Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 2 (of 2)

by George Ticknor Curtis

CHAPTER XIII.

SUMMARY OF THE SLAVERY QUESTIONS FROM 1787 TO 1860—THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION IN THE NORTH—GROWTH AND POLITICAL TRIUMPH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY—FATAL DIVISIONS AMONG THE DEMOCRATS—MR. BUCHANAN DECLINES TO BE REGARDED AS A CANDIDATE FOR A SECOND ELECTION.

As the reader is now approaching the period when, for the first time in our political history, a President of the United States was elected by the votes of the free States alone, a retrospective view of those events which preceded and contributed to that result is necessary to a correct understanding of the great national schism of 1860-61.

The beginning of the year 1860 found the people of the United States in the enjoyment of as great a measure of prosperity as they had ever known. It was to close with a condition of feeling between the two sections of the Union entirely fatal to its peace and threatening to its perpetuity. In the future of our country there will come a time when our posterity will ask, why should there ever have been any “North” or any “South,” in the sense in which those divisions have been marked in so long a period of our national history. When the inquirer learns that from the time of the formation and establishment of the Constitution of the United States, the existence of slavery in certain States was nearly the sole cause of the sectional antagonism typified by those terms, he will have to trace, through various settlements, the successive adjustments of questions which related to this one dangerous and irritating subject.

This portion of our national history is divided into distinct stages, at each of which some thing intended to be definite and final was reached. It is also filled by the disastrous influence of causes which unsettled what had once been determined as a series of compacts between the sections; causes which continued to operate until the year that witnessed the beginning of a great catastrophe.

The Constitution of the United States, so far as it related in any way to the condition of slavery, was the result of agreements and adjustments between the Northern and the Southern States, which have been called “compromises.” It is not material to the present purpose to consider either the moral justification for these arrangements, or whether there was an equality or an inequality as between the two sections, in what they respectively gained or conceded. Both sections gained the Union of the whole country under a system of government better adapted to secure its welfare and happiness than it had known before; and what this system promised was abundantly fulfilled. The precise equivalent which the Southern States received, by the settlement made in the formation of the Constitution, was the recognition of slavery as a condition of portions of their population by a right exclusively dependent upon their own local law, and exclusively under their own control as a right of property; and to this right of property was annexed a stipulation that the master might follow his slave from the State whence he had escaped into any other State, and require him to be given up, even if the law of that other State did not recognize the condition of servitude. One other concession was made by the Northern States: that although the slaves of the Southern States were regarded as property, they should be so far considered as persons as to be reckoned in a certain ratio in fixing the basis of representation in the popular branch of Congress, and by consequence in fixing the electoral vote of the State in the choice of a President of the United States. The special equivalent which the Northern States received for these concessions was in the establishment of what is called “the commercial power,” or the power of Congress to regulate for the whole country the trade with foreign nations and between the States; a power which it was foreseen was to be one of vast importance, which was one of the chief objects for which the new Union was to be formed, and which proved in the event to be all, and more than all, that had been anticipated for it. Viewed in the light of mutual stipulations, these so-called “compromises” between the two sections were laid at the basis of the Constitution, forming a settlement fixed in the supreme law of the land, and therefore determinate and final.

Contemporaneously with the formation of the Constitution, and before its adoption, the Congress of the Confederation was engaged in framing an ordinance for the government of the Northwestern Territory, a region of country north and west of the Ohio, which Virginia and other States had ceded to the United States during the war of the revolution. From this region the ordinance excluded slavery by an agreement made in that Congress between the Northern and the Southern States. The Constitution did not take notice of this Northwestern Territory by its specific designation, but it was made to embrace a provision empowering the new Congress “to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory and all other property of the United States,” and also a provision for the admission into the Union of new States, to be formed out of any territory belonging to the United States. For a long period after the adoption of the Constitution, these two provisions, taken together, were regarded as establishing a plenary power of legislation over the internal condition of any territory that might in any way become the property of the United States, while it remained subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, and down to the time when its inhabitants were to be permitted to form themselves into a State that was to be admitted into the Union upon an equality with all the other States. Under this process, between the years 1792 and 1820, nine new States were admitted into the Union; five of them with slavery and four of them without it. Of these, three were formed out of parts of the Northwestern Territory, and they therefore derived their character as free States from the admitted force of the ordinance of 1787; while the others were not within the scope of that ordinance, but derived their character from the legislative authority of Congress under the Constitution.

It was not until the year 1820 that this recognized practice of admitting a State into the Union as a free or as a slave State, according to the character of its early settlement, and the legislation which governed the Territorial condition, incurred any serious danger of interruption. But in that year, Missouri, which was a part of the territory ceded in 1803 by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, was in a condition to seek admission into the Union. Slavery had existed there from the first settlement of the country, and when it became necessary to authorize the free inhabitants to form a State constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union, it was certain that, if left to themselves, they would not abolish a domestic relation that had long existed among them, and in which no inconsiderable part of their wealth was involved. It was proposed to require them to abolish it, as a condition precedent to the admission of the State into the Union. On this so-called “Missouri Restriction,” a violent sectional struggle ensued in Congress, which ended in what has since been known as the “Missouri Compromise.” This was embodied in the organic act, passed on the 6th of March, 1820, which authorized the people of the then Territory of Missouri to form a State constitution and government. The compromise consisted, on the one hand, in the omission of the proposed restriction as a condition of admission into the Union, and, on the other hand, in a guarantee of perpetual freedom throughout all the remainder of the Louisiana territory lying north of the parallel of 36° 30´. This was accompanied, however, by a proviso, which saved the right to reclaim any person escaping into that region, from whom labor or service was lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States. The parallel of 36° 30´ was adopted as the line north of which slavery or involuntary servitude might not be permitted to exist as an institution or condition recognized by the local law, because it was assumed as a practical fact that north of that line the slavery of the African race could not, from the nature of the climate, be profitably introduced, whilst it was equally assumed that in those portions of the Louisiana purchase south of that line, the habits of the contiguous States, and the character of the climate would induce a settlement by persons accustomed to hold and depend upon that species of labor in the cultivation of the soil, and in the wants of domestic life. The principle of the Missouri Compromise, therefore, as a final settlement made between the two sections of the Union in respect to the whole of the Louisiana purchase, was that north of the parallel of 36° 30´, slavery could never be introduced, but that south of that line, slavery might be established according to the will of the free inhabitants. Regarded in the light of a division of this vast territory, this compromise secured to the North quite as much as, if not more than, it secured to the South. Regarded in the light of a settlement of a dangerous and exciting controversy, on which the whole Union could repose, the Missouri Compromise disposed of the future character of all the territory then belonging to the United States, not including the Northwestern Territory, the character of which was fixed by the ordinance of 1787. For a quarter of a century afterward, the two sections of North and South rested in peace upon the settlement of 1820, so far as discussion of the subject of slavery in the halls of Congress could be induced by the application of new States to be admitted into the Union. But in 1845, when Texas, a foreign, an independent, and a slave State, was annexed to the Union, the subject of an increase in the number of slave States came again into discussion, in which angry sectional feeling was carried to a dangerous point. Texas was finally admitted into the Union as a slaveholding State, with a right to divide herself into four new States, with or without slavery; but one of the express conditions of the annexation was a recognition of the Missouri Compromise line, so that north of that line no new State could be framed out of any portion of Texas unless slavery should be excluded from it. The wisdom and policy of the Missouri Compromise were thus again recognized, and it remained undisturbed for a period of thirty-four years from the time of its enactment, as a covenant of peace between the North and the South.

The war between the United States and Mexico, which was terminated by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, resulted in the acquisition by the United States of a vast region of country which was not embraced by the Missouri Compromise. At the time of this acquisition, Mr. Buchanan earnestly advocated the extension of the line of 36° 30´ through the whole of this new territory to the Pacific Ocean, as the best mode of adjustment.

It is not necessary in this historical sketch to dwell on the advantages or disadvantages of this plan. All that needs to be said about it here is, that it commended itself to Mr. Buchanan as a plan more acceptable to the people of both sections of the Union than any other that could be devised. It was defeated by the proposal of the so-called “Wilmot Proviso,” which aimed to exclude slavery from all possible introduction into any part of this newly acquired territory, without regard to the principle of division which was the characteristic of the Missouri Compromise, and without recognizing any claim of the slaveholding States to an equal enjoyment of the common territory of the Union, in the manner in which they asserted that claim. The Southern claim was that of a right to emigrate into any Territory of the United States, with slaves, as part of the property of the emigrant, just as a Northern man could emigrate into such a Territory with whatever personal property he chose to take with him. When, therefore, the admission of California as a State, and the organization of Territorial governments for the other provinces of Mexico that had been ceded to the United States came before Congress, they came accompanied by a great sectional excitement, that was partly due to the anti-slavery agitation that had been going on in the North, and partly to the struggle for an increase of the political power of the free States on the one side, and of the slave States on the other, according as the future character of these new acquisitions might be determined.

Having now reached the year 1850, the reader stands at a period at which the character of freedom had been long impressed upon the whole of the Northwestern Territories; at which the character of the whole region of the Louisiana purchase had been for thirty years determined by the principle of the Missouri Compromise; and at which, what remained to be done was to adjust, by a final settlement, the future character of the territory acquired from Mexico, and to act upon any other questions concerning slavery that demanded and admitted legislation by Congress. There were two such questions that did not relate to the newly acquired territory. One of these concerned the toleration of the domestic slave trade in the District of Columbia, the abolition of which was loudly demanded by the North. The other related to a Southern demand of a more efficient law for the extradition of fugitives from service.

The Thirty-first Congress, assembled in December, 1849, was the one which enacted the series of measures known as the “Compromise of 1850,” and which settled all the slavery questions that remained for adjustment. In respect to the territory that had been acquired from Mexico, there was danger for a time that all harmony of action would be frustrated by the so-called “Wilmot Proviso,” which aimed to impose as a fundamental condition of any legislation respecting any part of that territory, a perpetual exclusion of slavery. Mr. Buchanan was out of public office at this time, but his influence was exerted in his own State, with success, to prevent the passage by her legislature of instructing resolutions in favor of that proviso. This led the way for its rejection by Congress. On the 4th of February, 1850, resolutions favoring the proviso were laid upon the table of the House of Representatives in Congress, by the vote of 105 to 75. This important vote was followed in the Senate by five measures, designed by Mr. Clay and supported by Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun, which, after a long discussion, became laws in September, 1850, with the general concurrence of both the Whig and the Democratic parties. The first of these Acts consisted of a new and more efficient law for the extradition of fugitives from service, to take the place of the old law of February 12th, 1793, which bore the signature of Washington. By reason of a decision of the Supreme Court, made in 1842, which had determined that Congress could not constitutionally require State magistrates to perform a duty which the Court declared to be one pertaining exclusively to the Federal power, the law of 1793 had become almost inoperative. Although the decision of the Court left the States at liberty to allow their magistrates to act in such cases, many of the Northern States had passed laws to prohibit them from rendering any official aid to the claimant of a fugitive from service. It had become necessary, therefore, for Congress to provide officers of Federal appointment to execute an express mandate of the Federal Constitution. This was the purpose of the new law of 1850.

The second of these “compromise measures” was an Act for the immediate admission of California into the Union, as a free State, embracing its whole territory, both south and north of the line of the Missouri Compromise. The third and fourth measures were Acts for the establishment of Territorial governments in New Mexico and Utah, which secured to them respectively the right of admission as States into the Union, “with or without slavery as their respective constitutions might require.” The Act relating to New Mexico declared that “no citizen of the United States shall be deprived of his life, liberty or property in said Territory, except by the judgment of his peers and the laws of the land;” thus making, from abundant caution, a provision of the Federal Constitution obligatory upon the Territorial legislature. Thus these two Acts, along with the Missouri Compromise, comprehended all the territory belonging to the United States, whether derived from Mexico or from France; there was no territory remaining for the Wilmot Proviso to act upon, and consequently the agitation of that proviso was excluded from the halls of Congress. Moreover, the Act for establishing the Territory of New Mexico withdrew from the jurisdiction of a slave State all that portion of Texas which lay north of the parallel of 36° 30´, by including it within the boundary of New Mexico. The fifth of the compromise measures of 1850 was a law abolishing the domestic slave trade within the District of Columbia.

It is not singular that a final settlement, which disposed of all the slavery questions on which Congress could in any way act, should have been acceptable to the people of the whole Union, excepting the extremists of the two sections. The abolitionists of the North denounced it, because it admitted of the possible and theoretical establishment of slavery in New Mexico, notwithstanding the patent fact that neither the soil nor the climate of that region could ever make it a profitable form of labor, and because it recognized and provided for the execution of that provision of the Constitution which required the extradition of fugitives from service. The extreme men of the South disliked the settlement, because it admitted the great and rich State of California as a free State. But when the Presidential election of 1852 approached, the general approval of this settlement was made manifest. The national convention of the Whig party nominated as its candidate for the Presidency General Scott, who was supposed to be somewhat closely affiliated, both personally and politically, with public men who opposed and continued to denounce the compromise. But in their “platform” the Whigs pledged themselves to maintain it as a binding settlement, and to discountenance all attempts in or out of Congress to disturb it. The Democratic national convention not only made equally emphatic declarations of their purpose to maintain this settlement inviolate, but by nominating a candidate who could not be suspected of any lukewarmness on this, the great political question of the time, they secured a majority of the electoral votes of both free and slave States that was almost unprecedented. General Pierce received 254 electoral votes out of 296, or 105 votes more than were necessary to a choice. All the free States, excepting Massachusetts and Vermont, and all the slave States, excepting Kentucky and Tennessee, gave him their electoral votes. Never did a party come into power with greater strength, and never was there a more distinct political issue than that which placed General Pierce at the head of the Government. The people at large distrusted the soundness of the Whig candidate and his friends upon the compromise of 1850, and being determined to maintain that settlement as final, and to have no more agitation of slavery questions in Congress, they entrusted the destinies of the country to the Democratic party.

But as not infrequently happens, the Democrats were in a majority so large that it became unwieldy; and before the administration of General Pierce had closed, a step was taken that was to lead to the most serious consequences. This step was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The settlement, or “compromise” of 1850, made by the consentaneous action of the North and the South, rested, as on a corner stone, upon the inviolable character of the settlement of 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise. To preserve that earlier compromise intact, was to preserve the later one; for if the settlement made in 1820 in regard to all the territory derived from France should be renounced, the door would be open for the renunciation of the settlement made in 1850 respecting New Mexico and Utah. Sweep away the compact which dedicated the whole Louisiana territory north of 36° 30´ to perpetual freedom, and which gave to the South whatever parts of it below that line might be adapted to slave labor, and all Territories everywhere would be subject to a new contention over the dogma that slavery did or that it did not go into every Territory by virtue of a right derived from the Constitution of the United States. There was no security for the peace and harmony of the country, but to act upon the principle that the settlement of 1850 rested for its foundation upon the inviolable character and perpetual duration of the settlement of 1820.

But in all free countries governed by political parties, and especially at times when the party in power is in an extraordinary majority, there are always men who feel that they are wiser than others, and who are apt to couple their own aims as statesmen, looking to the highest honors of their country, with new plans for the management of public affairs. Such a man was the late Stephen A. Douglas, a Senator in Congress from the State of Illinois from 1847 until his death, in 1861; a distinguished leader of the Democratic party, who had been several times a candidate for the nomination by his party to the Presidency. This very able man, who had a considerable body of friends attached to him from his energetic and somewhat imperious qualities, had been a strenuous supporter of the Compromise of 1850, and had rendered very efficient service in the adoption of that settlement. He seems to have been somewhat suddenly led, in 1854, to the adoption of the idea that it would be wise to repeal the Missouri Compromise, and that in its place might be substituted a doctrine that the people of a Territory have the same right and ought to have the same sovereign power, while in the Territorial condition, to shape their domestic institutions in their own way, as the people of a State. He does not appear to have had the foresight to see that the practical application of this doctrine would lead, in the circumstances of the country, to a sectional struggle for the possession and political dominion of a Territory, between slaveholders and non-slaveholders, without the superintending and controlling authority of Congress to prevent such a conflict by determining the character of the Territory one way or the other. As he could not remove the Missouri settlement without attacking the constitutional power of Congress to legislate as it might see fit on the condition of a Territory, he boldly determined to make that attack, and to put in the place of the authority of Congress the doctrine of “popular sovereignty” as a substitute for Congressional legislation on the relations of master and slave. When this ill-advised legislation, which tended in the most direct manner to concentrate into political organization the Northern dislike of slavery, received the sanction of the President, General Pierce, on the 30th of May, 1854, Mr. Buchanan was out of the country. He never approved of it, and had he been at home, it is quite certain that it would have encountered his strenuous opposition.

Turning now aside from the history of these successive settlements, and the modes in which they were unsettled, in order to appreciate the condition of feeling between the two sections of the Union at the time when the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency was effected exclusively by the electoral votes of the free States, the reader should learn something of the history of the anti-slavery agitation in the North; something of the effort to extend the political power of the slave States as a barrier against anticipated encroachments upon Southern rights; and something of the causes which led to the assertion of the supposed right of State secession from the Union, as a remedy against dangers apprehended to be in store for the people of the South.

By the universal admission of all persons, whatever were their sentiments or feelings concerning slavery, the Constitution of the United States conferred no power upon Congress to act on it in any State of the Union. This was as much acknowledged by the early abolitionists as by all other men. They regarded the Constitution as a “pro-slavery” instrument. They admitted that the supreme law of the land recognized and to a certain extent upheld the principle that slaves were property; and they therefore sought for a justification of their attacks upon the Constitution in what they denominated the “higher law,” which meant that when the individual citizen believes that the moral law is in conflict with the law of the land, the latter cannot rightfully bind his conscience or restrain his conduct. Proclaiming it to be sinful to live in a political confederacy which tolerated slavery anywhere within its limits, they began by denouncing the Constitution as a “league with death and a covenant with hell;” and it was not long before this doctrine of the higher law was preached from pulpits and disseminated by numerous publications in the New England States. The dates of the organized anti-slavery societies are important to be observed, because of the spontaneous movement in Virginia towards the removal of slavery which shortly preceded them. The New England Anti-slavery Society was organized in Boston, on the 30th of January, 1832; the New York Society in October, 1833; and the National Society at Philadelphia in December, 1833. Affiliated local societies of the same kind sprang up at once in many towns and villages of the North. At the time when these organizations were first gathered, and for a long period thereafter, there was no pending question upon the subject of the extension of slavery into Territories of the United States. The country had been reposing since 1820 upon the Missouri settlement; it was not until 1845 that any addition of slave territory was threatened; and at the moment when the first anti-slavery society was organized in Boston, Virginia was on the verge of emancipating her slaves. Accordingly, the nature, purposes and methods of the Northern anti-slavery agitation between the year 1832 and the annexation of Texas in 1845, and thence to the year 1860, form a most important subject of political study.

The founders of the Northern anti-slavery societies, while taking their stand in opposition to the Constitution, had yet, in all that they asked Congress to do, to address themselves to a public body every member of which had taken an oath to support that instrument. In their own communities, those who carried on the agitation could appeal to the emotional natures of men, women and children upon the wrongs and the sin of slavery, and fill them with hatred of the slaveholder, without discriminating between questions on which the citizens of a non-slaveholding State could and those on which they could not legitimately act. A great moral force of abhorrence of slavery could thus be, and in fact was, in process of time accumulated. This force expended itself in two ways; first, in supplying to the managers of the agitation the means of sending into the Southern States, pamphlets, newspapers and pictorial representations setting forth the wrongs and cruelties of slavery. For this purpose, the mails of the United States had, by the year 1835, been so much used for the circulation in the South of matter which was there regarded as incendiary and calculated to promote servile insurrections, that President Jackson deemed it to be his duty to propose legislation to arrest such abuses of the post office. Congress did not adopt his recommendation, and the abuse remained unchecked.[^[58]] Another mode in which the anti-slavery agitation expended itself was in petitions to Congress. During the session of 1835-6, and for several of the following years, Congress was flooded with what were called “abolition petitions.” On some of them Congress could legitimately act: such as those which prayed for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the forts, arsenals, and dock-yards of the United States situated in slaveholding States. On others, which petitioned for a dissolution of the Union on account of the existence of slavery in some of the States, or for action on the subject of slavery in general, Congress of course could do nothing. A question arose whether such petitions could be received at all, which led to a very memorable and a very excited discussion of the right of petition. Not only was a large part of the time of Congress taken up with these topics, but the opposing representatives of the two sections were guilty of excesses in crimination and recrimination, which foreshadowed the formation of two geographical parties, one Northern and the other Southern, having nothing but slavery as the cause of their division.

One of the questions to which those who are to come after us will seek for an answer, will be, what was the justification for this anti-slavery agitation, begun in 1832 and continued for a period of about ten years, during which there was no special effort on the part of the South to extend the area of slavery? What, again, was the unquestionable effect of this agitation in producing a revulsion of feeling on the whole subject of slavery among the slaveholders themselves? Was the time propitious for the accomplishment of any good? Were the mode, the method, and the spirit of the agitation such as men would resort to, who had a just and comprehensive sense of the limitations upon human responsibility?

The time was most unfortunate. The Southern conscience did not then need to be quickened or enlightened on the inherent wrong of African slavery; nor did it need to be told that the system was one that inflicted many evils upon society. Plans of emancipation, which the Southerners themselves were far better fitted to form than any one who was a stranger to their social condition, had already begun to be considered by enlightened men in more than one of the older Southern States. All that could be done by others who were beyond their limits, to aid them in any aspect of the subject, was limited by just such restraints as apply to any evil existing in a community to which it is confined, and on which strangers can offer nothing but the most considerate and temperate discussion of remedies originating among those who have the burthen to bear. The grand error of our early abolitionists was that they would not observe the limitations of human duty. They were either citizens or residents of non-slaveholding States. Foreigners, in respect to this matter, to the States in which slavery existed, they carried on their discussions, publications and organizations in communities whose public opinion could have but an extremely narrow and subordinate right to act on the subject at all. They either disregarded the fact that the Constitution of the United States could never have been established if it had not recognized the exclusive right of each Southern State to govern the relation of master and slave—nay, that the foreign slave trade without that Constitution could not have been ended when it was, if at all—or else they denounced the Constitution as an emanation from the bottomless pit. Grant that the relation of servitude was a moral wrong, that the idea that man can hold property in man was repugnant to the law of nature or the law of God; grant that the political system of the Union, as our fathers made it, ought to have been reformed by their descendants;—were there no moral restraints resting upon those who enjoyed the advantages and blessings of a Union which had been purchased by certain concessions to the slaveholder? Did not the Constitution itself provide for regular and peaceful changes which the progress of society and the growing philanthropy of the age might find to be necessary to the fuller practical development of the great truths of liberty? Was there no way to deal with slavery but to attack the slaveholder as a sinner, stained with the deepest of crimes against God and his fellow-men? Was there nothing to be done to aid him in ridding himself of the burthen of his sin, by discussing with him the economical problems of his situation? Was it necessary for strangers to demand instant and unqualified manumission, regardless of what was to follow? Was it necessary to assail the Constitution as an unholy covenant with sin, and, rejecting its restraints, to disregard the wisdom that takes human nature as it is, that is careful not to provoke reaction, that looks before and after, and shapes its measures with a rational forecast of their adaptation to the end?

Whilst it is not to be denied that our “Abolitionists” were men of a certain kind of courage developed into rashness, of unbounded zeal, of singular energy, of persistent consistency with their own principles of action, and of that fanatical force which is derived from the incessant contemplation[contemplation] of one idea to the exclusion of all others, it must nevertheless be said that they were not statesmen. There was no one among them of whom it can be said that he acted with a statesmanlike comprehension of the difficulties of this great subject, or with a statesman’s regard for the limitations on individual conduct. Their situation was very different from that of the public or private men in England, who gallantly led the early crusade against the slave trade, or of those who afterwards brought about emancipation in the British colonies. Whatever Parliament thought fit to do in regard to slavery under the British flag or in the British dominions, it had ample power to do, and what Parliament might be made to do, was for the nation to determine. An English statesman or philanthropist had, in either character, no constitutional restraints to consider. He had to deal with both moral and economical questions, and he could deal freely with either. He could use argument, persuasion, invective, or denunciation, and he could not be told by the Jamaica slaveholder, you have entered into a solemn public compact with me which secures to me the exclusive cognizance of this domestic relation, and by that compact you purchased the very existence of the general government under which we both live. But a citizen of the United States, or a foreigner, taking his stand in a free State, stirring up popular hatred of the slaveholder, sending into the Southern States publications which were there regarded as incendiary, persuading legislative bodies in the North to act against one of the express conditions of the Federal Union, and renouncing all Christian fellowship with Southern churches, surely violated the spirit and in some respects the letter of the Constitution. He provoked a sudden revulsion of feeling in the South, and brought about a state of opinion which aimed to maintain slavery by texts of scripture, by the examples of other nations, by the teachings of Christ and his apostles, by the assumed relations of races, by the supposed laws of public economy, and the alleged requirements of a southern clime. He promoted, by an effect as inevitable as the nature of man, a purpose to defend slavery through an increase of its political power, to which a multiplication of slave States would make a large addition. He thus sowed the wind, and, left to another generation to reap the whirlwind.

These assertions must not be left unsupported by proof, and the proof is at hand. In all periods of our history, prior to the civil war, Virginia exercised great influence over the whole slaveholding region. I have said that she was on the verge of emancipation when the first anti-slavery society was organized in the North; and although half a century has since elapsed, there are those living who, like myself, can recollect that she was so. But to others the fact must be attested by proof. It may be asserted as positively as anything in history that, in the year 1832, there was nowhere in the world a more enlightened sense of the wrong and the evil of slavery, than there was among the public men and the people of Virginia. The movement against it was spontaneous. It reached the general assembly by petitions which evinced that the policy and justice of emancipation had taken a strong hold on the convictions of portions of the people of the State, whom no external influence had then reached, and who, therefore, had free scope. Any Virginian could place himself at the head of this movement without incurring hostility or jealousy, and it was a grandson of Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson Randolph, by whom the leading part in it was assumed.

Mr. Randolph represented in the assembly the county of Albemarle, which was one of the largest slaveholding counties of the State. He brought forward a bill to accomplish a gradual emancipation. It was debated with the freedom of men who, undisturbed by external pressure, were dealing with a matter of purely domestic concern. No member of the house defended slavery, for the day had not come when Southern men were to learn that it was a blessing, because those who knew nothing of its burthens told them that it was a curse. There could be nothing said anywhere, there had been nothing said out of Virginia, stronger and truer, in depicting the evils of slavery, than was said in that discussion by Virginia gentlemen, debating in their own legislature a matter that concerned themselves and their people. But finding that the house was not prepared for immediate action on so momentous a subject, Mr. Randolph did not press his bill to a vote. A resolution, however, was adopted, by a vote of 65 to 58, which shows what was the condition of the public sentiment of Virginia at that moment. It declared, as the sense of the house, “that they were profoundly sensible of the great evils arising from the condition of the colored population of the commonwealth, and were induced by policy, as well as humanity, to attempt the immediate removal of the free negroes; but that further action for the removal of the slaves should await a more definite development of public opinion.”

Mr. Randolph was again elected by his constituents, upon this special question. But in the mean time came suddenly the intelligence of what was doing at the North. It came in an alarming aspect for the peace and security of the whole South; since it could not be possible that strangers should combine together to assail the slaveholder as a sinner and to demand his instant admission of his guilt, without arousing fears of the most dangerous consequences for the safety of Southern homes, as well as intense indignation against such an unwarrantable interference. From that time forth, emancipation, whether immediate or gradual, could not be considered in Virginia or anywhere else in the South. Public attention became instantly fixed upon the means of resisting this external and unjustifiable intermeddling with a matter that did not concern those who intermeddled. A sudden revulsion of public sentiment in Virginia was followed by a similar revulsion wherever Southern men had begun to consider for themselves what could be done for the amelioration of the condition of the colored race and for ultimate emancipation. As the Northern agitation went on, increasing in bitterness and gathering new forces, Southern statesmen cast about for new devices to strengthen the political power of their section in the Federal Government. These devices are to be traced to the anti-slavery agitation in the North as their exciting cause, as distinctly as anything whatever in the history of sectional feeling can be traced back from an effect to a cause which has produced it.

But this was not the whole of the evil produced by the anti-slavery agitation. It prevented all consideration by the higher class of Northern statesmen of any method of action by which the people of the free States could aid their Southern brethren in removing slavery; and it presented to Northern politicians of the inferior order a local field for cultivating popularity, as the excitement went on increasing in violence and swept into its vortex the voters whose local support was found to be useful. That there was a line of action on which any Northern statesman could have entered, consistently with all the obligations flowing from the letter and the spirit of the Federal Constitution, is perfectly plain.

While it was impracticable for the people of the North to act directly upon slavery in any State through the Federal Government, it was not impracticable for that Government to follow, with cautious steps, in auxiliary measures to aid what it could not initiate. There were States which were becoming ripe for changes in the condition of their colored population. Of course such changes could be proposed, considered and acted upon only in each of those States, as a measure that concerned its own domestic condition. But there were many ways in which the Federal Government, without transcending its constitutional powers, could incidentally assist any State in what the State had of itself determined to do. The line which separated what the Federal power could legitimately and properly do from what was prohibited to it by every political and moral consideration, was not difficult to be discovered. For example, if the State of Virginia had in 1832-33 adopted any system for colonizing her negroes, what was there to prevent the Federal Government from granting a portion of the public lands for such a purpose? If the subject of prospective emancipation had been approached in this manner, without the disturbance produced by the anti-slavery societies of the North, who can doubt that experiments of the utmost consequence could have been tried, and tried successfully, in a country possessing an almost boundless public domain? But the sudden irruption of those societies into the field, their disregard of all prudential and all constitutional restraints, their fierce denunciations of the slaveholder, their demand for instant and unqualified manumission, at once converted a question which should have remained a matter for joint and friendly coöperation of the two sections, into a struggle for political supremacy of one section over the other in the councils of the Federal Government. All measures and tendencies in the South, which might have opened the way for subsidiary aid on the part of the Federal power, were at once arrested; and it became a study with Southern statesmen how they were to raise new barriers for the defence of slavery, by increasing the political power of their section within the Union. The old barriers had become, in their eyes, but a feeble defence against those who proclaimed that the Union itself was an accursed thing, and that if immediate emancipation of the slaves was not adopted, the Union ought to be broken up.

While it is true that the doctrines of the abolitionists were at first regarded by the great body of the Northern people as the ravings of fanatics, insomuch that they were sometimes subjected to popular violence, they were nevertheless making progress. Year after year the agitation was carried on in the same spirit, and year after year the excitement on the whole subject of slavery continued to grow until it reached a fresh impulse in the proposed annexation of Texas. It should in justice be remembered that the effort at that period to enlarge the area of slavery was an effort on the part of the South, dictated by a desire to remain in the Union, and not to accept the issue of an inherent incompatibility of a political union between slaveholding and non-slaveholding States. It was not at this period that the Southern States embraced, or were much disposed to embrace, the doctrine of “secession.” The views of the nature of the Union, maintained by their most distinguished and powerful statesman, Mr. Calhoun, in 1830-33, led logically to the deduction that every State has, by the terms of the Federal compact, a right to quit the Union when, in its own judgment, it deems that step necessary. But no considerable body of persons in the South, out of his own State, accepted his premises or followed them to their conclusion, until long after he was in his grave; nor did he himself propose secession as a remedy against what he and the whole South regarded as the unwarrantable aggressions of the Northern abolitionists. He aimed to strengthen the political power of his section within the Union, and his whole course in regard to the acquisition of Texas shows his conviction that if that country were not brought under our dominion, there would be an exposed frontier, from which England and the American abolitionists would operate against slavery in the Southern section of the United States. The previous history of the Union shows very plainly that prior to the commencement of the Northern anti-slavery agitation, the political equilibrium between the two sections had not been seriously disturbed.

At the period which I am now considering, the public men of the North who acted an important part in national affairs, and who belonged, as Mr. Buchanan unquestionably did belong, to the higher class of statesmen, had to act with a wise circumspection on this subject of slavery. There was nothing that such a man could do, if he regarded his public duty with an American statesman’s sense of public obligation, but to stand aloof from and to discountenance what was wrong in the doings of the anti-slavery agitators. In this course of conduct he had often to discriminate between conflicting claims of constitutional rights that unquestionably belonged to every citizen of the United States, and acts which no citizen had a right to do, or which it was in the highest and plainest sense inexpedient to allow him to do. In these conflicts, right and wrong became at times so mixed and intricate, that it required a resolute and clear intellect to separate them, and a lofty courage in meeting obloquy and misrepresentation. It was an easy matter, in the exciting period of those slavery questions, to impute to a Northern man of either of the great political parties of the time, a base truckling to the South for his own ambitious purposes. After ages must disregard the ephemeral vituperation of politics, and must judge the statesmen of the past by the situation in which they stood, by the soundness of their opinions, by their fidelity to every unquestionable right, by the correctness of their policy, and by the purity of their characters and their aims. There has been a passionate disposition in our day to judge the public men of the North, who had to act in great and peculiar crises of the sectional conflict, and who did not give themselves up to a purely sectional spirit, by a standard that was inapplicable to their situation, because it was unjust, illogical and inconsistent with the highest ideas of public duty in the administration of such a Government as ours.

The anti-slavery agitation, begun in the North at the time and carried on in the mode I have described, is to be deplored, because of the certainty that sudden emancipation, which was alone considered or cared for by the abolitionists, must be fraught with great evils.

In whatever way sudden, universal and unqualified emancipation was to be enforced, if it was to happen the negro could not be prepared for freedom. He must take his freedom without one single aid from the white man to fit him to receive it. Wise and thoughtful statesmen saw this—the abolitionist did not see it. Men who had passed their lives in the business of legislation and government, knew full well, not only that the fundamental political bond of the Union forbade interference by the people of the free States with the domestic institutions of the slave States, but that emancipation without any training for freedom could not be a blessing. Men who had passed their lives in an emotional agitation for instant freedom did not see or did not care for the inevitable fact, that freedom for which no preparation had been made could not be a boon. When the emancipation came, it came as an act of force applied in a civil war and in the settlements which the war was claimed to have entailed as necessities. No preparatory legislation, no helpful training in morality and virtue, no education, no discipline of the human being for his new condition, had prepared the negro to be a freeman. While, therefore, it may be and probably is true, that the whites of our Southern States have reason to rejoice, and do rejoice, in the change which they deprecated and against which they struggled, it is not true that the colored race have the same reason for thankfulness. The Christianity and the philanthropy of this age have before them a task that is far more serious, more weighty and more difficult, than it would have been if the emancipation had been a regulated process, even if its final consummation had been postponed for generations. To this day, after twenty years of freedom, the church, the press, society and benevolence have to encounter such questions as these:—Whether the negro is by nature vicious, intractable, thriftless—the women incurably unchaste, the men incurably dishonest; whether the vices and the failings that are so deplorable, and apparently so remediless, are to be attributed to centuries of slavery, or are taints inherent in the blood. Who can doubt that all such questions could have been satisfactorily answered, if the Christianity of the South had been left to its own time and mode of answering them, and without any external force but the force of kindly respectful coöperation and forbearing Christian fellowship.

It is a cause for exultation that slavery no longer exists in the broad domain of this Republic—that our theory and our practice are now in complete accord. But it is no cause for national pride that we did not accomplish this result without the cost of a million of precious lives and untold millions of money.

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise during the administration of President Pierce (May, 1854), followed, as it was three years afterwards, by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, that Congress could not constitutionally prohibit slavery in a Territory of the States, gave a vast impetus to the tendencies which were already bringing about a consolidation of most of the elements of the anti-slavery feeling of the North into a single political party. When Mr. Buchanan became the nominee of the Democratic party for the Presidency, although the repeal of the Missouri Compromise had already taken place, the decision of the Supreme Court in the celebrated case of “Dred Scott” had not occurred,[^[59]] and consequently the Republican party, for this and other reasons, had not acquired sufficient force to enable it to elect its candidate, General Fremont. But during the administration of Mr. Buchanan, the scenes which occurred in Kansas and which were direct consequences of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with the added excitement which followed the announcement by a majority of the judges of the Supreme Court of doctrines which the people of the North would not accept, there was a field for sectional political action, such as the Union had never before known. So that when the Republican party, in the spring of 1860, assembled its delegates in convention at Chicago, for the nomination of its candidates for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency, adopted a “platform” on which no Southern man of any prominence could place himself, and selected Northern candidates for both offices, it was plain that the time had come when there was to be a trial of political strength between the two sections of the Union.

The “Chicago platform,” on which Mr. Lincoln was nominated and elected as the candidate of the Republican party, while repudiating with great precision the idea that Congress could in any way act upon slavery in the States, contained the following resolution on the subject of slavery in the Territories of the United States:

“That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that 'no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law,' it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States.”

On the motives that dictated the assertion of this doctrine, I have no speculations to offer, for I am not dealing with motives. That it was a new political doctrine, and that it was a new departure in the legislation of Congress on this subject of slavery in Territories cannot be doubted. It rejected entirely the principle on which Congress had acted for many years, for there had been acts of Congress which had given legal existence to slavery in a Territory, and acts of Congress which had prohibited it. It rejected the principle of the Missouri Compromise, which had sanctioned an agreed division of the Territories into those where slavery might not and those where it might be allowed. It rejected all claim of right on the part of the Southern slaveholder to take his slave property into a Territory and have it there recognized as property while the Territorial condition remained. It was a reading of the Constitution diametrically opposed to the Southern reading. The political men who framed this “platform” doubtless considered that the time had come for a direct antagonism between the North and the South on this subject, so that it might be decided by the votes of the people in a Presidential election, whether the Southern claim for recognition of slave property in any Territory of the United States, wherever situated, was to prevail or be rejected. That such antagonism was the consequence and the purpose of this declaration of a new principle of action on this subject will be denied by no one.

It is equally certain that a political party could not come into the field in a contest for the Presidency upon such a declaration, without drawing into the discussion the whole subject of slavery as a domestic institution, or a condition of society, both in States and Territories. The intention was to draw a well defined line between the relations of Congress to slavery in the States and the relations of Congress to slavery in the Territories. Yet in the excitements of a Presidential canvass, the Republican party of necessity gathered into its folds those who had been for years regardless of that distinction, and who assailed slavery in the regions which were under the legislative power of Congress for the purpose of assailing it everywhere. The campaign literature, the speeches, the discussions, which dwelt on “the irrepressible conflict” between slavery and freedom, and which proclaimed the issue to be whether the United States would sooner or later become a slaveholding nation or a free-labor nation—whether the Northern States were to remain free or to become slave States—set forth with great distinctness in the writings and the harangues, could have no other effect than to array the two sections of the Union in a bitter hostility, while in the South there were those who believed, or affected to believe, that the people of the North, if successful in electing a President upon this basis, would put forth all their efforts to destroy slavery everywhere, as an institution incompatible with the continued existence of freedom in the North. All this hazard might, however, have been encountered and parried if the Democratic party had been in a condition to nominate a suitable candidate upon a “platform” fit to be opposed to that of the Republicans, and capable of commending itself alike to Northern and Southern voters. But when this party assembled in convention at Charleston, on the 23d of April, 1860, it was in no condition to do any good to the Union or to itself. If Mr. Buchanan had been a younger man, and had been disposed to be a second time a candidate for the Presidency, he might have united his party upon a basis of action in regard to this dangerous matter of slavery in the Territories, that would have commanded the support of a sufficient number of States, Northern as well as Southern, to have elected him. But he was averse to any longer continuance in public life, and he was well aware how much Mr. Douglas had done which had tended to divide the Northern and the Southern wings of his party. On the 14th of April, 1860, he sent to Charleston the following letter, which put an end to the idea, so far as it may have been entertained, of his being regarded as a candidate for the nomination by the Democratic National Convention.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO HON. ARNOLD PLUMER.]

Washington City, April 14, 1860.

My Dear Sir:—

I address you not only as a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Charleston Democratic National Convention, but as an old and valued friend. Whilst trusting that no member of that body will propose my name as a candidate for reëlection, yet, lest this might possibly prove to be the case, I require you, then, immediately to inform the Convention, as an act of justice to myself, that in no contingency can I ever again consent to become a candidate for the Presidency. My purpose to this effect was clearly indicated both in accepting the Cincinnati nomination, and afterwards in my inaugural address, and has since been repeated on various occasions, both public and private. In this determination neither my judgment nor my inclination has ever for a moment wavered. Deeply grateful to the great Democratic party of the country, on whose continued ascendancy, as I verily believe, the prosperity and perpetuity of our Confederate Republic depend, and praying Heaven that the Convention may select as their candidate an able, sound and conservative Democrat, in whose support we can all cordially unite.—I remain, very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

It is not at all difficult to see what Mr. Buchanan would have recommended if he had been asked to shape the action of his party. It is well known that he held it to be both right and expedient to recognize the claim of Southern emigrants into the Territories to an equal participation in the common domain of the Union, so far as to have their property in slaves admitted during the continuance of the Territorial condition. But he would have qualified this claim of right by the application of the principle of the Missouri Compromise; that is, by admitting it in Territories south of the line of 36° 30´, and by excluding it in Territories north of that line. This had been the former practice of Congress, and there could be no good reason now for not expecting the people of the North to make this concession to the South, excepting that Mr. Douglas had indoctrinated a portion of the Northern Democrats with his panacea of “popular sovereignty,” which was just as unacceptable to the South as the principles of the “Chicago platform.”

Accordingly, when the Democratic Convention assembled at Charleston, it soon found itself in an inextricable confusion of opinions as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial legislature, and as to the authority and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over slavery in the Territories. While it was in the power of this Democratic Convention to antagonize the Republican party with a platform, simple, reasonable and just to all sections, on which the votes of all sections could be asked, it became divided into a Northern and a Southern faction, and wholly lost the opportunity of appealing to a national spirit of harmony and good-will. The Northern faction, inspired by Mr. Douglas, insisted on the adoption of his principle of “popular sovereignty,” which ignored the Southern claim of a property right protected by the Constitution. The Southern faction insisted on the recognition of that right, in a way that ignored the governing authority of both Congress and Territorial legislature.

Without some compromise, there could be no common platform and no common candidate. After many ineffectual attempts to agree upon a platform, and after some secessions of Southern delegates, fifty ballotings for a candidate were carried on until the 3d of May. The highest number of votes received at any time by Mr. Douglas was 152½, 202 being necessary to a nomination. The other votes were scattered among different Northern and Southern men. The convention then adjourned, to meet at Baltimore on the 18th of June, with a recommendation that the party in the several States fill up all vacancies in their respective delegations.[^[60]] The result was that when assembled at Baltimore, a dispute about the delegations entitled to seats ended in a disruption of the convention into two bodies, the one distinctly Northern, the other distinctly Southern. The Northern Democratic Convention nominated Mr. Douglas as its candidate, of course upon his platform of “popular sovereignty.” The Southern Democratic Convention nominated Mr. Breckinridge as its candidate, upon a platform of coequal rights of all the States in all the Territories. Thus perished every hope of uniting the Democratic party upon a political basis that would antagonize the Republican platform in a sensible manner, and afford a reasonable chance of preventing a sectional political triumph of the North over the South, or of the free over the slave States.[^[61]]

Mr. Buchanan, after the two factions of the Democratic party had made their nominations, pursued the course which became him as an outgoing President. As a citizen, he had to choose between Mr. Breckinridge and Mr. Douglas. The former represented more nearly the political principles of Mr. Buchanan than any other candidate whom he could support, and it was to Mr. Breckinridge that he gave all the support which it was proper for him to give to any one. But his views of the whole situation are apparent in the following letter, written in July, 1860:—

[MR. BUCHANAN TO C. COMSTOCK.]

Washington, July 5, 1860.

Dear Sir:—

I have received yours of the 3d inst., and although I do not write letters on the subject to which it refers, I have determined to address you a few lines.

The equality of the States in the Territories is a truly Democratic doctrine which must eventually prevail. This is all for which I have ever contended. The Supreme Court of the United States,—a coördinate branch of the Government, to which the decision of this question constitutionally belongs, have affirmed this equality, and have placed property in slaves upon the same footing with all other property. Without self-degradation, the Southern States cannot abandon this equality, and hence they are now all in a flame. Non-intervention on the part of Congress with slavery in the Territories, unless accompanied by non-intervention on the part of the Territorial legislatures, amounts to nothing more in effect than to transfer the Wilmot Proviso from Congress to these legislatures. Whilst the South cannot surrender their rights as coequal States in the confederacy, what injury can it possibly do to the Northern States to yield this great Democratic principle? If they should not do this, then we will have the Democratic party divided, South and North, just as the Methodist Church has been divided, and another link binding the Union together will be broken. No person can fairly contend that either assemblage at Baltimore, at the time the nominations were made, was a Democratic National Convention; hence every Democrat is free to choose between the two candidates. These are, in brief, my sentiments. I regret that they so widely differ from your own. You have taken your own course, which you had a perfect right to do, and you will, I know, extend a similar privilege to myself.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

The sole part that was taken by President Buchanan, in any public manner, in the election of 1860, was in a speech which he made from the portico of the White House, on the evening of July 9th, when a great crowd assembled in front of the mansion and called him out. In the course of his remarks, he said:

I have ever been the friend of regular nominations. I have never struck a political ticket in my life. Now, was there anything done at Baltimore to bind the political conscience of any sound Democrat, or to prevent him from supporting Breckinridge or Lane? [“No! no!”] I was contemporary with the abandonment of the old Congressional convention or caucus. This occurred a long time ago; very few, if any, of you remember it. Under the old Congressional convention system, no person was admitted to a seat except the Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives. This rule rendered it absolutely certain that the nominee, whoever he might be, would be sustained at the election by the Democratic States of the Union. By this means it was rendered impossible that those States which could not give an electoral vote for the candidate when nominated, should control the nomination and dictate to the Democratic States who should be their nominee.

This system was abandoned—whether wisely or not, I shall express no opinion. The National Convention was substituted in its stead. All the States, whether Democratic or not, were equally to send delegates to this convention according to the number of their Senators and Representatives in Congress.

A difficulty at once arose which never could have arisen under the Congressional convention system. If a bare majority of the National Convention thus composed could nominate a candidate, he might be nominated mainly by the anti-Democratic States against the will of a large majority of the Democratic States. Thus the nominating power would be separated from the electing power, which could not fail to be destructive to the strength and harmony of the Democratic party.

To obviate this serious difficulty in the organization of a National Convention, and at the same time to leave all the States their full vote, the two-thirds rule was adopted. It was believed that under this rule no candidate could ever be nominated without embracing within the two-thirds the votes of a decided majority of the Democratic States. This was the substitute adopted to retain, at least in a great degree, the power to the Democratic States which they would have lost by abandoning the Congressional convention system. This rule was a main pillar in the edifice of national conventions. Remove it and the whole must become a ruin. This sustaining pillar was broken to pieces at Baltimore by the convention which nominated Mr. Douglas. After this the body was no longer a national convention; and no Democrat, however devoted to regular nominations, was bound to give the nominee his support; he was left free to act according to the dictates of his own judgment and conscience. And here, in passing, I may observe that the wisdom of the two-thirds rule is justified by the events passing around us. Had it been faithfully observed, no candidate could have been nominated against the will and wishes of almost every certain Democratic State in the Union, against nearly all the Democratic Senators, and more than three-fourths of the Democratic Representatives in Congress. [Cheers.]

I purposely avoid entering upon any discussion respecting the exclusion from the convention of regularly elected delegates from different Democratic States. If the convention which nominated Mr. Douglas was not a regular Democratic convention, it must be confessed that Breckinridge is in the same condition in that respect. The convention that nominated him, although it was composed of nearly all the certain Democratic States, did not contain the two-thirds; and therefore every Democrat is at perfect liberty to vote as he thinks proper, without running counter to any regular nomination of the party. [Applause and cries of “three cheers for Breckinridge and Lane.”] Holding this position, I shall present some of the reasons why I prefer Mr. Breckinridge to Mr. Douglas. This I shall do without attempting to interfere with any individual Democrat or any State Democratic organization holding different opinions from myself. The main object of all good Democrats, whether belonging to the one or the other wing of our unfortunate division, is to defeat the election of the Republican candidates; and I shall never oppose any honest and honorable course calculated to accomplish this object.

To return to the point from which I have digressed, I am in favor of Mr. Breckinridge, because he sanctions and sustains the perfect equality of all the States within their common Territories, and the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, establishing this equality. The sovereign States of this Union are one vast partnership. The Territories were acquired by the common blood and common treasure of them all. Each State, and each citizen of each State, has the same right in the Territories as any other State and the citizens of any other State possess. Now what is sought for at present is, that a portion of these States should turn around to their sister States and say, “We are holier than you are, and while we will take our property to the Territories and have it protected there, you shall not place your property in the same position.” That is precisely what is contended for. What the Democratic party maintain, and what is the true principle of Democracy is, that all shall enjoy the same rights, and that all shall be subject to the same duties. Property—this Government was framed for the protection of life, liberty, and property. They are the objects for the protection of which all enlightened governments were established. But it is sought now to place the property of the citizen, under what is called the principle of squatter sovereignty, in the power of the Territorial legislature to confiscate it at their will and pleasure. That is the principle sought to be established at present; and there seems to be an entire mistake and misunderstanding among a portion of the public upon this subject. When was property ever submitted to the will of the majority? [“Never.”] If you hold property as an individual, you hold it independent of Congress or of the State legislature, or of the Territorial legislature—it is yours, and your Constitution was made to protect your private property against the assaults of legislative power. [Cheers.] Well, now, any set of principles which will deprive you of your property, is against the very essence of republican government, and to that extent makes you a slave; for the man who has power over your property to confiscate it, has power over your means of subsistence; and yet it is contended, that although the Constitution of the United States confers no such power—although no State legislature has any such power, yet a Territorial legislature, in the remote extremities of the country, can confiscate your property!

[A Voice. “They can't do it; they ain't going to do it.”]

There is but one mode, and one alone, to abolish slavery in the Territories. That mode is pointed out in the Cincinnati platform, which has been as much misrepresented as anything I have ever known. That platform declares that a majority of the actual residents in a Territory, whenever their number is sufficient to entitle them to admission as a State, possess the power to “form a constitution with or without domestic slavery, to be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other States.” If there be squatter sovereignty in this resolution, I have never been able to perceive it. If there be any reference in it to a Territorial legislature, it has entirely escaped my notice. It presents the clear principle that, at the time the people form their constitution, they shall then decide whether they will have slavery or not. And yet it has been stated over and over again that, in accepting the nomination under that platform, I endorsed the doctrine of squatter sovereignty. I suppose you have all heard this repeated a thousand times.

[A Voice. “We all knew it was a lie!”]

Well, I am glad you did.

How beautifully this plain principle of constitutional law corresponds with the best interests of the people! Under it, emigrants from the North and the South, from the East and the West proceed to the Territories. They carry with them that property which they suppose will best promote their material interests; they live together in peace and harmony. The question of slavery will become a foregone conclusion before they have inhabitants enough to enter the Union as a State. There will then be no “bleeding Kansas” in the Territories; they will all live together in peace and harmony, promoting the prosperity of the Territory and their own prosperity, until the time shall arrive when it becomes necessary to frame a constitution. Then the whole question will be decided to the general satisfaction. But, upon the opposite principle, what will you find in the Territories? Why, there will be strife and contention all the time. One Territorial legislature may establish slavery and another Territorial legislature may abolish it, and so the struggle will be continued throughout the Territorial existence. The people, instead of devoting their energies and industry to promote their own prosperity, will be in a state of constant strife and turmoil, just as we have witnessed in Kansas. Therefore, there is no possible principle that can be so injurious to the best interests of a Territory as what has been called squatter sovereignty.

Now, let me place the subject before you in another point of view. The people of the Southern States can never abandon this great principle of State equality in the Union without self-degradation. [“Never!”] Never without an acknowledgment that they are inferior in this respect to their sister States. Whilst it is vital to them to preserve their equality, the Northern States surrender nothing by admitting this principle. In doing this they only yield obedience to the Constitution of their country as expounded by the Supreme Court of the United States. While for the North it is comparatively a mere abstraction, with the South it is a question of co-equal State sovereignty in the Union.

If the decrees of the high tribunal established by the Constitution for the very purposes are to be set at naught and disregarded, it will tend to render all property of every description insecure. What, then, have the North to do? Merely to say that, as good citizens, they will yield obedience to the decision of the Supreme Court, and admit the right of a Southern man to take his property into the Territories, and hold it there just as a Northern man may do; and it is to me the most extraordinary thing in the world that this country should now be distracted and divided because certain persons at the North will not agree that their brethren at the South shall have the same rights in the Territories which they enjoy. What would I, as a Pennsylvanian, say or do, supposing anybody was to contend that the legislature of any Territory could outlaw iron or coal within the Territory? [Laughter and cheers.] The principle is precisely the same. The Supreme Court of the United States have decided,—what was known to us all to have been the existing state of affairs for fifty years,—that slaves are property. Admit that fact, and you admit everything. Then that property in the Territories must be protected precisely in the same manner with any other property. If it be not so protected in the Territories, the holders of it are degraded before the world.

We have been told that non-intervention on the part of Congress with slavery in the Territories is the true policy. Very well. I most cheerfully admit that Congress has no right to pass any law to establish, impair or abolish slavery in the Territories. Let this principle of non-intervention be extended to the Territorial legislatures, and let it be declared that they in like manner have no power to establish, impair or destroy slavery, and then the controversy is in effect ended. This is all that is required at present, and I verily believe all that will ever be required. Hands off by Congress and hands off by the Territorial legislature. [Loud applause.] With the Supreme Court of the United States I hold that neither Congress nor the Territorial legislature has any power to establish, impair or abolish slavery in the Territories. But if, in the face of this positive prohibition, the Territorial legislature should exercise the power of intervening, then this would be a mere transfer of the Wilmot proviso and the Buffalo platform from Congress, to be carried into execution in the Territories to the destruction of all property in slaves. [Renewed applause.]

An attempt of this kind, if made in Congress, would be resisted by able men on the floor of both houses, and probably defeated. Not so in a remote Territory. To every new Territory there will be a rush of free-soilers from the Northern States. They would elect the first Territorial legislature before the people of the South could arrive with their property, and this legislature would probably settle forever the question of slavery according to their own will.

And shall we for the sake of squatter sovereignty, which, from its nature, can only continue during the brief period of Territorial existence, incur the risk of dividing the great Democratic party of the country into two sectional parties, the one North and the other South? Shall this great party which has governed the country in peace and war, which has raised it from humble beginnings to be one of the most prosperous and powerful nations in the world—shall this party be broken up for such a cause? That is the question. The numerous, powerful, pious and respectable Methodist Church has been thus divided. The division was a severe shock to the Union. A similar division of the great Democratic party, should it continue, would rend asunder one of the most powerful links which binds the Union together.

I entertain no such fearful apprehensions. The present issue is transitory, and will speedily pass away. In the nature of things it cannot continue. There is but one possible contingency which can endanger the Union, and against this all Democrats, whether squatter sovereigns or popular sovereigns, will present a united resistance. Should the time ever arrive when Northern agitation and fanaticism shall proceed so far as to render the domestic firesides of the South insecure, then, and not till then, will the Union be in danger. A united Northern Democracy will present a wall of fire against such a catastrophe!

There are in our midst numerous persons who predict the dissolution of the great Democratic party, and others who contend that it has already been dissolved. The wish is father to the thought. It has been heretofore in great peril; but when divided for the moment, it has always closed up its ranks and become more powerful, even from defeat. It will never die whilst the Constitution and the Union survive. It will live to protect and defend both. It has its roots in the very vitals of the Constitution, and, like one of the ancient cedars of Lebanon, it will flourish to afford shelter and protection to that sacred instrument, and to shield it against every storm of faction. [Renewed applause.]

Now, friends and fellow-citizens, it is probable that this is the last political speech that I shall ever make. [A Voice. “We hope not!”] It is now nearly forty years since I first came to Washington as a member of Congress, and I wish to say this night, that during that whole period I have received nothing but kindness and attention from your fathers and from yourselves. Washington was then comparatively a small town; now it has grown to be a great and beautiful city; and the first wish of my heart is that its citizens may enjoy uninterrupted health and prosperity. I thank you for the kind attention you have paid to me, and now bid you all a good-night. [Prolonged cheering.]

The observations contained in this chapter on the anti-slavery agitation have been made because that agitation and its consequences are great historical facts, necessary to be considered in a just appreciation of the conduct of any American statesman who acted an important part in national affairs during the quarter of a century that preceded the civil war. The detail of Mr. Buchanan’s course on this subject, down to the time when he became President, has been given, and need not be repeated.

He was one of the earliest of the public men of the North to discover and to point out the tendency of this agitation. That he denounced it boldly and sincerely cannot be denied, even by those who may not have held, or who do not now hold, the same opinions concerning the “abolitionists” and their measures. He endeavored, at an early period, to keep his own State of Pennsylvania free from the adoption of such dogmas as the “higher law,” and to have its people appreciate the mischiefs which the anti-slavery societies were producing in the South. It is easy to impute this course to his political relations to the Democratic party and to the dictates of his own ambition as one of its principal Northern leaders, who, in any future prospect of political honors beyond those which his own State could bestow, might have to look to Southern support. But is there no sensible, patriotic, sound and unselfish motive, no honest and well grounded conviction, discoverable in what he did and said? If his opinions about this agitation were substantially in accordance with those of wise and judicious men, who could not have been influenced by party spirit or personal objects, they may claim to have been sincere and just, as certainly as they may claim to have been courageously uttered.

It will not be doubted that when the abolition agitation began, there was at least one man in the North, who, from his deep and fervid interest in whatever concerned the rights of human nature and the welfare of the human race, from his generous love of liberty and his philanthropic tendencies, might be expected to welcome any rational mode of removing the reproach and the evil of slavery from the American name and the condition of American society. Such a man was that celebrated New England divine, William Ellery Channing. What his feelings were about the slavery that existed in our Southern States, all who know anything of his character and his writings know full well. His position as a clergyman and his relations to the moral and spiritual condition of the age, put out of the question the possibility of any political motive, other than that broad, high and comprehensive view of public policy which was above all the interests of party, and beyond all personal considerations. If such a man foresaw the dangerous tendencies of the abolition agitation, conducted in and from the North, and at the same time discovered that the evil of slavery ought to be and might be dealt with in a very different spirit and by far other means, it is rational to conclude that men in public life and in political positions might well place themselves in opposition to the spread of such principles and the adoption of such methods as those of the anti-slavery societies of the North. It was, in truth, the one thing which it was their duty, as statesmen, to do.[^[62]]

CHAPTER XIV.
1860—October.

GENERAL SCOTT'S “VIEWS.”

While during the month of October (1860) President Buchanan was anxiously watching the course of public events, he was surprised by receiving from General Scott, the General-in-chief of the Army, a very extraordinary paper. It was written on the 29th of October, from New York, where the General had his headquarters, and was mailed to the President on the same day. On the 30th the General sent a corrected copy to the Secretary of War, with a supplement. These papers became known as General Scott’s “views.” He lent copies of them to some of his friends, to be read; and although they did not immediately reach the public press, their contents became pretty well known in the South through private channels. From them the following facts were apparent:

First.—That before the Presidential election, General Scott anticipated that there would be a secession of one or more of the Southern States, in the event of Mr. Lincoln’s election; and that from the general rashness of the Southern character, there was danger of a “preliminary” seizure of certain Southern forts, which he named.

Second.—That the secession which General Scott deprecated was one that would produce what he called a “gap in the Union;” that he contemplated, as a choice of evils to be embraced instead of a civil war, the allowance of a division of the Union into four separate confederacies, having contiguous territory; and that he confined the use of force, or a resort to force, on the part of the Federal Government, to the possible case of the secession of some “interior” States, to reestablish the continuity of the Federal territory. This he considered might be regarded as a “correlative right,” balancing the right of secession, which he said might be conceded “in order to save time.”

Third.—That his provisional remedy, or preliminary caution, viz: The immediate garrisoning of the Southern forts sufficiently to prevent a surprise or coup de main, was confined to the possible or probable case of a secession that would make a “gap” in the Union, or break the continuity of the Federal territory. He excluded from the scope of his “provisional remedies” the secession of Texas, or of all the Atlantic States south of the Potomac, as neither would produce a “gap” in the Union.

Fourth.—That for the application of his “provisional remedies,” he had at his command but five companies of regular troops, to prevent surprises of the nine Southern forts which he named; and that as to “regular approaches,” nothing could be said or done without calling for volunteers.

Fifth.—That in the meantime the Federal Government should collect its revenue outside of the Southern cities, in forts or on board ships of war: and that after any State had seceded, there should be no invasion of it, unless it should happen to be an “interior” State.

Sixth.—That the aim of his plan was to gain eight or ten months to await measures of conciliation on the part of the North, and the subsidence of angry feelings in the South.

If these “views,” palpably impracticable and dangerous, had remained unknown in the hands of the President, there would have been no necessity for commenting on them in this work, especially as subsequent events rendered them of no importance. But they did not remain unknown. They became the foundation, at a later period, of a charge that President Buchanan had been warned by General Scott, before the election of Mr. Lincoln, of the danger of leaving the Southern forts without sufficient garrisons to prevent surprises, and that he had neglected this warning. Moreover, in these “views,” the General-in-chief of the Army, addressing the President, had mingled the strangest political suggestions with military movements, on the eve of a Presidential election which was about to result in a sectional political division. It is therefore necessary for me to bestow upon these “views” a degree of attention which would otherwise be unnecessary.

These papers were addressed by the General-in-chief of the Army of the United States to a President who utterly repudiated the alleged right of secession, by any State whatever, whether lying between other States remaining loyal, or on the extreme boundary of the Union. Becoming known to the Southern leaders who might be disposed to carry their States out of the Union in the event of Mr. Lincoln’s election, they would justify the inference that in one case at least, that of a secession which did not make a “gap” in the Union, the General-in-chief of the Federal Army would not draw his sword to compel the inhabitants of the seceded region to submit to the laws of the United States. In regard to the “provisional remedies” which the general advised, let it be observed that if the President had had at his disposal the whole army of the United States, the introduction into the Southern forts of a larger or a smaller force, at such a moment, however officially explained, could have been regarded in the South only as a proof that President Buchanan expected secession to be attempted, and that he was preparing for a civil war, to be waged by him or his successor. The right of the Federal Government to place its own troops in its own forts, without giving offence to any one, was perfectly apparent; but it was equally apparent that on the eve of this election, or during the election, or at any time before any State had adopted an ordinance of secession, such a step could not have been taken as anything but an indication that the Federal Government was preparing to prevent by force the people of any State from assembling to consider and act upon their relations to the Government of the United States. Now a very great part of the popular misapprehension of President Buchanan’s policy, purposes and acts, which has prevailed to the present day, has arisen from the total want of discrimination between what the Federal Government could and what it could not rightfully do, in anticipation of the secession of a State or States. It has been a thousand times inconsiderately asked, why Mr. Buchanan did not nip secession in the bud.

In the first place, the Federal Government, however great might be the physical force at its command, could at no time have done anything more than enforce the execution of its own laws and maintain the possession of its own property. To prevent the people of a State, by any menace of arms, from assembling in convention to consider anything whatever, would have been to act on the assumption that she was about to adopt an ordinance of secession, and on the farther assumption that such an act must be forestalled, lest it might have some kind of validity. The Executive of the United States was not bound, and was not at liberty, to act upon such assumptions. There were many ways in which a State convention could peacefully take into consideration the relations of its people to the Federal Union. They might lawfully appeal to the sobriety and good feeling of their sister States to redress any grievances of which they complained. There might be, we know that in point of fact there was, a strong Union party in most of the Southern States, and the President of the United States, in the month of October, 1860, would have been utterly inexcusable, if he had proclaimed to the country that he expected this party to be overborne, and had helped to diminish its members and weaken its power, by extraordinary garrisons placed in the Southern forts, in anticipation of their seizure by lawless individuals, when such an exhibition must inevitably lead the whole people of the South to believe that there was to be no solution of the sectional differences but by a trial of strength in a sectional civil war. Mr. Buchanan was far too wise and circumspect a statesman to put into the hands of the secessionists such a means of “firing the Southern heart,” before it was known what the result of the Presidential election would be. It was his plain and imperative duty not to assume, by any official act, at such a time, that there was to be a secession of any State or States.

But, in the second place, even if other good reasons did not exist, there were but five companies of regular troops, or four hundred men, available for the garrisoning of nine fortifications in six highly excited Southern States. How were they to be distributed? Distributed equally, they would have amounted to a reinforcement of forty-four men and a fraction in each fort. In whatsoever proportions they might be distributed, according to the conjectured degree of exposure of the various posts, the movement could have been nothing but an invitation of attack, which the force would have been entirely inadequate to repel. The whole army of the United States then consisted of only eighteen thousand men. They were, with the exception of the five companies named by General Scott, scattered on the remote frontiers and over the great Western plains, engaged in the protection of the settlers and the emigrant trains; and for this duty their numbers were, and had long been, and have ever since been, notoriously inadequate. At a later period, after President Buchanan had retired from office, General Scott, in a controversy in the public prints which he thought proper to provoke with the ex-President, referred to six hundred recruits in the harbor of New York and at Carlisle barracks in Pennsylvania, which, added to the five companies mentioned in his “views,” would have made a force of one thousand men; and while he admitted that this force would not have been sufficient to furnish “war garrisons” for the nine Southern forts, he maintained that they would have been quite enough to guard against surprises. But it is to be noted that in his “views” of October, 1860, he made known to the President that there were only the five companies, which he named, “within reach, to garrison the forts mentioned in the views;” and, moreover, he was mistaken, in November, 1862, in supposing that he had obtained these recruits when he wrote his “views,” nor did he, in October or November, 1860, in any manner suggest to the President that there were any more than the five companies available. Had he made any military representations to the President before the election, other than those contained in his “views,” it cannot be doubted that they would have received all the consideration due to his official position and his great military reputation.[^[63]]

But General Scott’s “views” produced, and ought to have produced, no impression upon the mind of the President. That part of them which suggested a military movement was entirely impracticable. The political part, which related to the aspects of secession, its possible admission in one case and its denial in another, was of no value whatever to anybody but those who believed in the doctrine. With the exception of such circulation of these “views” as General Scott permitted by giving copies of them to his friends, they remained unpublished until the 18th of January, 1861. On that day they were published, by General Scott’s permission, in the National Intelligencer at Washington, the editors saying that they had obtained a copy of them for publication because allusion had been made to them both in the public prints and in public speeches. This document, therefore, in an authentic shape, was made public in the midst of the secession movement, after the States of South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama had adopted their ordinances of secession, and while the people of Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas were deliberating upon their course.[^[64]] The President at that time passed over this publication in silence, for reasons which he afterwards assigned in the public controversy between General Scott and himself in October and November, 1862.

And here it may be appropriate, before proceeding farther with the narrative, to advert to a suggestion which has been again and again repeated in a great variety of forms, by those who have criticised Mr. Buchanan’s course in regard to the reinforcement of the Southern forts. General Scott himself, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, in the middle of December, 1860, in a note which he addressed to the President, referred to the course pursued by President Jackson in regard to nullification, in 1832-33; and it has long been one of the current questions, asked as if it were unanswerable,—why did not Mr. Buchanan imitate the firmness, boldness and decision with which General Jackson dealt with the “Nullifiers,” and proceed to garrison the Southern forts before the election of Mr. Lincoln? Having already shown the impracticability of such a step, from the want of the necessary forces, and its great political inexpediency even if the necessary force had been within his reach, it only remains for me to point out that there was no parallel between the situation of things under General Jackson in 1832-33, and the state of the country under President Buchanan in 1860-61. South Carolina stood alone in her resistance to the collection of the revenue of the United States, in 1832-33; nor, whatever might be the steps which she would have the rashness to take in preventing the execution of a single law of the United States within her borders, there was no danger that any other State would become infected with her political heresies, or imitate her example. What General Jackson had to do was to collect the revenue of the United States in the port of Charleston. For this purpose, prior to the issue of his proclamation, and while the so-called ordinance of nullification was pending in the convention of South Carolina, he took preliminary steps, by placing in the harbor a sufficient military and naval force to insure the execution of a single Federal statute, commonly called the “tariff.” For this purpose he had ample authority of law, under the Act of March 3, 1807, which authorized the employment of the land and naval forces, when necessary, to execute the laws of the United States through the process of the Federal tribunals. He had, moreover, the necessary forces practically at his disposal. So far as these forces would consist of troops, their proper destination was Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor; but their presence in that fort was deemed necessary, not to prevent an anticipated seizure of it by the State authorities, but to aid in the execution of the revenue law in case it should be resisted. For this purpose, in March, 1833, he sent a small military force to Fort Moultrie, and a sloop of war, with two revenue cutters, to Charleston harbor. General Scott was sent to Charleston to take the command of these forces, if it should become necessary for them to act. He arrived there on the day after the passage of the Nullification ordinance. The proclamation of General Jackson, the passage of Mr. Clay’s Compromise Tariff Bill, and the passage of the Force Bill, put an end to any actual collision between the State and the Federal authorities.

How different was the state of the country in 1860, before the election of Mr. Lincoln! A generation of men had grown up in the South, many of whom held the supposed right of State secession from the Union as a cardinal feature of their political and constitutional creed. The sole ground for any apprehension of a practical assertion of this doctrine was the contingent election of a President nominated upon a “platform” obnoxious to the people of the slaveholding States. In such a state of affairs, was it for a President, whose administration was to expire in five months, to adopt the foregone conclusion that the Republican candidate would be elected, and to add to this the further conclusion that his election would be followed by a secession of States, which the people of the North would take no conciliatory steps to prevent after the Republican candidate had been elected? Was President Buchanan to throw a military force into the Southern forts, even if he had had a sufficient force within his reach, and thus to proclaim to the whole people of the South, the loyal and the disloyal, that in his judgment there would be but one issue out of the election of Mr. Lincoln—an issue of physical force between the two sections of the country? In what condition would this have placed his successor, and the great political party which was aiming to obtain for that successor the control of the Government? Surely Mr. Lincoln and his political supporters would have had the gravest reason to complain, if Mr. Buchanan, before the election, had, by any act of his own not palpably and imperatively necessary, caused it to be believed by the whole Southern people that there was and could be no alternative but to put their anticipated dangers, their alleged grievances, and the doctrine of secession along with them, at once to the arbitrament of the sword. We have it on Mr. Buchanan’s own solemn assertion, the sincerity of which there can be no reason to doubt, that he considered it his highest duty so to shape his official course during the remainder of his term, as to afford to the secessionists of the South no excuse for renouncing their allegiance to the Federal Union, and to hand the government over to his successor, whoever he might be, without doing a single act that would tend to close the door of reconciliation between the two sections of the country, then unfortunately divided by the political circumstances of the pending election. This was the keynote of his policy, formed before the election of Mr. Lincoln, and steadily followed through every vicissitude, and every changing aspect of the great drama enacting before his eyes. It is easy to reason backward from what occurred, and to say that he should have garrisoned the Southern forts, in anticipation of their seizure. History does not, or should not, pass upon the conduct of statesmen in highly responsible positions, by pronouncing in this ex post facto manner on what they ought to have anticipated, when men of equally good opportunities for looking forward did not anticipate what subsequently occurred. It was not the belief of the leading public men in the Republican party, before the election of Mr. Lincoln, the men who were likely to be associated with him in the Government, that there would be any secession. If they had believed it, they would certainly have been guilty of great recklessness if they had not acted upon that belief, at least so far as to warn the country, in their respective spheres, to be prepared for such an event. It is one of the most notorious truths in the whole history of that election, that the political supporters of Mr. Lincoln scouted the idea that there was any danger of secession to be apprehended.

General Scott’s suggestion of such danger to Mr. Buchanan, in the month of October, 1860, and the impracticable advice which he then gave, if it had been published before the election, would have been laughed at by every Republican statesman in the country, or would have been indignantly treated as a work of supererogation, unnecessarily suggesting that the election of the Republican candidate was to be followed by an attempted disruption of the Union. Undoubtedly, as the event proved, the political friends of Mr. Lincoln were too confident that no secession would be attempted; and into that extreme confidence they were led by their political policy, which did not admit of their allowing the people of the North to believe that there could be any serious danger to the country in their political triumph. If the people of the North had believed in that danger, the Republican candidate would not have been elected. It did not become the Republican leaders, therefore, after the election, and it never can become any one who has inherited their political connection, to blame Mr. Buchanan for not taking extraordinary precautions against an event which the responsible leaders of the party, prior to the election, treated as if it were out of all the bounds of probability.[^[65]]

And here, too, it is well to advert to a charge which relates to Mr. Buchanan’s administration of the Government prior to the election of his successor. This charge, to which a large measure of popular credence has long been accorded, is, that the Secretary of War, Mr. Floyd, had for a long time pursued a plan of his own for distributing the troops and arms of the United States in anticipation of a disruption of the Union at no distant day. But such a charge is of course to be tried by a careful examination of facts, and by a scrupulous attention to dates. One of the most important facts to be considered is, that Secretary Floyd, who came in 1857 into Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet from Virginia—a State that never had, down to that time and for a long period thereafter, many secessionists among her public men—was not of that political school until after he left the office of Secretary of War. He was a Unionist, and a pronounced one, until he chose, as a mere pretext, to say that he differed with the President in regard to the policy which the President thought proper to pursue.[^[66]] But from the fact that he became a secessionist and denounced the President, after he left the cabinet, and the foolish boast which he made that he had, while Secretary of War, defeated General Scott’s plans and solicitations respecting the forts, the inference has been drawn that he had good reason for advancing that claim upon the consideration of his new political allies in the Southern section of the country. Mr. Floyd by no means appears to me to have been a man of scrupulous honor. The fact that he had been compelled to resign his place on account of a transaction in no way connected with the secession of any State, led him, in a spirit of sheer self-glorification, to give countenance to a charge which, if it had been true, would not only have reflected great discredit on the President, but which would have involved the Secretary himself in the heinous offence of treachery to the Government whose public servant he was. No man could have thus overshot his own mark, who had a careful regard for facts which he must have known: for no one could have known better than Mr. Floyd that he had no influence whatever in defeating any plans which General Scott proposed to the President in his “views” of October, 1860, and no one could have known better than he that the troops and arms of the United States had not been distributed with any sinister design. But Mr. Floyd’s subsequent vaporings, after he left the cabinet, misled General Scott into the belief that there had been great wrong committed while he was Secretary of War, and caused the General, in October and November, 1862, to give his sanction to charges that were quite unfounded.

It is proper to hear Mr. Buchanan himself, in regard to his refusal to garrison the Southern forts in October or November, 1860, according to the recommendations in General Scott’s “views.”

This refusal is attributed, without the least cause, to the influence of Governor Floyd. All my cabinet must bear me witness that I was the President myself, responsible for all the acts of the administration; and certain it is that during the last six months previous to the 29th December, 1860, the day on which he resigned his office, after my request, he exercised less influence on the administration than any other member of the cabinet. Mr. Holt was immediately thereafter transferred from the Post Office Department to that of War; so that, from this time until the 4th March, 1861, which was by far the most important period of the administration, he [Mr. Holt] performed the duties of Secretary of War to my entire satisfaction.[^[67]]

Finally, it only remains for me to quote Mr. Buchanan’s more elaborate account of his reasons for not acting upon General

Scott’s “views” of October, 1860, which he gave in the account of his administration, published in 1866.[^[68]]

Such, since the period of Mr. Lincoln’s election, having been the condition of the Southern States, the “views” of General Scott, addressed before that event to the Secretary of War, on the 29th and 30th October, 1860, were calculated to do much injury in misleading the South. From the strange inconsistencies they involve, it would be difficult to estimate whether they did most harm in encouraging or in provoking secession. So far as they recommended a military movement, this, in order to secure success, should have been kept secret until the hour had arrived for carrying it into execution. The substance of them, however, soon reached the Southern people. Neither the headquarters of the army at New York, nor afterwards in Washington, were a very secure depository for the “views,” even had it been the author’s intention to regard them as confidential. That such was not the case may be well inferred from their very nature. Not confined to the recommendation of a military movement, by far the larger portion of them consists of a political disquisition on the existing dangers to the Union; on the horrors of civil war and the best means of averting so great a calamity; and also on the course which their author had resolved to pursue, as a citizen, in the approaching Presidential election. These were themes entirely foreign to a military report, and equally foreign from the official duties of the Commanding General. Furthermore, the “views” were published to the world by the General himself, on the 18th January, 1861, in the National Intelligencer, and this without the consent or even previous knowledge of the President. This was done at a critical moment in our history, when the cotton States were seceding one after the other. The reason assigned by him for this strange violation of official confidence toward the President, was the necessity for the correction of misapprehensions which had got abroad, “both in the public prints and in public speeches,” in relation to the “views.”

The General commenced his “views” by stating that, “To save time the right of secession may be conceded, and instantly balanced by the correlative right on the part of the Federal Government against an interior State or States to reestablish by force, if necessary, its former continuity of territory.” He subsequently explains and qualifies the meaning of this phrase by saying: “It will be seen that the 'views' only apply to a case of secession that makes a gap in the present Union.” The falling off (say) of Texas, or of all the Atlantic States, from the Potomac south [the very case which has since occurred], was not within the scope of General Scott’s provisional remedies. As if apprehending that by possibility it might be inferred he intended to employ force for any other purpose than to open the way through this gap to a State beyond, still in the Union, he disclaims any such construction, and says: “The foregoing views eschew the idea of invading a seceded State.” This disclaimer is as strong as any language he could employ for the purpose.

To sustain the limited right to open the way through the gap, he cites, not the Constitution of the United States, but the last chapter of Paley’s “Moral and Political Philosophy,” which, however, contains no allusion to the subject.

The General paints the horrors of civil war in the most gloomy colors, and then proposes his alternative for avoiding them. He exclaims: “But break this glorious Union by whatever line or lines that political madness may contrive, and there would be no hope of reuniting the fragments except by the laceration and despotism of the sword. To effect such result the intestine wars of our Mexican neighbors would, in comparison with ours, sink into mere child’s play.

“A smaller evil” (in the General’s opinion) “would be to allow the fragments of the great Republic to form themselves into new Confederacies, probably four.”

Not satisfied with this general proposition, he proceeds not only to discuss and to delineate the proper boundaries for these new Confederacies, but even to designate capitals for the three on this side of the Rocky Mountains. We quote his own language as follows: “All the lines of demarcation between the new unions cannot be accurately drawn in advance, but many of them approximately may. Thus, looking to natural boundaries and commercial affinities, some of the following frontiers, after many waverings and conflicts, might perhaps become acknowledged and fixed;

“1. The Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the Atlantic. 2. From Maryland along the crest of the Alleghany (perhaps the Blue Ridge) range of mountains to some point on the coast of Florida. 3. The line from, say the head of the Potomac to the West or Northwest, which it will be most difficult to settle. 4. The crest of the Rocky Mountains.”

“The Southeast Confederacy would, in all human probability, in less than five years after the rupture, find itself bounded by the first and second lines indicated above, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, with its capital at, say Columbia, South Carolina. The country between the second, third, and fourth of those lines would, beyond a doubt, in about the same time, constitute another Confederacy, with its capital at probably Alton or Quincy, Illinois. The boundaries of the Pacific Union are the most definite of all, and the remaining States would constitute the Northeast Confederacy, with its capital at Albany. It, at the first thought, will be considered strange that seven slave-holding States and part of Virginia and Florida should be placed (above) in a new Confederacy with Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc. But when the overwhelming weight of the great Northwest is taken in connection with the laws of trade, contiguity of territory, and the comparative indifference to free soil doctrines on the part of Western Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, it is evident that but little if any coercion, beyond moral force, would be needed to embrace them; and I have omitted the temptation of the unwasted public lands which would fall entire to this Confederacy—an appanage (well husbanded) sufficient for many generations. As to Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi, they would not stand out a month. Louisiana would coalesce without much solicitation, and Alabama with West Florida would be conquered the first winter, from the absolute need of Pensacola for a naval depot.”

According to this arrangement of General Scott, all that would be left for “the Northeast Confederacy” would be the New England and Middle States; and our present proud Capitol at Washington, hallowed by so many patriotic associations, would be removed to Albany.[^[69]]

It is easy to imagine with what power these “views,” presented so early as October, 1860, may have been employed by the disunion leaders of the cotton States to convince the people that they might depart in peace. Proceeding from the Commanding General of the army, a citizen and a soldier so eminent, and eschewing as they did the idea of invading a seceded State, as well as favoring the substitution of new Confederacies for the old Union, what danger could they apprehend in the formation of a Southern Confederacy?

This portion of the “views,” being purely political and prospective, and having no connection with military operations, was out of time and out of place in a report from the commanding General of the Army to the Secretary of War. So, also, the expression of his personal preferences among the candidates then before the people for the office of President. “From a sense of propriety as a soldier,” says the General, “I have taken no part in the pending canvass, and, as always heretofore, mean to stay away from the polls. My sympathies, however, are with the Bell and Everett ticket.”

After all these preliminaries, we now proceed to a different side of the picture presented by the General.

In the same “views” (the 29th October, 1860), he says that, “From a knowledge of our Southern population, it is my solemn conviction that there is some danger of an early act of rashness preliminary to secession, viz., the seizure of some or all of the following posts: Forts Jackson and St. Philip, in the Mississippi, below New Orleans, both without garrisons; Fort Morgan, below Mobile, without a garrison[garrison]; Forts Pickens and McRea, Pensacola harbor, with an insufficient garrison for one; Fort Pulaski, below Savannah, without a garrison; Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Charleston harbor, the former with an insufficient garrison, and the latter without any; and Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads, without a sufficient garrison. In my opinion all these works should be immediately so garrisoned as to make any attempt to take any one of them by surprise or coup de main ridiculous.”

It was his duty, as commanding general, to accompany this recommendation with a practicable plan for garrisoning these forts, stating the number of troops necessary for the purpose, the points from which they could be drawn, and the manner in which he proposed to conduct the enterprise. Finding this to be impossible, from the total inadequacy of the force within the President’s power to accomplish a military operation so extensive, instead of furnishing such a plan, he absolves himself from the task by simply stating in his supplemental views of the next day (30th October) that “There is one (regular) company at Boston, one here (at the Narrows), one at Pittsburg, one at Augusta, Ga., and one at Baton Rouge—in all five companies, only, within reach, to garrison or reënforce the forts mentioned in the 'views.'”

Five companies only, four hundred men, to garrison nine fortifications scattered over six highly excited Southern States. This was all the force “within reach” so as to make any attempt to take any one of them by surprise or coup de main ridiculous.

He even disparages the strength of this small force by applying to it the diminutive adverb “only,” or, in other words, merely, barely. It will not be pretended that the President had any power, under the laws, to add to this force by calling forth the militia, or accepting the services of volunteers to garrison these fortifications. And the small regular army were beyond reach on our remote frontiers. Indeed, the whole American army, numbering at that time not more than sixteen thousand effective men, would have been scarcely sufficient. To have attempted to distribute these five companies among the eight forts in the cotton States, and Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, would have been a confession of weakness, instead of an exhibition of imposing and overpowering strength. It could have had no effect in preventing secession, but must have done much to provoke it. It will be recollected that these “views,” the substance of which soon reached the Southern States, were written before Mr. Lincoln’s election, and at a time when none of the cotton States had made the first movement toward secession. Even South Carolina was then performing all her relative duties, though most reluctantly, to the Government, whilst the border States, with Virginia in the first rank, were still faithful and true to the Union.

Under these circumstances, surely General Scott ought not to have informed them in advance that the reason why he had recommended this expedition was because, from his knowledge of them, he apprehended they might be guilty of an early act of rashness in seizing these forts before secession. This would necessarily provoke the passions of the Southern people. Virginia was deeply wounded at the imputation against her loyalty from a native though long estranged son.

Whilst one portion of the “views,” as we have already seen, might be employed by disunion demagogues in convincing the people of the cotton States that they might secede without serious opposition from the North, another portion of them was calculated to excite their indignation and drive them to extremities. From the impracticable nature of the “views,” and their strange and inconsistent character, the President dismissed them from his mind without further consideration.

