The Greensborough patriot [May 28, 1861]

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VOL. XXIII. GREENSBOROUGH, N. G, MAY 28, 1861. NO. 1,144.
Cj)? dDmnsbanmgjj patriot
PUBLISHED SEMI-WEEKLY, BY
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Bad Faitb Of the Lincoln
ment.
Govern-
On the 8th inst., President Davis commu-nicated
totho Southern Congress the follow-ing
letters from Judge Campbell, late of the
U. S. Supreme Court:—
Washington City, April 13, 1861
Sir: On the 15th March, alt.* I left with
Judge Crawford, one of the Commissioners of
the Confederate States, a note in writing to
the effect following :
*« I feel entire confidence that Port Sumtor
will be evacuated in the next five days. And
this measure is felt as imposing great respon-sibility
on the Administration.
" I feel entire confidence that no measure
changing tho existing status, prejudiciously
to the Southern Confederate Slates, is at
present contemplated.
" I feel an entire confidence that an imme-diate
demand for an answer to the communi-cation
of the Commissioners will be produc-tive
of evil and not of good. 1 do not believe
that it ought at this time to be pressed."
The substance of this statement I commu-nicated
to you the same evening by letter.
Five days elapsed, and I called with a tele-gram
from Gen. Beauregard, to the effect that
Surntcr was not evacuated, but that Major
Anderson was at work making repairs.
The next day, after conversing with you,
I communicated to Judge Crawford in wri-ting,
that tho failure to evacuate Samter was
not tho result of bad faith, but was attributa-ble
to causes consistent with the intention to
fulfill the engagement, and that as regarded
Pic-Icons, I should have notice of any design
to alter the existing status there. Mr. Jus-tiro
Nelson was present at those conversa-tions,
three in Lumber, and I submitted to
hint each of my written communications to
Judge Crawford, and informed Judge Craw-ford
that his (Judge Nelson's) saction. I
gave you on the 22d of March, a substantial
copy of tho statement I had made on tho
15th.
Tho 3()Lh of March arrived, and at that
time a telegram came from Gov. Pickens in-quiring
concerning Col. Lamon, whose visit
to Charleston ho supposed had a connection
with tho proposed evacuation of Fort Sumter.
I lull that with you, and was to have an
answer the fallowing Monday (1st April.)—
On the 1st of April, 1 received from you £the
statement in writing, "(I am satisfied) the
Government will not undertake to supply
Fort Sumter without giving notico to Gov P."
The words "I am satisfied," were for me to
use as exproesivo of confidence in tho remain-der
of the declaration.
Tho proposition, as originally prepared,
was : "The President may desire to supply
Sumter, but will not do so," &c, and your
verbal explanation was, that you did not be-liovo
any sach attempt would be made, and
that there was no design to reinforce Sumter.
There was a departue here from the pledges
of the previous month, but with the verbal
explanation I did not consider it a matter
then to complain of. I simply stated to you
that 1 had that assurance previously.
On the 7th April 1 addressed you a letter
on tho subj-ct of the alarm that the prepara-tions
by the Government had created, and
asked you if tho assurances I had given were
well, or ill-founded, In rospect to sumter,
your reply was, "Faith as to sumter, fully
kept—wait and seo." In the moring's paper
I road: "An authorized messenger from
President Lincoln informed Gov. Pickens
and Gen. Beauregard, that provisions will be
sent to Fort Sumter peaceab'y, or otherwise,
byforce. This was the 8th of April, at Char-leston,
tho day followingyour last assurance,
and is tho evidence»of the full faith 1 was in-vited
to wait for and see. In the same pa-per,
1 read that intercepted despatches dis-closed
tho fact that Mr. Fox, who had been
allowed to visit Major Anderson, on the
pledge that his purpose was pacific, employ-ed
his opportunity to devise a plan for sup-plying
the fort by force, and that this plan
had been adopted by the Washington Gov-ernment,
and was in process ofexecution.—
My recollection of the date of Mr. Fox's visit
carries it to a day in March. I learn he is a
near connection of a member of the Cabinet.
