But neither President Lincoln nor Douglas had committed himself on the concrete question upon which hung peace or war—­what should be done about Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens.  The point was driven home with relentless vigor by Wigfall, who still lingered in the Senate after the secession of his State.  “Would the Senator who is speaking for the administration say explicitly, whether he would advise the withdrawal of the troops from the forts?” The reply of Douglas was admirable:  “As I am not in their counsels nor their confidence, I shall not tender them my advice until they ask it....  I do not choose either, to proclaim what my policy would be, in view of the fact that the Senator does not regard himself as the guardian of the honor and interests of my country, but is looking to the interests of another, which he thinks is in hostility to this country.  It would hardly be good policy or wisdom for me to reveal what I think ought to be our policy, to one who may so soon be in the counsels of the enemy, and the command of its armies."[961]

Douglas did admit, however, that since the garrison of Fort Sumter had provisions for only thirty days, he presumed no attempt would be made to reinforce it.  Under existing circumstances the President had no power to collect the revenues of the government and no military force sufficient to reinforce Sumter.  Congress was not in session to supply either the necessary coercive powers or troops.  He therefore drew the conclusion that not only the President himself was pacific in his policy, but the Republican party as well, despite the views of individual members.  “But,” urged Mason of Virginia, “I ask the Senator, then, what is to be done with the garrison if they are in a starving condition?” “If the Senator had voted right in the last presidential election,” replied Douglas good-naturedly, “I should have been in a condition, perhaps, to tell him authoritatively what ought to be done.”

From this moment on, Douglas enjoyed the confidence of President Lincoln to an extraordinary degree.  No one knew better than Lincoln the importance of securing the cooeperation of so influential a personage.  True, by the withdrawal of Southern senators, the Democratic opposition had been greatly reduced; but Douglas was still a power in this Democratic remnant.  Besides, the man who could command the suffrages of a million voters was not a force lightly to be reckoned with.  After this speech of the 6th, Lincoln again sent for Douglas, to express his entire agreement with its views and with its spirit.[962] He gave Douglas the impression that he desired to gain time for passions to cool by removing the causes of irritation.  He felt confident that there would soon be a general demand for a national convention where all existing differences could be radically treated.  “I am just as ready,” Douglas reported him to have said, “to reinforce the garrisons at Sumter and Pickens or to withdraw them, as I am to see an amendment adopted protecting slavery in the Territories or prohibiting slavery in the Territories.  What I want is to get done what the people desire to have done, and the question for me is how to find that out exactly."[963] On this point they were in entire accord.