He rose at last, shambled to the Cabinet table, and leaned his trembling hands on it for support.
"What can I do, gentlemen—what can I do? If Anderson hadn't gone into that fort at night, the State of South Carolina might not have seceded—"
Stanton shook his massive head with an expression of uncontrollable rage.
"Great God!"
The President continued in feeble, pleading tones:
"Now they tell me that unless Anderson withdraws his troops their presence will provoke bloodshed—"
"Let them fire on him if they dare!" shouted Stanton.
"I cannot plunge my country into fratricidal war. My sands are nearly run. I only ask of God that my sun may not set in a sea of blood—"
He paused and lifted his thin hands, trembling like two withered leaves of aspen in the winter's blast.