Abraham Lincoln: A Play Part 8

_Lincoln:_ They leave no opening?

_White_: I regret to say, none.

_Lincoln_: It's a grave decision. Terribly grave. Thank you, gentlemen. Good-morning.

_White and Jennings_: Good-morning, gentlemen.

_They go out_.

_Lincoln_: My G.o.d! Seward, we need great courage, great faith.

_He rings the bell. The_ SECOND CLERK _comes in._

Did you take my messages?

_The Clerk_: Yes, sir. Mr. Chase and Mr. Blair are here. The other ministers are coming immediately.

_Lincoln_: Ask them to come here at once. And send Mr. Hay in directly he returns.

_The Clerk_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_.

_Lincoln (after a pause_): "There is a tide in the affairs of men ..."

Do you read Shakespeare, Seward?

_Seward_: Shakespeare? No.

_Lincoln_: Ah!

SALMON P. CHASE, _Secretary of the Treasury, and_ MONTGOMERY BLAIR, _Postmaster-General, come in_.

Good-morning, Mr. Chase, Mr. Blair.

_Seward_: Good-morning, gentlemen.

_Blair_: Good-morning, Mr. President. How d'ye do, Mr. Seward.

_Chase_: Good-morning, Mr. President. Something urgent?

_Lincoln_: Let us be seated.

_As they draw chairs up to the table, the other members of the Cabinet_, SIMON CAMERON, CALEB SMITH, BURNET HOOK, _and_ GIDEON WELLES, _come in. There is an exchange of greetings, while they arrange themselves round the table_.

Gentlemen, we meet in a crisis, the most fateful, perhaps, that has ever faced any government in this country. It can be stated briefly.

A message has just come from Anderson. He can hold Fort Sumter three days at most unless we send men and provisions.

_Cameron_: How many men?

_Lincoln_: I shall know from Scott in a few minutes how many are necessary.

_Welles_: Suppose we haven't as many.

_Lincoln_: Then it's a question of provisioning. We may not be able to do enough to be effective. The question is whether we shall do as much as we can.

_Hook_: If we withdrew altogether, wouldn't it give the South a lead towards compromise, as being an acknowledgment of their authority, while leaving us free to plead military necessity if we found public opinion dangerous?

_Lincoln_: My mind is clear. To do less than we can do, whatever that may be, will be fundamentally to allow the South's claim to right of secession. That is my opinion. If you evade the question now, you will have to answer it to-morrow.

_Blair_: I agree with the President.

_Hook_: We ought to defer action as long as possible. I consider that we should withdraw.

_Lincoln_: Don't you see that to withdraw may postpone war, but that it will make it inevitable in the end?

_Smith_: It is inevitable if we resist.

_Lincoln_: I fear it will be so. But in that case we shall enter it with uncompromised principles. Mr. Chase?

_Chase_: It is difficult. But, on the whole, my opinion is with yours, Mr. President.

_Lincoln_: And you, Seward?

_Seward_: I respect your opinion, but I must differ.

_A knock at the door_.

_Lincoln_: Come in.

HAY _comes in. He gives a letter to_ LINCOLN _and goes_.

_(Reading):_ Scott says twenty thousand men.

_Seward_: We haven't ten thousand ready.

_Lincoln_: It remains a question of sending provisions. I charge you, all of you, to weigh this thing with all your understanding. To temporise now, cannot, in my opinion, avert war. To speak plainly to the world in standing by our resolution to hold Fort Sumter with all our means, and in a plain declaration that the Union must be preserved, will leave us with a clean cause, simply and loyally supported. I tremble at the thought of war. But we have in our hands a sacred trust. It is threatened. We have had no thought of aggression.

We have been the aggressed. Persuasion has failed, and I conceive it to be our duty to resist. To withhold supplies from Anderson would be to deny that duty. Gentlemen, the matter is before you.

_A pause_.

For provisioning the fort?

LINCOLN, CHASE, _and_ BLAIR _hold up their hands._

For immediate withdrawal?

SEWARD, CAMERON, SMITH, HOOK, _and_ WELLES _hold up their hands. There is a pause of some moments_.