It is proper to inform the reader why General Scott had five companies only within reach for the proposed service. This was because nearly the whole of our small army was on the remote frontiers, where it had been continually employed for years in protecting the inhabitants and the emigrants on their way to the far west, against the attacks of hostile Indians. At no former period had its services been more necessary than throughout the year 1860, from the great number of these Indians continually threatening or waging war on our distant settlements. To employ the language of Mr. Benjamin Stanton, of Ohio, in his report of the 18th February, 1861, from the military committee to the House of Representatives: “The regular army numbers only 18,000 men, when recruited to its maximum strength; and the whole of this force is required upon an extended frontier, for the protection of the border settlements against Indian depredations.” Indeed, the whole of it had proved insufficient for this purpose. This is established by the reports of General Scott himself to the War Department. In these he urges the necessity of raising more troops, in a striking and convincing light. In that of 20th November, 1857,[^[70]] after portraying the intolerable hardships and sufferings of the army engaged in this service, he says: “To mitigate these evils, and to enable us to give a reasonable security to our people on Indian frontiers, measuring thousands of miles, I respectfully suggest an augmentation of at least one regiment of horse (dragoons, cavalry, or riflemen) and at least three regiments of foot (infantry or riflemen). This augmentation would not more than furnish the reinforcements now greatly needed in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota, leaving not a company for Utah.”

Again, General Scott, in his report of November 13, 1858, says:[^[71]] “This want of troops to give reasonable security to our citizens in distant settlements, including emigrants on the plains, can scarcely be too strongly stated; but I will only add, that as often as we have been obliged to withdraw troops from one frontier in order to reinforce another, the weakened points have been instantly attacked or threatened with formidable invasion.”

The President, feeling the force of such appeals, and urged by the earnest entreaties of the suffering people on the frontiers, recommended to Congress, through the War Department, to raise five additional regiments.[^[72]] This, like all other recommendations to place the country in a proper state of defence, was disregarded. From what has been stated it is manifest that it was impossible to garrison the numerous forts of the United States with regular

troops. This will account for the destitute condition of the nine forts enumerated by General Scott, as well as of all the rest.

When our system of fortifications was planned and carried into execution, it was never contemplated to provide garrisons for them in time of peace. This would have required a large standing army, against which the American people have ever evinced a wise and wholesome jealousy. Every great republic, from the days of Cæsar to Cromwell, and from Cromwell to Bonaparte, has been destroyed by armies composed of free citizens, who had been converted by military discipline into veteran soldiers. Our fortifications, therefore, when completed, were generally left in the custody of a sergeant and a few soldiers. No fear was entertained that they would ever be seized by the States for whose defence against a foreign enemy they had been erected.

Under these circumstances it became the plain duty of the President, destitute as he was of military force, not only to refrain from any act which might provoke or encourage the cotton States into secession, but to smooth the way for such a Congressional compromise as had in times past happily averted danger from the Union. There was good reason to hope this might still be accomplished. The people of the slaveholding States must have known there could be no danger of an actual invasion of their constitutional rights over slave property from any hostile action of Mr. Lincoln’s administration. For the protection of these, they could rely both on the judicial and the legislative branches of the Government. The Supreme Court had already decided the Territorial question in their favor, and it was also ascertained that there would be a majority in both Houses of the first Congress of Mr. Lincoln’s term, sufficient to prevent any legislation to their injury. Thus protected, it would be madness for them to rush into secession.

Besides, they were often warned and must have known that by their separation from the free States, these very rights over slave property, of which they were so jealous, would be in greater jeopardy than they had ever been under the Government of the Union. Theirs would then be the only government in Christendom which had not abolished, or was not in progress to abolish, slavery. There would be a strong pressure from abroad against this institution. To resist this effectually would require the power and moral influence of the Government of the whole United States. They ought, also, to have foreseen that, if their secession should end in civil war, whatever might be the event, slavery would receive a blow from which it could never recover. The true policy, even in regard to the safety of their domestic institution, was to cling to the Union.

CHAPTER XV.
1860—November.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN—THE SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA—NATURE OF THE DOCTRINE OF SECESSION—PRESIDENT BUCHANAN PREPARES TO ENCOUNTER THE SECESSION MOVEMENT—DISTINCTION BETWEEN MAKING WAR ON A STATE AND ENFORCING THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.

On the 6th of November, 1860, one hundred and eighty Republican electors of President were chosen by the people of eighteen of the free states. This determined that Abraham Lincoln was to be President of the United States for four years from the 4th of March, 1861. As soon as the result of the election was known, the legislature of South Carolina passed a law for the assembling of a convention of the people of the State on the 17th of December. The delegates to the convention were promptly chosen; and when they had been elected, it was manifest that the assumed right of secession was about to be exercised by that one of the Southern States in which attachment to the Union had been for more than thirty years confined to a few of the wiser and more considerate of her people. The great man whose political teachings had indoctrinated a generation with views of the Federal Constitution which, when logically carried out, would reduce it to a mere league between independent States dissoluble at the pleasure of its separate members for causes of which they were separately to judge, had passed away. I have already had occasion to observe that, while Mr. Calhoun did not at any time contemplate secession, and while he was strongly attached to the Union as he understood its fundamental principle, his political doctrines, assuming the correctness of his premises, led logically and correctly to the conclusion that the people of any State could absolve themselves from the obligation to obey the laws, and to submit to the authority of the United States. He and those who acted with him in South Carolina during the period of “Nullification” proposed to apply this State dispensing power to a single obnoxious law of the United States, without breaking the whole bond which connected South Carolina with her sister States. But it was the inevitable result of his political principles that, if a State convention could absolve its people from the duty of obeying one law of the United States, by pronouncing it to be unconstitutional, the same authority could withdraw the State wholly from the Union, upon her judgment that to remain in it longer was incompatible with her safety or her interests. The radical vice of this whole theory was that it assumed the cession of political powers of legislation and government, made by the people of a State when they ratified the Constitution of the United States, to be revocable, not by a State power or right expressly contained in the instrument, but by a right resulting from the assumed nature of the Constitution as a compact between sovereign States. The Secession Ordinance of South Carolina, adopted on the 20th of December, 1860, which became the model of all the other similar ordinances, exhibits in a striking manner the character of the theory. It professed to “repeal” the ordinance of the State which in 1788 had ratified the Constitution of the United States, and all the subsequent acts of the legislature which had ratified the amendments of that Constitution, and to dissolve the union then subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of the “United States of America.” In other words, the people of South Carolina, assembled in convention, determined that a cession or grant of political sovereignty, which they had made to the Government of the United States in 1788, in an irrevocable form, and without any reservation save of the powers of government which they did not grant, could yet be revoked and annulled, not by the right of revolution, but by a right resulting as a constitutional principle from a compact made between sovereign and independent political communities. This method of regarding the Government of the United States as the depositary of certain powers to be held and exercised so long as the sovereign parties to the agreement should see fit to allow them to remain, and to be withdrawn whenever one of the parties should determine to withdraw them, constituted the whole basis of the doctrine of secession. If the premises were correct, the deduction was sound. If, on the other hand, the cession of certain powers of political sovereignty made by the people of a State when they ratified the Constitution of the United States constituted a Government, with a right to rule over the individual inhabitants of that State in the exercise of the powers conceded, the individuals could no more absolve themselves collectively, than they could separately, from the political duty and obligation to obey the laws and submit to the authority of that Government, especially when that Government contained within itself, by one of the provisions of its Constitution, both the means and the right of determining for the people of every State, whether the laws enacted by Congress were in conformity with the grants of political power embraced in the instrument which created it. The grant of the judicial power of the United States estopped the people of every State from claiming a right to pass upon the constitutional validity of any exercise of its legislative or executive authority. Such are the contrasted theories of the Constitution which were now to come into collision, after the Constitution had long been administered and acted upon as an instrument of government embracing a true and rightful sovereignty over the people of every State in the exercise of certain enumerated powers.

It is important to observe, however, that this claim of rightful sovereignty over the inhabitants of every State was not a denial of the inherent right of revolution, or the right to renounce a political allegiance, and to make that right available by physical force, in case of intolerable oppression or arbitrary assumption of power. The political institutions of this country had their origin in the exercise of the right of revolution, and however shaped or administered, they can never be made to exclude it. It is difficult, in studying the political principles on which individuals or masses of men acted, or on which they supposed themselves to be acting, during the period at which I have now arrived, to discriminate between the right of revolution and the right of secession, as distinct principles governing their personal conduct. In many minds they became blended; in many there was but little attention paid to any such distinction; in many there was nothing more than a state of excitement, worked into an uncontrollable apprehension of danger which was stimulated by the political leaders of a section peculiarly exposed to such apprehensions by what had long been occurring on the dangerous subject of their social and domestic condition. But on the threshold of the secession movement, there are certain things to be carefully noted. The first is, that in the public proceedings of South Carolina, and of the other States which followed her example, it was the alleged constitutional right of secession from the Union, and not the inherent right of revolution, on which the action was professedly based. The second is, that the State of South Carolina led the way, in the hope and belief that she might compel the other cotton States to follow, while it was at least doubtful whether they would do so, and while it was manifest that their course would depend very much upon events that could not be foreseen. This condition of affairs in the months of November and December imposed upon President Buchanan two imperative duties. In the first place, he had to encounter the alleged right of secession asserted, or about to be asserted, by the State of South Carolina; to meet her public proceedings by a denial of any such right, and to exercise all the powers with which he then was, or with which he might thereafter be, clothed by Congress, to prevent any obstruction to the execution of the laws of the United States within her borders. In the next place, he had, so far as the Executive of the United States could so act, to isolate the State of South Carolina from the other States of that region, and to prevent, if possible, the spread of the secession movement. What he might be able to do in this regard would depend, of course, upon future events, and upon a careful adaptation of his means to his ends. If, notwithstanding all he could do, the fury of secession was to rapidly sweep through the cotton States, he could not prevent the formation of some kind of Southern confederacy. But the very first duty which he had to perform he proceeded promptly to execute, as soon as it was apparent that South Carolina was about to adopt an ordinance of secession. This was to encounter publicly and officially the alleged right of secession, to define clearly and explicitly to Congress and to the country the powers which he possessed, or did not possess, for meeting this exigency; and to announce his policy. By so doing, he might prevent the spread of the secession movement, if Congress would aid him by adopting his recommendations. Preparatory to what he was about to say in his annual message to the Congress which was to assemble in the early part of December, he required from the Attorney General (Mr. Black) an official answer to the following questions:[^[73]]

1. In case of a conflict between the authorities of any State and those of the United States, can there be any doubt that the laws of the Federal Government, if constitutionally passed, are supreme?

2. What is the extent of my official power to collect the duties on imports at a port where the revenue laws are resisted by a force which drives the collector from the custom house?

3. What right have I to defend the public property (for instance, a fort, arsenal and navy yard), in case it should be assaulted?

4. What are the legal means at my disposal for executing those laws of the United States which are usually administered through the courts and their officers?

5. Can a military force be used for any purpose whatever under the Acts of 1795 and 1807, within the limits of a State where there are no judges, marshal or other civil officers?

[OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.]

Attorney General’s Office, November 20, 1860.

Sir:—

I have had the honor to receive your note of the 17th, and I now reply to the grave questions therein propounded as fully as the time allowed me will permit.

Within their respective spheres of action, the Federal Government and the government of a State, are both of them independent and supreme, but each is utterly powerless beyond the limits assigned to it by the Constitution. If Congress would attempt to change the law of descents, to make a new rule of personal succession, or to dissolve the family relations existing in any State, the act would be simply void; but not more void than would be a State law to prevent the recapture of fugitives from labor, to forbid the carrying of the mails, or to stop the collection of duties on imports. The will of a State, whether expressed in its constitution or laws, cannot, while it remains in the Confederacy, absolve her people from the duty of obeying the just and constitutional requirements of the Central Government. Nor can any act of the Central Government displace the jurisdiction of a State; because the laws of the United States are supreme and binding only so far as they are passed in pursuance of the Constitution. I do not say what might be effected by mere revolutionary force. I am speaking of legal and constitutional right.

This is the view always taken by the judiciary, and so universally adopted that the statement of it may seem commonplace. The Supreme Court of the United States has declared it in many cases. I need only refer you to the United States vs. Booth, where the present Chief Justice, expressing the unanimous opinion of himself and all his brethren, enunciated the doctrine in terms so clear and full that any further demonstration of it can scarcely be required.

The duty which these principles devolve, not only upon every officer, but every citizen, is that which Mr. Jefferson expressed so compendiously in his first inaugural, namely:—“to support the State Governments in all their rights as the most competent administrations for their domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies,” combined with “the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad.”

To the Chief Executive Magistrate of the Union is confided the solemn duty of seeing the laws faithfully executed. That he may be able to meet this duty with a power equal to its performance, he nominates his own subordinates, and removes them at his pleasure. For the same reason, the land and naval forces are under his orders as their commander-in-chief. But his power is to be used only in the manner prescribed by the legislative department. He cannot accomplish a legal purpose by illegal means, or break the laws himself to prevent them from being violated by others.

The acts of Congress sometimes give the President a broad discretion in the use of the means by which they are to be executed, and sometimes limit his power so that he can exercise it only in a certain prescribed manner. Where the law directs a thing to be done without saying how, that implies the power to use such means as may be necessary and proper to accomplish the end of the legislature. But where the mode of performing a duty is pointed out by statute, that is the exclusive mode, and no other can be followed. The United States have no common law to fall back upon when the written law is defective. If, therefore, an act of Congress declares that a certain thing shall be done by a particular officer, it cannot be done by a different officer. The agency which the law furnishes for its own execution must be used to the exclusion of all others. For instance, the revenues of the United States are to be collected in a certain way, at certain established ports, and by a certain class of officers; the President has no authority, under any circumstances, to collect the same revenues at other places by a different sort of officers, or in ways not provided for. Even if the machinery furnished by Congress for the collection of the duties should by any cause become so deranged or broken up that it could not be used, that would not be a legal reason for substituting a different kind of machinery in its place.

The law requires that all goods imported into the United States within certain collection districts shall be entered at the proper port, and the duty thereon shall be received by the collector appointed for and residing at that port. But the functions of the collector may be exercised anywhere at or within the port. There is no law which confines him to the custom-house, or to any other particular spot. If the custom-house were burnt down, he might remove to another building; if he were driven from the shore, he might go on board a vessel in the harbor. If he keeps within the port, he is within the law.

A port is a place to which merchandise is imported, and from whence it is exported. It is created by law. It is not merely a harbor or haven, for it may be established where there is nothing but an open roadstead, or on the shore of a navigable river, or at any other place where vessels may arrive and discharge, or take in their cargoes. It comprehends the city or town which is occupied by the mariners, merchants, and others who are engaged in the business of importing and exporting goods, navigating the ships and furnishing them with provisions. It includes, also, so much of the water adjacent to the city as is usually occupied by vessels discharging or receiving their cargoes or lying at anchor and waiting for that purpose.

The first section of the act of March 2, 1833, authorized the President in a certain contingency to direct that the custom-house for any collection district be established and kept in any secure place within some port or harbor of such district, either upon land or on board any vessel. But this provision was temporary, and expired at the end of the session of Congress next afterwards. It conferred upon the Executive a right to remove the site of a custom-house not merely to any secure place within the legally established port of entry for the district—that right he had before—but it widened his authority so as to allow the removal of it to any port or harbor within the whole district. The enactment of that law, and the limitation of it to a certain period of time now passed, is not, therefore, an argument against the opinion above expressed, that you can now, if necessary, order the duties to be collected on board a vessel inside of any established port of entry. Whether the first and fifth sections of the act of 1833, both of which were made temporary by the eighth section, should be reënacted, is a question for the legislative department.

Your right to take such measures as may seem to be necessary for the protection of the public property is very clear. It results from the proprietary rights of the Government as owner of the forts, arsenals, magazines, dock-yards, navy-yards, custom-houses, public ships, and other property which the United States have bought, built, and paid for. Besides, the Government of the United States is authorized by the Constitution (Art. 1, Sec. 8) to “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever ..... over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings.” It is believed that no important public building has been bought or erected on ground where the legislature of the State in which it is, has not passed a law consenting to the purchase of it, and ceding the exclusive jurisdiction. This Government, then, is not only the owner of those buildings and grounds, but, by virtue of the supreme and paramount law, it regulates the action and punishes the offences of all who are within them. If any one of an owner’s rights is plainer than another it is that of keeping exclusive possession and repelling intrusion. The right of defending the public property includes also the right of recapture after it has been unlawfully taken by another. President Jefferson held the opinion, and acted upon it, that he could order a military force to take possession of any land to which the United States had title, though they had never occupied it before, though a private party claimed and held it, and though it was not then needed nor proposed to be used for any purpose connected with the operations of the Government. This may have been a stretch of Executive power, but the right of retaking public property in which the Government has been carrying on its lawful business, and from which its officers have been unlawfully thrust out, cannot well be doubted, and when it was exercised at Harper’s Ferry, in October, 1859, everyone acknowledged the legal justice of it.

I come now to the point in your letter, which is probably of the greatest practical importance. By the act of 1807, you may employ such parts of the land and naval forces as you may judge necessary for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed, in all cases where it is lawful to use the militia for the same purpose. By the act of 1795 the militia may be called forth “whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals.” This imposes upon the President the sole responsibility of deciding whether the exigency has arisen which requires the use of military force; and in proportion to the magnitude of that responsibility will be his care not to overstep the limits of his legal and just authority.

The laws referred to in the act of 1795 are manifestly those which are administered by the judges, and executed by the ministerial officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the United States, for the protection of rights claimed under the Federal Constitution and laws, and for the enforcement of such obligations as come within the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. To compel obedience to these laws, the courts have authority to punish all who obstruct their regular administration, and the marshals and their deputies have the same powers as sheriffs and their deputies in the several States in executing the laws of the States. These are the ordinary means provided for the execution of the laws; and the whole spirit of our system is opposed to the employment of any other except in cases of extreme necessity arising out of great and unusual combinations against them. Their agency must continue to be used until their incapacity to cope with the power opposed to them shall be plainly demonstrated. It is only upon clear evidence to that effect that a military force can be called into the field. Even then its operations must be purely defensive. It can suppress only such combinations as are found directly opposing the laws and obstructing the execution thereof. It can do no more than what might and ought to be done by a civil posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough to meet the same opposition. On such occasions, especially, the military power must be kept in strict subordination to the civil authority, since it is only in aid of the latter that the former can act at all.

But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves (including judges, district attorneys and marshals) would be reached by the same influences, and resign their places? Of course, the first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others could be got to serve. But in such an event, it is more than probable that great difficulty would be found in filling the offices. We can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. We are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we have no courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers to execute it. In that event, troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the courts and marshals, there must be courts and marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them.

The existing laws put and keep the Federal Government strictly on the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the courts in the performance of their duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute the other laws be insufficient for that purpose, Congress may extend and make them more effectual to those ends.

If one of the States should declare her independence, your action cannot depend upon the rightfulness of the cause upon which such declaration is based. Whether the retirement of the State from the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution, or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in either case the authority to recognize her independence or to absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress, or the other States in convention assembled, must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such an event, I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden—that is, execute the laws to the extent of the defensive means placed in your hands, and act generally upon the assumption that the present constitutional relations between the States and the Federal Government continue to exist, until a new code of things shall be established either by law or force.

Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal Government to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider. It must be admitted that no such power is expressly given; nor are there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the powers enumerated in Article 1st, Section 8, is that “to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning captures on land and water.” This certainly means nothing more than the power to commence and carry on hostilities against the foreign enemies of the nation. Another clause in the same section gives Congress the power “to provide for calling forth the militia,” and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is so restricted by the words which immediately follow that it can be exercised only for one of the following purposes: 1. To execute the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal officers in the performance of their regular duties. 2. To suppress insurrections against the State; but this is confined by Article IV, Section 4, to cases in which the State herself shall apply for assistance against her own people. 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do not seem to have thought that war was calculated “to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the men who framed and ratified the Constitution, that military force would not only be useless, but pernicious, as a means of holding the States together.

If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State, then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso facto an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquility which the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?

The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied. But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.

If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond that of merely protecting the General Government in the exercise of its proper constitutional functions.

I am, very respectfully, yours, etc.,

J. S. Black.

The soundness of Mr. Black’s answers to the questions stated by the President does not admit of a doubt. Those who have assailed him and the President who acted upon his official advice, have done so with very little regard to the supreme law of the land. They have not perceived the path in which the President had to move in the coming emergency, and they have overlooked the imperative obligation which rested upon him not to assume powers with which he had not been clothed by the Constitution and the laws. However certain it was that South Carolina would undertake to place herself out of the pale of the Union, no coercion could have been applied to her in her political capacity as a State, to prevent her from taking that step, without instantly bringing to her side every other State whose sympathies were with her on the subject of slavery, however they might hesitate in regard to secession as a remedy against the apprehensions which were common, more or less, the people of the whole slaveholding section. Even if the President had not been restrained by this consideration, he had no constitutional power to declare, no authority to prosecute, and no right to institute a war against a State. He could do nothing but to execute the laws of the United States within the limits of South Carolina, in case she should secede, by such means as the existing laws had placed in his hands, or such further means as the Congress which was about to assemble might see fit to give him, and to maintain the possession of the public property of the United States within the limits of that State. What the existing means were, for either of those purposes, was clearly pointed out by his official adviser, the Attorney General. For the execution of the laws, these means might wholly fail him, if the Federal civil officers in South Carolina should renounce their offices and others could not be procured to take their places. For maintaining possession of the public property of the United States, he had to act wholly upon the defensive, and at the same time he had no power to call for volunteers for this purpose, and no military force within his reach but the five companies of regular troops referred to by General Scott in his “views” presented on the 30th of October, and the naval forces at his command. No part of the army could be withdrawn from the frontiers without leaving the settlers and the emigrants exposed to the ravages of the Indians, even if the gravest reasons of public policy had not forbidden such movements before Congress could take into consideration the whole of the unprecedented and abnormal state of the Union.

There is one part of Mr. Black’s opinion on which it is proper to make some observations here, because it has a prospective bearing upon the basis on which the civil war is to be considered to have been subsequently prosecuted. It is not of much moment to inquire how individual statesmen, or publicists, or political parties, when the war had begun and was raging, regarded its legal basis; but it is of moment, in reference to the correctness of the doctrine acted upon by President Buchanan during the last four months of his administration, to consider what was the true basis of that subsequent war under the Constitution of the United States. The reader has seen that Mr. Black, in his official opinion, not only rejected the idea that the President could constitutionally make war upon a State of his own volition, but that he did not admit that the power to do so was expressly or implicitly given to Congress by the Constitution. What then did the Attorney General mean by instituting or carrying on war against one or more States? It is obvious, first, that he meant offensive war, waged against a State as if it were a foreign nation, to be carried on to the usual results of conquest and subjugation; second, that he fully admitted and maintained the right of the Federal Government to use a military force to suppress all obstructions to the execution of the laws of the United States throughout the Union, and to maintain the possession of its public property. This distinction was from the first, and always remained, of the utmost importance. It became entirely consistent with the recognition, for the time being, of a condition of territorial civil war, carried on by the lawful Government of the Union to suppress any and all military organizations arrayed against the exercise of its lawful authority; consistent with the concession of the belligerent character to the Confederate government as a de facto power having under its control the resources and the territory of numerous States; consistent also with the denial to that government of any character as a power de jure; and alike consistent with a purpose to suppress and destroy it. So far as the war subsequently waged was carried on upon this basis, it was carried on within the limits of the Constitution, and by the strictest constitutional right. So far as it was carried on upon any other basis, or made to result in anything more than the suppression of all unlawful obstructions to the exercise of the Federal authority throughout the Union, it was a war waged outside of the Constitution, and for objects that were not within the range of the powers bestowed by the Constitution on the Federal Government. In a word, the Federal Government had ample power under the Constitution to suppress and destroy the Confederate government and all its military array, from whatever sources that government or its military means were derived, but it had no constitutional authority to destroy a State, or to make war upon its unarmed population, as it would have under the principles of public law to destroy the political autonomy of a foreign nation with which it might be at war, or to promote hostilities against its people.

Doubtless, as will be seen hereafter when I come to speak of that part of the President’s message which related to this topic of making war upon a State, the language made use of was capable of misconstruction, and certain it is that it was made the subject of abundant cavil, by those who did not wish that the President should be rightly understood; as it was also made a subject of criticism by the Attorney General when the message was submitted to the cabinet. The language chosen by the President to express his opinion on the nature and kind of power which he believed that the Constitution had not delegated to Congress, described it as a “power to coerce a State into submission which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn from the Confederacy.” This was in substance a description of the same power which the framers of the Constitution had expressly rejected. It was before the Convention of 1787 in the shape of a clause “authorizing an exertion of the force of the whole against a delinquent State,” which Mr. Madison opposed as “the use of force against a State,” and which he said would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound. On another occasion, Mr. Madison said that “any government for the United States, formed on the supposed practicability of using force against the unconstitutional proceedings of the States, would prove as visionary and fallacious as the government of the [old] Congress.” When, therefore, after the rejection of the idea of using force to restrain a State from adopting an unconstitutional proceeding, the framers of the Constitution proceeded to create a government endowed with legislative, judicial and executive power over the individual inhabitants of a State, and authorized it to use the militia to execute the laws of the Union, they made and left upon our constitutional history and jurisprudence a clear distinction between coercing a State, in its sovereign and political character, to remain in the Union, and coercing individuals to obey the laws of the Union. Mr. Buchanan might then reasonably assume, that a distinction thus clearly graven upon the constitutional records of the country would be known and recognized by all men; and although the expression to “coerce a State by force of arms to remain in the Union,” might, if severed from the accompanying explanation of its meaning, be regarded as ambiguous, it will be found hereafter that it was not so used as to justify the inference that if a State were to undertake to secede from the Union, the President would disclaim or surrender the power to execute the laws of the Union within her borders. It will be found also, by adverting to the Attorney General’s answers to the President’s questions, that there was in truth no real difference of opinion between them on this subject.[^[74]]

CHAPTER XVI.
1860—December.

THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL MESSAGE OF DECEMBER 3, 1860.

The Constitution makes it the duty of the President, from time to time, to give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and to recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. Custom has made the commencement of each session of Congress a regular occasion for the discharge of this duty, and has also established the propriety of performing it at other times, whenever the President deems it necessary. It was the purpose of this provision of the Constitution to make the President a special guardian of the interests of the Union, by making him the official witness of its condition to the legislative department, and by giving to his recommendation of measures a high claim upon its consideration. The performance of this duty involves a wide range of observation over the whole condition of the country at a given time, and it imposes upon Congress the correlative duty of giving serious heed and prompt attention to any recommendations which the President may make. No other functionary in the Government is in a position to know so well as the President what the interests of the Union from time to time demand at the hands of Congress, and no other is clothed with this power of making official and therefore weighty recommendations of measures requiring legislative action. No state of parties, no objects of party policy, can excuse the individual members of a Congress from the duty of giving immediate attention to whatever suggestions the President may make in the exercise of this great function as the constitutional adviser of the legislature, and as guardian of the interests of the Union. At the same time, it is to be remembered that this function is only an advisory one; that it in no way enlarges the powers of the Executive; and that the President can at no time exercise any powers but those with which he has been clothed by the Constitution or by the laws which have been passed in pursuance of its provisions.

Never was there an occasion when it was more necessary that this duty should be performed by the President firmly, intelligibly, boldly, conscientiously, than it was in the crisis existing at the commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1860. Never was it more imperatively necessary that Congress should at once take into its “consideration” the measures recommended by the President. The force of that term, as it is used in the Constitution, is not limited to a mere reference of the President’s recommendations to committees. It implies action, prompt and decisive action, one way or the other, in proportion to the gravity of that condition of the Union which the President has brought to the attention of the Legislature. The President is entitled to know, and to know speedily, whether the Congress concurs with or differs from him. The country is entitled to know whether its Chief Magistrate is to be clothed with the further powers for which he may have asked in order to meet a given emergency; whether the Congress accepts, or refuses to accept, his construction of the Constitution in regard to new and difficult questions that have arisen; and whether, if the Congress does not concur with the President, it has any other policy to propose and carry out, adequate to the dangers that may be impending over the Union. An examination of the course of President Buchanan in the crisis to which we have now arrived conducts to the inquiry whether he performed his duty, as he should have done, and whether the Congress performed theirs according to the obligation that rested upon them.

The “state of the Union,” of which the President had to give Congress official information, was entirely unprecedented. That it was alarming, cannot be doubted. It matters little whether the people of the North felt much alarm. Popular opinion, so far as it was not manifested by the depression of business and of the public funds, did not reflect the gravity of the crisis. It was not generally believed that an election of a President, conducted in a regular and orderly manner, although it had resulted in the triumph of a party obnoxious to the feelings of the Southern people, because of its supposed hostility to them, would be or could be made the occasion for a permanent disruption of the Union. And this was about the only aspect in which the popular mind of the North regarded the whole matter for a considerable period after the election. It was not generally perceived that an entirely new question had arisen, which made a peril of a new and formidable nature. The alleged constitutional right of a State to withdraw itself from the Union, on its own judgment that its interests or safety were no longer compatible with its continuing as a member of it, although it had long been theoretically discussed in many ways by individuals of more or less importance, was now about to be asserted and acted upon by the people of South Carolina. How was this crisis to be met? That it was entirely out of all previous experience, that it was a situation full of peril, that it entailed the consideration of questions of Federal power never yet solved, because they had never before arisen, was plain. That the President of the United States, the official sentinel on the great watch-tower of the Union, regarded its condition as one of imminent danger, was enough for the Congress to know. That popular opinion in the North did not fully comprehend the danger affords no excuse for any omission of duty, any lack of wisdom or forethought, any failure to act promptly or patriotically, which history may find reason to impute to those who held the legislative power.

Mr. Buchanan, as the reader has seen, so soon as he had reason to believe that South Carolina was about to put in practice its alleged right of withdrawing from the Union, proceeded to take the opinion of his official adviser in regard to his constitutional powers and duties in such an emergency. Individually, he needed no man’s advice upon such questions, for he was as able and well instructed a constitutional jurist as any one who had ever filled the office of President of the United States; familiar with all the teachings and all the precedents of his predecessors, and abundantly learned in the doctrines of the great judicial expounders of the Constitution. But in his official capacity it was both proper and necessary that he should call to his aid the sound judgment and the copious learning of his Attorney General, before proceeding to discharge his constitutional duty of giving to Congress information of the state of the Union. He began to prepare his annual message immediately after he had received the Attorney General’s answers to his questions. The message was read to the cabinet before it was printed in the usual form for communication to Congress. The members of the cabinet, including General Cass, the Secretary of State, and with the exceptions of Mr. Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mr. Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, warmly and emphatically approved of it.[^[75]] Messrs. Cobb and Thompson objected to so much of the message as denied the right of secession, and to that part of it which maintained the duty of defending the public property and collecting the revenue in South Carolina. These questions having now become vital, the two dissenting members of the cabinet, soon after the message had been sent to Congress, resigned their places.[^[76]]

Let it be remembered, then, that this message was prepared to be submitted to Congress before the South Carolina Convention had adopted its ordinance of secession. Surely, therefore, there can be no just ground for imputing to the President any lack of preparation to meet the threatened contingency of a secession of one or more States, according to the measure of his official duty and powers. In examining this message, of which I shall speak in conformity with my most serious convictions, the reader should note that it had to be prospective in its recommendations, in order that Congress might be fully possessed of the methods of action which the President intended to propose as the legitimate, as well as the expedient, course to be pursued. But this was not the whole of the constitutional duty that rested upon the Executive. He had, in discharging his duty of giving to Congress information of the state of the Union, to treat so far of the causes which had brought about that condition as to point out measures of conciliation, as well as measures for the exercise of authority. He had to recognize the palpable fact that the two sections of the Union, the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States, stood divided from each other upon a question which involved more of feeling than of practical consequence; a feeling that had been aggravated on each side into an undue importance by the circumstances of the late election. This question related to the claim of Southern slaveholders to have their right of property in slaves recognized in Territories of the United States, whenever they should go there with such property. It was a claim which the most considerate of those who asserted it most strongly regarded as essential to the equality of their States as members of the Union, in reference to the right of occupation of the common property of all the States. It was based, to be sure, by many who asserted it, upon a questionable proposition, which was that the right of property in a slave, recognized by the local law of a State, travelled with the person of the owner into a Territory of the United States, without any law of the Territory to uphold it, and even against a prohibition imposed by the legislative authority which governed the Territory. But when has it been known in the history of conflicting popular feelings, that the nature of such a claim has diminished the fervor with which it has been defended, when it has come to be regarded as a great political right, of importance to those who assert it? Practically, it was not a matter of importance to the slaveholding States, because there was no Territory of the United States at that time in which slave labor could become profitable, or in which the negro, in a state of slavery, could thrive. But an exaggerated feeling of the political importance of this supposed right had taken possession of the Southern mind. On the other hand, there had come about in the North an equally exaggerated sense of the importance of asserting in every possible form of public action, that the Territories were dedicated to freedom from slavery, and were to be so regarded forever. It was chiefly upon this, as a fundamental principle of the future legislation of the Union, that the Republican candidate had been elected by the votes of the people of the free States.

Under these circumstances, no President of the United States, in discharging his constitutional duty of giving to Congress information of the state of the Union, could have avoided a reference to this condition of conflicting sectional feelings and determinations, especially at a moment when one of the Southern States was about to act upon the assumption that the election of the Northern candidate evinced a hostile disposition in the North towards the people and the social institutions of the South, too dangerous to be disregarded. If, by fairly holding the balance between the two sections, President Buchanan could suggest any course of conciliation and compromise that could be adopted without impairing the authority of the Federal Government or weakening its rights, it was his duty to point it out. The adoption of such a course by Congress would certainly smooth the way for President Lincoln, because it would leave South Carolina alone in her attitude of secession, would tend with great force to prevent any of the other cotton States from following her example, and would render a civil war extremely improbable, because it would remove one great cause for the spread of secession beyond the borders of that State. When the recommendation of the message is examined with impartiality, it will be found that it proposed an explanatory amendment of the Constitution which was entirely reasonable, and which would have terminated the existing dissensions, so far as they depended upon this particular question.

But those dissensions had other causes, which it was equally the duty of the President to bring before Congress and the country. For a long period of time, the anti-slavery agitation in the North, not confined to the question of slavery in the Territories, had awakened apprehensions in the South for their domestic peace and safety. It was undoubtedly but reasonable to expect the Southern people to rely on the conservative force of Northern public opinion, to guard against interference with slavery in the States by any form of public action through the General Government, by whatever party it might be administered. But who could insure them against the consequences of such lawless acts as John Brown’s “raid” into Virginia, undertaken in 1859, with the avowed purpose of producing a slave insurrection? This occurrence, which was only a little more than a twelvemonth old when Mr. Buchanan prepared his annual message of December 3, 1860, had produced a sadder impression on the Southern people against the Union than any previous event had ever caused.[^[77]] This painful impression was deepened by the popular honors paid in the North to this man’s memory as a martyr in the cause of liberty, for whom the prayers of churches were offered, and who, after he had died the death of a felon, was canonized as a saint, mouldering in the body in the grave, but in spirit marching on to the accomplishment of his mission of liberator of the slaves. Such fanaticism might well be regarded with serious alarm by a people who dwelt surrounded in every relation of life by a slave population of another race, in many communities outnumbering the Whites. Yet this was not all that tended to alienate the people of the South from the Union. A provision of the Constitution which was adopted by its framers as a fundamental condition of the new Union that it aimed to establish, for the execution of which legislation had been provided in 1793,—legislation which bore the name of Washington himself, and which had been amended and strengthened in 1850 by a solemn Congressional agreement,—had been for seven years resisted by combinations of individuals in the North, and by State laws of obstruction that had no less of nullification as their spirit and purpose than the nullifying ordinance of South Carolina, by which she formerly undertook to obstruct another law of the Union. It was impossible for the Southern People not to place this resistance to the extradition of fugitive slaves among their grievances. It was a real grievance, and one that, considering the nature of the Constitutional mandate and stipulation, it was right that they should complain of.

Was the President of the United States, standing at the threshold of the secession movement, measuring as he was bound to do with a comprehensive grasp the condition of the Union, to be silent respecting these things? Was he, if he spoke to the South, warning her that the election of Abraham Lincoln was no cause for her attempting to leave the Union, and expounding to her the utter futility of the doctrine of secession as a constitutional right—was he to say nothing to the North of the duty which rested upon her to remove all just causes of complaint, and thus to render secession inexcusable to the Southern people themselves? A supreme ruler, placed as Mr. Buchanan was at the period I am now considering, had a complex duty to perform. It was to prevent, if he could, the formation of any sort of Southern Confederacy among the cotton States, and thereby to relieve his successor from the necessity of having to encounter more than the secession of South Carolina. She could be dealt with easily, standing alone, if Congress would clothe the President with the necessary power to enforce the laws of the Union within her limits. Backed by a new confederacy of her contiguous sisters, containing five millions of people, and controlling the whole cotton production of the country, the problem for the new President would indeed be a formidable one. To prevent this, certain measures of conciliation were deemed by President Buchanan, in as honest and as wise a judgment as any statesman ever formed, to be essential. When the reader has examined his recommendations of constitutional amendments, along with the practical measures for which he applied, and which Congress did not adopt, he will have to ask himself, if Congress had done its duty as the President performed his, is it within the bounds of probability that Mr. Lincoln would have been embarrassed with the question about the forts in Charleston harbor, or that the Montgomery government would have ever existed, or that South Carolina, unaided and undirected by that new confederacy, would ever have fired on Sumter?

As the internal affairs of the country claimed the first attention of the President, and occupied a very large part of his message, I quote the whole of what it said on this very grave topic:

Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:—

Throughout the year since our last meeting, the country has been eminently prosperous in all its material interests. The general health has been excellent, our harvests have been abundant, and plenty smiles throughout the land. Our commerce and manufactures have been prosecuted with energy and industry, and have yielded fair and ample returns. In short, no nation in the tide of time has ever presented a spectacle of greater material prosperity than we have done, until within a very recent period.

Why is it, then, that discontent now so extensively prevails, and the union of the States, which is the source of all these blessings, is threatened with destruction?

The long continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern States has at length produced its natural effects. The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other, and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed.

I have long foreseen, and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proceed solely from the claim on the part of Congress or the Territorial legislatures to exclude slavery from the Territories, nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the execution of the fugitive slave law. All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South, without danger to the Union (as others have been), in the hope that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises, not so much from these causes, as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile insurrections. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself, until it shall pervade the masses of the Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and has been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest purpose; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long continue, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the fire-sides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later the bonds of such a Union must be severed. It is my conviction that this fatal period has not yet arrived: and my prayer to God is, that he would preserve the Constitution and the Union throughout all generations.

But let us take warning in time, and remove the cause of danger. It cannot be denied that for five and twenty years the agitation at the North against slavery has been incessant. In 1835, pictorial handbills and inflammatory appeals were circulated extensively throughout the South, of a character to excite the passions of the slaves, and, in the language of General Jackson, “to stimulate them to insurrection and produce all the horrors of a servile war.” This agitation has ever since been continued by the public press, by the proceedings of State and county conventions, and by abolition sermons and lectures. The time of Congress has been occupied in violent speeches on this never ending subject; and appeals, in pamphlet and other forms, indorsed by distinguished names, have been sent forth from this central point and spread broadcast over the Union.

How easy would it be for the American people to settle the slavery question forever, and to restore peace and harmony to this distracted country! They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible, and have no more right to interfere, than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil.

Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance, I confess, I still greatly rely. Without their aid it is beyond the power of any President, no matter what may be his own political proclivities, to restore peace and harmony among the States. Wisely limited and restrained as is his power under our Constitution and laws, he alone can accomplish but little for good or for evil on such a momentous question.

And this brings me to observe, that the election of any one of our fellow-citizens to the office of President does not of itself afford just cause for dissolving the Union. This is more especially true if his election has been effected by a mere plurality and not a majority of the people, and has resulted from transient and temporary causes, which may probably never again occur. In order to justify a resort to revolutionary resistance, the Federal Government must be guilty of “a deliberate; palpable, and dangerous exercise” of powers not granted by the Constitution. The late Presidential election, however, has been held in strict conformity with its express provisions. How, then, can the result justify a revolution to destroy this very Constitution? Reason, justice, a regard for the Constitution, all require that we shall wait for some overt and dangerous act on the part of the President elect, before resorting to such a remedy. It is said, however, that the antecedents of the President elect have been sufficient to justify the fears of the South that he will attempt to invade their constitutional rights. But are such apprehensions of contingent danger in the future sufficient to justify the immediate destruction of the noblest system of government ever devised by mortals? From the very nature of his office, and its high responsibilities, he must necessarily be conservative. The stern duty of administering the vast and complicated concerns of this Government affords in itself a guarantee that he will not attempt any violation of a clear constitutional right.

After all, he is no more than the Chief Executive officer of the Government. His province is not to make but to execute the laws; and it is a remarkable fact in our history that, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of the anti-slavery party, no single act has ever passed Congress, unless we may possibly except the Missouri Compromise, impairing in the slightest degree the rights of the South to their property in slaves. And it may also be observed, judging from present indications, that no probability exists of the passage of such an act by a majority of both Houses, either in the present or the next Congress. Surely, under these circumstances, we ought to be restrained from present action by the precept of Him who spake as man never spoke, that “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” The day of evil may never come unless we shall rashly bring it upon ourselves.

It is alleged as one cause for immediate secession, that the Southern States are denied equal rights with the other States in the common Territories. But by what authority are these denied? Not by Congress, which has never passed, and I believe never will pass, any act to exclude slavery from these Territories. And certainly not by the Supreme Court, which has solemnly decided that slaves are property, and like all other property their owners have a right to take them into the common Territories and hold them there under the protection of the Constitution.

So far, then, as Congress is concerned, the objection is not to anything they have already done, but to what they may do hereafter. It will surely be admitted that this apprehension of future danger is no good reason for an immediate dissolution of the Union. It is true that the Territorial legislature of Kansas, on the 23d February, 1860, passed in great haste an act over the veto of the Governor, declaring that slavery “is and shall be forever prohibited in this Territory.” Such an act, however, plainly violating the rights of property secured by the Constitution, will surely be declared void by the judiciary, whenever it shall be presented in a legal form.

Only three days after my inauguration, the Supreme Court of the United States solemnly adjudged that this power did not exist in a Territorial legislature. Yet such has been the factious temper of the times that the correctness of this decision has been extensively impugned before the people, and the question has given rise to angry political conflicts throughout the country. Those who have appealed from this judgment of our highest constitutional tribunal to popular assemblies, would, if they could, invest a Territorial legislature with power to annul the sacred rights of property. This power Congress is expressly forbidden by the Federal Constitution to exercise. Every State legislature in the Union is forbidden by its own constitution to exercise it. It cannot be exercised in any State except by the people in their highest sovereign capacity when framing or amending their State constitution. In like manner it can only be exercised by the people of a Territory, represented in a convention of delegates, for the purpose of framing a constitution preparatory to admission as a State into the Union. Then, and not until then, are they invested with power to decide the question whether slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits. This is an act of sovereign authority and not of subordinate Territorial legislation. Were it otherwise, then indeed would the equality of the States in the Territories be destroyed and the rights of property in slaves would depend not upon the guarantees of the Constitution, but upon the shifting majorities of an irresponsible Territorial legislature. Such a doctrine, from its intrinsic unsoundness, cannot long influence any considerable portion of our people, much less can it afford a good reason for a dissolution of our Union.

The most palpable violations of constitutional duty which have yet been committed consist in the acts of different State legislatures to defeat the execution of the fugitive slave law. It ought to be remembered, however, that for these acts neither Congress nor any President can justly be held responsible. Having been passed in violation of the Federal Constitution, they are therefore null and void. All the courts, both State and national, before whom the question has arisen, have, from the beginning, declared the fugitive slave law to be constitutional. The single exception is that of a State court in Wisconsin; and this has not only been reversed by the proper appellate tribunal, but has met with such universal reprobation, that there can be no danger from it as a precedent. The validity of this law has been established over and over again by the Supreme Court of the United States with unanimity. It is founded upon an express provision of the Constitution, requiring that fugitive slaves who escape from service in one State to another shall be “delivered up” to their masters. Without this provision, it is a well known historical fact that the Constitution itself could never have been adopted by the convention. In one form or other, under the acts of 1793 and 1850, both being substantially the same, the fugitive slave law has been the law of the land from the days of Washington until the present moment. Here, then, a clear case is presented, in which it will be the duty of the next President, as it has been my own, to act with vigor in executing this supreme law against the conflicting enactments of State legislatures. Should he fail in the performance of this high duty, he will then have manifested a disregard of the Constitution and laws, to the great injury of the people of nearly one-half of the States of the Union. But are we to presume in advance that he will thus violate his duty? This would be at war with every principle of justice and of Christian charity. Let us wait for the overt act. The fugitive slave law has been carried into execution in every contested case since the commencement of the present administration; though often, it is to be regretted, with great loss and inconvenience to the master, and with considerable expense to the Government. Let us trust that the State legislatures will repeal their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments. Unless this shall be done without unnecessary delay, it is impossible for any human power to save the Union.

The Southern States, standing on the basis of the Constitution, have a right to demand this act of justice from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then the Constitution, to which all the States are parties, will have been wilfully violated by one portion of them in a provision essential to the domestic security and happiness of the remainder. In that event, the injured States, after having first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union.

I have purposely confined my remarks to revolutionary resistance, because it has been claimed within the last few years that any State, whenever this shall be its sovereign will and pleasure, may secede from the Union in accordance with the Constitution, and without any violation of the constitutional rights of the other members of the Confederacy. That as each became parties to the Union by the vote of its own people assembled in convention, so any one of them may retire from the Union in a similar manner by the vote of such a convention.

In order to justify secession as a constitutional remedy, it must be on the principle that the Federal Government is a mere voluntary association of States, to be dissolved at pleasure by any one of the contracting parties. If this be so, the Confederacy is a rope of sand, to be penetrated and dissolved by the first adverse wave of public opinion in any of the States. In this manner our thirty-three States may resolve themselves into as many petty, jarring, and hostile republics, each one retiring from the Union without responsibility whenever any sudden excitement might impel them to such a course. By this process a Union might be entirely broken into fragments in a few weeks, which cost our forefathers many years of toil, privation, and blood to establish.

Such a principle is wholly inconsistent with the history as well as the character of the Federal Constitution. After it was framed, with the greatest deliberation and care, it was submitted to conventions of the people of the several States for ratification. Its provisions were discussed at length in these bodies, composed of the first men of the country. Its opponents contended that it conferred powers upon the Federal Government dangerous to the rights of the States, whilst its advocates maintained that, under a fair construction of the instrument, there was no foundation for such apprehensions. In that mighty struggle between the first intellects of this or any other country, it never occurred to any individual, either among its opponents or advocates, to assert or even to intimate that their efforts were all vain labor, because the moment that any State felt herself aggrieved she might secede from the Union. What a crushing argument would this have proved against those who dreaded that the rights of the States would be endangered by the Constitution. The truth is, that it was not until many years after the origin of the Federal Government that such a proposition was first advanced. It was then met and refuted by the conclusive arguments of General Jackson, who, in his message of the 16th January, 1833, transmitting the nullifying ordinance of South Carolina to Congress, employs the following language: “The right of the people of a single State to absolve themselves at will, and without the consent of the other States, from their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberty and happiness of the millions composing this Union, cannot be acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be utterly repugnant both to the principles upon which the General Government is constituted, and to the objects which it was expressly formed to attain.”

It is not pretended that any clause in the Constitution gives countenance to such a theory. It is altogether founded upon inference, not from any language contained in the instrument itself, but from the sovereign character of the several States by which it was ratified. But is it beyond the power of a State, like an individual, to yield a portion of its sovereign rights to secure the remainder? In the language of Mr. Madison, who has been called the father of the Constitution, “It was formed by the States—that is, by the people in each of the States acting in their highest sovereign capacity, and formed, consequently, by the same authority which formed the State constitutions. Nor is the Government of the United States, created by the Constitution, less a government, in the strict sense of the term, within the sphere of its powers, than the governments created by the constitutions of the States are within their several spheres. It is, like them, organized into legislative, executive, and judiciary departments. It operates, like them, directly on persons and things; and, like them, it has at command a physical force for executing the powers committed to it.”

It was intended to be perpetual, and not to be annulled at the pleasure of any one of the contracting parties. The old articles of confederation were entitled “Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States;” and by the thirteenth article it is expressly declared that “the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual.” The preamble to the Constitution of the United States, having express reference to the articles of confederation, recites that it was established “in order to form a more perfect union.” And yet it is contended that this “more perfect union” does not include the essential attribute of perpetuity.

But that the Union was designed to be perpetual, appears conclusively from the nature and extent of the powers conferred by the Constitution on the Federal Government. These powers embrace the very highest attributes of national sovereignty. They place both the sword and the purse under its control. Congress has power to make war and to make peace; to raise and support armies and navies, and to conclude treaties with foreign governments. It is invested with the power to coin money, and to regulate the value thereof, and to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States. It is not necessary to enumerate the other high powers which have been conferred upon the Federal Government. In order to carry the enumerated powers into effect, Congress possesses the exclusive right to lay and collect duties on imports, and, in common with the States, to lay and collect all other taxes.

But the Constitution has not only conferred these high powers upon Congress, but it has adopted effectual means to restrain the States from interfering with their exercise. For that purpose it has in strong prohibitory language expressly declared that “no State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts.” Moreover, “without the consent of Congress no State shall lay any imposts or duties on any imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws,” and if they exceed this amount, the excess shall belong to the United States. And “no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.”

In order still further to secure the uninterrupted exercise of these high powers against State interposition, it is provided “that this Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”

The solemn sanction of religion has been superadded to the obligations of official duty, and all Senators and Representatives of the United States, all members of State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, “both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution.”

In order to carry into effect these powers, the Constitution has established a perfect Government in all its forms, legislative, executive, and judicial; and this Government to the extent of its powers acts directly upon the individual citizens of every State, and executes its own decrees by the agency of its own officers. In this respect it differs entirely from the government under the old confederation, which was confined to making requisitions on the States in their sovereign character. This left in the discretion of each whether to obey or to refuse, and they often declined to comply with such requisitions. It thus became necessary for the purpose of removing this barrier, and, “in order to form a more perfect union,” to establish a Government which could act directly upon the people and execute its own laws without the intermediate agency of the States. This has been accomplished by the Constitution of the United States. In short, the Government created by the Constitution, and deriving its authority from the sovereign people of each of the several States, has precisely the same right to exercise its power over the people of all these States in the enumerated cases, that each one of them possesses over subjects not delegated to the United States, but “reserved to the States respectively or to the people.”

To the extent of the delegated powers the Constitution of the United States is as much a part of the constitution of each State, and is as binding upon its people, as though it had been textually inserted therein.

This Government, therefore, is a great and powerful government, invested with all the attributes of sovereignty over the special subjects to which its authority extends. Its framers never intended to implant in its bosom the seeds of its own destruction, nor were they at its creation guilty of the absurdity of providing for its own dissolution. It was not intended by its framers to be the baseless fabric of a vision, which, at the touch of the enchanter, would vanish into thin air, but a substantial and mighty fabric, capable of resisting the slow decay of time, and of defying the storms of ages. Indeed, well may the jealous patriots of that day have indulged fears that a government of such high powers might violate the reserved rights of the States, and wisely did they adopt the rule of a strict construction of these powers to prevent the danger. But they did not fear, nor had they any reason to imagine that the Constitution would ever be so interpreted as to enable any State by her own act, and without the consent of her sister States, to discharge her people from all or any of the federal obligations.

It may be asked, then, are the people of the States without redress against the tyranny and oppression of the Federal Government? By no means. The right of resistance on the part of the governed against the oppression of their governments cannot be denied. It exists independently of all constitutions, and has been exercised at all periods of the world’s history. Under it, old governments have been destroyed and new ones have taken their place. It is embodied in strong and express language in our own Declaration of Independence. But the distinction must ever be observed that this is revolution against an established government, and not a voluntary secession from it by virtue of an inherent constitutional right. In short, let us look the danger fairly in the face; secession is neither more nor less than revolution. It may or it may not be a justifiable revolution; but still it is revolution.

What, in the meantime, is the responsibility and true position of the Executive? He is bound by solemn oath, before God and the country, “to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” and from this obligation he cannot be absolved by any human power. But what if the performance of this duty, in whole or in part, has been rendered impracticable by events over which he could have exercised no control? Such, at the present moment, is the case throughout the State of South Carolina, so far as the laws of the United States to secure the administration of justice by means of the federal judiciary are concerned. All the federal officers within its limits, through whose agency alone these laws can be carried into execution, have already resigned. We no longer have a district judge, a district attorney, or a marshal in South Carolina. In fact, the whole machinery of the Federal Government necessary for the distribution of remedial justice among the people has been demolished, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace it.

The only acts of Congress on the statute book, bearing upon this subject, are those of the 28th February, 1795, and 3d March, 1807. These authorize the President, after he shall have ascertained that the marshal, with his posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any particular case, to call forth the militia and employ the army and navy to aid him in performing this service, having first by proclamation commanded the insurgents “to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time.” This duty cannot by possibility be performed in a State where no judicial authority exists to issue process, and where there is no marshal to execute it, and where, even if there were such an officer, the entire population would constitute one solid combination to resist him.

The bare enumeration of these provisions proves how inadequate they are, without further legislation, to overcome a united opposition in a single State, not to speak of other States who may place themselves in a similar attitude. Congress alone has power to decide whether the present laws can or cannot be amended so as to carry out more effectually the objects of the Constitution.

The same insuperable obstacles do not lie in the way of executing the laws for the collection of the customs. The revenue still continues to be collected, as heretofore, at the custom-house in Charleston, and should the collector unfortunately resign, a successor may be appointed to perform this duty.

Then, in regard to the property of the United States in South Carolina. This has been purchased, for a fair equivalent, “by the consent of the legislature of the State,” “for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,” etc., and over these the authority “to exercise exclusive legislation,” has been expressly granted by the Constitution to Congress. It is not believed that any attempt will be made to expel the United States from this property by force; but if in this I should prove to be mistaken, the officer in command of the forts has received orders to act strictly on the defensive. In such a contingency the responsibility for consequences would rightfully rest upon the heads of the assailants.

Apart from the execution of the laws, so far as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to change the relations heretofore existing between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolution of the Confederacy among our thirty-three sovereign States. It bears no resemblance to the recognition of a foreign de facto government, involving no such responsibility. Any attempt to do this would, on his part, be a naked act of usurpation. It is, therefore, my duty to submit to Congress the whole question in all its bearings. The course of events is so rapidly hastening forward that the emergency may soon arise when you may be called upon to decide the momentous question whether you possess the power, by force of arms, to compel a State to remain in the Union. I should feel myself recreant to my duty were I not to express an opinion on this important subject.

The question fairly stated is: Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a State into submission which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the Confederacy? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and to make war against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress or to any other department of the Federal Government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the Constitution, that this is not among the specific and enumerated powers granted to Congress; and it is equally apparent that its exercise is not “necessary and proper for carrying into execution” any one of these powers. So far from this power having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly refused by the convention which framed the Constitution.

It appears from the proceedings of that body that on the 31st May, 1787, the clause “authorizing an exertion of the force of the whole against a delinquent State,” came up for consideration. Mr. Madison opposed it in a brief but powerful speech, from which I shall extract but a single sentence. He observed: “The use of force against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound.” Upon his motion the clause was unanimously postponed, and was never, I believe, again presented. Soon afterwards, on the 8th June, 1787, when incidentally adverting to the subject, he said: “Any government for the United States, formed on the supposed practicability of using force against the unconstitutional proceedings of the States, would prove as visionary and fallacious as the Government of Congress,” evidently meaning the then existing Congress of the old Confederation.

Without descending to particulars, it may be safely asserted that the power to make war against a State is at variance with the whole spirit and intent of the Constitution. Suppose such a war should result in the conquest of a State, how are we to govern it afterwards? Shall we hold it as a province and govern it by despotic power? In the nature of things we could not, by physical force, control the will of the people and compel them to elect Senators and Representatives to Congress, and to perform all the other duties depending upon their own volition, and required from the free citizens of a free State as a constituent member of the Confederacy.

But, if we possessed this power, would it be wise to exercise it under existing circumstances? The object would doubtless be to preserve the Union. War would not only present the most effectual means of destroying it, but would banish all hope of its peaceful reconstruction. Besides, in the fraternal conflict a vast amount of blood and treasure would be expended, rendering future reconciliation between the States impossible. In the meantime, who can foretell what would be the sufferings and privations of the people during its existence?

The fact is, that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it cannot live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force.

But may I be permitted solemnly to invoke my countrymen to pause and deliberate, before they determine to destroy this, the grandest temple which has ever been dedicated to human freedom since the world began. It has been consecrated by the blood of our fathers, by the glories of the past, and by the hopes of the future. The Union has already made us the most prosperous, and ere long will, if preserved, render us the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. In every foreign region of the globe the title of American citizen is held in the highest respect, and when pronounced in a foreign land it causes the hearts of our countrymen to swell with honest pride. Surely, when we reach the brink of the yawning abyss, we shall recoil with horror from the last fatal plunge.

By such a dread catastrophe, the hopes of the friends of freedom throughout the world would be destroyed, and a long night of leaden despotism would enshroud the nations. Our example for more than eighty years would not only be lost, but it would be quoted as conclusive proof that man is unfit for self-government.

It is not every wrong—nay, it is not every grievous wrong—which can justify a resort to such a fearful alternative. This ought to be the last desperate remedy of a despairing people, after every other constitutional means of conciliation had been exhausted. We should reflect that, under this free Government, there is an incessant ebb and flow in public opinion. The slavery question, like everything human, will have its day. I firmly believe that it has reached and passed the culminating point. But if, in the midst of the existing excitement, the Union shall perish, the evil may then become irreparable.

Congress can contribute much to avert it, by proposing and recommending to the legislatures of the several States the remedy for existing evils which the Constitution has itself provided for its own preservation. This has been tried at different critical periods of our history, and always with eminent success. It is to be found in the fifth article, providing for its own amendment. Under this article, amendments have been proposed by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and have been “ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States,” and have consequently become parts of the Constitution. To this process the country is indebted for the clause prohibiting Congress from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or of the right of petition. To this we are, also, indebted for the Bill of Rights, which secures the people against any abuse of power by the Federal Government. Such were the apprehensions justly entertained by the friends of State rights at that period as to have rendered it extremely doubtful whether the Constitution could have long survived without those amendments.

Again, the Constitution was amended by the same process, after the election of President Jefferson by the House of Representatives, in February, 1803. This amendment was rendered necessary to prevent a recurrence of the dangers which had seriously threatened the existence of the Government during the pendency of that election. The article for its own amendment was intended to secure the amicable adjustment of conflicting constitutional questions like the present, which might arise between the governments of the States and that of the United States. This appears from contemporaneous history. In this connection, I shall merely call attention to a few sentences in Mr. Madison’s justly celebrated report, in 1799, to the legislature of Virginia. In this, he ably and conclusively defended the resolutions of the preceding legislature, against the strictures of several other State legislatures. These were mainly founded upon the protest of the Virginia legislature against the “alien and sedition acts,” as “palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution.” In pointing out the peaceful and constitutional remedies—and he referred to none other—to which the States were authorized to resort on such occasions, he concludes by saying, “that the legislatures of the States might have made a direct representation to Congress, with a view to obtain a rescinding of the two offensive acts, or they might have represented to their respective Senators in Congress, their wish that two-thirds thereof would propose an explanatory amendment to the Constitution, or two-thirds of themselves, if such had been their option, might by an application to Congress, have obtained a convention for the same object.” This is the very course which I earnestly recommend, in order to obtain an “explanatory amendment” of the Constitution on the subject of slavery. This might originate with Congress or the State legislatures, as may be deemed most advisable to attain the object.

The explanatory amendment might be confined to the final settlement of the true construction of the Constitution on three special points:

1. An express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the States where it now exists or may hereafter exist.

2. The duty of protecting this right in all the common Territories throughout their Territorial existence, and until they shall be admitted as States into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe.

3. A like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave, who has escaped from one State to another, restored and “delivered up” to him, and of the validity of the fugitive slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a declaration that all State laws impairing or defeating this right, are violations of the Constitution, and are consequently null and void. It may be objected that this construction of the Constitution has already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States, and what more ought to be required? The answer is, that a very large proportion of the people of the United States still contest the correctness of this decision, and never will cease from agitation, and admit its binding force, until clearly established by the people of the several States in their sovereign character. Such an explanatory amendment would, it is believed, forever terminate the existing dissensions, and restore peace and harmony among the States.

It ought not to be doubted that such an appeal to the arbitrament established by the Constitution itself would be received with favor by all the States of the Confederacy. In any event, it ought to be tried in a spirit of conciliation before any of these States shall separate themselves from the Union.

When I entered upon the duties of the Presidential office, the aspect neither of our foreign nor domestic affairs was at all satisfactory. We were involved in dangerous complications with several nations, and two of our Territories were in a state of revolution against the Government. A restoration of the African slave trade had numerous and powerful advocates. Unlawful military expeditions were countenanced by many of our citizens, and were suffered, in defiance of the efforts of the Government, to escape from our shores for the purpose of making war upon the unoffending people of neighboring republics with whom we were at peace. In addition to these and other difficulties, we experienced a revulsion in monetary affairs, soon after my advent to power, of unexampled severity, and of ruinous consequences to all the great interests of the country. When we take a retrospect of what was then our condition, and contrast this with its material prosperity at the time of the late Presidential election, we have abundant reason to return our grateful thanks to that merciful Providence which has never forsaken us as a nation in all our past trials.

With respect to the supposed right of secession as a deduction from the nature of the Union, as established by the Constitution—a theory on which the secessionists from the first desired the whole issue to be based, with all its resulting consequences—I shall close this chapter with the remark that, after a long familiarity with our constitutional literature, I know of no document which, within the same compass, states so clearly and accurately what I regard as the true theory of our Constitution, as this message of President Buchanan. Had I the power to change it, I would not alter a word. The President, after stating a case which might justify revolution under this as under all other governments, after all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress had been exhausted, proceeded to discuss the supposed constitutional right of secession, with the power of a statesman and the precision of a jurist.[^[78]]

Among all the reproaches that have been cast upon President Buchanan, none has been more persistently repeated than that which has imputed to him a “temporizing policy;” and the doctrine on which he denied that the Federal Government could make aggressive war upon a State for the purpose of preventing her from seceding from the Union, has been represented as the strongest proof of his want of the vigor necessary for the emergency. Little are the objectors aware that the policy of Mr. Lincoln’s administration, until after the attack on Fort Sumter, was identical with that of Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Lincoln’s policy was largely shaped by his Secretary of State, Mr. Seward; and there can be no better authority than Mr. Seward’s for proof of that policy.[^[79]]

CHAPTER XVII.
1860—December.

RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE IN THE CABINET, IN CONGRESS, AND IN THE COUNTRY—THE FIRM ATTITUDE AND WISE POLICY OF MR. BUCHANAN.

Reference has already been made to what took place when this annual message was read to the cabinet, before it was transmitted to Congress. Recent revelations made by Judge Black in the public prints disclose the nature of an objection made by him to the expression “to coerce a State into submission, which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the Confederacy.” His criticism did not apply to the legal proposition of the message, in which he entirely concurred; but his apprehension was that the expression would be read superficially, and be misunderstood. The President did not think so, nor did the other members of the cabinet. It is only necessary for me to repeat that the message clearly and unequivocally pointed out that the coercive power of the Federal Government was necessarily confined and must be applied to the execution upon individuals of the laws of the United States; and that it explicitly stated, with proper references to the proceedings of the framers of the Constitution, that a power to coerce a State by force of arms was expressly rejected by them, since it would, if applied, be equivalent to a declaration of war against the State by the Government of the Union. But the apprehension felt by the learned Attorney General was caused, I presume, by his anxiety concerning the reception of the message in the South and among the secessionists. It was their misconstruction that he feared. He could not well have supposed that Northern statesmen, grounded at least in the fundamental principles of the Constitution usually accepted at the North, and with the clear distinction put before them in the message between coercing a State and coercing individuals, would impute to the President an intention to renounce the right to use force in the execution of the laws and the protection of the public property of the Union. In point of fact, as the sequel will show, nearly the whole Republican party, after the message became public, without any rational excuse for such a misconstruction, saw fit to treat the message as a denial by the President of any power to enforce the laws against the citizens of a State after secession, and even after actual rebellion. If this was what the Attorney General anticipated, it would seem that the President, having taken great care to make clear the distinction, was not bound to suppose that a merely partisan spirit of misrepresentation would be applied to such a document as this message, to the extent of utterly perverting its meaning. On the other hand, the disunionists did not misunderstand or misconstrue the message. They saw clearly that it not only denounced secession, but that while it enunciated the doctrine that the Federal Government could not apply force to prevent a State from adopting an ordinance of secession, it could and must use force, if need be, to execute its laws, notwithstanding the secession. This was a doctrine opposed toto cælo, and in all its branches, to the secessionist’s theory of the Constitution. It met them upon their own ground, for it utterly denied that a State ordinance of secession could absolve its people from obeying the laws of the United States. Accordingly they denounced the message; and upon their theory of the Constitution they denounced it rightly. All friendly intercourse between the leading disunionists in Congress and the President ceased after the message became public; and from the multitude of private letters which reached the President from the South, now lying before me, it is apparent that throughout that section he was regarded, alike by the enemies and the friends of the Union, as having made the issue on which the secessionists desired to have the whole controversy turn. They were just as ready to accept the issue of a constitutional power in the Federal Government to enforce its laws after secession, as they were to accept the issue of coercing a State to remain in the Union.

As soon as the message was published, “thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallambrosa,” private letters of approbation were showered upon the President from all quarters of the North. The most diverse reasons for praising his policy marked this heterogeneous correspondence. The Democrat, who was afraid to have a civil war begin under a Democratic administration, predicted that it would destroy his party forever. The pious “abolitionist,” who saw the finger of God in everything, and who prayed daily for a separation of the free and the slave States, so that the reproach of tolerating slavery might no longer rest upon the Constitution of his country, hailed the annunciation of a policy which he thought destined, in the course of Providence, to work out the result which he longed to see. The Quaker, who abhorred war and bloodshed, hoped that “thee” would preserve peace at any price. The man of business, looking to his material interests and to the commercial advantages of the Union, deprecated a civil war which would disturb the natural current of affairs, and would end where no man could foresee. Thoughtful citizens, who comprehended more within their range of reflection than was common with their neighbors, recognized the wisdom and the necessity of the conciliatory steps which the President had recommended. The speculative jurist, meditating in his closet upon what he supposed might be a panacea for this disordered condition of the body politic, sent his recommendations. Nearly all of these classes, in their various ways of looking at such a crisis, were on the whole gratified that the President had afforded to the country a breathing spell, had solemnly called upon Congress to reflect, and had at the same time called upon it to act in the manner best adapted to meet the emergency. Very few desired aggressive measures to be taken, which would put the Federal Government in the attitude of making war upon a State.

These numerous private communications, coming from the people, were addressed to one of the most self-reliant of men, who had surveyed the whole field that was before him, who had firmly settled the general policy which it was his duty to follow, and who was as calm and collected in this great trial as he had ever been in any situation of his life, while he was neither insensible to or careless of its weighty responsibilities. It has been one of the fashionable errors concerning Mr. Buchanan to impute to him, from age or some other cause, a lack of firmness and self-possession in this perilous emergency. He has been spoken of as having lost his faculties, or as being bewildered by the perplexities of his situation. There never was a more unfounded imputation. It is an imputation to which no one who was closely in contact with him gave at the time any countenance whatever. It will appear, as I go on, that, of the members of his cabinet who were most concerned in all his official acts during the last months of his administration, not one formed at that time the opinion that he was wanting in firmness, decision, or energy, however any of them may have differed with him from time to time in regard to particular steps or measures. The President who sent to Congress the message on which I commented in the last preceding chapter, was certainly equal to the occasion. How he felt, and what he said of his situation, the reader will be interested to learn by the following extract from a confidential letter which he wrote to a gentleman in New York on the 20th of December:

I have never enjoyed better health or a more tranquil spirit than during the past year. All our troubles have not cost me an hour’s sleep or a single meal, though I trust I have a just sense of my high responsibility. I weigh well and prayerfully what course I ought to adopt, and adhere to it steadily, leaving the result to Providence. This is my nature, and I deserve neither praise nor blame for it. Every person who served with me in the Senate in high party times would avouch the truth of this statement.

Mr. Buchanan may have made mistakes. If I had discovered them I should not have hesitated to point them out. But that his policy was sound; that it was the only policy that could have had any chance of preserving the Union without a civil war; that his motive was eminently patriotic; that with a serene and superb patience he incurred the risk of obloquy and misrepresentation for the sake of his country; all this should be the judgment of any impartial mind. Nay, more: I do not hesitate to say that no man can justly accuse him of vacillation, weakness, or timidity. A statesman who has a great task to perform in a national peril, does not always pursue a rigid line of action, without regard to the varying course of events. He determines, first of all, on the grand object which he wishes to accomplish. If he keeps that object constantly in view, he must necessarily vary his steps as the changing aspects of public affairs require; and one supreme test of his capacity and wisdom as a statesman is to be found in his ability to adapt himself to new situations, and at the same time not to lose sight of the capital object of all his exertions. As a diplomatist, in the highest sense of that term, Mr. Buchanan had few equals in his time, nor have there been many men in our history who were in this respect his superiors. As his course in the inception and progress of the secession movement is developed, it will be seen that the explanation of many of his acts, which have been the most misunderstood or misrepresented, is to be found in the necessity for palliating the danger of an armed collision, at moments when such a collision would have destroyed all hope of a peaceful solution of the sectional difficulties. That at such moments he sacrificed any principle to the management of the immediate question in hand, or imperilled any national interest, or that he ever departed in any essential respect from the great object of his policy, will not be, or ought not to be, the judgment of those who may follow this narrative to the end.

The dis-Unionists of South Carolina, aided by the leading secessionists in Congress from other States of the South, as will be seen hereafter, tried hard to entrap him. They never once succeeded. They meant to draw from him an admission in some form that a State could constitutionally secede from the Union; for they were sorely provoked that he had denied the right of secession in his message, and when South Carolina had actually adopted her ordinance, it became with them a capital point to extort from him a surrender of the forts in Charleston harbor, which would imply that the ordinance had transferred them to the State. They anticipated that if they could once drive him from the position of his message, the Democratic party of the North, looking upon him as its representative, would never encourage or support a war for the recovery of those possessions. They knew that he deprecated and was seeking to avoid a war; and they believed that if he could be compelled to admit that South Carolina was out of the Union, other States would quickly join her in the same movement. But the truth is, that, with all their astuteness, the secessionists were individually and collectively no match for a man who had in former days contended with the most crafty politicians of Russia, who had encountered and encountered successfully the ablest among the British statesmen of that age, and who knew more of public law and of our constitutional jurisprudence than all the dis-Unionist leaders in the South. In addition to all the resources which Mr. Buchanan had in his own person and his experience as a statesman, he had a very important resource in his Attorney General, and in some of the other gentlemen who joined his cabinet after it became necessary to reconstruct it; and if, in the pressure that was made upon him by the secessionists, and in the hurry of encountering their devices, there was any danger that his determinations might be unskillfully shaped, it was abundantly guarded against by the suggestions of his advisers.

By the public press of the North, the message was of course received according to party affinities. There were many leading articles which regarded it as sound and wise; many which treated it as a kind of “treasonable” giving away of the Union. The general tone, however, of the more moderate journals was hopeful, and the papers of this class based their hopes of a peaceful issue out of all the difficulties upon the President’s recommendations. Still, the utterances of the press did not show that even then the public mind of the North fully grasped the extreme gravity of the situation; and if these utterances of the press are to be taken as the best proof of the state of the public mind in the North, without the aid of one’s personal recollections and observation, it might be inferred that the message had not produced the impression that it ought. But the great mass of private letters which reached Mr. Buchanan are a better index of what was passing in men’s minds; and they show unmistakably that if the Congress had vigorously acted as he advised, the public mind of the North was preparing to sanction and to welcome the course which he recommended, however diverse were the reasons or the motives which prevailed with the individual writers.[^[80]]

The letters which reached the President from the South, after the promulgation of his message, were almost as numerous as those which came from the North, but they did not exhibit such a variety in the motives and feelings that animated the writers. They were from men who represented two principal classes of persons, the Unionists and the dis-Unionists. The latter wrote in a bold, defiant and turbulent spirit. They made it quite clear that they cared nothing for the distinction between coercing a State and coercing individuals, and that they held a State ordinance of secession to be perfectly efficacious to absolve its people from obeying the laws of the United States. They declared that any movement of troops or munitions of war into the Southern States would instantly be accepted as proof of a design to prevent peaceable secession, would promote bloodshed and inaugurate civil war. Many of these persons were terribly in earnest; but if any of them wrote in the expectation that they could operate upon the President’s fears, and thus prevent him from carrying out his announced purpose to execute the laws and preserve the public property of the Union, they “reckoned without their host.” While he made it apparent to Congress that at that time he was without the necessary executive powers to enforce the collection of the revenue in South Carolina, in case she should secede, he did not fail to call for the appropriate powers and means. And in regard to the application of all the means that he had for protecting the public property, it will be seen hereafter that he omitted no step that could have been taken with safety, and that when the day for the inauguration of his successor arrived, Major Anderson not only held Fort Sumter, but had held it down to that time in perfect confidence that he could maintain his position.

The letters from Union men in the South evinced that there was in all the cotton States, excepting in South Carolina, a strong body of men who were not disposed to coöperate in a dismemberment of the Union, and in the destruction of the Government under which they and their fathers had always lived and prospered. They therefore, from their positions, were able to tell Mr. Buchanan how important it was that the Federal Government should not become the aggressor; how vital it was that it should act on the defensive; and how necessary it was that the North, acting through Congress, should adopt the conciliatory measures which he had recommended; measures that would, in regard to the Territories, give the South nothing but a barren abstraction, and that would, in regard to the extradition of fugitives, give the South only what it had a perfect right to demand. Although all this was entirely apparent to the President without the information which these letters gave him, these expressions of the feelings, opinions and hopes of the Unionists of that region were a strong confirmation of the wisdom of his policy.

The tone of the Southern press respecting the message was in general violent and inflammatory, but with many noteworthy exceptions. But as in the North, so in the South, the private letters to the President were a better index of the currents of feeling and opinion than anything that could be found in the utterances of the press.

In Congress, when the message was received, there was a singular state of parties. First, there were the Republicans, flushed with their recent political triumph in the election of Mr. Lincoln, and entirely indisposed to make any concessions that would militate, or seem to militate, against the dogmas of the “Chicago Platform.” This party was purely sectional in its composition, tendencies and purposes. Next were the representatives of the Southern States, most of whom held theoretically to the State right of secession. This party was a sectional one, also; but, as will hereafter be shown, there were a few Southern men in Congress who did not believe in the doctrine of secession, who favored no extreme demands of the South, and who acted throughout with a steady purpose to preserve the peace of the country and the integrity of the Union. Thirdly, there were the Northern Democrats, represented by such Senators as Mr. Douglas, Mr. Bigler and Mr. Bright, who could act as mediators between the extreme sectional parties of North and South. It was to such a Congress that the President addressed his message, at a moment when South Carolina was about to secede from the Union, and when the danger was that all the other cotton States would follow her example. He was convinced that an attempt of those seven States to form a confederacy, independent of the United States, could not be overcome without a long and bloody war, into which the other Southern States, commonly called from their geographical situation the border States, would sooner or later be drawn. A great army would be needed to encounter even the cotton States, and no free institutions in the world had ever survived the dangers to which such an army had exposed them. To prosecute a civil war would entail upon the Federal Government a debt which could not be calculated; and although the taxation necessary to uphold that debt might be thrown upon posterity, in part, yet the commercial, manufacturing, agricultural, mechanical and laboring classes must be at once exposed to ruinous burthens. To avert such calamities, by the employment of all the constitutional powers of his office, was his supreme desire.[^[81]] It was the great misfortune of his position, that he had to appeal to a Congress, in which there were two sectional parties breathing mutual defiance; in which a broad and patriotic statesmanship was confined to a small body of men who could not win over to their views a sufficient number from either of the sectional parties to make up a majority upon any proposition whatever.

The message was unsatisfactory to both of the sectional parties. Mr. Jefferson Davis, in the Senate the ablest and most conspicuous of the secessionist leaders, now committed the grand error of his career as a statesman in this national crisis. He denounced the message because of its earnest argument against secession, and because the President had expressed in it his purpose to collect the revenue in the port of Charleston, by means of a naval force, and to defend the public property. Mr. Davis did not need to make this issue with the President, or to make any issue with him, unless he was determined to encourage South Carolina to leave the Union, and to encourage the other cotton States to follow her. His own State had not then seceded, and whether she would do so depended very much upon his course. However strongly and sincerely he may have believed in the right of secession, the President had afforded to him and to every other Southern statesman an opportunity to forestall any necessity for a practical assertion of that right, by giving his voice and his vote for measures of conciliation that ought to have been satisfactory to every Southern constituency and every Southern representative. It was a capital mistake, for Mr. Davis and the other secessionist leaders, to separate themselves from the President, and afterwards to endeavor to extort from him an admission that South Carolina had gone out of the Union, and that the laws of the United States could not be executed within her limits, or the possession of the forts in her harbor be maintained. Mr. Calhoun would not have thus acted. He would have exerted his whole power to procure concessions fit to be offered by the North, and to be received by the South, before he would have encouraged his State to secede from the Union in advance of the decision that no such concessions would be made.

The spirit of the Republican Senators towards the message may be seen from the very unjust representation of its tenor made by Mr. Hale of New Hampshire, who said that in substance its positions were: 1. That South Carolina has just cause to secede from the Union. 2. That she has no right to secede. 3. That we have no right to prevent her. So far from saying or intimating that South Carolina had just cause to secede from the Union, the President had in the message carefully and explicitly drawn that distinction between the right of revolutionary resistance to intolerable oppression, and the supposed right of State secession from the Union on account of anticipated danger; a distinction which Madison, Jefferson, Jackson and Webster always made when dealing with the subject. That distinction was not more clearly and emphatically made by Mr. Webster in his encounters with Mr. Hayne and Mr. Calhoun, than it was made by Mr. Buchanan in this message. And if Mr. Hale had been disposed to do justice to the message, instead of employing a witticism that might be remembered by persons who would not take the pains to understand such a public document on a subject of such fearful gravity, he would have admitted what all men should then have admitted, and what afterwards became the only justifiable basis of the civil war: that to coerce a State to remain in the Union is not, but that to enforce the execution of the laws upon the individual inhabitants of the States is, a power that the Government of the United States can constitutionally exercise. There was one member of that Senate, who was no disunionist, who understood the President rightly, and who knew well what the Constitution would or would not authorize. This was Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, afterwards President of the United States.

“I do not believe,” said Mr. Johnson, “the Federal Government has the power to coerce a State, for by the eleventh amendment of the Constitution of the United States it is expressly provided that you cannot even put one of the States of this Confederacy before one of the courts of the country as a party. As a State, the Federal Government has no power to coerce it; but it is a member of the compact to which it agreed in common with the other States, and this Government has the right to pass laws, and to enforce those laws upon individuals within the limits of each State. While the one proposition is clear, the other is equally so. This Government can, by the Constitution of the country, and by the laws enacted in conformity with the Constitution, operate upon individuals, and has the right and the power, not to coerce a State, but to enforce and execute the law upon individuals within the limits of a State.”[^[82]]

It was well for the country that at this early period Mr. Buchanan had the wisdom to foresee and the firmness to enunciate the only doctrine that could save the Government of the United States from the consequences of making war upon a State, and at the same time enable it to suppress all insurrectionary resistance to its constitutional authority. It might suit the secessionists to claim that their States would become, by their ordinances of secession, independent nations, capable as such of waging war against the United States, or of having it waged upon them by the United States, if such was the pleasure of the latter. It might suit them to put the alternative of such a war against the consent of the United States to their peaceful renunciation of their connection with the Federal Government. It might suit them to confound all the distinctions between revolutionary resistance to a government because some actual oppression has been suffered from it, and the secession of States from the American Union because future oppression is to be feared. It might suit them to say that to coerce the individual inhabitants of a State to obey the laws of the United States, after the State has absolved them from that obligation by its sovereign will, is the same thing as to coerce a State to remain in the Union. But this was not a dispute about words; it was a controversy about the substantive powers of a constitutional Government; a great question of things, and of things drawing after them the most important consequences. If there was to be a war, it was a matter of supreme importance what that war was to be, in its inception. Mr. Buchanan did not mean that its character, if it must come, should be obscured. He did not mean that it should be a war waged aggressively by the United States to prevent a State from adopting an ordinance of what she might call secession. He did not mean to concede the possibility that the Federal Government could begin or carry on a war against a State, as a power which could by its own act erect itself into a nation to be conquered and subdued and destroyed, as one nation may conquer, subdue and destroy another. Knowing that such a recognition of the potency of an ordinance of secession would be fatal to the future of the whole Union, and knowing from long study of the Constitution how the laws of the United States may be enforced upon individuals notwithstanding that their State has claimed a paramount sovereignty over them, or a paramount dispensing power, he left upon the records of the country the clear line of demarcation which would have to be observed by his successor, and which would make the use of force, if force must be used, a war, not of aggression, but of defence; a war not for the conquest and obliteration of a State, but a war for the assertion of the authority of the Constitution over the individuals subject to its sway. It was only by treating secession as a nullity, and by acting upon the principle that the people of a State would be equally bound to obey the laws of the United States after secession as they had been before, that the President could furnish to Congress any principle on which force could be used. It is not remarkable that the secession leaders should have rejected his doctrine. But it is strange, passing strange, that Northern men should have misrepresented it. Yet there was not a single public man in the whole North, in all the discussion that followed this message, on the Republican side, who saw, or who, if he saw, had the candor to say, that the President had furnished to Congress a principle of action that would alone prevent secession from working the consequences which its advocates claimed for it, or that could prevent the conquest and subjugation of States as foreign nations. And now, when we look back upon the war that ensued, and when we measure the disparity of force that enabled the United States eventually to prevail over the exhausted Southern Confederacy, there are no people in the whole Union who have more cause than the secessionists themselves, to be grateful to President Buchanan for not having admitted the possibility of legitimate war upon the States that seceded; while for the people of the whole Union there remains a debt of gratitude to him, for having laid down the principle that saved them from crushing the political autonomy of those States, in a war that could have had no result but to reduce them to the condition of subjugated provinces.

CHAPTER XVIII.
1860—December.

GENERAL SCOTT AGAIN ADVISES THE PRESIDENT—MAJOR ANDERSON'S REMOVAL FROM FORT MOULTRIE TO FORT SUMTER—ARRIVAL OF COMMISSIONERS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA IN WASHINGTON—THEIR INTERVIEW AND COMMUNICATION WITH THE PRESIDENT—THE SUPPOSED PLEDGE OF THE STATUS QUO—THE “CABINET CRISIS” OF DECEMBER 29TH—REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS—THE ANONYMOUS DIARIST OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW CONFUTED.

