t the Commissioners from the
Confederated States will be received here and recognized by Abraham
Lincoln. I will now predict that this Republican Party that is going to
enforce the Laws, preserve the Union, and collect Revenue, will never
attempt anything so silly; and that instead of taking Forts, the troops
will be withdrawn from those which we now have. See if this does not
turn out to be so, in less than a week or ten days."

In the same insulting diatribe, he said: "It is very easy for men to
bluster who know there is going to be no danger. Four or five million
people living in a territory that extends from North Carolina down to
the Rio Grande, who have exports to above three hundred million dollars,
whose ports cannot be blockaded, but who can issue letters of marque and
reprisal, and sweep your commerce from the seas, and who will do it, are
not going to be trifled with by that sensible Yankee nation. Mark my
words. I did think, at one time, there was going to be War; I do not
think so now. * * * The Star of the West swaggered into Charleston
harbor, received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out.
Your flag has been insulted; redress it if you dare! You have submitted
to it for two months, and you will submit to it for ever. * * * We
have dissolved the Union; mend it if you can; cement it with blood; try
the experiment! we do not desire War; we wish to avoid it. * * * This
we say; and if you choose to settle this question by the Sword, we feel,
we know, that we have the Right. We interfere with you in no way. We
ask simply that you will not interfere with us. * * * You tell us you
will keep us in the Union. Try the experiment!"

And then, with brutal frankness, he continued: "Now, whether what are
called The Crittenden Resolutions will produce satisfaction in some of
these Border States, or not, I am unaware; but I feel perfectly sure
they would not be entertained upon the Gulf. As to the Resolutions
which the Peace Congress has offered us, we might as well make a clean
breast of it. If those Resolutions were adopted, and ratified by three
fourths of the States of this Union, and no other cause ever existed, I
make the assertion that the seven States now out of the Union, would go
out upon that."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.

While instructive, it will also not be devoid of interest, to pause
here, and ex