"
This message of Buchanan's hastened the inevitable separation of
the Democratic party into its elements. The ablest Southern
member of the Cabinet, Cobb, resigned. He was too strong an
intellect to continue the policy of "nothing doing" now that the
crisis had come. He was too devoted a Southerner to come out of
political evasion except on one side. On the day Cobb resigned
the South Carolina Representatives called on Buchanan and asked
him not to make any change in the disposition of troops at
Charleston, and particularly not to strengthen Sumter, a fortress
on an island in the midst of the harbor, without at least giving
notice to the state authorities. What was said in this interview
was not put in writing but was remembered afterward in different
ways with unfortunate consequences.
Every action of Buchanan in this fateful month continued the
disintegration of his following. Just as Cobb had to choose
between his reasonings as a Democratic party man and his feelings
as a Southerner, so the aged Cass, his Secretary of State, and an
old personal friend, now felt constrained to choose between his
Democratic reasoning and his Northern sympathies, and resigned
from the Cabinet on the 11th of December. Buchanan then turned
instinctively to the strongest natures that remained among his
close associates.
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