On the 12th of December General Scott arrived in Washington from New York, where he had been ill for a long time. Since the presentation of his “views” of October 29th-30th, the President had not heard from him on the subject of the Southern forts. On the 11th of December Major Anderson, then at Fort Moultrie, and in no danger of attack or molestation by the authorities of South Carolina, had received his instructions from Major Buell, Assistant Adjutant General of the Army, who had been sent by the President expressly to Fort Moultrie, in order that Anderson might be guided in his course with reference to all probable contingencies.[^[83]] The South Carolina convention had not assembled when Anderson received his instructions. General Scott, on the 15th of December, had an interview with the President, in which he urged that three hundred men be sent to reinforce Anderson at Fort Moultrie. The President declined to give this order, for the following reasons: First, Anderson was fully instructed what to do in case he should at any time see good reason to believe that there was any purpose to dispossess him of any of the forts. Secondly, at this time, December 15th, the President believed—and the event proved the correctness of his belief—that Anderson was in no danger of attack. He and his command were then treated with marked kindness by the authorities and people of Charleston. Thirdly, the President, in his annual message, had urged upon Congress measures of conciliation by the adoption of certain amendments of the Constitution; and Mr. Crittenden’s propositions, of substantially the same character as those of the President, called the “Crittenden Compromise,” were before the Senate. Strong hopes were at this time entertained throughout the country that Congress would adopt these or some other measures to quiet the agitation in the South, so that South Carolina, in case she should “secede,” would be left alone in her course. Under all these circumstances, to have sent additional troops to Fort Moultrie would only have been, as Mr. Buchanan afterward said, “to impair the hope of compromise, to provoke collision and disappoint the country.”[^[84]]

On the same day, General Scott sent a note to the President, reminding him of General Jackson’s measures in regard to the threatened nullification of the tariff in 1833; an occasion, the circumstances of which bore little resemblance to the situation of the country in December, 1860, as I have already had reason to say in commenting on General Scott’s “views” of October 29th-30th.

In the controversy which General Scott had with Mr. Buchanan in 1862, in the National Intelligencer, the General reported the President as saying to him, on the 15th of December, 1860, among other reasons for not reinforcing Anderson at that time, that he should await the action of the South Carolina convention, in the expectation that a commission would be appointed and sent to negotiate with him (the President) and Congress, respecting the secession of the State, and the property of the United States within the borders of that State; and that if Congress should decide against the secession, he would then send a reinforcement, and would telegraph to Anderson to hold the forts against any attack. General Scott made two palpable mistakes in thus representing what the President said to him on the 15th of December, 1860.[^[85]] In the first place, as will presently appear, the President never gave any person or persons claiming to represent South Carolina to understand that he would receive a commission to negotiate with him for an admission of the right of secession, or for a surrender of the forts. In his annual message, he had most distinctly and emphatically declared that, as an executive officer, he had no power whatever to hold such a negotiation, but that it belonged to Congress to deal with the property of the United States as it should see fit; and that it was his duty to maintain the possession of the forts until Congress should authorize and direct him to surrender them. When commissioners were subsequently appointed by the State of South Carolina, they were told by the President that he could not receive them in a diplomatic character, and that he would not himself negotiate with them for a surrender of the forts. In the next place, the President could not have told General Scott that he would send a reinforcement to Anderson in a certain contingency, and would then telegraph him to hold the forts. Anderson had already received instructions to hold them, and had been directed how to act.

Mr. Buchanan has said—and it deserves to be quoted—that “it is scarcely a lack of charity to infer that General Scott knew at the time he made this recommendation (on the 15th of December), that it must be rejected. The President could not have complied with it, the position of affairs remaining unchanged, without at once reversing his entire policy, and without a degree of inconsistency amounting almost to self-stultification.” He adds:

This, the General’s second recommendation, was wholly unexpected. He had remained silent for more than six weeks from the date of his supplemental “views,” convinced, as the President inferred, that he had abandoned the idea of garrisoning all these forts with “the five companies only” within his reach. Had the President never so earnestly desired to reinforce the nine forts in question, at this time, it would have been little short of madness to undertake the task with the small force at his command. Without authority to call forth the militia, or accept the services of volunteers for the purpose, this whole force now consisted of six hundred recruits, obtained by the General since the date of his “views,” in addition to the five regular companies. Our army was still out of reach on the remote frontiers, and could not be withdrawn during midwinter in time for this military operation. Indeed, the General had never suggested such a withdrawal. He knew that had this been possible, the inhabitants on our distant frontiers would have been immediately exposed to the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indians.

While he was unwilling at this moment to send reinforcements into the harbor of Charleston, and thereby to incur the risk of provoking the secession of other States, the President did not neglect the use of any means that were in his power to prevent the secession of South Carolina. He sent the Hon. Caleb Cushing to Charleston, with a letter to Governor Pickens, in which he said:

From common notoriety I assume the fact that the State of South Carolina is now deliberating on the propriety and necessity of seceding from the Union. Whilst any hope remains that this may be prevented, or even retarded, so long as to enable the people of her sister States to have opportunity to manifest their opinion regarding the matters which may have impelled the State to take this step, it is my duty to exert all the means in my power to avoid so dread a catastrophe. I have, therefore, deemed it advisable to send to you the Hon. Caleb Cushing, to counsel and advise with you, in regard to the premises, and to communicate such information as he may possess concerning the condition of public opinion in the North touching the same. I need scarcely add, that I entertain full confidence in his integrity, ability, and prudence. He will state to you the reasons which exist to prevent, or to delay, the action of the State for the purpose which I have mentioned.

But notwithstanding the efforts of the President to induce the authorities and people of South Carolina to await the action of Congress and the development of public opinion at the North on the recommendations of his message, events were hurrying on in that State with fearful rapidity. The leading spirits in the secession movement did not desire the success of the President’s recommendations. Encouraged, not by anything that they could find in the message, or by anything that they could learn of the President’s intentions, but by what they had learned of the “views” of the General in Chief of the Federal army, and by other indications of the same kind, they determined to try secession, in the belief that the people and Government of the United States would not resort to war. They initiated and conducted their measures with a supreme and lofty disregard of all the consequences, because they believed that they could throw the onus of those consequences upon the Government of the Union. It was in vain that they were warned by the President that their doctrine of secession, pushed to its results, would oblige him to meet their claim, by virtue of a State ordinance, of dispossessing the United States of the property which belonged to the Government, with all the means at his disposal. It is one of the most singular political phenomena recorded in history, that under such a system of Government as ours, men should have believed not only that a State ordinance of secession would dissolve all the relations between the inhabitants of that State and the Government of the United States, but that it would ipso facto transfer to the State property which the State had ceded to that Government by solemn deeds of conveyance. The principle of public law on which this claim was supposed to be based, involved in its application the assumption that South Carolina, becoming by her own declaration a nation foreign to the United States, was entitled to take peaceable possession of all the property which the United States held within her limits, and to forbid the vessels of the United States from entering her waters in order to reach that property. Upon any view of the nature of the Federal Constitution, even upon the theory that it was a mere league between sovereign States, dissoluble in regard to any State at the will of its people, it would not have followed that the ordinance of dissolution would divest the title of the United States to their property. Yet it is an undeniable fact that the people and authorities of South Carolina initiated and carried out their secession, upon the claim that their interpretation of the Federal Constitution must be accepted by the whole country; that their fiat alone made them an independent nation; that it divested the United States of whatever property the Government held within their borders; and that if these claims were not submitted to, the consequence would be that South Carolina must make them good by all the power she could use. The subsequent change of attitude, by which it was proposed to negotiate and pay for the possession of the property, or the theory that the forts were built by the Federal Government for the protection of the State, should not lead any historian to overlook the demand which the authorities of the State first presented at Washington, or the manner in which it was met by President Buchanan.

On the 20th of December, the Convention of South Carolina, without a dissenting voice, adopted an ordinance of secession, which purported to dissolve the connection between the State of South Carolina and the Government of the United States. A copy of the ordinance, with the signatures of all the members, and with the great seal of the State, was formally transmitted to the President. On the 22d, three eminent citizens of the State, Robert W. Barnwell, James H. Adams and James L. Orr, were appointed to proceed to Washington, to treat with the Government of the United States concerning the new relations which the ordinance was supposed to have established between that Government and the people of South Carolina. The commissioners arrived in Washington on the 26th. On the next morning, intelligence reached them that on the night of the 25th, Major Anderson had secretly dismantled Fort Moultrie, spiked his cannon, burnt his gun-carriages, and transferred his troops to Fort Sumter, as if he were about to be attacked. This information they sent to the President.

Before proceeding with an account of what followed this occurrence, in the interview between the President and the commissioners, this movement of Major Anderson must be carefully described. It has been much praised as a bold, skillful and wise act, dictated by a purpose to make the people of South Carolina feel that the Government of the United States was not to be trifled with; and the merit of Major Anderson has been magnified by the suggestion that if he had been promptly reinforced, after the removal, he never would have been driven out of Fort Sumter and out of the harbor of Charleston. The simple truth is, that Anderson was a brave, vigilant and faithful officer, acting under instructions which had been carefully given to him, and which allowed him a considerable latitude of judgment in regard to remaining in Fort Moultrie or removing to any other of the forts within the limits of his command. He was a man of Southern birth, and all his sympathies were with the South on the questions pending between the two sections. This is avowed in a private letter written by him on the 11th of January, 1861, to a friend in Washington, a copy of which is now lying before me. But he was as true as steel to his military duty as an officer of the United States. He had lost, as he says in this letter, all sympathy with the persons then governing South Carolina, and he had now begun to distrust the purposes of the State authorities. Fort Moultrie was the weakest of all the forts in that harbor belonging to the United States. From the erection of batteries on the shore which commanded this fort, and from other indications taking place after the adoption of the secession ordinance, Anderson believed that the State authorities were about to proceed to some hostile act, and therefore thought the contingency contemplated by his instructions had arrived. He may have been mistaken in this; but neither the appearances at the time, nor the subsequent action of South Carolina, show that he was so. At all events, he acted as any prudent and faithful officer would have acted under the same circumstances; and in order to be able to defend himself better than he could in Fort Moultrie, and with no purpose of attacking the city of Charleston or of making any aggression whatever, he transferred his command to Fort Sumter. The people and authorities of South Carolina chose to consider that his occupation of this fort was an aggressive act, and that he must be ordered back again to Fort Moultrie, or be dislodged; a demand which of itself shows that the State of South Carolina, in the event that her secession should not be submitted to by the Federal Government, expected a civil war and meant to be in the best condition to meet it.

The intelligence of Anderson’s removal to Fort Sumter was received by the President with surprise and regret. He was surprised, because all his previous information led him to believe that Anderson was safe at Fort Moultrie. He regretted the removal, because of its tendency to impel the other cotton States and the border States into sympathy with South Carolina, and thus to defeat the measures by which he hoped to confine the secession to that State. But he never for an instant, then or afterwards, doubted that Anderson’s removal was authorized by his instructions; although he did not suppose that the authorities of the State would attack him, while their commissioners were on the way to Washington for the avowed purpose of negotiating. It is scarcely needful to discuss the question whether South Carolina had good reason to regard this movement of Anderson’s as an act of aggression. In such a state of affairs and of men’s feelings, it was to be expected that complaints would be made of hostile intentions, if any plausible reason could be found for them. But any indifferent person, looking back upon the events, and considering that Anderson was acting under a President who was doing everything in his power to prevent a collision of arms, must see that even if the President had specifically ordered the removal, it was nothing more than a defensive act, done in order to secure the forces of the Government in the occupation of its own forts, and that it could not have been an aggressive movement, unless it should be conceded that those forces had no right to be in Charleston harbor at all.

But there is one assertion which it is now necessary to examine, in relation to this removal, because it has been made the foundation of a charge against the personal good faith and the sound judgment of President Buchanan. It is the charge that previous to Anderson’s removal, the President had pledged himself to preserve the status quo in Charleston harbor, until commissioners to be appointed by the convention of South Carolina should arrive in Washington, and some result of a negotiation should be reached. The first and only interview between the President and the commissioners occurred on the 28th of December. What occurred should be related in the President’s own words:

It was under these circumstances that the President, on Friday, the 28th December, held his first and only interview with the commissioners from South Carolina. He determined to listen with patience to what they had to communicate, taking as little part himself in the conversation as civility would permit. On their introduction, he stated that he could recognize them only as private gentlemen and not as commissioners from a sovereign State; that it was to Congress, and to Congress alone, they must appeal. He, nevertheless, expressed his willingness to communicate to that body, as the only competent tribunal, any propositions they might have to offer. They then proceeded, evidently under much excitement, to state their grievances arising out of the removal of Major Anderson to Fort Sumter, and declared that for these they must obtain redress preliminary to entering upon the negotiation with which they had been entrusted; that it was impossible for them to make any proposition until this removal should be satisfactorily explained; and they even insisted upon the immediate withdrawal of the Major and his troops, not only from Fort Sumter, but from the harbor of Charleston, as a sine qua non to any negotiation.

In their letter to the President of the next day, they repeat their demand, saying;[^[86]] “And, in conclusion, we would urge upon you the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston. Under present circumstances they are a standing menace which renders negotiation impossible, and, as our recent experience shows, threatens to bring to a bloody issue questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment.” This demand, accompanied by an unmistakable threat of attacking Major Anderson if not yielded to, was of the most extravagant character. To comply with it, the commissioners must have known, would be impossible. Had they simply requested that Major Anderson might be restored to his former position at Fort Moultrie, upon a guarantee from the State that neither it nor the other forts or public property should be molested; this, at the moment, might have been worthy of serious consideration. But to abandon all the forts to South Carolina, on the demand of commissioners claiming to represent her as an independent State, would have been a recognition, on the part of the Executive, of her right to secede from the Union. This was not to be thought of for a moment.

The President replied to the letter of the commissioners on Monday, 31st December. In the meantime information had reached him that the State authorities, without waiting to hear from Washington, had, on the day after Major Anderson’s removal, seized Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, the custom house, and post office, and over them all had raised the Palmetto flag; and, moreover, that every officer of the customs, collector, naval officer, surveyor, appraisers, together with the postmaster, had resigned their appointments; and that on Sunday, the 30th December, they had captured from Major Humphreys, the officer in charge, the arsenal of the United States, containing public property estimated to be worth half a million of dollars. The Government was thus expelled from all its property except Fort Sumter, and no Federal officers, whether civil or military, remained in the city or harbor of Charleston. The secession leaders in Congress attempted to justify these violent proceedings of South Carolina as acts of self-defence, on the assumption that Major Anderson had already commenced hostilities. It is certain that their tone instantly changed after his removal; and they urged its secrecy, the hour of the night when it was made, the destruction of his gun-carriages, and other attendant incidents, to inflame the passions of their followers. It was under these circumstances that the President was called upon to reply to the letter of the South Carolina commissioners, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the troops of the United States from the harbor of Charleston. In this reply, he peremptorily rejected the demand in firm but courteous terms, and declared his purpose to defend Fort Sumter by all the means in his power against hostile attacks, from whatever quarter they might proceed. (Vide his letter of the 31st December, 1860, Ex. Doc. No. 26, H. R., 36th Congress, 2d Session, accompanying President’s message of 8th January, 1861.) To this the commissioners sent their answer, dated on the 2d January, 1861. This was so violent, unfounded, and disrespectful, and so regardless of what is due to any individual whom the people have honored with the office of President, that the reading of it in the cabinet excited indignation among all the members. With their unanimous approbation it was immediately, on the day of its date, returned to the commissioners with the following indorsement; “This paper, just presented to the President, is of such a character, that he declines to receive it.” Surely no negotiation was ever conducted in such a manner, unless, indeed, it had been the predetermined purpose of the negotiators to produce an open and immediate rupture.

In the intended reply of the commissioners, dated January 2, 1861, which the President returned to them, it was asserted in a variety of offensive forms that the removal of Major Anderson to Fort Sumter was a violation of a pledge which the President had previously given not to send reinforcements to the forts in Charleston harbor, and not to change their relative military status. The same thing had been asserted in their letter to the President of December 28th, and it was emphatically and distinctly denied in his answer of the 31st. Is it true, then, as a matter of fact, that such a pledge had ever been given?

1. By his annual message of December 3d, the President stood pledged to the country to exercise all his constitutional powers to maintain possession of the public property, in case of the secession of any State or States. 2. There is no possible channel through which the President could have given the supposed pledge of the status quo, excepting at an interview which took place between him and the South Carolina members of Congress on the 10th of December. If the President then gave such a pledge, it follows that at the end of a week from the date of his annual message he tied his own hands, in advance of the secession of that State, in a manner utterly inconsistent with the purpose declared in his message. 3. The circumstances attending Major Anderson’s removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and the manner in which the President received and acted upon the information after it reached him and down through every succeeding day of his administration, repel the idea that before the removal he had said or done anything to warrant the authorities of South Carolina in assuming that he was bound to order Anderson back to Fort Moultrie, or not to reinforce him at Fort Sumter. Anderson received his instructions on the 11th of December, through Assistant Adjutant General Buell, to whom they were given verbally by the Secretary of War, and by whom they were reduced to writing, at Fort Moultrie, after he (Buell) arrived there. When reduced to writing, they became the President’s orders, by which Anderson was to be guided. The orders were given with reference to the following contingency: The President believed that, under existing circumstances, the State of South Carolina would not attack any of the forts in Charleston harbor, whilst he allowed their status quo to remain. But in this he might be mistaken. In order to be prepared for what might possibly happen after the State should have “seceded,” the Secretary of the Navy had stationed the war steamer Brooklyn, in complete readiness for sea, in Hampton Roads, to take on board for Charleston three hundred disciplined troops, with provisions and munitions of war, from the neighboring garrison of Fortress Monroe. In this attitude of the secret preparations of the Government, Anderson’s instructions were given to him, in the manner above described, and when they had been reduced to writing and delivered to him by Buell, they read textually as follows:

You are aware of the great anxiety of the Secretary of War, that a collision of the troops with the people of the State shall be avoided, and of his studied determination to pursue a course with reference to the military force and forts in this harbor, which shall guard against such a collision. He has, therefore, carefully abstained from increasing the force at this point, or taking any measures which might add to the present excited state of the public mind, or which would throw any doubt on the confidence he feels that South Carolina will not attempt by violence to obtain possession of the public works, or interfere with their occupancy. But as the counsel and acts of rash and impulsive persons may possibly disappoint these expectations of the Government, he deems it proper that you shall be prepared with instructions to meet so unhappy a contingency. He has, therefore, directed me verbally to give you such instructions. You are carefully to avoid every act which would needlessly tend to provoke aggression, and for that reason you are not, without evident and imminent necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into the assumption of a hostile attitude, but you are to hold possession of the forts in this harbor, and if attacked you are to defend yourself to the last extremity. The smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, but an attack on or an attempt to take possession of either one of them will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also authorized to take similar defensive steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act.

The President, when the text of the instructions reached him, directed the Secretary of War to modify them in one particular. Instead of requiring Anderson to defend himself to the last extremity—which was not demanded by any principle of honor or any military rule—he was required to defend himself until no reasonable hope should remain of saving the fort in which he might happen to be. This modification was approved by General Scott.

The instructions, therefore, under which Anderson acted, authorized him to remove his force to any other of the three forts whenever either of them should be attacked, or an attempt should be made to take possession of it, or whenever he might have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act. In all this, the Government was acting on the defensive, and was empowering its officer to put his force into either of its forts where, in his judgment, his power of resistance would be most increased. To suppose, therefore, that after these instructions had gone to Anderson, the President made an agreement with certain members of Congress from South Carolina, that the status quo in Charleston harbor, in respect to the three forts, should not be changed, is to suppose something in the highest degree incredible.

4th. The communication between the President and the South Carolina members of Congress was both in writing and in two personal interviews. The written communication remains. Of what took place at the last interview there is an account by Mr. Buchanan himself, founded on memoranda which he made immediately after these gentlemen had left his presence. The first personal interview took place on the 8th of December. The conversation related to the best means of avoiding a hostile collision between the Federal Government and the State of South Carolina. The President desired that the verbal communication should be put in writing, and brought to him in that form. Accordingly on the 10th of December, the same gentlemen brought to him the following letter, signed by five members of Congress from South Carolina, and dated on the previous day:

To His Excellency James Buchanan,

President of the United States:

In compliance with our statement to you yesterday, we now express to you our strong convictions that neither the constituted authorities nor any body of the people of the State of South Carolina will either attack or molest the United States forts in the harbor of Charleston previously to the action of the convention, and we hope and believe, not until an offer has been made through an accredited representative to negotiate for an amicable arrangement of all matters between the State and the Federal Government, provided that no reinforcements shall be sent into those forts, and their relative military status remain as at present.

John McQueen,

Wm. Porcher Miles,

M. L. Bonham,

W. W. Boyce,

Lawrence M. Keitt.

Washington, December 9, 1860.

The following memorandum is indorsed upon the original letter, in the handwriting of the President:

Monday morning, 10th December, 1860, the within paper was presented to me by Messrs. McQueen, Miles and Bonham. I objected to the word “provided,” as this might be construed into an agreement on my part which I never would make. They said nothing was further from their intention. They did not so understand it, and I should not so consider it. Afterwards, Messrs. McQueen and Bonham called, in behalf of the delegation, and gave me the most positive assurance that the forts and public property would not be molested until after commissioners had been appointed to treat with the Federal Government in relation to the public property, and until the decision was known. I informed them that what would be done was a question for Congress and not for the Executive. That if they [the forts] were assailed, this would put them completely in the wrong, and making them the authors of the civil war. They gave the same assurances to Messrs. Floyd, Thompson and others.

Mr. Buchanan’s subsequent account of the interview at which this letter was delivered to him in person, reads as follows:

Both in this and in their previous conversation, they declared that in making this statement, they were acting solely on their own responsibility, and expressly disclaimed any authority to bind their State. They, nevertheless, expressed the confident belief that they would be sustained both by the State authorities and by the convention, after it should assemble. Although the President considered this declaration as nothing more than the act of five highly respectable members of the House from South Carolina, yet he welcomed it as a happy omen, that by means of their influence collision might be prevented, and time afforded to all parties for reflection and for a peaceable adjustment. From abundant caution, however, he objected to the word “provided” in their statement, lest, if he should accept it without remark, this might possibly be construed into an agreement on his part not to reinforce the forts. Such an agreement, he informed them, he would never make. It would be impossible for him, from the nature of his official responsibility, thus to tie his own hands and restrain his own freedom of action. Still, they might have observed from his message, that he had no present design, under existing circumstances, to change the condition of the forts at Charleston. He must, notwithstanding, be left entirely free to exercise his own discretion, according to exigencies as they might arise. They replied that nothing was further from their intention than such a construction of this word; they did not so understand it, and he should not so consider it.[^[87]]

No one, therefore, I presume, will now question that I am fully justified in asserting, as I do, that Mr. Buchanan gave no pledge, express or implied, formal or informal, that no reinforcements should be sent into Charleston harbor, or that the military status, as it existed at the time of this interview, should remain unchanged, or that he in any way fettered himself on the subject.[^[88]] To have done so in advance of the action of the South Carolina convention, or at any other time, would have been an act of inconsistency and folly quite beyond anything that the worst enemy of the President could have ever desired to impute to him.

But the South Carolina commissioners having asserted in their letter of December 28th, that the removal of Major Anderson from Moultrie to Sumter was a violation of a pledge that had been given by the President, it became important that the denial should instantly follow the assertion. The President, relying not only on his recollection, but on his written memoranda of his conversation with the South Carolina members of Congress, which completely refuted the assertion, did not, in the first draft of an answer to the commissioners, which he prepared with his own hand, repel the assertion as flatly and explicitly as he might have done. He evidently did not at once see that unless he expressly and pointedly denied the assertion, he might be construed as giving an implied assent to it. He was considering how he could best carry on this conference with persons whom he could not receive in the official character in which they came, and with whom he could only deal as distinguished citizens of South Carolina; and his first attention was directed to the means of convincing them that the people of South Carolina could have no excuse for breaking the peace, because it was not his purpose to reinforce Major Anderson unless the authorities of the State should make it absolutely necessary to do so. But to three members of his cabinet, Judge Black, Mr. Holt, and Mr. Stanton, the omission of the President to give a pointed and explicit denial to the assertion of a pledge not to change the military status, appeared a fatal defect in the paper which the President had drawn up. They were also apprehensive that the first and the concluding paragraph of his proposed answer would be regarded as acknowledging the right of South Carolina to be represented near the Government of the United States by diplomatic officers, as if she were a foreign nation. As the draft of an answer which the President had prepared is not in existence, and as the paper of objections presented by Judge Black to the President did not quote the paragraphs objected to, although that paper has been preserved, it is impossible to judge how far the criticism was right, or was called for. Certain it is that at the first and only interview which the President had with those commissioners, he told them in the plainest terms that he could only recognize them as private gentlemen, and not as commissioners of an independent State. He also told them that as to any surrender to South Carolina of the forts, within her limits, or any propositions concerning a sale of them, he, as President, had no authority, and that the only tribunal to which they could apply was Congress. I am inclined to believe that it was the repetition of this suggestion of an appeal to Congress, which caused the three members of the cabinet to fear that the paragraphs to which they objected might be considered as implicitly yielding to the commissioners the point of their diplomatic character. But it is not necessary to speculate about this, because the President’s draft of an answer is no longer accessible, and because it is evident from all that occurred that the President, in drawing up that form of his answer, meant to hold open a door to the commissioners which it would be perfectly proper for him to allow them to enter, if they chose. He meant to give them an opportunity to stipulate that if Major Anderson were restored to his former position, their State would not molest either Fort Moultrie or any of the other forts or property of the United States. Instead of this, their demand from first to last was the withdrawal of all the troops of the United States from the harbor of Charleston, and an abandonment of all the forts to South Carolina; which, if acceded to by the Executive, would have been a recognition by him of her right to secede from the Union. “This,” says Mr. Buchanan, “was not to be thought of for a moment;” and I know of no evidence that he thought of it or contemplated it, when he was writing his first draft of an answer to the South Carolina gentlemen. On the contrary, he steadily resisted it to the end of the conference, and ever afterward.

Another point on which the three members of the cabinet differed from the President was in regard to having any negotiation at all with these gentlemen. It would seem from the paper of objections presented to the President by Judge Black, that the President was at first disposed, in the answer which he had prepared, to express his regret that the commissioners were unwilling to proceed further with the negotiation, after they had learned that he would not receive them as diplomatic agents and would not comply with their extreme demands. Here, then, was a ground for a real, but temporary, difference of opinion between the President and three members of his cabinet. On the one side, the President, holding these South Carolina gentlemen firmly in the attitude of private citizens of great weight and influence in their State, but denying to them any diplomatic character which he could recognize, and making them to clearly understand that the Executive would not withdraw the troops or surrender the forts, might well and wisely have considered that if he could draw from them any proposition which it would be fit for him to present to Congress, that body would have to express an authoritative opinion on the asserted right of secession. The great object of preserving the peace of the country, and of gaining time for angry passions to subside, might thus be gained. On the other hand, Judge Black and his two colleagues, considering, as the President considered, that these South Carolina citizens could not be recognized as commissioners of a foreign State, held that there could legally be no negotiation with them, whether they were willing or not. Reduced to the ultimate difference, the question was whether there should be no further conference at all, because it could have no legal force, or whether there might still be useful further communication with them as private citizens, whose propositions, if they chose to make any in that capacity, the President could submit to Congress for such action as that body might think proper.

There was still another objection made to the President’s draft of an answer, which can be better appreciated, because the words which he proposed to use were quoted in Judge Black’s paper of objections. These were the words: “Coercing a State by force of arms to remain in the Confederacy—a power which I do not believe the Constitution has conferred upon Congress.” This was the same criticism which Judge Black had made upon the message of December 3d, in which none of his colleagues had agreed with him. He now renewed the objection, representing to the President that the words were too vague and might have the effect (which he was sure the President did not intend) to mislead the commissioners concerning his sentiments. Judge Black’s criticism was that to coerce the inhabitants of a State to obey the laws of the United States, a power which the President had always asserted, and meant still to assert, was in one sense to coerce the State to remain in the Union.

Another thing which Judge Black and his two colleagues deprecated was that the President’s answer should contain the most remote implication that Major Anderson acted without authority in removing his force to Fort Sumter. But what there was in the President’s draft of an answer to give rise to such an implication does not appear.

I should not have adverted to these objections to the President’s proposed answer to the South Carolina commissioners, if Judge Black’s paper of objections to it had not been given to the world; nor should I have deemed it necessary to consider or describe anything but the official answer that was actually sent. I hold that a supreme ruler, who acts with constitutional advisers, is entitled to be judged in history, not by what he may have written but did not use, nor by the greater or less necessity for a different paper, nor by the advice or the assistance which he received; but that he should be judged by his official act. But as this difference between President Buchanan and three members of his cabinet in regard to this particular paper, led to what has been called a “cabinet crisis,” and as the objections submitted to him have been published, it is my duty to meet the whole occurrence squarely and directly.

It might be an interesting inquiry, how far a “cabinet crisis” had become necessary. But of this, the gentlemen who composed the cabinet were entitled to judge, because their personal honor and patriotism were involved in the question of their remaining in the cabinet, if they believed that the President was about to change his policy. They appear to have at first supposed that the President, after South Carolina had adopted an ordinance of secession, was about to make such a change in his policy as would virtually reverse his position, and would finally lead to an admission of the right of secession, a result which would inevitably destroy him and his administration. In this, it is certain that they were mistaken. The President had not contemplated any such change in his position. I am justified in asserting this strongly.

Only four days before this cabinet crisis culminated, the President wrote a private letter to an editor in Washington whose paper was supposed to be his organ, strongly rebuking him for an editorial article favoring secession, and informing him that he (the President) must take steps to make known in some authentic way that the paper was not an organ of his administration.

Further than this, in every interview which the President had held before the 29th December, with any persons claiming to represent the people of South Carolina, he had uniformly and firmly declared that on the vital point of withdrawing the troops and surrendering the forts, he should make no concession whatever. But between the 17th and the 21st of December, an occurrence took place, which has a most important bearing upon the question whether the President had, before the 29th of December, determined to make any change in his attitude towards the people and authorities of South Carolina.

It will be remembered that the South Carolina ordinance of secession was adopted on the 20th of December. Before that time, however, the Governor of South Carolina, Mr. Pickens, saw fit to send a special messenger to Washington, with a letter from himself to the President, written at Columbia on the 17th of December, demanding that Fort Sumter be delivered into his (the Governor's) hands. This letter was written eight days before Major Anderson’s removal to Sumter.[^[89]] The following memorandum in the President’s handwriting describes what took place when the Governor’s messenger arrived in Washington:

On Thursday morning, December 20th, 1860, Hamilton, late marshal of South Carolina, sent especially for this purpose, presented me a letter from Governor Pickens, in the presence of Mr. Trescot, dated at Columbia, South Carolina, 17th December (Monday). He was to wait until this day (Friday afternoon) for my answer. The character of the letter will appear from the answer to it, which I had prepared. Thursday night, between nine and ten o'clock, Mr. Trescot called upon me. He said that he had seen Messrs. Bonham and McQueen of the South Carolina delegation; that they all agreed that this letter of Governor Pickens was in violation of the pledge which had been given by themselves not to make an assault upon the forts, but leave them in status quo until the result of an application of commissioners to be appointed by the State was known; that Pickens, at Columbia, could not have known of the arrangements. They, to wit, Bonham, McQueen, and Trescot, had telegraphed to Pickens for authority to withdraw his letter.

Friday morning, 10 o'clock, 21st December.—Mr. Trescot called upon me with a telegram, of which the following is a copy from that which he delivered to me:

December 21st, 1860.—You are authorized and requested to withdraw my letter sent by Doctor Hamilton immediately.

F. W. P.

Mr. Trescot read to me from the same telegram, that Governor Pickens had seen Mr. Cushing. The letter was accordingly withdrawn.

The following is the draft of the answer to Governor Pickens which the President was writing with his own hand when he was notified that the Governor’s letter was withdrawn. Of course the answer was not concluded or sent; but it shows with the utmost clearness that the President’s position on the subject of secession was taken, and was not to be changed by any menace of “consequences,” coming from those who were disposed to be, as they must be, the aggressors, if any attempt should be made to disturb the Federal Government in the possession of its forts.

Washington, December 20, 1860.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 17th inst., by Mr. Hamilton. From it I deeply regret to observe that you seem entirely to have misapprehended my position, which I supposed had been clearly stated in my message. I have incurred, and shall incur, any reasonable risk within the clearly prescribed line of my executive duties to prevent a collision between the army and navy of the United States and the citizens of South Carolina in defence of the forts within the harbor of Charleston. Hence I have declined for the present to reinforce these forts, relying upon the honor of South Carolinians that they will not be assaulted whilst they remain in their present condition; but that commissioners will be sent by the convention to treat with Congress on the subject. I say with Congress because, as I state in my message, “Apart from the execution of the laws, so far as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to change the relations heretofore existing between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolution of the confederacy among our thirty-three sovereign States. It bears no resemblance to the recognition of a foreign de facto government, involving no such responsibility. Any attempt to do this would, on my part, be a naked act of usurpation.”

As an executive officer of the Government, I have no power to surrender to any human authority Fort Sumter, or any of the other forts or public property in South Carolina. To do this, would on my part, as I have already said, be a naked act of usurpation. It is for Congress to decide this question, and for me to preserve the status of the public property as I found it at the commencement of the troubles.

If South Carolina should attack any of these forts, she will then become the assailant in a war against the United States. It will not then be a question of coercing a State to remain in the Union, to which I am utterly opposed, as my message proves, but it will be a question of voluntarily precipitating a conflict of arms on her part, without even consulting the only authorities which possess the power to act upon the subject. Between independent governments, if one possesses a fortress within the limits of another, and the latter should seize it without calling upon the appropriate authorities of the power in possession to surrender it, this would not only be a just cause of war, but the actual commencement of hostilities.

No authority was given, as you suppose, from myself, or from the War Department, to Governor Gist, to guard the United States arsenal in Charleston by a company of South Carolina volunteers. In this respect you have been misinformed. I have, therefore, never been more astonished in my life, than to learn from you that unless Fort Sumter be delivered into your hands, you cannot be answerable for the consequences.

It was, then, on the President’s first draft of an answer to the South Carolina commissioners, after the secession ordinance had been passed, and upon nothing that had previously occurred, that the cabinet crisis arose. On the evening of December 29th, the President’s proposed draft of an answer to the commissioners was read to the cabinet. It was not much discussed, for it was not the habit of the ministers to criticise state papers which the President had himself prepared. But on the following day, Judge Black informed Mr. Toucey, the Secretary of the Navy, of his purpose to resign, if this paper, as written by the President, should be delivered to the commissioners. The President sent for Judge Black, and handed him the paper, with a request that he modify it to suit himself, and return it immediately. Judge Black then prepared his memorandum for the President’s consideration, in which Mr. Holt and Mr. Stanton concurred. The answer, which was to be sent to the commissioners, was modified accordingly, and when sent it read as follows:[^[90]]

[ANSWER OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.]

Washington, December 31, 1860.

Gentlemen:—

I have had the honor to receive your communication of 26th inst., together with a copy of your “full powers from the Convention of the people of South Carolina,” authorizing you to treat with the Government of the United States on various important subjects therein mentioned, and also a copy of the ordinance bearing date on the 20th inst., declaring that “the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of 'the United States of America,' is hereby dissolved.”

In answer to this communication, I have to say that my position as President of the United States was clearly defined in the message to Congress of the 3d instant. In that I stated that, “apart from the execution of the laws, so far as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to change the relations heretofore existing between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolution of the confederacy among our thirty-three sovereign States. It bears no resemblance to the recognition of a foreign de facto government—involving no such responsibility. Any attempt to do this would, on his part, be a naked act of usurpation. It is, therefore, my duty to submit to Congress the whole question, in all its bearings.”

Such is my opinion still. I could, therefore, meet you only as private gentlemen of the highest character, and was entirely willing to communicate to Congress any proposition you might have to make to that body upon the subject. Of this you were well aware. It was my earnest desire that such a disposition might be made of the whole subject by Congress, who alone possesses the power, as to prevent the inauguration of a civil war between the parties in regard to the possession of the Federal forts in the harbor of Charleston, and I, therefore, deeply regret that, in your opinion, “the events of the last twenty-four hours render this impossible.” In conclusion, you urge upon me “the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston,” stating that, “under present circumstances, they are a standing menace, which renders negotiation impossible, and, as our present experience shows, threatens speedily to bring to a bloody issue questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment.”

The reason for this change in your position is that, since your arrival in Washington, “an officer of the United States acting as we (you) are assured, not only without your (my) orders, has dismantled one fort and occupied another, thus altering, to a most important extent, the condition of affairs under which we (you) came.” You also allege that you came here “the representatives of an authority which could at any time within the past sixty days have taken possession of the forts in Charleston harbor, but which upon pledges given in a manner that we (you) cannot doubt, determined to trust to your (my) honor rather than to its own power.”

This brings me to a consideration of the nature of those alleged pledges, and in what manner they have been observed. In my message of the 3d of December last, I stated, in regard to the property of the United States in South Carolina, that it “has been purchased for a fair equivalent 'by the consent of the legislature of the State, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,' etc., and over these the authority 'to exercise exclusive legislation' has been expressly granted by the Constitution to Congress. It is not believed that any attempt will be made to expel the United States from this property by force; but, if in this I should prove to be mistaken, the officer in command of the forts has received orders to act strictly on the defensive. In such a contingency, the responsibility for consequences would rightfully rest upon the heads of the assailants.” This being the condition of the parties on Saturday, 8th December, four of the representatives from South Carolina, called upon me and requested an interview. We had an earnest conversation on the subject of these forts, and the best means of preventing a collision between the parties, for the purpose of sparing the effusion of blood. I suggested, for prudential reasons, that it would be best to put in writing what they said to me verbally. They did so accordingly, and on Monday morning the 10th instant, three of them presented to me a paper signed by all the representatives from South Carolina, with a single exception, of which the following is a copy:

“To His Excellency James Buchanan,

President of the United States:

“In compliance with our statement to you yesterday, we now express to you our strong convictions that neither the constituted authorities, nor any body of the people of the State of South Carolina, will either attack or molest the United States forts in the harbor of Charleston, previously to the action of the convention, and, we hope and believe, not until an offer has been made, through an accredited representative, to negotiate for an amicable arrangement of all matters between the State and the Federal Government, provided that no reinforcements shall be sent into those forts, and their relative military status shall remain as at present.

”John McQueen,

“William Porcher Miles,

”M. L. Bonham,

“W. W. Boyce,

”Lawrence M. Keitt.

“Washington, December 9, 1860.”

And here I must, in justice to myself, remark that, at the time the paper was presented to me, I objected to the word “provided,” as it might be construed into an agreement on my part, which I never would make. They said that nothing was further from their intention; they did not so understand it, and I should not so consider it. It is evident they could enter into no reciprocal agreement with me on the subject. They did not profess to have authority to do this, and were acting in their individual character. I considered it as nothing more, in effect, than the promise of highly honorable gentlemen to exert their influence for the purpose expressed. The event has proved that they have faithfully kept this promise, although I have never since received a line from any one of them, or from any member of the convention on the subject. It is well known that it was my determination, and this I freely expressed, not to reinforce the forts in the harbor and thus produce a collision, until they had been actually attacked, or until I had certain evidence that they were about to be attacked. This paper I received most cordially, and considered it as a happy omen that peace might still be preserved, and that time might thus be gained for reflection. This is the whole foundation for the alleged pledge.

But I acted in the same manner I would have done had I entered into a positive and formal agreement with parties capable of contracting, although such an agreement would have been, on my part, from the nature of my official duties, impossible.

The world knows that I have never sent any reinforcements to the forts in Charleston harbor, and I have certainly never authorized any change to be made “in their relative military status.”

Bearing upon this subject, I refer you to an order issued by the Secretary of War, on the 11th instant, to Major Anderson, but not brought to my notice until the 21st instant. It is as follows:

“Memorandum of verbal instructions to Major Anderson, First Artillery, commanding Fort Moultrie, South Carolina:

“You are aware of the great anxiety of the Secretary of War that a collision of the troops with the people of this State shall be avoided, and of his studied determination to pursue a course with reference to the military force and forts in this harbor, which shall guard against such a collision. He has, therefore, carefully abstained from increasing the force at this point, or taking any measures which might add to the present excited state of the public mind, or which would throw any doubt on the confidence he feels that South Carolina will not attempt by violence to obtain possession of the public works, or to interfere with their occupancy. But, as the counsel of rash and impulsive persons may possibly disappoint these expectations of the Government, he deems it proper that you should be prepared with instructions to meet so unhappy a contingency. He has, therefore, directed me, verbally, to give you such instructions.

“You are carefully to avoid every act which would needlessly tend to provoke aggression; and, for that reason, you are not, without evident and imminent necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into the assumption of a hostile attitude; but you are to hold possession of the forts in this harbor and, if attacked, you are to defend yourself to the last extremity. The smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts; but an attack on, or an attempt to take possession of, either of them will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you deem most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also authorized to take similar defensive steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act.

”D. P. Butler, Assistant Adjutant General.

“Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, December 11, 1860.

“This is in conformity to my instructions to Major Buell.

“John B. Floyd, Secretary of War.”

These were the last instructions transmitted to Major Anderson before his removal to Fort Sumter, with a single exception in regard to a particular which does not, in any degree, affect the present question. Under these circumstances it is clear that Major Anderson acted upon his own responsibility, and without authority, unless, indeed, he had “tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act” on the part of the authorities of South Carolina, which has not yet been alleged. Still he is a brave and honorable officer, and justice requires that he should not be condemned without a fair hearing.

Be this as it may, when I learned that Major Anderson had left Fort Moultrie, and proceeded to Fort Sumter, my first promptings were to command him to return to his former position, and there to await the contingencies presented in his instructions. This could only have been done, with any degree of safety to the command, by the concurrence of the South Carolina authorities. But before any steps could possibly have been taken in this direction, we received information, dated on the 28th instant, that “the Palmetto flag floated out to the breeze at Castle Pinckney, and a large military force went over last night (the 27th) to Fort Moultrie.” Thus the authorities of South Carolina, without waiting or asking for any explanation, and doubtless believing, as you have expressed it, that the officer had acted not only without, but against my orders, on the very next day after the night when the removal was made, seized by a military force two of the three Federal forts in the harbor of Charleston, and have covered them under their own flag, instead of that of the United States. At this gloomy period of our history, startling events succeed each other rapidly. On the very day (the 27th instant) that possession of these two forts was taken, the Palmetto flag was raised over the Federal custom house and post office in Charleston; and on the same day every officer of the customs—collector, naval officer, surveyor, and appraisers—resigned their offices. And this, although it was well known, from the language of my message, that as an executive officer I felt myself bound to collect the revenue at the port of Charleston under the existing laws. In the harbor of Charleston we now find three forts confronting each other, over all of which the Federal flag floated only four days ago; but now, over two of them this flag has been supplanted, and the Palmetto flag has been substituted in its stead. It is under all these circumstances that I am urged immediately to withdraw the troops from the harbor of Charleston, and am informed that, without this, negotiation is impossible. This I cannot do; this I will not do. Such an idea was never thought of by me in any possible contingency. No allusion to it had ever been made in any communication between myself and any human being. But the inference is, that I am bound to withdraw the troops from the only fort remaining in the possession of the United States in the harbor of Charleston, because the officer then in command of all the forts thought proper, without instructions, to change his position from one of them to another. I cannot admit the justice of any such inference.

At this point of writing I have received information, by telegram, from Captain Humphreys, in command of the arsenal at Charleston, that “it has to-day (Sunday the 30th) been taken by force of arms.” It is estimated that the munitions of war belonging to the United States in this arsenal are worth half a million of dollars.

Comment is needless. After this information, I have only to add that, while it is my duty to defend Fort Sumter, as a portion of the public property of the United States, against hostile attacks from whatever quarter they may come, by such means as I may possess for this purpose, I do not perceive how such a defence can be construed into a menace against the city of Charleston.

With great personal regard, I remain, yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

In all that related to this cabinet crisis of December 29th, I can see nothing but the prompt action of a wise statesman and a patriotic President, in preventing a disruption of his cabinet upon a draft of a State paper, in which expressions had been used that might have given rise to inferences which the President never intended should be drawn. Among all Mr. Buchanan’s claims to stand in history as a great man, be the criticisms made by the three members of his cabinet on his proposed answer to the South Carolina commissioners more or less important, there is no one act which better entitles him to that rank, than the sacrifice which he made on this occasion of all pride of opinion in respect to the best mode of doing what he and his advisers alike meant to do, in order that the country might not, at this critical juncture, be deprived of the services of men whose services were important to her, and in order that the Government of the Union might not be placed in a false position. He had formed no new policy on the subject of secession, or any new views of his public duty. He never had but one policy, from the beginning of the secession movement to the 4th of March, 1861. Of that policy no concession of the right of secession, or of any claim founded on it, ever formed a part.[^[91]]

The next thing that happened was, that after the reading in the Senate of the President’s special message of January 8th, Mr. Jefferson Davis produced and had read in the Senate, a copy of the commissioners' insulting letter. “Such,” says Mr. Buchanan, “was the temper of that body at the time, that it was received and read, and entered upon their journal...... It is worth notice, that whilst this letter of the commissioners was published at length in the Congressional Globe, among the proceedings of the Senate, their previous letter to the President of the 28th of December, and his answer thereto of the 31st, were never published in this so-called official register, although copies of both had accompanied his special message. By this means, the offensive letter was scattered broadcast over the country, whilst the letter of the President, to which this professed to be an answer, was buried in one of the numerous and long after published volumes of executive documents.”[^[92]] The story related to the unknown diarist, as he says, by Senator Douglas, implies that the commissioners, at some time between the 31st of December and the 2d of January, wrote an uncourteous and improper reply to the President’s letter of December 31st, and then substituted for it a courteous and proper one, which they submitted to “the President’s agents,” who approved of it and sent it to the White House! That the President, through any agent, had signified to the commissioners that he was disposed to accede to their demands, if presented in courteous and proper terms, is an assertion that is contradicted by the whole tenor of his letter of December 31st, and by his uniform and steady refusal to entertain the proposition of an executive surrender of the forts to South Carolina. Down to the moment when the commissioners received the President’s letter of December 31st, he had no occasion to make with them any condition relating to the manner of their reply; and to suppose that at any time he meant to allow his compliance with their demands to turn upon the language in which they presented them, is simply absurd. What he may have signified to them was, that he would refer their demands to Congress; not that he would entertain and act upon them himself. This we know that he did, at the personal interview on the 28th of December; and he did it in order “to bring the whole subject before the representatives of the people in such a manner as to cause them to express an authoritative opinion on secession and the other dangerous questions then before the country, and adopt such measures for their peaceable adjustment as might possibly reclaim even South Carolina herself; but whether or not, might prevent the other cotton States from following her evil and rash example.”[^[93]] The President did not expect that Congress would authorize him to surrender the forts; but he did believe that it would be beneficial to have Congress declare that the whole doctrine of secession was one that could not be accepted by any department of the Federal Government, as he had declared that it could not be accepted by the Executive. The South Carolina commissioners, in their letter of December 28th, claimed that the State has “resumed the powers she delegated to the Government of the United States, and has declared her perfect sovereignty and independence;” that unless Major Anderson’s removal to Fort Sumter was explained in a satisfactory manner, they must suspend all discussion of the arrangements by which the mutual interests of this independent State and the United States could be adjusted; and then, as a preliminary to any negotiation, they urged the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston, with a distinct intimation of a “bloody issue” if this should be refused. The President was thus brought to the alternatives of an Executive admission of the independence of South Carolina, by reason of her secession, and a withdrawal of the troops as a consequence, or a bloody issue of questions that ought to be settled amicably. The President’s answer of the 31st of December, being a rejection of what was demanded of him, although entirely courteous, so irritated the commissioners that they wrote the reply which he returned to them.[^[94]] The truth is, that this reply contained so many offensive and unfounded imputations of past bad faith on the part of the President, that it was impossible for him to receive it. The grossest of these imputations I have already dealt with.

The diarist of the North American Review has related another story, on the authority of a person whose name, as well as his own, he conceals, which imputes to Major Anderson a motive of a most extraordinary character, for taking possession of Fort Sumter. We thus have the anonymous fortified by the anonymous—ignotum per ignotum—as the historical basis of belief. The statement is that the diarist’s informant, who had just come from Montgomery and had passed through Charleston, where he conversed with Major Anderson, told the diarist, on the 6th of March (1861), in Washington, that Anderson intended to be governed in his future course by the course of his own State of Kentucky; that if Kentucky should secede, Anderson would unhesitatingly obey the orders of a Confederate secretary of war; that he meant to retain the control of the position primarily in the interests of his own State of Kentucky; and that for this reason he removed from Fort Moultrie where he was liable to be controlled by the authorities of South Carolina.[^[95]] The diarist took his informant to President Lincoln, who heard the tale repeated, but parried it by one or two of his characteristic jests, and the diarist was disappointed in not being able to divine how Mr. Lincoln was affected by the narrative. It will require something more than this kind of unsupported and unauthenticated nonsense to destroy Major Anderson’s reputation as a loyal officer of the United States. What he might have done with his commission, in case Kentucky had joined the Southern Confederacy, is one thing. What he would have done with Fort Sumter is a very different matter. His answer to a letter of General Dix does not accord with the account of his intentions given by the unknown informant of the unknown diarist.[^[96]]

CHAPTER XIX.
December, 1860,—January, 1861.

RESIGNATION OF GENERAL CASS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE—RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CABINET WHICH FOLLOWED AFTER THE RESIGNATIONS OF MESSRS. COBB, THOMPSON, AND THOMAS.

Serious and embarrassing as was the situation of the country, it was not to have been expected that the first person to leave an administration, which had worked together with entire harmony for nearly four years, would be the Secretary of State, General Cass. I shall make but few comments on this occurrence. The correspondence which took place between General Cass and the President, and a memorandum made by the latter at the time, sufficiently show what degree of necessity there was for the General’s resignation. With reference to the reason which he assigned for it, the date of his letter is important to be observed. He tendered his resignation at a time when every consideration of prudence forbade the sending of further military or naval forces into the harbor of Charleston; after his advice on this point had been overruled by the opinions of all the other members of the cabinet, and of the President; before the State of South Carolina had adopted her ordinance of secession; and while the collector of the revenue at Charleston was still faithfully, and without molestation, performing his duties. If it was the General’s sagacity which led him to foresee that the State would “secede,” that the collector would resign, and that the revenue would have to be collected outside of the custom house, and by some other officer, his suggestions could not be carried out by the President without authority of law, and the whole subject was then before Congress, submitted to it by the President’s annual message, in which the General himself had fully concurred. That the General regretted his resignation, and would have withdrawn it, if permitted, is now made certain by the President’s memorandum, which I shall presently cite.

[SECRETARY CASS TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Department of State, December 12th, 1860.

Sir:—

The present alarming crisis in our national affairs has engaged your serious consideration, and in your recent message, you have expressed to Congress, and through Congress to the country, the views you have formed respecting the questions, fraught with the most momentous consequences, which are now presented to the American people for solution. With the general principles laid down in that message I fully concur, and I appreciate with warm sympathy its patriotic appeals and suggestions. What measures it is competent and proper for the Executive to adopt under existing circumstances, is a subject which has received your most careful attention, and with the anxious hope, as I well know, from having participated in the deliberations, that tranquillity and good feeling may be speedily restored to this agitated and divided Confederacy.

In some points which I deem of vital importance, it has been my misfortune to differ from you.

It has been my decided opinion, which for some time past I have urged at various meetings of the cabinet, that additional troops should be sent to reinforce the forts in the harbor of Charleston, with a view to their better defence, should they be attacked, and that an armed vessel should likewise be ordered there, to aid, if necessary, in the defence, and also, should it be required, in the collection of the revenue; and it is yet my opinion that these measures should be adopted without the least delay. I have likewise urged the expediency of immediately removing the custom house at Charleston to one of the forts in the port, and of making arrangements for the collection of the duties there, by having a collector and other officers ready to act when necessary, so that when the office may become vacant, the proper authority may be there to collect the duties on the part of the United States. I continue to think that these arrangements should be immediately made. While the right and the responsibility of deciding belong to you, it is very desirable that at this perilous juncture there should be, as far as possible, unanimity in your councils, with a view to safe and efficient action.

I have, therefore, felt it my duty to tender you my resignation of the office of Secretary of State, and to ask your permission to retire from that official association with yourself and the members of your cabinet, which I have enjoyed during almost four years, without the occurrence of a single incident to interrupt the personal intercourse which has so happily existed.

I cannot close this letter without bearing my testimony to the zealous and earnest devotion to the best interests of the country, with which, during a term of unexampled trials and troubles, you have sought to discharge the duties of your high station.

Thanking you for the kindness and confidence you have not ceased to manifest towards me, and with the expression of my warmest regard both for yourself and the gentlemen of your cabinet, I am, sir, with great respect,

Your obedient servant,

Lewis Cass.

[THE PRESIDENT TO GENERAL CASS.]

Washington, December 15th, 1860.

Sir:—

I have received your resignation of the office of Secretary of State with surprise and regret. After we had passed through nearly the whole term of the administration with mutual and cordial friendship and regard, I had cherished the earnest hope that nothing might occur to disturb our official relations until its end. You have decided differently, and I have no right to complain.

I must express my gratification at your concurrence with the general principles laid down in my late message, and your appreciation, “with warm sympathy, of its patriotic appeals and suggestions.” This I value very highly; and I rejoice that we concur in the opinion that Congress does not possess the power, under the Constitution, to coerce a State by force of arms to remain in the Confederacy.

The question on which we unfortunately differ is that of ordering a detachment of the army and navy to Charleston, and is correctly stated in your letter of resignation. I do not intend to argue this question. Suffice it to say, that your remarks upon the subject were heard by myself and the cabinet, with all the respect due to your high position, your long experience, and your unblemished character; but they failed to convince us of the necessity and propriety, under existing circumstances, of adopting such a measure. The Secretaries of War and of the Navy, through whom the orders must have issued to reinforce the forts, did not concur in your views; and whilst the whole responsibility for the refusal rested upon myself, they were the members of the cabinet more directly interested. You may have judged correctly on this important question, and your opinion is entitled to grave consideration; but under my convictions of duty, and believing as I do that no present necessity exists for a resort to force for the protection of the public property, it was impossible for me to have risked a collision of arms in the harbor of Charleston, and thereby defeated the reasonable hope which I cherish of the final triumph of the Constitution and of the Union.

I have only to add that you will take with you into retirement my heartfelt wishes that the evening of your days may be prosperous and happy.

Very respectfully yours,

James Buchanan.

The following memorandum, relating to the resignation of General Cass, is now before me in the President’s handwriting:

Tuesday, Dec. 11th, 1860.

General Cass announced to me his purpose to resign.

Saturday, December 15th.

Judge Black, in the evening, delivered me General Cass’s letter of resignation, dated on Wednesday, December 12th.

I was very much surprised on the 11th December to learn from General Cass that he intended to resign. All our official intercourse up till this moment had been marked by unity of purpose, sentiment and action. Indeed, the General had always been treated by me with extreme kindness. This was due to his age and his high character. Most of the important despatches which bear his name were written, or chiefly written, for him by Mr. Appleton, Judge Black and myself. His original drafts were generally so prolix and so little to the point, that they had to be written over again entirely, or so little was suffered to remain as to make them new despatches. All this was done with so much delicacy and tenderness, that, to the extent of my knowledge, General Cass always cheerfully and even gratefully assented. So timid was he, and so little confidence had he in himself, that it was difficult for him to arrive at any decision of the least consequence. He brought many questions to me which he ought to have settled himself. When obliged to decide for himself, he called Mr. Cobb and Judge Black to his assistance. In the course of the administration I have been often reminded of the opinion of him expressed to me by General Jackson.

I had been at the War Department a short time before General Cass was appointed minister to France. In the course of conversation, he made particular inquiries of me as to what I thought an American minister would have to expend at the principal courts abroad. I told him what it had cost me at St. Petersburg, and what would be the probable cost at London and Paris.

The next time I met General Jackson, I said to him, “So you are going to send General Cass to Paris.” His answer was, “How do you know that?” I said, “I can't tell you, but I believe it.” His reply was, “It is true. I can no longer consent to do the duties both of President and Secretary of War. General Cass will decide nothing for himself, but comes to me constantly with great bundles of papers, to decide questions for him which he ought to decide for himself.”

His resignation was the more remarkable on account of the cause he assigned for it. When my late message (of December, 1860) was read to the cabinet before it was printed, General Cass expressed his unreserved and hearty approbation of it, accompanied by every sign of deep and sincere feeling. He had but one objection to it, and this was, that it was not sufficiently strong against the power of Congress to make war upon a State for the purpose of compelling her to remain in the Union; and the denial of this power was made more emphatic and distinct upon his own suggestion.

On Monday, 17th December, 1860, both Mr. Thompson and Judge Black informed me that they had held conversations with General Cass on the subject of his resignation, and that he had expressed a desire to withdraw it, and return to the cabinet. I gave this no encouragement. His purpose to resign had been known for several days, and his actual resignation had been prepared three days before it was delivered to me. The world knew all about it, and had he returned, the explanation would have been very embarrassing. Besides, I knew full well that his fears would have worried the administration as well as himself, in the difficult times which were then upon us. His great error was, that he would assume no responsibility which he could possibly avoid.

There is strong reason to think that General Cass was mistaken in saying in his letter to the President that he had proposed in the cabinet to remove the Charleston custom house to one of the forts or to appoint a new collector. In a draft of the President’s answer to General Cass, prepared by Judge Black, but which the President did not use, it is stated that none of the members of the cabinet had any recollection of such a proposal. But if it had been made, it would have been improper to collect the revenue in any other than the ordinary way, and at the proper place, without new legislation, or at least until circumstances had made a military collection absolutely necessary.

It is not to be doubted that the resignation of General Cass was a misfortune to the administration, because it gave to its enemies opportunity to say that he distrusted either the present or the future course of the President. But his place was immediately supplied by the appointment of Judge Black as Secretary of State. Edwin M. Stanton became Attorney General, in the room of Judge Black.[^[97]]

In the early part of January, 1861, while the President was still engaged in considering the measures proper to be adopted in regard to Fort Sumter, other changes in the cabinet took place. After the resignations of General Cass, Governor Floyd, and Mr. Cobb, the cabinet stood as follows: Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State, Philip F. Thomas, of Maryland, Secretary of the Treasury, Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, Secretary of War, Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy, Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior, Horatio King, of Maine, Postmaster General, Edwin M. Stanton, of Pennsylvania, Attorney General. Mr. Thomas, who had been Commissioner of Patents, was made Secretary of the Treasury in the place of Mr. Cobb, on the 8th of December. He resigned on the 11th of January, and the President immediately invited General Dix to fill the office. General Dix at once repaired to Washington, and during the remainder of the administration he was the guest of the President at the White House. His society, and his important aid in the administration of the Government, afforded to Mr. Buchanan the highest satisfaction.[^[98]] On the resignation of Mr. Thompson as Secretary of the Interior, that department was not filled, but the duties were ably and faithfully performed by Moses Kelly, the Chief Clerk, until the close of the administration. The circumstances attending the resignations of Messrs. Thompson and Thomas are sufficiently disclosed by the correspondence.

[SECRETARY THOMPSON TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Washington, D. C., Jan 8, 1861.

To his Excellency, James Buchanan, President U. S.:—

Sir:—It is with extreme regret I have just learned that additional troops have been ordered to Charleston. This subject has been frequently discussed in cabinet council, and when on Monday night, 31st of December ult., the orders for reinforcements to Fort Sumter were countermanded, I distinctly understood from you, that no order of the kind would be made without being previously considered and decided in cabinet. It is true that on Wednesday, January 2d, this subject was again discussed in cabinet, but certainly no conclusion was reached, and the War Department was not justified in ordering reinforcements without something [more] than was then said. I learn, however, this morning, for the first time, that the steamer Star of the West sailed from New York on last Saturday night with two hundred and fifty men under Lieut. Bartlett, bound for Fort Sumter. Under these circumstances I feel myself bound to resign my commission as one of your constitutional advisers into your hands. With high respect your obedient servant,

J. Thompson.

[THE PRESIDENT TO MR. THOMPSON.]

Washington, January 9, 1861.

Sir:—

I have received and accepted your resignation on yesterday of the office of Secretary of the Interior.

On Monday evening, 31st December, 1860, I suspended the orders which had been issued by the War and Navy Department to send the Brooklyn with reinforcements to Fort Sumter. Of this I informed you on the same evening. I stated to you my reasons for this suspension, which you knew from its nature would be speedily removed. In consequence of your request, however, I promised that orders should not be renewed “without being previously considered and decided in cabinet.”

This promise was faithfully observed on my part. In order to carry it into effect, I called a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 2d January, 1861, in which the question of sending reinforcements to Fort Sumter was amply discussed both by yourself and others. The decided majority of opinions was against you. At this moment the answer of the South Carolina “commissioners” to my communication to them of the 31st December was received and read. It produced much indignation among members of the cabinet. After a further brief conversation I employed the following language: “It is now all over, and reinforcements must be sent.” Judge Black said, at the moment of my decision, that after this letter the cabinet would be unanimous, and I heard no dissenting voice. Indeed, the spirit and tone of the letter left no doubt on my mind that Fort Sumter would be immediately attacked, and hence the necessity of sending reinforcements there without delay.

Whilst you admit “that on Wednesday, January 2d, this subject was again discussed in cabinet,” you say, “but certainly no conclusion was reached, and the War Department was not justified in ordering reinforcements without something [more] than was then said.” You are certainly mistaken in alleging that no “conclusion was reached.” In this your recollection is entirely different from that of your four oldest colleagues in the cabinet. Indeed, my language was so unmistakable, that the Secretaries of War and the Navy proceeded to act upon it without any further intercourse with myself than what you heard or might have heard me say. You had been so emphatic in opposing these reinforcements, that I thought you would resign in consequence of my decision. I deeply regret that you have been mistaken in point of fact, though I firmly believe honestly mistaken. Still it is certain you have not the less been mistaken. Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. THOMPSON TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Washington City, January 10, 1861.

To his Excellency, James Buchanan, President of U. S.:—

Dear Sir:—In your reply to my note of 8th inst., accepting my resignation, you are right when you say that “you (I) had been so emphatic in opposing these reinforcements that I (you) thought you (I) would resign in consequence of my decision.” I came to the cabinet on Wednesday, January 2d, with the full expectation I would resign my commission before I left your council board, and I know you do not doubt that my action would have been promptly taken, had I understood on that day that you had decided that “reinforcements must now be sent.” For more than forty days, I have regarded the display of a military force in Charleston or along the Southern coast by the United States as tantamount to war. Of this opinion you and all my colleagues of the cabinet have been frankly advised. Believing that such would be the construction of an order for additional troops, I have been anxious, and have used all legitimate means to save you and your administration from precipitating the country into an inevitable conflict, the end of which no human being could foresee. My counsels have not prevailed, troops have been sent, and I hope yet that a kind Providence may avert the consequences I have apprehended, and that peace be maintained.

I am now a private citizen, and, as such, I am at liberty to give expression to my private feelings towards you personally.

In all my official intercourse with you, though often overruled, I have been treated with uniform kindness and consideration.

I know your patriotism, your honesty and purity of character, and admire your high qualities of head and heart. If we can sink all the circumstances attending this unfortunate order for reinforcements—on which, though we may differ, yet I am willing to admit that you are as conscientious, as I claim to be—you have been frank, direct, and confiding in me. I have never been subjected to the first mortification, or entertained for a moment the first unkind feeling. These facts determined me to stand by you and your administration as long as there was any hope left that our present difficulties could find a peaceful solution. If the counsels of some members of your cabinet prevail, I am utterly without hope. Every duty you have imposed on me has been discharged with scrupulous fidelity on my part, and it would give me infinite pain even to suspect that you are not satisfied.

Whatever may be our respective futures, I shall ever be your personal friend, and shall vindicate your fame and administration, of which I have been a part, and shall ever remember with gratitude the many favors and kindnesses heretofore shown to me and mine.

I go hence to make the destiny of Mississippi my destiny. My life, fortune, and all I hold most dear shall be devoted to her cause. In doing this, I believe before God, I am serving the ends of truth and justice and good government. Now, as ever, your personal friend,

J. Thompson.

[THE PRESIDENT TO MR. THOMPSON.]

Washington, January 11, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Without referring to any recent political question, your favor of yesterday has afforded me the highest degree of satisfaction. You know that for many years I have entertained a warm regard for you, and this has been greatly increased by our official and personal intercourse since you became a member of my cabinet. No man could have more ably, honestly, and efficiently performed the various and complicated duties of the Interior Department than yourself, and it has always been my pride and pleasure to express this opinion on all suitable occasions. I regret extremely that the troubles of the times have rendered it necessary for us to part; but whatever may be your future destiny, I shall ever feel a deep interest in your welfare and happiness.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[SECRETARY THOMAS TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Washington, D. C., January 11, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

It has not been in my power, as you are aware, to agree with you and with a majority of your constitutional advisers, in the measures which have been adopted in reference to the present condition of things in South Carolina; nor do I think it at all probable that I shall be able to concur in the views which you entertain, so far as I understand them, touching the authority under existing laws, to enforce the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston.

Under such circumstances, after mature consideration, I have concluded that I cannot longer continue in your cabinet without embarrassment to you, and an exposure of myself to the just criticisms of those who are acquainted with my opinions upon the subject. I, therefore, deem it proper to tender my resignation of the commission I now hold as Secretary of the Treasury, to take effect when my successor is appointed and qualified. In doing so, I avail myself of the occasion to offer you the assurance of the high respect and regard which, personally, I entertain for you, and with which I have the honor to be,

Your friend and obedient servant,

Philip F. Thomas.

[THE PRESIDENT TO MR. THOMAS.]

Washington, January 12, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your letter of yesterday, resigning the office of Secretary of the Treasury, to take effect when your successor shall be appointed and qualified.

I very much regret that circumstances, in your opinion, have rendered it necessary. Without referring to those circumstances, I am happy to state, in accepting your resignation, that during the brief period you have held this important office, you have performed its duties in a manner altogether satisfactory to myself.

Wishing you health, prosperity, and happiness, I remain,

Very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

CHAPTER XX.
1860—December.

THE RESIGNATION OF SECRETARY FLOYD, AND ITS CAUSE—REFUTATION OF THE STORY OF HIS STEALING THE ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES—GENERAL SCOTT'S ASSERTIONS DISPROVED.

Among the assertions made by the South Carolina commissioners in their letter to the President of December 28th, there was one to which it is now specially necessary to advert. “Since our arrival,” they said, “an officer of the United States, acting, as we are assured, not only without, but against your orders, has dismantled one fort and occupied another, thus altering to a most important extent the condition of affairs under which we came.” The person who assured them that Anderson had acted without and against the President’s orders, was Mr. Floyd, the Secretary of War, who had instructed Buell what orders to give to Anderson, and who knew well what the orders were. This brings me, therefore, to the point at which Mr. Floyd’s conversion took place, from an avowed and consistent opponent of secession to one of its most strenuous supporters:—a conversion which was so sudden, that between the 23d of December and the arrival of the South Carolina commissioners, on the 26th, the Secretary boldly assumed a position entirely at variance with all his previous conduct, and thereafter became an intimate associate with disunion Senators, who had always, to this point, condemned his official conduct. The cause of this remarkable change was the discovery, by the President, of an act implicating Mr. Floyd in a very irregular proceeding, which had no connection whatever with the relations between the Federal Government and the State of South Carolina, or with the subject of secession.

On the 22d of December, the President learned that 870 State bonds for $1,000 each, held in trust by the Government for different Indian tribes, had been abstracted from the Interior Department by one Godard Bailey, the clerk who had charge of them, and had been delivered to William H. Russell, a member of the firm of “Russell, Majors & Waddell.” Upon examination, it was found that the clerk had substituted for the abstracted bonds bills delivered to him by Russell, drawn by his firm on Floyd as Secretary of War, and by Floyd accepted and indorsed, for the precise amount of the bonds, $870,000. The acceptances were thirteen in number, commencing on the 13th of September, 1860, the last one of the series, dated December 13th, 1860, being for the precise sum necessary to make the aggregate amount of the whole number of bills exactly equal to the amount of the abstracted bonds. Bailey stated that he held the acceptances “as collateral security for the return of the bonds.”

What happened on this discovery should be told in Mr. Buchanan’s own words, as I find them in his handwriting, in a paper drawn up apparently for the information of some one who was entitled to know the facts.

I do not recollect the precise time when I had the only conversation which I ever held with Governor Floyd on the subject of your inquiry. It was most probably soon after Mr. Benjamin had the interview with myself, the particulars of which I cannot now recall; but it is proper to state that I learned from another source that acceptances of Mr. Floyd had been offered for discount in Wall Street.

When I next saw Secretary Floyd I asked him if it were true that he had been issuing acceptances to Russell & Company on bills payable at a future day. He said he had done so in a few cases. That he had done this in no instance until after he had ascertained that the amount of the bills would be due to them under their contract, before the bills reached maturity; that the trains had started on their way to Utah, and there could be no possible loss to the Government. That the Government at that time was largely indebted to Russell & Company, and the bills which he had accepted would be paid, when they became due, out of the appropriation for that purpose. I asked him, under what authority he had accepted these drafts. He said, this had been done under the practice of the Department. I said, I had never heard of such a practice, and if such a practice existed, I considered it altogether improper, and should be discontinued. I asked him if there was any law which authorized such acceptances. He said there was no law, he believed, for it, and no law against it. I replied, if there was no law for it, this was conclusive that he had no such authority. He said, I need give myself no trouble about the matter. That the acceptances already issued should be promptly paid out of the money due to Russell & Company, and he would never accept another such draft. I might rest perfectly easy on the subject. I had not the least doubt that he would fulfill his promise in good faith. He never said another word to me upon the subject. I was, therefore, never more astonished than at the exposure which was made that he had accepted drafts to the amount of $870,000, and that these were substituted in the safe at the Interior Department, as a substitute for the Indian bonds which had been purloined.

I took immediate measures to intimate to him, through a distinguished mutual friend, that he could no longer remain in the cabinet, and that he ought to resign. I expected his resignation hourly; but a few days after, he came into the cabinet with a bold front, and said he could remain in it no longer unless I would instantly recall Major Anderson and his forces from Fort Sumter.

There were, as Mr. Buchanan states, besides the acceptances lodged in the Interior Department, other acceptances of Floyd’s, as Secretary of War, afloat in Wall Street. Of course, Mr. Floyd was aware of this; and having been told by the President that he must resign, he boldly determined to resign on a feigned issue, making for himself a bridge on which he could pass over to the secession side of the great national controversy.

The arrival of the South Carolina commissioners in Washington on the 26th December, afforded to the Secretary an opportunity to concoct his impudent pretext. It is impossible to suppose that he believed either that Anderson had acted without orders or against orders, or in violation of any pledge given by the President. The orders were, in one sense, his own; and as to any pledge, he could not have been ignorant of what really took place between the President and the South Carolina members of Congress on the 10th of December. When he instructed Major Buell in the orders that were to be given to Anderson, the Secretary was, in giving those orders, loyal to the Government whose officer he was, and his conduct in regard to the acceptances was unknown to the President. When the South Carolina commissioners arrived in Washington, he was a man whose resignation of office had been required of him by the President. He learned that the commissioners were about to complain that Anderson had violated a pledge. Taking time by the forelock, he entered a session of the cabinet on the evening of the 27th, the next day after the arrival of the commissioners, and, in a discourteous and excited manner, read to the President and his colleagues a paper which, on the 29th, he embodied in a letter of resignation, that read as follows:

[SECRETARY FLOYD TO THE PRESIDENT.]

War Department, December 29th, 1860.

Sir:—

On the evening of the 27th instant, I read the following paper to you, in the presence of the cabinet:

“Council Chamber, Executive Mansion,
“December 27th, 1860.

}

Sir:—

“It is evident now, from the action of the commander at Fort Moultrie, that the solemn pledges of this Government have been violated by Major Anderson. In my judgment, but one remedy is now left us by which to vindicate our honor and prevent civil war. It is in vain now to hope for confidence on the part of the people of South Carolina in any further pledges as to the action of the military. One remedy only is left, and that is to withdraw the garrison from the harbor of Charleston altogether. I hope the President will allow me to make that order at once. This order, in my judgment, can alone prevent bloodshed and civil war.

“John B. Floyd,

“Secretary of War.

“To the President.”

I then considered the honor of the administration pledged to maintain the troops in the position they occupied; for such had been the assurances given to the gentlemen of South Carolina who had a right to speak for her. South Carolina, on the other hand, gave reciprocal pledges that no force should be brought by them against the troops or against the property of the United States. The sole object of both parties to these reciprocal pledges was to prevent collision and the effusion of blood, in the hope that some means might be found for a peaceful accommodation of the existing troubles, the two Houses of Congress having both raised committees looking to that object.

Thus affairs stood, until the action of Major Anderson, taken unfortunately while commissioners were on their way to this capital on a peaceful mission, looking to the avoidance of bloodshed, has complicated matters in the existing manner. Our refusal, or even delay, to place affairs back as they stood under our agreement, invites collision, and must inevitably inaugurate civil war in our land. I can not consent to be the agent of such a calamity.

I deeply regret to feel myself under the necessity of tendering to you my resignation as Secretary of War, because I can no longer hold it, under my convictions of patriotism, nor with honor, subjected as I am to the violation of solemn pledges and plighted faith.

With the highest personal regard, I am most truly yours,

John B. Floyd.

In a subsequent note to the President, Mr. Floyd offered to perform the duties of the War Department until his successor had been appointed. Without taking any notice of this offer, and with the contemptuous silence that could alone have followed such conduct, the President instantly accepted his resignation, and Postmaster General Holt was transferred to the War Department ad interim. Thus passed out of the service of the United States John B. Floyd, once, like his father, Governor of Virginia. He was a man fitted by nature, by education, and by position, for better things than such an ending of an official career. He was no secessionist from conviction, and until the discovery of his irregular acts in issuing acceptances of his Department, he never pretended to be. He seems to have been stung by a consciousness that his letter of resignation was in a bad tone. On the 30th of December he addressed to the President a letter of apology, which, so far as I know, remained unanswered.

[MR. FLOYD TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Washington, December 30th, 1860.

My Dear Sir:—

I understand from General Jefferson Davis that you regard my letter of resignation as offensive to you. I beg to assure you that I am deeply grieved by this intelligence. Nothing could have been further from my wish, and nothing more repugnant to my feelings. If there is any sentence or expression which you regard in that light, I will take sincere pleasure in changing it. The facts and the ideas alone were in my mind when I penned the letter, and I repeat that nothing could have been further from my intention than to wound your feelings. My friendship for you has been and is sincere and unselfish. I have never been called upon by an imperious sense of duty to perform any act which has given me so much pain, as to separate myself from your administration, and this feeling would be greatly aggravated by the belief that in this separation I had said anything which could give you pain or cause of offence.

I beg to assure you that I am very truly and sincerely your friend,

John B. Floyd.

But justice must be done to Mr. Floyd, badly as he conducted himself after the discovery of his irregular and unauthorized acceptances of drafts on his Department. The impression has long prevailed among the people of the North that the Confederate States did their fighting with cannon, rifles and muskets treacherously placed within their reach by Mr. Buchanan’s Secretary of War. The common belief has been that Mr. Floyd had for a long time pursued a plan of his own for distributing the arms of the United States in the South, in anticipation of a disruption of the Union at no distant day. General Scott, in 1862, took up this charge in his public controversy with Mr. Buchanan, and endeavored to establish it. He signally failed. The General, in 1862, thought that he had discovered that the revolt of the Southern States had been planned a long time before the election of Mr. Lincoln, and that it was to be carried out in the event of “the election of any Northern man to the Presidency.” It had become a sort of fashion, in 1862, in certain quarters, to believe, or to profess to believe, in the existence of this long standing plot. There never was a rational ground for such a belief. It is not true, as a matter of fact, that at any time before the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, there was any transfer of arms to places in the Southern States, to which any suspicion of an improper design ought to attach. It is not true that at any time after Mr. Lincoln’s nomination and before his election, there was any transfer of arms whatever from the Northern arsenals of the United States into the Southern States. The political history of the country, prior to the nomination of Mr. Lincoln and prior to the Democratic Convention at Charleston, does not warrant the belief that any considerable section of the Southern people, or any of their prominent leaders, were looking forward to a Presidential election likely to be so conducted and so to terminate, as to produce among them the conviction that it would be unsafe for them to remain in the Union. Even after Mr. Lincoln’s nomination, and after the division of the Democratic party into two factions, resulting in the nomination of two Democratic candidates (Breckinridge and Douglas), with a fourth candidate in the field, Mr. Bell, nominated by the “old line Whigs,” it was not so morally certain that the Republican candidate would be elected, as to give rise, before the election, to serious plots or preparations for breaking up the Union. Mr. Lincoln obtained but a majority of 57 electoral votes over all his competitors. It was the sectional character of his 180 electoral votes out of 303—the whole 180 being drawn from the non-slaveholding States—and the sectional character of the “platform” on which he was elected, and not the naked fact that he was a Northern man, that the secessionists of the cotton States were able to use as the lever by which to carry their States out of the Union. It is necessary to follow the precipitation of the revolt through the various steps by which it was accomplished, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, before one can reach a sound conclusion as to the causes and methods by which it was brought about. Whoever studies the votes in the secession conventions of the cotton States prior to the bombardment of Fort Sumter, will find that even in that region there was a strong Union party in all those States excepting South Carolina, which could not have been overborne and trampled down, by any other means than by the appeals to popular fears which the secessionists drew from the peculiar circumstances of the election. He will find reason to ask himself why it was that in these successive conventions, rapidly accomplished between December, 1860, and February, 1861, the Unionists were unable to prevail; and he will find the most important answer to this inquiry in the fact that it was because the advocates of secession were able, from the circumstances of the election, to produce the conviction that the whole North was alienated in feeling from the South, and determined to trample on Southern rights. It was this that worked upon a sensitive and excited people. It was not the accomplishment of a long meditated plot to destroy the Union.

But if there ever was such a plot, there is not the slightest ground for believing that Secretary Floyd, or any other member of Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet, was a party to it. It was, however, in 1862, one of the means resorted to in order to make the Buchanan administration odious, that this charge was made against the Secretary of War; and when it was adopted by General Scott, it was supposed that his authority had given weight to it. He saw fit to put it in his public controversy with Mr. Buchanan in the following form: That Secretary Floyd “removed 115,000 extra muskets and rifles, with all their implements and ammunition, from Northern repositories to Southern arsenals, so that on the breaking out of the maturing rebellion, they might be found without cost, except to the United States, in the most convenient positions for distribution among the insurgents. So, too, of the one hundred and forty pieces of heavy artillery, which the same Secretary ordered from Pittsburgh to Ship Island in Lake Borgne and Galveston in Texas, for forts not erected. Accidentally learning, early in March, that, under this posthumous order the shipment of those guns had commenced, I communicated the fact to Secretary Holt (acting for Secretary Cameron) just in time to defeat the robbery.”[^[99]]

The anachronisms of this assertion, when it met the eye of Mr. Buchanan in November, 1862, and its apparent ignorance of the facts, may well have amazed him. The whole subject had undergone a thorough investigation by a committee of the House of Representatives in the winter of 1860-61, in consequence of the rumors which had been sent afloat after the resignation of Secretary Floyd. The new Secretary of War, Mr. Holt, not waiting for the exercise of the power conferred on the committee to send for persons and papers, threw open all the records of the Ordnance Bureau. The resolution ordering the investigation was adopted on the 31st of December, 1860, and the committee were authorized to report in preference to all other business. It appeared that there were two Acts of Congress under which Secretary Floyd had proceeded. One was an Act of March 3d, 1825, authorizing the Secretary of War to sell any arms, ammunition, or other military stores, which, upon proper inspection, should be found unfit for the public service. The other was a long standing act for arming the militia of the States, by distributing to them their respective quotas of arms. Whatever was done under either of these laws was necessarily done by the officers and attachés of the Ordnance Bureau. Nothing could have been done clandestinely, or without being made a matter of record. At the head of the Ordnance Bureau was Colonel Craig, one of the most loyal and faithful of the many loyal and faithful officers of the army. Under him was Captain (afterwards General) Maynadier, as chivalrously true an officer as the United States ever had. Without the knowledge of these officers, the Secretary of War could not have sold or removed a musket. The investigations of the Congressional committee embraced four principal heads: 1st. What arms had been sold? 2d. What arms had been distributed to the States? 3d. What arms had been sent for storage in Southern arsenals of the United States? 4th. What ordnance had been transferred from Northern arsenals of the United States to Southern forts?

1. Under the first of these inquiries the committee ascertained and reported that, in the spring of 1859, 50,000 muskets, part of a lot of 190,000, condemned by the inspecting officers “as unsuitable for the public service,” were offered for sale. They reported the bids and contracts, some of which were and some were not carried out. The result of actual sales and deliveries left many of them in the hands of the Government. In speaking of these muskets generally, Colonel Craig testified before the committee that it was always advisable to get rid of them whenever there was a sufficient number of the new rifled muskets to take their places, the old ones not being strong enough to be rifled. In the spring of 1859, therefore, a year before the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, as Mr. Buchanan has well said, if the cotton States were then meditating a rebellion, they lost an opportunity to buy a lot of poor arms condemned by the inspecting officers of the United States.[^[100]] The only Southern State that made a bid was Louisiana, which purchased 5000 of these condemned muskets, and finally took but 2500. One lot was bid for by an agent of the Sardinian government, who afterwards refused to take them on some dispute about the price which he had offered.

2. In regard to arms distributed to the States and Territories since January 1st, 1860, the committee ascertained and reported that the whole number of muskets distributed among all the States, North and South, was 8423. These were army muskets of the best quality; but neither of the States of Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, North Carolina, or Texas, received any of them, because they neglected to ask for the quotas to which they were entitled. The other Southern and Southwestern States, which did apply for their quotas, received 2091 of these army muskets, or less than one-fourth. Of long range rifles of the army calibre, all the States received, in 1860, 1728. Six of the Southern and Southwestern States, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, received in the aggregate 758 of these long range rifles, and the two other Southern States received none. The eight Southern States received in the aggregate a less number of muskets and rifles than would be required to properly equip two full regiments.

3. In relation to arms transferred to the Southern arsenals of the United States, the committee ascertained that on the 29th of December, 1859, nearly eleven months before the election of Mr. Lincoln, and several months before his nomination, the Secretary of War ordered Colonel Craig to remove one-fifth of the old flint-lock and percussion muskets from the Springfield armory in Massachusetts, where they had accumulated in inconvenient numbers, to five Southern arsenals of the United States, for storage. The order and all the proceedings under it were duly recorded. No haste was resorted to: the arms were to be removed “from time to time, as may be most suitable for economy and transportation,” and to be placed in the different arsenals “in proportion to their respective means of proper storage.” This order was carried out by the Ordnance Bureau in the usual course of administration, without reference to the President. Of these muskets, entirely inferior to the new rifled musket of the United States army, 105,000 were transferred to the Southern arsenals under this order. There were also transferred under the same order, 10,000 of the old percussion rifles, of an inferior calibre to the new rifled muskets then used by the army. These constituted the 115,000 “extra muskets and rifles” which General Scott asserted, in 1862, had been sent into the South to arm the insurgents, who, he supposed, were just ready to commence the civil war eleven months before Mr. Lincoln’s election. Colonel Maynadier, in a letter which he addressed to a Congressional committee on the 3d of February, 1862, said of this order of December 29th, 1859, that it never occurred to him that it could have any improper motive, for Mr. Floyd was “then regarded throughout the country as a strong advocate of the Union and an opponent of secession, and had recently published a letter in a Richmond paper which gained him high credit in the North for his boldness in rebuking the pernicious views of many in his own State.” It should be added that no ammunition whatever was embraced in the order, and none accompanied the muskets.

4. On the subject of heavy ordnance ordered by Secretary Floyd to be sent from Pittsburgh to two forts of the United States then erecting in the South, the committee found and reported the following facts: On the 20th of December, 1860, nine days before his resignation, Secretary Floyd, without the knowledge of the President, gave to Captain Maynadier a verbal order to send to the forts on Ship Island and at Galveston the heavy guns necessary for their armament. Proceeding to carry out this order, Captain Maynadier, on the 22d of December, sent his written orders to the commanding officer of the Alleghany arsenal at Pittsburgh, directing him to send 113 “Columbiads” and 11 32-pounders to the two Southern forts. When these orders reached Pittsburgh, they caused a great excitement in that city. A committee of the citizens, whose letter to the President lies before me, dated December 25th, brought the matter to his personal attention, and advised that the orders be countermanded. The guns had not been shipped. Four days after this letter was written, Secretary Floyd was out of office. Mr. Holt, the new Secretary, by direction of the President, immediately rescinded the order. The city councils of Pittsburgh, on the 4th of January, 1861, sent a vote of thanks for this prompt proceeding, to the President, in which they included the new Attorney General, Mr. Stanton, and the new Secretary of War, Mr. Holt.

