Mr. Holt's Letter to the President.

Mr. Holt's Letter to the President.

duced upon the popular mind. | destruction of the Republic, the Apprehensions for the safety of presence of these troops is nethe capital were communicated cessarily offensive; but those from points near and remote by men unquestionably who sincerely love our institutions cannot fail to rereliable and loyal. The resident population became joice that, by this timely precaution, they have pos disquieted, and the repose of many families in the sibly escaped the deep dishonor which they must city was known to be disturbed by painful anxieties. have suffered had the Capital, like the forts and arMembers of Congress, too, men of calm and com- senals of the South, fallen into the hands of revoluprehensive views, and of undoubted fidelity to their tionists, who have found this great Government weak country, frankly expressed their solicitude to the only because, in the exhaustless beneficence of its President and to this department, and formally in- spirit, it has refused to strike even in-its own desisted that the defences of the capital should be fence, lest it should wound the aggressors. strengthened. With such warnings, it could not be "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your forgotten that, had the late Secretary of War heeded obedient servant, the anonymous letter which he received, the tragedy at Harper's Ferry would have been avoided; nor could I fail to remember that had the early admo nitions which reached here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon the forts of Charleston harbor been acted on by sending forward adequate reenforcements before the revolution begun, the disastrous political complications that ensued might

not have occurred.

44

"J. HOLT, Secretary of War.

Army and Navy
Resignations.

"THE PRESIDENT." The continued resignations in both army and navy excited so much distrust of both services, in the popular mind, that doubts were entertained regarding the standing of every officer who had not taken an open position. The defection of Southern men was general-the cases of Southern-born men expressing loyalty to the Government to which they owed their very education being very rare. One such exception was Commander Porter, whose reply to a proposition made by Lieutenant J. H. Hamilton, a South Carolinian, to surrender his ship, not only affords a relief to the long category of desertions of

extent some of the deserting officers sought to carry their baseness. The letter deserves to be embalmed in history. It was dated from the United states ship St. Marys, Panama Bay, February 3d, 1861, and read in part as follows:

Impressed by these circumstances and considerations, I earnestly besought you to allow the concentration at this city of a sufficient military force to preserve the public peace from all the dangers that seemed to threaten it. An open manifestation on the part of the Administration of a determination as well as of the ability to maintain the laws would, I was convinced, prove the surest, as also the most pacific means of baffling and dissolving any conspiracy that might have been organized. It was believ-duty, but shows in its language to what an ed, too, that the highest and most solemn responsibility resting upon a President withdrawing from the Government, was to secure to his successor a peaceful inauguration. So deeply, in my judgment, did this duty concern the whole country and the fair fame of our institutions, that to guarantee its faithful discharge, I was persuaded no preparation could be too determined or too complete. The presence of the troops alluded to in the resolution is the result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and Cabinet on the propositions submitted to you by this department. Already this display of life and loyalty on the part of your Administration has produced the - happiest effects. Public confidence has been restored, and the feverish apprehension which it was so mortifying to contemplate has been banished. Whatever may have been the machinations of deluded, lawless men, the execution of their purposes has been suspended, if not altogether abandoned, in view of preparations which announce more impressively than words that this Administration is alike able and resolved to transfer in peace to the President-elect the authority that, under the Constitution, belongs to him. To those, if such there be, who desire the

Commander Porter's

Patriotism.

You, sir, have called upon your brother officers not only to become traitors to their country, but to betray their sacred trust, and deliver up the ships under their command. This infamous appeal would, in ordinary times, be treated with the contempt it deserves. But I feel it a duty I owe to myself and brother-officers with whom I am associ ated to reply, and state that all under my command are true and loyal to the Stars and Stripes, and to the Constitution. My duty is plain before me. The constitutional Government of the United States has entrusted me with the command of this beautiful ship, and before I will permit any other flag to fly at her peak than the Stars and Stripes, I will fire a pistol in her magazine and blow her up. This is my answer to your infamous letter. You were one of those

Commodore Porter's
Patriotism.

