CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. T HE heavy thunder-cloud of war which
has for some months lowered over the late United States has now broken over South Carolina. The first success has been won by the Southern Confederacy. The Montgomery Govern- ment has proved that it can act as well as threaten. On the 13th of April, Fort Sumpter surrendered to General Beau- regard, and the Stars and Stripes no longer fly from any point in the harbour of Charleston. How has this been brought about ?
The question lay between the recognition of the revolted States and the enforcement of the law ; between the sur- render of such Federal rights and properties as yet remained intact, and the retention of them, and for some weeks the course of the Lincoln Government was clouded with doubt. The President was too slow to please his impatient friends, and too menacingly reserved to please his enemies. The action of the Border States had been of a character to compel discretion and embarrass action. What they would do were war to arise was a question of great moment. Then the treasury at Washington was empty, the forts of the nation were unguarded and ungarrisoned, the munitions and weapons in store had been drained off to a large extent by the traitor- ous action of the Buchanan Government, and no provision had been made for supplying the President with the means of executing any steady and vigorous policy. Fort Sumpter was beleaguered, and no Government which valued its honour and its future could dream of sacrificing that garrison and its gallant commander. Fort Pickens was threatened bythe forces of the Confederacy, and Key West and Tortugas lay at their mercy—if they only had a navy. All this time the President was said to be doing nothing but make appointments, but the jeers of his enemies were ill-founded. The treasury has been filled by the spontaneous offering of five times as much money at easy rates as was required. Forts have been secured, ships of war made ready, cannon, arms, and muni- tions have been quietly collected, troops have been concen- trated, transports chartered. Why nothing was known of all this arose from the fact that by the exercise of threats of dismissal an amount of secrecy had been obtained unknown for many years. It is a mark of the decision and energy of the Government that it has been able to impose secrecy, and some mark of confidence that it can command money. It is a sign of a settled course of policy that Mr. Lincoln re- fused to receive in any way the commissioners from the Southern Confederacy, but what is that policy ? The Times correspondent, who has been in Washington, and evidently in close communication with the Capitol, answers the question thus. "Be satisfied," he writes, and he repeats the same thing several times, " be satisfied of this—the United States Government will give up no power or possession which it has at present got. By its voluntary act it will surrender nothing whatever. No matter what re- ports may appear in the papers, or in letters, distrust them if they would lead you to believe that Mr. Lincoln is pre- paring either to abandon what he has now; or to recover that which he has not." If that be Mr. Lincoln's policy, and we have no better information, the next question is, how will he carry it out ? The first attempt has failed in a striking and flagrant manner. Early in April the Government of Washington had caused a considerable force of troops to assemble at New York ; had chartered a small squadron of powerful steamers, and fitted up three men-of-war to act as convoy. It was said this armament was simply intended to make good existing deficiencies and next contingencies ; that it would not go near Charleston, but steering further southward, re- inforce Key West and Tortugas, two posts of importance in the Gulf, and perhaps throw men and stores into Fort Pickens. When the bulk of the fleet had sailed on the 10th of April, the real object was disclosed—Fort Sumpter was to be relieved, peaceably, if possible, but relieved. The Southern general had evidently got some inkling of this, for on the 7th he cut off the supplies of the fort. On the 10th he learned from Governor Pickens that Pre- sident Lincoln had formally given notice that supplies would be sent to Major Anderson peaceably, or by force. Thereupon General Beauregard, obtaining autho- rity to do so from Montgomery, summoned Fort Sumpter. Major Anderson refused to surrender ; on the 12th the Southerns bombarded the fort, and on the 13th the garrison surrendered. At that very moment part of the relieving force was in the offing, and thus General Beauregard only anticipated the plans of the Northern army by a few hours. Here we have two central facts: the expedition to relieve the fort was planned at Washington, and executed by the orders of President Lincoln ; the measures taken to seize Fort Sumpter in anticipation were executed by the authority of President Jefferson Davis, and the two Confederacies are, therefore, officially at war. It would be quite legitimate to infer further that the New York Tribune was correct when it said, in speaking of the Fort Sumpter expedition, "If rebellious cannon are now fired upon the flag of the United States (as in the case of the Star of the West), going out on an errand of peace, we may be sure that the United States will respond, and that effectively." The New York Herald was right for once when it began its " sensation" comments on the news from Charleston with the words, " Civil war has begun."
Thus, then, the prospect of the future is dark and lower- ing. The North has men, and what is more, money. In England sufficient account has never yet been taken of the vast strength which the North has in reserve—its free spirit, liable to be roused to fanaticism. Once thoroughly roused, the North will act with all the energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, and it is difficult to conceive the defeat of nineteen millions of free people by the comparatively small white population of the South. On the other hand, there is a fanaticism also in the South. There is plenty of material for armies in the " mean whites," and plenty of soldiership as well as statesmanship in the slave-owning, slavery-glo- rifying aristocracy. Money may be the weak point in the Southern armour, but they have even got money for present -needs. The relative power of the two sections at the outset would be unequal, for the South has larger forces at its im- mediate disposal. As the Northern attempt to relieve Fort Sumpter has roused the South, so we believe there are two acts which the South might do which would rouse Northern fanaticism. One is to close the Mississippi, or exercise sovereign rights thereon, impeding free transit ; and the next is the reported scheme of marching on Washington. In any case, " the Great Republic is gone." There can never more be one United States of America, and the chance is that out of the coming strife several Confederacies will arise. The tendency to split off from the centre has gone on without cessation since Washington's death ; now, one whole group of States has broken utterly the Federal ties. Why should the process not go on ?
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