-i86i] Weakness of Buchanan. 447 outspoken or covert disunionists ; and his annual message to Congress reflected not only his own indecision, but the antagonism of his official advisers. Denying the right to secede, he also denied the right to coerce. Confessing his duty to execute the laws, he argued it impossible to do so against universal public opinion. Warned by General Scott to reinforce the Southern forts, he treated the advice with indifference, on the plea that the force at his disposal was insufficient. Little by little also, he involved himself in a practical truce with the authorities of South Carolina, beginning on December 8, 1860, and continuing until February 9, 1861, agreeing that he would not reinforce Fort Sumter if they would not attack it, and meanwhile leaving them free to build batteries for its eventual reduction. In spite of all these efforts to steer a middle course, his perplexities constantly increased. Cobb, his disloyal Secretary of the Treasury, resigned on December 8, to embark in active secession. The loyal members of the Cabinet could not shut their eyes to the fact that disunion was rapidly changing to insurrection and rebellion; and two days before the Congressional secession manifesto, Cass, the Secretary of State, resigned because the President would not order the Charleston Forts to be strengthened. A new Cabinet crisis arose, when on December 26 Anderson suddenly removed his force from Fort Moultrie to Sumter. Buchanan's disloyal Secretary of War, Floyd, indignantly demanded that he should be sent back. This time, under healthier advice, Mr Buchanan refused thus to censure a loyal officer for a brave act. He accepted Floyd's resignation, promoting his Postmaster-General, Holt, a firm Unionist, to be Secretary of War. The event created great con- sternation in Secessionist circles, and on January 5 a "caucus" of Cotton- State senators was held in one of the committee rooms of the Capitol, at which a final programme of revolution was outlined, and the following points were agreed upon. 1. Immediate secession. 2. A convention at Montgomery, Alabama, not later than the 15th of February, to organise a confederacy of seceding States. 3. That the Cotton-State senators should remain in Congress " to keep the hands of Mr Buchanan tied." Most important of all, the caucus appointed a committee, con- sisting of Senators Jefferson Davis, Slidell, and Mallory, " to carry out the objects of this meeting." Thus the future chief of the great rebellion was chosen to preside over its primary organisation. For the present the resolutions of January 5 were withheld from the public. Under the direction of Holt, the new Secretary of War, General Scott attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter by secretly sending 200 recruits from New York in a merchant steamer. But Thompson, the Secessionist Secretary of the Interior, whom Buchanan had with weak indulgence permitted to remain in his Cabinet, and who by accident became informed of the movement, notified the Charleston authorities ; and when, on the morning of January 9, 1861, the Star of the West CH. XIV.
