ern old patriot, Judge J.L.
Petigru, of South Carolina, came over, with one of his friends, to pay
us a final visit, to express the deep sorrow and sympathy he felt for us
in our trying position. As he knew that arrangements were being made to
drive us out, he bade us farewell with much feeling. The tears rolled
down his cheeks as he deplored the folly and the madness of the times.
He had been previously asked in the city if he did not intend to join
the secession movement. He replied, "_I should think not! South Carolina
is too small for a republic, and too large for a lunatic-asylum._" At a
later period of the war, it is said he was called upon to give up the
property of his Northern clients for confiscation, under a law which
made it treason to refuse. He positively declined to comply with the
demand, and said, with much spirit, "_Whenever the time comes for me to
choose between death and dishonor, I shall have no difficulty in saying
which of the two I shall elect._" It is much to be regretted that he did
not live to witness the final triumph of the cause which was so dear to
him.

Four of Buchanan's Cabinet--Floyd, Cobb, Toucey, and Thompson--were now
open and avowed Disunionists. On the 23d, a defalcation of eight hundred
and thirty-three thousand dollars was discovered in the Department of
the Interior, while the Secretary, Jacob Thompson, was absent from his
post, and acting as a disunion agent, to represent the State of
Mississippi. This dallying with treason in the Cabinet was one of the
most discouraging signs of the times.

A circumstance now occurred which to my mind was proof positive that
Floyd intended to betray us and the Government he represented. I have no
doubt it hastened our departure from Fort Moultrie. He directed Captain
Foster to have the guns mounted in Fort Sumter immediately. It was plain
enough, from demonstrations already made, that the moment this was done
the rebels would seize the fort, and turn its powerful armament upon us.
There was no one there to resist them. It seems to me that Floyd's
speech to the Secessionists of Richmond, made shortly after his flight
from Washington, was a pretty plain acknowledgment that he had violated
his oath of office as Secretary of War, in order that he might advance
the interests of the Confederacy. He said on that occasion, "I undertook
so to dispose of the power in my hands that when the terrific hour came,
you, and all of you, and each of you, sho