n and
the spirit destroyed, South Carolina withdraws.

The State was, at least on the surface, almost unanimous,--in Charleston
only the venerable James L. Petigru ventured to call himself a
Unionist,--and was in high heart and hope for its new venture. But,
facing the palmetto flags so gayly unfurled to the breeze, still floated
the Stars and Stripes over a little garrison in Fort Moultrie, commanded
by Major Anderson. His supplies were low; should aid be sent him? No,
said Buchanan timidly; and thereat Cass withdrew indignantly from the
Cabinet, to be replaced as Secretary of State by Black, while the
vigorous Edwin M. Stanton took Black's former place; and Buchanan's
courage rose a little. At the request of the South Carolina authorities,
Floyd, the Secretary of War, had ordered Anderson to act strictly on the
defensive. Finding himself at the mercy of his opponents on the
mainland, he quietly withdrew his handful of men, on the night of
December 26, to Fort Sumter, whose position on an island gave
comparative security. The South Carolinians instantly occupied Fort
Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, and took possession of the custom-house
and post-office. They cried out against Anderson's maneuver as a breach
of good faith, and Secretary Floyd resigned, in sympathy with the
Carolinians. The President, heartened by his new counselors, dispatched
the steamer _Star of the West_ with supplies for Anderson, but she was
fired on by the South Carolinians and turned back, January 9. Resenting
the President's act, Thompson of Mississippi and Thomas of Maryland left
his cabinet. The President brought in General Dix of New York; Joseph
Holt, now Secretary of War, was a Southern loyalist, and in its last
months Buchanan's Cabinet was thoroughly Unionist. But in him there was
no leadership.

Leadership was not wanting to the Secessionists. A movement like theirs,
once begun and in a congenial atmosphere, advances like a glacier by its
own weight, but with the pace not of the glacier but of the torrent. In
the country at large and at Washington there was confusion of counsels.
There was manifest disposition among the Republicans to go a long way in
conciliation. Of forcible resistance to Secession there was but little
talk. But that the Republicans should disown and reverse the entire
principles on which their party was founded was out of the question. On
the night of January 5 there met in a room at the Capitol the Senators
from Geo