CHAPTER XII.
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR.
Abraham Lincoln reached Washington on the 23d of February, 1861, having come from Harrisburg incognito, and in advance of the announced time, because of threats of assassination. Mr. Chandler was one of the first persons informed of his arrival, called upon him at once, and was in frequent consultation with him thereafter with reference to the formation of his Cabinet and the policy to be pursued toward the South. Mr. Chandler earnestly opposed placing any but the most uncompromising Union men at the head of the departments, urged bold and decisive measures toward armed traitors for the sake of the moral effect of such a course, and advised the most emphatic declarations in the inaugural of the President's intention to enforce the laws at all hazards. Mr. Lincoln had seriously thought of inviting two gentlemen from the Southern States to seats in his Cabinet, the names chiefly considered by him being those of Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, and James Guthrie of Kentucky. Mr. Chandler strongly opposed any such concession to the rampant dis-unionism of the slave States, and the hostility of the wing of the party with which he acted finally led Mr. Lincoln to abandon his original plan and select Edward Bates of Missouri and Montgomery Blair as the Southern members of the Cabinet. Mr. Chandler also advised that Breckenridge, Wigfall, and other avowedly disloyal Congressmen should be arrested at once, and urged that the "Secession Commissioners," when they came to Washington, should be dealt with summarily as traitors and not be permitted to even informally negotiate with the Administration. He always believed that this summary treatment of rebellion at the outset would have greatly curtailed its dimensions, but the President was guided by Mr. Seward and others, whose counsels were different and who hoped to prevent the impending war by mildness. Accordingly the inaugural was almost apologetic in tone toward the South; throughout March, men like Stephen A. Douglas inquired whether the Administration meant peace or war; flagrant treason was still defiantly uttered on the floor of Congress, and John Forsyth and M. J. Crawford, embassadors from the "Confederacy," spent weeks in Washington holding relations with the new Secretary of State which, if not "official," looked like a concession in fact of the practical independence of the seceded States. The first official favor Mr. Chandler asked from President Lincoln was the appointment of his life-long friend, James M. Edmunds, as Commissioner of the General Land Office, and Mr. Edmunds was promptly nominated to that position and confirmed by the Senate.
At noon on March 4, 1861, Vice-President Hamlin took the chair of the Senate and directed the secretary to read this proclamation convening an extra session of that body:
BY THE PRESIDENT of THE UNITED STATES:
A PROCLAMATION.Whereas, Objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at twelve o'clock on the 4th of March next, to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive: Now, therefore, I, James Buchanan, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this, my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business, at the capitol in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at twelve o'clock at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice.
[L. S.]
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States at Washington, the 11th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-fifth.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
By the President: J. S. Black, Secretary of State.
Sixteen new Senators then took the oath of office, and at fifteen minutes past one o'clock James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln entered the Senate chamber, arm in arm, accompanied by Senators Foote, Baker and Pearce, members of the Committee of Arrangements, and were conducted to seats in front of the secretary's desk. In a few moments afterward, those assembled in the Senate chamber proceeded to the platform on the central portico of the eastern front of the capitol, to listen to the inaugural address of the President elect. Then the oath of office was administered to him by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the administration of the government by the Republican party had commenced. The business of this extra session of the Senate was chiefly limited to the confirmation of executive appointments, although there were some exciting discussions upon the political situation. Mr. Chandler, on taking possession (as the new chairman) of the room of the Committee on Commerce, had his righteous wrath at the men who had availed themselves of their official positions to plot treason against the government still further stimulated by finding in one of the drawers of the large committee table the original draft of the secession ordinance of Alabama, which had been prepared in the national capitol by Senator Clement C. Clay, his predecessor in the chairmanship of the committee.[19] This illustration of Southern perfidy Mr. Chandler carefully kept, and at his death it was among his private papers. The executive session of the Senate closed on March 28, 1861, and Mr. Chandler at once returned to Detroit.
At 5.20 A. M. on April 12, 1861, a mortar in the rebel battery on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston fired a shell into Fort Sumter. This was the announcement to the world of the decision of the rebels to delay no longer, but to at once
"ope
"The purple testament of bleeding war."
On the 13th Major Anderson abandoned the unequal contest, and surrendered the blazing ruins of his fortress to Beauregard; on the 14th his garrison marched out with the honors of war; and on the 15th Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers, a force which it was believed would trample out rebellion in ninety days. The North answered Charleston's cannon and the President's appeal with a magnificent assertion of its latent patriotism, and the war spirit flamed up in every State. On April 17 the business men of Detroit held a public meeting at the invitation of its Board of Trade, at which the firm purpose to support the government in its contest with treason was emphatically declared, and all needed assistance in troops and money was pledged. Senator Chandler escorted General Cass to this gathering, and their entrance, arm in arm, typifying as it did the solidification of the Union sentiment of the North, was followed by long-continued cheering. Both gentlemen spoke in tones of earnest loyalty and amid constant applause. That night the following letter was mailed to Washington: