L. YULEE,
S. R. MALLORY,
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
C. C. CLAY, Jr.,
BENJAMIN FITZPATRICK,
A. IVERSON,
JOHN SLIDELL,
J. P. BENJAMIN.
_Letter of Hon. I. W. Hayne in reply to Senators from seceding States._
Washington, _January, 1861_.
Gentlemen: I have just received your communication, dated the 15th
instant. You represent, you say, States which have already seceded from
the United States, or _will have_ done so before the 1st of February
next, and which will meet South Carolina in convention, on or before
the 15th of that month; that your people feel they have a common destiny
with our people, and expect to form with them in that Convention a new
Confederacy and Provisional Government; that you must and _will_ share
our fortunes, suffering with us the evils of war, if it can not be
avoided, and enjoying with us the blessings of peace, if it _can_ be
preserved.
I feel, gentlemen, the force of this appeal, and, so far as my authority
extends, most cheerfully comply with your request.
I am _not_ clothed with power to make the arrangements you suggest, but
provided you can get assurances, with which you are entirely satisfied,
that _no_ reenforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval,
and that public peace shall _not_ be disturbed by any act of hostility
toward South Carolina, I will refer your communication to the
authorities of South Carolina, and, withholding their communication,
with which I am at present charged, will wait for their instructions.
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