OPINIONS WRITTEN BY MEMBERS OP THE CABINET AT
THE VERBAL REQUEST OF THE PRESIDENT, AT A CABINET MEETING HELD TO
DETERMINE THE QUESTION OF SENDING AN EXPEDITION TO RELIEVE FORT
SUMTER, March 29, 1861.
Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, wrote:
If war is to be the consequence of an attempt to provision
Fort Sumter, war will just as certainly result from the attempt to
maintain possession of Fort Pickens.
I am clearly in favor of maintaining Fort Pickens, and just
as clearly in favor of provisioning Fort Sumter.
If that attempt be resisted by military force, Fort Sumter
should, in my judgment, be reinforced.
If war is to be the result, I perceive no reason why it may
not be best begun in consequence of military resistance to the
efforts of the administration to sustain troops of the Union
stationed under the authority of the government, in a fort of the
Union, in the ordinary course of service.
