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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1961)
MONDAY. APRIL 3, 1111 8, B MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. HTDfORD, OBX. 5 esm war Seward Loses in Bid for Power By MERTON T. A KERB UPI Corre.pondant The crisis over Ft. Sumler at.Charleston.-, C, was at Its peak when William' Henry Seward, Lincoln's new secre tary of state, made his bid for power April Fool's Day lutfl, but he wasn t looiing. - Seward felt he had the situ - ation all figured out, that he knew exactly what - must be i done to save. the union ana avert civil war, A mercurial : man of considerable ability, Seward at this point regarded himself as the leader of the Republican party and the ' "strong man" of the admlnls- . tration-thc "premierV: he fre quently was called. As a former governor of ' New York, a lawyer of distinc tion with a world-wide ac nuaintance. Seward believed the young administration was floundering and that it was up to h m to provide the needed leadership. At the moment he was carrying on sub rosa ne- - gotiations with a Confederate commission about the dlsposl tion of Ft. Sumter and from time to time dipping into the affairs of other -departments About this time, Ma. Robert Anderson's little federal gar rison went on nan-rations. Groping for Decision Lincoln seemed to be' grop ing for a Sumter decision, so on April 1. apparently, uncon scious of the day, Seward sent to the President a document remarkable in -American his- tory; Entitled "Some Thoughts i for the President's Considera tion,", Seward's memorandum pointed out that the adminis tration was a month old and had no policy, foreign or do mestic, That In itself was not so bad, he conceded, but-to delay further "would not only bring scandal" but danger upon the country." - "We must," he wrote, "change tho. question before the public from one upon slav ery, or about slavery, for a question upon union or disun ion . . . from a party question to one of patriotism." The Ft. .' Sumter ' question "although not In fact a slavery or party question, is so re garded . . . ... "I would therefore termin ate It by withdrawing the fed- - A ii'i' t -h T r SEWARD WASN'T FOOLING The crisis over Fort Sumter was at its peak when William Henry Seward, above, Lin coln's new secretary of state, made his bid for power on April Fool's Day, 1861, but he wasn't fooling. Seward and the ed himself as the leader of the Republican Party and the 'strong mfn " of the administration. On April 1, he sent to Lincoln a remarkable document-entitled 'Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration," In the letter he said that Lincoln didn't know how to run hit office and offered to take over the President's duties. Lincoln refused and an swered "I must do it." :.,; M ; ; . . (UPI Telephoto) eral garrison t . . I would si multaneously defend and re inforce all the forts in. the Gulf and have s the Navy re called. . . for a blockade." Would Declare War : : !i ) i On foreign questions Sew ard wrote, "I would demand explanations from Spain and France at once, also, from Great Britain," and if satis factory explanations are not received from Spain and France, would convene Con gress and declare war against them." :. . ;; .-'tr-S ! -:wJ-' ; Tlhat added up to a fantastic scheme for fomenting a, for eign war to solve 'domestic problems. (Spain and France were acting as, if ,they wwre -about to move into the Carib bean and . Central America. Britain was friendly to the move but no overt a'cts against the Monroe Doctrine had oc curred.) i i ' i Someone ; must .administer this policy of nis, Sewt rd pro posed, "either the President . . and be all the while ac tive in it . ..." or some mem ber of the cabinet.. "It is not in my especial province. But I. neither seek to evade or assume responsibility." This was a secretary of state telling a President that the chief executive did not know how, .to run . his office, that he would do well to let someone take over who knew how, preferably his secretary of state.. Presidents have fired cabinet members out of hand for less, but that was not Lin coln's way of dealing with dis sident colleagues.' He answered Seward the same day' . Pointing out that bis Inau gural - address had-, covered Seward's suggested domestic policy with the exception of Ft. Sumter, Lincoln replied: . -"I do not perceive how.' the reinforcement .of Ft. Sumter would be done on a slavery or party issue, while that of Ft. Pickens: (at Pensacola, Fla.) would be on a national or pa triotic one." s , Proposal Dismissed ' Lincoln dismissed Seward's proposal to challenge the Eu ropean powers to war With a noncommittal paragraph and then drove home the clincher. - "Upon your closing proposi tion , . . 'that the President must do it himself' (administer the Seward policy) or give the task to a cabinet --member-! remark that if this must be done, I must do it." ; If a general . policy , was adopted, Lincoln continued, and debate came "upon points arising in its progress, I wish, and I suppose I unentitled to have, the advice of all the cabinet." Seward could refcd between the lines-Lincoln was Presi dent and intended to remain president. He wanted advice but he would maxe ms own decisions.