SECRETARY DIX'S NERVE.

men who were retained on the active list by the late detestable Retiring Board.' In doing this you were endorsed as one mentally, physically and morally fit to occupy the station you hold as an officer in the Navy. And you are one of the first to prove this decision of that Board was as erroneous in your case as it was in mine, whom they retired from the Navy.' I was then in the deepest trouble, and I never dreamed of becoming a traitor to my country;

and now that my country has recalled me to active service and intrusted me with an important command, I will not betray the trust. The Constitution of the United States defines 'treason' to be bearing arms against the United States. You have frequently heard this read on the quarter-deck of these vessels of the Navy, and yet you would persuade the gallant men of the Navy to place themselves alongside of the traitor Arnold and yourself. It has ever been the boast of the Navy that she has never had one traitor within her corps. You, sir, are the first to destroy the proud boast! Future history will place you alongside of Arnold, and you will be the first to blot the page of naval history,

illuminated by the example of Decatur, Porter, Hull, Bainbridge, Jones, Caldwell, and other gallant and

patriotic officers.

"You also boast of the Star of the West, having been driven back by the rebels of South Carolina, and relief prevented that gallant officer, Col. Anderson.

"There are in the employment of the Government sons of a gallant officer, late of the Navy, who carried on the seas the Stars and Stripes with honor to himself, and glory to his country, and the third

367

Secretary of the
Navy's Weakness.

Lieutenant Berryman, in
command of the United
States steam gun-boat
Wyandotte, lying off Fort Pickens, wrote to
a Pensacola paper, after the delivery of the
navy-yard and forts into the hands of the
revolutionists by their commanding officers,
[see page 194,] as follows: "My orders from
the proper authorities of a Government I
have loved and served as faithfully as I
could, I still respect, and when that Govern-
ment shall be dissolved by the decision of
my great and noble State, (Virginia,) I hope
to prove myself worthy of holding a commis-
sion, even under a Southern Confederacy."

And this man, after this declaration was pub-
lished, was allowed to "resign," honorably,
from the service! Mr. Toucey, though a North-
ern man, was a weak vessel, so far as patriotism
and nerve were implied. His acceptance of
resignations when arrests should have been
made, did not crown his name with the
"odor of excellence;" and he must live in
history as an illustrious example of the mis-
fortune which ever awaits those who act from
policy rather than principle. "To serve his
friends," he tainted his own fair fame with
the stigma of having dealt leniently with
treason and desertion.*
The revenue cutters be-

within call.' Had either of them commanded the
Star of the West, the gallant Colonel would have
been relieved; and at any time the Government
wants this done, it will only be necessary to send
one of those sons. You, sir, have not much to boast
of in driving off an unarmed steamer, commanded ing in the Customs' service,
by a merchant captain!

"Whatever right the Southern people had under the Constitution, those States that have chosen rebellion have forfeited their rights, and the only means for them to obtain justice will be to return to their allegiance. No one, for a moment, who has been born and brought up on Southern soil can approve of the course of Northern fanatics. But, on

the other hand, a true patriot will not approve of dismembering his country merely because a few fanatics on the other side have been guilty of wrong, which can be righted by legislation To fly to revolution is to seek the very worst of evils, and the people of the United States must be aware that 'revolution is simply rapine, murder, bloodsned;' that nothing but distress ever follows in its train.

Secretary Dix's

Ne ve.

were under charge of the
Treasury Department. How Secretary Dix
dealt with the unfaithful officers of the Lewis
Cass and McClelland, surrendered at Mobile
and New Orleans, [see page 199,] is a subject
upon which the loyal heart will ever dwell
with satisfaction. His orders to the secret
agent, Hemphill Jones, dispatched to relieve
Captains Morrison and Breshwood of their
commands, viz., "to shoot down on the spot
any man who attempted to haul down the

*The Report of the Special (House) Committee of Five, on the Secretary's conduct in this matter, (made Feb. 21st,) will be given in a future chapter.

