Lincoln continues: "This notice was accordingly given;
whereupon the Fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even
awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition."
The President then proceeds: "It is thus seen that the assault upon and
reduction of Fort Sumter was, in no sense, a matter of self-defense on
the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the
Fort could, by no possibility, commit aggression upon them. They knew
--they were expressly notified--that the giving of bread to the few brave
and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be
attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more.
They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the Fort
--not to assail them--but merely to maintain visible possession, and
thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution
--trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the
ballot-box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the Fort
for precisely the reverse object--to drive out the visible authority of
the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution.
"That this was their object, the Executive well understood; and, having
said to them, in the Inaugural Address, 'you can have no conflict
without being yourselves the aggressors,' he took pains not only to keep
this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power
of ingenious sophistry as that the World should not be able to
misunderstand it.
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