- The Seward letter and Lin- Coin's reply came to light 33 years later. Both letters .were in Lincoln's papers, indicating the reply may hot have been sent. But it seems likely that Lincoln had a heart-to-heart talk with Seward,-using his reply as notes. No word of the episode came out at the time. The secretary of state took his . rebuff gracefully. .He would come to have great re spect for his chief, even affec tion. (Later he would write to Mrs.- Seward that ' "the Presi dent is the best of us all.") This small rebellion in his own household out of the way, Lincoln moved to the bigger one.- He ordered two expedition being fitted out In New York to sail on their missions. The fleet to relieve Pickens sailed April 7 and the one to relieve Sumter April 10. There was much confusion in the sailing orders and the makeup of the fleets with Seward dabbing in Navy affairs, but eventually it was straightened out. Lincoln had another card to play and here Robert S. Chew, a State Department clerk, made a brief and dramatic en try on the stage of history and exited to be heard of no more, Chew, was d i s p a t c h t d to Charleston with a message for Gov. Francis Pickens. On the -evening of April S. Chew stood in Pickens' office and read this to the governor: . "I am directed by the Presi dent of the United States to notify you to expect an at tempt will be made to supply f t. Sumter with provisions on ly; and that, if such an attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw In men, arms or ammu nition: will . be mad - without further notice, or in casa of an attack upon the fort.'? Chew left a copy without signature. : Advised Davit Pickens hastily advised Jef ferson Davis and his cabinet in Montgomery. Only Robert Toombs,: Confederate secre tary of state, opposed action. "The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any : the world, has yet seen; and I do not feel compe tent to advise you." Davis chose war. He advis ed Gen. Pierre Gustave Tou tant Beauregard, Confederate commander at Charleston; to select his own time and meth od, first demanding the fort's surrender. : 1 . Lincoln's card had won the trick.'. The South would fire the first shot of the Civil War. HOME RADIO ' Freshwater, Isle of Wight -(On - A radio in a store 'here will not be sold, the proprietor assured townspeople, until robins move out of the nest they built. inside it. - Jiidean Documents Dated in 1 34 A.D. Jerusalem, Israel -.(OH'.:- The first papyrus' documents of those found In -the' Judean desert a few miles weiV of the Dead Sea in the past fort night have been 'opened tod discovered to be legal trans action from the period Of the Jewish revolt againw Kome. The leaders of the Judean desert archaeological expedi tion told a press conference Sunday, that one of the first tnree documents unroiiea was dated the second of Klslev, the Jewish- month corresponding to December, of. the third year of. Bar Kochbas,' or 134 A.D. -: There are an estimated . SO $200,000 in Gold Stolen From Firm ' Grand Rapids,. Mich. - (UW- Police pressed -a search today for daring professional "gold bugs" who braved tear gas on Easter Sunday to loot $200, 000 in gold and tome dia monds from one of the nation's largest makers , of school and fraternity rings. The burglary of eight safes shut down '.the H. R, Thorn berry Co., also a top manu facturer of jewelry emblems for', fraternal and scholastic groups,, pending an inventory of the exact loss. ' 1 C. R. Armstrong, co-owner of the firm, said it "may take weeks" to find out what the thieves got. An estimated 300 gold sheets were known to be missing plus an unknown number of silver sheets.. ;- HANG ONTO THAT HAT V I Albuquerque, N. M. - (DM -The U. S. - Weather Bureau here, reporting on the weather in New Mexico Sunday night, commented:' i--''Afternoon breezes were brisk enough to offer slight hazard to the - more crudely engineered and less securely attached Easter bonnets." Auto Insurance Trouble? i i i Uninsured Accident? VtolaKontT Teen-Aga Problems? Confidential Service . CAST IOW RATES 'i .'- ..''..! . ' i Atao Preferred Rates for Preferred Driven - Atkin-McCullough Insurance, Inc. 321 So. Central Phono SP 3-7441 other documents , still checked, they said.' to'be OIL FOR FOOD f ' AtltnU-About 80 per cent of the cotton seed oil used in the United States is diverted into various food products. - FARM COUNTRY Athens Greece has little) manufacturing. Agriculture it still the important industry..; 0o o.O 0 Oo ' o 'So no , ' O' ' o 0 O0 Oo oO 06 0o O? o9 o Oo TL TafrT-ry lLii o Q f QJ5 Eneitlng Dlccovory IVlalnsc Dafhfimo FUN r &' nil i r," i- . ..ii o r . i - a1 ; No Bathtub Ring 1 n l AO n Th Kids lav It-Grown-ups too You Will find Matey , ' AT YOUR FAVORITE SUPER MARKET ' OR FOOD STORE ' No Ryo Sting-No Rathtub Ring rv o Oo oO 0 ' oO; m oOt m o oOv; OA: oOf r wo, o o Oo OO; O; M m if! STORE HOURS 0 A.M. to 9 P.M. EVERY DAY :OR SUPER SAVINGS TREASURE TOMATO JUICE 46-oz. 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