American flag," expressed the spiri which he regarded betrayals of trust cutters named having been "transferr the revolutionists by their commander lost to the Government. Captain Mc had the temerity to send in his resig immediately after his act, when Mr published the following order:

"TREASURY DEPARTMEN "February 11th, 1

"J. J. Morrison, of Georgia, a captain in the nue-cutter service of the United States, la command of the Lewis Cass, having, in violat his official oath, and of his duty to the Govern surrendered his vessel to the State of Alabama hereby directed that his name be stricken from roll of the said service. By order of the Pres of the United States.

Loyal Men.

64

"JOHN A. DIX, Secretary of the Treasury

The steam gunboat sader was lying at Mo when Fort Morgan

seized. Her commander, Lieut. John N. 1 fit, was notified by the authorities that must pass over the command to one Ma of the "Alabama Navy." His admirable ply was: "He might be overpowered, but that event, what was left of the Crusa would not be worth taking." And his ves was not "seized." She sailed to Key W and the Tortugas, and rendered Capt. Me valuable assistance in transporting hea ordnance to the fort at the latter static where Major Arnold was in command; wh the gallant Capt. Brannon, of Chapultep memory, held command at Key West. Wi these incorruptible men in charge, those mo

The Occasion.

COUNTING THE ELEC

PICTURE OF THE OCCASION, AND OF THE ELECTORAL

VOTE.

ONE of the few interest- | on the floor and in the galleries, were some ing ceremonials connected of the baffled conspirators, who, but for the with the installation of the premature explosion of their plot, and the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Depart-presence in the Capital of the peerless artilments of our Democratic Government, is that lery that won the field of Buena Vista, would of counting the Electoral votes for President to-day have held high revel of riot, and, if and Vice-President of the United States. The need be, bloodshed, in the two Houses of occasion usually attracts a large concourse to Congress, and prevented, by force, the declathe Hall of the Lower House; and, although ration, according to the formula of the but a mere form of procedure, is invested Constitution, of the election of Lincoln and with a weighty interest, since that form is a Hamlin." requisite of legalization of the election, and a necessary preliminary to the inauguration of the Chief Magistrate of the Union.

The Prayer.

At twelve o'clock Speaker Pennington called the House to order, when the Chaplain, Reverend Thomas Stockton, pronounced an eloquent and impressive prayer, in which he said:

"Bless the outgoing Administration; may it close its labors in peace, without further violence, and without any stain of blood. And we pray for the incoming Administration; that Thy blessing may rest on the President-elect in his journey hither

ward; that Thy good Providence may be around

The excitement reigning in the country rendered the occasion of February 13th, 1861, of more than ordinary interest. So many wild rumors had been afloat respecting the loss of the electoral votes-the refusal of the Vice-President to declare the vote-the withholding of the ballots of all the Southern States the use of violence to prevent the counting; and so many threats had been re-him day and night, guarding and guiding him at ported, of violence to Mr. Lincoln's person then on his progress towards the Capital that the occasion referred to was invested with more than the usual importance. A description of the ceremonial, as well as of the special features of that particular event, will not be out of place at this point of our narrative.

every step; and we pray that he may be peacefully and happily inaugurated, and afterwards, by pure, wise, and prudent counsels, that he may administer the Government in such a manner as that Thy name may be glorified, and the welfare of the people, in all their relations, be advanced, and that our example of civil and religious liberty be followed in all the

world."

Advent of the
Senators.

On motion of Washburne, of Illinois, a message was sent to the Senate, informing the Senators that the House was now waiting to receive them, so that, in a joint body, the Electoral votes for President and Vice-President might be opened, and the result announced.

After a short interval the Senators, preceded by their officers, were announced.

The members of the House immediately