My connection with the Commissioners and
yourself was superinduced by a conversation
with Justice Nelson. He informed me of
j your strong dispositions in favor of peace,
i and that you were opposed with a demand of
1 the Commissioners of the Confederate States
tor a reply to their first letter, and that you
desired to avoid it, if possible, at that time. I
told him I might, perhaps, be of some service
in arranging the difficulty. J came to your
office entirely at his request, and without the
knowledge of either of the Commissioners.
Your depression was obvious to both Judge
Nelson and myself. I wa3 gratified at the
character of the counsels you were desirous
of pursuing, and much impressed with your
observation that a civil war might be preven-ted
by the success of my meditation. You
read a letter of Mr. Weed, to show how irk-some
and responsible the withdrawal of
troops from Sumter was. A portion of my
communication to Judge Crawford on the
15th of March was founded upon these re-marks,
and the pledge to evacuate Fort Sum-ter
is less forcible than the words you em-ployed.
Those words were: "Before this
letter reaches you (a proposed letter by me to
President Davis,) Sumter will have been
evacuated."
The Commissioners who received those
communications conclude they have been a-bused
and overreached. The Montgomery
Government hold the same opinion. Tho
Commi sioners havo supposed that my com-munications
were with you and upon the
hypothesis prepared to arraign you before
the country in connection with the President.
1 placed a peremptory prohibition upon
this as being contrary to the terms of my
communications with them. I pledged my-self
to them to communicate information up-on
what I considered as the best authority,
and they were to confide in the ability of
myself, aided by Judge Nelson, to determine
upon the credibility of my informant.
1 think no candid man who will read over
what I have written, and consider for a mo-ment
what is going on at Sumter, but will
agree that the equivocating conduct of the
Administration as measured and interpre-ted
in connection with these promises, is
the proximate cause of the groat calamity.
I have a profound conviction that the tele-grams
of the 8th of April of General Beaure-gard,
and of tho 10th of April of General
Walker, the Secretary of War, can be refer-red
to nothing else than their belief that
there has been systematic duplicity practi-sed
on them through me. It is under an op-pressive
sense of the weight of tho responsi-bility
that I submit to you these things for
your explanation. Very respectfully.
JOHN A.'CAMBELL.
Associate Justice of the Supreme C. U.
S. Hon. Wm H Seward, Secretary of State.
Despatches to L. P. Walker, Secretary of War.
An authorzed message from President
Lincoln just informed Governor Pickons and
myself that provisions will be sent to Fort
Sumter peaceably or otherwise by force.
Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard:
If you have no doubt as to tho authorized
character of the agent who communicated
to you the intention of the Washington Gov-ernment
to supply Fort Sumtor by force,
you will at once demand its evacuation, and
if this is refused, proceed in such manner as
you may determine to reduce it.
L. P. WALKER.
WASHINGTON CITY, April 20,1861.—Sir : I
enclose you a letter corresponding very near-ly
with one 1 addressed to you one week ago
(13th April,) to which I have not had any
reply. The letter is simply one of enquiry
in reference to facts concerning which 1
think 1 am entitled to an explanation.
I have not adopted any opinion in referenco
to them which may not be modified by ex-planation,
nor havo I affirmed in that letter,
nor do 1 in this, any conclusion of my own
unfavorable to your integrity in the whole
transaction.
All that I have said, and mean to say, is
that an explanation is due from you to my-self.
I will not say what I shall do in case
this request is not complied with, but 1 am
justified in eaying that I shall feel at liberty
to place these letters before any person who
is entitled to ask an explanation of myself."
Yery respectfully,
JOHN A. CAMPBELL, •
Associate Justice of Supreme Court of U. S.
Hon. Wm. H. Seward. Secretary of State.
No reply has been made to this letter.
April 24, 1861.
Montgomery, Ala., May 7, 1861.
