[smug]

Hurlbut was convinced that the South wanted war sooner rather than later, either in Charleston or some other point.

The Provisional Constitution itself, in the second section of its sixth article, had ordained as follows:
"The Government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it and their other late confederates of the United States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that Union, upon the principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."126
In accordance with this requirement of the Constitution, the Congress, on the 15th of February—before my arrival at Montgomery—passed a resolution declaring "that it is the sense of this Congress that a commission of three persons be appointed by the President-elect, as early as may be convenient after his inauguration, and sent to the Government of the United States of America, for the purpose of negotiating friendly relations between that Government and the Confederate States of America, and for the settlement of all questions of disagreement between the two Governments, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."127

I would suggest that Hurlbut was wrong, otherwise why go to this extent. The effort was made to adjust differences and the Commissioners was sent.

[Non-Sequitur]

"The Government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it and their other late confederates of the United States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that Union, upon the principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."

And just look how that got watered down. It was missing entirely from the final version of the constitution. When the confederate congress passed their legislation authorizing the delegation, the wording had changed from specifically mentioning debt and property to "...the settlement of all questions of disagreement between the two governments upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith." Davis watered it down even further in his letter to Lincoln, making an offer to "...agree, treat, consult, and negotiate of and concerning all matters and subjects interesting to both nations..." What if Davis didn't find responsibility for debt or payment for property seized a matter or subject of interest? I suppose it wouldn't have come up for discussion.

Regardless, both the confederate congress and Jefferson Davis made any talks contingent on the Lincoln administration first recognizing confederate sovereignty. If Lincoln had admitted that their acts of secession were legal then wouldn't that have meant recognizing all their steps to date, including repudiating debt and seizing federal property, legal as well? Removing any need for payment of any kind?