The Times makes clear their view that if war begins at Fort Sumter, Confederates must strike the first blow.
Then Union warships can arrive in a few days to reinforce Maj. Anderson's command.
The Times does not know that Maj. Anderson already informed Lincoln that Anderson's supplies could only last another six weeks, until mid-April at best.
Lincoln is now facing a deadline clock for action.
Obviously, Fort Sumter will be a main focus of reporting for many in coming weeks. A crisis for the NYT editorial staff will come to light tomorrow when they decide they haven’t been spelling “Sumter” correctly.
(Fort Sumter, however spelled, is the main topic of most of my excerpts today over on the new Harper’s Weekly thread.)