The  forbearance  of  the  Confederate  Government,  under  the
circumstances,  is  perhaps  unexampled  in  history.  It  was  carried
to  the  extreme  verge,  short  of  a  disregard  of  the  safety  of  the
people  who  had  intrusted  to  that  government  the  duty  of  their
defense  against  their  enemies.  The  attempt  to  represent  us  as
the  aggressors  in  the  conflict  which  ensued  is  as  unfounded  as
the  complaint  made  by  the  wolf  against  the  lamb  in  the  famil-
iar fable.  He  who  makes  the  assault  is  not  necessarily  he  that
strikes  the  first  blow  or  fires  the  first  gun.  To  have  awaited
further  strengthening  of  their  position  by  land  and  naval  forces,
with  hostile  purpose  now  declared,  for  ,the  sake  of  having  them
"  fire  the  first  gun,"  would  have  been  as  unwise  as  it  would  be
to  hesitate  to  strike  down  the  arm  of  the  assailant,  who  levels  a
deadly  weapon  at  one's  breast,  until  he  has  actually  fired.  The
disingenuous  rant  of  demagogues  about  "firing  on  the  flag"
might  serve  to  rouse  the  passions  of  insensate  mobs  in  times  of
general  excitement,  but  will  be  impotent  in  impartial  history  to
relieve  the  Federal  Government  from  the  responsibility  of  the
assault  made  by  sending  a  hostile  fleet  against  the  harbor  of
Charleston,  to  cooperate  with  the  menacing  garrison  of  Fort
Sumter.  After  the  assault  was  made  by  the  hostile  descent  of
the  fleet,  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  was  a  measure  of'  de-
fense rendered  absolutely  and  immediately  necessary.
