..even unavoidable," the paper
warned him that "policies...both domestic and foreign" must
immediately be adopted, and it proceeded to point out what they
ought to be. Briefly stated, the one true policy which he
advocated at home was to evacuate Sumter (though Pickens for some
unexplained reason might be safely retained) and then, in order
to bring the Southerners back into the Union, to pick quarrels
with both Spain and France; to proceed as quickly as possible to
war with both powers; and to have the ultimate satisfaction of
beholding the reunion of the country through the general
enthusiasm that was bound to come. Finally, the paper intimated
that the Secretary of State was the man to carry this project
through to success.
All this is not opera bouffe, but serious history. It must have
taxed Lincoln's sense of humor and strained his sense of the
fitness of things to treat such nonsense with the tactful
forbearance which he showed and to relegate it to the pigeonhole
without making Seward angry. Yet this he contrived to do; and he
also managed, gently but firmly, to make it plain that the
President intended to exercise his authority as the chief
magistrate of the nation. His forbearance was further shown in
passing over without rebuke Seward's part in the affair of
Sumter, which might so easily have been made to appear
treacherous, and in shouldering himself with all responsibility
for the failure of the Charleston expedition.
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