four hundred men.
[26] Before instructing General Beauregard to fire upon the fort, President Davis made another effort to prevent hostilities, which he thus explains: “Even then” (after Beauregard had applied for instructions), “under all the provocation incident to the contemptuous refusal to listen to our commissioners, and the treacherous course of the Government of the United States, I was sincerely anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, and directed a proposal to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had avowed himself to be nearly out of provisions, that we would abstain from directing our fire at Fort Sumter, if he would promise not to open fire on our forces unless first attacked. This proposal was refused. The conclusion was, that the design of the United States was to place the besieging force at Charleston between the simultaneous fire of the fleet and fort. The fort should, of course, be at once reduced. This order was executed by General Beauregard with skill and success.”—Message, 29th April, 1861.
[27] Mr. Lincoln’s proclamation was dated April 15, 1861.
[28] On the day of the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln protested to the Virginia commissioners the pacific purposes of his government. When giving these assurances to Virginia he had heard of the surrender of the fort, and knew that for two days Beauregard had been firing upon the “sacred flag.”
[29] April 24, 1861. Virginia joined the Confederacy as a member May 6, 1861.
[30] “East Tennessee” was a perpetual “fire in the rear” to the Confederacy.