With this transaction General Scott had nothing whatever to do. Yet, in 1862, he at first thought that he discovered, early in March, 1861, something that happened in the December and January previous, and that he interfered just in time “to defeat the robbery!” It will be noticed that the General claimed to have given this information to Secretary Holt while he was acting for Secretary Cameron; that is, in March, after the close of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, and before Mr. Cameron, Mr. Lincoln’s Secretary of War, had taken possession of the Department. So that the inference naturally was that Mr. Buchanan had allowed his administration to expire, leaving this “posthumous order” of Secretary Floyd in force after Mr. Lincoln’s accession, and that but for General Scott’s interposition it would have been carried out; although the whole affair was ended before the 4th day of January, on information received from the citizens of Pittsburgh and promptly acted upon by President Buchanan and Secretary Holt, without any interference whatever by General Scott![^[101]]

CHAPTER XXI.
November, 1860-March, 1861.

THE ACTION OF CONGRESS ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL MESSAGE—THE “CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE”—STRANGE COURSE OF THE NEW YORK “TRIBUNE”—SPECIAL MESSAGE OF JANUARY 8, 1861.

It is now necessary to turn to what took place in Congress upon the recommendations of the President’s annual message. There were but two courses that Congress could pursue in this most extraordinary emergency. It must either preserve the Union by peaceful measures, or it must provide the President and his successor with the military force requisite to secure the execution of the laws and the supremacy of the Constitution. It was plain that in this, as in all similar cases of threatened revolt against the authority of a regular and long established government, mere inaction would be a fatal policy. After the State of South Carolina should have adopted an ordinance of secession, it would be too late to accomplish anything by merely arguing against the constitutional doctrine on which the asserted right of secession depended. That right was firmly held by multitudes of men in other States, and unless the Government of the United States should, by conciliatory measures, effectually disarm the disposition to exercise it, or effectually prepare to enforce the authority of the Constitution after secession had taken place, it was morally certain that the next two or three months would witness the formation of a Southern Confederacy of formidable strength. To the Executive Department it appropriately belonged to suggest the measures of conciliation needful for one of the alternatives of a sound and safe policy, and to execute the laws by all the means with which the Executive was then or might thereafter be clothed by the legislature. But the Executive could not in the smallest degree increase the means which existing laws had placed in his hands.

There was all the more reason for prompt action upon the President’s pacific recommendations, in the fact that the Government of the United States was wholly unprepared for a civil war. The nature of such a war, the character of the issue on which it would have to be waged, and the natural repugnance of the people of both sections to have such a calamity befall the country, all tended to enhance the duty of preventing it by timely concessions which would in no way impair the authority of the Constitution. It is true that potentially the Government had great resources in its war making power, its taxing power, and its control over the militia of the States. But inasmuch as a sudden resort to its ultimate powers, and to their plenary exercise was at this moment fraught with the greatest peril, there can be no question that the duty of conciliation stood first in the rank of moral and patriotic duties incumbent upon the representatives of the States and the people in the two houses of Congress. Next in the relative rank of these duties, to be performed, however, simultaneously with the first of them, stood the obligation to strengthen the hands of the Executive for the execution of the laws and the preservation of the public property in South Carolina, which was manifestly about to assume the attitude of an independent and foreign State. Whether either of these great duties was performed by the Congress, to which President Buchanan addressed his annual message and his subsequent appeals; what were the causes which produced a failure to meet the exigency; on whom rests the responsibility for that failure, and what were the consequences which it entailed, must now be considered. Mr. Buchanan has said that this Congress, beyond question, had it in its power to preserve the peace of the country and the integrity of the Union, and that it failed in this duty.[^[102]] Is this a righteous judgment, which history ought to affirm?

In the Senate, after the reading of the President’s message, so much as related to the present agitated and distracted condition of the country and the grievances between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States, was referred to a select committee of thirteen members. The composition of this committee was most remarkable. It consisted of five Republicans: Senators Seward, Collamer, Wade, Doolittle, and Grimes, all of them from non-slaveholding States, and all prominent adherents of that “Chicago platform” on which Mr. Lincoln had been elected; five members from slaveholding States, Senators Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Toombs, and Davis, and three “Northern Democrats,” Senators Douglas, Bigler, and Bright. It was understood that the three last named Senators were placed upon the committee to act as mediators between the Northern and the Southern sections which the ten other members represented. Under ordinary circumstances, a committee would have shaped its report by the decisions of a majority of its members, if they could not be unanimous. But at the first meeting of this committee, on the 21st of December, the day after that on which South Carolina passed her ordinance of secession, an extraordinary resolution was adopted, that no proposition should be reported as the decision of the committee, unless sustained by a majority of each of the classes comprising the committee, and it was defined that the Senators of the Republican party were to constitute one class, and Senators of the other parties were to constitute the other class. Thus, while there were eight members of the committee who might, by concurring in any proposition, ordinarily determine the action of the body, it could not become the decision of that body unless it was supported by the votes of a separate majority of the five Republican members. It was said that the reason for this restriction was that no report would be adopted by the Senate, unless it had been concurred in by at least a majority of the five Republican Senators. Valid or invalid as this reason may have been, the restriction is a remarkable proof of the sectional attitude of the Northern Senators, of the responsibility which they assumed, and of the willingness of the majority of the Southern Senators to have the Republican members of the committee exercise such a power and bear such a responsibility. The sequel will show how a committee thus composed and thus tied down was likely to act.

On the 22d, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, a Senator whose name will be forever venerated for the patriotic part which he took throughout the proceedings of this Congress, submitted to the committee a “Joint Resolution,” which he had already offered in the Senate, and which became known as “the Crittenden Compromise.” It proposed certain amendments of the Constitution which would reconcile the conflicting claims of the North and the South, by yielding to the South the right to take slaves into the Territories south of the parallel of 36° 30´, and excluding slavery from all the Territories north of that line: with the further provision that when any Territory north or south of that line, within such boundaries as Congress might prescribe, should contain a population requisite for a member of Congress, it should be admitted into the Union as a State with or without slavery, as the State constitution adopted by the people might provide. When it is considered that the people of the slaveholding States claimed that the Supreme Court of the United States had already decided that slaves might be taken as property into any Territory and be there held as property, under a constitutional right resulting from the common ownership of the Territories by the States composing the Union, the “Crittenden Compromise,” if accepted, would be a sacrifice by the South with which the North might well be content. Whatever were the technical reasons which could be alleged to show that the Supreme Court had not made a determination of this question that was binding as a judicial decision, it was nevertheless true that a majority of the judges had affirmed in their several opinions the claim of every Southern slaveholder to carry his slaves into the Territories of the United States and to hold them there as property, until the formation of a State constitution. President Buchanan always regarded the case of “Dred Scott” as a judicial decision of this constitutional question. But whether it was so or not, the claim had long been asserted and was still asserted by the people of the Southern States; and if it was still open as a judicial question, as the Republican party contended, and if it could be resisted as a political claim by one section of the Union, it was equally open to the other section to treat it as a political controversy, which required to be disposed of by mutual concession between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States. The Republican party, confined exclusively to the non-slaveholding States, had, by their political platform in the late Presidential election, treated the action of the Supreme Court as a nullity, and had affirmed as a cardinal doctrine of their political creed that slavery should forever be excluded, by positive law, from all the Territories of the United States. The circumstances under which the Democratic party came into the political field in that election did not show that this party universally took the opposite side; but the votes of the Southern States in the election show most clearly that the people of those States still asserted the claim which they held to have been affirmed by the highest judicial tribunal in the country.

If, therefore, the Crittenden Compromise should be accepted by the South, it could not be denied that the South would sacrifice a claim which her people were practically unanimous in asserting as a right. On the other hand, what would the North lose by that compromise? It would lose nothing but an abstraction; for there was no Territory south of 36° 30´ but New Mexico, and into that Territory slave labor could never be profitably introduced, on account of the nature of the country.[^[103]] While, therefore, the North would by this compromise yield nothing but a useless abstract concession to the South, and would gain, in fact, all the vast territory north of the compromise line as free territory forever, the Republican party would undoubtedly have to sacrifice the dogma of the “Chicago platform.” Whether that dogma ought to have been held paramount to every other consideration, is a question on which posterity will have to pass.

It was not yet too late to make this peace-offering to the South. Mr. Crittenden’s proposition was offered to the committee before any of the Government forts in the Southern States had been seized, when no State excepting South Carolina had “seceded,” and when no convention of the six other cotton States had assembled. Well might Mr. Buchanan say that the moment was propitious. Well might the patriotic Crittenden say, in addressing his colleagues on the committee: “The sacrifice to be made for its preservation (the Union) is comparatively worthless. Peace and harmony and union in a great nation were never purchased at so cheap a rate as we now have it in our power to do. It is a scruple only, a scruple of as little value as a barleycorn, that stands between us and peace, and reconciliation, and union; and we stand here pausing and hesitating about that little atom which is to be sacrificed.”

But this admirable and unselfish statesman was then to learn that there are states of men’s minds and characters when, fixed by the antecedents and committals of party, eloquence does not convince, facts are powerless; when the “barleycorn” becomes a great and important object; when mole hills become mountains, and when fear of constituents dominates over all other fears. Yet it cannot be doubted that there was really very little reason to fear that the constituencies of Northern Senators would hold them to a strict account for voting in favor of the Crittenden Compromise. Public feeling almost everywhere hailed it as the promise of peace and of the perpetuity of the Union. Nevertheless, all the five Republican members of the committee voted against it. This secured its rejection, under the resolution that had been adopted by the committee. But the singular fact is to be added that two Senators from the cotton States, Messrs. Davis, of Mississippi, and Toombs, of Georgia, also voted in the same way.

Readers will look in vain through Mr. Jefferson Davis’s recent work for a satisfactory explanation of this vote. But an explanation may perhaps be found in his whole course from the beginning of the session to his withdrawal from the Senate in the month of January, 1861, after the State of Mississippi had seceded. No impartial person can, it seems to me, read Mr. Davis’s own account of his public conduct at this crisis, without reaching the conclusion that whatever aid he may at any time have been disposed to render in the pacification of the country was at all times neutralized by his attitude in regard to the right of secession. From first to last he insisted that South Carolina, after she had adopted an ordinance of secession, should be regarded by the Government of the United States as an independent power. He was active in promoting the objects for which her commissioners came to Washington in the last week of December. He demanded that the troops of the United States should be withdrawn from the forts in Charleston harbor; that those forts should be surrendered to the paramount sovereignty of a State now become a foreign nation; and he scouted and ridiculed the idea that the Federal Executive could employ a military force in executing the laws of the United States within the dominion of a State which had withdrawn the powers that she had formerly deposited with the General Government. There was something singularly preposterous in this demand that a great government, which had subsisted for more than seventy years, and had always executed its laws against all combinations of an insurrectionary character, whether created by individuals or by State authority, should now “thaw and resolve itself into a dew,” before the all-consuming energy of a State ordinance; should accept the secession theory of the Constitution as the unquestionable law of the land, at the peril of encountering a civil war. How could measures of conciliation and concession be of any value, though tendered by the Federal Government, if that Government was in the same breath to admit that it had no constitutional power to enforce its authority if the offer of conciliation and concession should be rejected? Yet Mr. Davis’s ground of quarrel with President Buchanan was that he would not admit the right of secession. He could not either persuade or drive the President into that admission; and surely there can be no stronger proof of the integrity, fidelity and firmness of the President than this one fact affords.

Mr. Davis takes credit to himself and other Southern Senators for having intervened to prevent the authorities of South Carolina from making any attack upon the forts, so that a civil war might not be precipitated while measures for the settlement of the sectional difficulties were pending. No one need deny that those Senators are entitled to all the credit that justly belongs to such efforts. But why were those efforts made, and by what were they all along accompanied? They were made in order that there might be no bloodshed brought about, which would cause the other cotton States to recoil from the support of South Carolina in her assertion of the right of secession; and they were always accompanied by the demand that the Federal Government should permit the peaceable secession of any State, even to the extent of refraining from enforcing its laws and from holding its property within the dominions of any State that should choose to secede. This idea of peaceable secession, and all that it comprehended, was founded on the wild expectation that the two classes of States, slaveholding and non-slaveholding, after an experimental trial of separate confederacies, would find some system of union, some basis of reconstruction, other than the basis of the Constitution of the United States. Whatever claims of statesmanship may belong to those who entertained this chimerical project, they could hardly press it upon others as a reason for treating the Constitution of the United States as a system of government confessedly destitute of any authority or power to execute its own laws or to retain its own existence. But this is just what Mr. Davis denounced President Buchanan for not admitting; and he therefore, to the extent of his influence, counteracted the President’s great object of isolating the State of South Carolina by measures that would quiet the agitation in other slaveholding States, and at the same time would prepare the necessary means for executing the laws of the United States within the limits of that one State, in case she should adopt an ordinance of secession.

On the other hand, the Republican Senators on the Committee of Thirteen who voted against the Crittenden Compromise had no such policy to actuate them as that which governed Mr. Davis. They had no reason for refusing their aid to the President that could be founded on any difference of opinion as to the constitutional duty of the Executive. They knew that he was asking for means to uphold the authority of the Constitution in South Carolina, at the same time that he was urging measures which would prevent other States from joining her in the secession movement. What explanation of their conduct is possible and will leave to them the acquittal of patriotic purposes, I am not aware. But the fact is, that at no time during the session did a single Republican Senator, in any form whatever, give his vote or his influence for the Crittenden Compromise, or for any other measure that would strengthen the hands of the President either in maintaining peace or in executing the laws of the United States. Whether the spirit of party led them to refuse all aid to an outgoing President; whether they did not believe that there would be any necessity for a resort to arms; whether they did not choose, from sectional animosity, to abate anything from the “Chicago platform;” whatever was the governing motive for their inaction, it never can be said that they were not seasonably warned by the President that a policy of inaction would be fatal. That policy not only crippled him, but it crippled his successor. When Mr. Lincoln came into office, seven States had already seceded, and not a single law had been put upon the statute book which would enable the Executive to meet such a condition of the Union.

Not only is it manifest that the Crittenden proposition was reasonable and proper in itself, but there is high authority for saying that it ought to have been embraced by every Republican Senator. While it was pending before the Committee of Thirteen, General Duff Green, a prominent citizen of Mississippi, visited Mr. Lincoln, the President-elect, at his home in Springfield, Illinois. Mr. Green took with him a copy of Mr. Crittenden’s resolutions, and asked Mr. Lincoln’s opinion of them. The substance of what Mr. Lincoln said was reported on the 28th of December to President Buchanan, in the following note:

[GENERAL DUFF GREEN TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN.]

Springfield, Ill., December 28, 1860.

Dear Sir:—

I have had a long and interesting conversation with Mr. Lincoln. I brought with me a copy of the resolutions submitted by Mr. Crittenden, which he read over several times, and said that he believed that the adoption of the line proposed would quiet, for the present, the agitation of the slavery question, but believed it would be renewed by the seizure and attempted annexation of Mexico. He said that the real question at issue between the North and the South was slavery “propagandism,” and that upon that issue the Republican party was opposed to the South, and that he was with his own party; that he had been elected by that party, and intended to sustain his party in good faith; but added, that the question on the amendments to the Constitution and the questions submitted by Mr. Crittenden belonged to the people and States in legislatures or conventions, and that he would be inclined not only to acquiesce, but to give full force and effect to their will thus expressed. Seeing that he was embarrassed by his sense of duty to his party, I suggested that he might so frame a letter to me as to refer the measures for the preservation of the Union to the action of the people in the several States, and he promised to prepare a letter, giving me his views, by 9 a.m. to-morrow. If his letter be satisfactory, its purport will be communicated to you by telegraph.

Yours truly,

Duff Green.

I know of no evidence that Mr. Lincoln prepared the letter which he promised. No account of it appears to have reached Mr. Buchanan by telegraph or otherwise. It is probable that Mr. Lincoln, feeling more strongly the embarrassment arising from his party relations, reconsidered his determination, and excused himself to General Green. But what his opinion was is sufficiently proved by the note which General Green dispatched from Springfield, and which must have reached Mr. Buchanan at about the time when the committee of thirteen made their report to the Senate that they were unable to agree upon any general plan of adjustment of the sectional difficulties. This report was made on the 31st of December.

The last ten days of the year were thus suffered to elapse without anything being done to arrest the rising tide of secession in the seven cotton States. Most of these States had suspended or delayed their action until it could be known whether there was to be any concession made by the Republican party as represented in Congress. They now rapidly accomplished their secession measures. The conventions of Florida on the 7th of January, Mississippi on the 9th, Alabama on the 11th, Georgia on the 19th, Louisiana on the 25th, and Texas on the 5th of February, adopted ordinances of secession by great majorities. These ordinances were followed by a general seizure of the public property of the United States within the limits of those States, after the example of South Carolina.

Among the discouraging influences which now operated with a double mischief to counteract the efforts of those who aimed to confine secession to the State of South Carolina, must be mentioned the course of one of the most prominent papers of the North. No journal had exercised a greater power in promoting the election of Mr. Lincoln upon the “Chicago platform” than the New York Tribune. It was universally and justly regarded as a representative of a large section of the Republican party. Its founder and chief editor, Horace Greeley, was a man of singular mould. Beginning life as a journeyman printer, he learned in the practice of type-setting the compass and power of the English language. In the course of a long experience as a public writer, he acquired a style of much energy, and of singular directness. But, without a regular education and the mental discipline which it gives, he never learned to take a comprehensive and statesmanlike view of public questions. His impulses, feelings, and sympathies were on the side of humanity and the progress of mankind. But these generous and noble qualities were unbalanced by a sense of the restraints which the fundamental political conditions of the American Union imposed upon philanthropic action. He was, therefore, almost incapable of appreciating the moral foundations on which the Union was laid by the Constitution of the United States. He felt deeply the inherent wrong of African slavery, but he could not see, or did not care to see, that the Union of slaveholding and non-slaveholding States under one system of government for national purposes was caused by public necessities that justified its original formation, and that continued to make its preservation the highest of civil obligations. He did not, like many of the anti-slavery agitators, renounce the whole of the Constitution. But while he was willing that the North should enjoy its benefits, he was ever ready to assail those provisions, however deeply they were embedded in the basis of the Union, which recognized and to a qualified extent upheld the slavery existing under the local law of certain States. When, therefore, the long political conflict between the two sections of the country culminated in a condition of things which presented the alternatives of a peaceful separation of the slave and the free States, or a denial of the doctrine of secession and the consequences claimed for it, Mr. Greeley threw his personal weight, and the weight of his widely circulated journal, against the authority of the General Government to enforce in any way the obligations of the Constitution. He did not much concern himself with the distinction between coercing a State by force of arms from adopting an ordinance of secession, and coercing individuals after secession to obey the laws of the United States. From the period immediately before the election of Mr. Lincoln, after his election, and for a time after his inauguration, Mr. Greeley opposed all coercion of every kind. He maintained that the right of secession was the same as the right of revolution; and after the cotton States had formed their confederacy and adopted a provisional constitution, he tendered the aid of his journal to forward their views. He thus, on the one hand, joined his influence to the cry of the professed abolitionists who renounced the Constitution entirely, and on the other hand, contributed his powerful pen in encouraging the secessionists to persevere in separating their States from the Union.

Mr. Greeley’s secession argument, drawn from the Declaration of Independence and the right of revolution, was a remarkable proof of the unsoundness of his reasoning powers. Because the right of self-government is an inherent right of a people, he assumed that men cannot be required to perform their covenanted obligations. He could not see, he said, how twenty millions of people could rightfully hold ten, or even five, other millions in a political union which those other millions wished to renounce. But if he had ever been in the habit of reasoning upon the Constitution of the United States as other men reasoned, who did not accept the doctrine of State secession, he could have seen that when five millions of people, exercising freely the right of self-government, have solemnly covenanted with the twenty millions that they will obey the laws enacted by a legislative authority which they have voluntarily established over themselves and over all the inhabitants of the country, the moralist and the publicist can rest the right to use compulsion upon a basis which is perfectly consistent with the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and which those principles do in truth recognize.

In fact, however, Mr. Greeley, by his public utterances at this great crisis, bettered the instructions of the secessionists themselves. He taught them that the Crittenden Compromise, or any other measure of conciliation, need not be considered. They had only to will that they would leave the Union, and they were out of it, and at liberty to care nothing about concessions from the North. And in the same way, he taught those of the North, on whom rested the immediate duty of preventing the spread of the secession movement, that all measures of conciliation were useless, for the right of secession, as he maintained, was bottomed on the Declaration of Independence, and neither persuasion nor coercion ought to be used against the exercise of such a right. Such political philosophy as this, proclaimed by a leading organ of the Republican party, created difficulties for a President situated as Mr. Buchanan was after the election of his successor, which posterity can not overlook.[^[104]]

Seeing how fatally wrong was the course of this erratic journalist, and how much depended on the success of the Crittenden Compromise, the President endeavored to enlist in its behalf another great journal of the North, which was conducted by a person on whom he thought he could rely, and whose paper was professedly independent of party politics. The following private letter to the editor of the New York Herald attests how earnestly Mr. Buchanan was bent upon the improvement of every chance by which the spread of secession might be prevented:

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JAMES GORDON BENNETT.]

(Private and confidential.)

Washington, December 20, 1860.

My Dear Sir:—

You wield the most powerful organ in the country for the formation of public opinion, and I have no doubt you feel a proportionate responsibility under the present alarming circumstances of the country. Every person here has his own remedy for existing evils, and there is no general assent to any proposition. Still, I believe the tendency is strong, and is becoming stronger every day, towards the Missouri Compromise, with the same protection to slaves south of 36° 30´ that is given to other property. The South can lose no territory north of this line, because no portion of it is adapted to slave labor, whilst they would gain a substantial security within the Union by such a constitutional amendment. The Republicans have for some years manifested indignation at the repeal of this compromise, and would probably be more willing to accept it than any other measure to guarantee the rights of the South. I have stated my favorite plan in the message, but am willing to abandon it at any moment for one more practicable and equally efficacious. If your judgment should approve it, you could do much by concentrating and directing your energies to this single point. My object, when I commenced to write, was simply to express my opinion that existing circumstances tended strongly toward the Missouri Compromise; but, with pen in hand, I shall make one or two other remarks.

I do not know whether the great commercial and social advantages of the telegraph are not counterbalanced by its political evils. No one can judge of this so well as myself. The public mind throughout the interior is kept in a constant state of excitement by what are called “telegrams.” They are short and spicy, and can easily be inserted in the country newspapers. In the city journals they can be contradicted the next day; but the case is different throughout the country. Many of them are sheer falsehoods, and especially those concerning myself......

With my kindest and most cordial regards to Mrs. Bennett, I remain, very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

Although defeated before the Committee of Thirteen, Mr. Crittenden did not abandon the cause of peace and Union. His proposed compromise, it was now apparent, could not be carried as an amendment of the Constitution by the requisite two-thirds vote of Congress. But an appeal could be made to the people, if a majority of both Houses would send the question to them; and if this majority could be obtained in time, he and others had good reason to believe that the course of secession in the six remaining cotton States could be stayed. He therefore postponed by his own motion the further consideration of his proposed amendment, and on the 3d of January, 1861, before any State excepting South Carolina had seceded, he introduced a substitute for it, in the shape of a joint resolution, by which he proposed to refer his compromise to a direct vote of the people in the several States, so that they could instruct their representatives to give it the initiatory shape of a constitutional amendment. This course of action was not provided for in the amending clause of the Constitution, and it was, without doubt, extraordinary. But there was nothing in the Constitution inconsistent with it; it would not set aside any of the forms by which amendments of the Constitution must be initiated and adopted; and the circumstances of the country were so extraordinary that any means of reaching public opinion would be entirely proper. Moreover, it was not an unprecedented step, for State legislatures and other public bodies had frequently recommended various amendments of the Constitution. Mr. Crittenden’s resolution justified itself by its own terms. It read as follows:

“Whereas, the Union is in danger, and, owing to the unhappy divisions existing in Congress, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for that body to concur in both its branches by the requisite majority, so as to enable it either to adopt such measures of legislation, or to recommend to the States such amendments to the Constitution, as are deemed necessary and proper to avert that danger; and, whereas, in so great an emergency, the opinion and judgment of the people ought to be heard, and would be the best and surest guide to their representatives: Therefore, Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law, without delay, for taking the sense of the people and submitting to their vote the following resolution [the same as in his former amendment], as the basis for the final and permanent settlement of those disputes that now disturb the peace of the country and threaten the existence of the Union.”

The President now interposed the weight of his office, by a special message to Congress, dated on the 8th of January. What had occurred between him and the South Carolina commissioners has been detailed. Of this occurrence, and of the position of affairs in Charleston harbor, Congress was now officially informed by the special message; the residue of it was devoted to the expediency and necessity of allowing the people to express their sentiments concerning the proposition of Mr. Crittenden.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

At the opening of your present session I called your attention to the dangers which threatened the existence of the Union. I expressed my opinion freely concerning the original causes of those dangers, and recommended such measures as I believed would have the effect of tranquilizing the country and saving it from the peril in which it had been needlessly and most unfortunately involved. Those opinions and recommendations I do not propose now to repeat. My own convictions upon the whole subject remain unchanged.

The fact that a great calamity was impending over the nation was even at that time acknowledged by every intelligent citizen. It had already made itself felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. The necessary consequences of the alarm thus produced were most deplorable. The imports fell off with a rapidity never known before, except in time of war, in the history of our foreign commerce; the Treasury was unexpectedly left without the means which it had reasonably counted upon to meet the public engagements; trade was paralyzed; manufactures were stopped; the best public securities suddenly sunk in the market; every species of property depreciated more or less; and thousands of poor men, who depended upon their daily labor for their daily bread, were turned out of employment.

I deeply regret that I am not able to give you any information upon the state of the Union which is more satisfactory than what I was then obliged to communicate. On the contrary, matters are still worse at present than they then were. When Congress met, a strong hope pervaded the whole public mind that some amicable adjustment of the subject would speedily be made by the representatives of the States and of the people, which might restore peace between the conflicting sections of the country. That hope has been diminished by every hour of delay; and as the prospect of a bloodless settlement fades away, the public distress becomes more and more aggravated. As evidence of this, it is only necessary to say that the Treasury notes authorized by the act of 17th December last were advertised, according to the law, and that no responsible bidder offered to take any considerable sum at par at a lower rate of interest than twelve per cent. From these facts it appears that, in a government organized like ours, domestic strife, or even a well-grounded fear of civil hostilities, is more destructive to our public and private interests than the most formidable foreign war.

In my annual message I expressed the conviction, which I have long deliberately held, and which recent reflection has only tended to deepen and confirm, that no State has a right by its own act to secede from the Union, or throw off its Federal obligations at pleasure. I also declared my opinion to be that, even if that right existed and should be exercised by any State of the Confederacy, the Executive Department of this Government had no authority under the Constitution to recognize its validity by acknowledging the independence of such State. This left me no alternative, as the Chief Executive officer under the Constitution of the United States, but to collect the public revenues and to protect the public property so far as this might be practicable under existing laws. This is still my purpose. My province is to execute, and not to make the laws. It belongs to Congress, exclusively, to repeal, to modify, or to enlarge their provisions, to meet exigencies as they may occur. I possess no dispensing power.

I certainly had no right to make aggressive war upon any State, and I am perfectly satisfied that the Constitution has wisely withheld that power even from Congress. But the right and the duty to use military force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers in the execution of their legal functions, and against those who assail the property of the Federal Government, is clear and undeniable.

But the dangerous and hostile attitude of the States toward each other has already far transcended and cast in the shade the ordinary executive duties already provided for by law, and has assumed such vast and alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely above and beyond executive control. The fact cannot be disguised that we are in the midst of a great revolution. In all its various bearings, therefore, I commend the question to Congress, as the only human tribunal, under Providence, possessing the power to meet the existing emergency. To them, exclusively, belongs the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution; and they alone possess the power to remove grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union to this distracted country. On them, and on them alone, rests the responsibility.

The Union is a sacred trust left by our revolutionary fathers to their descendants; and never did any other people inherit so rich a legacy. It has rendered us prosperous in peace and triumphant in war. The national flag has floated in glory over every sea. Under its shadow American citizens have found protection and respect in all lands beneath the sun. If we descend to considerations of purely material interest, when, in the history of all time, has a confederacy been bound together by such strong ties of mutual interest? Each portion of it is dependent on all, and all upon each portion, for prosperity and domestic security. Free trade throughout the whole supplies the wants of one portion from the productions of another, and scatters wealth everywhere. The great planting and farming States require the aid of the commercial and navigating States to send their productions to domestic and foreign markets, and to furnish the naval power to render their transportation secure against all hostile attacks.

Should the Union perish in the midst of the present excitement, we have already had a sad foretaste of the universal suffering which would result from its destruction. The calamity would be severe in every portion of the Union, and would be quite as great, to say the least, in the Southern as in the Northern States. The greatest aggravation of the evil, and that which would place us in the most unfavorable light both before the world and posterity, is, as I am firmly convinced, that the secession movement has been chiefly based upon a misapprehension at the South of the sentiments of the majority in several of the Northern States. Let the question be transferred from political assemblies to the ballot-box, and the people themselves would speedily redress the serious grievances which the South have suffered. But, in Heaven’s name, let the trial be made before we plunge into armed conflict upon the mere assumption that there is no other alternative. Time is a great conservative power. Let us pause at this momentous point and afford the people, both North and South, an opportunity for reflection. Would that South Carolina had been convinced of this truth before her precipitate action! I, therefore, appeal through you to the people of this country to declare in their might that the Union must and shall be preserved by all constitutional means. I most earnestly recommend that you devote yourselves exclusively to the question how this can be accomplished in peace. All other questions, when compared with this, sink into insignificance. The present is no time for palliatives; action, prompt action, is required. A delay in Congress to prescribe or to recommend a distinct and practical proposition for conciliation may drive us to a point from which it will be almost impossible to recede.

A common ground on which conciliation and harmony can be produced is not unattainable. The proposition to compromise by letting the North have exclusive control of the territory above a certain line, and to give Southern institutions protection below that line, ought to receive universal approbation. In itself, indeed, it may not be entirely satisfactory; but when the alternative is between a reasonable concession on both sides and a destruction of the Union, it is an imputation upon the patriotism of Congress to assert that its members will hesitate for a moment.

Even now the danger is upon us. In several of the States which have not yet seceded, the forts, arsenals, and magazines of the United States have been seized. This is by far the most serious step which has been taken since the commencement of the troubles. This public property has long been left without garrisons and troops for its protection, because no person doubted its security under the flag of the country in any State of the Union. Besides, our small army has scarcely been sufficient to guard our remote frontiers against Indian incursions. The seizure of this property, from all appearances, has been purely aggressive, and not in resistance to any attempt to coerce a State or States to remain in the Union.

At the beginning of these unhappy troubles, I determined that no act of mine should increase the excitement in either section of the country. If the political conflict were to end in a civil war, it was my determined purpose not to commence it, nor even to furnish an excuse for it by an act of this Government. My opinion remains unchanged, that justice as well as sound policy requires us still to seek a peaceful solution of the questions at issue between the North and the South. Entertaining this conviction, I refrained even from sending reinforcements to Major Anderson, who commanded the forts in Charleston harbor, until an absolute necessity for doing so should make itself apparent, lest it might unjustly be regarded as a menace of military coercion, and thus furnish, if not a provocation, a pretext for an outbreak on the part of South Carolina. No necessity for these reinforcements seemed to exist. I was assured by distinguished and upright gentlemen of South Carolina[^[105]] that no attack upon Major Anderson was intended, but that, on the contrary, it was the desire of the State authorities, as much as it was my own, to avoid the fatal consequences which must eventually follow a military collision.

And here I deem it proper to submit, for your information, copies of a communication, dated December 28, 1860, addressed to me by R. W. Barnwell, J. H. Adams, and J. L. Orr, “commissioners” from South Carolina, with the accompanying documents, and copies of my answer thereto, dated December 31.

In further explanation of Major Anderson’s removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, it is proper to state that, after my answer to the South Carolina “commissioners,” the War Department received a letter from that gallant officer, dated December 27, 1860, the day after this movement, from which the following is an extract:

“I will add, as my opinion, that many things convinced me that the authorities of the State designed to proceed to a hostile act” [evidently referring to the orders dated December 11, of the late Secretary of War]. “Under this impression, I could not hesitate that it was my solemn duty to move my command from a fort which we could not probably have held longer than forty-eight or sixty hours to this one, where my power of resistance is increased to a very great degree.” It will be recollected that the concluding part of these orders was in the following terms: “The smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts; but an attack on, or attempt to take possession of either one of them, will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also authorized to take similar defensive steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act.”

It is said that serious apprehensions are, to some extent, entertained, in which I do not share, that the peace of this District may be disturbed before the 4th of March next. In any event, it will be my duty to preserve it, and this duty shall be performed.

In conclusion, it may be permitted to me to remark that I have often warned my countrymen of the dangers which now surround us. This may be the last time I shall refer to the subject officially. I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed; and whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.

James Buchanan.

Washington City, Jan. 8, 1861.

It is a painful part of an historian’s duty to reflect upon the conduct of public men, who had it in their power at least to show a willingness to save their country from the calamity of civil war, and who appear to have been indifferent to everything but the dogmas of a party platform. This special message of President Buchanan, in the circumstances of the moment, was entitled to the gravest attention and respect. It ought to have produced immediate assent to its recommendation, on the part of Republican Senators, whom it would have relieved from their previous committals to the “Chicago platform” by a reference of the questions in dispute to the people of the country. The venerable age of the President, his long experience in public affairs, his unquestionable patriotism, his approaching retirement from public life, his manifest desire to leave the Government to his successor unembarrassed by anything but the secession of South Carolina, should have conciliated the support of some at least, if not of all, of the Republican Senators. But, as it is now my melancholy duty to show from the record, not one Republican Senator ever voted for Mr. Crittenden’s resolution, the adoption of which the President so strongly recommended. Memorials of the most earnest character, coming from all quarters of the North, even from New England, urging the passage of the Crittenden Compromise, were heaped upon the table of the Senate.[^[106]] On the 14th of January, Mr. Crittenden made an unsuccessful effort to have his resolution considered. It was postponed to the following day. On the 15th, every Republican Senator voted for its further postponement, to make room for the Pacific Railroad Bill. On the 16th, Mr. Crittenden obtained, by a majority of one vote—all the Republican Senators voting nay—the consideration of his resolution. Parliamentary tactics were then resorted to by the Republicans to defeat it. Mr. Clark, a Republican Senator from New Hampshire, moved to strike out the whole preamble and body of the resolution, and to substitute in its place another preamble and resolution of an entirely opposite character, and affirming the dogma of the Chicago platform in relation to slavery in the Territories. For this motion there were 25 yeas to 23 nays; all the Republican Senators voting in the affirmative.[^[107]] Buried under the Clark amendment, Mr. Crittenden’s resolution remained for more than six weeks, until the 2d of March, when it was too late for final action upon it. But on that day a vote was taken upon it, and it was defeated by 19 votes in the affirmative and 20 in the negative.[^[108]]

CHAPTER XXII.
1861—January, February, and March.

THE “PEACE CONVENTION”—FORT SUMTER—THE STAR OF THE WEST FIRED UPON IN CHARLESTON HARBOR—ANDERSON’S TEMPORARY TRUCE—THE HARBOR OF PENSACOLA AND FORT PICKENS—THE COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN EX-PRESIDENT TYLER AND PRESIDENT BUCHANAN.

The vote of the Senate on the 16th of January, by which Mr. Crittenden’s resolution was defeated by the tactics of the Republicans, aided by six of the Southern Senators, made it apparent that some extraordinary interposition could alone save the Union. For such interposition there was still time, if it could be promptly exerted, and Congress could be induced to listen to it. It came from the State of Virginia, and as Mr. Buchanan has given a succinct and accurate account of this movement, which resulted in the assembling at Washington of the body called “The Peace Convention,” I transcribe it into these pages:

These great and powerful commonwealths [the border States] still remained faithful to the Union. They had hitherto stood aloof from secession, and had manifested an earnest desire not only to remain in the Union themselves, but to exert their powerful influence to bring back the seceding sisters. Virginia had ever ranked as chief among the Southern States, and had exercised great influence over their counsels. She had now taken the lead in the grand design to save the Union, and it became the duty of the President to render her all the aid in his power in a cause so holy. Every reflecting man foresaw that if the present movement of Virginia should fail to impress upon Congress and the country the necessity for adopting a peaceful compromise, like that proposed by Mr. Crittenden, there was imminent danger that all the border slave States would follow the cotton States, which had already adopted ordinances of secession, and unite with them in an attempt to break up the Union. Indeed, as has been already seen, the Virginia legislature had declared that, in case of failure, such a dissolution was “inevitable.”

The Peace Convention met on the 4th February.[^[109]] It was composed of one hundred and thirty-three commissioners, representing twenty-one States. A bare inspection of the list will convince all inquirers of the great respectability and just influence of its members. Among them there were many venerable and distinguished citizens from the border States, earnestly intent upon restoring and saving the Union. Their great object was to prevail upon their associates from the North to unite with them in such recommendations to Congress as would prevent their own States from seceding, and enable them to bring back the cotton States which had already seceded. It will be recollected that on the 4th February, when the Peace Convention assembled, six of the cotton States, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, had already adopted ordinances of secession; and that but four days thereafter (8th February) deputies from these States had adopted and published at Montgomery, Alabama, a Provisional Constitution for the so-called Confederate States. The Union was then crumbling to pieces. One month only of the session of Congress remained. Within this brief period it was necessary that the Convention should recommend amendments to the Constitution in sufficient time to enable both Houses to act upon them before their final adjournment. It was also essential to success that these amendments should be sustained by a decided majority of the commissioners both from the Northern and the border States. It was, however, soon discovered that the same malign influence which had caused every Republican member of Congress to oppose the Crittenden Compromise, would probably defeat the patriotic purpose for which the Convention had assembled.

On Wednesday, the 6th February, a resolution was adopted,[^[110]] on motion of Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, to refer the resolutions of the General Assembly of Virginia, and all other kindred subjects, to a committee to consist of one commissioner from each State, to be selected by the respective State delegations; and to prevent delay they were instructed to report on or before the Friday following (the 8th), “what they may deem right, necessary, and proper to restore harmony and preserve the Union.”

This committee, instead of reporting on the day appointed, did not report until Friday, the 15th February,[^[111]] and thus a precious week was lost......

The amendments reported by a majority of the committee, through Mr. Guthrie, their chairman, were substantially the same with the Crittenden Compromise; but on motion of Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, the general terms of the first and by far the most important section were restricted to the present Territories of the United States.[^[112]] On motion of Mr. Franklin, of Pennsylvania, this section was further amended, but not materially changed, by the adoption of the substitute offered by him. Nearly in this form it was afterwards adopted by the Convention.[^[113]] The following is a copy: “In all the present Territory of the United States north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude, involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, is prohibited. In all the present Territory south of that line, the status of persons held to involuntary service or labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed; nor shall any law be passed by Congress or the Territorial legislature to hinder or prevent the taking of such persons from any of the States of this Union to said Territory, nor to impair the rights arising from said relation; but the same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal courts, according to the course of the common law. When any Territory north or south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe, shall contain a population equal to that required for a member of Congress, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or without involuntary servitude, as the Constitution of such State may provide.”

Mr. Baldwin, of Connecticut, and Mr. Seddon, of Virginia, on opposite extremes, made minority reports, which they proposed to substitute for that of the majority. Mr. Baldwin’s report was a recommendation “to the several States to unite with Kentucky in her application to Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, to be submitted to the legislatures of the several States, or to conventions therein, for ratification, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress, in accordance with the provisions in the fifth article of the Constitution.”[^[114]]

Of the two modes prescribed by the Constitution for its own amendment, this was the least eligible at the existing crisis, because by far the most dilatory. Instead of calling upon Congress, then in session and which could act immediately, to propose specific amendments to the legislatures of the several States, it adopted the circuitous mode of requesting these legislatures, in the first instance, to apply to Congress to call a convention. Even should two-thirds of them respond in the affirmative to this request, the process would necessarily occasion a delay of years in attaining the object, when days were all-important. This would entirely defeat the patriotic purpose of the Peace Convention. It was called to obtain, if possible, a direct vote of two-thirds of both Houses before the end of the session in favor of such amendments as it might recommend. Could such a vote be obtained, it was confidently expected by the friends of the Union that its moral influence would, for the present, satisfy the border States; would arrest the tide beginning to rise among their people in favor of secession, and might enable them to exercise an effective influence in reclaiming the States which had already seceded. Affairs were then so urgent that long before the State legislatures could possibly ask Congress to call a convention as required by Mr. Baldwin’s proposition, the cause of the Union might be hopeless. It was, therefore, rejected.

This proposition of Mr. Baldwin, evasive and dilatory as it was, nevertheless received the votes of eight of the twenty-one States.[^[115]] These consisted of the whole of the New England States, except Rhode Island, and of Illinois, Iowa and New York, all being free States. This was an evil omen.

The first amendment reported by Mr. Seddon differed from that of the majority, inasmuch as it embraced not only the present but all future Territories.[^[116]] This was rejected.[^[117]] His second amendment, which, however, was never voted upon by the Convention, went so far as distinctly to recognize the right of secession.

It cannot be denied that there was in the convention an extreme Southern rights element, headed by Mr. Seddon. This manifested itself throughout its proceedings. These show how naturally extremes meet. On more than one important occasion, we find the vote of Virginia and North Carolina, though given in each case by a bare majority of their commissioners, side by side with the vote of Massachusetts and Vermont. It would be too tedious to trace the proceedings of the Convention from the report of the committee made by Mr. Guthrie until its final adjournment. It is sufficient to say that more than ten days were consumed in discussion and in voting upon various propositions offered by individual commissioners. The final vote was not reached until Tuesday, the 26th February, when it was taken on the first and vitally important section, as amended.[^[118]]

This section, on which all the rest depended, was negatived by a vote of eight States to eleven. Those which voted in its favor were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Tennessee. And those in the negative were Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont and Virginia. It is but justice to say that Messrs. Ruffin and Morehead, of North Carolina, and Messrs. Rives and Summers, of Virginia, two of the five commissioners from each of these States, declared their dissent from the vote of their respective States. So, also, did Messrs. Bronson, Corning, Dodge, Wool and Granger, five of the eleven New York commissioners, dissent from the vote of their State. On the other hand, Messrs. Meredith and Wilmot, two of the seven commissioners from Pennsylvania, dissented from the majority in voting in favor of the section. Thus would the Convention have terminated but for the interposition of Illinois. Immediately after the section had been negatived, the commissioners from that State made a motion to reconsider the vote, and this prevailed. The Convention afterwards adjourned until the next morning. When they reassembled (February 27), the first section was adopted, but only by a majority of nine to eight States, nine being less than a majority of the States represented. This change was effected by a change of the vote of Illinois from the negative to the affirmative, by Missouri withholding her vote, and by a tie in the New York commissioners, on account of the absence of one of their number, rendering it impossible for the State to vote. Still, Virginia and North Carolina, in the one extreme, and Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, in the other, persisted in voting in the negative. From the nature of this vote, it was manifestly impossible that two-thirds of both Houses of Congress should act favorably on the amendment, even if the delay had not already rendered such action impracticable before the close of the session.

It would be useless to refer to the voting on the remaining sections of the amendment, which were carried by small majorities.[^[119]] The Convention, on the same day, through Mr. Tyler, their president, communicated to the Senate and House of Representatives the amendment they had adopted, embracing all the sections, with a request that it might be submitted by Congress, under the Constitution, to the several State legislatures. In the Senate this was immediately referred to a select committee, on motion of Mr. Crittenden. The committee, on the next day (28th Feb.),[^[120]] reported a joint resolution (No. 70) proposing it as an amendment to the Constitution, but he was never able to bring the Senate to a direct vote upon it.[^[121]] Failing in this, he made a motion to substitute the amendment of the Peace Convention for his own.[^[122]] This he prefaced by declaring that he looked upon the result of the deliberations of that body “as affording the best opportunity for a general concurrence among the States, and among the people.” He, therefore, “had determined to take it in preference to his own proposition, and had so stated to many of the members of the Convention.” He further said that he had “examined the propositions offered by that Convention; they contain, in my judgment, every material provision that is contained in the resolution called the Crittenden Resolution.” He also had adopted this course “out of deference to that great body of men selected on the resolution of Virginia, and invited by Virginia herself. The body having met, and being composed of such men, and a majority of that Convention concurring in these resolutions, I think they come to us with a sanction entitling them to consideration.” Mr. Crittenden’s reasons failed to convince the Senate, and his motion was rejected by a large majority (28 to 7).[^[123]] Then next in succession came the memorable vote on Mr. Crittenden’s own resolution, and it was in its turn defeated, as we have already stated, by a majority of 20 against 19.

We cannot take leave of this venerable patriot, who so wisely appreciated the existing danger, without paying a just tribute to the vigor and perseverance of his repeated efforts to ward off from his country the direful calamity of disunion and civil war. Well did he merit the almost unanimous vote of the Virginia Convention, on the 11th March, tendering him the thanks of the people of Virginia for “his recent able, zealous, and patriotic efforts in the Senate in the United States, to bring about a just and honorable adjustment of our national difficulties.”[^[124]] This vote, we may remark, was far from being complimentary to the conduct of a majority of their own commissioners (Messrs. Tyler, Brockenbrough, and Seddon) in the Peace Convention.

In the House of Representatives, the amendment proposed by the Convention was treated with still less respect than it had been by the Senate.[^[125]] The Speaker was refused leave even to present it.[^[126]] Every effort made for this purpose was successfully resisted by leading Republican members. The consequence is that a copy of it does not even appear in the Journal.

Although the amendment was somewhat less favorable to the South, and ought, therefore, to have been more acceptable to the North than the Crittenden amendment, yet, like this, it encountered the opposition of every Republican member in both Houses of Congress. Nevertheless, it presented a basis of compromise which, had it been conceded by the North, might and probably would, have been accepted by the people of the border States, in preference to the fearful alternative of their secession from the Union.

However urgent were the reasons for the adoption by Congress of the Crittenden Compromise, or the propositions submitted to it by the Peace Convention, the question now recurs whether the President in the meantime did his duty and his whole duty, in keeping a vigilant eye upon the proceedings in South Carolina and other Southern States. To answer this question, it is necessary to go back to the point of time at which the first commissioners from South Carolina left Washington without having obtained from the President a promise to withdraw Major Anderson’s force from the harbor of Charleston, or any stipulation not to send him reinforcements. This point of time is the 2d day of January, 1861, the day on which the commissioners dated their reply to the President’s letter of December 31st; a reply couched in terms so disrespectful and arrogant that by the unanimous advice of the cabinet it was returned to them as a paper unfit to be received. “From that time forward,” says Mr. Buchanan, “all friendly political and personal intercourse finally ceased between the revolutionary Senators and the President, and he was severely attacked by them in the Senate, and especially by Mr. Jefferson Davis. Indeed, their intercourse had been of the coldest character ever since the President’s anti-secession message at the commencement of the session of Congress.”[^[127]]

The first event occurring at this time in the Executive Department, which it is important to notice here, was an application made by General Scott to the President, on Sunday, the 30th of December, by the following note:

December 30, 1860.

Lieutenant General Scott begs the President of the United States to pardon the irregularity of this communication. It is Sunday, the weather is bad, and General Scott is not well enough to go to church. But matters of the highest national importance seem to forbid a moment’s delay, and, if misled by zeal, he hopes for the President’s forgiveness.

Will the President permit General Scott, without reference to the War Department, and otherwise as secretly as possible, to send two hundred and fifty recruits, from New York harbor, to reinforce Fort Sumter, together with some extra muskets or rifles, ammunition, and subsistence stores?

It is hoped that a sloop-of-war and cutter may be ordered for the same purpose as early as to-morrow.

General Scott will wait upon the President at any moment he may be called for.

The President’s most obedient servant,

Winfield Scott.

General Scott was evidently not aware, when he wrote this note, that the late Secretary of War, Floyd, was out of office. The President, having substituted Mr. Holt in his place as Secretary ad interim, was under no necessity whatever to act without the knowledge of that Department. He proceeded therefore to act promptly and in the usual manner upon the General’s recommendation. He received the General’s note on the evening of Sunday, the 30th of December. On the morning of Monday, the 31st, he gave instructions to the War and Navy Departments; the orders were issued on that day; and in the evening General Scott called upon the President and informed him that the Secretaries had issued the orders and that they were in his (the General’s) possession. The orders were that the sloop-of-war Brooklyn, with troops, military stores, and provisions, was to sail forthwith from Fortress Monroe to Fort Sumter. It could not be true, therefore, as was afterwards asserted by General Scott, that “the South Carolina commissioners had already been many days in Washington and no movement of defence (on the part of the United States) was permitted.” The commissioners arrived in Washington on the 27th of December. On the 30th they received the President’s answer. General Scott’s request was made to the President on the 30th, and on the 31st the orders for the Brooklyn to sail were in his hands. The commissioners’ insolent reply to the President was not delivered to him until the 2d of January. The Brooklyn was already under orders, but the orders were not despatched from Washington on the 31st for a reason that will presently appear.

It is now to be stated how a mercantile steamer, The Star of the West, came to be substituted for the Brooklyn, and to sail on this expedition. And here General Scott’s memory was utterly at fault in 1862. He then publicly stated that the President refused to allow any attempt to be made to reinforce Fort Sumter, because he was holding negotiations with the South Carolina commissioners; and that “afterwards Secretary Holt and myself [General Scott] endeavored, in vain, to obtain a ship-of-war for the purpose, and were finally obliged to employ the passenger steamer Star of the West.” It is most extraordinary that the General should have made this misstatement. The Star of the West was substituted for the Brooklyn by his own advice. “At the interview already referred to,” says Mr. Buchanan, “between the General and myself, on the evening of Monday, the 31st of December, I suggested to him that, although I had not received the South Carolina commissioners in their official capacity, but merely as private gentlemen, yet it might be considered as an improper act to send the Brooklyn with reinforcements to Fort Sumter until I had received an answer from them to my letter of the preceding day; that the delay could not continue more than forty-eight hours. He promptly concurred in this suggestion as gentlemanly and proper, and the orders were not transmitted to the Brooklyn on that evening. My anticipations were correct, for on the morning [afternoon] of the 2d of January I received their insolent note, and sent it back to them. In the meantime, however, the General had become convinced, on the representations of a gentleman whom I forbear to name, that the better plan, as the Secretaries of War and the Navy informed me, to secure secrecy and success, and reach the fort, would be to send a fast side-wheel steamer from New York with the reinforcement. Accordingly, the Star of the West was selected for this duty. The substitution of this steamer for the Brooklyn, which would have been able to defend herself in case of attack, was reluctantly yielded by me to the high military judgment of General Scott.”[^[128]]

In consequence of this change, a short time had to elapse before the Star of the West, then at New York, could take on board the reinforcements. She sailed from New York on the 5th of January. On that day General Scott sent a despatch to his son-in-law, Colonel Scott, to countermand her departure, but it was not received until after she had gone to sea. The countermand was given for two reasons: first, because a despatch received by Mr. Holt on that day from Major Anderson stated in effect that he felt secure in his position; and secondly, and more emphatically, because on the same evening information reached the War Department that a heavy battery had been erected among the sand hills, at the entrance of Charleston harbor, capable of destroying any unarmed vessel that might attempt to enter.[^[129]] Satisfied that there was no present necessity for sending reinforcements, and that when sent they ought to go in a vessel of war, the Government, with General Scott’s full concurrence,[^[130]] after learning that the countermand had not reached the Star of the West before she sailed, took steps to overtake her. The following memorandum now lies before me:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.

A despatch was forwarded, night of January 7, through the agency of the Navy Department, to the officer commanding recruits on board the steamship Star of the West, in almost exactly these words:

“This communication will be handed you by the Commander of the United States Steamer sloop-of-war Brooklyn.

“The object of his mission is twofold. First, to afford aid and succor in case your ship be shattered or injured; second, to convey this order of recall, in case you cannot land at Fort Sumter, to Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads, there to await further orders.

“In case of your return to Hampton Roads, send a telegraphic message here at once from Norfolk.

”Winfield Scott.

“P. S.—Land your troops at Fort Monroe and discharge the ship.

“W. S.”

The Star of the West arrived off the harbor of Charleston on the 9th of January, and being fired upon as she was attempting to enter the harbor, by order of Governor Pickens, she returned without entering. It is, therefore, now necessary to go forward, and covering everything that was done or omitted by the President thereafter, in regard to Fort Sumter, to inquire into another charge made by General Scott in 1862, that the President was under the embarrassment of a truce or armistice, which continued for the remainder of the administration. It seems that late in the month of January, there was a project considered, between the General, Secretaries Holt and Toucey, and certain naval officers, with the knowledge of the President, for sending three or four small steamers belonging to the coast survey to the relief of Fort Sumter. General Scott, in 1862, declared that he had but little doubt this expedition would have been successful, but that it was “kept back by something like a truce or armistice, made here, embracing Charleston and Pensacola harbors, agreed upon by the late President and certain principal seceders of South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, etc., and this truce lasted to the end of that administration.”

It is perhaps not remarkable that the history of this period of Mr. Buchanan’s administration should have been so widely misunderstood, when one considers the nature of the materials from which the history thus far written has been derived. General Scott, from his official position, knew that no truce or armistice whatever was entered into by the President with anybody, embracing the two harbors of Charleston and Pensacola; that in regard to Pensacola, there was a special arrangement, in no way connected with the state of things in Charleston; and that in regard to Charleston, there was only a temporary agreement between Major Anderson and Governor Pickens, that was terminable on a certain event, and that lasted but for a short time. To separate things entirely distinct in their nature, but which General Scott saw fit to blend together in making his imputations upon the President’s conduct, is now my imperative duty.

The only truce that was made in reference to Charleston was an actual truce of arms made between Governor Pickens and Major Anderson, on the 11th of January, 1861, without the President’s previous knowledge, and consequently it could not have been the result of any conference between the President and certain secessionists then in Washington or elsewhere. The Star of the West, sailing under the American flag, was fired upon and turned back on the 9th of January. This outrage required Major Anderson’s instant notice. If he had immediately opened fire from Fort Sumter upon the adjacent batteries which sent their shot across the bow of that vessel, he would have been justified by his position as an officer of the United States commanding a fort which existed for the protection of all vessels having a right to enter the harbor, and especially for the protection of all vessels bearing the flag of the United States. He was under no obligation whatever to recognize South Carolina as a power foreign to the United States; but if he had chosen, he might have considered the firing on this vessel as an act of war, which South Carolina had instituted against the United States. He took what he considered as the most prudent course that was open to him. He sent a flag of truce to the Governor, stating that he presumed the act was unauthorized, and therefore that he had not returned the fire, but demanding an official disavowal of the act within a reasonable time, otherwise he should consider it an act of war and should fire on any vessel within the reach of his guns which might attempt to enter or leave the harbor. It is quite evident that if he had adhered to this purpose, the civil war would then have commenced; for the attitude of South Carolina was that of a power claiming complete independence of the United States, and her preparations for driving the United States out of the harbor were prosecuting with great vigor. But the affair took an unexpected, although for the moment it may have been a fortunate turn. The Governor did not disavow, but justified, the act of firing on the Star of the West, and on the 11th of January he sent two members of his executive council to Major Anderson, with instructions to present to him “considerations of the gravest public character, and of the deepest interest to all who deprecate the improper waste of life, to induce the delivery of Fort Sumter to the constituted authorities of South Carolina, with a pledge on its part to account for such public property as may be in your charge.”

It is difficult now to look back upon those transactions, and to describe them with the coolness which history should preserve. Without the least consideration for the duty incumbent upon the President of the United States under his official oath, the “constituted authorities of South Carolina” assumed from the first a position which they calculated, not without reason, would be supported by the secession leaders of the other cotton States. Their attitude was that their secession ordinance had completely severed the State from all connection with the United States; that the latter power was an intruder in her dominions, holding fortifications which were a standing affront to the dignity and a peril to the safety of the State; that these fortifications must be surrendered to the paramount territorial sovereignty of the State; and that as to the property of the United States which they contained, the State would account for it. The alternative plainly presented was that war must ensue, if these demands were not complied with. It is almost impossible to understand how sane men could have imagined that the Executive Government of the United States could be made to yield to such a demand; but the explanation is to be found in the three facts, that the South Carolina leaders meant to make the issue on the whole doctrine of secession in such a shape as would secure the support of some other States and their representatives in Washington; that they had reason to count confidently upon the support of the latter; and that they believed that President Buchanan could be induced or driven into a compliance with their demands, if they presented the alternatives of a complete admission of their right to secede peaceably on the one hand, and civil war on the other.

Perhaps the only thing that Major Anderson could prudently do, after what he considered as a demand upon him for a surrender of the fort, was to do precisely what he did, namely, to refer the whole matter to Washington. His answer to the Governor, sent on the same day, was that he could not comply with the demand, but that “should your Excellency deem fit, prior to a resort to arms, to refer the matter to Washington, it would afford me the sincerest pleasure to depute one of my officers to accompany any messenger you may deem proper to be the bearer of your demand.” This proposition was accepted by the Governor, and he commissioned the Attorney General of the State, the Hon. J. W. Hayne, to proceed to Washington and make the same demand on the President that had been made on Major Anderson. Major Anderson, on his part, sent one of his officers, Lieutenant J. Norman Hall, as his deputy, to await the President’s decision. The two gentlemen arrived in Washington together, on the evening of January 13th, 1861.

There was thus established between Major Anderson and the Governor of South Carolina a temporary truce of arms, which related to no locality but the harbor of Charleston, and would terminate when Major Anderson should receive his instructions how to act. On the one side, South Carolina, in an armed attitude, demands of Major Anderson the surrender of a fort of the United States, with a plain intimation that if he does not surrender it he must be driven out of it. On the other hand, Major Anderson, who, as the commanding officer of the United States in that harbor, has a just cause for retaliation on account of the attack on the Star of the West, proposes a suspension of all hostilities until he can receive the instructions of his Government. The proposal being accepted and acted upon, the circumstances constituted what President Buchanan, with entire accuracy, and citing the language of Vattel, calls “a partial truce, under which hostilities are suspended only in certain places.”[^[131]] But the President was greatly surprised by this state of things. The truce made it alike impossible for Major Anderson to ask for, or the Government to send him, reinforcements, while it lasted. All that could be done by the President was to learn what the South Carolina messenger or envoy had to say, and then to decide again that Fort Sumter could not and would not be surrendered. When this had been done, the truce would be ended.[^[132]]

Colonel Hayne called upon the President on the morning of the 14th of January, stating that he bore a letter from Governor Pickens to the President, which he would deliver in person on the next day. Remembering his experience with the former commissioners from South Carolina, the President declined to hold any conversation with Colonel Hayne on the subject of his errand, and requested that all communications should be made in writing, to which Colonel Hayne assented. On the 15th the Governor’s letter was not delivered to the President; it was held back on the advice of certain Southern Senators. The following memorandum, drawn up by the President on the 16th, will explain what those Senators were then trying to accomplish:

Wednesday afternoon, at 4 P. M., January 16.

Senator Clay (of Alabama) called. He began by assigning reasons why I should withdraw Major Anderson and his troops from Fort Sumter. I told him that it was quite out of the question for me to hold verbal communication on this subject. Although I relied implicitly upon his honor, yet there would be mistakes with the best intentions. He concurred in this opinion, but said he would never repeat to any human being what had passed between him and me. I thought, however, I would leave no room for doubt on the important point, and I told him I would not, under any circumstances, withdraw the troops from Fort Sumter. He spoke of the inauguration of civil war in Charleston as a dreadful calamity. I answered that the troops were there in a small number, in the possession of a fort which I firmly believed belonged to the United States, to act purely on the defensive; and if assaulted by the authorities of South Carolina, on them would rest the exclusive responsibility of commencing civil war. I believed South Carolina still to be a part of the Confederacy.

He then (and I am not certain he did not mention it before) said he had come from the seceding Senators to suggest to me some plan by which the effusion of human blood might be spared at Charleston. I told him any proposition of this kind must be reduced to writing—that without this I could not consider it. Still, he went on and said there was a truce agreed upon, so long as Colonel Hayne was here. I told him I had understood that there had been. He said they wanted him to remain a few days, and submit a proposition to the government of South Carolina, to agree that Major Anderson should be placed in his former position; that the Government should have free access to him; that he should buy all the provisions he wanted in Charleston; and that he should not be disturbed if I would not send him additional reinforcements. I again said that I could not take any proposition into consideration unless it were reduced to writing. He said he understood this perfectly. But [he] went on to say that the truce might be extended until the meeting at Milledgeville, or even till the 4th March. I told him that the truce would continue until Colonel Hayne left here, which I supposed would be in a few days; that Lieutenant Hall had been informed by Colonel Hayne that he might go to see his sick sister in New York, provided he was back on Friday evening. I told him I could say nothing further on the subject of the truce, nor could I express any opinion on the subjects to which he had referred, unless the proposition were reduced to writing, and presented to me in a distinct form. He said I need be under no apprehensions as to the security of the fort. He had just come from Jefferson Davis, who said it could not be taken; and Lars Anderson had informed him that Major Anderson said he did not require reinforcements. He got up and said he would go to those who had sent him, and it would be for them to decide upon the proposition. I then said to him, emphatically, that Colonel Hayne could not possibly be authorized to send any propositions to Charleston until they had been first submitted to myself and cabinet and agreed to. He said certainly not, that this was a necessary preliminary. I repeated again that I could not even consider any verbal proposition. He said he understood that perfectly; that he would not have anything to do with it himself without this. He then asked me when the cabinet would meet. He believed it was to-morrow, and they would not have time to come to an understanding so soon. I said that the regular day was Friday. He said that would give them time, and so he went away.

In the course of conversation I told him that I felt as much anxiety to prevent a collision and spare the effusion of blood as any man living; but this must be done in consistency with the discharge of all my duties as laid down in my annual message and my late special message. That I could not, and would not, withdraw Major Anderson from Fort Sumter.

What ensued after this interview between the President and Senator Clay can be best related in the President’s own words. Every statement that he makes in the following narrative is founded on and supported by the written correspondence.

Colonel Hayne, the commissioner from South Carolina, as already stated, arrived in Washington on the 13th January. He bore with him a letter from Governor Pickens addressed to the President. On the next morning he called upon the President, and stated that he would deliver this letter in person on the day following. The President, however, admonished by his recent experience with the former commissioners, declined to hold any conversation with him on the subject of his mission, and requested that all communications between them might be in writing. To this he assented. Although the President had no actual knowledge of the contents of the Governor’s letter, he could not doubt it contained a demand for the surrender of the fort. Such a demand he was at all times prepared peremptorily to reject. This Colonel Hayne must have known, because the President had but a fortnight before informed his predecessors this was impossible, and had never been thought of by him in any possible contingency. The President confidently expected that the letter would be transmitted to him on the day after the interview, when his refusal to surrender the fort would at once terminate the truce, and leave both parties free to act upon their own responsibility. Colonel Hayne, however, did not transmit this letter to the President on the 15th January, according to his promise, but withheld it until the 31st of that month. The reason for this vexatious delay will constitute a curious portion of our narrative, and deserves to be mentioned in some detail. (Vide the President’s message of 8th February, 1861, with the accompanying documents, Ex. Doc., H. R., vol. ix., No. 61.)

The Senators from the cotton States yet in Congress appeared, strangely enough, to suppose that through their influence the President might agree not to send reinforcements to Fort Sumter, provided Governor Pickens would stipulate not to attack it. By such an agreement they proposed to preserve the peace. But first of all it was necessary for them to prevail upon Colonel Hayne not to transmit the letter to the President on the day appointed, because they well knew that the demand which it contained would meet his prompt and decided refusal. This would render the conclusion of such an agreement impossible.

In furtherance of their plan, nine of these Senators, with Jefferson Davis at their head, addressed a note to Colonel Hayne on the 15th January, requesting him to defer the delivery of the letter. They proposed that he should withhold it until they could ascertain from the President whether he would agree not to send reinforcements, provided Governor Pickens would engage not to attack the fort. They informed the Colonel that should the President prove willing in the first place to enter into such an arrangement, they would then strongly recommend that he should not deliver the letter he had in charge for the present, but send to South Carolina for authority from Governor Pickens to become a party thereto. Colonel Hayne, in his answer to these Senators of the 17th January, informed them that he had not been clothed with power to make the arrangements suggested, but provided they could get assurances with which they were entirely satisfied that no reinforcements would be sent to Fort Sumter, he would withhold the letter with which he had been charged, refer their communication to the authorities of South Carolina, and await further instructions.

On the 19th January this correspondence between the Senators and Colonel Hayne was submitted to the President, accompanied by a note from three of their number, requesting him to take the subject into consideration. His answer to this note was delayed no longer than was necessary to prepare it in proper form. On the 22d January it was communicated to these Senators in a letter from the Secretary of War. This contained an express refusal to enter into the proposed agreement. Mr. Holt says: “I am happy to observe that, in your letter to Colonel Hayne, you express the opinion that it is ‘especially due from South Carolina to our States, to say nothing of other slaveholding States, that she should, so far as she can consistently with her honor, avoid initiating hostilities between her and the United States or any other power.’ To initiate such hostilities against Fort Sumter would, beyond question, be an act of war against the United States. In regard to the proposition of Colonel Hayne, ‘that no reinforcements will be sent to Fort Sumter in the interval, and that public peace will not be disturbed by any act of hostility towards South Carolina,’ it is impossible for me to give you any such assurances. The President has no authority to enter into such an agreement or understanding. As an executive officer, he is simply bound to protect the public property so far as this maybe practicable; and it would be a manifest violation of his duty to place himself under engagements that he would not perform this duty, either for an indefinite, or limited, period. At the present moment it is not deemed necessary to reinforce Major Anderson, because he makes no such request and feels quite secure in his position. Should his safety, however, require reinforcements, every effort will be made to supply them.”

It was believed by the President that this peremptory refusal to enter into the proposed agreement, would have caused Colonel Hayne immediately to present the letter he had in charge and thus terminate his mission, thereby releasing both parties from the obligations of the truce. In this expectation the President was disappointed. The secession Senators again interposed, and advised Colonel Hayne still longer to withhold the letter from the President, and await further instructions from Charleston. In his answer of 24th January to their note containing this advice, he [Col. Hayne] informs them that although the letter from the Secretary of War “was far from being satisfactory,” yet in compliance with their request he “would withhold the communication with which he was at present charged, and refer the whole matter to the authorities of South Carolina, and would await their reply.” On the 30th this reply was received, and on the next day Colonel Hayne transmitted to the President the letter of Governor Pickens demanding the surrender of the fort, with a long communication from himself. This letter is dated “Headquarters, Charleston, January 12, 1861,” and is as follows:

“Sir:—

“At the time of the separation of the State of South Carolina from the United States, Fort Sumter was, and still is, in the possession of troops of the United States, under the command of Major Anderson. I regard that possession as not consistent with the dignity or safety of the State of South Carolina, and have this day [it was the day previous] addressed to Major Anderson a communication to obtain possession of that fort by the authorities of this State. The reply of Major Anderson informs me that he has no authority to do what I required, but he desires a reference of the demand to the President of the United States. Under the circumstances now existing, and which need no comment by me, I have determined to send to you Hon. I. W. Hayne, the Attorney-General of the State of South Carolina, and have instructed him to demand the delivery of Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, to the constituted authorities of the State of South Carolina. The demand I have made of Major Anderson, and which I now make of you, is suggested by my earnest desire to avoid the bloodshed which a persistence in your attempt to retain possession of that fort will cause, and which will be unavailing to secure to you that possession, but induce a calamity most deeply to be deplored. If consequences so unhappy shall ensue, I will secure for this State, in the demand which I now make, the satisfaction of having exhausted every attempt to avoid it.

“In relation to the public property of the United States within Fort Sumter, the Hon. I. W, Hayne, who will hand you this communication, is authorized to give you the pledge of the State that the valuation of such property will be accounted for by this State, upon the adjustment of its relations with the United States, of which it was a part.”

On the 6th February, the Secretary of War, on behalf of the President, replied to this demand, as well as to the letter of Colonel Hayne accompanying it. Our narrative would be incomplete without this admirable and conclusive reply. It is as follows:

“War Department, February 6, 1861.[^[133]]

“Sir:—

“The President of the United States has received your letter of the 31st ultimo, and has charged me with the duty of replying thereto.

“In[“In] the communication addressed to the President by Governor Pickens, under date of the 12th January, and which accompanies yours now before me, his Excellency says: ‘I have determined to send to you the Hon. I. W. Hayne, the Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, and have instructed him to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, to the constituted authorities of the State of South Carolina. The demand I have made of Major Anderson, and which I now make of you, is suggested because of my earnest desire to avoid the bloodshed which a persistence in your attempt to retain possession of that fort will cause, and which will be unavailing to secure to you that possession, but induce a calamity most deeply to be deplored.’ The character of the demand thus authorized to be made appears (under the influence, I presume, of the correspondence with the Senators to which you refer) to have been modified by subsequent instructions of his Excellency, dated the 26th, and received by yourself on the 30th January, in which he says: ‘If it be so that Fort Sumter is held as property, then, as property, the rights, whatever they may be, of the United States, can be ascertained, and for the satisfaction of these rights the pledge of the State of South Carolina you are authorized to give.’ The full scope and precise purport of your instructions, as thus modified, you have expressed in the following words: ‘I do not come as a military man to demand the surrender of a fortress, but as the legal officer of the State—its Attorney General—to claim for the State the exercise of its undoubted right of eminent domain, and to pledge the State to make good all injury to the rights of property which arise from the exercise of the claim.’ And lest this explicit language should not sufficiently define your position, you add: ‘The proposition now is that her [South Carolina’s] law officer should, under authority of the Governor and his council, distinctly pledge the faith of South Carolina to make such compensation, in regard to Fort Sumter and its appurtenances and contents, to the full extent of the money value of the property of the United States, delivered over to the authorities of South Carolina by your command.’ You then adopt his Excellency’s train of thought upon the subject, so far as to suggest that the possession of Fort Sumter by the United States, ‘if continued long enough, must lead to collision,’ and that ‘an attack upon it would scarcely improve it as property, whatever the result; and if captured, it would no longer be the subject of account.’

“The proposal, then, now presented to the President, is simply an offer on the part of South Carolina to buy Fort Sumter and contents as property of the United States, sustained by a declaration in effect, that if she is not permitted to make the purchase, she will seize the fort by force of arms. As the initiation of a negotiation for the transfer of property between friendly governments, this proposal impresses the President as having assumed a most unusual form. He has, however, investigated the claim on which it professes to be based, apart from the declaration that accompanies it. And it may be here remarked, that much stress has been laid upon the employment of the words ‘property’ and ‘public property’ by the President in his several messages. These are the most comprehensive terms which can be used in such a connection, and surely, when referring to a fort or any other public establishment, they embrace the entire and undivided interest of the Government therein.

“The title of the United States to Fort Sumter is complete and incontestable. Were its interest in this property purely proprietary, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, it might probably be subjected to the exercise of the right of eminent domain; but it has also political relations to it of a much higher and more imposing character than those of mere proprietorship. It has absolute jurisdiction over the fort and the soil on which it stands. This jurisdiction consists in the authority to ‘exercise exclusive legislation’ over the property referred to, and is therefore clearly incompatible with the claim of eminent domain now insisted upon by South Carolina. This authority was not derived from any questionable revolutionary source, but from the peaceful cession of South Carolina herself, acting through her legislature, under a provision of the Constitution of the United States. South Carolina can no more assert the right of eminent domain over Fort Sumter than Maryland can assert it over the District of Columbia. The political and proprietary rights of the United States in either case rest upon precisely the same ground.

“The President, however, is relieved from the necessity of further pursuing this inquiry by the fact that, whatever may be the claim of South Carolina to this fort, he has no constitutional power to cede or surrender it. The property of the United States has been acquired by force of public law, and can only be disposed of under the same solemn sanctions. The President, as the head of the executive branch of the Government only, can no more sell and transfer Fort Sumter to South Carolina than he can sell and convey the Capitol of the United States to Maryland or to any other State or individual seeking to possess it. His Excellency the Governor is too familiar with the Constitution of the United States, and with the limitations upon the powers of the Chief Magistrate of the Government it has established, not to appreciate at once the soundness of this legal proposition. The question of reinforcing Fort Sumter is so fully disposed of in my letter to Senator Slidell and others, under date of the 22d of January, a copy of which accompanies this, that its discussion will not now be renewed. I then said: ‘At the present moment it is not deemed necessary to reinforce Major Anderson, because he makes no such request. Should his safety, however, require reinforcements, every effort will be made to supply them.‘ I can add nothing to the explicitness of this language, which still applies to the existing status.

“The right to send forward reinforcements when, in the judgment of the President, the safety of the garrison requires them, rests on the same unquestionable foundation as the right to occupy the fortress itself. In the letter of Senator Davis and others to yourself, under date of the 15th ultimo, they say: ‘We therefore think it especially due from South Carolina to our States—to say nothing of other slaveholding States—that she should, as far as she can consistently with her honor, avoid initiating hostilities between her and the United States or any other power;‘ and you now yourself give to the President the gratifying assurance that ‘South Carolina has every disposition to preserve the public peace;’ and since he is himself sincerely animated by the same desire, it would seem that this common and patriotic object must be of certain attainment. It is difficult, however, to reconcile with this assurance the declaration on your part that ‘it is a consideration of her [South Carolina’s] own dignity as a sovereign, and the safety of her people, which prompts her to demand that this property should not longer be used as a military post by a government she no longer acknowledges,’ and the thought you so constantly present, that this occupation must lead to a collision of arms and the prevalence of civil war. Fort Sumter is in itself a military post, and nothing else; and it would seem that not so much the fact as the purpose of its use should give to it a hostile or friendly character. This fortress is now held by the Government of the United States for the same objects for which it has been held from the completion of its construction. These are national and defensive; and were a public enemy now to attempt the capture of Charleston or the destruction of the commerce of its harbor, the whole force of the batteries of this fortress would be at once exerted for their protection. How the presence of a small garrison, actuated by such a spirit as this, can compromise the dignity or honor of South Carolina, or become a source of irritation to her people, the President is at a loss to understand. The attitude of that garrison, as has been often declared, is neither menacing, nor defiant, nor unfriendly. It is acting under orders to stand strictly on the defensive; and the government and people of South Carolina must well know that they can never receive aught but shelter from its guns, unless, in the absence of all provocation, they should assault it and seek its destruction. The intent with which this fortress is held by the President is truthfully stated by Senator Davis and others in their letter to yourself of the 15th January, in which they say: ‘It is not held with any hostile or unfriendly purpose toward your State, but merely as property of the United States, which the President deems it his duty to protect and preserve.’

“If the announcement so repeatedly made of the President’s pacific purposes in continuing the occupation of Fort Sumter until the question shall have been settled by competent authority, has failed to impress the government of South Carolina, the forbearing conduct of his administration for the last few months should be received as conclusive evidence of his sincerity, And if this forbearance, in view of the circumstances which have so severely tried it, be not accepted as a satisfactory pledge of the peaceful policy of this administration toward South Carolina, then it may be safely affirmed that neither language nor conduct can possibly furnish one. If, with all the multiplied proofs which exist of the President’s anxiety for peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State shall assault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our common country into the horrors of civil war, then upon them and those they represent must rest the responsibility.

“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

“J. Holt,

“Secretary of War.

“Hon. I. W. Hayne,

“Attorney General of the State of South Carolina.

“P.S.—The President has not, as you have been informed, received a copy of the letter to yourself from the Senators, communicating that of Mr. Holt of the 22d January.”

This letter of Mr. Holt, though firm and decided in character, is courteous and respectful, both in tone and in terms. It reviews the subject in an able and comprehensive manner, explaining and justifying the conduct of the President. Unlike the letters to which it is a response, it contains no menace. In conclusion, it does no more than fix the responsibility of commencing a civil war on the authorities of South Carolina, should they assault Fort Sumter and imperil the lives of the brave and loyal men shut up within its walls. It does not contain a word or an expression calculated to afford just cause of offence; yet its statements and its arguments must have cut Colonel Hayne to the quick. To reply to them successfully was impossible. He, therefore, had no resort but to get angry. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, on the 8th February he addressed an insulting answer, not to Secretary Holt, as usage and common civility required, but directly to the President. He then suddenly left Washington, leaving his missile behind him to be delivered after his departure. From his conduct he evidently anticipated its fate. His letter was returned to him on the same day, directed to Charleston, with the following indorsement: “The[“The] character of this letter is such that it cannot be received. Colonel Hayne having left the city before it was sent to the President, it is returned to him by the first mail.” What has become of it we do not know. No copy of it was retained, nor have we ever heard of it since.

What effect this letter of Mr. Holt may have produced upon the truculent Governor of South Carolina we shall not attempt to decide. Certain it is, from whatever cause, no attack was made upon Fort Sumter until six weeks after the close of Mr. Buchanan’s administration. The fort remained unmolested until South Carolina had been for some time a member of the Confederate States. It was reserved for Mr. Jefferson Davis, their President, to issue the order for its bombardment, and thus formally to commence the civil war. This he did with a full consciousness that such would be the fatal effect; because in the letter from him and other Southern Senators to Colonel Hayne, of the 15th January, both he and they had warned Governor Pickens that an attack upon the fort would be “the instituting hostilities between her [South Carolina] and the United States.”

Thus ended the second mission from South Carolina to the President, and thus was he relieved from the truce concluded by Major Anderson. But in the mean time, before the termination of this truce, the action of the General Assembly of Virginia, instituting the Peace Convention, had interposed an insurmountable obstacle to the reinforcement of Fort Sumter, unless attacked or in immediate danger of attack, without entirely defeating this beneficent measure.

The attention of the reader must now be directed to the harbor of Pensacola. To unravel and correct the misrepresentations which have been accepted as part of the history of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, is no agreeable, but it is a very necessary duty. If General Scott, at this period of his life, had not been a man very far advanced in years and burthened with increasing infirmities, he ought to be held to a severer responsibility than I am disposed to apply to him, on account of the entirely unwarrantable imputations which, with great personal inconsistency, he allowed himself to cast upon Mr. Buchanan, after the latter had retired to private life, and after new men had come into power who made it their policy to blame the preceding President.

Pensacola, a town in the western end of the State of Florida, is on a broad bay of the same name, which opens into the Gulf of Mexico. The narrow entrance is commanded by Fort Pickens, built on the extreme western point of Santa Rosa Island, and standing boldly upon the Gulf. This fortress, unlike Fort Sumter, could be relieved at any time by a naval force, which nothing could assail before the fort was reached. Florida “seceded” on the 10th of January. The command of the State troops was assumed by Colonel William H. Chase, previously an officer of the United States corps of engineers. These State forces suddenly expelled a small body of United States troops from the town of Pensacola and the adjacent navy yard. This body of regular troops was under the command of Lieutenant Slemmer, an officer of the artillery, and it consisted of between seventy and eighty men. They took refuge in Fort Pickens. Unless relieved, they were in great danger of being captured by a much superior force, and they were in pressing need of provisions. General Scott’s charge against Mr. Buchanan, made in a paper which he presented to President Lincoln in 1861, and which he called a report, was couched in the following language:

“The Brooklyn, with Captain Vogdes’ company alone, left the Chesapeake for Fort Pickens about January 22d, and on the 29th, President Buchanan having entered into a quasi armistice with certain leading seceders at Pensacola and elsewhere, caused Secretaries Holt and Toucey to instruct, in a joint note, the commanders of the war vessels off Pensacola, and Lieutenant Slemmer, commanding Fort Pickens, to commit no act of hostility, and not to land Captain Vogdes’ company unless the fort should be attacked. That joint note I never saw, but suppose the armistice was consequent upon the Peace Convention at Washington, and was understood to terminate with it.”

The facts are as follows:

1. General Scott not only saw the joint order issued by Secretaries Holt and Toucey, but he approved of it entirely. This is made certain by a note written by Mr. Holt to the President, on the day the order was issued, the 29th of January, informing him of the fact. The original of this note was sealed up by the President and put away. It reads as follows:

[SECRETARY HOLT TO THE PRESIDENT.]

“My Dear Sir:—

“The words [of the joint order] are ‘the provisions necessary for the supply of the fort you will land.’ I think the language could not be more carefully guarded. If, on communication with the fort, it is found that no provisions are needed, then none will be landed.

“I have the satisfaction of saying that on submitting the paper to General Scott, he expressed himself satisfied with it, saying that there could be no objection to the arrangement in a military point of view or otherwise.

“Sincerely yours,

“J. Holt.”

2. The Brooklyn, which, after her return from her cruise in search of the Star of the West, had lain in Hampton Roads ready for any emergency, sailed on the 24th of January for Fort Pickens, with Captain Vogdes’ company of artillery, from Fortress Monroe, and with provisions and military stores. Previous to this, the Secretary of the Navy, as a measure of precaution, had withdrawn from foreign stations all the war vessels that could be spared, and the home squadron was thus made unusually large in the Gulf of Mexico.[^[134]]

3. The circumstances which led to the joint order of January 29th were the following: On the 28th, four days after the Brooklyn sailed, Senators Slidell, of Louisiana, Hunter, of Virginia, and Bigler, of Pennsylvania, received a telegraphic despatch from Senator Mallory, then at Pensacola, with a request that it be laid before the President. It gave the most positive assurances of both Mallory and Chase that no attack would be made on the fort, if its present status should be allowed to remain, and it expressed an anxious desire to preserve peace. Notwithstanding these assurances, the President was careful not to tie his own hands, in regard to Pensacola, as they had been tied for a time by Major Anderson, in regard to Charleston. The Brooklyn might not arrive in time to preserve Fort Pickens, or to supply it with provisions, which must, if needed, be thrown in at every hazard: and while it was of the utmost importance that no collision should occur at that point, and at a moment when the Peace Convention was about to assemble, it was equally important that Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase should be made to understand that the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico would act, at a moment’s warning, not only in the event of any attack upon the fort, but whenever the officer in command should observe that preparations were making for an attack. A cabinet council was accordingly held on the day on which the President saw Mr. Mallory’s despatch to the three Senators, and with the approbation of every member of the cabinet, the President directed the Secretaries of War and of the Navy to issue the following joint order, and to transmit it immediately by telegraph to the naval officers in the Gulf, including the commander of the Brooklyn, and to Lieutenant Slemmer:

Washington, January 29, 1861.

To James Glynn, Comdg. the “Macedonian,” Captain W. S. Walker, Comdg. the “Brooklyn,” and other Naval Officers in command, and 1st Lieut. A. J. Slemmer, First Artillery, commanding Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida:—

In consequence of the assurances received from Mr. Mallory in a telegram of yesterday to Messrs. Slidell, Hunter, and Bigler, with a request it should be laid before the President, that Fort Pickens would not be assaulted, and an offer of an assurance to the same effect from Col. Chase, for the purpose of avoiding a hostile collision, upon receiving satisfactory assurances from Mr. Mallory and Col. Chase that Fort Pickens will not be attacked, you are instructed not to land the company on board the Brooklyn, unless said fort shall be attacked, or preparations shall be made for its attack. The provisions necessary for the supply of the fort you will land. The Brooklyn and the other vessels of war on the station will remain, and you will exercise the utmost vigilance, and be prepared at a moment’s warning to land the company at Fort Pickens, and you and they will instantly repel any attack on the fort. The President yesterday sent a special message to Congress, commending the Virginia Resolutions of Compromise. The commissioners of different States are to meet here on Monday, the 4th of February, and it is important that during their session a collision of arms should be avoided, unless an attack should be made, or there should be preparations for such an attack. In either event the Brooklyn and the other vessels will act promptly.

