Under present circumstances they are a standing menace,
which renders negotiation impossible," etc. "Under present
circumstances!" What circumstances? Why, clearly the occupation of Fort
Sumter, and the dismantling of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson, in the
face of your pledges, and without explanation or practical disavowal.
And there is nothing in the letter which would or could have prevented
you from declining to withdraw the troops, and offering the restoration
of the _status_ to which you were pledged, if such had been your desire.
It would have been wiser and better, in our opinion, to have withdrawn
the troops, and this opinion we urged upon you, but we _demanded_
nothing but such an explanation of the events of the last twenty-four
hours as would restore our confidence in the spirit with which the
negotiation should be conducted. In relation to this withdrawal of the
troops from the harbor, we are compelled, however, to notice one passage
of your letter. Referring to it, you say: "This I can not do; this I
will not do. Such an idea was never thought of by me in any possible
contingency. No allusion to it had ever been made in any communication
between myself and any human being."
In reply to this statement, we are compelled to say that your
conversation with us left upon our minds the distinct impression that
you did seriously contemplate the withdrawal of the troops from
Charleston Harbor.
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