February 7, 1861; The New York Herald
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 1861.
The Secretary of War communicated late this evening the reply to Col. Hayne’s letter. It calls for an answer from Col. B., which will be made tomorrow, and which will close the correspondence.
The government respectfully refuse to comply with the propositions of South Carolina for the surrender of Fort Sumter. All hopes of a solution of this questions has been abandoned for some time but there has been an apparent disposition on both sides to delay matters, in the hopes that an amicable adjustment might be made, and which would lead to a peaceable termination of affairs in Charleston harbor. The matter cannot be further postponed. South Carolina has presented her ultimatum. The government have positively refused to comply. Thus the affair stands.
It now only remains for South Carolina to carry out her purpose of taking the fort.
The President’s course in relation to the proposition of Colonel Hayne is similar to that towards the former Commissioners from South Carolina, namely: –That he has no authority to treat for the sale or make any other disposition whatever of the forts or other public property in that State; that it is his duty to defend the forts to the best of his ability, and that the consequences of doing so must fall on those who attack them. Colonel Hayne will now return to South Carolina.