Meanwhile the Administration of President Buchanan looked helplessly on and proclaimed that the general government had no power to interfere; that the Nation had no power to save its own life.  Mr. Buchanan had in his cabinet two members at least, who were as earnest—­to use a mild term—­in the cause of secession as Mr. Davis or any Southern statesman.  One of them, Floyd, the Secretary of War, scattered the army so that much of it could be captured when hostilities should commence, and distributed the cannon and small arms from Northern arsenals throughout the South so as to be on hand when treason wanted them.  The navy was scattered in like manner.  The President did not prevent his cabinet preparing for war upon their government, either by destroying its resources or storing them in the South until a de facto government was established with Jefferson Davis as its President, and Montgomery, Alabama, as the Capital.  The secessionists had then to leave the cabinet.  In their own estimation they were aliens in the country which had given them birth.  Loyal men were put into their places.  Treason in the executive branch of the government was estopped.  But the harm had already been done.  The stable door was locked after the horse had been stolen.

During all of the trying winter of 1860-1, when the Southerners were so defiant that they would not allow within their borders the expression of a sentiment hostile to their views, it was a brave man indeed who could stand up and proclaim his loyalty to the Union.  On the other hand men at the North—­prominent men—­proclaimed that the government had no power to coerce the South into submission to the laws of the land; that if the North undertook to raise armies to go south, these armies would have to march over the dead bodies of the speakers.  A portion of the press of the North was constantly proclaiming similar views.  When the time arrived for the President-elect to go to the capital of the Nation to be sworn into office, it was deemed unsafe for him to travel, not only as a President-elect, but as any private citizen should be allowed to do.  Instead of going in a special car, receiving the good wishes of his constituents at all the stations along the road, he was obliged to stop on the way and to be smuggled into the capital.  He disappeared from public view on his journey, and the next the country knew, his arrival was announced at the capital.  There is little doubt that he would have been assassinated if he had attempted to travel openly throughout his journey.

CHAPTER XVII.

Outbreak of the rebellion—­presiding at A union meeting—­mustering officer of state troops—­Lyon at camp Jackson—­services tendered to the government.