Your right and that of the other officers in command at Pensacola freely to communicate with the Government by special messenger, and its right in the same manner to communicate with yourself and them, will remain intact as the basis on which the present instruction is given.[^[135]]

J. Holt, Secretary of War,

Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy.

4. On the morning of the same day on which this joint order was issued, Senator Bigler called at the White House, but being unable to wait for an interview with the President, he dictated to the private secretary the following message to the President:

“I have seen Mr. Slidell and Mr. Hunter. They both think it very important that collisions should be avoided, and have no doubt of the truth of all that Mr. Mallory has said. They think also that the Brooklyn might be very properly kept there to succor the fort in case of attack. Of course no despatch will be sent to Mr. Mallory, unless authorized by you. You might send such a despatch to the Senate Chamber, as you may desire to have sent.”

(Taken down from Mr. Bigler’s dictation, he being unable to remain on account of meeting of tariff committee.

A. J. G.[^[136]]

Tuesday morning, January 29, 1861.)

5. On the arrival of the joint order at Pensacola, Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase gave to the naval and military commanders of the United States the assurances which the order required. The Brooklyn did not reach Pensacola until the 5th of February. But under the order the fort was supplied with provisions, and made perfectly secure from any attack. No attack was made, and the fort remained in the possession of the Government from that time forward.

It is thus apparent that, with reference to Fort Pickens, the whole arrangement, although it amounted to a qualified armistice, differed absolutely from that made by Major Anderson with Governor Pickens, in regard to Fort Sumter. Anderson agreed to a temporary suspension of arms on both sides. The President, in respect to Fort Pickens, instructed the naval and military officers to defend the fort against any attack, and not to wait for an actual attack, but to succor Lieut. Slemmer on the instant that they perceived any preparations for attacking him. It is impossible to suggest in what way the President could have more effectually protected the rights of the Government, on the eve of the assembling of the Peace Convention. Fort Pickens, with the Brooklyn, the Macedonian, and other war vessels in its immediate neighborhood, and in the hands of Lieut. Slemmer, was just as safe as if ten thousand men had been thrown into it, while the precautions taken prevented any outbreak that would, if any had occurred, have prostrated the hope with which the country was looking to the labors of the Peace Convention.

How great were the anxieties felt by the Virginians whose State had proposed that assembly, may be seen from an account which may now be given of the informal intercourse between ex-President Tyler and President Buchanan. Mr. Tyler was alarmed when he arrived in Washington and heard that the Brooklyn had sailed with troops for some Southern fort. As all eyes and thoughts were then directed to the harbor of Charleston, Mr. Tyler took the readiest means to ascertain what he could respecting the Brooklyn’s destination. On the evening of January 25th, he addressed to the President the following note:

[MR. TYLER TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Friday evening, January 25, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

The enclosed telegraphic despatch is this moment received. May I be permitted to hope that it is based on an unfounded report. If not, will you do me the favor to inform me on what day the Brooklyn sailed, and whether she has recruits for any Southern fort, and if so, which?

With high regard, yours most truly,

John Tyler.

The President’s answer was as follows:

[PRESIDENT BUCHANAN TO MR. TYLER.]

January 25, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have just received your note. The orders were given to the Brooklyn, I believe, on Monday or Tuesday last—certainly before your arrival in this city. She goes on an errand of mercy and relief. If she had not been sent, it would have been an abandonment of our highest duty. Her movements are in no way connected with South Carolina.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

Mr. Tyler returned to Richmond on the 29th, and before he left the following notes were exchanged between him and the President:

[MR. TYLER TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Brown’s Hotel, January 28, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I leave the city to-morrow morning for the brief interval that elapses between this and the meeting of the [Peace] commissioners on the 4th February. In making my adieus, which I would do in person but for engagements which prevent, I desire to express my pleasure at hearing your message read to-day in the Senate, and to tender to you my acknowledgments for the facilities you have afforded me of acquitting myself of the mission with which my State entrusted me. I feel but one regret in all that has occurred, and that is in the sailing of the Brooklyn, under orders issued before my arrival in this city. I hope, however, that she sailed with such instructions as, if followed, will prevent any collision. There is nothing that I more sincerely desire than that your administration may close amid the rejoicings of a great people at the consummation of the work of a renewed and more harmonious confederacy.

Will you pardon me for calling your attention to the rumor contained in the newspapers of the morning, which state that active proceedings are in course of execution at Fortress Monroe, in planting cannon upon the land side of the fort, with their muzzles turned landward and overlooking the country? If this be so, Mr. President, is such proceeding either appropriate or well-timed? I shall do no more than call your attention to the circumstance, and leave it without comment, with this single remark: that when Virginia is making every possible effort to redeem and save the Union, it is seemingly ungracious to have cannon levelled at her bosom.

With my most cordial wish for your success in steering the ship of State amid the critical relations of the country,

I am, dear Sir, truly and faithfully yours,

John Tyler.

[PRESIDENT BUCHANAN TO MR. TYLER.]

Washington, January 28, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your note of this evening, and am happy to learn that you were pleased at hearing my message read to-day in the Senate. It expresses my sincere and cordial sentiments. My best wishes attend you on your journey home and for your safe return to this city on the 4th February. I shall then hope to see more of you.

I shall make it a point to inquire to-morrow morning into the rumors in the newspapers, to which you refer, in relation to Fortress Monroe.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

Mr. Tyler was again in Washington on the 4th of February, to attend the sessions of the Peace Convention, of which he was made the presiding officer. On the 7th the members of that body were received by the President. On the 8th Mr. Tyler, still anxious in regard to the situation of things in Charleston, called upon the President, and I find in the handwriting of the latter the following account of their interview:

Friday, February 8th, 1861.

President Tyler and his lady called to see me at about three o’clock in the afternoon. They informed me that Colonel Hayne became much excited on the perusal of Mr. Holt’s last letter, and considered it highly insulting in its character. I told him that this must be a mere pretext,—there was nothing in that letter unkind or disrespectful, and certainly there was no intention to write anything but what was respectful, as its whole tenor would prove.

In answer to it I had received one of the most outrageous and insulting letters from Colonel Hayne which had ever been addressed to the head of any government. He told me he would send for Colonel Hayne, and get him to withdraw the letter. I told him Colonel Hayne had left that morning at six o’clock, and his letter was not delivered to me until between eleven and twelve.

He asked me if he might telegraph to Governor Pickens what I had said relative to the character of Mr. Holt’s letter. I told him certainly he might, he was at perfect liberty to do so. The letter would speak for itself, and I asked him if he had read it, and he said he had not.

He then asked me and urged upon me to permit him to telegraph to Colonel Hayne that I would not send reinforcements to the garrison if Governor Pickens would pledge himself that he would not attack it. I told him this was impossible. I could not agree to bind myself not to reinforce the garrison in case I deemed it necessary. That Mr. Holt’s letter showed that these reinforcements had not yet been ordered, but that the character of Colonel Hayne’s letter was such that these might be immediately necessary.

Mr. Tyler strongly urged that I should withdraw the garrison, and urged reasons to that effect. I told him this was quite impossible—that I could never voluntarily surrender the property of the United States which it was my solemn and imperative duty to protect and defend. (He afterwards addressed me a note, urging the same policy, which I did not answer.)

In order to prevent all mistakes, I told him explicitly, as he was about departing, that he was not authorized to telegraph anything to Governor Pickens except as to the character of Mr. Holt’s letter; that it was not insulting or disrespectful, but, on the contrary, it was kind and respectful in its tone, and was so intended both by the writer and myself. I then informed him that I had sent Colonel Hayne’s letter back to him. He said such a letter was highly improper, addressed to the head of a government.

[MR. TYLER TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Saturday evening, February 9, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I communicated to Governor Pickens what passed between us as to Mr. Holt’s letter, and I am happy to say that the reply, received a moment ago, leaves me no ground to fear any early disturbance. The whole subject is referred to the convention at Montgomery, as I plainly infer. The conclusion is in these words: “Everything which can be done consistently with the honor and safety of this State to avoid collision and bloodshed, has been and will be the purpose of the authorities here.”

Thus, my dear sir, the inquietude you expressed may be dismissed.

Very truly and faithfully yours,

John Tyler.

It will be remembered, that on the 19th of February, the President received information from Philadelphia, by a copy of a telegram said to have been forwarded from Governor Pickens through Augusta to Montgomery, that the Governor was urging an immediate attack on Fort Sumter. This information the President at once communicated to Mr. Tyler. The following notes disclose what Mr. Tyler learned:

[MR. TYLER TO THE PRESIDENT.]

Tuesday, February 19, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I do not believe a word of it. My last despatch from Judge Robertson is wholly different. I am at the moment so engaged that I cannot hasten to you. I will as soon as I can.

Respectfully, your friend,

John Tyler.

Wednesday, February 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I despatched the telegram at about 5 o’clock. No answer yet. Perhaps it was referred to Montgomery, or time may not have been given to respond before the close of the office. A consultation of cabinet may have been required. In short, many things of a similar nature may have occurred. General Davis will be written to to-day. No attack can be made without orders from Montgomery.

Truly yours,

John Tyler.

Two o’clock P.M., February 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have this moment received a telegram from Charleston. The Governor says: “Received your message; know nothing about the report you speak of; no one is authorized to speak for me; things must stand without any movement in force.” I would send the despatch, but the latter part of it relates to another matter.

Truly and sincerely your friend,

John Tyler.

Brown’s Hotel, February 24, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I think you may rely upon tranquillity at the South. Since you left me I have made particular inquiries. General Davis has been written to and will be written to. He is advised to send a commissioner, and to go to Charleston himself to represent and quiet all things. In fact, from information from one directly from Richmond, and who travelled with merchants from the South going North, the probability is that he is now in Charleston. The fact may probably be announced in the papers to-morrow. Every one that I have seen, secessionists and others, concur with myself in the improbability of any movement until a commissioner shall come on here and a failure in the mission.

Truly and faithfully yours,

John Tyler.

The explanation of the last of these notes is that Mr. Jefferson Davis had assumed at this time, at Montgomery, the office of President of the Confederate States. His inaugural address was delivered on the 18th of February, and his cabinet was organized immediately thereafter. In compliance with the intimation sent by Mr. Tyler, steps were at once taken by Mr. Davis to send commissioners to Washington. It was, therefore, not the “cue” of the Confederate government to have an immediate attack made on Fort Sumter. Mr. Davis did not go to Charleston, but he doubtless exerted there, for a time, the influence which Mr. Tyler desired.

CHAPTER XXIII.
1861—January, February, and March.

INTERVENTION OF VIRGINIA TO PREVENT A COLLISION OF ARMS—EX-PRESIDENT TYLER’S MISSION TO THE PRESIDENT—THE PRESIDENT’S PREPARATIONS TO REINFORCE ANDERSON, IN CASE OF NECESSITY—THE MONTGOMERY CONGRESS AND THE CONFEDERATE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT—MR. LINCOLN’S JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON—THE NEGLECTS OF CONGRESS.

To a right understanding of these complicated affairs that were occurring in the months of January and February, many threads require to be taken up separately, and interwoven in the narrative. The last messenger or envoy from South Carolina, Colonel Hayne, was in Washington from the 13th of January to the 8th of February, during which period, as the reader has seen, the President’s hands were so far tied by Major Anderson’s truce, that reinforcements could not be sent to him while it lasted. But after this temporary truce began, and before it terminated, there occurred another intervention, altogether different from that of any of the Senators. This was the action of the General Assembly of Virginia, which, besides instituting the Peace Convention, took, at the same time, a step which interposed an insurmountable obstacle to the reinforcement of Fort Sumter, unless it should be attacked, or be in immediate danger of attack. There is no reason to doubt that what the State of Virginia then did was done in entire good faith, and with an honorable and beneficent purpose to preserve the peace of the country. At all events, the President was not at liberty to regard her action in any other light, nor was he disposed to do so.

On the 19th of January, ten days after the affair of the Star of the West, and six days after the arrival of Colonel Hayne in Washington, the General Assembly of Virginia, among their other proceedings, appointed ex-President Tyler a commissioner to the President of the United States, and Judge John Robertson a commissioner to the State of South Carolina and the other States which had seceded, or might thereafter secede, with instructions to procure a mutual agreement to “abstain from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms between the States and the Government of the United States,” pending the proceedings of the Peace Convention. Mr. Tyler, who was also a member of the Peace Convention, arrived in Washington on the 23d of January, two weeks before the departure of Col. Hayne. On the following day, he presented the resolutions of his State to the President, at the same time assuring him that the efforts of Virginia to secure peace and a reconstruction of the basis of the Union depended for their success on her being allowed to conduct them undisturbed by any outside collision. The resolutions of Virginia requested the President, and not Congress, to enter into the proposed agreement. The President, already informed unofficially of the tenor of the resolutions, was then preparing a special message to Congress on the subject.[^[137]] What occurred at this first interview between Mr. Tyler and the President will appear from the following memorandum the original of which is in the President’s handwriting:

Thursday morning, January 24, 1861.

Mr. Tyler called and delivered me his credentials, and we had a conference. I foreshadowed to him the principal points of my message as [it was] delivered. He preferred that I should enter into the arrangement myself. We discussed this question for some time, and I was decided that I had no power. He then expressed an apprehension that my message might precipitate action in Congress. I told him I thought not. I sent for Governor Bigler that he might consult him on this point, but Governor Bigler had gone to the Senate.

Friday morning, 25th.

Mr. Tyler called again, and Mr. Bigler came. I read to him the principal points of the message. He was anxious it should be sent that day, and I immediately proceeded to put it in form. I told him it should be sent in that day, or at latest on Saturday morning. But the Senate adjourned over till Monday at an early hour, and my purpose was thus defeated.

Mr. Buchanan has said that while he had no constitutional power to enter into the agreement proposed, it was due to its intrinsic importance and to the State of Virginia, which had manifested so strong a desire to restore and preserve the Union, that the proposal should be submitted to Congress.[^[138]]

The President, accordingly, in his message of the 28th January, submitting the Virginia resolutions to Congress, observed in regard to this one, that “however strong may be my desire to enter into such an agreement, I am convinced that I do not possess the power. Congress, and Congress alone, under the war-making power, can exercise the discretion of agreeing to abstain ‘from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms’ between this and any other Government. It would, therefore, be a usurpation for the Executive to attempt to restrain their hands by an agreement in regard to matters over which he has no constitutional control. If he were thus to act, they might pass laws which he would be bound to obey, though in conflict with his agreement. Under existing circumstances, my present actual power is confined within narrow limits. It is my duty at all times to defend and protect the public property within the seceding States, so far as this may be practicable, and especially to employ all constitutional means to protect the property of the United States, and to preserve the public peace at this the seat of the Federal Government. If the seceding States abstain ‘from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms,’ then the danger so much to be deprecated will no longer exist. Defence, and not aggression[aggression], has been the policy of the administration from the beginning. But whilst I can enter into no engagement such as that proposed, I cordially commend to Congress, with much confidence that it will meet their approbation, to abstain from passing any law calculated to produce a collision of arms pending the proceedings contemplated by the action of the General Assembly of Virginia. I am one of those who will never despair of the Republic. I yet cherish the belief that the American people will perpetuate the union of the States on some terms just and honorable for all sections of the country. I trust that the mediation of Virginia may be the destined means, under Providence, of accomplishing this inestimable benefit. Glorious as are the memories of her past history, such an achievement, both in relation to her own fame and the welfare of the whole country, would surpass them all.”

This noble and patriotic effort of Virginia met no favor from Congress. Neither House referred these resolutions of her General Assembly to a committee, or even treated them with the common courtesy of ordering them to be printed. In the Senate no motion was made to refer them, and the question to print them with the accompanying message was debated from time to time until the 21st February,[^[139]] when the Peace Convention had nearly completed its labors, and after this no further notice seems to have been taken of the subject. In the House the motion to refer and print the Virginia resolutions, made by Mr. Stanton, of Ohio, on the day they were received, was never afterwards noticed.[^[140]] This mortifying neglect on the part of the Representatives of the States and of the people, made a deep and unfortunate impression on the citizens of Virginia.[^[141]]

The President having laid this whole matter before Congress, with whom it appropriately belonged, the question now recurs whether he omitted any thing that it was in his power to do, during the session of the Peace Convention. It was manifestly his duty to be prepared, to the extent of all the means at his command, when Anderson’s truce had terminated, to send him reinforcements, should Anderson request them, or should it be known from any other quarter that Fort Sumter was in danger of attack. Congress might not, as it did not, assume any part of its just responsibility; and it was not known until some days after the termination of Major Anderson’s truce, on the 6th of February, that the Governor of South Carolina had determined to respect the wishes of the Virginia Legislature, and refrain from attacking the fort while the Peace Convention was sitting.[^[142]]

Without waiting to know how Congress might treat this proposal of the Virginia General Assembly, the President, on the 30th of January, addressed the following note to the Secretary of War, Mr. Holt:

Washington, January 30th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

It is time we should have decided whether it is practicable with the means in our power, considering the obstacles interposed in the harbor of Charleston, to reinforce Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, should the action of the authorities of South Carolina, or his request, render this necessary. The high military attainments and just reputation of General Scott render his advice on this subject of the greatest importance. Should reinforcements be deemed practicable, then, in consultation with him, a plan ought to be devised in advance to accomplish the object. I should be gratified to see General Scott, the Secretary of the Navy, and yourself, at twelve o’clock to-day, or any other hour most convenient to yourselves, to talk over this and other matters.

Your friend very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

The result of the conference appointed by this note has been given by Mr. Buchanan himself:

After several consultations, an expedition for this purpose was quietly prepared at New York, under the direction of Secretary Toucey, for the relief of Fort Sumter, the command of which was intrusted to his intimate friend, the late lamented Commander Ward of the navy. This gallant officer had been authorized to select his own officers and men, who were to rendezvous on board the receiving-ship, of which he was then in command. The expedition consisted of a few small steamers, and it was arranged that on receiving a telegraphic despatch from the Secretary, whenever the emergency might require, he should, in the course of the following night, set sail for Charleston, entering the harbor in the night, and anchoring if possible under the guns of Fort Sumter.

It is due to the memory of this brave officer to state that he had sought the enterprise with the greatest enthusiasm, and was willing to sacrifice his life in the accomplishment of the object, should such be his fate, saying to Secretary Toucey, this would be the best inheritance he could leave to his wife and children.[^[143]]

This expedition did not sail. It consisted of a few small vessels borrowed from the Treasury Department, with two or three hundred men. While it was preparing, the Peace Convention was in session; and as it had become known to the President that the authorities of South Carolina were then respecting the appeal of the General Assembly of Virginia to avoid collision, it would have broken up the Peace Convention to send reinforcements to Major Anderson, unless he asked for them; and it would inevitably have led to an immediate assault upon the fort, which would have been the signal for a civil war. These considerations caused some delay in issuing the orders to Commander Ward. In point of fact, Major Anderson not only did not ask for reinforcements, but on the 30th of January, the day on which the President summoned the Secretaries of War and the Navy and General Scott to a conference, Anderson wrote to the War Department that he hoped no attempt would be made to throw in supplies; that it would do more harm than good. From later advices received from him, it became apparent that this small expedition under Commander Ward could not enter the harbor of Charleston without a fearful sacrifice of life. It was therefore kept back, but kept in readiness, at New York, until the 5th day of March, on which day President Lincoln was fully informed of it, and of the circumstances which had prevented its sailing, by the retiring Secretary of War, Mr. Holt, with the concurrence of President Buchanan.

Without anticipating, however, what occurred on the last day of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, and on the day following, it is only needful to say here that Fort Sumter remained unmolested by any actual attack, until some time after Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, although the disposition of the authorities of South Carolina continued to be as hostile as ever. On the 4th of February, a Congress of the States which had then seceded was held at Montgomery in Alabama. These were the States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. The delegates to this Congress were appointed by conventions of their respective States. This body framed a provisional constitution for the new Confederacy, which they styled the “Confederate States of America.” It was adopted by the Congress on the 8th of February, and was to continue in force for one year, unless it should be superseded at an earlier period by a permanent organization. Jefferson Davis was elected President, and Alexander H. Stephens Vice President, of the new Confederacy. No popular election of Congress was ordered, but the legislative powers were vested “in this Congress now assembled, until otherwise ordered.”[^[144]]

The authorities of South Carolina immediately began to look to the Montgomery government for direction. On the 14th of February, a telegraph operator in Augusta, Georgia, transmitted a despatch from Charleston to Montgomery, urging the Southern Congress to do something definite in regard to Fort Sumter, and asking whether the Congress would appoint a General to lead the attack, or whether it should be done under the superintendence of Governor Pickens, who said, “the fort must be taken before Lincoln takes his seat.”[^[145]] Comparing the date on which information of this despatch reached President Buchanan (February 19th), with what was taking place in Washington at that time, it will appear that the administration could not, while the Peace Congress was still in session, do anything more than to prepare secretly the small expedition under Commander Ward, and hold it in readiness to sail, whenever Major Anderson should signify that he considered his position as insecure. From information which reached the President from other quarters, he was satisfied that the Montgomery Congress would not approve of the taking of Fort Sumter before Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration. The great body of the persons composing the Montgomery government were too cool and too wary in their plans to promote, at that time, the hasty and hot-headed schemes of their friends in South Carolina. They were still bent upon procuring the peaceable assent of the Federal Government to the separation of their States from the Union.[^[146]]

They did not mean to initiate a war, although most of them saw clearly that there would be war, while they denied that there ought to be one. At all events, they meant to have it appear to the world that they had done everything they could to procure a peaceable acquiescence in their secession from the Union. Under these circumstances, President Buchanan, who now had less than three weeks of his official term remaining, and who could not anticipate that commissioners of the new Confederacy would reach Washington while he was President (they were not appointed until the 25th of February), could only leave the position of things in regard to Fort Sumter in the best possible attitude for his successor. This attitude was, to hold privately all the means that the Government then had for relieving Fort Sumter, in readiness, to be used by his successor as circumstances might require.

In the mean time, as the 4th of March was drawing near, Mr. Lincoln, the President-elect, was making his journey from Springfield towards Washington, delivering public speeches on the way, the tenor of which was that retaining the forts and other property of the United States in the seceded States was not coercion, that there need be no war, and that there was no occasion for any alarm, as “nobody was hurt.” From these strange utterances of Mr. Lincoln, as he approached the capital, the only inference that could be drawn was that he considered the country to be in no danger, and that there would be no occasion to use force. It has been claimed, and not without some reason, that Mr. Lincoln’s speeches on this journey encouraged the secessionists to believe that they could negotiate a peaceable and final separation of their States from the Union. But at all events, Mr. Lincoln’s travelling speeches justified the course that had been pursued by Mr. Buchanan; for Mr. Lincoln’s attitude as the incoming President was that the use of force must be confined to the preservation of the property of the United States in the seceded States, against all attempts to forcibly dispossess the Federal Government. How the war was precipitated, after Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, is a distinct topic. On the day of his inauguration, he was perfectly at liberty, so far as depended upon anything done or forborne by his predecessor, to refuse all communication with the Montgomery commissioners, and to use all the means that his predecessor had ever had for reinforcing Fort Sumter. He was doubtless surprised, as his predecessor was, by being informed on the 5th day of March, that Fort Sumter could not be held without a force of fifteen or twenty thousand men, to destroy the batteries that had been erected around it; and had the Congress, which expired on the day of his inauguration, made the provisions for the emergency which Mr. Buchanan urged upon them, no member of Mr. Lincoln’s administration would have had any occasion to temporize with the Southern commissioners in any form, concerning the retention of that fortress.

And here it may be well to recapitulate distinctly what President Buchanan urged Congress to do and what it neglected to do. He has himself so clearly stated this, that I cannot do better than to quote his words:

We have already seen that Congress, throughout the entire session, refused to adopt any measures of compromise to prevent civil war, or to retain first the cotton or afterwards the border States within the Union. Failing to do this, and whilst witnessing the secession of one after another of the cotton States, the withdrawal of their Senators and Representatives, and the formation of their Confederacy, it was the imperative duty of Congress to furnish the President or his successor the means of repelling force by force, should this become necessary, to preserve the Union. They, nevertheless, refused to perform this duty, with as much pertinacity as they had manifested in repudiating all measures of compromise.

1. At the meeting of Congress, a Federal Judiciary had ceased to exist in South Carolina. The District Judge, the District Attorney, and the United States Marshal had resigned their offices. These ministers of justice had all deserted their posts before the act of secession, and the laws of the United States could no longer be enforced through their agency. We have already seen that the President, in his message, called the attention of Congress to this subject, but no attempt was made in either House to provide a remedy for the evil.

2. Congress positively refused to pass a law conferring on the President authority to call forth the militia, or accept the services of volunteers, to suppress insurrections which might occur in any State against the Government of the United States. It may appear strange that this power had not long since been vested in the Executive. The Act of February 28, 1795,[^[147]] the only law applicable to the subject, provides alone for calling forth the militia to suppress insurrections against State governments, without making any similar provision for suppressing insurrections against the Government of the United States. If anything were required beyond a mere inspection of the act to render this clear, it may be found in the opinion of Attorney General Black, of the 20th November, 1860. Indeed, it is a plain casus omissus. This palpable omission, which ought to have been instantly supplied, was suffered to continue until after the end of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, when on the 29th July, 1861, Congress conferred this necessary power on the President.[^[148]] The framers of the Act of 1795 either did not anticipate an insurrection within any State against the Federal Government, or if they did, they purposely abstained from providing for it. Even in regard to insurrections against a State government, so jealous were they of any interference on the part of the Federal Government with the rights of the States, that they withheld from Congress the power to protect any State “against domestic violence,” except “on the application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened).” Under the Act of 1795, therefore, the President is precluded from acting, even upon his own personal and absolute knowledge of the existence of such an insurrection. Before he can call forth the militia for its suppression, he must first be applied to for this purpose by the appropriate State authorities, in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. It was the duty of Congress, immediately after their meeting, to supply this defect in our laws, and to confer an absolute authority on the President to call forth the militia, and accept the services of volunteers, to suppress insurrections against the United States, whenever or wherever they might occur. This was a precautionary measure which, independently of existing dangers, ought long since to have formed a part of our permanent legislation. But no attempt was ever made in Congress to adopt it until after the President’s special message of the 8th January, 1861, and then the attempt entirely failed. Meanwhile the aspect of public affairs had become more and more threatening. Mr. Crittenden’s amendment had been defeated before the Committee of Thirteen, on the last day of December; and it was also highly probable that his proposition before the Senate to refer it to a vote of the people of the States, would share the same fate. South Carolina and Florida had already seceded, and the other cotton States had called conventions for the purpose of seceding. Nay, more, several of them had already seized the forts, magazines, and arsenals within their limits. Still all this failed to produce any effect upon Congress. It was at this crisis the President sent his special message to Congress (8th January, 1861), by which he endeavored to impress them with the necessity for immediate action. He concealed nothing from them. Whilst still clinging to the fading hope that they might yet provide for a peaceful adjustment of our difficulties, and strongly recommending this course, he says: “Even now the danger is upon us. In several of the States which have not yet seceded, the forts, arsenals, and magazines of the United States have been seized. This is by far the most serious step which has been taken since the commencement of the troubles...... The seizure of this property, from all appearances, has been purely aggressive, and not in resistance to any attempt to coerce a State or States to remain in the Union.” He also stated the well-known fact that our small army was on the remote frontiers, and was scarcely sufficient to guard the inhabitants against Indian incursions, and consequently our forts were without sufficient garrisons.

Under these circumstances he appeals to Congress in the following language: “But the dangerous and hostile attitude of the States toward each other has already far transcended and cast in the shade the ordinary executive duties already provided for by law, and has assumed such vast and alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely above and beyond executive control. The fact cannot be disguised that we are in the midst of a great revolution. In all its great bearings, therefore, I commend the question to Congress, as the only human tribunal, under Providence, possessing the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution; and they alone possess the power to remove grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union to this distracted country. On them, and on them alone, rests the responsibility.”

Congress might, had they thought proper, have regarded the forcible seizure of these forts and other property, including that of the Branch Mint at New Orleans, with all the treasure it contained, as the commencement of an aggressive war. Beyond question the cotton States had now committed acts of open hostility against the Federal Government. They had always contended that secession was a peaceful constitutional remedy, and that Congress had no power to make war against a sovereign State for the purpose of coercing her to remain in the Union. They could no longer shelter themselves under this plea. They had by their violent action entirely changed the position they had assumed; and instead of peacefully awaiting the decision of Congress on the question of coercion, they had themselves become the coercionists and assailants. This question had, therefore, passed away. No person has ever doubted the right or the duty of Congress to pass laws enabling the President to defend the Union against armed rebellion. Congress, however, still shrunk from the responsibility of passing any such laws. This might have been commendable had it proceeded from a sincere desire not to interpose obstacles to a compromise intended to prevent the effusion of fraternal blood and restore the Union. Still, in any event, the time had arrived when it was their duty to make at the least contingent provisions for the prosecution of the war, should this be rendered inevitable. This had become the more necessary as Congress would soon expire, and the new Congress could not be convened for a considerable period after the old one had ceased to exist, because a large portion of the Representatives had not then been elected. These reasons, however, produced no effect.

The President’s special message[^[149]] was referred, two days after its date (10th January), by the House of Representatives to a special committee, of which Mr. Howard, of Michigan, was chairman. Nothing was heard from this committee for the space of twenty days. They then, on the 30th January, through Mr. John H. Reynolds, of New York, one of its members, reported a bill[^[150]] enabling the President to call forth the militia or to accept the services of volunteers for the purpose of protecting the forts, magazines, arsenals, and other property of the United States, and to “recover possession” of such of these as “have been or may hereafter be unlawfully seized or taken possession of by any combination of persons whatever.” Had this bill become a law, it would have been the duty of the President at once to raise a volunteer or militia force to recapture the forts which had been already seized. But Congress was not then prepared to assume such a responsibility. Mr. Reynolds accordingly withdrew his bill from the consideration of the House on the very day it was reported. On his own motion it was recommitted, and thus killed as soon as it saw the light. It was never heard of more.

Then, after another pause of nineteen days, and only a fortnight before the close of the session, the Committee on Military Affairs, through Mr. Stanton, of Ohio, their chairman, on the 18th February reported another bill[^[151]] on the subject, but of a more limited character than that which had been withdrawn. It is remarkable that it contains no provision touching the recovery of the forts and other property which had been already seized by the delinquent States. It did no more than provide that the powers already possessed by the President, under the Act of 1795, to employ the militia in suppressing insurrections against a State government, should be “extended to the case of insurrections against the authority of the United States,” with the additional authority to “accept the services of such volunteers as may offer their services for the purpose mentioned.” Thus all hostile action for the recovery of the forts already seized was excluded from the bill. It is difficult to conceive what reasonable objection could be made to this bill, except that it did not go far enough and embrace the forts already seized; and more especially as when it was reported we may recollect that the Confederate Congress had already been ten days in session at Montgomery, Alabama, and had adopted a Provisional Constitution. Notwithstanding all this, the House refused to act upon it. The bill was discussed on several occasions until Tuesday, 26th February. On that day a motion was made by Mr. Corwin, of Ohio, to postpone its consideration until Thursday, the 28th February.[^[152]] Mr. Stanton, the reporter of the bill, resisted this motion, stating that such a postponement would be fatal to it. “It will,” said he, “be impossible after that to have it passed by the Senate” (before the 4th March). He, therefore, demanded the ayes and noes; and notwithstanding his warning, Mr. Corwin’s motion prevailed by a vote of 100 to 74, and thus the bill was defeated.

It may be proper to observe that Mr. Corwin, whose motion killed the bill, was a confidential friend of the President elect, then present in Washington, and was soon thereafter appointed minister to Mexico.

But even had Congress passed this bill, it would have proved wholly inefficient for want of an appropriation to carry it into effect. The Treasury was empty; but had it been full, the President could not have drawn from it any, even the most trifling sum, without a previous appropriation by law. The union of the purse with the sword, in the hands of the Executive, is wholly inconsistent with the idea of a free government. The power of the legislative branch to withhold money from the Executive, and thus restrain him from dangerous projects of his own, is a necessary safeguard of liberty. This exists in every government pretending to be free. Hence our Constitution has declared that “no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” It is, therefore, apparent that even if this bill had become a law, it could not have been carried into effect by the President without a direct violation of the Constitution.

Notwithstanding these insuperable obstacles, no member of either House, throughout the entire session, ever even proposed to raise or appropriate a single dollar for the defence of the Government against armed rebellion. Congress not only refused to grant the President the authority and force necessary to suppress insurrections against the United States, but the Senate, by refusing to confirm his nomination of a collector of the customs for the port of Charleston, effectually tied his hands and rendered it impossible for him to collect the revenue within that port. In his annual message he expressed the opinion that “the same insuperable obstacles do not lie in the way of executing the [existing] laws for the collection of customs on the seaboard of South Carolina as had been interposed to prevent the administration of justice under the Federal authority within the interior of that State.” At all events he had determined to make the effort with the naval force under his command. He trusted that this might be accomplished without collision; but if resisted, then the force necessary to attain the object must be applied. Accordingly, whilst informing Congress “that the revenue still continues to be collected as heretofore at the custom house in Charleston,” he says that “should the collector unfortunately resign, a successor may be appointed to perform this duty.” The collector (William F. Colcock) continued faithfully to perform his duties until some days after the State had seceded, when at the end of December he resigned. The President, immediately afterwards, on the 2d January, nominated to the Senate, as his successor, Mr. Peter McIntire, of Pennsylvania, a gentleman well qualified for the office. The selection could not have been made from South Carolina, because no citizen of that State would have accepted the appointment. The Senate, throughout their entire session, never acted upon the nomination of Mr. McIntire; and without a collector of customs duly appointed, it was rendered impossible for the President, under any law in existence, to collect the revenue.

But even if the Senate had confirmed Mr. McIntire’s nomination, it is extremely doubtful whether the President could lawfully have collected the revenue against the forcible resistance of the State, unless Congress had conferred additional powers upon him. For this purpose Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, on the 3d January, 1861,[^[153]] the day after Mr. McIntire’s nomination to the Senate, reported a bill from the Judiciary Committee, further to provide for the collection of duties on imports. This bill embraced substantially the same provisions, long since expired, contained in the Act of 2d March, 1833, commonly called “the Force Bill,” to enable General Jackson to collect the revenue outside of Charleston, “either upon land or on board any vessel.” Mr. Bingham’s bill was permitted to slumber on the files of the House until the 2d March, the last day but one before Congress expired,[^[154]] when he moved for a suspension of the rules, to enable the House to take it up and consider it, but his motion proved unsuccessful. Indeed, the motion was not made until so late an hour of the session that even if it had prevailed, the bill could not have passed both Houses before the final adjournment. Thus the President was left both without a collector of customs, and most probably without any law which a collector could have carried into effect, had such an officer existed. Mr. Bingham’s bill shared the fate of all other legislative measures, of whatever character, intended either to prevent or to confront the existing danger. From the persistent refusal to pass any act enabling either the outgoing or the incoming administration to meet the contingency of civil war, it may fairly be inferred that the friends of Mr. Lincoln, in and out of Congress, believed he would be able to settle the existing difficulties with the cotton States in a peaceful manner, and that he might be embarrassed by any legislation contemplating the necessity of a resort to hostile measures.

The 36th Congress expired on the 3d March, 1861, leaving the law just as they found it. They made no provision whatever for the suppression of threatened rebellion, but deliberately refused to grant either men or money for this purpose. It was this violation of duty which compelled President Lincoln to issue a proclamation convening the new Congress, in special session, immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter.[^[155]]

It is proper to state that President Lincoln did not accord to the Montgomery Commissioners any official reception as representatives of an independent government. But as will hereafter appear, his Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, through the intervention of distinguished persons in Washington, held much informal intercourse with them in regard to the evacuation of Fort Sumter, the result of which was that the commissioners left Washington believing, or professing to believe, that they had been duped by a promise to withdraw the troops, which had not been fulfilled, but, on the contrary, that secret preparations were making by Mr. Lincoln’s government to send reinforcements. This has always been assigned as the excuse for the attack on Fort Sumter.[^[156]]

CHAPTER XXIV.
1861—February and March.

COMMISSIONERS FROM THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT—MR. JEFFERSON DAVIS’S STATEMENT THAT THEY WERE INVITED BY PRESIDENT BUCHANAN CALLED IN QUESTION.

It is now my duty to examine a statement made by Mr. Jefferson Davis in his recent work, to the effect that Confederate commissioners were appointed and sent to Washington from Montgomery, partly, at least, in consequence of a suggestion made to him by President Buchanan. The statement is in these words: “It may here be mentioned, in explanation of my desire that the commission, or at least a part of it, should reach Washington before the close of Mr. Buchanan’s term, that I had received an intimation from him, through a distinguished Senator of one of the border States,[^[157]] that he would be happy to receive a commissioner or commissioners from the Confederate States, and would refer to the Senate any communication that might be made through such a commission.”[^[158]]

This intimation, if it was ever made, was, as Mr. Davis describes it, that the President would himself receive a diplomatic agent or agents from the Confederate States, and would, as is the customary and constitutional course on extraordinary occasions, consult the Senate, not Congress, upon any communication that such agent or agents might desire to make. Mr. Davis, although he names Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, as the person through whom he received this intimation, quotes no letter or telegram from that gentleman; so that a judgment cannot be formed upon the character of this alleged intimation. There is not the least trace among Mr. Buchanan’s private papers of his ever having made to Mr. Hunter such a suggestion in writing. If it was made orally—considering his habit of keeping memoranda of important conversations, especially with the Southern Senators—it is highly probable that he would not have omitted to record this one. No such memorandum has been found after the most diligent search. One is left, therefore, to the probabilities of the case, which are all against the correctness of Mr. Davis’ statement. No imputation is here made upon Mr. Davis’ veracity; but it evidently requires something more in the nature of proof than anything he has given, to justify the belief that President Buchanan ever expressed his willingness to receive commissioners from the Confederate States, to negotiate with the diplomatic department of the Government for a peaceable acknowledgment of the independence of those States. The mere reception of such commissioners and a reference of their communication to the Senate, would have been tantamount to an admission that the Confederate government could be treated with as an independent power.

1. In the letter addressed by Mr. Davis to the President, dated on the 27th of February, 1861, and which he describes in his book as “of a personal and semi-official character,” introducing Mr. Crawford, the first commissioner to arrive in Washington, and asking for him “a favorable reception corresponding to his station,” he did not in any manner signify that he was sending Mr. Crawford to Washington in compliance with an intimation which he, Mr. Davis, had received from Mr. Buchanan. This he would naturally have said, in such a personal letter, if he at that time was acting upon such an intimation from Mr. Buchanan, because it would have been an unanswerable ground on which to ask for a favorable reception of the commissioner. The appeal ad hominem would not have been left out of such a letter.

2. Mr. Davis was well aware that President Buchanan had steadily refused to accord any diplomatic or official character to the South Carolina commissioners, as representatives of a foreign or independent power, and that he had conferred with them only as private and eminent citizens of their State. Mr. Davis was also aware that the President had never offered to entertain, and had never entertained, a proposition to refer to any other body than Congress, the question of the standing of any seceded State. He had acted in the same way towards Colonel Hayne, when he came from Governor Pickens to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter; and again, early in February, when the Hon. Thomas J. Judge presented himself as a commissioner from the seceded State of Alabama, the President, as Mr. Davis doubtless knew, refused to receive him in any capacity but that of a distinguished citizen of Alabama, referring to his several previous messages to Congress as proof that he could not recognize Mr. Judge in the character which he claimed. All this had transpired a good while before Mr. Davis sent Mr. Crawford to Washington. On the other hand, ex-President Tyler had been received by the President as a commissioner from the State of Virginia, which had not seceded, and did not then propose and was not likely to secede from the Union. Yet, the world is asked to believe that President Buchanan, through a third person, sent an intimation to the President of the Confederate States, that he would be happy to receive a diplomatic agent of that government, and would consult the Senate upon what that agent had to propose.

3. The date of Mr. Crawford’s departure from Montgomery, “on or about February 27th,” the date of his arrival in Washington, “two or three days before the expiration of Mr. Buchanan’s term of office,” and the fact that Mr. Buchanan declined to receive him or to send any message to the Senate touching the subject of his mission, militate strongly against the correctness of the assertion that he went there in consequence of an intimation from Mr. Buchanan that such an agent would be received. If such an intimation had been given, the President could have had no excuse for refusing to hold any communication with the agent, even if he did not arrive until the last two or three days of the administration.

4. Mr. Crawford, in a manuscript account which he furnished to Mr. Davis of his “recollections of events connected with” his mission, represents Mr. Buchanan as “panic-stricken;” in “a state of most thorough alarm, not only for his home at Wheatland, but for his personal safety;” that he was “afraid of a public visit” from the commissioner whose appointment he had himself suggested, and whom he had promised to receive.[^[159]] Mr. Crawford is not alone in imputing “panic” to Mr. Buchanan. It was a common mode, both with Mr. Buchanan’s Northern and his Southern enemies, to represent him as bewildered, confused, timorous, not only during the last days, but during the last months of his administration. This was their way of accounting for conduct which, for very opposite reasons, they disliked. It has been my duty, in investigating day by day every act of his official and private life during this period, to penetrate into his closet, if I may so express myself, and to form an opinion respecting the effect upon him of the great and critical events with which he had to deal. The materials for such an opinion, when one has access to the written evidence of what such a statesman was doing from day to day and from hour to hour, are almost as ample as if one had all the while been at his side and sate at his board. It seems to me the veriest folly, to speak of a man as panic-stricken or bewildered, who was daily and hourly answering with his own hand the most important public despatches, and the most familiar private letters, in the manner appropriate to each; recording with his own pen important conversations; holding cabinet councils; giving directions and transacting with punctuality and order the multifarious business of a great office; attending to his own private concerns, and grasping firmly the helm of state amid waves that rose higher and were more dangerous than any through which the good ship had ever floated; entertaining friends, enjoying the delights of social intercourse, writing at one time the gravest and most important messages to Congress, and then congratulating a young lady friend on her approaching marriage, in as graceful and charming a little note as a woman ever received. I cannot give to the reader an adequate idea of what I have gone through, in the study of these last four months of Mr. Buchanan’s official life. I can only say that on me it has produced the impression of great versatility of powers, immense industry, complete self-command, unshaken firmness, and undeviating consistency. That a man of nearly seventy years should have encountered, as he did, what he had to encounter, with so little sign of fear, is the best proof of an undaunted temper and a serene self-possession. The gossip of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the tattle of secession circles, supposed him to be panic-stricken; while he sate in the White House the most remarkable instance, in those tumultuous times, of the mens aequa in arduis.[^[160]]

It seems to be quite evident from Mr. Tyler’s note of February 24th, to the President, that so far as any suggestion of a commission to be sent by Mr. Davis to Washington proceeded from that city, it proceeded from Mr. Tyler himself, and those gentlemen of his own State who, acting with him, were endeavoring to ward off any attack upon Fort Sumter. Mr. Davis became President of the Confederate States on the 18th of February. But before that date, Mr. Tyler was actively engaged in efforts to prevent an armed collision at Charleston; and as it was well known that Mr. Davis would be the President of the new confederacy whose delegates had assembled at Montgomery, Mr. Tyler and the other Virginians looked to him to prevent any outbreak in South Carolina. But I know of nothing that can connect Mr. Buchanan with the suggestion of a commission, beyond Mr. Davis’s statement, which is wholly unsupported by proof. The fair inference from all that occurred is, that the commission was sent to Washington to take the chances of being received by the out-going or the incoming administration, as circumstances might admit. As the first commissioner did not leave Montgomery until the 27th of February, it could not have been expected that Mr. Buchanan would take the responsibility of binding his successor by negotiating with a diplomatic agent of the Confederate States during the last three days of his administration; nor is it probable that Mr. Davis, whose last words in the Senate of the United States arraigned Mr. Buchanan severely for his course towards South Carolina, had, as President of the Confederate States, received from Mr. Buchanan an intimation that was equivalent to an invitation from one potentate to another to send a commission for the adjustment of all differences between their two governments.

“He is advised to send a commission,” said Mr. Tyler to Mr. Buchanan. Advised by whom? “By me, Mr. Tyler, and those Virginians who are acting with me,” is plainly to be read between the lines of Mr. Tyler’s letter of February 24th to the President. No one can doubt that Mr. Buchanan’s account of his administration, published in 1866, was written with perfect candor. If he had ever sent to Mr. Davis the intimation which that gentleman says he received from him through a third person, inviting commissioners from the Confederate Government, he would have stated the fact, together with his reasons for it. He never shrank from assigning reasons for any thing that he ever did. Yet not only does he make no allusion to the Montgomery commissioners, but any one who reads his fair and considerate comments on the peace policy pursued by Mr. Lincoln down to the attack on Fort Sumter, ought to be convinced that there was no need for the presence of Confederate commissioners in Washington, coming there on the suggestion of Mr. Buchanan, to negotiate matters that would have to be referred to the Senate, although it is highly probable that Mr. Tyler may have desired that a commissioner be sent to arrange amicably for an agreement by the Confederates not to attack Fort Sumter.

CHAPTER XXV.
1861—February and March.

TROOPS AT THE CAPITAL—INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN—IMPORTANT AND ALARMING DESPATCHES FROM MAJOR ANDERSON—MR. HOLT’S COMMUNICATION TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN—ATTITUDE IN WHICH MR. BUCHANAN LEFT THE GOVERNMENT TO HIS SUCCESSOR—HIS DEPARTURE FOR WHEATLAND.

As the administration was drawing to its end, great uneasiness was felt by many persons in Washington for the safety of the capital and the Government. Rumors of a conspiracy to seize the city and to prevent the inauguration of the President-elect filled the air. Among those who were affected by these rumors was the Secretary of State, Judge Black. With characteristic energy, on the 22d of January, being prevented by illness from attending the cabinet meeting of that day, he addressed to the President a long and earnest private letter, setting forth the grounds of his belief that the existence of such a conspiracy was highly probable, and that at all events, even if it were doubtful, the Government ought to be prepared for the worst. The President, although at first he did not share these apprehensions, was not the less vigilant in the discharge of his executive duties, or the less disposed to give due weight to Judge Black’s impressive arguments. He would have had everything needful done in a manner not to excite public observation, if the matter had not been broached in Congress. His message of the 8th of January had been referred on the 10th, in the House of Representatives, to a select committee of five members, consisting of Messrs. Howard, of Michigan, Branch, of North Carolina, Dawes, of Massachusetts, John Cochrane, of New York, and Hickman, of Pennsylvania. On the 25th this committee were instructed, by a resolution offered by Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, “to inquire whether any secret organization hostile to the Government of the United States exists in the District of Columbia; and if so, whether any official or employé of the city of Washington, or any employées or officers of the Federal Government, in the Executive or Judicial Departments, are members of it.” Before this committee had reported, steps had been taken by the Executive to assemble quietly at Washington a small body of the regular troops. This at once aroused the jealousy of certain members from the border States. On the 11th of February, a resolution, offered by Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, was adopted in the House, calling upon the President to furnish to the House, if not incompatible with the public service, “the reasons that have induced him to assemble a large number of troops in this city, why they are kept here, and whether he has any information of a conspiracy on the part of any portion of the citizens of the country to seize the capital and prevent the inauguration of the President-elect.”

On the 14th of February the select committee reported all the testimony they had taken, and expressed their unanimous opinion that the evidence produced before them did not prove the existence of a secret organization at Washington, or elsewhere, for purposes hostile to the Government.

Thereupon Mr. Branch, of North Carolina, introduced another resolution, condemning the quartering of troops at the capital.

In the meantime, the Secretary of War, Mr. Holt, on the 18th of February, made a full report to the President, in response to Mr. Burnett’s resolution of the 11th, setting forth the reasons for the assembling of the troops, and officially declaring that their presence “is the result of the conclusion arrived at by yourself and cabinet, on the proposition submitted to you by this department.” On the 20th, Mr. Holt addressed to the President the following private note:

[MR. HOLT TO THE PRESIDENT.]

War Department, Feb. 20, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

I inclose a copy of the resolution referred to in the paper which I had the honor to address to you on yesterday, and trust I shall be pardoned for saying that I shall be very unhappy, if this defence—truthful and tempered as it is—is not permitted to reach the country. The act of assembling troops at the capital, and providing for the inauguration of your successor under the shelter of their guns, is one of the gravest and most responsible of your administration. It constitutes, indeed, an epoch in the history of our institutions, and as the circumstances surrounding you fully justify the measure, they should be frankly and fearlessly set forth to the world. For this step your administration has been, and still continues to be, mercilessly denounced, and of this denunciation, as you are aware, a large part has fallen to my share. I have been defamed in my own State, and in the towns of my nearest relatives and friends, and I confess that I have not yet attained to the Christian philosophy of bearing such things as an ox led to the slaughter, without opening my mouth. Congress is now engaged in spreading broadcast over the country, through the efforts of your enemies and mine, a report intended to show that the safety of the capital has never been menaced, and of course that all your preparations here have been prompted by cowardice, or the spirit of despotism. Now is the time to meet this calumny. A few weeks hence the memory of the measure assailed will be swallowed up by the heady current of events, and nothing will remain but the wounds to the reputation and sensibilities of your friends who gave to that measure their honest and zealous support. I do not ask you to adopt my report as your own, but to submit it simply as the views entertained by the War Department, and for which its head should alone be held responsible.

The helplessness of my position for all purposes of self-defence, without your kind cooperation, must be my apology for the solicitude expressed.

Very sincerely your friend,

J. Holt.

The President did not at once concur in Mr. Holt’s views of the necessity for making public the reasons which had governed the Executive in ordering the troops to Washington. In a memorandum which now lies before me in his handwriting, he says:

After the Committee of Five had reported all the testimony which could be collected in the case, with their opinion upon the result of it, the President did not deem it necessary to answer Mr. Burnett’s resolution. Understanding, however, that he and other members considered it disrespectful to the Union, not to return an answer, he [on the 2d of March] sent a message to the House, in response to the resolution.[resolution.]

This was in ample season to inform everybody that the troops were in Washington to secure a peaceful inauguration of his successor against all possibility of danger; the imputations cast upon his administration in the meantime were of less immediate consequence. The table given below shows the number of troops present in the city on the 27th of February, and until after the 4th of March.[^[161]]

The following is the material part of the special message of March 2, 1861:

These troops were ordered here to act as a posse comitatus in strict subordination to the civil authority, for the purpose of preserving peace and order in the City of Washington, should this be necessary before or at the period of the inauguration of the President-elect. I was convinced that I ought to act. The safety of the immense amount of public property in this city, and that of the archives of the Government, in which all the States, and especially the new States in which the public lands are situated, have a deep interest; the peace and order of the city itself and the security of the inauguration of the President-elect, were objects of such vast importance to the whole country, that I could not hesitate to adopt precautionary measures. At the present moment, when all is quiet, it is difficult to realize the state of alarm which prevailed when the troops were first ordered to this city. This almost instantly subsided after the arrival of the first company, and a feeling of comparative peace and security has since existed, both in Washington and throughout the country. Had I refused to adopt this precautionary measure, and evil consequences, which good men at the time apprehended, had followed, I should never have forgiven myself.

Some of these troops were in Washington on the 22d of February. It appears that ex-President Tyler was disturbed by learning that they were to form part of the customary parade on Washington’s Birthday. President Buchanan made the following reply to his remonstrance:

[THE PRESIDENT TO MR. TYLER.]

Washington, February 22, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I find it impossible to prevent two or three companies of the Federal troops here from joining in the procession to-day with the volunteers of the District, without giving serious offence to the tens of thousands of the people who have assembled to witness the parade. The day is the anniversary of Washington’s birth—a festive occasion throughout the land—and it has been particularly marked by the House of Representatives. These troops everywhere else join such processions, in honor of the birthday of the Father of his country, and it would be hard to assign a good reason why they should be excluded from this privilege in the capital founded by himself. They are here simply as a posse comitatus to aid the civil authority, in case of need. Besides, the programme was published in the National Intelligencer of this morning without my knowledge.[^[162]]

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

Among the interesting occurrences of that day, as part of the history of the time, it is now proper to quote a private correspondence between General Dix and Major Anderson.[^[163]]

[GENERAL DIX TO MAJOR ANDERSON.]

Washington, March 4, 1861.

My Dear Major:—

I have just come from the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and in a day or two more I expect to be relieved from my duties as Secretary of the Treasury and return to my family after my short, but laborious and responsible term of official service. I shall send you, by the same mail which takes this note, my answer to a call made upon me by the House of Representatives for instruction in regard to certain transactions in the extreme Southern States. It discloses a demoralization in all that concerns the faithful discharge of official duty, which, if it had pleased God, I could have wished never to have lived to see. The cowardice and treachery of General Twiggs is more disheartening than all that has transpired since this disgraceful career of disloyalty to the Government commenced. No man can help feeling that he is himself stained in reputation by this national degradation. I can hardly realize that I am living in the age in which I was born and educated.

In the midst of these evidences of degeneracy—in the face of the humiliating spectacle of base intrigues to overthrow the Government by those who are living upon its bounty, and of a pusillanimous or perfidious surrender of the trusts confided to them, the country turns with a feeling of relief, which you cannot understand, to the noble example of fidelity and courage presented by you and your gallant associates. God knows how ardently I wish you a safe deliverance! But let the issue be what it may, you will connect with your name the fame of historical recollections, with which life itself can enter into no comparison. One of the most grateful of my remembrances will be that I was once your commanding officer. I write in haste, but from the heart, and can only add, may God preserve you and carry you in triumph through the perils of your position! I have never doubted if you were assailed that the honor of the country would be gloriously vindicated, and the disgrace cast upon it by others would be signally rebuked by your courage and constancy.

I am, my dear Major, faithfully your friend,

John A. Dix.

P.S.—It is gratifying to know that your State remains faithful to the Union. My kind regards to Lieutenant Hall.

[MAJOR ANDERSON TO GENERAL DIX.]

Fort Sumter, S. C., March 7, 1861.

My Dear General:—

Thank you. Many thanks to you for your whole-souled letter of March 4th. One such letter is enough to make amends for a life of trial and of discomfort.

My position is not a very enviable one, but still, when I consider how God has blessed me in every step I have taken here, I have not the least fear of the result. I have written to the Department very fully, and the administration now know my opinion, and the opinion of each individual officer of this command, of the strength of the force necessary for forcing an entrance into this harbor.

You speak of the disgraceful incidents developed in your report to Congress. I had already read some of your correspondence, and was shocked at the developments they made. The faithful historian of the present period will have to present a record which will sadden and surprise. It would seem that a Sirocco charged with treachery, cunning, dishonesty, and bad faith, had tainted the atmosphere of portions of our land; and alas! how many have been prostrated by its blast! I hope that ere long we shall see symptoms of restoration, and that a healthier wind will recover some of those who have given way to the blast. A long life of honest devotion to every duty, moral and social, may cause their course to be forgiven, but it cannot be forgotten. The South Carolinians are on the qui vive to-night; why, we know not. They have four guard boats in the stream, instead of the usual number of late, two. I cannot believe, though, that General Beauregard, lately of the Engineer Corps, would make an attack without having given formal notice of his intention to do so. My rule is, though, always to keep a bright lookout. With many thanks, my dear General, for your most kind and welcome letter, I am, as ever, your sincere friend,

Robert Anderson.

The last day of the administration had now come. Mr. Buchanan was to be relieved of the burthens of office, and they were to be devolved on his successor. On that morning extraordinary despatches from Major Anderson were delivered at the War Department. In Mr. Buchanan’s handwriting I find, among his private papers, the following account of what took place concerning this sudden revelation of the position of affairs in the harbor of Charleston:—

Monday, March 4, 1861. The cabinet met at the President’s room in the Capitol, to assist me in examining the bills which might be presented to me for approval, between the hours of ten and twelve of that day, when my own term and that of Congress would expire.

Mr. Holt did not attend until after eleven o’clock. At the first opportunity, he informed us that on that morning he had received extraordinary despatches from Major Anderson, saying that without a force of some twenty or thirty thousand men to capture the batteries which had been erected, he could not maintain himself at Fort Sumter, and he [Mr. Holt] intended at once to communicate these despatches to President, Lincoln. The cabinet had some conversation on the subject that evening at Mr. Ould’s.

Tuesday morning, 5th March, we saw Mr. Holt at the War Department. He there read us what he had written to President Lincoln in communicating these despatches to Mr. Holt, giving his reasons for his astonishment. He referred to his own letter to Major Anderson after he had taken possession of Fort Sumter, offering him reinforcements, and the repeated letters of the Major stating that he felt secure, and finally a letter, after the affair of the Star of the West, stating that he did not desire reinforcements. He concluded by referring to the expedition which had been prepared at New York under the direction of General Scott, to sail at once, in case the Major should be attacked or ask for reinforcements. This was small, consisting of two or three hundred men with provisions.

On Tuesday afternoon, 5th March, Mr. Holt told me he had sent the papers to President Lincoln.

This is the last I have heard of it, from any member of the cabinet or any friend at Washington, up till this day (Saturday morning), 9th March, at half-past ten A.M.

The following is Secretary Holt’s letter to President Lincoln:

War Department, March 5, 1861.

Sir:—

I have the honor to submit for your consideration several letters with inclosures, received on yesterday from Major Anderson and Captain Foster, of the Corps of Engineers, which are of a most important and unexpected character. Why they were unexpected will appear from the following brief statement:—

“After transferring his forces to Fort Sumter, he [Major Anderson] addressed a letter to this Department, under date of the 31st December, 1860, in which he says: ‘Thank God, we are now where the Government may send us additional troops at its leisure. To be sure, the uncivil and uncourteous action of the Governor [of South Carolina], in preventing us from purchasing anything in the city, will annoy and inconvenience us somewhat; still we are safe.‘ And after referring to some deficiency in his stores, in the articles of soap and candles, he adds: ‘Still we can cheerfully put up with the inconvenience of doing without them for the satisfaction we feel in the knowledge that we can command this harbor as long as our Government wishes to keep it.’ And again, on the 6th January, he wrote: ‘My position will, should there be no treachery among the workmen whom we are compelled to retain for the present, enable me to hold this fort against any force which can be brought against me; and it would enable me, in the event of war, to annoy the South Carolinians by preventing them from throwing in supplies into their new posts, except by the aid of the Wash Channel through Stone River.’

“Before the receipt of this communication, the Government, being without information as to his condition, had despatched the Star of the West with troops and supplies for Fort Sumter; but the vessel having been fired on from a battery at the entrance to the harbor, returned without having reached her destination.

“On the 16th January, 1861, in replying to Major Anderson’s letters of the 31st December and of 6th January, I said: ‘Your late despatches, as well as the very intelligent statements of Lieutenant Talbot, have relieved the Government of the apprehensions previously entertained for your safety. In consequence, it is not its purpose at present to reinforce you. The attempt to do so would no doubt be attended by a collision of arms and the effusion of blood—a national calamity, which the President is most anxious to avoid. You will, therefore, report frequently your condition, and the character and activity of the preparations, if any, which may be being made for an attack upon the fort, or for obstructing the Government in any endeavors it may make to strengthen your command. Should your despatches be of a nature too important to be intrusted to the mails, you will convey them by special messenger. Whenever, in your judgment, additional supplies or reinforcements are necessary for your safety or for a successful defence of the fort, you will at once communicate the fact to this Department, and a prompt and vigorous effort will be made to forward them.’

“Since the date of this letter Major Anderson has regularly and frequently reported the progress of the batteries being constructed around him, and which looked either to the defence of the harbor, or to an attack on his own position; but he has not suggested that these works compromised his safety, nor has he made any request that additional supplies or reinforcements should be sent to him. On the contrary, on the 30th January, 1861, in a letter to this Department, he uses this emphatic language: ‘I do hope that no attempt will be made by our friends to throw supplies in; their doing so would do more harm than good.‘

“On the 5th February, when referring to the batteries, etc., constructed in his vicinity, he said: ‘Even in their present condition, they will make it impossible for any hostile force, other than a large and well-appointed one, to enter this harbor, and the chances are that it will then be at a great sacrifice of life;‘ and in a postscript he adds: ‘Of course, in speaking of forcing an entrance, I do not refer to the little stratagem of a small party slipping in.‘ This suggestion of a stratagem was well considered in connection with all the information that could be obtained bearing upon it; and in consequence of the vigilance and number of the guard-boats in and outside of the harbor, it was rejected as impracticable.

“In view of these very distinct declarations, and of the earnest desire to avoid a collision as long as possible, it was deemed entirely safe to adhere to the line of policy indicated in my letter of the 16th January, which has been already quoted. In that Major Anderson had been requested to report ‘at once,’ ‘whenever, in his judgment, additional supplies or reinforcements were necessary for his safety or for a successful defence of the fort.’ So long, therefore, as he remained silent upon this point, the Government felt that there was no ground for apprehension. Still, as the necessity for action might arise at any moment, an expedition has been quietly prepared and is ready to sail from New York, on a few hours’ notice, for transporting troops and supplies to Fort Sumter. This step was taken under the supervision of General Scott, who arranged its details, and who regarded the reinforcements thus provided for as sufficient for the occasion. The expedition, however, is not upon a scale approaching the seemingly extravagant estimates of Major Anderson and Captain Foster, now offered for the first time, and for the disclosures of which the Government was wholly unprepared.

“The declaration now made by the Major that he would not be willing to risk his reputation on an attempt to throw reinforcements into Charleston harbor, and with a view of holding possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men, takes the Department by surprise, as his previous correspondence contained no such intimation.

“I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

“Your obedient servant,

”J. Holt.

As the question of peace or war was now to turn on what might happen at Fort Sumter, it is incumbent on me to give a brief summary of the position in which Mr. Buchanan left the Government to Mr. Lincoln. It is for some other pen than mine to unravel the dark story in which is involved the true history of the informal negotiations between Mr. Lincoln’s administration and the Confederate commissioners, in regard to the evacuation of Fort Sumter; negotiations out of which those commissioners came with the professed belief that they had been tricked, and which were swiftly followed by an order from Montgomery to expel Anderson from that post. It is not for me to sit in judgment on that transaction. I have not the means of penetrating the councils of the Lincoln administration, such as I have had for understanding those of his predecessor. I leave to others to explain the truth or falsity of the accusation which has undertaken to justify the bombardment of Fort Sumter and the initiation of a civil war, in which less than thirty days saw the practical transfer of the Confederate Government from Montgomery to Richmond. But it will not be stepping out of my province, if I now describe the situation in which Mr. Buchanan handed over the Government to his successor.

There was now an actual revolt of six States, having about five millions of inhabitants, free and slave, with an organized provisional government, based on the alleged right of States to secede from the Union. Seven other slaveholding States, having more than thirteen millions of inhabitants, free and slave, still held aloof from the Southern Confederacy, still remained loyal to the Government of the United States, still were represented in the new Congress along with the whole North and the whole West. It had been Mr. Buchanan’s policy, from the very first, to save these so-called border States from joining the Southern Confederacy.[^[164]] He could not prevent the formation of that Confederacy among the cotton States, without exercising powers which the Constitution had not conferred upon him. To make aggressive war upon a State, or its people, in order to prevent it or them from doing an unconstitutional act, or because one had been committed, was clearly not within the constitutional powers of the Executive, even if it was within the constitutional powers of Congress. The question has often been asked, why did Mr. Buchanan suffer State after State to go out of the Union? Why did he not prevent their adoption of ordinances of secession? Why did he not call on the North for volunteers, and put down the rebellion in its first stage? The question is a very inconsiderate one, but it shall be answered. In the first place, Mr. Buchanan had no power to call for volunteers under any existing law, and to make such a call without law, was to step outside of the Constitution, and to look to a future indemnification by Congress. Why he did not take such a step has been explained by him so lucidly and exactly, that I have only to quote his words:

Urgent and dangerous emergencies may have arisen, or may hereafter arise in the history of our country, rendering delay disastrous, such as the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederate government, which would for the moment justify the President in violating the Constitution, by raising a military force without the authority of law, but this only during a recess of Congress. Such extreme cases are a law unto themselves. They must rest upon the principle that it is a lesser evil to usurp, until Congress can be assembled, a power withheld from the Executive, than to suffer the Union to be endangered, either by traitors at home or enemies from abroad. In all such cases, however, it is the President’s duty to present to Congress, immediately after their next meeting, the causes which impelled him thus to act, and ask for their approbation; just as, on a like occasion, a British minister would ask Parliament for a bill of indemnity. It would be difficult, however, to conceive of an emergency so extreme as to justify or even excuse a President for thus transcending his constitutional powers whilst Congress, to whom he could make an immediate appeal, was in session. Certainly no such case existed during the administration of the late President. On the contrary, not only was Congress actually in session, but bills were long pending before it for extending his authority in calling forth the militia, for enabling him to accept the services of volunteers, and for the employment of the navy, if necessary, outside of ports of entry for the collection of the revenue, all of which were eventually rejected. Under these circumstances, had the President attempted, of his own mere will, to exercise these high powers, whilst Congress were at the very time deliberating whether to grant them to him or not, he would have made himself justly liable to impeachment. This would have been for the Executive to set at defiance both the Constitution and the legislative branch of the Government.[^[165]]

This paragraph reveals, better than anything else he ever wrote, his character as an American statesman. He was the last of a race of eminent public men who had been bred in a profound reverence for the Constitution and intimate knowledge of it. With his great contemporaries of an earlier period, he may have differed upon the construction of particular powers; he belonged to the school of strict construction, while some of the famous men with whom he had contended in former days were more lax in their interpretations. But on the fundamental questions of the nature of the Union, the authority of the Federal Government, and the means by which it was to enforce its laws, there was no distinction between the school of Jackson and Buchanan and the school of Clay and Webster. Moreover, there was not one of his very eminent Whig antagonists, not even Webster, whose loyalty to the Constitution—loyalty in the truest and most comprehensive sense—the loyalty that will not violate, any more than it will fail to assert, the just authority of such an instrument—was more deep and fervid than Buchanan’s. This had been, if one may use such an expression, the ruling passion of his public life, from the time when he knew anything of public affairs. He was not a man of brilliant genius, nor had he ever done any one thing that had made his name illustrious and immortal, as Webster did when he defended the Constitution against the heresy of nullification. But in the course of a long, useful and consistent life, filled with the exercise of talents of a fine order and uniform ability, he had made the Constitution of his country the object of his deepest affection, the constant guide of all his public acts. He was in truth conspicuously and emphatically open to the reproach, if it be a reproach, of regarding the Constitution of the United States with what some have considered as idolatry. This trait in Mr. Buchanan’s public character must not be overlooked, when the question is asked to which I am now making an answer. How, in the long distant future, the example of his fidelity to the Constitution contributed to its restoration, after a period of turmoil and of more than neglect of its principles, is worthy of reflection.

In the next place, during the time of the formation of the provisional confederacy of the cotton States, not only was Congress in session, and not only did it neglect to do anything to strengthen the hands of the Executive, but if the President had, without the authority of law, issued a call for volunteers, it would not have been responded to. It is true that some Northern legislatures passed resolutions tendering men and money to the United States. But how could such offers have been accepted and acted upon by the Executive, without the authority of law? How could a regiment, or an army of regiments, have been marched by the President into Georgia or Mississippi, to prevent the adoption of a secession ordinance? What but a declaration of war, made by the only war-making power, would have protected officers and men from being in the condition of trespassers and brigands, from the moment they set foot on the soil of a Southern State on such an enterprise? War, war upon a State or a people, must have a legal basis, if those who wage it are to be entitled to the privileges and immunities of soldiers. On the other hand, to enforce the laws of the United States against obstructions put in the way of their execution by individuals or unlawful combinations, was not to make war. But for this purpose, President Buchanan could not obtain from Congress the necessary means. Moreover, the public mind of the North was at that time intent upon the measures by which it was hoped that all differences between the two sections of the Union might be composed, and a call for volunteers would have been regarded as fatal to any prospect of adjustment, and would therefore have been little heeded. It required all the excitement which followed the bombardment of Fort Sumter, all the monstrous uprising of the North produced by that event, to secure a response to President Lincoln’s irregular call for seventy-five thousand men, in April, 1861.

But it was in the power of President Buchanan to hold the border States back from the secession movement until his successor could take the reins of Government, and this duty he successfully performed. Notwithstanding the failure of Congress to second his efforts to preserve the Union unbroken by anything but the secession of South Carolina; notwithstanding the failure of the Peace Convention to propose anything that Congress would accept, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Kentucky, even Tennessee[Tennessee] and Missouri, had not seceded, or taken steps to secede, on the 4th of March, 1861. The same conservative sentiment which still animated the best portion of the people of those States, kept them from the vortex of secession. They did not yet regard the election of Mr. Lincoln by a purely sectional vote of the non-slaveholding States as a sufficient cause for breaking up the Union. They still looked to his administration for measures that would prevent a civil war; still looked to the Federal Government for a redress of all the grievances of which any of the States could complain. So that when Mr. Buchanan laid down and Mr. Lincoln took up the powers of the Executive, the problem which remained for the latter, and which Mr. Buchanan left for him in the best attitude that it could be made to assume, was how still to keep those border States from joining the Southern Confederacy, as they had been kept from it hitherto.

This was largely, almost exclusively, a matter for the Executive, unless, indeed, he should think it best to call the new Congress, then legally existing, together immediately, and insist on its doing what the preceding Congress had neglected. This course was not at once adopted, and consequently everything depended upon the dealing of the Executive with the Confederate commissioners, who were then in Washington, respecting the evacuation of Fort Sumter. Mr. Buchanan had in no way trammelled his successor by negotiations with those commissioners. He had, in fact, declined all intercourse with them; and it was entirely optional with Mr. Lincoln to do the same thing, as it was entirely open to him to determine whether he would or would not order the evacuation of that fort, and to shape his measures accordingly. Thus far, an attack upon Major Anderson’s position had been prevented by the efforts of Virginia, and by the prudent course pursued by Mr. Buchanan. It was to be expected that the Southern commissioners would be most persistent in their demands; that they would seek the aid of influential persons who might desire to see the peace of the country preserved, and who would be willing to hazard so much of a recognition of the new Confederacy as a de facto power, as would be involved in a compliance with its immediate demands respecting Sumter. But by no act, or word, or omission of the outgoing President, had his successor been placed under any obligation to yield to those demands, or even to consider them. That the military situation had become such that Anderson could not be maintained in his position without sending a considerable army to his relief, was not due to President Buchanan’s unwillingness to send him reinforcements, but it was a consequence of Anderson’s not asking for them until he was so surrounded with fortifications and powerful batteries that he could not be relieved without a force many times greater than all that the Government then had at its command.

Mr. Lincoln, therefore, assumed the Government without a single admission by his predecessor of the right of secession, or of any claim founded on it; without any obligation, other than the duty of preventing a civil war, to hold even an informal negotiation with the Confederate commissioners; with thirteen millions of people in the border States still in the Union, and not likely to leave it, unless blood should be shed. It may be that in one sense it was fortunate that the first gun was fired on and not from Fort Sumter. But into that question it is not needful for me to enter. My province is fulfilled, if I have correctly described the condition in which Mr. Buchanan left the Government to his successor.

Excepting on the short drive from the White House to the Capitol, in the same carriage, on the 4th day of March, according to the graceful custom of inaugurating a new President, and in the public ceremony of the day, there is no reason to suppose that Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln ever met. All that is known is that Mr. Lincoln’s demeanor, while in the carriage, produced upon Mr. Buchanan the impression that he had no fears for his personal safety or the safety of the capital. But it does not appear that at that or any other time, Mr. Lincoln sought to know what his predecessor could tell him. It is too much the habit of our public men to live and act and confer only with their party associates. Unless it be in the conflicts of public debate, they learn nothing of the views, purposes, motives, and very little of the acts, of their political opponents. If ever there was an occasion when this habit needed to be broken, it was when one of these men was putting off and the other was assuming the great duties of the Presidency. Mr. Buchanan could not seek a conference with his successor on the state of public affairs; his successor did not seek or apparently desire one. How much there was that Mr. Buchanan could have communicated to Mr. Lincoln, and how much it concerned the interest of the Republic that the latter should learn, must be apparent from what has been gone over in the preceding pages. Such a conference, if it had served no other good purpose, would have fixed Mr. Lincoln’s attention upon the extreme importance of so guiding the intercourse between his administration, or any member of it, and the Confederate commissioners, as to prevent all pretext for an assault upon Fort Sumter.

Mr. Buchanan was detained by his private affairs in Washington until the 9th day of March. On that day, he departed for Wheatland, accompanied by Miss Lane and the other members of his household.

---

TROOPS AT THE CAPITAL.

The anonymous diarist of the North American Review, writing on the 4th day of March, the day of Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, records his great disgust at the presence of troops in Washington, and attributes it to “the mischievous influence of the Blairs.” It is to be hoped that the statement which I have made will be considered as sufficient proof of the source from which the first suggestion of this very prudent and proper precaution came. There was no single moment of time and no place in the Union, during the whole period of Mr. Buchanan’s Presidency, at which the presence of a military force was more necessary than it was at Washington on the day of Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration; for, notwithstanding the absence of any tangible evidence of a conspiracy to seize the city or to interrupt the proceedings, yet, as Judge Black forcibly remarked in his letter to the President, preparation could do no possible harm, in any event, and in the event which seemed most probable, it was the country’s only chance of salvation. If, then, at this most critical time and place, there could be assembled only 653 men of the rank and file of the army, a part of them being the sappers and miners drawn from West Point, what a commentary does this fact afford, upon the charge that President Buchanan neglected his duty, by not garrisoning the Southern forts in the month of October, 1860. At that time, the whole number of seaboard forts of the United States was 57; the proper complement for war garrisons of these forts would require 28,420 men; and their actual garrisons were 1,334 men, 1,308 of whom were at Governor’s Island, New York, Fort McHenry, Maryland, Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and Alcantraz[Alcantraz] Island, San Francisco. The regular army, when recruited to its maximum, was only 18,000 men; actually it was not much over 16,000. At no time could any part of it have been withdrawn from the remote frontiers; and of the 1,308 men distributed at the five points above named, very few could have been transferred to the nine Southern forts mentioned by General Scott in his “views” of October, 1860. The Military Committee of the House of Representatives, in their Report of February 18, 1861, said: “Unless it is the intention of Congress that the forts, arsenals, clock yards and other public property, shall be exposed to capture and spoliation by any lawless bands who may have the inclination to commit depredations upon it, the President must be armed with additional force for their protection.” Accordingly, they reported a bill authorizing the President to call out the militia, but it was never acted upon. (See Report, H. R. No. 85, 36th Cong., 2d Session, and Bill No. 1,003.)

CHAPTER XXVI.
1861.

JOURNEY FROM WASHINGTON TO WHEATLAND—WELCOME FROM FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS—THE RANCOR OF THE TIMES MAKES REFUTATION A DUTY OF THE AUTHOR—THE STORY OF THE “CABINET SCENE”—MR. SEWARD'S CHARGE AGAINST THE LATE ADMINISTRATION—PICTURES AND CURIOSITIES SAID TO HAVE BEEN CARRIED AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE—MISS LANE AND THE ALMANACH DE GOTHA—PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS AT WHEATLAND INVENTED AND PUT INTO THE MOUTH OF MR. BUCHANAN AND HIS GUESTS.

At my request, a citizen of Lancaster, Mr. W. U. Hensel, has furnished for this work the following account of Mr. Buchanan’s journey from Washington to Wheatland:

Local pride and personal admiration for Mr. Buchanan had always contributed to his strength at home in popular contests. In the County of Lancaster, which to this day remains one of the strongholds of the anti-Democratic party, Mr. Buchanan received 8731 votes to 6608 for Fremont and 3615 for Fillmore. In the city the utmost hopes of his friends were more than realized by a plurality of 1196, about four times the usual Democratic majority, and a majority over Fillmore and Fremont of 864. In the little township of Lancaster, on the outskirts of the city, in which Mr. Buchanan’s suburban home was situated, and which the New York Herald called “The Wheatland district,” the average opposition majority of sixty was reduced to four. The interest and affection with which he was regarded at home was testified by the escort of an immense body of citizens of all parties which accompanied him from his house to the railroad station, when he left for Washington on March 2, 1857. The whole population of the city and vicinity seemed to have turned out upon the occasion, and the severity of the weather did not chill their enthusiasm. His immediate escort to the capital consisted of the local military company, the Fencibles, committees of council, representatives of Franklin and Marshall College, of the board of trustees of which institution he was president, and a number of personal friends.

On his expected return to Wheatland, after the close of his term, a citizens’ meeting appointed a committee of his neighbors and friends to escort him on his way. When those gentlemen arrived in Washington and, through their chairman, Hon. H. M. North, acquainted the President with their mission, he was deeply moved by the manifestation of good feeling toward him. A small military escort accompanied him and his friends to the railroad station in Washington, en route for Lancaster. They stopped over in Baltimore, and during the evening the ex-President received a large number of its citizens. In response to a serenade given him about eleven o’clock in the evening, at Barnum’s Hotel, he spoke as follows:

“My Friends:—

“I thank you most cordially for this honor, and a long period of time must elapse before memory shall fail to record it. The music is admirable indeed, and the delicious strains cannot fail to gratify the taste of any person whose genius or talents lead him to such a high accomplishment. But the music is nothing at all compared to the motives and feelings which prompted the compliment. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind sentiments therein expressed.

“There are some who are ever ready to pay homage to those who are about entering upon the cares of office, influenced doubtless by a principle of self-aggrandizement; but you pay your attentions to an old man going out of office, and now on his way to a retired and peaceful home. For many years I have experienced a deep regard for the interests of Baltimore, have rejoiced in her prosperity, and sympathized in her temporary misfortunes; and now one of the strongest feelings of my heart is, that she may continue an extension of her limits, enjoy an increase of trade and an abundance of labor for her deserving laboring classes.

“I must ask you to excuse this brief speech. I could say much more, but the night is advancing, and I forbear to detain you. My public history is before the people of this country, and whilst it does not behoove me to speak of it, I assure you of my willingness that they shall judge me by my kind regard for all the citizens of Baltimore; and that God may prosper and bless them all is the sincere prayer of an honest heart.”

The Battalion and Baltimore City Guards having been added to his escort, the homeward journey was resumed on the next morning, and at York and other points on the road there were demonstrations of popular welcome. At Columbia, Pa., a town on the Susquehanna River, on the west border of Lancaster County, he was welcomed at the gates of his own county by a committee of about one hundred and fifty citizens of Lancaster, and delegates from Columbia and surrounding towns and villages, who had gathered there to receive him when his foot first fell upon the soil of the district which claimed him as peculiarly its own. As the train which carried him and his friends and the popular escort, now swelled to many hundreds, neared the city, there was firing of cannon, pealing of bells, and the formation of a procession to escort the party through the streets of the city. The cars were stopped at the city limits, and Mr. Buchanan was conducted into an open barouche, drawn by four gray horses, and with a great civic and military display he entered the city, and passing through its principal streets, was taken to the public square. The procession halted and broke ranks, and an immense citizens’ meeting was organized, in the presence of which Wm. J. Preston, Esq., on behalf of the Baltimore City Guards, addressed Mayor Sanderson, consigning the ex-President to his old friends and neighbors. After the band had played “Home Again,” the Mayor, addressing Mr. Preston, returned the thanks of the citizens to his company for their courtesy to Mr. Buchanan, and then, turning to the guest of the occasion, welcomed him back to his home. Mr. Buchanan, in responding[responding] to this speech, said:

“Mr. Mayor, my Old Neighbors, Friends and Fellow-Citizens:—

“I have not language to express the feelings which swell in my heart on this occasion: but I do most cordially thank you for this demonstration of your personal kindness to an old man, who comes back to you ere long to go to his final rest. And here let me say that, having visited many foreign climes, my heart has ever turned to Lancaster as the spot where I would wish to live and die. When yet a young man, in far remote Russia, my heart was still with friends and neighbors in good old Lancaster. [Applause.]

“Although I have always been true to you, I have not been so true to you as you have been to me. Your fathers took me up when a young man, fostered and cherished me through many long years. All of them have passed away, and I stand before you to-day in the midst of a new generation. [A voice in the crowd—“I saw you mount your horse when you marched to Baltimore in the War of 1812.”] The friendship of the fathers for myself has descended on their children. Generations of mortal men rise, and sink, and are forgotten, but the kindness of the past generation to me, now so conspicuous in the present, can never be forgotten.

“I have come to lay my bones among you, and during the brief, intermediate period which Heaven may allot me, I shall endeavor to perform the duties of a good citizen, and a kind friend and neighbor. My advice shall be cheerfully extended to all who may seek it, and my sympathy and support shall never be withheld from the widow and the orphan. [Loud applause.] All political aspirations have departed. What I have done, during a somewhat protracted public life, has passed into history. If, at any time, I have done aught to offend a single citizen, I now sincerely ask his pardon, while from my heart I declare that I have no feeling but that of kindness to any individual in this county.

“I came to this city in 1809, more than half a century ago, and am, therefore, I may say, among your oldest citizens. When I parted from President Lincoln, on introducing him to the Executive Mansion, according to custom, I said to him: “If you are as happy, my dear sir, on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home, you are the happiest man in this country!” I was then thinking of the comforts and tranquillity of home, as contrasted with the troubles, perplexities, and difficulties inseparable from the Presidential office. Since leaving Washington, I have briefly addressed my friends on two or three occasions, but have purposely avoided all allusions to party politics, and I shall do so here.

“There is one aspiration, however, which is never absent from my mind for a single moment, and which will meet with a unanimous response from every individual here present, and that is, may God preserve the Constitution and the Union, and in His good providence dispel the shadows, clouds, and darkness which have now cast a gloom over the land! Under that benign influence we have advanced more rapidly in prosperity, greatness and glory than any other nation in the tide of time. Indeed, we had become either the envy or admiration of the whole world. May all our troubles end in a peaceful solution, and may the good old times return to bless us and our posterity! [Loud and prolonged applause.]”

At the conclusion of his remarks, he seated himself in his carriage, and was escorted out through the main street leading westward to Wheatland, on the way passing under an arch spanning the street, and with other signs of popular enthusiasm attending the occasion. When the procession reached Wheatland, the city guards were drawn up in front of the house, and to the music of “Home, Sweet Home,” he ascended the portico and re-entered upon the scenes of that tranquillity in which it was his desire to spend the rest of his days. Briefly addressing the military company drawn up in review before him he said, that he regarded that day as one of the proudest of his life. He thanked the officers and members for their handsome escort, so freely tendered him, and held it especially significant, as he was now a private citizen only. He regretted that having just reached his home, he was not prepared to entertain them. The doors of his house had been always open, the latch-string was out. At any other time when they felt disposed to call, either as a company or individuals, they should receive a very cordial welcome. On behalf of the guards, Mr. Preston responded at length, expressing their gratification at having the privilege of attending the President, and witnessing the cordiality and universal honor with which he had been received here. Late at night Mr. Buchanan was serenaded by the musical bodies of Lancaster.

And now that he had reached his home among those who best knew and who venerated him, and had sate himself down for whatever enjoyment of private life remained to him, it would seem that at least the respect and the forbearance of all his countrymen, if not their gratitude and applause, would have followed him in his retreat. He had been “so clear in his great office;” he had so wisely and conscientiously discharged its most important trusts; he had been so free from the corruption that assails the supreme dispenser of patronage and power; he had so well expounded the fundamental law that must govern the course of public affairs in the perilous condition that awaited them; he had done so much to secure for his successor a safe path in which to walk; he had left to that successor so little that could embarrass and so much that could guide him, that it would seem as if his errors would have been outweighed by the good that he had tried to do, as if all the virtuous and noble of the land would have interposed to shield him from censure. Nay, it would seem that he had accumulated a claim for tender consideration, large beyond the ordinary measure of such a fund. He had sacrificed on the altar of his country friendships of long years of mutual confidence and service; of that confidence and service which unite, in the strong bond of such a connection, the lofty spirits who lead together the political parties of a great and free country. In the discharge of his public duty, he had wounded and alienated hearts in which he had ever been held, and hoped always to be held, in affection and honor. To a man in the decline of life, such losses are serious things; and this man had more of them, far more, than usually falls to the lot of a statesman, even in the changing fortunes of the longest public life. His countrymen in general knew little of what his Presidency had cost him, or, if they knew anything of the rupture of such ties, they gave him no credit for the sacrifice.

