FORT SUMTER
The Senate appoints a committee to ask the President to recall
the appointment of Harvey as Minister to Portugal--He had
notified Governor Pickens of the Government's intention to
relieve Fort Sumter--Trumbull a member of the committee--Seward
says that he did not know of Harvey's action till after the
appointment was made--In fact, Seward gave the information to
Harvey intending that he should send it to Pickens--John Hay's
Diary says that Lincoln, before his inauguration, offered to
evacuate Fort Sumter--Also that he repeated the offer after
inauguration--This confirms a narrative of John Minor Botts--The
controversy between Botts and J. B. Baldwin concerning the
latter's interview with Lincoln on April 5, 1861--Reasons for
believing that Botts's story is true--Remarkable interview
between Douglas and Seward as to Fort Sumter 155