Nor did he hesitate to throw the responsibility for disagreement in the Committee of Thirteen upon the Republican members. In the name of peace he pled for less of party pride and the pride of individual opinion. “The political party which shall refuse to allow the people to determine for themselves at the ballot-box the issue between revolution and war on the one side, and obstinate adherence to a party platform on the other, will assume a fearful responsibility. A war upon a political issue, waged by the people of eighteen States against the people and domestic institutions of fifteen sister-States, is a fearful and revolting thought."[916] But Republican senators were deaf to all warnings from so recent a convert to non-partisan politics.
While the Committee of Thirteen was in session, Major Anderson moved his garrison from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, urging repeatedly the need of reinforcements. At the beginning of the new year, President Buchanan was inspired to form a good resolution. He resolved that Anderson should not be ordered to return to Moultrie but should be reinforced. On the 5th of January, the “Star of the West,” with men, arms and ammunition, was dispatched to Charleston harbor. On the 9th the steamer was fired upon and forced to return without accomplishing its mission. Then came the news of the secession of Mississippi. In rapid succession Florida, Alabama, and Georgia passed ordinances of secession.[917] Louisiana and Texas were sure to follow the lead of the other cotton States.
In spite of these untoward events, the Republican senators remained obdurate. Their answer to the Crittenden referendum proposition was the Clark resolution, which read, “The provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation of the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the country; it needs to be obeyed rather than amended."[918] On the 21st of the month, the senators of the seceding States withdrew; yet Douglas could still say to anxious Union men at the South, “There is hope of adjustment, and the prospect has never been better than since we first assembled."[919] And Senator Crittenden concurred in this view. On what could they have grounded their hopes?
Douglas still believed in the efficacy of compromise to preserve the Union. Through many channels he received intelligence from the South, and he knew well that the leaders of public opinion were not of one mind. Some, at least, regarded the proposed Southern confederacy as a means of securing a revision of the Constitution. Men like Benjamin of Louisiana were still ready to talk confidentially of a final adjustment.[920] Moreover, there was a persistent rumor that Seward was inclining to the Crittenden Compromise; and Seward, as the prospective leader of the incoming administration, would doubtless carry many Republicans with him. Something, too, might be expected from the Peace Convention, which was to meet on February 4th, in Washington.