Supplies must be lodged in Fort Sumter at all hazards. If the rebels fire at an unarmed supply ship, and make a perfectly proper act the pretext for shedding the blood of loyal citizens, on their heads be the responsibility. The thought uppermost to-day: “Down with rebellion!”
Original passage & context
"Supplies must be lodged in Fort Sumter at all hazards and against all opposition from armed rebels. It is carrying conciliation to its extreme when the government gives fair notice of its purpose, and contents itself with only sending the needed provisions. If the rebels fire at an unarmed supply ship, and make a perfectly proper act the pretext for shedding the blood of loyal citizens, on their heads be the responsibility. [...] The thought uppermost to-day in the popular mind is “Down with rebellion!”"
Lincoln's decision — resupply the fort, tell South Carolina in advance, send provisions only — reaches the public, and a Republican paper immediately frames the trap it sets: if the guns open on a bread ship, the responsibility is fixed. Two passages joined with [...]. Compare se-047, the same maneuver read as a deliberate decoy.
Read it in the original — New York Evening Post, Apr 10, 1861 ↗