Sir : I submit to you two letters that were
addressed by me to the Hon Wm. H. Seward
Secretary of State of the United States, that
contain an explanation of the nature and re-sult
of an intervention by mo in the inter-course
of tho commissioners of the Confed-erate
States with that officer. I considered
that I could perform no duty in which the
entire American people, whether of tho Fe-deral
Union or of the Confederate States,
were more interested than that of promoting
the counsels and tho policy that had for
their object the preservation of peaco. This
motive dictated my intervention. Besides
the Interview referred to in these letters, I
informed the Assistant Secretary of State of
the United States (not being able to see the
Secretary,) on the 11th April ult., of the ex-istence
of a telegram of that date from Gen.
Beauregard to the Commissioners, in which
he informed the Commissioners that he had
demanded the evacuation of Sumter, and, if
refused, he would proceed to reduce it. On
the same day I bad Leen told that President
Lincoln had said that none of tho vessels
sent to Charleston were war-vesaels, and
that force was not to be used in the attempt
to supply the fort. 1 had no means of test-ing
the accuracy of this information, but of-fered
that if the information was accurate, I
would send a telegram to the authorities at
Charleston, and that it might prevent the
disastrous consequences of a collision at that
Fort between the opposing forces. It was
the last effort that I could make to avert the
calamities of war. The Assistant Secretary
promised to give the matter attention, but I
tiad no other intercourse with him or any
other person on tho subject, nor havo 1 had
any reply to tho letters submitted to you.
V ery resyectfully.
JOHN A. CAMPBELL,
Gen. Davis, Pres't of the Confederate
States.
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Fort Pickens.
The Mobile Advertiser, in counselling ^pa-tience
to those who are clamorous for j,Gen.
Bragg to order an assault upon Fort Pick-ens,
says :
''Gen Bragg is an old soldier and a famous-ly
brave and shrewd one, and will not begin
the work before he is roady, or be provoked
into beginning it; and he will not consider
himself ready to begin befor he is ready to
end the work victorously.
'Tho magnitude of the preparations which
the commanding general considered necessa-ry
to making a sure job of the bombardment
of Pickens may bo estimated by considering
the number of men who have been unceas-ingly
at work for so long. A small rity
could havo boon built by this force while it
has been preparing for tho destruction of one
erection. When the bombardment commen-ces
it will be one of the grandest events of
the sort on record."
"From the forts and batteries occupying
an area of near three miles a continuous
storm of shot and shell will be rained upon a
common centre, tho stronghold of the Lin-colnites,
and if it long holds out against this
destructive shower it will disappoint the cal-culations
of men best versed in the science of
warfare.
"Theablo engineering officer who superin-tended
its construction says it cannot with-stand
the attacking batteries. Wc have
heard no complaints of the delay in] the at-tack
but much natual impatience is felt.—
Better that the army of the Confederacy
should wait six months, it necessary, and
make a sure thing of the attack, than make
it prematurely and encounter a repulse. But
Bragg's 'big guns' are arriving and certain
signs indicate that the end is at hand."
National Hymn.
A committee of prominent citizens of New
York, consisting of Gulian C. Verplank,
Charles, King, Hamilton Fish, George Wm.
Curtis, Eichard Grant White, Luther Brad-ish,
John A. Dix, Moses H. Grinncll, and
others, announce that a prize of five hundred
dollars will be awarded for a National Hymn
which must be, not a war-song, but purely
patriotic ; to consist of not less than sixteen
nor more than forty lines, exclusive of a
chorus or burden, which is regarded as es-sential,
and to be of marked rhythm and po-pular
melody. For the words and music
from the same hand, five hundred dollars
will be paid, or agold medal of that value will
awarded. For the hymn alone, or for the
music alone (two hundred and fifty dollars
will be given.
Whig Principles.
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle and Sentinel
recently made the following reference to the
principles of tho old Whig party : %
"Time, the test of all things, has placed the
stamp of trnth'upon the principles for which
the old Whig party was condemned and vil-ofied.