Human nature, at its best, has enormous weaknesses, even if it has also great strength. Those who succeeded to the control of the Federal Government could not resist the temptation to assail their predecessors; as if the shortcomings of predecessors could excuse their own mistakes; as if crimination of those who had laid down responsibility could help those who had taken it up. But such is the natural, perhaps the inevitable course of things in free governments when a change of parties takes place, and especially in times of extreme public danger. Mr. Buchanan was pursued in his retirement with more than usual ferocity. The example that was set in high places infected those of low degree. Men said that he was a secessionist. He was a traitor. He had given away the authority of the Government. He had been weak and vacillating. He had shut his eyes when men about him, the very ministers of his cabinet, were plotting the destruction of the Union. He was old and timid. He might have crushed an incipient rebellion, and he had encouraged it. He had been bullied at his own council board by a courageous minister who had rebuked his policy and stayed him from a pernicious step. He had carried off from the official palace of the Republic ornaments that belonged to the nation. He had foolishly endeavored to have a member of his family catalogued among the royal families of the world.

Some of these slanders were low enough in their origin, but not too low to be echoed by a careless or a shameless press. Some of them began in high quarters, and spread through all ranks of society. Some would have been of moment, if they had been true; some had only their own frivolity and falsehood to give them currency; but when do frivolity and falsehood arrest the currency of a lie?

The reader who has followed me through the foregoing pages, has been enabled to pass judgment upon some of the most serious of the reproaches with which this statesman was visited. But there are other specific charges which remain to be noticed: and if, in this final refutation, I begin with an accusation that borrowed some dignity from its source, and then have to descend to things that no origin and no authority could dignify, I must plead the simple nature of my duty as the excuse. If I seem to the reader to pile Pelion upon Ossa, he must not forget the sources from which have been derived the erroneous popular impressions which have so long prevailed concerning these affairs.

When Mr. Seward became Secretary of State under President Lincoln, he thought it proper to signalize his official correspondence with some of our representatives abroad, with many discursive views and statements about our internal affairs. However necessary it may have been to possess our ministers at the courts of Europe with the policy which the new administration intended to pursue in regard to the threatened revolution, in order that they might enlighten the statesmen of Europe on the subject, it was hardly to have been expected that an American Secretary of State would, in his official correspondence, inculpate a preceding administration of his own government, even if it had not been one of his own party. But in the letter addressed by Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, on the 10th of April, 1861, from which I have already had occasion to quote, speaking of what was the state of things when he came into office, he said:

The Federal marine seemed to have been scattered everywhere except where its presence was necessary, and such of the military forces as were not in the remote States and Territories were held back from activity by vague and mysterious armistices, which had been informally contracted by the late President, or under his authority, with a view to postpone conflict until impracticable concessions to disunion should be made by Congress, or at least until the waning term of his administration should reach its appointed end.[^[166]]

It is unnecessary for me to add anything to what has already been said concerning the situation of the military forces at the time when the secession movement began, or concerning the facts or reasons for the only armistice, or understanding in the nature of an armistice, “contracted by the late President,” (in regard to Pensacola,) or the temporary truce of arms entered into by Major Anderson in the harbor of Charleston. There was nothing “mysterious” about either of these arrangements; nothing that could not be plainly read on the records of the War and Navy Departments. And in regard to the position of every vessel of the Navy, the records of that Department, if Mr. Seward had taken the trouble to examine them before he penned the charge that “the Federal marine seemed to have been scattered everywhere except where its presence was necessary,” he would have been able to say something more than was intended to be conveyed by the word “seemed,” whatever that may have been, for he would have had before him the facts. With respect, too, to “impracticable concessions,” Mr. Seward might have compared his own policy, pursued for some time after he became Secretary of State, with that of the preceding administration. Mr. Toucey, Mr. Buchanan’s Secretary of the Navy called on Mr. Seward at the State Department soon after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and found that “the tenor of his [Mr. Seward’s] language was altogether for peace and conciliation.” “I was as strongly impressed with it,” says Mr. Toucey, “as Judge Campbell appears to have been on another occasion.”[^[167]] But upon the matter of fact respecting the position of the naval forces, the following correspondence between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Toucey exhibits in full detail the situation of the whole navy in the month of December, 1860, and the following months:

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. TOUCEY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, July 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Your favor of the 5th ultimo was duly received, and should long since have been answered, but truly I had nothing to communicate except to reiterate my warm attachment and respect for yourself, and I know this was not necessary.

I perceive by the papers that Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, has had a resolution adopted by the Senate, asking the President for information of the nature of the quasi armistice at Fort Pickens, referred to in his message, etc.

As I was able, I have written in scraps a historical review of the last four months of my administration, not, however, intending that it should be published in my name. I consider it a complete vindication of our policy. This is placed in the hands of Judge Black and Mr. Stanton, to enable them to use the facts which it contains in case of an attack against me in Congress. They write that it is not probable any such attack will be made; but I received their letter the day before the motion of Mr. Grimes. General Dix, the Judge, and Mr. Stanton unite in the opinion that nothing in our defence should be published at present, because they do not believe the public mind is prepared to receive it, and this would have the effect of producing violent attacks against me from the Republican press, whilst we have very few, if any, journals which would be willing to answer them; ——- sed quere de hoc. I send you a copy of that portion of my review relating to Fort Pickens. It is not so precise as the rest, because I have not the necessary official papers in my possession. I perceive from your letter you have a distinct recollection of the whole affair. Would it not be wise and prudent for you to write to some friend in Washington on the subject—Mr. Thomson, of New Jersey, or some other person....

I think you ought to pay immediate attention to this matter. It affords a fair opportunity to relieve yourself from the false and unfounded charge made against you that you had not vessels at hand to meet the emergency. The first paragraph of your letter to me presents facts which would put the charge to flight.

My health is in a great degree restored, but I recover strength slowly. My letter is so long that I shall not advert to the disastrous condition of our public affairs. Miss Lane unites with myself in cordial wishes for your health and prosperity, and with kindest regards to Mrs. Toucey.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. TOUCEY TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Hartford, July 31, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 20th. Senator Thomson took offence last winter because I refused to give his brother a command out of course in preference to his seniors, and although I think, from his more recent intercourse, that it has passed away, yet I am unwilling to make a request of him. The records of the Navy Department will show, that on the 24th of December, 1860, the sloop of war St. Louis, carrying twenty guns, was ordered from Vera Cruz to Pensacola; that on the 5th of January, 1861, the sloop of war Macedonia, carrying twenty-two guns, then at Portsmouth (N. H.), ready for sea, was ordered by telegraph to proceed to Pensacola; that on the 9th of January, 1861, the frigate Sabine, carrying fifty guns, was ordered from Vera Cruz to Pensacola; that the steam sloop of war Brooklyn, carrying twenty-five guns, was ordered to Pensacola with two companies of regular troops and a supply of military stores for Fort Pickens, and arrived there early in February; that the U. S. steamer Wyandotte, carrying five guns, was there doing effective service; that the armed storeship Relief was there doing good service, and was ordered to remain there; that the U. S. steamer Crusader, carrying eight guns, having gone from her cruising ground, on the coast of Cuba, to Pensacola for repairs, was ordered to proceed to Tortugas, and on the arrival of the troops sent there, to return immediately to Pensacola, and it being reported by the newspapers that she had arrived at New Orleans, she was, on the 10th of January, by telegraph to New Orleans, ordered to return immediately to Pensacola, where she would find her orders. The Relief left Pensacola with prisoners and the families of officers for New York in violation of her orders, for which her commander was tried and condemned by courtmartial. The Crusader missed her orders. When the Brooklyn, the Sabine, the Macedonian, the St. Louis, and the Wyandotte were lying before Pensacola, the force being larger than was necessary, the St. Louis, her term of service having expired, was ordered to New York. Whether her orders had reached her before the 4th of March, I am not able to say. At this time the home squadron consisted of the Powhatan, Sabine, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Pocahontas, Pawnee, Mohawk, Waterwitch, Wyandotte, Crusader, Cumberland, Macedonian and Relief. The sloop of war Plymouth, the practice ship, was at Norfolk in good condition. The U. S. steamer Anacosta was in commission at Washington. The frigate Constitution, having been thoroughly repaired, was anchored at Annapolis, in aid of the Naval Academy. The great steam-ships Colorado, Minnesota and Mississippi, at Boston, and the Wabash at New York, had been thoroughly repaired, and could put to sea in two weeks; the Merrimac, at Norfolk, in three weeks; the Roanoke, in dock at New York, in six weeks. Of the above vessels, fourteen are steamers, eight ships of the line; the Alabama, Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, North Carolina, New York, Columbus and Pennsylvania, lying at the navy yards, had been, on the 1st of December last, recommended by the Department, in pursuance of the report of a board of naval officers, to be converted into steam frigates, but Congress did not make the necessary appropriation. The frigates Brandywine, Potomac, St. Lawrence, Columbia and Raritan were at the navy yards, and the same board of officers had recommended that when repaired they should be razeed and converted into sloops. The sloops of war Perry, Dale, Preble, Vincennes, Jamestown and Germantown had, within a few months, returned from their regular cruises on the coasts of Africa and South America and the East and West Indies, and were at the navy yards awaiting repairs. Congress had twice cut down the estimates of the Department for repairs a million dollars. Of the thirty-seven steam vessels in the navy, twenty had been added to it while I was at the head of the Department. While we had this force at home, the Mediterranean squadron consisted of but three vessels, the Susquehanna, Richmond and Iroquois; the Brazil squadron, of the Congress, Seminole and Pulaski; the East India squadron, of the Hartford, Saginaw, Dacotah and John Adams; the Pacific squadron, of the Lancaster, Cyane, St. Mary’s, Wyoming and Narragansett; the African squadron, of the San Jacinto, Constellation, Portsmouth, Mohican, Saratoga, Sumter and Mystic. The Niagara was on her way to carry home the Japanese ambassadors; the Vandalia to relieve the John Adams. I make this detailed statement that you may see that there is not the slightest ground for anxiety as to the course of your administration in reference to the naval force at Fort Pickens, in the home squadron, or in the foreign squadrons. I concur with Judge Black and others, that a publication at this time is not expedient, because it would provoke attack; because it would not be heard; because the best time for it is at the moment when the tide of public sentiment begins to ebb and to set in the opposite direction, which will inevitably soon take place. The public cannot fail to see that affairs have taken a downward direction with fatal velocity since the 4th of March, and that a series of measures could not have been devised more exactly adapted to divide the country and break the Government to pieces, than that which has been pursued by your successor.

Mrs. Toucey unites with me in presenting to yourself and to Miss Lane our most respectful regards.

Ever faithfully your friend,

I. Toucey.

There was a peculiar, not to say a most offensive injustice, in representing Mr. Buchanan’s policy as having for its object “to postpone conflict until impracticable concessions to disunion should be made by Congress, or at least until the waning term of his administration should reach its appointed end.” There was nothing impracticable in what Mr. Buchanan urged Congress to do, nor was there any “concession to disunion” in his recommendations. Moreover, he used his utmost exertions to strengthen the hands of his successor, as well as his own, so that the Executive might be able to meet any conflict that might arise. There now lie before me four printed bills, three of which show what President Buchanan endeavored to make Congress do. One of them is a bill introduced into the Senate by Mr. Bigler, on the 14th of January, 1861, “to provide for taking the sense of the people of the several States on certain proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States.”

This bill went rather beyond any “concessions” or proposed recommendations made by the President. It was read twice and ordered to be printed, but was never acted upon. The other three bills embodied measures urgently asked for by the administration, and they underwent the personal revision of the President, as appears from his MSS. notes on the copies furnished to him, which are now in my possession. The first was a bill reported on the 30th of January, 1861, from the select committee on the President’s message of January 8th, and was entitled, “a bill further to provide for calling forth the militia of the United States in certain cases.” It would, if enacted, have enabled the President to accept the services of volunteers to protect the forts and other public property of the United States, and to recover their possession if it had been lost. The second was a bill reported in the House by the same committee on the 30th of January, 1861, “further to provide for the collection of duties on imports.” This bill was drawn with a special view to the condition of things in the port of Charleston. The third of these bills, for giving the President powers which the exigency demanded, was reported by the Committee on Military Affairs, in the House, and was, on the 20th of February, 1861, ordered to be printed, pending its second reading. It was “a bill supplementary to the several acts now in force to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.” The laws then in force provided for calling forth the militia only when the State authorities asked for protection against insurrections aimed at the State governments, or in cases of foreign invasion. The new bill was designed to provide against insurrections aimed at the authority of the United States. Not one of these bills was ever acted upon by that Congress; so that when “the waning term” of Mr. Buchanan’s administration expired, the Executive was without the appropriate means to collect the revenue outside of custom-houses, or to call out the militia to suppress insurrections against the United States, or to call for volunteers, and had but a mere handful of regular troops within reach, even to guard the city of Washington on the day of Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, or to execute any law of the United States that might meet with resistance.[^[168]]

For a long time after the month of February, 1862, there was current a story about a “cabinet scene,” said to have occurred in Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet in February, 1861, in which Mr. Stanton, then Attorney General, had, by a threat of resignation, backed by a similar threat by other ministers present, compelled the President to recede from something that he proposed to do. This story first became public in an English newspaper, on the 9th of February, 1862, and was immediately copied and extensively circulated in this country. The following correspondence discloses the public origin of this story, and gives it its appropriate refutation:

[THE HON. AUGUSTUS SCHELL TO THE HON. J. S. BLACK.]

New York, July 28th, 1863.

Dear Sir:—

You will find below an extract from a letter published in the London Observer on the 9th of February, 1862, subscribed with initials T. W. The signature is known to be that of Mr. Thurlow Weed, of Albany, who was at the time in London.

“In February, Major Anderson, commanding Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor, finding his position endangered, passed his garrison by a prompt and brilliant movement over to the stronger Fortress of Sumter. Whereupon Mr. Floyd, Secretary of war, much excited, called upon the President to say that Major Anderson had violated express orders and thereby seriously compromised him (Floyd), and that unless the Major was immediately remanded to Fort Moultrie, he should resign the War Office.

“The cabinet was assembled directly. Mr. Buchanan, explaining the embarrassment of the Secretary of War, remarked that the act of Major Anderson would occasion exasperation at the South; he had told Mr. Floyd that, as the Government was strong, forbearance toward erring brethren might win them back to their allegiance, and that that officer might be ordered back.

“After an ominous silence, the President inquired how the suggestion struck his cabinet.

“Mr. Stanton, just now called to the War Office [under President Lincoln], but then Attorney General, answered: ‘That course, Mr. President, ought certainly to be regarded as most liberal towards “erring brethren,” but while one member of your cabinet has fraudulent acceptances for millions of dollars afloat, and while the confidential clerk of another—himself in Carolina teaching rebellion—has just stolen $900,000 from the Indian Trust Fund, the experiment of ordering Major Anderson back to Fort Moultrie would be dangerous. But if you intend to try it, before it is done I beg that you will accept my resignation.’ ‘And mine,’ added the Secretary of State, Mr. Black. ‘And mine, also,’ said the Postmaster General, Mr. Holt. ‘And mine, too,’ followed the Secretary of the Treasury, General Dix.

“This of course opened the bleared eyes of the President, and the meeting resulted in the acceptance of Mr. Floyd’s resignation.”

Inasmuch as you were a member of Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet, and one of the persons alluded to among the members of his cabinet who dissented from the proposition alleged to have been made by Mr. Floyd, I have thought it not improper to call upon you to state whether the subject matter of Mr. Weed’s communication is or is not true.

As for myself, I do not believe it to be true, and regard it as one of the numerous slanders which have been disseminated to reflect discredit upon the late excellent President of the United States. I shall esteem it a favor if you will inform me, by letter, of the precise circumstances attending the action of Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet, at the time of the transaction referred to, if any such took place, to the end that the public may be truthfully informed of the actual occurrence.

I have written this letter without the knowledge of Mr. Buchanan, solely for the purpose that the public record of Mr. Buchanan’s administration may be vindicated from a charge which those who know him, as you and I do, can not but feel has originated from personal or political malice.

Yours very respectfully,

Augustus Schell.

[JUDGE BLACK TO MR. SCHELL.]

York, August 6, 1863.

My[My] Dear Sir:—

Your letter of July 28th, which I have but just now received, calls my attention to a statement published in the London Observer, over the signature of T. W. I am asked if the occurrence, there said to have taken place at a cabinet council in February, 1861, is true or not, and you desire me to inform you of the precise circumstances attending the action of Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet at the time of the transaction referred to.

The latter part of this request is more than I can comply with at present. All the circumstances set out with precision would, I suppose, fill a moderate sized volume; and anything short of a full account would probably do wrong to the subject. Besides, I am not convinced that the truth would be received now with public favor, or even with toleration. The time when justice shall be done draws near, but is not yet.

But the story you transcribe from the London paper is wholly fictitious. Major Anderson passed his garrison to Fort Sumter, not in February, 1861, but in December, 1860. General Dix was not then a member of the cabinet...... The real cause of Floyd’s retirement from office had no connection with that affair.[^[169]] Mr. Stanton made no such speech as that put into his mouth by T. W., or any other speech inconsistent with the most perfect respect for all his colleagues and for the President. Neither Mr. Stanton nor Mr. Holt ever spoke to the President about resigning, upon any contingency whatever, before the incoming of the new administration.

I am, with great respect, yours,

J. S. Black.

For many years, the source from which Mr. Weed received any part whatever of this story, remained shrouded in mystery. Judge Black at one time had traced it to Colonel George W. McCook, of Ohio; and he received from that gentleman a qualified promise to make known, at a future period, the source from which he (Colonel McCook) derived his information. But Colonel McCook was, at the time he gave this promise, about to become a Republican candidate for the office of Governor of Ohio. He lost the election, and died soon after. It was not until I began to write the present work that I learned, from a gentleman now residing in Philadelphia, Mr. George Plumer Smith, who Mr. Weed’s informant was, and how Mr. Weed became possessed of a story which he repeated in print, with some variation and a great deal of inaccuracy. Mr. Smith furnished to me in February, 1882, the following statement, and authorized me to make use of it:

STATEMENT.

In October, 1861, while at Willard’s Hotel, in Washington, I met an old friend, Colonel George W. McCook, of Steubenville, Ohio, where I had known him as partner in law practice with Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, whom, also, I knew while in Ohio, and afterwards in Pittsburgh, where I was a merchant.

Colonel McCook and I had many conversations about the outlook then of affairs, and we agreed that history might yet with us repeat itself, and possible catastrophes make demand for a leader who, by the will of the loyal people, would be called to assume powers outside the Constitution. And we both agreed that, in such dire contingency, Mr. Stanton would be the man.

The Colonel then, with the dramatic gesture and forcible language which his surviving friends would recall, told me of the scene in the cabinet when Governor Floyd overshot himself in his demands on Mr. Buchanan, etc., and of Mr. Stanton’s lead in demanding Secretary Floyd’s dismissal, etc., etc., which account I readily believed authentic, and treasured it in my memory.

I was at that time detained in Washington to decide whether I would go abroad to make purchases of certain supplies for the Quartermaster’s Department, and sailed a few days after the last conversation with Colonel McCook.

I made contracts in Paris, and, about the middle of November, I went down to Havre to expedite my first shipment, and there met with Mr. Thurlow Weed and his party, just arrived. I had some previous acquaintance with him, and during my stay abroad had frequent occasion to see him.

I closed up my business in Paris on the 28th January, 1862, on which day it was telegraphed from Ireland that “Frederick P. Stanton” was appointed to the War Department in Washington.

Going over to London the next day, I called on Mr. Weed, then there, and the mails not yet to hand. He was under the impression the new Secretary was the former Governor of Kansas. But when it was corrected I called again, and found him very desirous of information about Mr. Edwin M. Stanton’s previous life and character, which I gave him, including, of course, the cabinet scene, as told me by Colonel McCook, then fresh in my recollection. But Mr. Weed did not speak of writing it out for publication, and I really regretted to find it, in his own practical adaptation for the newspaper, in the Observer, on the Sunday morning following. I took care to address copies to Mr. Stanton, Colonel McCook, General Meigs, and others.

Early in March following, I was in Washington, settling my accounts, and, by Mr. Stanton’s invitation, called at his house. After tea, he led me into his library, when at once he asked: “Who furnished Thurlow Weed with the statements in the Observer which you sent me?”[me?”]

I then fully detailed how it all came about, and of Colonel McCook’s being in Washington when I left, and giving me the particulars of the cabinet scene, etc. Mr. Stanton reflected for some minutes, when he said: “McCook should not have talked of such matters; and, in his way, he has exaggerated what did occur; but” pausing again, he continued, “I have not time now to be watching and correcting what may be told of last winter’s troubles in Mr. Buchanan’s cabinet, in which I was an unwilling member; besides, many of my old Democratic friends now turn the cold shoulder to me in the changed relations which duty to my country has laid upon me.”

I was, indeed, glad that the statement seemed to have attracted but little attention, and hoped it would pass out of remembrance.

But when Vice President Wilson reproduced it in the Atlantic Monthly, and was answered by Judge Black, I thought it my duty to write to Colonel McCook, reminding him of the occasion on which he told me of the cabinet affair, as I told its outlines to Mr. Weed, etc., and asking his (Colonel McCook’s) permission to correct much which had been added to his original narrative; but I had no reply from him; and not long after he died—suddenly, poor fellow.

I had not then personal acquaintance with Judge J. S. Black, but had opportunity to explain to a friend in York what I knew of the matter, and he mentioned what I had told him to the Judge.

I met the latter at Cape May, in 1876, and had a long conversation about the reported scene, which, he said, would be fully explained in, I understood him, a publication he had in preparation.

I can only add my often and sincere regret that I should have been concerned, in any way, in doing injustice to Mr. Buchanan, in the trying scenes he had to encounter.

Geo. Plumer Smith.

Philadelphia, February 8, 1882.

The reader should now peruse an extract from a private letter, written by Mr. Buchanan to his niece, Miss Lane, immediately after he had heard that Mr. Stanton had been appointed by President Lincoln Secretary of War. It shows, in addition to the internal evidence which the story of the “cabinet scene” carried within itself for its own refutation, that Mr. Stanton was a very unlikely person to have played the part imputed to him in that account.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, January 16, 1862.

My Dear Harriet:—

...... Well, our friend Stanton has been appointed Secretary of War. I presume, without knowing, that this has been done by the influence of General McClellan. I have reason to believe they are very intimate. What are Mr. Stanton’s qualifications for that, the greatest and most responsible office in the world, I cannot judge. I appointed him Attorney General when Judge Black was raised to the State Department, because his professional business and that of the Judge, especially in California cases, were so intimately connected that he could proceed in the Supreme Court without delay. He is a sound, clear-headed, persevering and practical lawyer, and is quite eminent, especially in patent cases. He is not well versed in public, commercial or constitutional law, because his professional duties as a country lawyer never led him to make these his study. I believe him to be a perfectly honest man, and in that respect he differs from ——. He never took much part in cabinet councils, because his office did not require it. He was always on my side, and flattered me ad nauseam.[^[170]]

In the confidential letters of Mr. Buchanan, hereafter to be quoted, his feelings about this story will be fully disclosed. The story carried within itself a plain implication that he had been grossly insulted by four members of his cabinet, an insult, which if it had ever occurred, would have been instantly followed by their dismissal from office. He was not a man to brook such an indignity, nor was there a man among all those who were falsely said to have offered it, who would have dared to be guilty of it. The contradiction given to it by Judge Black, in his letter to Mr. Schell, was not immediately published.

How Mr. Stanton came to leave this falsehood without contradiction, and what he said about it after he had assumed new political relations, and after he learned the source from which Mr. Weed received it, the reader has seen from the statement of the gentleman who communicated it to Mr. Weed, and who received it from Col. McCook.

I must now descend to slanders of a nature almost too contemptible for notice, but as they gave Mr. Buchanan much annoyance, I do not think it fit to withhold all exhibition of his feelings about them. His own letters explain what they were:

[DR. BLAKE TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington City, December 19, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

A friend has called my attention to a description of the President’s levee on the first page of the New York —— of yesterday’s date, from which I make the following extract: “Next we come to the Red Room. This is properly Mrs. Lincoln’s reception room. Everything in it is new except the splendid old painting of Washington. The fine pictures of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and other members of the royal family, presented to the President of the United States for the President’s mansion by the Prince of Wales, that hung upon the walls of this room, are missing. I learn that they were removed to Wheatland with Mr. Buchanan. He also took away from the White House a large number of the Chinese or Japanese curiosities, intended, upon presentation, for the mansion. All these are missing.” According to my recollection, the Prince of Wales presented to Miss Lane three engravings, one of his mother, another of his father, and the third of himself. They were hung in the Red Room. Whether Miss Lane took them with her to Wheatland I cannot say, but presume she did, as they were her property. There were no Chinese curiosities presented during your administration. The Japanese curiosities presented, I believe, through the late Commodore Perry to ex-President Pierce, remained in the house when I ceased to be Commissioner of Public Buildings. The presents made to you by the Japanese embassy were, by your directions, deposited by me in the Patent Office, with the original list of the articles. I took a receipt for them from the proper officer, which I delivered to you, and doubt not you still have it in your possession. My first impulse on reading the base insinuation of the ——’s correspondent, was to publish immediately a flat and indignant contradiction of it; but on consultation with a friend, who seemed to consider it unworthy of notice, I concluded I had better write to you and learn from you whether silent contempt, or a publication stamping it with falsehood, would be the most proper method of treating the slanderous imputation.

Very truly yours,

Jno. B. Blake.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, December 19, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

In looking over the New York —— of yesterday, I observe that his Washington correspondent states that I took away from the White House the pictures of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and other members of the royal family, presented to me for the Presidential mansion by the Prince of Wales. I trust that neither the President nor Mrs. Lincoln had any connection with this statement. Likenesses of the Queen and Prince, with four of the children of the royal family, were sent to Miss Lane in loose sheets, with many kind messages, by the Prince of Wales, immediately before he left for England. I think they were borne by Lord Lyons. Miss Lane had them plainly framed at her own expense, and hung them up in the Red Room until she should return to Wheatland. I am also charged with having taken away from the White House a large number of Chinese and Japanese curiosities intended upon presentation for the mansion. You are aware that after the Japanese embassadors left, I sent everything that had been presented by them to me to the Patent Office. There were at the time two young ladies staying at the White House, and before the embassadors left they presented Miss Lane and each of them some trifling Japanese curiosities. What they received I do not know, but since the receipt of the —— I have inquired of Miss Hetty, and I certainly would not give twenty dollars for the whole lot. Miss Lane is absent in New York, and I cannot find her keys......

I send you the enclosed as something like what might be published. If you would call on Lord Lyons, to whom I enclose a letter, and say you called at my request, he would tell you all about the pictures of the Queen and Prince Albert, and their children......

Thank God! my health I may say is entirely restored. How glad I should be to see you! Miss Lane has been absent in New York for some time, and I do not expect her home until after New Year.

From your friend,

James Buchanan.

[TO DR. BLAKE.]

Lancaster, December 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have this moment received your favor of yesterday. I wrote to you yesterday on the subject of your letter, and suggested a mode of contradiction. I now find that you took the precaution of having a list made of the Japanese articles, and obtaining a receipt from the Patent Office. The statement may, therefore, be made still stronger.[^[171]]

The friend who advised you not to publish a contradiction committed a great mistake. The charge is mean and contemptible, as well as false, and if it were true, it would make me a mean and contemptible fellow. It is just the thing to circulate freely. I have no doubt Lord Lyons will give you a statement in writing concerning the pictures.

Wishing you many a merry Christmas, and many a happy New Year, I remain always your friend,

James Buchanan.

One other charge of a similar nature must now be intruded upon the notice of the reader. The following contradiction of it was drawn up by Mr. Buchanan himself for publication, but I do not know whether it was in fact published.

Ex-President Buchanan.

There has recently been published in the New York Tribune a letter dated at Gotha on the 12th August, and purporting to have been written by Bayard Taylor, which contains the following: “In this place is published the Almanach de Gotha, the most aristocratic calendar in the world, containing the only reliable pedigrees and portraits of the crowned heads. Well, last summer the publisher was surprised by the reception of a portrait of Miss Harriet Lane, forwarded by her uncle, with a request that it be engraved for next year’s Almanach, as our Republican rulers had a right to appear in the company of the reigning families.”

We are authorized to say that this statement in regard to Ex-President Buchanan is without the least shadow of foundation. He never forwarded such a portrait to the publisher of the Gotha Almanach; never made such a request, and never had any correspondence of any kind, directly or indirectly, with that gentleman. He was, therefore, surprised when this absurd charge was a few days ago brought to his notice by a friend.

I might multiply these misrepresentations of Mr. Buchanan’s acts, his sentiments and opinions, into a catalogue that would only disgust the reader. The sanctity of his domestic circle at Wheatland, after his retirement from the Presidency, and during the early stages of the civil war, was invaded by pretended accounts of his conversation, which were circulated in the issues of newspapers that were unfriendly to him, and which fed a diseased appetite for scandal that could only have existed in a state of unexampled excitement produced by the varying fortunes of the Federal arms. It was indeed a wild and phrensied credulity that could give currency to such falsehoods as were told of him, falsehoods that had no excuse for their origin, or for the credence which they received. It was a state of things which those who are too young to remember it can scarcely conceive, and which those who lived through it must now look back upon with horror.

How he bore himself through all this flood of detraction and abuse; how he never wavered amid disaster or victory, in his firm determination to uphold with all his influence the just authority of the Federal Government; how he prayed for the restoration of the Union and the preservation of the Constitution; how he opened his purse to relieve the suffering and cheer the hearts of the brave men who were fighting the battles of their country, his private correspondence abundantly proves.

In the seven years which intervened between the end of his Presidency and his death, he had, besides the occupation of preparing the defence of his administration, and of entertaining friends, the occupation of writing letters. He was not one of those statesmen who, after a long life of great activity in the excitements of politics and the business of office, cannot be happy in retirement. He had many resources, and one of the chief of them was his pen. Letter-writing was a sort of necessity of his mind, and it is now well that he indulged it. It is in his familiar letters during these last seven years of his life that his character comes out most vividly and attractively, and in nothing does it appear more winning, or more worthy of admiration than it does in the steadfast evenness of temper with which he bore unmerited and unprovoked calumny, and the serenity with which he looked to the future for vindication.

CHAPTER XXVII.
1861.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. STANTON, MR. HOLT, GENERAL DIX AND OTHERS.

After his retirement to Wheatland, Mr. Buchanan received many letters from three members of his cabinet, all of whom afterwards held high office under President Lincoln,—namely, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Holt, and General Dix. His relations with Judge Black, Mr. Toucey and Mr. King continued to be very intimate, but the letters of the three other gentlemen should specially receive the attention of the reader, because their subsequent positions render them peculiarly important witnesses to the course of Mr. Buchanan’s administration. The letters received or written by Mr. Buchanan during the remainder of the year 1861, are here given in their chronological order; but it should be noted that this period is divided by the bombardment of Fort Sumter, which began on the 11th of April, 1861.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, Sunday, March 10, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

The dangerous illness of my youngest child for the last three days must be my apology for not writing to you until to-day. I shall now endeavor to give you as full information as I possess of the state of public affairs in Washington. At the depot, on the afternoon of your departure, I parted with Mr. Holt and Mr. Toucey, and have not seen them since then. The cabinet was, as you know, nominated and confirmed that day. The next morning Mr. Seward took possession of the State Department, and Mr. Bates was shortly afterwards qualified and commissioned as Attorney General. Before this was done, Mr. Seward sent for me and requested me to draw up a nomination of Mr. Crittenden for Judge of the United States Court. I did so, and gave it to him. My understanding was that the nomination would be immediately sent in. But it has not been sent, and the general understanding is that it will not be. The rumor is that the red blacks oppose it, and also many of the Democrats, and that Mr. Holt will be nominated. He appears now to be the chief favorite of the Republicans. At the time that Mr. Seward sent for me, he also gave me some comments of General Scott’s on the report made by Mr. Holt in relation to Major Anderson and Fort Sumter. The remarkable character of these comments induced me to ask permission (which was granted) to show them to General Dix; and I designed also to procure a copy of them for you, if possible, but I have not been able to see Mr. Seward since he sent for the paper. These comments stated that they were written at night, at the General’s quarters, and in the absence of his papers. This may account for what I suppose to be errors in respect to material facts. These errors relate

1st. To the sending of the Star of the West. This is attributed to Mr. Toucey’s being unwilling to furnish the Brooklyn for that expedition. My understanding was that Mr. Toucey wanted to send the Brooklyn, and that General Scott and Mr. Holt preferred the other mode, and overruled Mr. Toucey.

2d. The second point was that on subsequent consultations General Scott urged the sending of a military and naval force to relieve Major Anderson, but that Mr. Toucey made such difficulty about furnishing the ships that it was abandoned. My understanding was that General Scott never urged the sending of any force to Sumter, but only to be ready to do so if necessary; and that he agreed with you in opinion that the state of political affairs in the border States, and the reports of Major Anderson, made it expedient not to send any force unless Sumter was attacked.

3d. A third point relates to what General Scott calls an informal truce entered into by you with certain persons from seceding States, under which the reinforcement of Sumter and Fort Pickens was suspended. My recollection in respect to that transaction is that Mr. Holt and General Scott concurred with you in that arrangement, which, when proposed in cabinet, was opposed by Judge Black and myself.

In his conversation with me, Mr. Seward mentioned that Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, when this subject came up, would desire me to be present, and also Mr. Holt. I told him that if all of the late cabinet were requested to be present I would have no objection, but I did not think it proper unless all were present. He said that of course the invitation would be extended to all. As I never heard any thing more on the subject, I suppose that they have found it only necessary to consult Mr. Holt, who continued acting as Secretary of War. Mr. Seward has been sick for several days, but the first time that I see him my intention is to ask for a copy of General Scott’s comments for you.

I am perfectly satisfied that Major Anderson will be withdrawn. Scott agrees with Anderson as to the force required to relieve Sumter, and evidently favors withdrawal of the troops. The same thing will no doubt be done in respect to Fort Pickens. The Montgomery commissioners have not yet applied for an audience. Various conjectures are made in respect to whether they will be received. I am also convinced by the general tone prevailing here that there is not the least design to attempt any coercive measure. A continuation of your policy to avoid collision will be the course of the present administration. General Dix gave up the Treasury Department Thursday, and went home Friday morning. He on all occasions speaks of you with kindness and regard. Mr. Holt is the only one of your cabinet yet in office—the probability is that he will receive the nomination of Supreme Judge as a reward for what he terms his efforts to arrest the downward course of public affairs at the time he became Secretary of War. The resignations of General Cooper and Colonels Lay and Withers show that the feeling of secession in Virginia is growing stronger. Judge Campbell has his resignation prepared, and will send it in on the 15th of this month. This will be the most serious resignation that has yet occurred, not only on account of his high character and eminent qualities, but also because it affects a branch of the Government hitherto untouched by the contagion of secession.

Judge Black left town with his family yesterday. He is to return on Monday. The scramble for office is terrific. It is said that Lincoln takes the precaution of seeing no strangers alone. The reception on Friday is reported to have been an immense mob.

I beg you to present my compliments to Miss Lane, and shall ever remain, with sincere regard,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. HOLT.]

Wheatland, March 11, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have not heard a word from any member of my late cabinet since I left Washington, except a letter from Mr. Stanton, received yesterday. I had expected to hear often, especially from Judge Black and yourself. Meanwhile the Northern papers are teeming with what I know to be misrepresentations as to expressions used by yourself concerning my conduct. From our first acquaintance I have had the most implicit confidence in your integrity, ability and friendship, and this remains unchanged. Pray enlighten me as to what is going on in Washington.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO JAMES GORDON BENNETT, ESQ.]

Wheatland, March 11, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Will you be kind enough to direct the Herald to be sent to me at Lancaster? I have been quite lost without it.

I am once more settled at this, my quiet home, and one of my first impulses is to return you my cordial and grateful thanks for the able and powerful support which you have given me almost universally throughout my stormy and turbulent administration. Under Heaven’s blessing the administration has been successful in its foreign and domestic policy, unless we may except the sad events which have recently occurred. These no human wisdom could have prevented. Whether I have done all I could, consistently with my duty, to give them a wise and peaceful direction towards the preservation or reconstruction of the Union, will be for the public and posterity to judge. I feel conscious that I have done my duty in this respect, and that I shall, at last, receive justice. With my very kindest regards to Mrs. Bennett, I remain,

Sincerely and respectfully your friend,

b James Buchanan.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 12, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

It is now the universal impression in this city, that Sumter and Pickens will both be surrendered. The National Republican (Lincoln organ) says that it was determined on at the cabinet meeting Saturday. Enclosed I send you a slip from the New York Tribune of Monday, 11th. Harvey, the telegraphic correspondent, is intimate and in daily association with Mr. Holt, but he surely can have no warrant for the assertion in the article referred to. Cameron was sworn into office yesterday.[^[172]] The administration is now completely organized, but demands for office necessarily must occupy their chief attention. I have not seen any of the cabinet, or any leading Senator of that party, since the date of my last letter.

Floyd is here. Russell has been discharged from the indictment against, him. All accounts here represent the secession feeling in Virginia to be rapidly strengthening and extending. It would not surprise me to see Virginia out in less than ninety days, and Maryland will be close at her heels. Lincoln and the family at the White House are represented to be greatly elated at Douglas joining in defence of the new administration. It is said to be the chief topic of conversation with visitors at the Executive mansion.

You will notice in the Tribune an article signed “One who sees the facts,” which is quite sharp on Major Anderson, and the writer evidently agrees with you in respect to the Major’s course. Glossbrenner started home this morning.

With great respect, I remain, yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. HOLT TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 14, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have read, with amazement and much sorrow, the statement contained in your kind letter of the 11th inst., just received, that the Northern papers are teeming with misrepresentations of expressions, said to have been used by myself, concerning your conduct. As I read but few of these papers, it is not surprising that such calumnies should have escaped my notice; but I am astonished that they should not have been mentioned to me by some of our common friends. Having no knowledge whatever of the nature or details of these misrepresentations, of course I can offer you no explanation or refutation of them. This much, however, may be safely affirmed, that if they impute to me expressions in any degree disparaging to yourself personally or officially, they are utterly false. I gave to your administration an earnest and sincere support, first from a high sense of duty to my country, and next out of regard for yourself personally. What I thus supported, I will never cease to defend.

I feel a gratitude that words cannot convey, for the declaration that, in despite of all these fabrications and perversions of a profligate press, your confidence remains unshaken. Be assured that I have not, and never will, do aught unworthy of the trust that you so generously repose. I have labored to deserve your friendship, which has lavished upon me honors and distinctions for which I am, and shall continue to be, grateful with every throb of my life. No greater mortification could befall me than to fear even that you regarded me insensible to these kindnesses, or capable of being less than your devoted friend, now and hereafter, here and everywhere.

I think you have little reason to disquiet yourself about the calumnies of the press. The enthusiasm which greeted you in your progress homeward shows how these things have impressed the popular heart. You will not have to live long to witness the entombment of the last of the falsehoods by which your patriotic career has been assailed. If you are not spared until then, you need have no fear but that history will do you justice.

I have not met with any member of your cabinet, except Governor Toucey, since we separated on Monday night. I remained in the War Department until the Monday following, when General Cameron was qualified. I have seen the President but once since, and then on a matter of business about which he wished the information which he supposed my connection with the War Department would supply. Having no means of knowing the plans and purposes of the administration, I can only say I am well satisfied its policy will be decidedly pacific and conciliatory. I should not be surprised to learn, any morning, that Fort Sumter had been evacuated. As Fort Pickens can be retained without a collision, it may be differently treated. All is tranquil here, and the tone of feeling prevailing is constantly increasing in hopefulness and confidence. The indications from the border States are very encouraging. The popular mind is rapidly becoming tranquilized. This accomplished, and the revolution will die out. Excitement is the aliment on which it feeds, and without this it could scarcely subsist for sixty days. The work of transferring the offices is going on, but not rapidly or remorselessly. The temper of the Republicans seems greatly changed from what it was during their conflict for power. I believe every effort will be made to preserve the Government, and I have more hope of the result now than I have had for the last three months.

With kind regards to Miss Lane, I am, very respectfully,

Your sincere friend,

J. Holt.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

New York, March 14, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I left Washington on Friday (Mr. Chase having relieved me on the preceding day[^[173]]), went to Boston on Saturday, passed Sunday with my wife and daughter, and returned to this city on Monday. I am at this moment annoyed with the apprehension that I may be obliged to go to Washington to-morrow. If so, I will advise you of the cause.

When we parted, there was a feeling of doubt as to my friend Major Anderson. I wrote him a letter the day his despatches were received—in fact, the night after our meeting at Mr. Ould’s house, in which I alluded in the strongest terms of reprobation to the treachery of some of the officers of the Government in the South, contrasting it with his own courage and constancy. I made no allusion to his despatches. I have received a letter from him which is perfectly satisfactory. I will in a few days send you copies of mine to him and his answer.

I envy you the quietude of Wheatland. There is none here. The excitements are wearisome in the extreme. The people are now agitated by the intelligence that Fort Sumter is to be abandoned. Here, I think, there will be no decided demonstration of disapproval. But in the country it will be different. The disappointment will be very great, and it will go far to turn the current against the new administration. Your record will brighten in proportion. Of course, an attempt will be made to cast the responsibility on you. But there is a complete defence, as we know.

I shall never forget the six happy weeks I passed with you. The remembrance of your kindness, and that of Miss Lane, will always be among my brightest retrospections. Nothing would afford me so much gratification as to be able to do something in return for your contributions to my happiness and comfort. With my kind regards to her, I am, dear sir,

Sincerely and faithfully yours,

John A. Dix.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 14, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Your favor was received last evening. I shall take care of it so that when required it may be returned.

There is no doubt of Sumter being evacuated; report says the order has gone, but that, I think, is doubtful. You will have noticed the resolution introduced yesterday by Mr. Douglas in the Senate. That looks like a comprehensive platform for relinquishing everything in the seceded States, and even those that sympathize with them. To me it seems like the first step towards a strictly Northern non-slaveholding confederacy.

In the last two days nothing has occurred here to my knowledge but what you will see in the newspapers. There has been no further action in respect to the Supreme Judgeship. It is generally understood that Crittenden will not be nominated. Judge Campbell has reconsidered his resignation, and will not resign immediately. The Court adjourns to-day. I am now writing in the Supreme Court room. If the Court ever reassembles, there will be considerable change in its organization. Judge Grier went home sick two days ago. Judge McLean is reported to be quite ill. Lincoln will probably (if his administration continues four years) make a change that will affect the constitutional doctrines of the Court.

The pressure for office continues unabated. Every department is overrun, and by the time that all the patronage is distributed the Republican party will be dissolved. I hope that peace and tranquillity, with cessation from your intense labors, will long preserve you in health and happiness.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

P. S.—The Supreme Court have just decided Mrs. Gaines’s case in her favor—four judges to three—the Chief Justice, Grier, and Catron dissenting. They have also decided that the Federal Government has no power to coerce the Governor of a State to return a fugitive from justice, although it is his duty to comply with the demand.

Yours, etc.,

E. M. S.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 16, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Notwithstanding what has been said in the papers and the universal reports here during the last week, the order for the removal of the troops from Sumter has not, as I am assured, yet been given. Yesterday it was still under debate. Every day affords proof of the absence of any settled policy or harmonious concert of action in the administration. Seward, Bates and Cameron form one wing; Chase, Miller, Blair, the opposite wing; Smith is on both sides, and Lincoln sometimes on one, sometimes on the other. There has been agreement in nothing. Lincoln, it is complained in the streets, has undertaken to distribute the whole patronage, small and great, leaving nothing to the chiefs of departments. Growls about Scott’s “imbecility” are growing frequent. The Republicans are beginning to think that a monstrous blunder was made in the tariff bill, and that it will cut off the trade of New York, build up New Orleans and the Southern ports, and leave the Government no revenue—they see before them the prospect of soon being without money and without credit. But with all this, it is certain that Anderson will be withdrawn. I do not believe there will be much further effort to assail you. Mr. Sumner told me yesterday that Scott’s proposed order was based upon purely military reasons and the limited military resources of the Government. The embarrassments that surrounded you they now feel; and whatever may be said against you must recoil as an argument against them. And in giving reasons for their action, they must exhibit the facts that controlled you in respect to Sumter.

Mr. Holt has gone to New York. I have not seen him. When he called on me I happened to be from home, and when I called he was absent. Judge Black is here, and I suppose intends to remain for some time. He is staying at Harrison’s. I hope to be able to procure a copy of Mr. Holt’s letter and General Scott’s comments next week, and I intend to call and see the General and have a talk with him. With sincere regard, I remain,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 16, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Yours of yesterday was received this morning, and its arrival telegraphed. I do not think there will be any serious effort to assail your administration in respect to Fort Sumter. That would imply a coercive policy on their part, and hostility to your pacific measures. The tendency of General Scott’s remarks was rather to impute blame to Mr. Toucey than to any one else. And as Mr. Holt and the General concurred in everything done or written, their concurrence will defend you.

I will procure the papers you desire, and forward them, and will make you a visit as soon as the illness of my child will suffer me to leave home. In the meantime, I shall write to you often, and apprise you of what is going on.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO GENERAL DIX.]

Washington, March 18, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Many thanks for your kind letter of the 14th instant. I shall ever recollect with pleasure and satisfaction your brief sojourn with us at the White House, and with gratitude the able and successful manner in which you performed the duties of your arduous and responsible office.

You might envy me the quiet of Wheatland were my thoughts not constantly disturbed by the unfortunate condition of our country. The question of the withdrawal of the troops from Fort Sumter at first agitated the public mind in this vicinity; but my impression is that the people are now becoming gradually reconciled to it. There is a general desire for peace. As a military movement, General Scott’s name will go far to sustain Mr. Lincoln. After Major’s Anderson’s letter, received on the 4th March, it was very doubtful whether he could be reinforced by the means within the power of the Government. The only alternative would have been, to let the Confederate States commence the war on him, and if the force had been so superior as to render successful resistance impossible, after the honor of the flag had been maintained, then to authorize him to capitulate. Indeed, I presume such, or nearly such, was the purport of the instructions.

It is probable an attempt will be made, as you suggest, to cast the responsibility on me. But I always refused to surrender the fort and was ever ready to send reinforcements on the request of Major Anderson.

I thank God that the revolution has as yet been bloodless, notwithstanding my duty, as prescribed in my annual message, has been performed as far as this was practicable.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. Dix, I remain always, sincerely and respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. HOLT TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, March 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

On reaching home last evening, I had the pleasure of receiving yours of the 16th inst., and now hasten to inclose the copy of my letter to the President, as requested. I think you need have no apprehension that either yourself or friends will be called upon for any elaborate vindication of your policy in reference to Fort Sumter; events are hurrying on too rapidly for that. You will ere this have seen Breckinridge’s speech in the Senate, connected with the movement now making by his friends in Kentucky, through an irregular popular convention gathered from the highways and hedges, to force the legislature to the adoption of a revolutionary policy. This demonstration on his part is regarded as very significant. Kentucky voted against him, on the suspicion merely that he was a disunionist; after this avowal, I doubt not, her condemnation of him will be far more decided.

I very much fear an early recognition on the part of France of the new Confederacy, which, followed as it would speedily be by others, would go far to consolidate the Southern republic. The bait for the material interests of Europe has been adroitly prepared, and cannot be long resisted. But I think such a step by a friendly government taken within ninety days after the revolt of the States ought to be treated almost as casus belli. Fort Sumter, I presume, is about to be evacuated, which will do much to allay popular excitement in South Carolina, and thus take away the aliment on which the revolution is feeding. Still there will remain military complications in the South, for the peaceable adjustment of which fears may well be entertained.

You have my sincere thanks for your kind invitation to visit Wheatland. It would afford me the greatest pleasure to do so, and I trust that events may yet place this gratification within my reach.

Very respectfully and truly your friend,

J. Holt.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

New York, March 28th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I intended to have sent you long ere this a copy of my letter to Major Anderson, and his reply. Mine was written on the evening of the inauguration, after the consultation at Mr. Ould’s; and it was intended to encourage him if he was true, or to cut him to the heart if he was false. You know, however, that I would not doubt his honor and good faith. I should have sent the correspondence last week, but I was urged to go to Washington to see Mr. Chase in regard to the new loan. The request came from the Government, and I could not decline it. I found the Secretary well informed in regard to the condition of the finances, and think he will acquit himself with credit.

When I left (on Saturday last), I do not think the administration had any settled policy. It was merely drifting with the current, at a loss to know whether it were better to come to an anchor, or set sail. There had not been at that time a full cabinet meeting; and I know that the foreign appointments had been made without consulting the Secretary of the Treasury. I believe Mr. Lincoln is acting on the theory of advising, in regard to appointments, with the head of the Department under which they properly fall, and with none of the others.

Will you please to say to Miss —— that I have the assurance she desired in regard to her nephew.

My wife and daughters are in Boston, and I am very desolate.

I think it is decided to withdraw Major Anderson, without holding your administration to any responsibility for it. The attempt, as must be seen, would not only be fruitless, but absurd.

The loan of eight millions will be taken next week on favorable terms. If the bids for the stock are not satisfactory, Mr. Chase has the alternative of issuing Treasury notes, payable in two years, and convertible into stock. This privilege of convertibility will enable him to place them at par. But it would be better, if he can get a fair price for the stock, to take it, and get the eight millions out of the way for twenty years.

I beg to be kindly remembered to Miss Lane, and am, my dear sir, with sincere regard,

Faithfully yours,

John A. Dix.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, April 3d, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Although a considerable period has elapsed since the date of my last letter to you, nothing has transpired here of interest but what is fully detailed in the newspapers. Mr. Toucey left here last week. Judge Black is still in the city. General Dix made a short visit at the request of the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Holt, I think, is still here, but I have not seen him for several days. You of course saw Thompson’s answer and Mr. Holt’s reply. I have not had any intercourse with any of the present cabinet, except a few brief interviews with Mr. Bates, the Attorney General, on business connected with his Department. Mr. Lincoln I have not seen. He is said to be very much broken down with the pressure that is upon him in respect to appointments. The policy of the administration in respect to the seceding States remains in obscurity. There has been a rumor, for the last two or three days, that, notwithstanding all that has been said, there will be an effort to reinforce Fort Sumter; but I do not believe a word of it. The special messenger, Colonel Lamon, told me that he was satisfied it could not be done. The new loan has been bid for, at better rates than I anticipated; and I perceive General Dix was one of the largest bidders at the highest rates. The new Tariff Bill seems to give the administration great trouble; and luckily it is a measure of their own. The first month of the administration seems to have furnished an ample vindication of your policy, and to have rendered all occasion of other defence needless. The rumors from Richmond are very threatening; secession is rapidly gaining strength there.

Hoping that you are in the enjoyment of good health and happiness, I remain, as ever,

Yours,

Edwin M. Stanton.

P. S.—12 o’clock. The Secretary of the Treasury has determined to reject all the bids for the new loan under 94. This gives him $3,099,000 only of eight millions called for. He could have obtained the whole amount at 93½. Riggs thinks the Secretary has made a great mistake in not taking the whole sum, and that he will not get as good terms as 93½ in future. There are no bids here taken.

E. M. S.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, April 10th, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

I am rejoiced to learn by yours of the 8th instant, received this morning, that your good health continues. Mrs. Stanton desires to return her thanks for your kind invitation. It would give her great pleasure to make you a visit, if the care of young children permitted her to leave home. Before long I hope to have the pleasure of paying my respects to you at Wheatland.

Enclosed I send you a copy of General Scott’s “views,” as published in the Intelligencer. The first I ever heard of them was when they were read in cabinet by Floyd on the 27th of December. I have been hoping to procure for you a copy of General Scott’s “observations” upon Mr. Holt’s last letter respecting Sumter, but as yet have not succeeded. I saw Mr. Holt on Sunday. I had supposed he might have some knowledge of the designs of the administration and the purpose of the recent military and naval movements; but he said he had none. He has received a curious letter from General Twiggs, the substance of which is “that the power to dismiss an officer of the army without trial has been exercised, and he does not dispute it; but Mr. Holt has assumed the right to apply epithets the propriety of which he will discuss with General Holt, whenever he has the honor of meeting him personally.” What would he have thought of the epithet “cowardice” which you struck out of Mr. Holt’s order? Mr. Seaton, when I called on him this morning, expressed his gratification to hear of your good health, and spoke of you with much kindness. He says he has no knowledge of the movements or policy of the administration but what he finds in the New York papers, has not seen Lincoln since the inauguration, and has no intercourse with the cabinet. Doctor Gwin has just returned from Mississippi. He speaks with great confidence of the stability and power of the Confederacy, and evidently sympathizes strongly with them. Every day impresses stronger conviction upon the public mind here that armed collision will soon take place. Lincoln has appointed his partner, Colonel Lamon, marshal. He is to enter upon the office Friday; and Selden says he gives as a reason for doing so immediately that apprehensions are entertained of a hostile attack upon Washington. But I think that apprehension is as groundless as the rumor that hurried Lincoln from Harrisburg to Washington.

I beg you to present my kindest regards to Miss Lane. The rumor continues rife that she is soon to return to this city. Mrs. Stanton and myself will be happy to welcome her. I shall continue to keep you advised of any thing of interest that may transpire here, and hope that your life may long be spared in health and happiness.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

P.S.—12 o’clock. It is certain that the administration is panic-stricken for some cause. They commenced this morning an active enrolment of the militia of the District. Chew, of the State Department, was sent last week to Charleston. I have just been told that he went with a formal note to Governor Pickens—that the administration designed to succor Major Anderson—that fourteen ships would be sent—that they meant only to supply provisions, but if there was any resistance forces would also be sent in. It is now reported as coming from one of the commissioners that the batteries have opened on Sumter. Soldiers are also being placed in the Departments. This is the last rumor on the Avenue.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, April 11, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

The letter of Twiggs is in accordance with his character, and shows how richly he deserved the epithet with which he would have been branded on the records of the country and before the world but for your forbearance. The cowardly effort to insult and wound you is worthy of one who betrayed his trust and traitorously surrendered the arms and colors of his Government. The idle threat to visit Lancaster shows that “braggart” is to be added to traitor and coward, in order to designate his full measure of infamy.

I showed your letter and the copy of Twiggs’ letter to Mr. Holt. He thought it ought to be published by you, but I do not. It would be dignifying the creature too much. I enclose a copy of his letter to Mr. Holt. You will observe that the same contemptible threat of personal vengeance is made in it. But it is gratifying to know that Twiggs feels so acutely the sting of his dismissal, and that all the whitewashing of the Confederate States affords him no relief. I have applied to the War Office for copies of the several orders relating to Twiggs, and shall probably have them to-morrow, and will forward them to you.

There is great “soldiering” in town the last two days. The yard in front of the War Office is crowded with the District Militia, who are being mustered into service. The feeling of loyalty to the Government has greatly diminished in this city. Many persons who would have supported the Government under your administration refuse to be enrolled. Many who were enrolled have withdrawn, and refuse to take the oath. The administration has not acquired the confidence and respect of the people here. Not one of the cabinet or principal officers has taken a house or brought his family here. Seward rented a house “while he should continue in the cabinet,” but has not opened it, nor has his family come. They all act as though they meant to be ready “to cut and run” at a minute’s notice—their tenure is like that of a Bedouin on the sands of the desert. This is sensibly felt and talked about by the people of the city, and they feel no confidence in an administration that betrays so much insecurity. And besides, a strong feeling of distrust in the candor and sincerity of Lincoln personally and of his cabinet has sprung up. If they had been merely silent and secret, there might have been no ground of complaint. But assurances are said to have been given and declarations made in conflict with the facts now transpiring in respect to the South, so that no one speaks of Lincoln or any member of his cabinet with respect or regard.

The facts about Sumter it is impossible to ascertain, for the reasons that have been mentioned, for no one knows what to believe. The nearest conjecture I can form is this:—

1st. That the Baltic has been sent with provisions for Sumter.

2d. That the Powhatan has been sent with forces to land and attack the batteries.

3d. That a secret expedition, independent of General Scott, has been sent, under charge of Fox, to make an effort to land in the night at Sumter.

The refusal to admit Captain Talbot to Sumter may prevent concert of action with Major Anderson, and I think the whole thing will prove a failure. There is no excitement here. People are anxious, but the sensation telegrams sent from here are without any foundation. It is true, however, that Ben McCullough has been here on a scouting expedition, and he carefully examined all the barracks and military posts in the city, and said that he expected to be in possession of the city before long. He stayed all night at Doctor Gwin’s. This has a business aspect. It is believed that a secession ordinance will be passed by the Virginia convention to-day.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]

(Without date.)

. . .

The Confederate States have deliberately commenced the civil war, and God knows where it may end. They were repeatedly warned by my administration that an assault on Fort Sumter would be civil war, and they would be responsible for the consequences. The last of these warnings happens to be before me, and is contained in the last sentence of Mr. Holt’s letter to Mr. Hayne, of February 6th, 1861. It is as follows: “If, with all the multiplied proofs which exist of the President’s anxiety for peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State shall assault Fort Sumter and peril the lives of the handful of brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our common country into the horrors of civil war, then upon them, and those they represent, must rest the responsibility.”

I have been entirely well since my return home, until within the last few days, when I have suffered from sharp twinges of rheumatism in my legs.

With my kindest regards to your wife, I remain, very affectionately,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, April 12, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

We have the war upon us. The telegraphic news of this morning you will have seen before this reaches you. The impression here is held by many: 1st, that the effort to reinforce will be a failure; 2d, that in less than twenty-four hours from this time Anderson will have surrendered; 3d, that in less than thirty days Davis will be in possession of Washington.

Yours truly, Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO GENERAL DIX.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 19, 1861.

My Dear General:

I need scarcely say I was much gratified with your letter to Major Anderson, as well as with his answer. You placed, in an eloquent and striking light, before him the infamous conduct of General Twiggs and others, and his response was manly and loyal. By the bye, I some time since received an insulting letter from General Twiggs, dated in Mississippi on the 30th ultimo. Its conclusion is as follows: “Your usurped right to dismiss me from the army might be acquiesced in, but you had no right to brand me as a traitor; this was personal, and I shall treat it as such, not through the papers, but in person. I shall, most assuredly, pay a visit to Lancaster, for the sole purpose of a personal interview with you. So, sir, prepare yourself. I am well assured that public opinion will sanction any course I may take with you.”

I have paid no attention to this note, and entertain but little apprehension from the threats of this hoary-headed rebel. My fate, however, is, in some respects, hard. After my annual message of the 3d December, in which I made as able an argument as I could against secession, and indicated my purpose to collect the revenue and defend the Federal forts in South Carolina, etc., the Southern friends of the administration fell away from it. From the line prescribed in this message, I am not conscious that I have departed a hair’s breadth, so far as it was practicable to pursue it. I was ready and willing at all times to attempt to collect the revenue, and, as a necessary preliminary, I nominated a collector to the Senate. You know the result.

After my explosion with the commissioners of South Carolina at the end of December, the Southern Senators denounced me on the floor of the Senate; but after my message to Congress of the 8th January, one of them at least abused me in terms which I would not repeat. In that message I declared that “the right and the duty to use military force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers, in the execution of their legal functions, and against those who assail the property of the Federal Government, is clear and undeniable;” and more to the same purpose.

Warning was repeatedly given that if the authorities of South Carolina should assail Fort Sumter, this would be the commencement of a civil war, and they would be responsible for the consequences. The last and most emphatic warning of this character, is contained in the concluding sentence of Mr. Holt’s final and admirable answer to Mr. Hayne of the 6th of February. It is as follows: “If with all the multiplied proofs which exist of the President’s anxiety for peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State shall assail Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the handful of brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our common country into the horrors of civil war, then upon them and those they represent must rest the responsibility.” This letter has been published, but seems to have been forgotten. I perceive that you are to be President of the great Union meeting. Would it not be well, in portraying the conduct of South Carolina in assailing Fort Sumter, to state that this had been done under the most solemn warnings of the consequences, and refer to this letter of Mr. Holt? Nobody seems to understand the course pursued by the late administration. A quotation from Holt’s letter would strengthen the hands of the present administration. You were a member of the cabinet at its date, and I believe it received your warm approbation. Hence it would come from you with peculiar propriety.

Had I known you were about to visit Washington on the business of the Treasury, I should have urged you to call at Wheatland on your return. You would then, as you will at all times, be a most welcome visitor.

They talk about keeping secrets. Nobody seems to have suspected the existence of an expedition to reinforce or supply Fort Sumter at the close of our administration.

The present administration had no alternative but to accept the war initiated by South Carolina or the Southern Confederacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man; and it ought to be sustained at all hazards.

Miss Hetty feels very much indebted to you, and you are frequently the subject of kind remembrances in our small family circle. Please to present my kind regards to Mrs. Dix.

From your friend always,

James Buchanan.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

New York, April 24, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

As chairman of a committee of citizens having the war in charge, every moment of my time is engrossed, and I have only time to thank you for your kind and important letter. It reached me just as I was going to the great meeting on Saturday. I enclose a paper giving my remarks. You will see the use I have made of your letter. I had no time to correct, add or abridge, as my remarks were in type before I left the stand, and, indeed, were in circulation in the streets.

There was one passage in your letter I was very anxious to read to the meeting. I have never taken a liberty with a private letter, though I was never so strongly tempted. The sentence I allude to is this: “The present administration had no alternative but to accept the war initiated by South Carolina or the Southern Confederacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man; and it ought to be sustained at all hazards.” May I use the foregoing, if I think it proper and a fit occasion presents itself? Many of our political friends express great gratification at the statement your letter enabled me to make.

I will write more fully in a few days, and am, with sincere respect and regard,

Your friend,

John A. Dix.

P.S.—The Republicans here have behaved very well. They placed me at the head of the Committee on Resolutions, and gave a majority of the Committee to us. The resolutions, with one exception, were drawn by me.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO GENERAL DIX.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 25, 1861.

My Dear General:—

I have just received your favor of yesterday, with the New York Times containing your remarks as president of the great Union meeting. They were excellent and appropriate, and I am much indebted to you for them. I had read them before in the Sunday Herald.

Since the day and hour that I delivered my message, on the 3d December last, I have never departed from it for a single moment. The argument which it contained against secession, and the determination it expressed to collect the revenue and protect the property of the United States, produced an instantaneous alienation of the Southern Senators. After my difficulties with the South Carolina commissioners, this became a violent and settled hostility, and I was openly denounced by them on the floor of the Senate.

Supposing that Fort Sumter would then be attacked, the expedition of the Star of the West was organized and prepared by General Scott. Before it sailed, however, information was received from Major Anderson and some other sources, I do not recollect what, which, in the opinion of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy and General Scott, rendered it unnecessary. It was then countermanded by General Scott; but the countermand did not reach New York until after it had sailed. But you know all this.

I have no doubt of the loyalty and good faith of Major Anderson. His forbearance must be attributed to his desire of preserving peace and avoiding a hostile collision. When the Major, in a firm and patriotic manner, refused to surrender the fort to Beauregard, it seems he informed him that his provisions would last but a few days. What an outrage it was, after this information, to fire on the fort.

I remain, most truly,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—In regard to the sentences in my letter, it might have been well, and I think it would have been, to read them. It is now probably too late, unless another good opportunity would seem to justify.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. BAKER.]

Wheatland, April 26, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

What on earth has become of my friends in Philadelphia? It is some time since I have heard from any of them. But almost every day I receive violent, insulting and threatening anonymous letters from that city. Now, I am not easily moved, but I should like to know whether I am in danger of a personal attack from there, so that I may be prepared to meet it. They know not what they would do; because, when my record is presented to the world, all will be clear as light.

In Lancaster there was at first considerable feeling against me, but that has subsided very fast. My old friends seem to be faithful and true. The speech of General Dix at New York threw some light upon the subject, and had a happy effect here. This, united with General Twiggs’ threatening letter, at once arrested the tide. Has the speech of General Dix been published in any of the Philadelphia papers?

My old friend —— has not been near me since my return, and I am told he is very bitter.

The officers, and I may add, the men of the two Ohio regiments here have the most friendly dispositions. Great numbers of them have visited me.

I receive the kindest letters from New York. Is there any danger of disturbance to the public peace in Philadelphia?

What has become of Judge Black? I know not where he is. He may be still in Somerset. I wrote to him there at his own request some time ago, but have received no answer. The attack on Fort Sumter was an outrageous act. The authorities at Charleston were several times warned by my administration that such an attack would be civil war, and would be treated as such. If it had been made in my time it should have been treated as such.

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. STANTON.]

Wheatland, May 6, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

The last two letters which I received from you are both dated on the 12th April, and were acknowledged by me on the 17th. I have heard nothing either from yourself or Mr. Holt since the assault upon Fort Sumter. That you have written I entertain not a doubt, because you were to keep me advised of anything of interest which might transpire at Washington. The mails have been very irregular. Whether our friend Holt is in Washington or in Kentucky or whereabout is unknown to this deponent. Black is somewhere, as quiet as a mouse.

The first gun fired by Beauregard aroused the indignant spirit of the North as nothing else could have done, and made us a unanimous people. I had repeatedly warned them that this would be the result. I had supposed, and believed, that it would be the policy of Mr. Lincoln’s administration to yield to the popular impulse, and banish, at least for the present, all party distinctions. In this I have been, most probably, mistaken. I judge from the answer of Mr. Seward, Jr., to an inquiry propounded to him about some arrangement with the enemy, in which he goes out of his way to say, that the days for such things had passed away since the 4th of March. I suppose he alluded to the arrangement made not to land the forces, but merely the supplies, at Fort Pickens whilst the Peace Convention were in session, unless the revolutionists should manifest a disposition to assail it. I have not got in my possession copies of the orders issued by Messrs. Holt and Toucey on that occasion, with the full approbation of General Scott. If Mr. Holt be in Washington, I would thank you to obtain from him a copy of this military order. I shall write to Mr. Toucey to-day for a copy of the naval order.

Upon reëxamination of the whole course of my administration, from the 6th November, 1860, I can find nothing to regret. I shall at all times be prepared to defend it. The Southern Senators became cold after my message of the 3d December, and bitterly hostile after my explosion with the first South Carolina commissioners. After this our social relations ceased; and all because I would not consent to withdraw the troops from Fort Sumter, nor would I agree not to reinforce them; but, under all circumstances, uniformly declared that I would send reinforcements whenever requested by Major Anderson, or the safety of the fort required them. I am sorry you have not been able to procure for me General Scott’s critique on Mr. Holt’s letter to President Lincoln. I hope Mr. Holt himself has a copy of it.

We live here in content and quiet, and see our friends in a social way. The officers of the Ohio regiments visit us occasionally, and are quite agreeable men, and most of them are Democrats. We had a visit from Mr. Sherman yesterday.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. J. C. G. KENNEDY.]

Wheatland, Lancaster, May 13, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Many thanks for your kind letter of May 11th received this day. My letter to Mr. Seaton had no other object in view than to suggest hints to be used by him if he thought proper. I have kept no copy of it, though I have a general recollection of what it contains. If there is nothing personally harsh or offensive in it towards those officers who have abandoned their flag notwithstanding their oaths, I can perceive no objection to its publication with the explanation you propose to be given. I do not think there is anything harsh or offensive in it. I have been quite unwell for a week or ten days; the last few days I have been confined to my bed. I believe, with the blessing of God, I may weather this storm, though it has been severe. It is very inconvenient for me at the present moment, when all the world is alive, to be sick in bed. Please to present me in the kindest terms to Mr. Seaton, and believe me always to be sincerely and respectfully your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, May 16, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Your letter by Mr. Magraw was received, and I designed to send an answer by him, but he left here without my knowledge. On the 20th of April, the day after the Baltimore riot, and again on Blue Tuesday, the day before the arrival of the New York regiments, I wrote to you. These letters will probably reach you some time, if they have not already arrived; but I regret their miscarriage, as they kept up a regular chain of Washington events from the date of Lincoln’s first proclamation after the capture of Sumter, and since that time incidents have passed so rapidly that I cannot recall them in their order.

The fling of Mr. F. W. Seward about “negotiations” would merit a retort if there were an independent press, and the state of the times admitted discussion of such matters. The negotiations carried on by Mr. Seward with the Confederate commissioners through Judge Campbell and Judge Nelson will some day, perhaps, be brought to light, and if they were as has been represented to me, Mr. Seward and the Lincoln administration will not be in a position to make sneering observations respecting any negotiations during your administration. It was in reference to these that Jeff Davis in his message spoke with much severity. You no doubt observed his allusion to informal negotiations through a person holding a high station in the Government of the United States, and which were participated in by other persons holding stations equally high. I have understood that Judge Campbell was the person alluded to, and that Judge Nelson and, perhaps, Judge Catron were the other persons cognizant of Mr. Seward’s assurances respecting the evacuation of Fort Sumter.

Mr. Holt is still here. Judge Black has been absent some weeks, but returned night before last. Mr. Holt stays at home pretty closely, and I have met him very seldom, though I occasionally hear of his visiting some of the Departments. The state of affairs is tolerably well detailed in the public prints. But no description could convey to you the panic that prevailed here for several days after the Baltimore riot, and before communications were reopened. This was increased by reports of the trepidation of Lincoln that were circulated through the streets. Almost every family packed up their effects. Women and children were sent away in great numbers; provisions advanced to famine prices. In a great measure the alarm has passed away, but there is still a deep apprehension that before long this city is doomed to be the scene of battle and carnage. In respect to military operations going on, or contemplated, little is known until the results are announced in the newspapers. General Scott seems to have carte blanche. He is, in fact, the Government, and if his health continues, vigorous measures are anticipated.

For the last few days I have been moving my family, my former residence being made unpleasant by troops and hospitals surrounding me. In the present state of affairs, I do not like to leave home, or I would pay you a visit, but no one knows what may happen any day, or how soon the communications may be again interrupted. Marching and drilling is going on all day in every street. The troops that have arrived here are in general fine-looking, able-bodied, active men, well equipped, and apparently ready and willing for the service in which they are engaged. Your cordial concurrence in the disposition to maintain the Government and resist aggression gives great satisfaction, and I am pleased to observe a letter from you in the Intelligencer of this morning.

I beg you to present my compliments to Miss Lane. There are many stories afloat among the ladies in the city that would amuse her, but as they are no doubt told her by lady correspondents, it is needless for me to repeat them. I hope you may continue in the enjoyment of good health, and remain with sincere regard,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[TO J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]

(Confidential.)

Wheatland, Lancaster,
Friday, May 17, 1861.

}

My Dear James:—

I have been quite unwell for the last fortnight, during the last week I have been in bed; still, thank God, I believe I am now convalescent, though, as yet I am exceedingly weak. I should be glad to see you here on private and public business, but not if your absence should operate seriously to your prejudice. We should also be happy to see Mr. Schell here. The termination of the late administration ought not to break up the bonds of mutual friendship which it produced. There is no part of my administration which was considered with greater care and pursued with more firmness than that between the 6th November, the day of Mr. Lincoln’s election, and the 4th of March last. Although nearly all upon record, the public seem to have forgotten it. It has become necessary now to revive the public memory, and I know of no journal in the country so proper to do this as the Journal of Commerce. Mr. Hallock, of that valuable paper (I believe I am correct in spelling the name), has always been a friend. I would thank you to call upon him, present him my kind and grateful regards, and say that with his permission I will send him some documents. There never was a moment of time when my administration were not ready and willing to reinforce, or attempt to reinforce, and supply Fort Sumter, if Major Anderson had called for such reinforcement or supply. On the 6th of November, when Lincoln was elected, the whole force at my command was just five companies, and neither of them full. They did not exceed in the whole three hundred men. The ——, however, from a spirit of malignity, and supposing that the world may have forgotten the circumstance, takes every occasion to blame me for my supineness; it will soon arrive at the point of denouncing me for not crushing out the rebellion at once, and thus try to make me the author of the war...... No extent of abuse, general or particular abuse, that —— could pour out upon me would induce me to prosecute him; but this is an attempt to bring not only my character, but my life into danger by malignant falsehood. It would be one of those great national prosecutions, such as have occurred in this and other countries, necessary to vindicate the character of the Government.

I want you to bring on with you Wheaton’s Elements of International Law—the seventh edition, and no other. I see it is published for sale in Boston at $6, and presume it can be had in New York. If the Journal of Commerce publishes a tri-weekly paper, please to have it sent on to me immediately. You might, confidentially and quietly, consult with —— whom it is best to employ to conduct this business in its preliminary stages.[^[174]]

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, May 19, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

You will see in the New York papers Judge Campbell’s report of the negotiations between himself and Mr. Seward, to which I referred in my letter of last week. They had been related to me by the Judge about the time they closed. Mr. Seward’s silence will not relieve him from the imputation of deceit and double-dealing in the minds of many, although I do not believe it can justly be imputed to him. I have no doubt he believed that Sumter would be evacuated as he stated it would be. But the war party overruled him with Lincoln, and he was forced to give up, but could not give up his office. That is a sacrifice no Republican will be apt to make. But this correspondence shows that Mr. Frederick Seward was not in the line of truth when he said that negotiations ceased on the fourth of March. The New York Evening Post is very severe on Judge Campbell, and very unjustly so, for the Judge has been as anxiously and patriotically earnest to preserve the Government as any man in the United States, and he has sacrificed more than any Southern man rather than yield to the secessionists. I regret the treatment he has received from Mr. Seward and the Post.

Nothing new has transpired here since my last letter. I am perfectly convinced that an attack will be made, and a battle fought for this city before long. With sincere regard, I remain,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. HOLT TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

(Confidential.)

Washington, May 24, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I had the pleasure of receiving yours of the 21st inst. from the hands of Mr. Magraw. I had previously observed with pain notices in the public papers of your illness, and it is therefore with great gratification that I learn you are convalescing, though still confined to your room. I thank you sincerely for your kind invitation to visit Wheatland, and regret much that it is not in my power at once to do so. My engagements, however, are such that I cannot leave Washington for the present, though I hope to be able to see you in the course of the summer.

I would gladly give you any assistance in my power in the preparation of the paper to which you refer, but fear any aid I could render would be of little avail to you. I have preserved no memoranda of the transactions you propose to treat, and although my memory might be trusted as to their substance, it would in all probability be at fault in regard to their details. In reference to the latter, I would rather defer to your own recollection, or to that of other members of the cabinet. As a historical document, I concur with you that the preparation of such a document is a “necessity;” but I cannot perceive that there is any reason for haste in its completion, or any expediency in its early publication. The country is so completely occupied by the fearful and absorbing events occurring and impending, that you could not hope at present to engage its attention. Besides, from what I have observed in the public papers, I cannot discover that your administration is being so assailed upon the points alluded to as to require any elaborate vindication at your hands...... I suppose you have seen the prominent Southern papers—including Governor Floyd’s organ at Richmond—in which is set forth as his especial glory the aid given to the revolution by the War Department during the year 1860.

You have, I believe, copies of all of Major Anderson’s letters, and it may be copies, also, of a part of those received from Fort Pickens. As the fate of the latter fortress is still undetermined, I doubt if the Government would give copies of any correspondence in regard to it. Colonel Anderson’s letters and those to him from the Government, during my brief connection with the War Department, formed, I think, a sufficient defence of the policy pursued during that time.

...... I have had two brief but satisfactory interviews with Colonel Anderson. He is thoroughly loyal, and if he ever had any sympathy with the revolutionists, which I am now far from believing, I think the ferocious spirit in which the siege and cannonade of Sumter were conducted crushed it out of him. We did not discuss at all the policy of your administration in regard to Sumter, but he said in general terms that he was satisfied all that had occurred was providential—that the course pursued had been the means of fixing the eyes of the nation on Sumter, and of awakening to the last degree its anxieties for its fate: so that when it fell its fall proved the instrumentality of arousing the national enthusiasm and loyalty, as we now see them displayed in the eager rush to maintain the honor of the flag. The approval of his course, of which you speak, relates, I presume, to his defence of Sumter. I have not heard that the administration has expressed any formal censure of your policy.

Now that the South has begun an unprovoked and malignant war upon the United States, accompanied by an insolent threat of the capture of Washington, and with an open avowal that the only Southern right now insisted on is the right of dismembering the Republic, I am decidedly in favor of prosecuting the struggle until the citizens of the seceded States shall be made to obey the laws as we obey them. I believe it can be done. It will cost much blood and many millions of treasure, but, if it cost billions, the preservation of such a government would be well worth the expenditure.

With kind remembrances to Miss Lane, I am

Very sincerely your friend,

J. Holt.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

New York, May 28th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

Ever since I wrote you last I have been busy night and day, and am a good deal worn down by my labors on the Union Defence Committee, and by superintending the organization and equipment of nine regiments, six of which I have sent to the field, leaving three to go to-morrow and the day after. The post of Major General of Volunteers was tendered to me by Governor Morgan, and I could not decline without subjecting myself to the imputation of hauling down my flag, a thing altogether inadmissible. So I am in harness for the war, though the administration take it easy, for I have not yet been accepted, and there are rumors that there are too many Democratic epaulettes in the field. There seems to be no fear at Washington that there are too many Democratic knapsacks. New York has about 15,000 men at the seat of war, without a general except Sanford, who has gone on temporarily. How is it, my dear sir, that New York is always overlooked (or nearly always) except when there are burdens to be borne? As to this Generalship, it was unsought, and I am indifferent about it entirely. I am willing to give my strength and my life, if need be, to uphold the Government against treason and rebellion. But if the administration prefers some one else to command New York troops, no one will acquiesce half so cheerfully as myself.

I should be very glad if I could look in upon you, though it were but for a moment; but if I am ordered South, I suppose I shall be needed at once. My whole division will be in the field by Sunday next.

Miss Lane has not made her promised visit. I will merely suggest the inviolability of promises by keeping my own. I engaged to send her a photograph for her second album, and beg to give her, through you, the choice of a variety. I beg also to be most cordially remembered to her. Our excellent friend, Mr. ——, wanted a note or letter of Major Anderson’s, written at Fort Sumter, and I take the liberty, not knowing his address, to send it to you.

I fear the impatience of the country may interfere with General Scott’s plan of getting a large force on foot, disciplining it thoroughly until October, and then embodying it, and marching through the Southern country in such numbers as to render resistance vain. Partisan movements without any definite result only serve to irritate and excite to new effort.

I am, my dear sir, with best wishes, in which my wife unites,

Sincerely and faithfully your friend,

John A. Dix.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, June 8, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Your friends here are very much gratified by Judge Black’s report of improvement in your health. The accounts we have had occasioned a great deal of solicitude concerning you; but I trust that you may now be speedily restored. I have not written to you for some time because there was nothing to communicate that would cheer or gratify you. While every patriot has rejoiced at the enthusiastic spirit with which the nation has aroused to maintain its existence and honor, the peculation and fraud that immediately spring up to prey upon the volunteers and grasp the public money as plunder and spoil has created a strong feeling of loathing and disgust. And no sooner had the appearance of imminent danger passed away, and the administration recovered from its panic, than a determination became manifest to give a strict party direction, as far as possible, to the great national movement. After a few Democratic appointments, as Butler and Dix, everything else has been exclusively devoted to Black Republican interests. This has already excited a strong reactionary feeling, not only in New York, but in the Western States. General Dix informs me that he has been so badly treated by Cameron, and so disgusted by the general course of the administration, that he intends immediately to resign. This will be followed by a withdrawal of financial confidence and support to a very great extent. Indeed, the course of things for the last four weeks has been such as to excite distrust in every Department of the Government. The military movements, or rather inaction, also excite great apprehension. It is believed that Davis and Beauregard are both in this vicinity—one at Harper’s Ferry, the other at Manassas Gap—and that they can concentrate over sixty thousand troops. Our whole force does not exceed forty-five thousand. It is also reported that discord exists between the cabinet and General Scott in respect to important points of strategy. Our condition, therefore, seems to be one of even greater danger than at any former period, for the consequence of success by the secessionists would be far more extensive and irremediable than if the Capital had been seized weeks ago. Ould is reported as having gone off and joined the secessionists. Harvey, the new minister to Spain, it is discovered, was a correspondent with the secessionists and communicated the designs and operations of the Government to Judge McGrath. It is supposed he will be recalled. Cassius Clay has been playing the fool at London by writing letters to the Times, which that paper treats with ridicule and contempt. The impression here is that the decided and active countenance and support of the British government will be given to the Southern Confederacy. Mr. Holt is still here, but I seldom see him. Judge Black is also here. I should have visited you, but dare not leave town even for one night. Our troops have slept on their arms nearly every night for a week, anticipating attack. Hoping to hear of your restoration to good health, I remain as ever,

Truly yours,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, June 12, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

I had written to you the day before your letter was received, and am very glad to learn that your health is still improving. Shortly after the 4th of March, I saw Mr. Weaver, and told him to let me know in case there should appear any disposition to interfere with him, and I would exert myself to have him retained. He expressed himself so confidently of his security, that any interposition of mine would have appeared gratuitous, if not impertinent. But before your last letter reached here, he called and said he had been removed. He said he did not desire to be reinstated in it, preferring to enter the military service, and desiring a captain’s commission. While I think his restoration might be accomplished, the other is more doubtful, as it is generally understood that Mr. Cameron has bestowed all the military posts. I shall, however, do all in my power to accomplish what Mr. Weaver desires, on account of the interest you take in his welfare.

We have this morning disastrous news from Fortress Monroe. The rumor is that the sacrifice of life at Bethel Bridge was very great, and it is in a great measure attributed to the incompetence of the commanding officer. There is much reason to fear that other disasters from similar cause will occur. The recent appointments in the army are generally spoken of with great disapprobation. General Dix is very much chagrined with the treatment he has received from the War Department, and on Saturday I had a letter declaring his intention to resign immediately. He would, in my opinion, be a serious loss to the service. The rumored appointment of Cummings, of The Bulletin, as Brigadier General and Quartermaster General, has produced very general dissatisfaction and distrust. The appointment has been announced as having been certainly made, but I do not believe that it has been.

I had a letter this week from your friend General Harney. He feels himself very badly treated by the administration. Last month he was ordered to Washington without any reason but suspicion of his loyalty. Being satisfied on that point, he was restored to his command, and is now again superseded, without any explanation, and is disgraced by being left without any command.

Since this letter was commenced, the brother of General Butler has arrived from Fort Monroe, and reports the whole loss of our troops at fourteen killed and forty-four wounded. This is so greatly below the former reports, which set down our loss at over one thousand, that it affords great relief. There is great anxiety to hear from Harper’s Ferry. The movement in that direction a few days ago you have no doubt seen in the papers. Much apprehension is felt here as to the expedition, and there is some uneasiness lest an attack on this city will be induced by withdrawal of so large a portion of the military force. Harvey’s treachery is much talked of. The foreign indications by yesterday’s steamer are considered more favorable than heretofore.

I beg you to present my compliments to Miss Lane; and with sincere regard I remain,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, June 20, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

On the day that my last letter was written, I had an interview with Secretary Smith, in relation to Mr. Weaver, and explained to him the nature of the service you had rendered to Mr. Lincoln, and also the engagement that Mr. Doolittle had made after that service had been rendered, and as an expression of his sense of the obligation. Mr. Doolittle had also placed a letter on file, as he promised to do, but not making any explanation. I am gratified to learn this morning that Mr. Weaver has been restored to his clerkship, and also that he has received an appointment as first lieutenant in the army, for which I applied on his behalf. You will no doubt be pleased that the administration has properly appreciated the favor you rendered.

Hoping that your health is still improving, I remain,

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. HALLOCK.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, June 29, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

My nephew, J. Buchanan Henry, informed me of the very satisfactory conversation with you some time since. I should have written to you some time ago but for my long illness. Since I have been able to write, I have been making memoranda so as to present in one connected view the acts of my administration since the troubles commenced in South Carolina. When presented (but the proper time has not, I think, arrived), they will, unless I am greatly mistaken, prove to be a triumphant vindication in every particular.

