January 16, 1861, The Charleston Mercury
The news from Washington last evening will strike every one with astonishment and regret, if not with alarm. It was expected, after the return of the Star of the West, that the settlement of the question which is now breaking up this republic would assume a less belligerent character, giving the conservatives of the country some hope of a peaceful solution of the trouble.
It now appears that the authorities of South Carolina are determined upon bloodshed unless they can have possession of all the forts in the harbor of Charleston. Colonel Hayne, the Commissioner from that State, who has just arrived in Washington, made the demand yesterday upon the Executive of the United States for the immediate and absolute surrender of Fort Sumter to South Carolina or , accept the alternative of an attack by the troops of that state upon that castle. We were not apprised, when our paper went to press this morning, what reply the President made to Colonel Hayne; but it was thought, from the position lately assumed by the government, that this extraordinary demand of South Carolina would not be complied with.
Our previously received intelligence from Charleston advised us of the determination of the authorities to take the fort at any sacrifice of life, and of arrangements which had been made to carry this determination into effect. The effort will no doubt be made, for its capture seems to be a point of honor with South Carolina; and it is the opinion of many military men that, with the reckless enthusiasm now prevailing in Charleston, the attack will be a successful one, although, if resisted, with immense loss of life.
We are thus on the eve of civil war. If the President refuses to withdraw Major Anderson it will become necessary to strengthen him with men and ships if an assault be made upon the castle. These reinforcements will create such intense feeling of hostility throughout the cotton States that we may consider civil war inaugurated with the report of the first gun from Fort Sumter. Four States are out of the Union and prepared for the worst. Georgia meets in Convention today, and will secede before the close of the week. Two or three State delegations have already withdrawn from Congress, and others are prepared to follow. In the face of these startling events, what is Congress doing to stay this alarming progress of revolution? What is the President elect doing to prevent the overthrow of the republic? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.