Union--you can't get over that. We are faced with a plain fact. Seven
of the Southern States have already declared for secession. The
President feels--and I may say that I and my colleagues are with
him--that to break up the country like that means the decline of
America.

_Jennings_: But everything might be done by compromise, Mr. Seward.
Withdraw your garrison from Fort Sumter, Beauregard will be instructed
to take no further action, South Carolina will be satisfied with the
recognition of her authority, and, as likely as not, be willing to
give the lead to the other states in reconsidering secession.

_Seward_: It is certainly a very attractive and, I conceive, a humane
proposal.

_White_: By furthering it you might be the saviour of the country from
civil war, Mr. Seward.

_Seward_: The President dwelt on his resolution to hold Fort Sumter in
his inaugural address. It will be difficult to persuade him to go back
on that. He's firm in his decisions.

_White_: There are people who would call him stubborn. Surely if
it were put to him tactfully that so simple a course might avert
incalculable disaster, no man would nurse his dignity to the point of
not yielding. I speak plainly, but it's a time for plain speaking.
Mr. Lincoln is doubtless a man of remarkable qualities: on the two
occasions when I have spoken to him I have not been unimpressed. That
is so, Mr. Jennings?