WAR DEPARTMENT Washington, January 22, 1861.

Hon. BENJAMIN FITZPATRICK,
Hon. S. R. MALLORY, Hon. JOHN SLIDELL:

GENTLEMEN: The President has received your communication of the 19th instant, with the copy of a correspondence between yourselves and others, “representing States which have already seceded from the United States, or will have done so before 1st of February next,” and Col. Isaac W. Hayne, of South Carolina, in behalf of the government of that State, in relation to Fort Sumter, and you ask the President “to take into consideration the subject of the correspondence.”  With this request he has complied, and has directed me to communicate his answer.

In your letter to Colonel Hayne of the 15th instant, you propose to him to defer the delivery of a message from the governor of South Carolina to the President, with which he has been intrusted, for a few days, until the President and Colonel Hayne shall have considered the suggestions which you submit. It is unnecessary to refer specially to these suggestions, because the letter addressed to you by Colonel Hayne, of the 17th instant, presents clear and specific answer to them. In this he says: “I am not clothed with power to make the arrangement you suggest, but provided you can get assurances with which you are entirely satisfied that no re-enforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval, and that the public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility toward South Carolina, I will refer your communication to the authorities of South Carolina, and withholding the communication with which I am at present charged, will await further instructions.”

From the beginning of the present unhappy troubles, the President has endeavored to perform his executive duties in such a manner as to preserve the peace of the country and prevent bloodshed.  This is still his fixed purpose. You, therefore, do him no more than justice in stating that you have assurances (from his public messages, I presume) that, “notwithstanding the circumstances under which Major Anderson left Fort Moultrie and entered Fort Sumter with the forces under his command, it was not taken, and is not held, with any hostile or unfriendly purpose towards your State, but merely as property of the United States, which the President deems it his duty to protect and preserve.”  You have correctly stated what the President deems to be his duty.  His sole object now is, and has been, to act strictly on the defensive, and to authorize no movement against the people of South Carolina unless clearly justified by a hostile movement on their part.  He could not have given a better proof of his desire to prevent the effusion of blood than by forbearing to resort to the use of force under the strong provocation of an attack (happily without a fatal result) on an unarmed vessel bearing the flag of the United States.

I am happy to observe that in your letter to Colonel Hayne you express the opinion that it is “especially due from South Carolina to our States, to say nothing of other slaveholding States, that she should, as far as she can consistently with her honor, avoid initiating hostilities between her and the United States, or any other power.” To initiate such hostilities against Fort Sumter would, beyond question, be an act of war against the United States.

In regard to the proposition of Colonel Hayne, “that no re-enforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval, and that the public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina,” it is impossible for me to give you any such assurances.  The President has no authority to enter into such an agreement or understanding.  As an executive officer he is simply bound to protect the public property so far as this may be practicable, and it would be a manifest violation of his duty to place himself under engagements that he would not perform this duty either for an indefinite or limited period. At the present moment it is not deemed necessary to re-enforce Major Anderson, because he makes no such request, and feels quite secure in his position. Should his safety, however, require re-enforcements, every effort will be made to supply them.

In regard to an assurance from the President “that the public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility toward South Carolina,” the answer will readily occur to yourselves.  To Congress, and to Congress alone, belongs the power to make war, and it would be an act of usurpation for the Executive to give any assurance that Congress would not exercise this power, however strongly he may be convinced that no such intention exists.

I am glad to be assured from the letter of Colonel Hayne that “Major Anderson and his command do now obtain all necessary supplies, including fresh meat and vegetables, and, I believe, fuel and water, from the city of Charleston, and do now enjoy communication by post and special messenger with the President, and will continue to do so, certainly until the door to negotiation has been closed”  I trust that these facilities may still be afforded to Major Anderson.  This is as it should be.  Major Anderson is not menacing Charleston, and I am convinced that the happiest result which can be attained is that both he and the authorities of South Carolina shall remain on their present amicable footing, neither party being bound by any obligation whatever, except the high Christian and moral duty to keep the peace, and to avoid all causes of mutual irritation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. HOLT,

Secretary of War.