In the mean time, it is asked why I did not nip this great revolution in its bud, by garrisoning the forts in the Southern States and sending reinforcements to Forts Moultrie, Sumter and Castle Pinckney, in the harbor of Charleston. I shall let General Scott answer this question. I send you a copy of his “Views,” addressed to the War Department, and finally published at length, doubtless under his own authority, in the National Intelligencer of January 18th, 1861. They are dated on the 29th and 30th October, 1860, more than a week before the Presidential election. After reading them, you will admit that they constitute an extraordinary document. Indeed, they tend to prove what has been often said of the gallant General, that when he abandons the sword for the pen he makes sad work of it. They were extensively published and commented upon in the South, but attracted but little attention in the North. My present purpose, however, is only to prove from them the utter impossibility of garrisoning these forts.

You will observe that on the 29th October, he enumerates nine of them in six of the Southern States; but he submits no plan for this purpose, and designates no troops to accomplish this great and extensive military operation. This it was his duty to do as Lieutenant General. In writing, the next day, October 30th, he seems to have been struck with the absurdity of the recommendation. In this supplement he states: “There is one regular company at Boston, one here at the Narrows, one at Portsmouth, one at Augusta, Ga., and one at Baton Rouge, in all, five companies only within reach to garrison or reinforce the forts mentioned in the ‘Views.’” Five companies containing less than 400 men to garrison and reinforce nine fortifications scattered over six of the Southern States!

Nearly the whole of our small army were at the time stationed on the remote frontiers of our extensive country to protect the inhabitants and emigrants against the tomahawk and scalping knife of the savage; and at the approach of winter, could not have been brought within reach for several months. They were employed for this purpose as they had been for years. At the period when our fortifications were erected, it was not contemplated that they should be garrisoned, except in the event of a foreign war, and this to avoid the necessity of raising a large standing army. No person then dreamed of danger to the States. It is a remarkable fact, that after months had elapsed, and we had, at the instance of General Scott, scoured the whole country for forces to protect the inauguration, all the troops we could assemble at Washington, rank and file, amounted to six hundred and thirty. This fact is stated by me in a message to the House of Representatives. To have sent four hundred men to Charleston after the Presidential election to garrison and defend three forts, an arsenal, a custom house, navy yard, and post office, would have only been to provoke collision. I believed that the public property was safer without than it would have been with such an utterly inadequate force. Besides, whoever was in Washington at the time must have witnessed the strong expression of sentiment by the other Southern States against any attack by South Carolina against the public property. For the reason it was not their policy to make the attack. In my message, therefore, of the 3d December, I stated: “It is not believed that any attempt will be made to expel the United States from this property by force.” In this belief I was justified by the event—as there was no trouble until after Major Anderson retired from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, as he had a right to do, first having spiked his cannon and burnt the gun carriages.

But I am proceeding beyond what I had intended, which was to state the impossibility of reinforcing the forts with the troops “within reach.” There are other very important questions arising out of these transactions which, for the present, I forbear to touch. They will all appear in due time. The Journal of Commerce, from its very great ability and prudent character, exercises great influence over the country. I do not intend, for the present, to appear, either directly or indirectly, as an author. I have merely deemed it advisable to recall your attention to facts, all of which are of record, so that you might, if you should think it advisable, be able to answer the question: Why did the late President not send troops to the forts at Charleston and the other Southern forts? I send you a copy of my message in pamphlet form, from which I have never departed.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, June 28, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

It is with great gratification that I am assured, from several sources, that your health is improving. I was not aware, until I received your letter, that you had been so ill, for I place but little reliance on what the newspapers say.

After a long delay I received my appointment as Major General. The President, whom I saw the day before yesterday, assured me that it was not intentional, and that he had no other purpose than to appoint me. I shall enter on my active duties in a few days.

Everything is quiet in this city. As late as last evening the enemy was also quiet, and, I think, has no intention of advancing. The weather is very warm, as it always is here in June, and the season for active operations will soon be over, until after the first frost.

I hope Miss Lane is well, and that your health may be completely restored. I beg you to give her my kind regards, and to accept assurances of my sincere respect. I am, dear Sir,

Unchangeably your friend,

John A. Dix.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, July 13, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

My late severe illness has hitherto prevented me from acknowledging the receipt of your kind letter of May last. Rest assured that this delay did not proceed from any want of regard for you or your family. On the contrary, I shall ever cherish the most friendly feelings and ardent wishes for the prosperity of both. I should be glad to hear from you as often as may be convenient, and, although I recover my strength but slowly, I think I may promise to be a more punctual correspondent.

The future of our country presents a dark cloud, through which my vision cannot penetrate. The assault upon Fort Sumter was the commencement of war by the Confederate States, and no alternative was left but to prosecute it with vigor on our part. Up and until all social and political relations ceased between the secession leaders and myself, I had often warned them that the North would rise to a man against them if such an assault were made. No alternative seems now to be left but to prosecute hostilities until the seceding States shall return to their allegiance, or until it shall be demonstrated that this object, which is nearest my heart, cannot be accomplished. From present appearances it seems certain that they would accept no terms of compromise short of an absolute recognition of their independence, which is impossible. I am glad that General Scott does not underrate the strength of his enemy, which would be a great fault in a commander. With all my heart and soul I wish him success. I think that some very unfit military appointments have been made, from which we may suffer in some degree in the beginning, but ere long merit will rise to its appropriate station. It was just so at the commencement of the war of 1812. I was rejoiced at the appointment of General Dix, and believe he will do both himself and the country honor.

In passing North or South, I should be most happy if you would call and pay us a visit at Wheatland. You shall receive a most hearty welcome, especially if you should be accompanied by your lady and Miss King.

With my kindest regards to them, I remain, very respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to Mr., Mrs. and Miss King.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, July 16, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Your favor with the continuation of the historical sketch was duly received. Last evening Judge Black and General Dix met at my house, and we consulted together in regard to it. We concur in opinion that a publication at present would accomplish no good. The public mind is too much excited on other topics to give attention to the past, and it would only afford occasion for fresh malignant attacks upon you from ——. His day, I think, is rapidly passing; and, at all events, a stronger impression will hereafter be produced when the public feeling is more tranquil. The narrative appears to me to be a clear and accurate statement of the events of the period to which it relates, with one exception of no material consequence, in respect to which the recollection of Judge Black, General Dix and myself is somewhat different from the statement. Speaking of the order to the Brooklyn not to disembark the forces sent to Pickens unless that fort were attacked, you mention it as having been made with the entire unanimity of your cabinet and the approval of General Scott. That he approved it is fully shown by Mr. Holt’s note to you; but our recollection is that in the cabinet it was opposed by Judge Black, General Dix and myself. I do not know that there is now any reason to question the wisdom of the measure; it may have saved Pickens from immediate attack at that time; and I have understood that General Scott says that Pickens could not have been successfully defended if it had then been attacked, and that he speaks of this as a blunder of the Confederates. In this view the wisdom of the measure is fully vindicated; and at the time it was supported by the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy, to whose Departments the subject appertained.

So far, however, as your administration is concerned, its policy in reference to both Sumter and Pickens is fully vindicated by the course of the present administration for forty days after the inauguration of Lincoln. No use was made of the means that had been prepared for reinforcing Sumter. A Republican Senator informed me a short time ago that General Scott personally urged him to consent to the evacuation of both Sumter and Pickens; and it is a fact of general notoriety, published in all the papers at the time and never contradicted, that not only the General, but other military men who were consulted, were in favor of that measure.

Whatever may be said by ——’s malignity now, I think that the public will be disposed to do full justice to your efforts to avert the calamity of civil war; and every month for a long time to come will, I am afraid, furnish fresh evidence of the magnitude of that calamity. The impression that Mr. Weaver had received an army appointment proved to be a mistake; it was another Weaver who was appointed. General Dix is still here. He has been shamefully treated by the administration. We are expecting a general battle to be commenced at Fairfax to-day, and conflicting opinions of the result are entertained. With sincere regard, I remain as ever,

Truly yours,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, July 26, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

Three days ago I received the enclosed letters, under cover addressed to me. Upon reading the first sentence, I perceived there must be some mistake, and turning over the leaf saw that the address was to Judge Black, and I therefore return them unread. I should have handed them to him, but have not seen him since they were received, and am informed that he left here some days ago.

The dreadful disaster of Sunday can scarcely be mentioned. The imbecility of this administration culminated in that catastrophe; an irretrievable misfortune and national disgrace never to be forgotten are to be added to the ruin of all peaceful pursuits and national bankruptcy, as the result of Lincoln’s “running the machine” for five months.

You perceive that Bennett is for a change of the cabinet, and proposes for one of the new cabinet Mr. Holt, whose opposition to Bennett’s appointment was bitter and intensely hostile. It is not unlikely that some change in the War and Navy Departments may take place, but none beyond those two Departments until Jeff Davis turns out the whole concern. The capture of Washington seems now to be inevitable; during the whole of Monday and Tuesday it might have been taken without any resistance. The rout, overthrow, and utter demoralization of the whole army is complete. Even now I doubt whether any serious opposition to the entrance of the Confederate forces could be offered. While Lincoln, Scott, and the cabinet are disputing who is to blame, the city is unguarded, and the enemy at hand. General McClellan reached here last evening. But if he had the ability of Cæsar, Alexander, or Napoleon, what can he accomplish? Will not Scott’s jealousy, cabinet intrigues, and Republican interference thwart him at every step? While hoping for the best, I cannot shut my eyes against the dangers that beset the Government, and especially this city. It is certain that Davis was in the field on Sunday, and the secessionists here assert that he headed in person the last victorious charge. General Dix is in Baltimore; after three weeks’ neglect and insult he was sent there. The warm debate between Douglas’s friend Richardson and Kentucky Burnett has attracted some interest, but has been attended with no bellicose result. Since this note was commenced, the morning paper has come in, and I see that McClellan did not arrive last night, as I was informed he had. General Lee was after him, but will have to wait a while before they can meet.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, August 31, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I am sorry that any cause has prevented you from paying me a visit. I trust your kind purpose will not be long suspended. The memory of your last visit causes Miss Lane and myself to be anxious that it should be repeated. I rejoice to learn that you and yours are all in good health. May this precious blessing be long continued to you and them.

I agree with you that nothing but a vigorous prosecution of the war can now determine the question between the North and the South. It is vain to talk of peace at the present moment. The Confederate States, flushed with their success at Bull’s Run, would consent to nothing less than a recognition of their independence, and this is impossible to grant under any conceivable circumstances. I have much faith that General McClellan is “the coming man.”

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[HON. RICHARD COBDEN TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Midhurst, Sussex, Sept. 5, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

It is rather more than two years since I had the pleasure of seeing you, and in that interval, what events have occurred!

I think it is no exaggeration to say that there are few Americans who have been more deeply and painfully interested than myself in the deplorable civil conflict which is now raging on your continent.

The subject is so distressing to my feelings, that I avoid as much as possible all correspondence with my American friends. But after the friendly reception which I experienced from you at Washington, I should be sorry if our intimacy were to be impaired owing to any neglect on my part. I have been abroad nearly the whole time since my return from the States, chiefly in France and Algiers, but am now settled down at home. My health is improved, and if I can be quiet and avoid public meetings, I hope to continue to escape from a return of my bronchial affection.

I hope you are well, and that you will be good enough to let me hear from you. Or if you cannot find time to write, pray let me have a letter from my amiable young friend, your niece, to whom I beg to be most kindly remembered.

I will not enter on the subject of your domestic troubles. My experience in our Crimean war led me to the conclusion that from the moment when the first drop of blood is shed reason and argument are powerless to put an end to war. It can only be terminated by its own self-destroying and exhaustive process.

This, however, I will say, that of all the questions ever subjected to the ordeal of battle, that which is the ground of quarrel between the Northern and Southern States of your Union seems the least adapted for the arbitrament of the sword.

I feel very anxious that nothing should arise to put in jeopardy the relations between England and your country.

I remember listening with great satisfaction to General Cass, whilst I was at Washington, when he narrated to me the satisfactory settlement of the various questions in debate between the two countries, and I will venture to offer the opinion that history will do justice to the successful foreign policy of your administration. (It would be very presumptuous in me, a foreigner, to pass judgment on your internal policy.)

Should it happen that you are in communication with General Cass, will you kindly remember me to him?

The subject of the blockade is becoming more and more serious. I am afraid we have ourselves to blame for not having placed the question of belligerent rights on a better footing. I remember that after the Congress of Paris had agreed to abolish privateering, Mr. Marcy proposed to go a step further, and exempt private property altogether from capture. This was objected to, I believe, by our government; afterwards, I remember, your newspapers advocated the abolition of blockades altogether. I have the impression that your government, I mean your Presidency, would have agreed to the Paris declaration, with the addition of a clause for making private property (not contraband of war) sacred at sea, and another clause doing away with blockades altogether, excepting as regards articles contraband of war—am I correct in this supposition?

Mr. Bright is well, but, like myself, feels your civil war almost with the sorrow of a private affliction.

Mr. Milner Gibson is on a yachting excursion. He has grown a little stouter and somewhat grey with the cares of office.

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

R. Cobden.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO HON. GEORGE G. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, September 4th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have this morning received your favor of yesterday. I rejoice to learn that when you visit me you will be accompanied by two of your grand-daughters; and the sooner the better. We shall give you and them a most cordial welcome.

In regard to any public use of the opinions expressed in my letter, in favor of the prosecution of the war, I would rather, for the present, you would withhold them. Of course I have kept no copy and know not how they are expressed. Every person who has conversed with me knows that I am in favor of sustaining the Government in a vigorous prosecution of the war for the restoration of the Union. An occasion may offer when it may be proper for me authoritatively to express this opinion for the public. Until that time shall arrive, I desire to avoid any public exhibition.

When a private letter of mine was published some time since, condemning the desertion of the flag by the officers of the army and the navy, you know it was made the occasion to abuse me by the Black Republican papers. Knowing our relations of intimate friendship, it would be said that we had concocted a plan to bring me before the public in self-defence in an indirect manner.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[JUDGE BLACK TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, September 9th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

There seems to be a dead pause here in everything but making appointments and contracts. If there is to be a battle, nobody knows it, not even those who are to fight it, unless by conjecture. But it is not easy to see how it can be avoided very long. The ground that Beauregard leaves McClellan to stand upon is getting narrower every day. But each has a wholesome fear of the other. It is terrible enough to think of the momentous interests at stake upon the issue. And that issue may be determined by the state of the weather, the condition of the ground, or the slightest blunder of an officer.

Mrs. Gwynn, it seems, was not arrested. I told you I did not believe either that she had been arrested or given the cause of accusation which was alleged against her. It was another lady of the same name—Mrs. Gwynn of Alexandria—who sewed up plans and documents in shirts, unless, indeed, the whole story is a fable invented by that “perfectly reliable gentleman” who has been engaged in furnishing lies for the newspapers as far back as I can remember.

Mr. Glossbrenner furnished me a fair copy of the paper before I left York. I shall soon have it in shape. I have already made some progress in it.

My regards to Miss Lane, and believe me

Yours truly,

J. S. Black.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. JOHN B. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, September 12th, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your kind favor of the 7th instant, and owe you many thanks for it, as well as for Mr. Stanton’s report. It puts to rest the assertion that a single columbiad or cannon ever reached the Southern States in 1860 or 1861, and they are not fighting us with our own weapons. Floyd’s order was arrested before its execution. About the small arms, there does not appear to be any thing out of the usual course of administration and distribution. They were ordered there so long ago as December, 1859.

I have never received the bound copies of the Public Documents of the 35th Congress, though I recollect that Mr. Glossbrenner or some other person told me before I left Washington that Mr. Wheeler was boxing them up for me. I expect to see Mr. G. in a few days, and shall inquire of him.

I owe you very many thanks for the order you have obtained from Mr. Smith for the documents of the 36th Congress; and please to present my kind regards to Mr. Kelly.

We must, I presume, soon hear of a battle or of a retreat of the Confederate forces. Our all is embarked on board a ship which is approaching the breakers. This is no time to investigate why she was brought into this sad condition. We must save her by an united effort. We must prosecute the war with the utmost vigor. May God grant us a safe deliverance and a restoration of the Union!

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

Your friend always,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Pardon me for having omitted to acknowledge your favor of the 8th August, in answer to mine of the 5th. General Twiggs has sent me another insolent and threatening letter, in which he exults in the fact that my likeness had been ordered from the Rotunda. I know not know[know] what will become of it. It is condemned as a likeness by good judges.[^[175]]

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, September 18, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I am gratified to learn, by your favor of the 13th, that your visit here was agreeable to yourself and Miss King, and we, therefore, trust that it may be soon repeated. I need not say that both Miss Lane and myself will be most happy to see you both again, and give you a cordial welcome.

You recollect the correspondence between Mr. Holt and Mr. Thompson. The last letter of Mr. Thompson to Mr. Holt was published in the tri-weekly National Intelligencer of March 19th, 1861, and was dated at Oxford on March 11th. Mr. Holt, I believe, replied to this letter; but, if so, I cannot find his reply in the Intelligencer. I should be much obliged to you if you could procure me a copy of this reply. Poor Thompson! He committed a sad wrong against his country, from which he can never recover. He had been the devoted friend and admirer of Mr. Holt, but in the end he afforded just cause to that gentleman for his severe answer.

How Mr. Holt came to be so far mistaken, in his letter of May 31st to Kentucky, as to state that the revolutionary leaders greeted me with all hails to my face, I do not know. The truth is that, after the message of the 3d of December, they were alienated from me; and, after I had returned the insolent letter of the first South Carolina commissioners to them, I was attacked by Jefferson Davis and his followers on the floor of the Senate, and all political and social intercourse between us ceased. Had the Senate confirmed my nomination of the 2d January of a collector of the port of Charleston, the war would probably have commenced in January, instead of May. I am collecting materials for history, and I cannot find a note from Mr. Slidell to myself and my answer relative to the very proper removal of Beauregard from West Point.[^[176]]

I think I must have given them to Mr. Holt. He was much pleased with my answer at the time. If they are in his possession, I should be glad you would procure me copies. They are very brief. The ladies of Mr. S.’s family never after looked near the White House.

I think I can perceive in the public mind a more fixed, resolute and determined purpose than ever to prosecute the war to a successful termination, with all the men and means in our power. Enlistments are now proceeding much more rapidly than a few weeks ago, and I am truly glad of it. The time has passed for offering compromises and terms of peace to the seceded States. We well know that, under existing circumstances, they would accept of nothing less than a recognition of their independence, which it is impossible we should grant. There is a time for all things under the sun; but surely this is not the moment for paralyzing the arm of the national administration by a suicidal conflict among ourselves, but for bold, energetic and united action. The Democratic party has ever been devoted to the Constitution and the Union; and I rejoice that, among the many thousands that have rushed to their defence in this the hour of peril, a large majority belong to that time-honored party.

I sat down to write you a few lines, but find that my letter has swelled into large proportions.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[FROM JOSHUA BATES.]

London, September 20, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have to thank you for your valued letters of the 12th and 13th ult., which I have read with great interest. I think you give too much importance to newspaper attacks. Judging by my own feelings, I should say readers of newspapers do not believe a word of these attacks, but put them down to party tactics. Lord Palmerston, in the last session of Parliament, in answering a speech of Mr. Horsman, who complained that the Times had abused him and ridiculed his speeches, remarked, that he always thought that he (Lord P.) was the best abused of any man in the Kingdom, but he was not disturbed by it. A gentleman once applied to Lord Melbourne for advice whether he should accept a seat in the cabinet which was offered him. Lord M. said: “If you do not mind being abused daily in the newspapers, you will find office very pleasant; but if your happiness is at all disturbed by such abuse, you had best not take office.” Gallatin’s theory was that no man ever did his duty that was not abused by the newspapers. I never had a doubt that you would execute the high duties of the office of President of the United States with honor to yourself and great advantage to the country; and I feel sure that your great public services will be approved by the country at no distant day. It was shameful that Congress should leave you without the power to stop the rebellion before it had become so formidable. I have, however, full faith in the patriotism of the people of the free States; that they will punish rebels, and preserve the Constitution, I have no doubt. Secession is out of the question. Who would ever lend money to a Government of the United States, if aware that it could be broken up any day by a right of any State to secede? This government will, I think, do nothing more. The want of cotton will be severely felt at Manchester the coming winter. By that time I hope the Southern States will give in. The remittance by Miss Lane, to whom, pray, give my kind regards, has been placed to her credit, and subject to her orders, in the books of Baring Brothers & Co. (£2,000), subject to interest at 4 per cent. per annum.

I remain, my dear Sir, with the highest respect,

Very truly yours,

Joshua Bates.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO A COMMITTEE OF THE CITIZENS OF CHESTER AND LANCASTER COUNTIES.]

Wheatland, September 28, 1861.

Dear Sir:—

I have been honored by your kind invitation, as Chairman of the appropriate committee, to attend and address a Union meeting of the citizens of Chester and Lancaster counties, to be held at Hagersville on the first of October. This I should gladly accept, proceeding as it does from a much valued portion of my old Congressional district, but advancing years and the present state of my health render it impossible.

You correctly estimate the deep interest which I feel “in common with the citizens who will there be assembled, in the present condition of our country.” This is, indeed, serious, but our recent military reverses, so far from producing despondency in the minds of a loyal and powerful people, will only animate them to more mighty exertions in sustaining a war which has become inevitable by the assault of the Confederate States upon Fort Sumter. For this reason, were it possible for me to address your meeting, waiving all other topics, I should confine myself to a solemn and earnest appeal to my countrymen, and especially those without families, to volunteer for the war, and join the many thousands of brave and patriotic volunteers who are already in the field.

This is the moment for action; for PROMPT, ENERGETIC and UNITED action; and not for discussion of PEACE PROPOSITIONS. These, we must know, would be rejected by the States that have seceded, unless we should offer to recognize their independence, which is entirely out of the question. Better counsels may hereafter prevail, when these people shall be convinced that the war is conducted, not for their conquest or subjugation, but solely for the purpose of bringing them back to their original position in the Union, without impairing, in the slightest degree, any of their Constitutional rights. Whilst, therefore, we shall cordially hail their return under our common and glorious flag, and welcome them as brothers, yet, until that happy day shall arrive, it will be our duty to support the President with all the men and means at the command of the country, in a vigorous and successful prosecution of the war.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, October 21, 1861.

My Dear James:—

I have mislaid your last letter, and have not answered it sooner, awaiting information that my account had been settled and the balance struck in the Chemical Bank. I think there would be no risk, and if so, no danger in sending a bank book or the certificate of loan by mail. I believe that New York Loan is registered, and without coupons—but there is no hurry in either case.

I am determined to sell all my seceded State bonds this fall for what they will bring. North Carolinas will probably command $60, and I would sell at that price to-morrow, but dislike to send the certificates by mail. These loans may rise or sink in the market, as the Bulls or the Bears may prevail; but after the war is over, let it terminate as it may, these States will be so exhausted as not to be able to pay, be they never so willing. As you sometimes deal in stocks, I give you this confidentially as my opinion.

We have never heard a word from or of our good friend Schell since he left us. How is he? or what has become of him?

I think it is now time that I should not merely defend but triumphantly vindicate myself, or cause myself to be vindicated before the public, though my friends still urge me to wait.

I believe it is universally believed that Floyd stole guns and sent them to the South. There is not a word of truth in it, as is proved by a report of the Committee on Military Affairs to the House of Representatives on the 18th February last, Mr. Stanton, a Black Republican, being chairman. It is true that at a late period of the administration, Floyd made the attempt to send a considerable number of columbiads and thirty-two pounders to Ship Island and Galveston, but I arrested the order, through the Secretary of War, before a single gun was sent.

We are expecting Mrs. Roosevelt, and I shall be delighted to see her, though we shall not be able to entertain her as I could desire. I have never at any period since I commenced housekeeping, been able to get a good cook, or even a tolerably good one, except at Washington, and we now have one of the worst. We shall, however, give her a hearty welcome.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

P. S.—For what price can New York Loan be obtained in the market? Have the Messrs. O’Brien my Virginia certificate in their possession? The Confederates have not confiscated State loans in their infamous act, and I presume there would be no difficulty in assigning it.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, November 12, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

You will confer a great favor upon me if you can obtain a half-dozen of copies of Mr. Stanton’s report from the Committee on Military Affairs, made on the 18th February, 1861 (No. 85), relative to the arms alleged to have been stolen and sent to the South by Floyd. This report, with the remarks of Mr. Stanton when presenting it, ought to have put this matter at rest, and it did so, I believe, so far as Congress was concerned. It has, however, been recently repeated by Cameron, Reverdy Johnson and others, and I desire these copies to send to different parts of the Union, so that the falsehood may be refuted by the record. I am no further interested in the matter than, if the charge were true, it might argue a want of vigilance on my part.

I perceive that Mr. Holt has got a .... from the Secretary of War, and I learn from those who read Forney’s Press that Stanton is the counsel and friend of McClellan, who is, I trust and hope, “the coming man.”

By the bye, it is difficult to imagine how it was possible to mystify so plain a subject, under the laws of war, as an exchange of prisoners with the rebels, so as to make it mean a recognition in any form, however remote, of their Confederacy. It admits nothing but that your enemy, whether pirate, rebel, Algerine or regular government, has got your soldiers in his possession, and you have his soldiers in your possession. The exchange means nothing beyond. The laws of humanity are not confined to any other limit. The more barbarous and cruel the enemy, the greater is the necessity for an exchange; because the greater is the danger that they will shed the blood of your soldiers. I do not apply this remark to the Confederate States, and only use it by way of illustration. I believe they have not treated their prisoners cruelly.

They do not seem to understand at Washington another plain principle of the law of nations, and that is, that whilst the capture and confiscation of private property at sea is still permissible, this is not the case on land. Such are all the authorities. The Treaty of Ghent recognized slaves as private property, and therefore they were to be restored; and we paid for all our army consumed in Mexico. The rebels have violated this law in the most reckless manner.

But why am I writing so? I have materials put together which will constitute, unless I am greatly mistaken, not merely a good defence, but a triumphant vindication of my administration. You must not be astonished some day to find in print, portraits drawn by myself of all those who ever served in my cabinet. I think I know them all perfectly, unless it may be Stanton.

I hope Miss King has entirely recovered. Please present me to her very kindly, as well as to Mrs. King. I am now alone, Miss Lane being in New York; but thank God! I am tranquil and contented, sound, or nearly so, in body, and I trust sound in mind, and ever true to my friends.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[GENERAL DIX TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Baltimore, December 2, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I enclose you a proclamation, rather out of date, but not the less valuable, I trust, for having been sent out on the very day John Cochrane proclaimed the infamous and cowardly scheme of arming slaves against their masters.

I believe every State north of South Carolina and Mississippi may be reclaimed by a just and enlightened policy. The abolitionists will make a powerful effort to drag the country into the emancipation of slaves. But I am confident they will fail. Fortunately this project cannot be separated from the support of Fremont, and it will for that reason, I think, be condemned by the friends of the administration.

The Herald said my proclamation was inspired by the President. I do not yet know whether he approves it. It was put forth without consulting any one. I knew I was right; and when this conviction is strong, I never consult friends, for fear they may differ with me.

It has been a source of great gratification to me to hear, as I have frequently from Mr. Magraw, of your improved health. That you may live to see this unhappy contest ended, and good fellowship restored again is the sincere wish of, dear sir, yours very respectfully and truly,

John A. Dix.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, December 2, 1861.

My Dear Harriet:—

I have received your letters of the 20th and 30th ultimo, and in compliance with the request in the latter return you Judge Black’s opinion. I have heard nothing from him since his call on the way to York after parting from you at the Continental.

I hope you are enjoying yourself. Indeed this cannot fail to be the case with such a charming lady as Mrs. Roosevelt. We get along very comfortably and pleasantly at Wheatland. I received a letter yesterday from Annie Buchanan offering to pay me a visit; but I advised her to defer it until after your return. Indeed this would be no place for her at present. I wish you, however, to remain at New York just as long as you find it agreeable.

I am glad to learn that Judge Nelson believes that Captain Wilkes can be sustained by public law in the seizure of Mason and Slidell. I place great reliance upon his judgment, but at the first we shall probably receive a terrific broadside from the English journals.

The more I saw of the Misses Johnston, I liked them the better. They are fine women.

I often see the Nevins and am glad of it. I dine to-day at Harry Magraw’s. The dinner is given to Bishop Wood.

With my kindest regards to the Judge and Mrs. Roosevelt, I remain

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, December 10, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received a package directed in your well-known hand; and upon opening it discover a letter directed to Miss Lane, which I shall forward to her, with a beautiful pair of slippers and fan; the former, I presume, for myself.

Miss Lane has been in New York since early in November, and I know not when she will return.

Presuming that the slippers are a New Year’s gift from Miss King to myself, I desire to express my grateful thanks to her for this token of her regard. Present to her my kindest wishes for her health, prosperity, and happiness.

I wish I had something to write to you about which might interest you; but my life glides on so smoothly that I should scarcely know how time passes, were it not for the terrible condition of the country. I never expected to see the day when the Federal Government would assume the power of issuing a paper currency, much less of making it a legal tender.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. and Miss King, I remain

Always your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Your letter of the 18th November is the last I have heard from any member of my late cabinet. I have kind friends at Washington, however, who occasionally give me the news. I was glad to see that Judge Black had been appointed reporter to the Supreme Court. The position is respectable, though a descent......

[MR. BUCHANAN TO THE HON. RICHARD COBDEN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, Penn.,
December 14, 1861.

}

My Dear Sir:—

I ought long since to have answered your letter of September; but a protracted illness, from which, thank God! I have some time since recovered, has left me far behind with my correspondence. It is my sincere desire always to cherish the intimacy which commenced between us in better and happier days. I deeply regret that the feelings of friendship between the people of the two countries are not what they were when we parted at Washington more than two years ago. The public journals on both sides of the water have contributed much to produce this result. Still the masses on our side are far from being hostile to the English people, whilst they entertain a very high regard for Queen Victoria.

I trust that the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell on board the Trent may be viewed in what I consider its proper light by the British ministry. A neutral nation is the common friend of both belligerents, and has no right to aid the one to the injury of the other. It is, consequently, very clear, under the law of nations, that a neutral vessel has no right to carry articles contraband of war to any enemy, to transport his troops or his despatches. These principles are well settled by British authority. And Sir W. Scott, in the case of the Atalanta (Wheaton, 566) informs us that the writers on public law declare “that the belligerent may stop the ambassador of his enemy on his way.” And why not? If it be unlawful to carry despatches, with the greater reason it must be unlawful to carry ministers who write despatches, and to whom despatches are addressed, who are the agents of one belligerent government on their way to a neutral country for the express purpose of enlisting its government in the war against the other.

In some respects it would have been better had Captain Wilkes seized the Trent and brought her into port. It would then have become a purely judicial question, to be decided upon precedent and authority by the appropriate court of admiralty, and the two governments would not then have been brought face to face as they are now confronting each other. Under all the circumstances, I do not think that this seizure presents a justifiable cause of quarrel on the part of the British government, and I trust you may take this view of the subject.

In reference to your question in regard to blockade, no administration within the last half century, up to the end of my term, would have consented to a general declaration abolishing privateering. Our most effectual means of annoying a great naval power upon the ocean is by granting letters of marque and reprisal. We could not possibly, therefore, have consented to the Paris declaration which would have left the vessels (for example of Great Britain or France) free to capture our merchant vessels, whilst we should have deprived ourselves of the employment of the force which had proved so powerful in capturing their merchant vessels. Hence the proposition of Mr. Marcy to abolish war upon private property altogether on the ocean, as modern civilization had abolished it on the land. I do not think that a proposition was ever made to abolish blockade. I certainly have no recollection of it.

I am rejoiced to learn that Mr. Bright is well; I was afraid, when I left England, that his health was in an unpromising condition. Please to remember me in the kindest terms to him and Mr. Gibson. Miss Lane is in New York; if she were at home, she would have many kind messages to send you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, December 19th, 1861.

My Dear Harriet:—

I have received your favor of the 18th instant, and am truly sorry to learn the death of my friend Mr. Lanahan. At one period I was very much attached to him, and I still continue to entertain for him cordial feelings of kindness......

You ask my opinion on the Slidell and Mason affair, and whether there is danger of a war with England. I think, as a fair deduction from British authorities, that Captain Wilkes might have seized the Trent and brought her into port for adjudication. Had he done this, it would have become a judicial question, and the two nations would not have been brought front to front in opposition to each other. That he only seized the commissioners and let the vessel go was an act intended for kindness on his part. Certainly, a war can not grow out of this question, unless Great Britain desires it, without very bad management on our side. My kindest regards to the Judge and Mrs. Roosevelt.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, December 21, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have just received your kind letter of the 19th instant, and, in answer, I think I may say that my health is restored. The swelling in my legs and feet has disappeared, and I now walk to Lancaster with great enjoyment.

You advise me to keep quiet, which I shall do for the present. I shall bide my time, under a perfect conviction that my administration cannot only be satisfactorily defended, but triumphantly vindicated.

I wish with all my heart that I could be with you at the meeting of your children and grandchildren on Christmas; but this is out of the question. The happy faces and innocent gambols of children have always had a charm for me. May you live many days in health and prosperity to enjoy such meetings around the family altar. As I cannot be present at the hospitable board, I hope you will drink my health in a glass of the old Custom House Madeira.

I am, like you, a passenger in the omnibus; and, although nothing could tempt me again to become a driver, yet I cannot avoid feeling deep anxiety for my country. I trust the danger of a war with England has passed away; but, if such a disastrous event should occur, it will be a war created by the newspapers. With my kindest regards to Mrs. Leiper and all your patriarchal family, I remain,

Very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Your sweetheart, Miss Lane, has been absent several weeks in New York, and I do not expect her home until after the New Year. I sincerely wish she felt more of a disposition than she does to bind herself in the silken cords which you describe.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, December 25th, 1861.

My Dear Harriet:—

I have received your favor of yesterday and am happy to inform you that Doctor Blake has contradicted the picture and Japanese falsehood in the National Intelligencer of yesterday. You have probably ere this seen it.

I have passed a very sober, quiet and contented Christmas. I went to hear Mr. Krotel in the morning and came immediately home. It is the first day for many a day that I have had no visitors. Miss Hetty and myself dined together very pleasantly.

Poor Prince Albert! I think in many respects he was to be pitied. His position was very awkward, but he sustained it with becoming dignity. He could not assume the position of William the Third and say, if I am not to be king and am to be placed in a subordinate position to the queen, I shall return to Holland.

I intend to give Harry Magraw a dinner on Saturday next, but I can not rival the dinner which he gave when last at home. No such dinner has ever been given in Lancaster, at least to my knowledge.

I have not received a line from Judge Black nor seen him since he called here after meeting you in Philadelphia. I am glad he has been appointed reporter to the Supreme Court.

I enclose you an invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Wharton. I have answered my own, and informed them that I would send yours to you in New York. You will judge whether you ought to answer.

I wish you to remain in New York just as long as this may be agreeable to yourself and to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt. You would have a dull time here at this season.

Please to remember me in the kindest terms to the Judge and Mrs. Roosevelt, with my ardent wishes that they may pass many years together in peace, prosperity and happiness.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, December 30, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 27th instant, and thank you most kindly for your efficient agency in correcting the slander of the correspondent of the New York ——. Lord Lyons’ letter is quite satisfactory.

Thank Heaven there is now no danger of an immediate war with England. That Mason and Slidell would be surrendered to John Bull I had expected for some time, from the editorials and correspondence of the New York Herald, which is evidently in the confidence of the administration or some members of it.

I know nothing of what is going on in Washington, except from the papers. From them I perceive that Judge Black has been appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court, and that General Cameron has conferred upon Mr. Holt the appointment of Auditor of General Fremont’s accounts. I believe that Stanton and Horatio King have not yet been provided for.

I have not seen an account of your marriage; but this, I expect, will come along some day. How happy I should be to see you here. I now soon expect Miss Lane.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
1862-1864.

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

The residue of my task can be easily and best performed by tracing in his correspondence the course of Mr. Buchanan’s remaining years. As the letters quoted in the last chapter disclose, his tranquillity was disturbed only by his anxiety for the country, and by the attacks which were made upon his reputation. He lived through the whole of the war, through the first administration of Lincoln, the nomination of McClellan as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, the second election of Lincoln, his assassination and the accession of President Johnson. The new and critical public questions that arose, the events that marked the wavering fortunes of the country, found him the same in feeling and opinion about the necessity for a complete suppression of all the military array of the Confederate States, and the restoration of the authority of the Federal Constitution. It would have been quite natural, if the mode in which he was treated had caused him to shut himself up in a stolid indifference to the success of the Federal arms. But his nature was too noble, his patriotism was too genuine, to allow the insults and injuries that were heaped upon him to affect his love for that Union in whose service forty years of his life had been passed. It is needless for me to enlarge upon the character of his patriotism; for it is attested by every sentiment and feeling that he was expressing from day to day in his most familiar and unpremeditated correspondence with his friends. But it is an important part of my duty to describe with accuracy the steps that he meditated and that he finally took, for the vindication of the course of his administration during the last five months of his term.

It has already been seen that soon after his retirement to Wheatland, he began to collect and arrange the materials for a defence; and that he was dissuaded from immediate publication by the friends who believed that he could not get the public ear. He withheld the publication of the book until the war was virtually over; and, in fact, he did not cause it to be published until some time after the Presidential election of 1864, for it was no part of his object to promote by it the immediate success of the Democratic party. What he meant to do was to leave behind him an exact and truthful account of his administration “on the eve of the rebellion.” The extent to which it obtained the public attention may be judged by the fact that five thousand copies of it were sold, mostly in the course of two years after its first publication, which was in the year 1866.[^[177]] The sale was not as large as might have been expected, partly in consequence of the temper of the times, and partly because it was written in the third person, which made it a little less lively narrative than it might have been. But although his name was not put on the title page, the preface disclosed plainly that he was the author. It was entirely his own work. The style is clear and strong, and its accuracy has not been—indeed, it could not well be—seriously questioned. Its statements were chiefly founded on the public documents of the time to which they related, and the information furnished to him by the gentlemen of his cabinet who could assist his recollection. He did not make a direct use, by quotation, of those ample stores of proof which he held among his private papers, and which he left for the future use of his biographer.

It will be seen from the letters which I am about to quote, that after the publication of this book, he intended to have prepared, under his own direction, a full biography, in justice, he said, to himself and the great men whom he had known and with whom he had acted. He continued through the remainder of his life to collect materials for this purpose. Various arrangements were made from time to time for carrying out this object, but none of them took effect, partly because of his increasing bodily infirmities, and partly because he could not have exactly the assistance that he needed. His intellectual faculties continued, as his correspondence abundantly shows, to be unimpaired to the last; and such was the tenacity of his memory, his vast experience, his fund of amusing as well as[as well as] important anecdotes, and his thorough acquaintance with the politics of the time through which he had lived, that an historical work from his pen, or one written under his immediate direction, would have been of inestimable value. As it was, he collected a very great mass of materials for the elucidation of his own history and of the history of the country from 1820 to 1860. But these materials remained in an undigested state down to the time of his death; and when he executed his last will, he inserted in it a provision for the preparation of a biography, which did not take effect as he had designed, for a reason to which I have referred in the preface of the present work. He had acted history, had lived history, and he was eminently qualified to write history.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, January 3d, 1862.

My Dear Harriet:—

I have received your favor of the 31st ultimo, directed to me as the Hon. James Buchanan, and not ex-President Buchanan, which I was glad to observe. In compliance with its request, I enclose you a check......

There are things in Mr. Seward’s letter to Lord Lyons which will furnish the British Government with a pretext to take offence, if they so desire. When we determined to swallow the bitter pill,[^[178]] which I think was right, we ought to have done it gracefully and without pettifogging.

No notice seems to have been taken of the publication of Mr. Seward’s letter to Mr. Adams, of the 30th November. It may have been well to write this letter, but to publish it under the authority of the Government was unwise. It states: “I have never for a moment believed that such a recognition [of the Confederate States] could take place without producing immediately a war between the United States and all the recognizing powers. I have not supposed it possible that the British government could fail to see this,” etc., etc. This will be treated as an impotent threat, by that malignant anti-American journal, the Times, and possibly by a portion of the British people.

You may tell Judge Roosevelt that I have been no little astonished to find in the excellent Journal of Commerce articles to prove that the Federal Government possesses, under the Constitution, the power to issue a paper currency and to make it a legal tender; and this upon the principle that it has not been expressly prohibited. They seem to have lost sight of the great principle that Congress has no power except what is expressly granted or necessarily implied.[^[179]] Mr. Webster did once darkly intimate on the floor of the Senate that Congress might authorize the issue of a paper currency, and whilst it was opposed by the entire Democratic party, it met no favor with the Whig party. Mr. Clay’s most strongly urged argument against the Independent Treasury was, that it might lead to a Government paper currency. I do not recollect that in my day it was ever claimed, even by the most violent consolidationist, that a creditor could be forced to take either the paper of the Bank of the United States or the Government, in payment of a debt. If the Judge has it convenient, I wish he would look at my speech in favor of the Independent Treasury, delivered in the Senate on 29th September, 1837......

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JUDGE WOODWARD.]

Wheatland, September 5th, 1863.

Dear Sir:—

Until I received your note this morning, the fact that I had written to you in July last had not for weeks recurred to my memory. I expected no answer. I probably ought not to have written at all on the subject of the Conscription Law. Had I reflected for a moment that you were a Judge of the Supreme Court, as well as the Democratic candidate for Governor, I should have refrained. My abhorrence throughout life has been the mixing up of party politics with the administration of justice. I perceived that in New York the party were fast making the unconstitutionality of the Conscription Law the leading and prominent point in the canvass, and I wrote (I believe with good effect) to an able and influential friend, guarding him against it, and referring to Mr. Monroe’s opinion. At the same time it occurred to me that a word of caution to you confidentially, as a candidate, not as a Judge, might not be inappropriate.

I consider that on the result of your election vaster issues depend, both for weal and for woe to our country, than on that of any other gubernatorial canvass ever held in Pennsylvania. I am, therefore, anxious for your success, and believe it will be accomplished. My information, though not as extensive as in former times, proceeds from honest and sound judging Democrats. It is given voluntarily, and is generally, though not universally, cheering.

I beg you not to answer this note.

Very respectfully yours,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JAMES BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, January 7, 1863.

My Dear James:—

I have received your favor of the 5th instant, and am much indebted to you for Mr. Adams’ oration. I send you the price.

Mr. Croswell has not written to me. It is now out of time for the publication of an article in reply to Weed’s letter and the election story. I do not believe that Mr. C. intends to publish such an article; and I desire that nothing further should be said to him on the subject. Let him do as he pleases.

I feel very solicitious about the course of Governor Seymour and the New York Democracy. He will be surrounded by men of principle in proportion to their interest. I know them well. I trust that they may not produce a reaction. I have much confidence in Governor Seymour himself, and regret that he has been obliged to “back out” in regard to the Police Commissioners.

I owe you many thanks for your kind letter of the 24th ultimo. I have been calm and tranquil under the abuse I have received, and would be positively happy were it not for the troubles of the country. I am much indebted to General Scott for his attack. My vindication against his charges has been of great service to me throughout the country south and west of New York. Of this I have daily evidence. My statements have not, to my knowledge, been attacked even by the Republican papers. I have no confidence in the ——, knowing by whom it is controlled. But all things will, at last, come right.

. . . . . . . .

Harriet Buchanan is still here, but will return home to-morrow.

“The two Pollies” and Miss Hetty send you their kindest regards.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, January 11, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received yours of the 9th instant, and can assure you I do not entertain the least idea of making any publication at present, but shall remain where you have placed me, on the rock of St. Helena. I am content to bide my time, and not even give to the world the official documents which I have collected and arranged, although they would place me above reproach.

I think, under all the circumstances, the administration acted wisely in surrendering Mason and Slidell. I say nothing of the accompanying despatch of Seward or of the publication of his letter to Mr. Adams.

Miss Lane has not yet returned from New York, and I know not when to expect her.

From your friend always,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, January 28, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 23d instant, and had heard from Miss Lane on the subject of the slippers. She has not yet returned from New York. I desire to repeat my warm thanks to Miss King for her valued token of regard.

I have just read the rhapsody of —— over the appointment of Mr. Stanton......

I do most earnestly hope that our army may be able to do something effective before the 1st of April. If not, there is great danger, not merely of British, but of European interference. There will then be such a clamor for cotton among the millions of operatives dependent upon it for bread, both in England and on the continent, that I fear for the blockade.

From my heart I wish Stanton success, not only for his own sake, but that of the country. He is a great improvement on his immediate predecessor. I believe him to be a truly honest man, who will never sanction corruption, though he may not be quite able to grapple with treason as the lion grapples with his prey. I would rather he had not retained the assistant of the late Secretary and appointed another of the same; but they are both keen and energetic.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. King and Annie Augusta, I remain, very respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. JOHN A. PARKER.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 3, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 28th ultimo, and was grateful to learn that you had arrived safely in New York. I am sorry to believe that a letter from me would do you no good at Washington. Nevertheless, it is proper I should state that when South Carolina, in 1850 or 1851, invited Virginia to coöperate with her in the adoption of secession measures, you were active and efficient in procuring the passage of resolutions by the General Assembly of your State, refusing to comply with the invitation. I know that you went to Richmond for this purpose, on the advice of the late Colonel King and myself, and I learned at the time, from reliable sources, that you contributed much in producing this happy result. I do not recollect the precise terms of the resolutions either of South Carolina or Virginia.

Would that Virginia had persisted in this wise and patriotic course! Had she done so, she might have become the happy instrument of bringing back the cotton States and restoring the Union. Her rash conduct in rushing out of the Union after these States had, by assaulting and capturing Fort Sumter, commenced the civil war, has done herself irreparable injury, as well as inflicted a great calamity upon the whole country.

What have been your opinions concerning secession after 1851, and until you left the United States, I cannot state, though I have no reason to doubt their loyalty. You certainly never expressed any different sentiment to me in all our intercourse. I need not say that I am wholly ignorant of your present opinions or purposes on this subject.

I need not assure you that it would afford me sincere satisfaction to serve you. In case of need, I would advise you to appeal to Mr. Lincoln himself. He is, I believe, an honest and patriotic man, with a heart in the right place. The bad health of Mrs. Parker will be a prevailing argument with him in favor of permitting you to return to your family, after more than a year’s absence in the public service, unless powerful reasons should exist against such a permission.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 10, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 5th instant. Glad as I would have been to see Mr. Carlisle and yourself during the last week, I was almost satisfied you did not come. The weather was very unfavorable, and besides mirabile dictu! I had a sharp onset from the gout. Your visit, I hope, will not be long delayed. The birds already begin to sing at early morn, and the willows are assuming the livery of spring.

And, so, Mr. Pearce thinks it is a matter of no importance that I should go down to history as having put my hand into the Treasury and drawn out $8000 more than was appropriated, to gratify my personal vanity in furnishing the White House. Thus the fact stands recorded in the proceedings of Congress, and in the debate in the House it is made, by Mr. Stevens, a precedent for allowing Mr. Lincoln to draw from the Treasury $11,000 more than was appropriated. This is the staple of Mr. Stevens’s argument, the Representative from my own district. And does Mr. Pearce suppose, in opposition to these uncontradicted statements before the Senate and the House, that any man will ever pore over the appropriation bills to correct the error? Alas for craven fear!

Although I shall never again become an active politician I intend to take care of Mr. Bright, should there be any necessity for it, as I think there never will be. His day in Indiana was passed before his last election to the Senate, if election it could be fairly called. He can no longer block the way against the elevation of such able, eloquent, and rising men as Mr. Voorhees.

In any other state of public affairs than the present, the gentlemen of the cabinet referred to by Thurlow Weed would have immediately contradicted his charge. Had it even been true, then their honor would have required this. Since the origin of the Government there has been no case of violating cabinet confidence except one, and the great man who was betrayed into it by violent prejudice was destroyed. It is moral perjury, and no cabinet could exist if the consultations were not held sacred. The charge of Thurlow Weed is, therefore, in effect, that some one member of the cabinet has disclosed to him a cabinet secret, and authorized him to publish it to the world. General Dix, now at the head of the police in Baltimore, though worthy of a better place, is one of the dramatis personae, though he was not in the cabinet until a considerable time after Floyd had resigned. The very day after the explosion in regard to Indian bonds, I informed Mr. Floyd, through his relative, Mr. Breckinridge, that I would expect him to resign. He did so, and informed me that Floyd appeared to be very much struck with the information. Up until that time Floyd had been uniformly opposed to the secession party. The escape of Major Anderson, two or three days thereafter, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter at midnight, first spiking his cannon and burning his gun carriages, afforded Floyd an opportunity, as he supposed, to expire in a blaze of glory.

I am at a loss to know what to do in this matter. I know the enemy wish to draw my fire in a straggling manner. I wish it, at once, to embrace and refute the whole line of charges, and I know that when the entire truth is told my enemies will be confounded, and by the blessing of God I shall be safe at every point. I shall decide nothing for two or three days. I may hear from some member of the cabinet implicated. It would be strange if General Dix should patiently submit to the charge, though not a member of the cabinet at all at the time. You may read this letter to our friend Carlisle, and converse with him on the subjects, of course, confidentially.

Miss Lane desires to be very kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—I forgot to observe that the escape of Major Anderson from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter took place on Christmas night, 1860, but Weed has it in February, 1861. Floyd left the cabinet in December.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 10th, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 6th, and am rejoiced that Annie Augusta is about to be married, with your approbation. I need not say how heartily I wish that she may be happy......

That Stanton is an able and an honest man there can be no doubt. I wish him success with all my heart and soul, and he promises very fairly......

Apropos—you speak of Bright’s expulsion from the Senate. I will copy a letter which I have just written to Senator Saulsbury, who sent me his speech upon the subject.

“(Private.)

“My Dear Sir:—

“Many thanks for your able speech on the expulsion of Mr. Bright. I have read it with much interest. The question was purely judicial, and ought to have been so considered. Still, even in this point of view, there was room for honest differences of opinion. Whilst I had reason to believe at the time that Mr. Bright sympathized with the ultras of the cotton States in condemning my absolute refusal, in December, 1860, on the demand of the self-styled commissioners from South Carolina, to withdraw the troops from South Carolina, yet I had no idea, until I read his letter and late speech, that he remained in the same state of feeling after the inauguration of the hostile Confederacy.

“I had always entertained the warmest friendship for Mr. Bright, and manifested this on every proper occasion whilst I was President, and therefore felt deep sorrow when I saw the letter to the President of that Confederacy, recommending a gentleman whose business it was to dispose of a great improvement in fire-arms; and this it now appears, was so much a matter of course with him, that he has forgotten he had ever written such a letter.”

I thank you for the extract from the Star containing an account of Mrs. Lincoln’s party. I am glad there was no dancing. I had refused this, even on the carpet, to the earnest request of the Prince of Wales. The reasons are obvious why balls should not be given in the White House.

Your conversation with Stevenson was strange. If there be any member of Jeff Davis’s cabinet in favor of reconstruction, Hunter must be the man.

I trust that our late victories may be the prelude to those more decided, and that ere the spring opens we may be in such a condition as to afford no pretext to England and France to interfere in our domestic affairs.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. BOYD.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 17, 1862.

My Dear Madam:—

I was happy to receive your note of the 10th instant. It reminded me of earlier and happier times, which I trust may speedily return. If I could be instrumental in restoring peace to the land in the manner you suggest, or in any other manner, this would fill my heart with joy. But I see not what can now be done by any man in the North. The Confederate States commenced this unhappy war for the destruction of the Union, and until they shall be willing to consent to its restoration, there can be no hope for peace. We should hail their return under the Constitution with delight. But the idea of a recognition of their independence, and a consequent dissolution of the Confederacy which has rendered us prosperous and happy in peace and triumphant and glorious in war, cannot be entertained for a moment. This would be the death knell of their own safety and welfare, and would destroy the prestige and character of our country throughout the world.

With every wish for your happiness, I remain, very respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. STANTON.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 25, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have thought it a duty of friendship to inform you that the two letters which you describe in yours to me of the 16th May last, to wit: that of “the 24th of April, the day after the Baltimore riot,” and that written “on the Blue Tuesday, the day before the arrival of the New York regiments,” never reached me. I hope they may not be in improper hands.

I deem it my right to ask for a copy of the orders issued by the Secretary of War to the commander of the Brooklyn about the last of January or beginning of February, 1861, by which the safety of Fort Pickens was secured, together with the telegraphic despatch which preceded them, addressed to Messrs. Hunter, Slidell and Bigler (I believe), of the Senate. Your particular attention must have been drawn to this subject a few days after the 4th of March, 1861, because in your letter to me of the 14th of that month you state your recollection to be, that Mr. Holt and General Scott concurred with me in that arrangement, which you say, “when proposed in cabinet was approved by Judge Black and myself.”

Although you now belong to an administration which has manifested intense hostility to myself, and whose organ, at least in this State, is the Philadelphia Press, yet, notwithstanding our changed relations, I wish you all the success and glory in your efforts to conquer the rebellion and restore the Union, which your heart can desire. If I might be permitted to intimate a word of advice, it would be to write as little as possible for the public eye. Let your actions speak for themselves, and so far as I can judge, they have spoken loudly in your favor.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, February 26th, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 21st instant, and owe you many thanks for your prompt and successful attention to my requests. You do all things well. It is strange that Mr. Fessenden should have doubted as to the propriety and necessity of correcting his assertion that I had expended $8000 more in furnishing the White House than had been appropriated by Congress for this purpose.

I am very happy to learn that you intend to pay us a visit, and this “before a great while;” and you were entirely correct in informing our friend Carlisle that he would, also, receive a cordial welcome. The sooner the better; but the country now presents its most gloomy aspect. It is covered by snow, and this is not sufficient to enable us to sleigh. In a day or two, I hope, the snow will disappear. Please drop a line to me two or three days before your departure from Washington, so that I may certainly be at home on your arrival and send for you to Lancaster......

Your interview with Stanton was entirely satisfactory. Whenever I choose to dissipate all the slanders against my administration, this can be done effectually. It is strange, passing strange, that the barefaced falsehood of the stealing of arms by Floyd (who is certainly no better than he ought to be), which was nailed to the counter more than a year ago by the Report of the Committee on Military Affairs from Mr. Stanton, should have been repeated again and again, until it is now almost universally believed. I observe in Colonel Maynadier’s letter, published in the National Intelligencer, a statement of what is the truth in regard to Floyd. He was persistently and openly opposed to secession and the seceders, and was not on terms with their leaders until the exposure of his connection with the abstracted bonds. Informed at that time it was expected he should resign, he retired with a flourish, under the assumed cover of being a violent secessionist and therefore unwilling to remain longer in the cabinet.

Bright has got what he deserved, though the precedent may be and doubtless is dangerous. He was thoroughly in league with Davis, or at least in their hostility to myself. His attack upon me in his speech was without any foundation, and was doubtless intended to enlist Republican votes.

Miss Lane desires me to renew to you “the assurance of her distinguished consideration.”

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Maynadier, in his letter dated February 3d, 1862, to the Potter Committee, says: “He (Floyd) had recently published over his own signature [this was probably about November, 1860], in a Richmond paper, a letter on this subject [secession] which gained him high credit at the North for his boldness in rebuking the pernicious views of many in his own State.” I do not wish you to hunt for this letter. Its worth would not be equal to the trouble. It was, I believe, published in the Richmond Examiner, though possibly the Enquirer. It would now be a great curiosity. Nobody, I presume, in Washington, files these papers.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JUDGE BLACK.]

Wheatland, March 4, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 1st instant, but, I regret, without the opinion. I am happy to say you are entirely mistaken in supposing that I suffer from low spirits. I am astonished at my own health and spirits, and the zest with which I enjoy the calm pleasures with which Providence has blessed me. It is true that I regret I had not called the attention of the public nearly a year ago to certain historical facts furnished by official documents, which would have relieved me from imputations affecting my character and, in some degree, that of my party; but I excuse myself by the consideration that I was too unwell to suffer my mind to play with a healthy and vigorous action. I am not at all astonished to learn that your “views and mine are so far out of accord,” and that in my administration I first conceded too much to the South, and afterwards too much to the present administration. My policy was well matured, at least by myself, and was clearly and distinctly presented in the messages of December, 1860, and January 8th, 1861. From these I never consciously swerved. The first was approved by every member of the cabinet except Thompson and Cobb, and to the last I believe there was no objection. After a full and careful review, I would not, if I could, alter this policy in any particular. I should have been glad could you have taken time to run your eyes over the paper delivered to you by Mr. Glossbrenner, and to have informed me of any mistakes which, in your judgment, I may have made in regard to facts. Our opinions may be at variance, but I should be truly sorry to present ourselves in opposition to each other in regard to matters of fact.

As to my course since the wicked bombardment of Fort Sumter, it is but a regular consequence of my whole policy towards the seceding States. They had been informed over and over again by me what would be the consequences of an attack upon it. They chose to commence civil war, and Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to defend the country against dismemberment. I certainly should have done the same thing had they begun the war in my time; and this they well knew. I am not conscious that the bad conduct of the South toward me, sustained, I believe, by Bright alone of the Northern Senators, has prejudiced my judgment against them. He has got his reward, though perhaps not in a very legitimate manner.

I hope you may be able to find the paper, the last sheets of which were handed to you by Mr. Stanton. It would be a great loss to me.

On your postscript in relation to General Cass I shall not remark, further than to say it is not in accordance with my recollection.

Notwithstanding our misunderstandings, I hope we may ever continue to be friends. Towards you my heart is in the right place. If I should publish against your advice, it will be because throughout my life I have refuted slander on the spot, when worthy of refutation, without regard to consequences. I think I owe this to the Democracy of Pennsylvania, which is now exhibiting unmistakable symptoms of a new and vigorous life, and indications of a continued attachment to myself.

I presume I need scarcely invite you to pay me a visit. This I promise, however, that if you will come and bring Mrs. Black along, I shall not introduce any subject which will give you pain, or on which we can possibly differ.

From your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO HON. ISAAC TOUCEY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, March 19, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I cannot deny myself the pleasure of expressing the great satisfaction I have felt in perusing your testimony before Hale’s committee. I never saw it until a few minutes ago. I knew well how unjust the charges were against you, and anticipated your triumphant vindication whenever you should be called upon to make it, and, therefore, it is not more conclusive than I had expected.

Forney set the report afloat that I was engaged in writing a history of my administration, life, and times. There is no truth in this; but it is true that I have collected and arranged the necessary documents, which might be put in form at any moment, to justify all my proceedings in regard to the South, since the election of Mr. Lincoln. Your testimony alone was wanting to make them perfect. I wish very much I could see you. I could scarcely ask you to pay me a visit, unless you should take this on your way, should you have occasion to visit Washington. I need not say how cordial would be our welcome to Mrs. Toucey and yourself.

How strange have been the fortunes of your colleagues Holt, Dix, and Stanton! I was somewhat mortified when Holt accepted an auditorship under Cameron to investigate Fremont’s accounts. I have a warm regard for General Dix, and think he deserves a better place than the head of the Baltimore police, where he can acquire no glory. I wish he were in the field at the head of a proper command.

My health is excellent, considering my age and late severe illness. I am contented, and should enjoy myself very much but for the troubles of the country; still my spirits are cheerful. After a careful review of all that I have done, or omitted to do, since the unfortunate 6th of November, 1860, I can lay my hand on my heart, and say that I have nothing to repent of. Our constant agreement in all important measures is a solace and comfort, and endears you to me in a peculiar manner. May you and yours be ever prosperous and happy.

With my warm and respectful regards to Mrs. Toucey, as well as those of Miss Lane, I remain,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, April 2, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your kind letter of the 31st ultimo. I had duly received yours of the 20th, and ought to have answered it, but truly had nothing to say. Besides, I excuse myself by the agreeable anticipation that I expect soon to enjoy the pleasure of seeing you.

I am glad you brought the attention of Judge Black to Weed’s letter. I have heard from him since, and expect every day to see him...... A statement was made by an official of Government in a foreign newspaper, that they [members of my cabinet] had one after the other offered me the grossest insult. Had such a scene transpired in my cabinet, they should not have been in office fifteen minutes. I do not distrust the friendship of Judge Black. On the contrary, I have no doubt of his devoted attachment, but I presume he is unwilling to stand alone in the contradiction of the slander. General Dix might, perhaps, join him; but let it pass, my time will come.

I am decidedly in favor of prosecuting the war with vigor to a successful termination; but still I consider it bad policy unnecessarily to exasperate the Southern people. The insult offered to the memory of Mr. Calhoun, by changing the name of Fort Calhoun to Fort Wool, will sink deep into the hearts of the people of the cotton States—men, women, and children. It was my fortune to differ from this great and pure man on many important questions, but his character was so elevated that Clay and Webster and others pronounced eulogies upon him in the Senate and in the House after his decease. He died ten years before the commencement of the troubles, and even before the compromise of 1850. I do not think the administration will derive much honor from having attainted his memory. But “de gustibus non est disputandum.” Had he been living, I do not think we should be involved in our present difficulties.

We live in the hope of soon seeing you. This is a charming spring day, and the country begins to assume the livery of early spring,

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, May 17, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I take the chance that this acknowledgment of the receipt of your acceptable letter of the 15th may reach you before you leave for New York. I wish you would pass this way either going to or returning from that city; but this would be too much to ask. This country is now clothed with rich and beautiful verdure. The next time you come, and I trust this may be before long, pray bring your trunk with you.

I have neither seen Judge Black nor heard from him since you left us. I hope none of my friends will trouble him again about the Thurlow Weed letter.

In all free countries, fidelity to the head of the government on the part of the members of his cabinet, whilst belonging to his political family, has ever been considered both a point of honor and duty, and has rarely, if ever, been violated. Whilst at liberty to contract new political engagements, if they should betray to their new friends or the public what had transpired in the old cabinet, without the consent of its head, they would be held justly infamous. If, therefore, the statement made by Weed were as true as it is infamously false, the irresistible implication would be that he had received the information from a member of the cabinet, and thus all of those implicated would be exposed to the charge until it was brought home to the guilty individual.

Thurlow Weed is understood to be an agent of the Government. To serve them he abandoned his position as head of the lobby in the New York legislature and went to Europe. Whilst in London, he publishes a letter in a London journal and attaches his own name to it, stating that Messrs. Stanton, Holt, Dix and Black had grossly insulted me in cabinet council, and had used expressions to me which, if true, would have caused their instant removal. Is this falsehood, proceeding from a quasi official source, contradicted by any of them?..... Notwithstanding all, I except Judge Black. I believe his heart is in the right place......

Miss Lane intends to leave here for New York on Thursday next, and will be at James Henry’s. She would be much gratified to meet you there.

I fear the carriage is a bad speculation.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, May 27, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 22d, and am always rejoiced to learn that you are healthy and happy. Neither of us can say:—

“That in our youth we never did apply

Hot and rebellious liquors to our blood,”

though, with the blessing of Providence, we both enjoy “a green old age.” If we have not been abstemious, we have been temperate, and used the blessings in our way without abusing them.

Miss Lane is now absent. She left here on Thursday last on a visit to her uncle at Oxford Church, and her cousin, James B. Henry, on Staten Island. You always live in her kind memory.

I feel more and more deeply every day for the sad condition of our country. May the Almighty Governor of the world pardon the national sins and corruptions of this people, and restore the Constitution and the Union, and perpetuate our civil and religious liberties! Without His interposition, I can see no determinate end to our troubles.

My health is as good as usual. Ever your friend,

Very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MISS SEATON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, June 23, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Buchanan:—

My father, at my request, allows me to be his deputy in acknowledging, with many thanks, your kind and interesting letter relative to the graceful note and gift from the Prince of Wales. He desires me to say that he thinks it would be well to publish the Prince’s letter, as the fact of your having received it has been made public; while the cordial and friendly sentiment expressed by the Prince for the American people, and for yourself as their chief, would undoubtedly be welcomed by the country. My father thinks that, so far from there being any impropriety in making the letter public, justice to the Prince seems rather to make it necessary; and he will be happy to make the Intelligencer the medium of communicating it, should you so desire. Pray let him know, or, rather, may I not say, let me be the recipient of your decision, for I have not yet had the pleasure of placing your autograph among my otherwise valuable collection, where it would hold, I need not say, a choice place, not only from the warm personal regard I entertain for you, dear Mr. Buchanan, but from the fact that I consider you the last constitutional President we shall ever see. At a moment when passion whirled the country to frenzy, you had the true courage to refrain—to abide within the limits marked out by the Constitution for the Executive. Were you still with us, I for one believe that we should not now be engaged in this fearful fratricidal strife. Let me not, however, enter upon this saddest of themes; how sad you, in your peaceful home, can hardly conceive; and you and Miss Lane may congratulate yourselves at not being made unhappy by the sight of a conflict which has uprooted society here, separated friends and families, severed the dearest ties. Your reign was a peaceful one; would that it were just beginning.

I am glad to assure you of the continued health of my parents, who are in the possession of all that makes old age valuable—love, reverence, and troops of friends, among whom they have so long numbered you as one best appreciated. We rejoice to learn that you bear the honors of your years so well, and I trust that you may continue to possess the blessing of my father’s activity and youthfulness of spirits, which are a marvel to us all, although his next birthday will ring out seventy-seven! I hope that Miss Lane is still as lovely and charming as I always thought her. Tell her that when —— sailed last week for England, I regretted that he was not accompanied by one whom I should be well pleased to see our representative just now at Balmoral.

I suppose we can hardly expect ever to see you here; yet I hope that we may meet again; but if not, your sweet message induces me to think that I shall be still kindly remembered. Pray let it be so. What a volume I am sending you; can you pardon me for such an infliction?

With warm regards to yourself from my parents, and my cordial remembrance to Miss Lane, believe me, dear Mr. Buchanan,

Always very sincerely yours,

Josephine Seaton.

The following is the letter of the Prince of Wales to Mr. Buchanan, referred to by Miss Seaton. It was written while the Prince was on his travels in the East. The full length portrait of himself, which accompanied it, painted by Sir John Watson Gordon, remained at Wheatland until Mr. Buchanan’s death. It is now the property of Mr. Johnston.

[THE PRINCE OF WALES TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Jaffa, March 29, 1862.

Dear Mr. Buchanan:—

Permit me to request that you will accept the accompanying portrait as a slight mark of my grateful recollection of the hospitable reception and agreeable visit at the White House on the occasion of my tour in the United States.

Believe me that the cordial welcome which was then vouchsafed to me by the American people, and by you as their chief, can never be effaced from my memory.

I venture to ask you, at the same time, to remember me kindly to Miss Lane, and believe me, dear Mr. Buchanan,

Yours very truly,

Albert Edward.

[MR. DERRICK TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, D. C., July 5, 1862.

Dear Sir:—

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2d inst., enclosing a check for $100, as a contribution to the fund for the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Relief Association, and to express to you the thanks of the committee of that association, appointed to solicit contributions, for your very liberal and unsolicited donation. I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

A. H. Derrick.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. WM. FLINN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, July 12, 1862.

Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 10th instant, and you will please to accept my thanks for the two missing numbers of the Globe and the Congressional Directory. Be good enough, also, to present my acknowledgements to Mr. Shiel for the Directory, and say I appreciate it highly as a token of his regard. By the same mail I received a copy of the Blue Book under the frank of Mr. Hunter, and directed in the handwriting of good Mr. Faherty. I presume you caused this to be sent; but whether or not, you need give yourself no further trouble in this matter.

Miss Lane regrets very much that she was not at home during your visit, but hopes that it will not be long until you repeat it.

I am glad to learn that Miss Jones has made so good a match. I hope her father may be prosperous and happy. I have not heard from him nor of him since a few days after you left Wheatland.

I wish I had some news which might interest you. The suspense was dreadful whilst the fight was proceeding near Richmond, and I felt greatly relieved when I learned that General McClellan and our brave army had escaped destruction. His strategy was admirable, but I am at loss to know why he did not occupy his present position from the beginning. Mystery yet hangs over the whole affair, though I feel very confident that when all is unravelled McClellan will be justified.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. Flinn, I remain always

Truly your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, July 12th, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have not answered your letter of the 1st instant, awaiting the answer of Stackpole and Pierre; but as they have not yet come to hand, I presume I need not expect them. I shall be right glad to see them, though much obliged to you for your prudent caution.

I am glad to learn that Senator Wright talks of paying me a visit on his return to Indiana. You may say to him that if he should, he shall receive a cordial welcome.......

We felt the deepest anxiety during the fight before Richmond, and I felt a heavy pressure removed from my heart when we learned that McClellan and his brave army were safe. Without doubt his change of position in the face of a superior army evinced great skill in strategy; but why was the wrong position originally selected? I still feel great confidence in McClellan, and with all my heart wish him success. Still, there is a mystery in the whole affair which time alone can unravel.

Please to remember me most kindly to Messrs. Carlisle and Riggs. How happy I should be to see both, or either of them.......

Mr. Shunk was here a few days ago, who came from Judge Black’s in company with our C. J. Lowry. The Judge had too bad a headache to leave home, and therefore sent his son-in-law.

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

From your friend always,

James Buchanan.

[SIR HENRY HOLLAND TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Brook Street, London, July 18th, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

Your letter, which I received through Lord Lyons, was very welcome to me, as an expression of your friendship and regard—even the more welcome, in this sense, from its coming amidst these troublous and ungenial times, when all old feelings and relations seem to be perverted or put aside. I scarcely know whether it is more pleasurable or painful to look back to those few happy days at Washington in October, 1860. Pray tell Miss Lane, with my affectionate regards, that I have not written to her lately, from a difficulty in writing at all to America during the present state of things. No letter could be written without referring to them, and no such reference could be made without pain; nor could any comment be possible, where every issue to this unhappy struggle is shrouded in such perfect darkness. I have letters now lying before me from Mr. Everett and Thurlow Weed (the latter dated as late as the 5th July, from New York), and I see from both how completely events have belied all calculation, and how little is seen, or can safely be conjectured, as to the future. Lord Lyons, too, has been breakfasting with me this morning, and we have been talking at length over all the recent and present events of the cabinet at Washington and the armies in the field. He professes the same inability to form a judgment as to the issues of the war. The universal opinion here is (and it has been mine from the very outset) that it must end in separation, in some form or other, and that the really important point now is, what shall be the border line. I have the conviction (which I expressed in a former letter) that the course followed during the last few months of your Presidency was that best fitted to avert this misfortune, had it been possible to do so. All succeeding events, even down to these late terrible battles in front of Richmond, confirm me in this impression. It was well worth the effort made to win the South back, by gentle and generous means. The issue, thus far, shows how completely an opposite course of action has failed of effect. I will quit this subject, however, the rather so, as I have but a few more minutes in which to write, and the mail goes to-day.

The Prince of Wales has returned from his long journey in Egypt, Syria and Greece, in thorough health, and with great benefit in every way. He has been a great comfort to the Queen since his return. The Queen is in good health, but still deeply sorrowing over what is hardly less a grief to the country than to herself. She does her public work admirably, as usual, but wishes no public appearances this year. I received from her, three days ago, two beautiful and affecting volumes connected with the memory of the Prince Consort. Your letter came to my hands while I was writing to thank her for them.

We are all prosperous here, save the distress in the cloth manufacturing districts, from the want of the raw material. It seems likely that Parliament will have to make some provision against the probable increase of this distress, as the year goes on.

Last year I went to Constantinople, and Athens, and some parts of Asia Minor. This year I shall first pay some visits in the extreme north of Scotland (the Duke of Sutherland, Edward Ellis, etc.), and then go into Spain. Lady H. and my daughter go to Switzerland for a few weeks.

I must hasten to a close. Again let me ask you to keep me in Miss Lane’s remembrance, and to believe me ever, my dear sir,

Yours very faithfully,

H. Holland.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, July 25, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favors of the 10th and 23d instants. Miss Lane is greatly indebted to you for your photograph, which has been placed in her book.

How long I ought in silence to bear ——’s slanders is now a serious question. I have not seen his late speech at Harrisburg, but understand from a friend that it charges me with being in constant correspondence with foreign governments, urging the recognition of the Confederacy. This is in substance a charge of treason, without the shadow of a pretext, and ought to be punished by an appeal to our courts of justice. Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to you.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, August 6, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I write to thank you for your letter of the 24th ultimo, and for Mr. O’Sullivan’s letters. He is an able and clear headed man. I have read them according to your request.

—— is one of those inflictions which give me but little trouble. His malignity without a cause almost amounts to insanity. He cannot avoid abusing me. In this manner base minds relieve themselves from the weight of obligations to their benefactors. I have never read his speech. You speak of it as if it had been a meeting of “the Republican and Douglas parties.” You may rest assured that no such thing exists as a Douglas party in this State. The former members of it are now thorough Democrats. The very few exceptions, such as ——, ——, ——, and —— are the blackest of Black Republicans. They had “a war meeting” in Lancaster on Saturday last. It was not large, though many good Democrats came to attend it. The first speaker was ——, and he led off in abuse of me. Many then left. It is represented as an overwhelming meeting, but it was, in truth, a comparatively small affair.

—— is doing Mr. Lincoln’s administration great injury. He is exasperating the Democratic party against it, because he speaks as if he were on confidential terms with the President...... The Democratic party are the support of the war for the Constitution and the Union, as they were, and yet they are denounced as traitors by such scamps as ——. This cannot long endure. But I have spent too much time on such a ——.

We have had much company during the last month; but we hear nothing of Carlisle and Riggs. How rejoiced we shall always be to see you!

My own health continues good. Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Would it not be well to send the carriage to New York for sale?

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, August 15, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I was much gratified to learn from yours of the 9th instant the favorable opinions entertained of my administration by Messrs. Saulsbury and Washington. Such opinions begin to be a little more common than they were a year ago, and they will be still more common in another year......

We are all alive here with recruiting, and many, very many of our best young men are entering the service. The present is believed to be the crisis of the war, and for this reason they come forward to do their duty.

I wish I had some news to communicate which would be agreeable to you. We are proceeding in the same “John Trot” style as when you left us. My health is as good as usual, and better than I deserve. Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

By the bye, I enclose you a copy of a note addressed by me to Mr. Lincoln on the 21st October last, which neither he nor his private secretary has ever had the civility to answer. I presume he has been made to believe by —— who enjoys and will betray his confidence that I have opposed him in the war for the restoration of the Union. I would make no appeal to him; but if you are on terms with the private secretary, you might inquire after the books. They came to me from poor Benton, whose name is written in each volume.

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. HUGHES.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, September 1, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received yours of the 29th ultimo, and regret that you should have been prevented from paying me your intended visit. I need not say you should have received a cordial welcome. I hope you may ere long pay Wheatland a visit, when, without reserve, we can talk over together the sad condition of the country, and the course which ought to be pursued by the Democratic party in the present dangerous emergency. It has ever been the bulwark of the Constitution and the Union, and its action must now be in unison with its glorious past history. My age and my position admonish me to leave it in the care and guidance of younger men, and I rejoice that you are now at the helm.

The next Congress will be by far the most important that has ever assembled under the Constitution, and I deeply regret that any difficulty should have arisen in the selection of a candidate for the York district. I had hoped that Mr. Glossbrenner might have been the man, because I know he is sufficiently firm and true for the crisis. If my interference should promise any good, I shall interfere.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, October 28, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I thank you sincerely for your kind letter of caution and advice. I now send you my answer to General Scott. This was forced upon me by a voluntary attack, which was little expected. Although I did not altogether trust him, our relations since I ordered him to Washington had been of a very friendly character.

You will please to take the document immediately to the office of the Intelligencer. I cannot doubt that they will publish it immediately. I leave it unsealed, so that you may first look over it, if you think proper; but you will please to seal it up before delivery. Mr. Carlisle might also see it, if this could be done without delay.

I would thank you to immediately acknowledge its receipt. I should be glad you could examine the proof; but this I presume is impossible.

I have no doubt they will publish it, though their remarks preceding Scott’s statement are unfriendly. This I could not have expected from Col. Seaton.

Your friend always,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. C. E. BENNETT.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, October 29, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have this moment received your letter of the 25th instant, informing me that a number of ladies and gentlemen of Cincinnati had formed themselves into a reading club, and had honored me by adopting a resolution calling it after my name. I need not say how much this token of their regard has touched the heart of an old public servant in retirement. It shall be gratefully remembered.

The association, conducted with wise and persevering effort, cannot fail to prove highly useful both to its own members and to society. The solitary reading of an individual for mere pastime is of comparatively little value either to himself or to others. The information thus acquired soon passes away, and is forgotten, unless fixed upon the memory and impressed upon the heart by an interchange of opinions with congenial spirits. The participation of ladies in the duties of the association is calculated to exercise the most happy influence. It will promote refinement, religion and morality among its members.

May the “Buchanan Reading Club” flourish and produce good fruit long after he, whose name it bears, shall have been gathered to his fathers.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, November 7, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

Many thanks for your kind letter of the 29th ultimo. You have, no doubt, frequent occasions to defend me, and I am truly grateful that you embrace them with the ardor of friendship. None doubt your ability.

When the troubles were approaching, I determined prayerfully upon my course, from which I never departed. This was done after much reflection, and had my earnest advice and recommendations been followed, we should have had no war. It is now alleged if I had plunged into hostilities with four or five hundred men, at an early period, this would have terrified the South into submission.

General Scott’s attack upon me was most unexpected and causeless. Perhaps it may prove all for the best.

I owe you many thanks for the copy of “Plain Facts,” etc., and I should feel much indebted to you for half a dozen more copies. I have looked over it with great interest. It has revived many agreeable memories.

I congratulate you on having become a grandfather, and trust that the boy may prove an honor to yourself and a distinguished and useful citizen of his country.

I do not intend to remove from this place. I simply joined a friend in purchasing a farm in Chester County, because at the moment he was unable to pay for the whole of it. He desired it for a residence, and as soon as he is able to pay for my half I shall convey it to him.

I am truly rejoiced to learn that the Government is doing you a simple act of justice. My health, thank God! continues good for a man of my age.

Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, November 13, 1863.

My Dear Harriet:—

I have received your letter of the 11th instant with Judge Black’s opinion, and am glad that you have at length decided.

I enclose a letter directed to you. The Misses Johnstons will not leave until next week. By them I shall send the package for Mrs. Stevens, and another package, I presume, from the convent at Georgetown, which Father Keenan gave me a few days ago. Father Balf, his associate, brought it from Reading, where it had been carried by a Mrs. McManus. It must have been on the way for some time.

I shall go to the bank and make out your list of taxable property, including your horse and your gold watch. I know not how I omitted to enclose you the circular. Horses and watches are included in it.

Please to remember me very kindly to Mr. Royal Phelps, and tell Mr. Schell I heartily sympathize with him in the loss of his election. It is a consolation to know that the people of his district will be the greatest sufferers by his defeat.

My health and strength, I thank God, appear to be daily improving, and we get along in great tranquility and peace. Miss Hetty is very kind and attentive, and has been all I could desire since you left.

With my affectionate regards to Mrs. Roosevelt and my best respects to the Judge,

I remain yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

P. S.—Judge Black, as Dr. Nevin informs me, went to Washington on Monday last. I shall be prepared, I think, before the meeting of Congress without his aid.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JAMES BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, November 22, 1862.

My Dear James:—

I have received your favor of the 19th instant, and am happy to learn that my manuscript is safe in Mr. Schell’s hands. You suggest that it might be proper to extend it so as to embrace the history of my whole administration. I fear I am not able to undertake the task. Besides, this would require my presence in Washington, or that of some trusty person, to collect and arrange the documents......

Things move on as usual at Wheatland. Judging from the number of letters and papers I receive, I infer that my letter to General Scott has been well received by the public.

I expected ere this to have seen in the Intelligencer a short reply which I made to General Scott’s last. I probably should have made no reply, but for his introduction of the “stolen arms.”

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, November 27, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your letters of the 24th and 25th instants, and I am placed under additional obligations. I am already so much in debt to you, and have so little means of payment, that I shall have to take the benefit of the insolvent law. I am also greatly obliged to my old and valued friend Colonel Seaton for his fairness and kindness.

The cause of the delay is curious, and was entirely beyond your control.

I should be sorry if General Scott would pursue the controversy further. I do not charge him with intentional misrepresentation, for of this I believe him to be incapable; but his memory is more impaired than even I had believed. He has got a great many things jumbled together, and does not seem to have any distinct ideas of what has passed since he came to Washington in December, 1860. I was rejoiced when he left the command of the army, though things do not seem to have much improved since.

I do not see ——’s paper, but I understand that he is on a new tack of downright falsehood. He announces that political assemblies have been held at Wheatland, and even mentions the names of gentlemen present, without the shadow of foundation. Judge Black and Wm. B. Reed are always two of the dramatis personæ. It is months since I have seen either, though I often hear from the latter, though not from the former.

I have taken no part in party politics since my return from Washington further than to express my opinions on current events to a few personal friends and to give my vote. They (the ——’s), have now got me up for Senator, when they well know that there is no office which I should think for a moment of accepting.

I am in my usual health. Miss Lane is not at home this evening, or she would send her kindest regards.

I send you the $2 which you paid for the Intelligencers.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 6, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 30th ultimo, and am gratified that you think so well of my letters to General Scott. That the editor of the Boston Post should not have published them, is to me a matter of astonishment, little reason as I have to be astonished at any event. Throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the great West, they have been extensively republished and, I think, have done much good. New England, however, except Connecticut, is a sealed book. General Scott has, I believe, made a final reply, but it has not yet reached me. This I shall not answer, unless it contains something imperatively requiring it. I have but few copies, and I cannot supply the demand. I send you one of each.

I fear that your History of Democracy, of which I think highly, is so far behind that it will require years for you to overtake the present time. This period would furnish you ample illustrations of the conservative wisdom of its principles.

You ask me what I think of Messrs. Holt, Stanton and Dickinson. I cannot answer this question without going too much into detail.

Miss Lane desires to be very kindly remembered to you. Should you visit Washington, we should be most happy to see you, either on your way or your return.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Please to pardon me for having inadvertently written on two sheets.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO HON. ISAAC TOUCEY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 6, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

Yours of the 19th ultimo afforded me sincere pleasure. I had written to you several months ago, and from the fact it was never acknowledged, I inferred it had never been received. I should be glad to know whether I was correct.

My answers to General Scott have been well received throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the Western States, and have, I think, produced a good effect. Not so, in New York and New England, with the exception of Connecticut. I am informed they were not published in Greene’s Boston Morning Post!! So much for gratitude.

I perceive this moment by the papers that Scott has written a third letter. I shall not reply to it unless something in it should render this absolutely necessary.

I wonder that General Scott has not alluded to the resignation of General Cass. I have not heard from the old gentleman since we separated. It may become necessary that I should allude to his offer and desire to withdraw his resignation and return to the cabinet.

In a memorandum made by me some time after the event, I state as follows: “On Monday, December 17, 1860, both Mr. Thompson and Judge Black informed me that they had held conversation with General Cass on the subject of his resignation, and that he had expressed a desire to withdraw it and return to the cabinet. I gave this no encouragement. His purpose to resign had been known for several days, and his actual resignation had been prepared three days before it was delivered to me. The world knew all about it, and had he returned the explanation would have been very embarrassing,” etc. Am I correct?

I send you a copy of the joint order of Mr. Holt and yourself. I wrote to you before, as I have already stated (the letter may not have been received), on the subject of the preparation of a statement by yourself in regard to your course in the Navy Department during the last months of the administration. I know you took measures to prepare for the approaching troubles with a wise precaution. Your testimony before the Hale Committee proves this to be the fact.

Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to Mrs. Toucey and yourself. I wish we could enjoy the privilege of seeing you both at Wheatland.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. Toucey, I remain always,

Very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Please to acknowledge this in a line on its receipt. You can afterwards write.

[SENATOR SAULSBURY TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

“Resolved, That after it had become manifest that an insurrection against the United States was about to break out in some of the Southern States, James Buchanan, then President, from sympathy with the conspirators and their treasonable project, failed to take necessary and proper measures to prevent it. Wherefore he should receive the censure and condemnation of the Senate and the American people.”

Senate Chamber, Washington, Dec. 15, 1862.

