Wait and see!_" This
assurance, too, was given at the very moment when a messenger from his
own department was on the way to Charleston to notify the Governor of
South Carolina that faith would _not_ be kept in the matter.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the Commissioners had, with good
reason, ceased to place any confidence in the promises of the United
States Government, before they ceased to be made. On the 8th of April
they sent the following dispatch to General Beauregard:
"Washington, _April 8, 1861_.
"General G. T. Beauregard: Accounts uncertain, because of the
constant vacillation of this Government. We were reassured
yesterday that the status of Sumter would not be changed without
previous notice to Governor Pickens, but we have no faith in
them. The war policy prevails in the Cabinet at this time.
"M. J. Crawford."
On the same day the announcement made to Governor Pickens through Mr.
Chew was made known. The Commissioners immediately applied for a
definitive answer to their note of March 12th, which had been permitted
to remain in abeyance. The paper of the Secretary of State, dated March
15th, was thereupon delivered to them. This paper, with the final
rejoinder of the Commissioners and Judge Campbell's letters to the
Secretary of April 13th and April 20th, respectively, will be found in
the Appendix.
Negotiation was now at an end, and the Commissioners withdrew from
Washington and returned to their homes.
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