Satisfied that the State had
simply exercised her unquestionable right, we were prepared, in order to
reach substantial good, to waive the formal considerations which your
constitutional scruples might have prevented you from extending. We came
here, therefore, expecting to be received as you did receive us, and
perfectly content with that entire willingness of which you assured us,
to submit any proposition to Congress which we might have to make upon
the subject of the independence of the State. That willingness was ample
recognition of the condition of public affairs which rendered our
presence necessary. In this position, however, it is our duty, both to
the State which we represent and to ourselves, to correct several
important misconceptions of our letter into which you have fallen.
You say, "It was my earnest desire that such a disposition might be made
of the whole subject by Congress, who alone possesses the power to
prevent the inauguration of a civil war between the parties in regard to
the possession of the Federal forts in the harbor of Charleston; and I,
therefore, deeply regret that, in your opinion, 'the events of the last
twenty-four hours render this impossible.'" We expressed no such
opinion, and the language which you quote as ours is altered in its
sense by the omission of a most important part of the sentence. What we
did say was, "But the events of the last twenty-four hours render _such
an assurance_ impossible.
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