The Missouri Compromise, the repeal
of which theWtiigs opposed, and for regret-ting
which Mr. Filmoro was defeated, has re-cently
been sanctioned again by some of the
very men active in its repeal. ThejT woro
willing to acknowledge thatMr. FiImore,s as-sertion
wastrue—that the repeal has proved
a "Pandora's box," full of evil to the country.
Wo fear that tho box has been open so long
that not even hope remains. The destruc-tion
of that compromise has done its work of
evil, and there is little hope that its restora-tion,
proposed by the Peace Coogress, will
repair the calamity. It is always easier and
more popular to destroy than to reconstruct.
"A tariff for revenue with incidental pro-tection
was another Whig princiqle. The
Democracy of the North have, by their acts,
fully recognized the justice and expediency
of such a measure, and our new Confederacy
have adopted precisely such a tariff.
True 'free trade' still has its admirers
here, but wo seem to be just as far from it
as we wore thirty years ago—tho necessities
of the Confederacy will always stand in the
way. So far from having freo trade, trade is
more shackled than ever—we have not only
import but export duties, and we have like-wise
the dictum of our Premier, Mr. Toombs,
that any roduction of tho United States tariff
would bo 'unwise in tho last degree.' A
sound paper currency, national and current
everywhere in the country, was another
Whig principle. North and South, all par-ties
have given up the idea of an exclusively
metallic currency, and propose now to issue
Government promises to pay in small sums,
such as may serve as currencj'jm money trans-actions.
The only difference botween this
Democratic and the old Whig idea is, that
the new rag money is not based oh specie,
nor on demand convertible into coin. The
cry of'hard money' is no more hoard in the
land, unless the words signify that money is
a great deal harder to get.
The School Fund of Missouri.
The Legislature of Missouri passed on the
8th instant a resolution directing tho Superin-tendent
of Public Schools to postpouo the ap-portionment
of tho school fund for the pres-ent
year, and to let it remain in tho treasury,
bubject to tho order of the General Assem-bly.
This is nothing moro nor loss than the
first step towards robbing tho children of the
State of tho money set apart as a sacred fund
for their education. The Bchool fund consists
of twenty-five per cont. (about $200,000) of
tho general revenue, tho dividends on the
State's stock in the Bank ofthe State of Mis-souri,
and other amounts tho proceeds of lines
and forfeitures, tbe whole amounting perhaps
to$2O0,OOO per annum. This sum has for
years been apportioned to the common schools
of the State, and has been tho chief support
of thoso schools, rendering efficiont service in
tho cause of edifcation. Now, however, the
Legislature proposes to divert this money to
tho purchase of arms and ammunition, while
tho school-houses ph.ill be closed, and the in-nocent
children of the State grow up in idle-ness,
ignorance, and vice. The children of
Missouri, whoso education tho State took
charge of as a sacred trust, are to bo ruthless-ly
deprived of their birthright, without tho
power to raise their voico in protest against
the iniquity.—St. Louis, May 9th.
Prespyteuian General Assembly.—This body
met in Philadelphia on Thursday last. Tho
delegations from the Northern States were
numerous, but there were none from North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Arkansas or Texas. Only one Presbytory
was represented from Virginia, one from
Missouri, two from Tennessee and three from
Kentucky. The Kov. Dr. Backus was elec-ted
Moderator.
i
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The New York and Massachusetts troops
withdrew from Federal Hill on the morning
of the 16th, taking half their battery with
them, and returned to tbe Relay House.
Terrible Earthquake.—In addition to the
six thousand lives lost by tho earthquake at
Mendoza, South America, we learn that San
Juan, situated one hundred and twenty lea-gues
north of Mendoza, had been nearly de-stroyed
by the same earthquake, with an es-timated
loss of three thousand lives. The
earthquake approached from the direction of
Valparaiso, and great anxiety is manifested
to hear from that quarter.
Brigadier General Butler has been promo-ted
to the rank of Major General, and or-dered
to report at Washington.