As soon as the paramount
allegiance due to Mississippi forbade a continuance of these efforts, I
withdrew from the position. To say that during this period I did nothing
secretly, in conflict with what was done or professed openly, would be
merely to assert my own integrity, which would be worthless to those who
may doubt it, and superfluous to those who believe in it. What has been
said on the subject for myself, I believe to be also true of my Southern
associates in Congress.
With regard to the forts, arsenals, etc., something more remains to be
said. The authorities of the Southern States immediately after, and in
some cases a few days before, their actual secession, took possession
(in every instance without resistance or bloodshed) of forts, arsenals,
custom-houses, and other public property within their respective limits.
I do not propose at this time to consider the question of their right to
do so; that may be more properly done hereafter. But it may not be out
of place briefly to refer to the statement, often made, that the absence
of troops from the military posts in the South, which enabled the States
so quietly to take such possession, was the result of collusion and
prearrangement between the Southern leaders and the Federal Secretary of
War, John B. Floyd, of Virginia. It is a sufficient answer to this
allegation to state the fact that the absence of troops from these
posts, instead of being exceptional, was, and still is, their ordinary
condition in time of peace.
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