"The parties in So. C. [South Carolina] are arming on both sides, & drilling in the night, & I expect soon to hear that a civil war of extermination has commenced. I will meet all things with deliberate firmness & forbearence, but wo, to those nullifiers who shed the first blood. The moment I am prepared with proof I will direct prosecutions for treason to be instituted against the leaders, and if they are surrounded with 12,000 bayonets our marshall shall be aided by 24,000 & arrest them in the midst thereof—nothing must be permitted to weaken our government at home or abroad."