Hon. James Buchanan:

Dear Sir:—

Above is a copy of the resolution just offered in the Senate, by Mr. Davis, of Kentucky. We let the Republicans manage the question of its present consideration. Trumbull objected. My impression is that it will be the occasion for great misrepresentation and abuse of yourself and your administration, but whether the Senate will be so unjust as to pass the resolution, under the circumstances, may be doubtful. Those with whom you were most intimate are not here to defend you. I shall, of course, protest against it, and if you think it prudent to convey me any information to aid me in opposing the resolution, I should be happy to receive it.

Your obedient servant,

W. Saulsbury.

Have you copies of your letters in reply to General Scott?

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 16th, 1862.

My Dear Sir:—

I have just received your favor of the 15th instant. I think you will come to the conclusion that I ought not to publish. I have also received Mr. Davis’ resolution, which I consider infamous. If, two years after a Presidential term has expired, the Senate can go back and try to condemn and execute the former incumbent, who would accept the office? Besides, the charge is wholly without foundation, as is established by my letters to General Scott. I have sent some copies of them to Senator Saulsbury, who sent me a copy of the resolution......

Unless the resolution is the result of a caucus, I should hardly think it could pass the Senate. I may have occasion for Mr. Carlisle’s professional services before the termination of the proceedings.

From your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO JAMES BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 19, 1862.

My Dear James:—

I have received yours of the 15th instant, with your description of the property on Staten Island. I have no doubt it is a correct representation. The distance from the landing, thirty minutes’ walk and two miles from your own house is an objection; but the idea of keeping four men servants and such an establishment as would be necessary, is scarcely consistent with my means. I have lost heavily by the troubles of the times, and I wish to preserve the principal of what I am worth (chiefly) for my family. Besides, in my peculiar position, which you perfectly understand, my purchase or removal would give occasion to fresh rumors of a disagreeable character. I have about $15,000 in currency, which I am very desirous to invest, and I wish you could assist me in doing it. I presume an investment in this property would yield but a small interest as rent. I might add that the Democracy of Pennsylvania, now just rising into power, to which I owe so much, would be outraged at my abandonment of the State in my old age.

You have doubtless witnessed the infamous attempt of Senator Davis to pass a resolution of censure on myself; and, although it has failed, the spirit to do me injustice still prevails in the Republican party. They will, at last, without the least just cause, endeavor to cast the responsibility of the war upon myself. Although this is simply ridiculous in itself, they will endeavor to make it appear a reality.

There is some malignant person in New York who sends me disagreeable slips from New York papers, which I generally burn without reading. In the last one, my eye was caught by ——, printed at the head of a low caricature on myself. I just thought that Mr. —— had made a bad selection of ——. If this gentleman had not offered to correct Thurlow Weed’s lies, I should have had this done in some other manner. The time has now passed. I presume he was afraid; and certainly he was under no obligation to assume this task.

Mr. John Quincy Adams delivered an address before the New York Historical Society on the 30th April, 1839, which I very, very much desire to obtain. I spoke earnestly to Mr. Schell about it the last time he was here, but I suppose he has forgotten it. I would give any reasonable price for a copy. I wish very much that you would procure me one. If this cannot be done, you might find it in some of the public libraries, and make a copy for me from pages 68 and 69, of what he says on the subject of secession.

We are getting along here in the usual style. I am not disheartened, but, trusting in God, I hope my enemies will obtain no advantage over me.

The two Harriets and Miss Hetty desire to be kindly remembered to Mrs. Henry and yourself.

With my kindest regards to her, I remain,

Yours very affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MRS. CALEB B. SMITH TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, December 26th, 1862.

Honored Sir:—

Your check for $30 was duly received. Your benevolent wishes have been accomplished. Our Christmas feast was all that we could have anticipated, and many a poor soldier’s heart did “leap for joy.”

With many thanks, I am

Yours respectfully,

Mrs. Caleb B. Smith.

Per C. M. M.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. J. J. ROOSEVELT.]

Wheatland, February 14, 1863.

My Dear Madam:—

I often hear of your health and happiness through Harriet, but have determined to hear directly from yourself, if I can accomplish this by addressing you a letter. It is now “the auld lang syne” since we first met; but to save all unpleasant feelings, I was then much older than yourself. You captivated me at once, and I have ever since remained faithful and true, and am now, in my old age, your devoted friend. I should be a happy, as I am a contented, man, were it not for the calamities of the country. Still, I enjoy the consciousness that for many years I warned my countrymen of the approaching danger; and during my administration I did every thing in my power to preserve the Union. Until I began to write history, I never fully appreciated the part which those called the Douglas Democrats had in hastening the catastrophe. Had they, at Charleston, simply consented to recognize the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, the Democratic party would not have been divided. This was all on which the Southern delegates insisted. They said truly that it made no difference to them, in point of fact, whether slavery was abolished in the territories by act of Congress, according to the Republican creed, or by an act of the Territorial Legislature, according to the creed of squatter sovereignty. The delegation from New York, headed by Dean Richmond, by their refusal to submit to the constitutional laws of the land, as declared by the Supreme Court, committed a fatal blunder. It would be curious to speculate what might have been the present condition of the country, had the Fernando Wood, instead of the Dean Richmond delegates, been admitted at Charleston. Still, all this affords no excuse for the conduct of the secessionists, and for their attack on Fort Sumter.

I have been twice disappointed in not seeing Prince John.[^[180]] He is now, I perceive, figuring extensively in politics, and, I trust, successfully. He is able, eloquent, witty and eccentric. He sometimes carries too much sail for his ballast, but I like him very much. Why cannot he and Judge Roosevelt take a run to Wheatland? How much good it would do me to see them!

I have not heard from our much valued friend, Augustus Schell, for a long time.

Is it not strange that among a population so numerous, and so intelligent and enterprising as ours, the war has not yet produced one great General. McClellan is the best among them, unless it may be Rosecrans. During the French Revolution there sprang up, often from the ranks, Generals of the first order, possessing dash and strategy, and capable of conducting a war of invasion in the most efficient manner.

I sometimes hear of Lady Ousley, through Miss Lane. I rejoice that her daughter is so well married, and shall ever hear of her health and prosperity with the greatest satisfaction. When you write, please to remember me to her in the kindest terms. Remember me, also, kindly to Sir William.

Miss Lane feels the death of her brother very sensibly.

It would require much ingenuity to reconcile the apparently conflicting statements of M. Mercier and Mr. Seward. These will not, I think, lead to any serious consequences. The difficulty here arises from the modern practice of publishing indiscriminately diplomatic correspondence.

Please to remember me most kindly to the Judge, and believe me ever to be

Respectfully and affectionately your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, February 23, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received yours of the 16th instant, and I can scarcely tell you how much obliged I feel for it and the enclosed papers. In consequence of your information, I have been able to find everything I sought.

I feel how important it would be for myself to publish a collection of my speeches on the different subjects to which you refer, and especially on slavery; but I am too old and too lazy to undertake the task. There are a few of these speeches which might be useful to the country when they reach the point of examining seriously the acts of the present administration outside of the war.

Miss Lane and myself were highly gratified with your last interesting visit. You became more like a member of the little family than ever before. The information of which you possess so inexhaustible a store was communicated in a familiar manner, and we enjoyed your conversation very much. How delighted we should always be to see you, but your distance forbids the hope that we can often enjoy this pleasure.

Miss Lane left me on Tuesday last on a visit to her Uncle Edward near Philadelphia. I sent your letter after her.

I wish I had some news to communicate which might prove interesting to you. I know nothing of this kind for the present, and to speculate concerning the future in the terrible condition of our country would be vain labor.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, March 19, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 12th instant, and always rejoice to hear of your good health and prosperity.

I have been absent for a few days on a visit to a friend in Chester county, and on my return home I was rejoiced to find Governor Porter. We passed a very pleasant time together, talking of old times, and of the present as well as the past.

Miss Lane has not been at home for several weeks. She has been on a visit to her uncle and his family at Oxford Church.

I wish I had some news to communicate which would be interesting to you. I have almost ceased to speculate upon the future condition of our country, and yet I entertain much hope that all will yet be well. I cannot entertain the idea of a division of the Union. May God, in His good providence, restore it!

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, March 20, 1863.

My Dear Harriet:—

I send you a letter just received from Mrs. Roosevelt in the very condition it came to hand, and yet I scarcely believe it has been violated. The envelope directed to me was open just as I send it.

The talented and faithful Spencer will soon deliver a lecture on temperance. He has invited the girls to attend, and promised to procure them tickets. That it will be able and eloquent you will not doubt.

Two or three days ago I received a letter from old Mary Wall. She writes to me, she says, because Miss Hetty and yourself have been married and left Wheatland. Who are the happy and well governed husbands she does not mention. Poor old thing! She must be in a forlorn condition. I have enclosed her letter to Doctor Blake, and requested him to inquire into her situation. Miss Hetty says she might probably be admitted into Christ Church Hospital in West Philadelphia. She is, I believe, a good Episcopalian, and has several hundred dollars, if any body would take the trouble of collecting it for her. I sincerely pity her.

Please to return the enclosed to brother Edward. Your purchases, Miss Hetty says, have all arrived.

With love to all, yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, March 21, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I am much indebted to you for the Daily Globe of April, 1862, containing your letter to the editor. I was not aware that this had been published by Mr. Rives, and I think you were, also, ignorant of it. But it is just the thing.

I enclose you a letter, which I have received from Mary Wall. Pray keep it a profound secret that Miss Lane and Miss Hetty have both been married. I should like to know who are their husbands. I pity the old woman, and would cheerfully contribute to her wants, but I cannot pay her expenses to England. Besides, she would be in greater want of money there than she is here. There is an excellent Episcopal Institution for such persons in Philadelphia, and I think through the influence of Miss Lane she might obtain a home in it. What property has she? I cannot make this out from her letter. Is she a member in full communion with the Episcopal Church? Miss Hetty thinks she is. Miss Harriet has been absent for some time. From your benevolent heart I know you will take pleasure in answering these questions. Above all, do not let the old woman know anything of the Episcopal Institution, lest she might be disappointed. I do not know that they would charge her anything for her living; but if they should, it would be a trifle. If she had anything to give, this might facilitate her admission.

I very often think most affectionately of you and other friends in Washington. But why should I tax their time by asking them to write answers to letters of mine containing no news. Correspondence ought to be an interchange of equivalents between friends. I have no news to give, and to write letters on the beauty of virtue and on the fitness of things to those who are already virtuous, and are just what they ought to be, would be a vain labor. I wish I had something to communicate which might provoke a long letter from you in reply. My life is tranquil and monotonous, although I see much company, especially from my own State. Ere a month, I shall enter my seventy-second year, should I live so long, and my health is excellent, considering my age. If you could know how glad I should be to see you, and to talk over with you past and present events, you would never fail to come this way on your route to New Jersey and New York.

I regret very much the fate of your able, honest, and time-honored court. I feel a warm personal regard for C. J. Dunlop. Such acts of wanton tyranny will surely return to plague the inventors. There will be a “tit for tat.” Why could not the Judge Advocate General, with the rank, pay, and emoluments of a colonel of cavalry, have saved his brother-in-law?

I perceive by the Intelligencer that Judge Black has gained his great Quicksilver Mine cause. This alone ought to make him rich.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 10, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I ought ere this to have acknowledged your very welcome letter of the 21st and 26th ultimos. Your letters are always gratifying to me, and I regret that I can give you so little in return. To attempt to furnish you political news would be truly sending coals to Newcastle.

I do not think it necessary at present to republish your letter in refutation of Mr. Fessenden’s statement. Thanks to your kindness, it is now of record in the Globe, and I presume it has been of course transferred to the Congressional Globe. You might look.

My defence has been greatly enlarged, and will be published in due time. I do not think this is the proper moment. Thanks to General Scott, I need not now be in so great a hurry.

I am truly rejoiced to learn that our good and large hearted friend Sullivan has recovered his health. May blessings rest upon his “frosty pow!”

I am sorry to learn that Dr. Jones has had a severe attack of gout...... He is one of my most esteemed friends, and is a faithful and true man. May he live and prosper for many years!

Miss Lane had an idea of visiting Mr. Berghman’s, but not since the death of her brother. She is still in Philadelphia, but I expect her home in a week or ten days. The loss of her brother has made a deep impression upon her. She, although the youngest, is now the last of her father’s children.

Our friend Carlisle sent me the brief of his argument in the case of the Brilliante. I perused it at the time with great care and great satisfaction. His points are presented in lucid and convincing order; and in my humble judgment he ought to have gained the cause. I know not why I did not acknowledge the brief at the time it was received. This I ought to have done. Judge Black, who was here yesterday, spoke of his argument in the highest terms. By the bye, the Judge really seems to be embarrassed with his money. He is at a loss to know what to do with it. I gave him advice on this subject, but whether he will follow it, I know not. I am truly sorry that Mr. Carlisle has felt it to be his duty to refuse to take the oath prescribed by the new court. I do not know what it contains. If he cannot conscientiously take it, there is an end of the question. If he has refused simply because the court has no right to require it, I think he has not acted prudently. He is an able and honorable man, and a discriminating and powerful lawyer, and I fear he may suffer in a pecuniary view. Please to remember me to him in the most friendly terms.

Poor Mary Wall! If she has determined to return to England, I shall cheerfully contribute to pay her expenses. You may set me down for $20.

Could you not pay me a visit, and bring Mr. Carlisle with you, when the spring fairly opens?

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—Miss Hetty, of whom you kindly inquire, has entirely recovered her health, and is now larger than I ever saw her. I cannot keep her in the house, or prevent her from working in the garden or about the lawn.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, May 8, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I owe you many thanks for President Lord’s picture of Abolitionism. It is clearly and forcibly written, and proceeding from a New England clergyman, it is almost miraculous.

I fear you are too sanguine in predicting that in another year there will be great changes in favor of Democracy in the New England States. The clergy have taught the people there that slavery is a mortal sin demanding extirpation.

The mass of the Democracy in this State is as true to the Constitution and the Union as the needle to the pole. With the exception of a few fanatics, they are not extreme. They will obey the laws, and await the process of the ballot-box for redress. Unless something unexpected should occur, they will elect their governor in October by a large majority.

From the current of events, it is to be apprehended that it will be long before the Democracy can obtain a majority in the Senate. The people already begin to speculate upon this subject. They say it would be unjust that the six New England States with a population scarcely greater than that of New York, should have a representation in the Senate equal to that of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri combined, not to speak of Western Virginia, and the thinly peopled Territories soon to be admitted as States. For my own part I am willing to follow where the Constitution leads, trusting to Providence for the final result. Still I should be rejoiced if even a single Senator could be elected from New England.

Miss Lane came home for a few days a brief time ago; but returned to her uncle’s to be confirmed and admitted as a member of the Episcopal Church. When she next returns, I have no doubt she will be too happy to write to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, May 18, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

In answer to your request of the 11th instant:—I regret that I have not a single copy of the Documents to which you refer, except those forming a part of the entire set of Documents for 1860-61. It is but a few weeks since I gave the last copy to a friend. I have received Judge Parker’s Letters and Address, for which please to accept my thanks. You inform me in your note of the 14th, that you enclose me a slip containing facts upon a subject alluded to in our conversation when you were at Wheatland. This I have not received.

Miss Lane has not yet returned and my evenings are rather solitary. Still I resign myself in a philosophic and, I trust, Christian spirit to the privations inseparable from old age. I wish, with all my heart, that I had a few neighbors like yourself.

I try to think as little of public affairs as possible; but they will ever intrude. If I could be of any service, I should sacrifice all to restore the Union; but as I can contribute nothing towards the accomplishment of this most desirable object, I relieve my mind from the subject as much as possible.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

My Dear Miss Lane:—

I enclose you a letter from James S. Lane, which, under your general license, so far as your Uncle John’s estate is concerned, I took the liberty of opening.

Lancaster is in a state of agitation and alarm. They have determined, on motion of Mr. Hager, to defend the city to the last extremity. I do not consider the danger great, so far as we are concerned. It may be otherwise at Harrisburg. You had better remain at your Uncle Edward’s; because if you were to return home, if there were any danger, I should send you back. I suppose you are aware that Doctor Nevin has sent Alice and Blanche to New York. I do not think we are in any serious danger in Lancaster; but if we were, you could not by possibility remain.

Mr. Swarr is here, and I want to send this to town by him. In haste

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, July 8, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your note of the 5th instant, with the article enclosed. This I have read with much satisfaction. It is the philosophy of politics applied to our present unfortunate condition.

It is probable the rebels might have paid a flying visit to Lancaster had not the bridge across the Susquehanna at Wrightsville been burnt down. I remained quietly at home, and would not have removed under any circumstances. They were within eleven miles of us.

I am at a loss for precise dates, which you can supply. When was the Anti-Slavery Society organized at Boston, and when did Thompson arrive in this country, and how long did he remain? By answering these questions, if convenient, you will greatly oblige me.

Miss Lane is now at home, and desires to be most kindly remembered to you. My health is as good as usual.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, July 23, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received the National Intelligencer containing the well deserved eulogy on our deceased friend Mr. Sullivan. I saw a notice of his death some days before in the Philadelphia Age, and immediately wrote a letter of sympathy to his widow, an excellent woman, worthy of such a husband. I felt deeply the death of Mr. Sullivan, from our ancient friendly social relation which had continued without interruption for many years.

By the bye, you do not seem to have been aware, as I was not myself until a few days ago, that my franking privilege had been abolished. It was first brought to my notice by the receipt of letters and packages in the form of letters marked with double postage because not prepaid. The Postmaster General, in his instructions, ought to have noticed this. It was hardly consistent with the dignity of Congress, whilst retaining the privilege of its own members, to strike at Mrs. Harrison, if she is still living, Mrs. Polk, Mr. Fillmore, General Pierce, and myself. But I care nothing about it. This privilege, in all its forms, ought to be entirely abolished. Members of Congress have abused it to an enormous extent. Neither the Queen nor any member of the British Parliament can frank a letter.

I have not been so well for some days. My rheumatism has partially returned with strong symptoms of dyspepsia. I propose going to the Bedford Springs some day next week, should nothing occur to prevent.

The draft gives much dissatisfaction in this county, especially among poor men with large families dependent for support on their labor. The laws, however, will not here be forcibly resisted.

How glad I should be to meet you, and other old Washington friends; but this seems to be impossible.

Unless some great and unforeseen change should take place, Judge Woodward will be elected governor of our State by a large majority.

Miss Lane desires me to present her kindest regards.

From your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. SCHELL.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, July 25, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

It is so long since I have heard from you that I wish to know what has become of you, and how you are enjoying yourself.

Although taking no active part in politics, I have yet been observing, with great interest, the events that are passing. I have been much gratified with Governor Seymour’s course, but fear he is now about to fall into an error. The conscription law, though unwise and unjust in many of its provisions, is not, in my opinion, unconstitutional. The Constitution confers upon Congress in the clearest terms the power “to raise and support armies,” without any other limitation except that “no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.” How shall these armies be raised? Can this only be done by voluntary enlistment? Or may not Congress resort to a conscription law as a necessary and proper means, such as is employed by other nations for this purpose?

I think the confusion on the subject has arisen from the blending the restricted power over the militia, an entirely distinct question, with that of the general power in Congress to raise armies.

But I merely make these suggestions. It would be very unfortunate if, after the present administration have committed so many clear violations of the Constitution, the Democratic party should place itself in opposition to what I think must be the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on this question.

I have not been so well as usual for the last few days. I intend to go to Bedford towards the end of next week, if nothing should prevent, and shall take Miss Hetty along with me, whose robust health has been giving way for some time past. Miss Lane and Miss Buchanan will remain at home. I would request you to accompany me there, but I know the company will be small, and the place would not be agreeable to you, under these circumstances.

From the last letter received from James Henry I fear he will lose his excellent wife. I sympathize with him deeply in this gloomy prospect. Her loss to him would be irreparable. May Heaven avert it!

Cannot my fifteen Tennessee five per cent. bonds be now sold at a rate bearing a just proportion to the price of the six per cent. bonds?

“The signs of the times” in this State indicate the election of Judge Woodward by a large majority. Unless some great and unexpected change should take place, such I confidently predict will be the result.

Miss Lane and Miss Buchanan desire to be very kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. BAKER.]

Wheatland, July 26, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have no news to communicate of the least importance, and write only to keep the chain of friendship bright between you and myself. My health has not been as good as usual for the last few days, but the visit to the Bedford Springs will, I think, be of service to me. The fabled fountain to restore youth has never yet been discovered, and there is no remedy for old age but Christian philosophy and resignation. By the bye, should you have business at Broad Top, how happy I should be to have your company thus far, or until the end of the journey, should you desire to use the water. There has been, and probably will be, but little company there, and Farmer Baker must, I presume, stay at home at this busy season. We propose to leave on Thursday next. I shall take Miss Hetty with me, whose health has been declining for some time. Miss Lane and Annie Buchanan will remain at Wheatland.

What has become of the visit of Mr. Read and yourself, from which I had anticipated so much pleasure? I have heard nothing either from or of Mr. Dillon for a long time. Doctor Sample passed a day and night with me last week. We had a most agreeable time talking over “old times” and our memories of men of the past generation. He is old and feeble in body, and somewhat deaf, but his intellect is still clear. He seems to be contented with his lot, and in him Christianity has disarmed the fear of death.

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

Please to remember me in the kindest terms to Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Hopkins and the other members of your most agreeable family. So much for Sunday morning before going to church.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Bedford Springs, August 3, 1863.

My Dear Harriet:—

We arrived here safe and sound on Friday last before dinner. I hardly ever passed a more uncomfortable day than that on which I left, having suffered the whole day with a violent diarrhœa. At night Mrs. Baker gave me a dose of your friend Brown’s Anti-Cholera mixture, which cured me outright. The water has had its usual good effect upon me, and I think I needed it much. No healing fountain can cure old age; but with God’s blessing it may assist in gently sloping the way which leads to death.

The company here consists of about one hundred and fifty, and I think there is fully that number. There are many sensible and agreeable people among them; but they are not very gay. On Saturday night they made the first attempt to get up a cotillion, and it partly succeeded, but they wanted the buoyancy and brilliancy of former times.

There are several naughty secession girls here from Baltimore,—some of them very bright. My principal amusement has been with them, and I am really inclined to believe they give General Schenck a hard time of it. The stories they tell of how they provoked him are truly amusing. They praise General Wool, and I have no doubt they flatter him into a compliance with many of their wishes. They speak rather contemptuously of our friend General Dix, but Schenck is their abomination.

I treat them playfully, and tell them I love them so, that it would be impossible for me ever to consent to part from them, and that the shocking idea has never once entered my head of living in a separate confederacy from them. I am like Ruth, and that they must not entreat me from following after them. We must be one and indivisible. I hear accounts from the other side, and it is certain the Baltimore women must give General Schenck a rough road to travel.

Our little party is very agreeable. Mrs. Nevin is as gay as a girl let loose from school after a long session of hard service. I could hardly tell you how much she enjoys herself. Miss Hetty gets along quietly and well. Her manners are ladylike, and she behaves with perfect propriety. Mrs. Baker is very good and very ladylike; and Miss Swarr is modest but cheerful. I need not speak of Messrs. Swarr, Baker, Carpenter, and North. We are all grateful. There have been many kind inquiries after you, but a watering place is like the world, even the grandest performers are soon forgotten.

Mr. Babcock, of the Yeates Institute, preached here last night, but I did not hear him. Those who did, say he preached very well. I never saw him to my knowledge.

I am treated by all with kindness and respect. I saw Mrs. Patton and Miss Hamilton on Saturday evening. The health of the latter is evidently improving.

Give my love to Miss Annie, Elizabeth Speer Buchanan, and remember me kindly to Mrs. Fahnestock. I hope you are all getting along happily.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, September 22, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

It afforded me great pleasure to learn from yours of the 14th instant, that you still enjoy health and happiness. May this yet continue for years to come! I have recently had a severe and very painful attack of rheumatism, but it has nearly passed away.

I met Mr. Kelly at the Bedford Springs, and we talked very kindly of you and yours. I found my old friends there as kind and as enthusiastic as ever. My visit was very agreeable.

I cannot anticipate the result of the Governor’s election, as I was able to do in former years, when I took an active part in politics. The news, however, is generally cheering. It is the most important State election which has ever been held in Pennsylvania. God grant us a safe deliverance!

I saw Judge Woodward when he was in Lancaster at our great meeting on Thursday last, though I did not attend the meeting. He seems to be in fine spirits, and will, if elected, make an excellent Governor. Governor Porter and Judge Black were with us. The Governor’s health is still good, and he is as shrewd and observant as ever. Judge Black’s speech will, I think, make a noise in the world. It is able and eloquent, and very strong.

I hope nothing may occur to prevent you from visiting me the next time you entertain so good an intention. This I hope may ere long occur.

Miss Lane desires to be very kindly remembered to you. We expect a visit to-day from Sir Henry Holland, and she is busy in making preparations.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—I saw an account of the great meeting to which you refer, and was happy to perceive that you are still in the harness.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, December 5, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

Your favor of the 24th October was well worthy of an immediate answer, but my life here glides along so quietly and tranquilly as to afford no incidents worth communicating.

The quarrel among the Republicans to which you refer will not, I think, subserve the immediate interests of the Democratic party.[party.] They cannot afford to divide. The main object of them all is to abolish every vestige of slavery, and they differ only as to the best means of accomplishing it. The difference between them, as I understand it, is between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. Whilst the Sumnerites would convert the States in rebellion into Territories, to be governed as such under the laws of Congress, the Blairites, preserving the name of States, would place them under the military government of the President. In either case, they can only be restored to the Union provided slavery is abolished. The more extreme party will probably prevail, because such is the nature and history of revolutions. The Blairs will be crushed, unless they shall speedily repent. This they will not hesitate to do, should their interests so dictate.

The Democratic party must rely upon themselves and await events. I see the Democratic members have been holding meetings preparatory to the assemblage of Congress. On their prudence, firmness and decision much will depend. Their platform, if it be wise, will give tone to the party throughout the country. With the vanity of age, I think I could construct one which would unite and strengthen the party, but no person consults me on such a subject.

I agree with you that, however much we may condemn Secretary Chase’s official conduct, he is a gentleman by education and personal demeanor. He is, in my judgment, by far the ablest member of the cabinet, not excepting even Abraham himself. The skill, however, with which he has obtained loans and managed the paper money machine, will only make the crash, when it shall occur, the more terrific. His adroit management may delay, but cannot prevent it. As long as he can issue greenbacks with one hand as currency, and receive them with the other for national loans, the crazy vessel may be kept afloat.

Well! we see from the papers that Washington is to be gay and extravagant beyond all former example during the approaching winter. Shoddy will make a grand display. How much your society, formerly the best in the country, must have changed! Mrs. Ogle Tayloe was here about a fortnight ago, sighing over the memory of past days.

We have been more gay than usual at Wheatland for the last few months, and have seen a good deal of company. I have not been out of the county since you were here, but they will have it that I am now in England.

I have thought several times of accepting your kind offer to attend to ——. He is an ungrateful little scamp, and no reason exists why I should not sell his property. I think I shall soon send you all the papers which will prove how much he has bamboozled me. I wish you would talk to Mr. Riggs upon the subject.

Miss Lane and Miss Hetty both desire to be most kindly remembered to you. We all unite in the expression of regret that we cannot see you oftener.

With my kindest regards to Doctor Jones, I remain,

Always your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO HON. GEORGE G. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, December 21, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your kind favor, and am always rejoiced to learn your continued health and happiness. May you live to enjoy a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and a number of such, until, in a good old age, you shall be peacefully gathered to your fathers in well-grounded Christian hope.

The storm of persecution against me, as you intimate, has nearly spent itself, though the Herald and the Tribune, both of which I take, occasionally strike me a blow. My time will, however, soon come. I am now much more fully prepared than I was a year ago. I view it as a merciful dispensation of Providence that the report of General Scott to President Lincoln has been published during my lifetime, and this through his own folly.....

Miss Lane desires her kindest remembrance to you. I need not say we shall always be most happy to see and welcome you at Wheatland.

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 31, 1863.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 28th instant, and am content to leave the —— affair to be managed by Mr. Riggs in the manner he proposes. Still I should be much obliged to you to keep a sharp look out over the matter. The conduct of Leonard and his wife has been all it should not have been.

We now seem to be rapidly treading the paths of all former Republics. A large standing army necessarily produces some ambitious commander-in-chief possessing its confidence. Fortunately for the country, no general having the pre-eminence over all the rest has yet made his appearance, unless Grant may prove to be the coming man. At the termination of the war, it will probably be more difficult to get clear of the army than it was to raise it.

The time has now arrived when with perfect safety the Democrats in Congress might erect a secure platform; but will they do it? What can be expected from a party at the head of which is..... A man of the first consideration ought to have been selected as.....; and above all, he ought not to have been one of those who broke up the National Convention at Charleston. Mr. Lincoln would be less dangerous to the Republic than an unprincipled military chieftain whom the army would follow to any extremity. My health is as usual. Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to you.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, January 14, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

Miss Lane and myself have received your Christmas greetings with peculiar pleasure, and trust you may live many years in health and prosperity.

With you I believe that the madness of men will eventually yield to conservative counsels; but not soon. In this respect, I differ both from you and Governor Seymour. I yet perceive no evidence of a change so happy. It may, however, come suddenly with the crash of the paper system, which, sooner or later, is inevitable. The Democratic party is not yet prepared to act with power and unanimity. They would, at the present moment, divide, should they attempt to erect a platform. And yet, in my opinion, the time has arrived when a platform could be constructed which would stand against all external shocks and would carry the principles of the glorious old party triumphantly through the breakers.

Have you ever thought of the danger to our institutions from the disbandment of a standing army of a million of men, one-fourth at least being negroes? Will they patiently and quietly consent, with arms in their hands, to return to the labors and duties of private life, and to earn their living by the sweat of their brow? What does history teach in this respect? I trust in God it may be so.

As to Christianity: it seems now to consist in preaching war instead of peace. In New England, I presume, the masses are tolerably united in favor of the gospel of war. In this portion of the world there is considerable division, though the higher law doctrine of the abolitionist would seem to be in the ascendant.

The state of public opinion in this quarter was naively illustrated the other day by a young lady who called to see me. She said that the church in their town (Presbyterian) had been vacant for several months, though they gave a good salary. “When,” said she, “a preacher comes to us on trial, and we are pleased with him, after he goes away, they begin to inquire whether he is a Republican or Democrat. If found to be a Republican, the Democrats oppose him, and if found to be a Democrat, the Republicans oppose him; and so, between the two, it is hard to tell whether we shall ever have another preacher.”

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, January 27, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I am just recovering from a rather severe illness and was only able on yesterday to leave my room. I find your two letters of January 16 and January 20, and am scarcely in a condition to do more than thank you for them.

My publication is ready for the press; but the Democrats have made no issue on which to fight the Presidential battle...... The Republicans care not a button how much we complain of their unconstitutional measures, their change of the war from its original purposes, etc., etc., so long as we give them a vigorous material support. From present appearances, Mr. Lincoln will be re-elected, unless some Republican military chieftain should supply his place, or our finances should break down.

All I have to say in regard to the Floyd acceptances is that the “gentleman of high respectability” is altogether mistaken in regard to myself, and, I have no doubt, is equally so in regard to Governor Toucey.

A Senator first informed me that drafts on the War Department, payable at a future day and accepted by Governor Floyd, were on change in New York. I immediately sent for Mr. Floyd and asked him if it were true. He told me that Russell & Co., in order to enable them to send provisions to the army in Utah, had to anticipate their credit, and as these drafts were only payable after the money had been earned, there could be no danger. There were but three or four of them. I asked him by what law he was authorized to issue such acceptances. He said there was no law for it, but it had been the practice of the office. I told him it must at once be discontinued—that if there was no law for it, it was against law. He told me the few drafts already accepted should be immediately paid, and he would never issue another. I rested satisfied, and was greatly astonished when, some months after, the fraud was discovered, and the subject placed before the committee of the House. Mr. Holt, in all he did, acted under my direction and with my assent.

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you. I wish I could drop in for a day at Mount Ida.

Ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. SCHELL.]

Wheatland, February 12, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 9th instant. I had supposed that James Henry would have informed you of the reason I had not visited New York. When making the necessary preparations to leave home, I had a violent and very painful attack of rheumatic gout. Although I have now recovered from this, I still walk with difficulty, and am not yet in a condition to visit your city.

I agree with you that the future of the Democratic party is discouraging. At the moment when it was clearly demonstrated that the administration, departing from the principle of conducting the war for the restoration of the Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is, had resolved to conduct it for the subjugation of the Southern States and the destruction of slavery, the party had then an opportunity of making a noble, and probably a successful issue with their opponents. That time has now passed, and the leaders of our party, beginning at New York, notwithstanding the change in the programme of our opponents, are still nearly as demonstrative in the support of the war as the Republicans. No party can succeed without a great issue, broadly placed before the people.

We are getting on here as usual, just as you left us. Harriet Buchanan is still with us, and you are often the subject of agreeable conversation in our little group.

I send you a check for the wine, and remain, very respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, March 14, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your letter of the 1st instant. You may well have expected to hear from me ere this, in answer to yours of the 1st February. I am sorry to say, however, that, about the time of its receipt, I again had an attack of rheumatism in my legs still more violent and painful than the former, which confined me for a considerable time to my bed and to my chamber, because I could not set my feet on the ground. Thank God! I think I have entirely recovered from it, except that I still hobble in my gait. I am, however, daily improving.

Would that I were able to visit your Arcadia in the month of June and receive your cordial welcome; but this is an enjoyment which I fear is not reserved for me.

I owe you many thanks for your very kind offer to cause my record to be stereotyped and to superintend the work. Your services would be invaluable, but I do not consider it of sufficient importance for stereotyping. By the bye, a friend the other day sent me a copy of Appleton’s Cyclopædia for 1861, which I find, to my surprise, contains a tolerably fair representation of the last months of my administration, so far as the facts were known to the author. It is, however, greatly deficient in many particulars. Still, there is throughout a spirit of candor manifested, to which I have not been lately accustomed.

I hope your meeting in New York may result in good for the country and the Democratic party. So far as I can learn and observe, there will be very great difficulty in erecting a platform on which the party can unite. It now embraces all shades of opinion, from the prosecution of the war with as much vigor as the Republicans, notwithstanding the violations of the Constitution, down to peace [with the Confederate government], which means neither more nor less than recognition. I say that this means recognition, because I entertain not the least idea that the South would return to the Union, if we were to offer to restore them with all the rights which belonged to them, as expounded by the Supreme Court, at the time of their secession. Besides, I regret to say, many good Democrats in Pennsylvania begin to be inoculated with abolition principles. I could construct a platform which would suit myself; but what is right and what is practicable are two very different things. For the latter we must await the course of events until a short time before the meeting of the convention. I entertain a warm regard both for Mr. Reed and Mr. O’Conor, but I believe both may be called extreme peace men. Have you ever reflected upon what would be the embarrassments of a Democratic administration, should it succeed to power with the war still existing and the finances in their present unhappy condition?

The Democrats of New Hampshire, with General Pierce, have fought a noble battle worthy of a better fate. I was much pleased with the article you were kind enough to send me.

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you. Whilst it is highly improbable that we shall drop in upon you at Mount Ida, I hope it is certain you may drop in upon us at Wheatland during the approaching spring or summer. The bluebirds and other songsters are now singing around me, and the buds are ready to burst; but yet we have all kinds of weather in the course of a single day.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. VIELE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, May 2, 1864.

My Dear Madam:—

I must crave a thousand pardons for not having complied with your request and sent you my autograph, with a sentiment for your album. I need not assign the reasons for this omission, but if you should think it proceeded from want of respect for yourself, you would be greatly in error. On the contrary, although I have never enjoyed the pleasure of your acquaintance, yet from what I have learned of your character and intellectual accomplishments, I shall be proud to hold a place in your personal esteem.

Congratulating you on the unexampled success of the New York Fair for the relief of our brave and disabled soldiers, to which you yourself have contributed in no small degree, I remain,

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. TOUCEY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, May 13, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

It is long since I have heard from you, and I desire to learn that Mrs. Toucey and yourself are as comfortable and happy as my earnest wishes prompt.

During the past winter I have suffered severe attacks of painful rheumatism in both legs. The disease has finally retreated into my right hand and arm, and is now, I trust in God, passing away. I still, however, write with considerable pain.

I earnestly desire that you could be with me for a few days. The publication which I propose to make has for some time been substantially, I may almost say, literally prepared. I think the simple statement of facts in their natural order affords a conclusive vindication of our administration for the last four months of its duration. The preface contains a historical sketch of the rise and progress of abolition, of the Charleston Convention, of the Peace Convention, etc., etc. I have had no person to assist me in its preparation, to make suggestions, or even to verify the facts, though these are mostly official......

The season is delightful, and why cannot Mrs. Toucey and yourself pay us a visit? Did we part at Washington never again to enjoy the society of each other? I trust in God not......

The Judge, notwithstanding all this, is perfectly true to our administration. He talks very openly and without disguise against the present administration, and, before our last gubernatorial election, made a speech of greater severity and power against Lincoln (and published it) than any delivered throughout the campaign. Judge Black and his family visit me occasionally, and he is just as agreeable as ever. His practice in the Supreme Court has been very lucrative, and he is now becoming a rich man.

Miss Lane unites with me in cordial regards to Mrs. Toucey, and expresses an ardent hope that you may both pay us a visit.

From your friend, always,

James Buchanan.

[MR. TOUCEY TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Hartford, May 25, 1864.

My Dear Sir:

I was very happy to receive your letter of the 13th inst. It gave me information which I had long been wishing to obtain. Let me rejoice with you that you have regained your accustomed power of locomotion without the discomfort of bodily pain. I think the time has come when the history of the last four months of your eventful administration may be given to the public, with good results. Mrs. Toucey’s health is so delicate and precarious, that I fear we shall not be able to accept your kind invitation, for which we are very grateful to you and to Miss Lane. Still, I trust that we shall meet again and enjoy the opportunity of conferring together upon the events of the last seven years, so interesting to us all. It will be my greatest pleasure to contribute anything in my power to the history you have in hand, although I think you need no aid from any quarter; and as to giving “the last finishing touches,” that is what you have always been accustomed to do yourself; and while I appreciate your kindness, it would be absurd for me to think of aiding Praxiteles to give the finishing polish to his work. I send you herewith a printed copy of my testimony before the Senate Committee, which embraces all the facts with regard to Norfolk, Pensacola, and, incidentally, the Home squadron. The testimony was divided into two parts by the committee for their convenience. The note appended to it is strictly correct, and in three lines answers the grossly false accusation that the navy was sent abroad in the interest of secession. The truth is, the squadrons at the different foreign stations were all of them very small, had not been augmented in proportion to the increase of our commerce, and none of them could be diminished without sacrificing its safety and the interests and safety of those engaged in it. It is not, I suppose, now treason to say “Blessed are the peacemakers.” It was the cardinal point of your policy to preserve the peace of the country, and thereby most surely preserve the union of these States on the existing basis of the Constitution; and it would have been a most startling departure from that policy to have recalled our foreign squadrons, and thus, with lunatic rashness, defeat it at the outset, and precipitate at once the wretched consequences which have since followed its abandonment, to the utter ruin of the country. I thank God that we can wash our hands of any such criminality. There is one fact which has never transpired—which at the time was shrouded in the greatest secrecy—which was not communicated to any of my colleagues in the cabinet—which rested with the late gallant Commander Ward, a friend of mine from his youth, who fell on the Potomac in the early stage of the war. He was stationed at New York in command of the receiving ship. It was arranged with him that, on receiving a telegraphic despatch from me, he should, in the course of the following night, set sail from New York with a force of small vessels, and relieve the garrison of Fort Sumter, entering the harbor in the night and anchoring, if possible, under the guns of the fort. He sought the desperate enterprise with the greatest enthusiasm, and was willing to sacrifice his life, saying that the sacrifice would be the best inheritance he could leave to his wife and children. He left Washington, after repeated interviews with me, with instructions to select his officers, select and prepare his men on board of the receiving ship, and make every preparation which he could make without exciting suspicion, so that he could set sail in a few hours, whenever the emergency should arise. In regard to the wish of General Cass to withdraw his resignation, I knew nothing personally, but remember well that the subject was brought up in cabinet meeting; that Judge Black and Mr. Thompson seemed to know all about it, as if they were privy to it; and that after some discussion you deemed it inadmissible. The times are sadly out of joint. I had not supposed it possible that any administration could, in the short space of three years, do the work of destruction so effectually. Still I trust that, in the boundless stores of Infinite mercy, there may yet be some deliverance for the country.

Mrs. Toucey unites with me in the kindest regards to yourself and Miss Lane. I am, my dear Sir, with the highest consideration and regard, always

Your friend,

Isaac Toucey.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, June 20th, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I am always rejoiced to hear that you are still in the enjoyment of a green and happy old age, surrounded by grateful and prosperous children and grandchildren. May this long be the lot from Providence of Mrs. Leiper and yourself!

You inquire for my health, and I am glad to inform you it is as good as I can expect. After suffering much during the past winter and early spring from rheumatic gout, I have been for several weeks free from pain, though I still hobble a little in walking.

You inform me you have a good deal to talk to me about when we meet. I hope this may be ere long. I need not assure you how happy I always am to see you.

Your friend, Miss Lane, desires to be most kindly remembered to you. After passing the whole winter and spring at home, I am glad she has determined to visit the Bedford Springs about the middle of July. Whether I shall accompany her is uncertain. I believe it is natural for old men to be reluctant to leave home. At least, such is my feeling.

What an extraordinary speech Mr. Lincoln has made to the Union Leaguers at Philadelphia! They have promised with a shout to march to the front at his call and shed their blood, if need be, in the cause of their country. I have no doubt he will afford them the opportunity. Nobody believes they will embrace it. They will still, however, fight the Copperheads at home.

Your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. J. B. BAKER.]

Wheatland, July 15th, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

As the rebel raid is over, Miss Lane will leave for the Bedford Springs on Tuesday next, and will go to Huntingdon that evening. She would be very glad if Emily and yourself should accompany her. I desire to go, but have not yet determined.

When will the purchase money for the Pim property be payable? If at the present moment, it would not be convenient for me; but still I can borrow.

I learn that Doctor Carpenter and your uncle Newton are to visit you to-morrow. I do hope you will be able to arrange all affairs.

Your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, August 5th, 1864.

My Dear Miss Lane:—

I arrived here this afternoon, baggage all safe, a few minutes after three o’clock. I never had so agreeable a ride on a railroad car. I would advise you, by all means, in returning home, to stay all night at Huntingdon and come by the cars on the next morning. I told Mr. Miller......, and I wish you to stay at his house. We parted from Mrs. Pegram, Miss Brent, and Mr. Jackson, at Harrisburg—a sorry parting.

I found all things in good order on my arrival. Mrs. Fahnestock is still here and so is Miss Harriet Parker.

Governor Curtin, as you will have perceived, has called for the services of 30,000 volunteers to defend the State against the rebels.

I scarcely know to what ladies to send my love at Bedford, but I wish you to deliver it especially to the ladies who gave me a parting kiss. The fragrance of their lips is as fresh as at the first moment. I hope you and Harriet will behave with all proper respect to your venerable aunt. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Wade. I hope she will place you under proper restraint, a thing I have never been able to accomplish. Give my best love to Harriet.

I entertain no fears for you at the Springs. It is possible, however, that the rebels may succeed in cutting the railroad track between Huntingdon and Harrisburg, which would put you to some inconvenience on returning home; but be not alarmed.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—From a telegram sent by Mr. Scott to Altoona, it would seem he considers that place to be in danger.

[TO HIS NEPHEW, JAMES BUCHANAN.]

Wheatland, August 6th, 1864.

My Dear James:—

I have received your favor of the 3d instant, and am truly rejoiced to learn that your prospects are so favorable in the oil region. Until I read your letter, I had supposed your brother Edward was a partner with you; but as you do not mention his name, I conclude this is not the case......

I passed more than a fortnight very agreeably at the Springs. Miss Lane desired to remain until your father should go to Bedford. I am now sorry I did not bring her and Harriet Buchanan home with me, although I do not consider them in any danger at the Springs. What I fear is that the railroad may be cut and travel interrupted somewhere between Huntingdon and Harrisburg. Newton Lightner is still at the Springs, and I hope they may return with him. The people of Lancaster are in great alarm and are about to remove their valuables......

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, August 23, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor and it affords me great pleasure to learn that Mrs. Leiper and yourself propose to pay us a visit some time after the 1st September. The sooner the better. I need not promise both a cordial welcome. Please write a day or two before so that the carriage may meet you at the cars.

It did not occur to me that your former letter might have referred to that one which I wrote in favor of Forney’s election to the Senate. If it had, I should have spared you some trouble.

Miss Lane returned from the Springs on Friday last and desires to be kindly remembered to Mrs. Leiper and yourself.

The address of Mr. Lincoln’s “To whom it may concern,” has given a great impulse to the reaction already commenced before its date. I have no doubt he is anxious to correct the blunder; but cannot believe, as the New York Herald’s correspondent states, that he has employed Judge Black to visit Canada for this purpose.

Very affectionately, your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, August 25, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favors of the 1st and 17th insts., together with a copy of your letter to Mr. Van Dyke as Chairman, all of which I have read with much interest. The meeting of the Chicago Convention is so near at hand that it would be vain to enter into political speculations. The proceedings of this body, whatever they may be, will constitute a new and important era in the history of the Democratic party. From all appearances McClellan will be nominated. Whether for good or for evil time must determine. The platform will present the greatest difficulty. Whilst we are all in favor of peace, it may be too pacific. We ought to commence negotiations with the South and offer them every reasonable guarantee for the security of their rights within the Union. If they will accept this and engage to meet us in a general convention of all the States, then I should be in favor of an armistice. A general proposition for peace, and an armistice without reference to the restoration of the Union, would be in fact a recognition of their independence. For this I confess I am far from being prepared.

It is my impression that the South have no idea of making peace without recognition. In this I trust I may be mistaken.

Your article on “swapping horses” is both witty and true, and has afforded us much amusement.

In regard to Miss Lane’s coal lands: I think it would be impossible, scattered as the heirs are, and some of them needy, to obtain the consent of all to lease them. It is in the power of any one of them to force a sale by legal proceedings. This was threatened; but has not yet been attempted. In that event, which is highly probable, we ought to be prepared to purchase; and from the nature of law proceedings we shall have sufficient time to be ready. Your services and influence may then become very beneficial...... Miss Lane will write to you whenever anything shall occur respecting the lands.

I shall decide when and how I shall publish after seeing the proceedings at Chicago. I cannot think the work deserves to be stereotyped.

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

My health is as usual. We passed our time very agreeably at the Springs.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO HIS NEPHEW, J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, September 22, 1864.

My Dear James:—

I was very much gratified with your last letter, as I always am to hear good tidings of yourself and your little boy. May God have you both under His holy keeping! I should have written to you more than ten days ago, but for an accident which has caused me much pain, and confined me to my room, and a great part of the time to bed, since last Sunday week. On that evening whilst taking a walk on the turnpike I fell with great force, and the concussion was so violent that on the next day I found myself unable to walk, and for several days I could not stand. I can now walk across the floor and my strength is gradually returning. In other respects I am well. The doctor thought that the severe fall might bring back the rheumatism; but it has not done so, except in a slight degree......

No man except General McClellan could have been nominated at Chicago. The Convention was neither more nor less than a ratification meeting of the decree of the people. He would not have been my first choice; but I am satisfied. God grant he may succeed! Peace would be a great, a very great blessing; but it would be purchased at too high a price at the expense of the Union. I have never yet been able to tolerate the idea of Southern recognition.

Mr. Schell will, I think and earnestly hope, accept my invitation to pay us a visit during the present or next month. We should all be glad you would accompany him; but not at the expense of your important business...... Miss Hetty has made apple butter for you which, in the estimate of those who use such an article, is pronounced excellent. She says, however, that you never write to her as you did formerly.

Miss Harriet and Miss Hetty desire me to present their kindest love to you, and I remain

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, October 5, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have just received your favor of the 3d instant. Whilst I do not concur in opinion with our valued friend, Mr. Sparks, that there is no difference between the Chicago platform and General McClellan’s letter of acceptance, I am cordially willing to give him my vote.

On retiring from the Presidential office, I expressed the determination to follow the example of my Democratic predecessors, and refrain from taking an active part in party politics. Still, I am as much of a Democrat, and as devoted to Democratic principles, as I ever have been. Peace, although a great blessing and greatly to be desired, would be too dearly purchased at the expense of the Union, and I, therefore, like the letter of General McClellan.

In answer to your inquiry, I am but slightly, if at all, acquainted with General McClellan. I must certainly have seen him, but have no recollection of his person.

As to the result of the election in this State, I can express no opinion. I hear, from those who visit me, of great changes everywhere in our favor; but it cannot be denied that, since the victories of Farragut, Sherman, and the prospects of General Grant, an impression has been made, more or less extensively, that the Southern States will speedily submit. I wish to God this were true. It is certain, however, that the expectation has gone far to embolden the Republicans. But why speculate? Tuesday next will decide the vote of Pennsylvania at the Presidential election, unless it should be very close.

My record is all ready, but I do not intend to publish until after the Presidential election. The truth which it contains would not make it a very acceptable document, especially to the friends of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, of Squatter Sovereignty, and of those Douglas supporters who broke up the Charleston Convention. It would not be very acceptable to ——, nor to ——, and that class of politicians.

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you, and I remain always,

Very respectfully your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, October 26, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 18th instant, and regret to learn from it that Mrs. Leiper and yourself have abandoned the purpose of paying us a visit. I anticipated much pleasure from this visit. I now meet very few who can converse with me from their own knowledge of the distant past; and it is always a source of high gratification to meet an old friend like yourself, even older than I am, with whom I have ever been on terms of intimacy. We are both at a period of life when it is our duty to relax our grasp on a world fast receding, and fix our thoughts, desires and affections on one which knows no change. I trust in God that, through the merits and atonement of his Son, we may be both prepared for the inevitable change.

I am truly sorry to learn that you have not been very well. My own health is now good, except some rheumatic feeling in the legs.

I experience, with you, the desire to stay at home. This comes from old age, and is a merciful dispensation of Providence, repressing the desire to mingle much with the outside world when we are no longer capable of its enjoyments. Peace and tranquillity suit us best.

Though feeling a deep interest in it, I speculate but little on the result of the approaching election. When I was behind the scenes I could generally predict the event; but not so now. I confess I was most agreeably surprised that we had carried the Congressional election on the home vote, and now indulge the hope that we may have a majority over the soldiers’ vote and all on the 8th November. In this, however, I do not feel very great confidence.

Please to present my kind regards to Mrs. Leiper, and say how sorry I am not to have been able to welcome her at Wheatland. I should still insist on your promised visit, but Miss Lane left home yesterday, to stay I do not know how long.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. HASSARD.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, November 8, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 31st ultimo, inquiring whether there is any truth in the statement that President Polk, in 1846, had solicited Arch-Bishop Hughes to accept a special mission to Mexico, and I regret that I cannot give this question a very definite answer. I shall cheerfully, however, state all my knowledge on the subject.

There were at this period many Catholic soldiers in the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande; and I suggested to President Polk that it was our duty to provide them chaplains of their own Christian denomination. To this he cheerfully assented. In consequence, I addressed the letter, in May, 1846, to which you refer, to Bishop Hughes (not then Archbishop), inviting him to come to Washington. He was then in Baltimore, attending the Provincial Council of Bishops. He immediately came to the State Department, accompanied by Bishop ——, of Dubuque.

When I communicated to Bishop Hughes the desire of the President to send Catholic chaplains to the army, and to obtain his advice and assistance to carry this into effect, both Bishops warmly approved the measure. They immediately proceeded to the Jesuits’ College in Georgetown, to obtain the services of two suitable army chaplains. After a few hours they returned, evidently much gratified with their success, and informed me, in enthusiastic terms, that every professor in the College, both old and young, had volunteered to go to the army. The Bishops, however, came to the conclusion that it would be more expedient to select the chaplains from among the priests outside of the college, and accordingly Father McElroy and Father Rey, of the Jesuit Society, were appointed for this arduous and dangerous service. It is due to these pious and good men to say they faithfully and usefully performed their spiritual duties to the soldiers, and with much satisfaction to the administration. One of these, Father Rey, was afterwards murdered by brigands, near Monterey.

It occurred to the President, whilst the Bishop was in Washington, and most probably at an earlier period, that, should he consent to visit Mexico, he might render essential services in removing the violent prejudices of the Mexicans, and especially of their influential clergy, which then prevailed against the United States, and thus prepare the way for peace between the two Republics. In this I heartily concurred. Independently of his exalted character as a dignitary of the church, I believed him to be one of the ablest and most accomplished and energetic men I had ever known, and that he possessed all the prudence and firmness necessary to render such a mission successful.

The President and the Bishop had several conversations on this subject; but at none of these was I present. I have not the least doubt, however, from what I heard the President say, that this mission was offered to him, and that he declined it.

The President, much as he desired to avail himself of the Bishop’s services, could not at the time offer him anything more acceptable. He could not appoint a new envoy to the Mexican Government so soon after they had refused, in an insulting manner, to receive our former minister. Paredes was, at that time, the Revolutionary President of Mexico. He owed his elevation to his extreme and violent hostility to the Government and people of the United States. Besides, his army had just commenced the war by crossing the Rio Grande and attacking a detachment of our troops.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, November 21, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

From your last letter I incline to believe that you bear our defeat with Christian fortitude. Your preceding letter was written with such glowing confidence and joyful hope, that Miss Lane and myself had some amusement over it, as we had no expectation of General McClellan’s election from the beginning, most ardently as we desired it. If one seriously asks himself the question, in what condition would the Democratic party be, with all the terrible difficulties and embarrassments surrounding it, had it been successful, he will find grounds for consolation in defeat. It has shown its strength and has performed its duty, and can well afford to bide its time. Meanwhile, it will be a watchful guardian over the Constitution.

Now would be the time for conciliation on the part of Mr. Lincoln. A frank and manly offer to the Confederates, that they might return to the Union just as they were before they left it, leaving the slavery question to settle itself, might possibly be accepted. Should they return, he would have the glory of accomplishing the object of the war against the most formidable rebellion which has ever existed. He ought to desire nothing more.

In that event, the exasperated feelings of mutual hate would soon subside. If the parties would not love each other, they must entertain greater mutual respect for one another than ever existed before. There would be no new collision between them for a hundred years. The Republicans in this part of the world are not exultant. They have won the elephant, and they will find difficulty in deciding what to do with him.

I feel some pity for Stanton, on his sick bed. I have no doubt of his personal integrity, and that his acceptance of the Department has been a great pecuniary loss to him. He has served Lincoln faithfully, if not very ably or discreetly, and yet the Republicans themselves do not speak well of him......

I rarely see and but seldom hear of Judge Black. I presume he must now be in Washington. He must be getting very rich.

I very seldom hear from Mr. Toucey. He is a gentleman of the old school, full of principle and honor.

I have not the least feeling against our good friend Flinn on account of that resolution, but esteem him as highly as ever. I am convinced he had no part in it. It was altogether à la Florence.

Miss Lane has been at her uncle Edward’s for several weeks, and will not be home till the beginning of December, and then Buchanan Henry will accompany her. In the meantime, Miss Annie Buchanan, a very intelligent and agreeable girl, is staying with me. She, as well as Miss Hetty, desires to be kindly remembered. We all wish you would spend the Christmas holidays with us.

Remember me kindly to Doctor Jones and Mr. Carlisle. Had the latter accepted the position in the cabinet which I offered, I should have had one ex-member of it, both able and willing to render me valuable assistance, and this he could have done with very little loss of hours.

Your letters are always highly acceptable, and I shall ever remain, most sincerely,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, December 28, 1864.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of Christmas day, and cordially return you my best wishes for your health, prosperity and happiness. I agree in opinion with General McClellan, that it is fortunate both for himself and the Democratic party that he was not elected. But I consider the defeat of Governor Seymour as most unfortunate. But doctors will differ.

Miss Lane received your favor respecting the coal lands in Philadelphia, but she is now at home. These consist of about 2,300 acres, situate in Broad Top Township, Bedford County, near the railroad connecting the Pennsylvania Railroad at Huntingdon, with the mines. This road is in full operation, and over it there is now conveyed large quantities of excellent coal to market. I have no doubt of the great value of these lands, though they have not been further explored than to ascertain there is abundance of coal in them. Miss Lane’s interest in them is about one-eleventh, and she is entirely opposed to their sale, but I have no doubt this will be forced by some of her co-heirs. As yet she has received no notice of the institution of proceedings for this purpose, but is expecting it daily. The parties to whom you refer ought to examine the lands, for there is not a doubt they will be sold in the spring.

Miss Lane desires to be kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—My health has been good for several months.

CHAPTER XXIX.
1865-1868.

MARRIAGE OF MISS LANE—LETTERS TO HER AND OTHER PERSONS.

In the year 1866, Mr. Buchanan had the happiness of seeing his niece, Miss Lane, married to Mr. Henry E. Johnston, of Baltimore. It seems that this engagement was first made known to him in October, 1865, when Miss Lane was absent from Wheatland. He writes to her as follows:

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, October 21, 1865.[^[181]]

My Dear Harriet:—

I received yours of the 18th yesterday. We will talk the matter over in regard to Wheatland after your return. I believe you say truly that nothing would have induced you to leave me, in good or evil fortune, if I had wished you to remain with me. Such a wish on my part would be very selfish. You have long known my desire that you should marry, whenever a suitor worthy of you, and possessing your affections, should offer. Indeed it has been my strong desire to see you settled in the world before my death. You have now made your own unbiased choice; and from the character of Mr. Johnston I anticipate for you a happy marriage, because I believe, from your own good sense, you will conform to your conductor, and make him a good and loving wife. Beware of unreasonable delays in the performance of the ceremony, lest these may be attributed to an improper motive.

I have no news to communicate of the least importance; besides, I hope to see you by the middle of the next week at the latest.

Blanche and Martha paid me a brief visit yesterday,—better late than never, and so I told them.

Governor Porter was here two days during the present week. He and I began political life nearly together, and we can talk over the men and measures of the “auld lang syne” for the last fifty years. His visits are always agreeable to me.

Among your numerous friends you ask only for Punch,[^[182]] and this in the postscript, which is said to contain the essence of a lady’s letter. He is a companion which I shun as much as possible, not being at all to my liking. I believe, however, his health is in a satisfactory condition.

The proceedings of a majority of the Episcopal Convention have afforded me great satisfaction.

If the opportunity should offer, please to remember me with great kindness and respect to Bishop Hopkins. I have no doubt his preaching extempore is excellent.

Give my love to Mrs. Reigart, and be sure you place an indelible mark on that stocking. Should I again get the gout, how it will solace the pain.

Miss Hetty desires to be kindly remembered to Maria and yourself. With my love to Maria, I remain,

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS LANE.]

Wheatland, November 30, 1865.

My Dear Harriet:—

I enclose two letters. That from Mr. Capen I opened, supposing it might require immediate attention; but when I discovered the subject of it I ceased to read. I go to town to-day, and shall keep this open, so that if other letters should arrive I will enclose them.

I go to York on Saturday, having received a very kind and pressing invitation from the Shunks. Rebecca was ill in bed, and that is the reason why I had not heard from them. I have not a word from either Mr. Schell or James Henry. I infer there is nothing encouraging to write about the book. A strong attempt is making to cry it down in New York, but it will make its own way. No news.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

Miss Lane’s marriage took place at Wheatland on the 11th of January, 1866. The note of invitation to one of their most valued friends was written on the same day on which he received from Mr. Johnston a deed of settlement which that gentleman made in favor of his intended wife.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO COLONEL J. B. BAKER.]

Wheatland, January 6, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

Miss Lane requests me to invite you in her name to her wedding on Thursday, the 11th inst. The ceremony will be between 12 and 1 o’clock. It is to be a private affair. No cards of invitation have been issued. I hope you will not fail to countenance us with your presence.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, January 6, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 4th, with the deed, which I think has been well and carefully prepared. For this purely voluntary act of your kindness Miss Lane feels herself greatly indebted, and you will please to accept my cordial acknowledgments.

Had I been consulted, I should have preferred that my name had not appeared as a trustee, having determined, at my advanced age, to relieve myself, as far as possible, from all worldly affairs; but, as the chief burden will rest upon your brother Josiah, who is abundantly competent to perform the duty, I shall cheerfully accept the trust. Besides, this will place upon record, for whatever it may be worth, my entire approbation of the marriage.

With sentiments of warm regard, I remain,

Very respectfully your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, February 24, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 21st instant, and rejoice to learn that your health has so much improved. I trust that the genial air of the spring and the active exercise to which you have been all your life accustomed, may restore you once more to perfect health. Thank God! my own health has been good thus far throughout the severe and inclement weather.

I duly received your letter of the 17th January, and have been under the impression it was answered. I have often since thought of the description which you gave of your happy Christmas meeting with your children and grandchildren under the old paternal roof, and what heartfelt satisfaction it must have afforded to Mrs. Leiper and yourself. I trust that several more such family reunions may be in reserve for you, though we have both attained an age when we cannot expect much time in this world, and when we ought to be preparing to meet our God in peace.

I had not learned, until the receipt of your last, that Mr. Lincoln had joined the Church. Let us hope, in Christian charity, that the act was done in sincerity. The old Presbyterian Church is not now what it was in former years. The last general assembly has thoroughly abolitionized it.

I confess I was much gratified at the capture of Charleston. This city was the nest of all our troubles. For more than a quarter of a century the people were disunionists, and during this whole period have been persistently engaged in inoculating the other slave States with their virus. Alas, for poor Virginia! who has suffered so much, and who was so reluctantly dragged into their support.

Miss Lane is now on a visit to Mrs. Berghman’s (the daughter of Charles Macalester), in Washington city.

From your friend always,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. FLINN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 18, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I was much astonished to learn from yours of the 17th that you had not received the bond and mortgage. At least ten days before the 1st of April, I enclosed the bond and mortgage to you, with a regular power of attorney, duly stamped and acknowledged, authorizing the recorder of deeds from Alleghany county to enter satisfaction on the record. My letter inclosing these papers was placed in the post office at Lancaster on the day after its date by a friend who happened to be at Wheatland, and the postage was paid. What can have become of it, I cannot conjecture. It must have gone astray, as many letters do. Should it not soon turn up, I shall send another power to enter satisfaction. Not knowing the name of the recorder, I gave the power to him by his official title, which is sufficient. Should it prove to be necessary to have a new power, please to state his name.

I thank you for the information relative to the assassination of President Lincoln, though I had received the news of this deplorable event before it came to hand. The ways of Divine Providence are inscrutable; and it is the duty of poor, frail man, whether he will or not, to submit to His mysterious dispensations. The war—the necessary war—forced upon us by the madness of the rebels, we all fondly hoped was drawing to a triumphant conclusion in the restoration of the Union with a return to friendly relations among all the States, under the auspices of Mr. Lincoln. At such a moment the terrible crime was committed, which hurried him into eternity, and God only knows what may be the direful consequences. I deeply mourn his loss, from private feelings, but still more deeply for the sake of the country. Heaven, I trust, will not suffer the perpetrators of the deed, and all their guilty accomplices, to escape just punishment. But we must not despair of the Republic.

I have known President Johnson for many years. Indeed, he once honored me with a visit at Wheatland. That he has risen from an humble station to the highest political position of the Union, is evidence both of his ability and his merits. He is (certainly he used to be) a man of sound judgment, excellent common sense, and devoted to the elevation and welfare of the people. I wish him success, with all my heart, in performing the arduous and responsible duties which have been cast upon him. I shall judge him fairly, as I ever did his lamented predecessor, though my opinions may be of but little importance. I hope he may exercise his own good judgment, first weighing the counsels of his advisers carefully, as was ever the practice of the first and greatest of our Presidents, before the adoption of any decided resolution. The feelings naturally springing from the horrid deed ought first to have a few days to subside, before a final committal of the administration to any fixed policy.

I have weighed your suggestion with care, but regret to say I cannot agree with you. Such an act would be misrepresented.[^[183]]

With my kind regards to Mrs. Flinn, I remain always your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO THE HON. J. W. WALL.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 27, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

Upon a reperusal of your letter of the 30th ultimo, I consider it my duty to furnish a specific denial of the statement, by whomsoever made, that I refused you the mission to Rome, “because of a doubt as to the genuineness of your Democracy.” Any such statement is without the least foundation. Indeed, according to my best recollection, those who professed to be the best friends both of yourself and of Mr. Stockton, never intimated a suspicion either of your Democracy or your ability. On the contrary, they expressed much anxiety that you should be the Democratic candidate for Congress in your district.

Permit me to observe, as your father’s friend, and as your own (if you will allow me so to be), that I regretted very much the tone and manner in which you say that “the Republicans will sweep the State of New Jersey next fall.” You ought to recollect that the life of a public man under this, and indeed under all popular governments, is exposed to many vicissitudes. For this, whilst ever keeping steadily in view a sacred regard for principle, he ought to be prepared. His true policy is to “bide his time,” and if injustice has been done him, it is morally certain that the people will, in the long run, repair it. Indeed, this very injustice, if borne with discreet moderation and firmness, often proves the cause of his eventual benefit. Do not mar your future prospects by hasty actions or expressions which may be employed to your injury. Still believe “there is a better day coming,” and prepare the way for it.

I was seventy-four on Sunday last, and, considering my advanced age, I enjoy good health as well as a buoyant spirit.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. KING.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 27, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

Rest assured that I was much gratified to receive your favor of the 22d. If I was indebted a letter to you, I am sorry for it, because I entertain no other feeling towards you but that of kindness and friendship.

In common with you, I feel the assassination of President Lincoln to be a terrible misfortune to our country. May God, in his mercy, ward from us the evils which it portends, and bring good out of this fearful calamity. My intercourse with our deceased President, both on his visit to me, after his arrival in Washington, and on the day of his first inauguration, convinced me that he was a man of a kindly and benevolent heart, and of plain, sincere and frank manners. I have never since changed my opinion of his character. Indeed, I felt for him much personal regard. Throughout the years of the war, I never faltered in my conviction that it would eventually terminate in the crushing of the rebellion, and was ever opposed to the recognition of the Confederate government by any act which even looked in that direction. Believing, always, secession to be a palpable violation of the Constitution, I considered the acts of secession to be absolutely void; and that the States were, therefore, still members, though rebellious members, of the Union......

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO REV. P. COOMBE.]

Washington, May 2, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 29th ultimo, proposing that I should endow a Professorship in Dickinson College for the education of poor students who do not possess the means of educating themselves. The object is highly praiseworthy, but I regret to say I do not feel myself at liberty to advance $25,000 for this purpose. Under existing circumstances my charities, including those to relatives who require assistance, are extensive, and the world is greatly mistaken as to the amount of my fortune. Besides, if I should hereafter conclude to endow a Professorship, whilst I highly approve the theological doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, I could not prefer a college under its direction to a college of the Presbyterian Church, in which I was born and educated, or to the German Reformed College, in my immediate vicinity, in which I have taken a deep interest ever since its origin at Mercersburg, near the place of my nativity.

I might add that Dickinson College, when I was a student, was not conducted in such a manner as to inspire me with any high degree of gratitude for the education I received from my “Alma Mater.” This was after the death of Dr. Nesbit and before a new President had been elected. I am truly happy to believe that it is now well and ably conducted under the auspices of a Christian Church founded by John Wesley, whose character I have ever held in highest veneration, and whose sermons I have read over and over again with great interest.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK EVENING POST.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, May 11, 1865.

Sir:—

In the New York Tribune of yesterday I read, with no little surprise, an extract from the Evening Post (which I do not see), stating in substance that the Cincinnati Democratic convention of June, 1856 (not “May”), had come to “a dead lock” on the evening before Mr. Buchanan’s nomination, and had adjourned until the next morning, with a fair prospect that it would meet only to adjourn sine die; but that in the meantime, arrangements were made to secure his nomination as soon as the convention should reassemble, in consequence of pledges given by his friends. The nature of these pledges, according to the article in the Post, was openly avowed by Judge Black on the floor of the convention immediately after nomination had been made. According to it: “A silence ensued for a few moments, as if the convention was anticipating something prepared, when Judge Black, of Pennsylvania (afterwards Attorney General under Buchanan), rose in his place and made a set speech, in which he proceded to denounce ‘Abolitionism’ and ‘Black Republicanism’ very freely, and to argue that the States possessed, under the Constitution, the right of secession. He went further, and told the convention that if the nominee was elected, and a Black Republican should be elected as his successor, he [Mr. Buchanan] would do nothing to interfere with the exercise of it. This pledge was ample, and was accepted by the Southern leaders.”

You will doubtless be astonished to learn that Judge Black, afterwards Mr. Buchanan’s Attorney General, by whom this pledge is alleged to have been made, and through whom the evident purpose now is to fasten it upon Mr. Buchanan, was not a delegate to the Cincinnati convention, nor was he within five hundred miles of Cincinnati during its session. Instead of this, he was at the very time performing his high official duties as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

It may be added, that from the date of General Jackson’s message of January, 1833, against South Carolina nullification and secession, until that of his own message of December, 1860, and indeed since, no public man has more steadfastly and uniformly opposed these dangerous and suicidal heresies than Mr. Buchanan. Had any person, in or out of the convention, dared to make a pledge in his behalf on this or any other subject, such an act would have been condemned a few days thereafter by the terms of his letter accepting the nomination. In this, after expressing his thanks for the honor conferred, he says that: “Deeply sensible of the vast and varied responsibility attached to the station, especially at the present crisis in our affairs, I have carefully refrained from seeking the nomination, either by word or deed;” and this statement is emphatically true.

A few words in regard to the alleged “dead lock” in the Cincinnati convention, at the time of its adjournment on the evening of the 5th June, after fourteen ballots had been taken for a candidate. It appears from its proceedings, as officially published, that on each of these ballotings Mr. Buchanan received a plurality, and on the sixth, attained a majority of all the votes of the convention, but not the required two-thirds. On the fourteenth and last ballot on that evening, the vote stood 152½ for Mr. Buchanan, 75 for Pierce, 63 for Douglas, and 5½ for Cass. This being the state of the case, when the convention assembled the next morning the New Hampshire delegation withdrew the name of General Pierce, and the Illinois delegation withdrew that of Judge Douglas, in obedience to instructions from him by telegraph, on the day before the ballotings had commenced. After this, the nomination of Mr. Buchanan seemed to be a matter of course. He had never heard of “a dead lock” in the convention, or anything like it, until he read the article in the Post.

It may be proper to state that Colonel Samuel W. Black, of Pittsburg, was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention from Pennsylvania, and being well known as a ready and eloquent speaker, “shouts were raised” in the convention for a speech from him immediately after the nomination was announced. To these he briefly responded in an able and enthusiastic manner. From the identity of their surnames, had this response, reported with the proceedings, contained the infamous pledge attributed to Judge Black, or anything like it, we might in charity have inferred that the author of the article had merely mistaken the one name for the other. But there is nothing in what Colonel Black said which affords the least color for any such mistake.

Colonel Black afterwards sealed his hostility to secession with his blood. At an early stage of the war, he fell mortally wounded on the field of battle, whilst gallantly leading on his regiment against the rebels.

I doubt not you will cheerfully do me justice by publishing this letter, and I would thank you for a copy of the paper.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, May 13, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your note of the 11th, with the slip from the Boston paper not named. The astounding answer to it is, that Judge Black was not a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention, was not within five hundred miles of Cincinnati during its session, but was at the time performing his duties on the Bench, as Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Although convinced that he was not present, in order to make assurance doubly sure, I sent him a telegram on the subject. His answer is as follows: “I was not at Cincinnati in 1856, or at any other time in my life. I was not a member of, or an attendant upon the Democratic Convention.” This is a clincher.

When I saw the article from the New York Evening Post in the New York Tribune, I addressed a letter to the editor, and fearing he might be unwilling to publish such a damning condemnation of his article, a la mode —— of Boston, I sent a duplicate to the Tribune.

I forwarded your note with the enclosure to Judge Black, but, like Gallio, he cares for none of these matters.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[TO HORACE GREELEY, ESQ., EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK “TRIBUNE.”]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, May 23, 1865.

Sir:—

In courtesy I ought to thank you, as I do sincerely, for your offered use of the Tribune for “any explanation, comment or disclaimer” of the acts of my administration during the last six months of its existence. This kind offer should be cordially accepted, but, admonished by advancing years, of which you give me warning, I some time since compiled a history of it during this period, chiefly from the proceedings of Congress and other official and reliable documents, too long for publication in the Tribune. This has not been published hitherto, because of my reluctance, for several reasons, to obtrude myself upon public attention during the prosecution of the war, now happily terminated, in the suppression of the rebellion.

Though we have been “life-long” political opponents, as you truly observe, I have for many years been a constant reader of the Tribune. This I have done to obtain a knowledge of the principles and policy of the Republican party, from their ablest and most influential expounder; and one who, whilst contending against political opponents, has had the courage and candor to present to the public the Democratic propositions and principles he assailed. I would, therefore, put it to yourself, whether it was quite compatible with this character to assume that my contradiction of an article in another journal, relating to matters of fact, dating as far back as the Cincinnati Convention of June, 1856, had been intended as a defence of the acts of an administration which did not come into existence until nine months afterward; and thereupon to pronounce the conclusion “that Mr. Buchanan’s letter has not vindicated Mr. Buchanan’s career.” Mr. Buchanan has carefully refrained, for four long years, from any attempt to vindicate his “career” as President, except so far as this was forced upon him in his controversy with General Scott, and this course he shall still continue to pursue, until the publication of his historical sketch.

Indeed, his recent letter to the editor of the New York Post would never have been written had the editor republished from his files the old article, as published nearly nine years before (though never known to Mr. B. until a few days ago), with any comments he might have thought proper. That of which Mr. Buchanan now complains is that the new article, though ostensibly based upon the old, presents a statement of facts essentially different, in a most important particular, from the original; and this, too, with the evident object of injuring his character. This change consists in substituting for the name of Colonel Black, who was a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention, that of Judge Black, who was not; and, at the same time, referring to the fact that “the Judge was afterward Attorney General under Mr. Buchanan.” Whence this radical change, if not to bring home to Mr. Buchanan a complicity in the infamous pledge which the last article falsely, but in express terms, attributes to Judge Black? Had the facts stated in this article, on the authority of the editor of the Post, remained without contradiction, they would have been taken for granted by the public, to the lasting and serious injury to the reputation both of Judge Black and Mr. Buchanan.

It is but justice to the reputation of a brave and lamented officer to repeat that, in his ardent and impassioned remarks before the convention, evidently without previous preparation, there is not the least color for attributing to Colonel Black a pledge which would have been a serious imputation upon the fair fame of a man who was without fear and without reproach.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[SECRETARY STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

War Department, Washington City, June 16, 1865.

Dear Sir:—

Your note of the 14th inst., enclosing Mr. Tate’s letter, has just reached me, and I have ordered the immediate release of Lieutenant Tate and his three friends, with transportation from Johnson’s Island to Alabama. I hope that you are in the enjoyment of good health, and beg you to present my compliments to Miss Lane.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO A FRIEND.]

My Dear Sir:—

I have received yours of the 10th instant, and annex a receipt. I had not thought of charging interest.

Should you need one or two thousand dollars in the fall, I shall be happy to accommodate you. Please to give me notice as long in advance as may be convenient.

My health is as usual.

I begin to doubt seriously whether President Johnson will do, but still hope for the best.

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. LEIPER.]

Wheatland, June 19, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I was glad to perceive, from the Jeffersonian, that you were well enough to preside and to speak at your late Democratic county meeting. From the tenor of your last letter, I was fearful you would not be able to perform this duty. I am truly thankful that I was mistaken. Our thread of life is already so long that the Fates cannot have much of it in reserve. May God grant that we shall both be ready to welcome our Saviour at His coming, whensoever He may arrive.

Thank Heaven! we have lived to witness the return of peace. I do not pretend to speculate on the future course of President Johnson. Of the past there can be no doubt. Until the close of my administration, no man had a better Democratic record, unless we may except his effort to give away the public lands to actual settlers. With this exception, I received his uniform support.

My health is wonderfully good, considering my age. It has been so for the last six months, but I make no calculation for the future.

I am happy to perceive that you are living over your life in your grandchildren. This is a source of enjoyment which I do not possess, yet I congratulate you upon it with all my heart. May they all be as prosperous and happy as your heart can desire!

Miss Lane desires me to present her affectionate regards to you.

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. TOUCEY.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, August 3, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 29th ultimo, with the accompanying communication. It is too late to make use of them in my book, the manuscript of which is now in the hands of the Appletons, and I am from week to week receiving the proofs, but not in such quantities as I could desire. They publish it at their own risk, and are stereotyping it. From present appearances, it will not be published for a month or six weeks. Still, when I wrote it, your testimony before the committee was in my possession, and I think you will say I have made good use of it.

I have heard that the legislature of Connecticut have restored your portrait, and that of Governor Seymour, to their appropriate places among the Governors. Is this true? It was a shameful act to have removed them.

Judge Black was here a few days ago. He informs me that Mr. and Mrs. [Jacob] Thompson left Halifax for France on the steamer some weeks ago, and that the money deposited by him in Canada belonged to himself. It is well for him he has made his escape......

My health is very good, considering my age. I lead a tranquil and contented life, free from self-reproach for any of the acts of my administration. How much I wish to see Mrs. Toucey and yourself! Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to both. Please to present my warmest regards to her, and remember me kindly to Governor Seymour.

James Buchanan.

[MR. TOUCEY TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Hartford, September 18, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your letter inquiring who persuaded General Scott to take the “Star of the West” instead of the “Brooklyn,” to send reinforcements and provisions to Fort Sumter in 1861. I am not able to answer the question, except by saying that I did not. Who did persuade him to make the change is entirely unknown to me. I always supposed that he was induced to send the “Star of the West” by advisers outside of the administration. Of course I cannot answer for Mr. Holt, but I never suspected that he was the author of that measure.

If you can do it without any inconvenience, I should be glad to receive from you a copy of the joint order of Mr. Holt and myself to the Military and Naval Forces at Pensacola, which we issued during the session of the Peace Convention. You may remember that I applied for a copy to Mr. Welles, and he declined to give it. I may have occasion to make some use of it.

Mrs. Toucey unites with me in most respectful and kindest regards to yourself and Miss Lane.

Very truly yours, with the highest respect,

Isaac Toucey.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO THE HON. C. J. FAULKNER.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, October 21, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have this moment received your favor of the 19th inst. Whilst attributing to me patriotic motives for my official acts when President, you express the opinion that I had erred in some of my recommendations and measures of policy. To this, as a reasonable man, I can have no objection, for I may have committed many errors. But when you add that I would probably myself admit such to be the fact, I must say that you are mistaken. I pursued a settled consistent line of policy from the beginning to the end, and, on reviewing my past conduct, I do not recollect a single important measure which I should desire to recall, even if this were in my power. Under this conviction I have enjoyed a tranquil and cheerful mind, notwithstanding the abuse I have received, in full confidence that my countrymen would eventually do justice. I am happy to know that you still continue to be my friend, and I cordially reciprocate your kindly sentiments, wishing that you may long live in health and prosperity.

I thank you for the slip from the National Intelligencer, which I have no doubt contains a correct representation of your conduct whilst Minister in France. I learned from Mr. Magraw the cause of your arrest soon after you had been discharged. I am happy to say that through God’s mercy I enjoy unusual health for a man now in his seventy-fifth year.

Miss Lane is not at home or she would certainly return you her kind remembrances.

Very respectfully your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MANTON MARBLE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, November 4, 1865.

Dear Sir:—

I have received, through your favor of the 29th ultimo, the invitation of the Managing Committee to become an honorary member of the Manhattan Club, and I cheerfully and gratefully accept this token of their regard.

It is proper I should thank the Committee for their kind recognition of my long services in the cause of Democracy. Convinced that its principles spring from the very essence of the Constitution, I know they can never die whilst this shall survive. All that is required to render them again triumphant, as they were in the days of Jefferson and Jackson, is that the party, without concealment or reserve, shall, as then, with unity of spirit, persistently present and uphold them before the American people in their native truth, simplicity and grandeur. I am too old to take part in this glorious task, but, were I twenty years younger, I should once more devote myself to its accomplishment, firmly believing that this would be the triumph of law, liberty and order, and would best secure every interest—material, social and political—of all classes of my countrymen.

Yours very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, November 25, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

You will have seen ere this that my little book has been launched on a stormy ocean. I thank God that I have lived to perform this duty. It will be severely criticised, but the facts and authorities cited cannot be demolished.

. . . . . . .

Miss Lane desires to be most kindly remembered to you.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[REV. DR. NEVIN TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

November 30, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

Please accept my sincere thanks for the copy of your new work just placed in my hands. I shall hold it in high value for what I conceive to be its intrinsic historical importance, and also as a cherished monument of your personal friendship and favor. It gives me pleasure to find that it is in the way of gaining wide attention in the country, and I look upon it as a significant tribute to its power that so little effort has been made thus far (so far as I know), in quarters where it might have been expected, to meet it in the way of earnest controversy and contradiction. For the case is not one in which people of sense can persuade themselves that the argument is to be disposed of finally, either by blind general abuse, or by any affectation of silent indifference and contempt. That your last days may be your best days, and that they may be followed by a brighter happiness in heaven, is the prayer of

Your affectionate friend,

J. W. Nevin.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. BAKER.]

Wheatland, December 25, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your kind favor of the 21st, and also the grand Christmas turkey, of which I entertain the warmest anticipations. Although we Presbyterians make no fuss over Christmas, yet we do not altogether despise the good things which it brings in its train as kept by the outside barbarians......

I heartily rejoice with you that you have completed the barn.

With my warmest wishes that you and yours may enjoy many a merry Christmas and many a happy New Year, I remain as ever your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO A FRIEND.]

Wheatland, December 30, 1865.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of yesterday, and cannot consent that you shall be put to any inconvenience, or be obliged to sell your railroad shares at so low a price for the want of $1,000. I shall, therefore, send you a check for that amount on the 2d January, and send a check to our friend for $800, with a positive promise to send him the remaining $1,000 on the 1st February.

I shall be very happy to see Mr. Phillips and yourself on any day next week; but on the week following a great event is to take place, at which, I hope, you may be present, though it will be almost strictly private. If Mr. Phillips cannot come on the week commencing on New Year’s day, then we must postpone his visit until the week commencing on the 15th January.

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—I send a pair of canvas-backs.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. FLINN.]

(Without date.)

My Dear Sir:—

I have received the book, and am indebted to you for having procured it for me.

I am glad to learn that you soon propose to write me a longer letter.

The rebels, when at Wrightsville, were within eleven miles of us. No Democrat, within my knowledge was, in the least degree, alarmed for his personal safety. Not one of my personal or political friends, male or female, thought of leaving Lancaster. Miss Lane entertained no fears. I doubt not, however, that they have made sad havoc among the horses of my tenant in Franklin county. I trust that General Lee may speedily be driven across the Potomac. He would never have been here had not —— been such a poor devil.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, January 18, 1866.

My Dear Mrs. Johnston:—

I have received your kind letter, but not until Tuesday, when I thought it uncertain whether an answer would reach you at Boston.

I am much gratified with its tone, and think you have embarked on the sea of matrimony with a fair prospect that the voyage may be happy. This will, in a great measure, as I have often told you, depend upon yourself. I hope you may perform your domestic duties with as much dignity and propriety as you have manifested in your quasi public life. I long to see you an affectionate wife and an exemplary matron. You are now .... and have experienced enough of the life of the world to conclude that most of it is vanity and vexation of spirit. I trust you have heart and sense enough to be happy in your new condition. You will find it far better, to a well-balanced mind, than the flash and excitement produced by the admiration and flattery of the world. I expect great things from you, and trust I may not be disappointed.

The girls are still here, and render themselves quite agreeable.

I think the wedding went off properly and prosperously. Every guest was pleased. I almost lost my heart to Emily and Bessy. I liked them very much, and I think your association with them will prove highly agreeable. I have but little news to communicate. The Misses Steenman and Mr. and Mrs. Brinton have been here since you left, making anxious inquiries concerning you, which I was able to answer in a manner highly pleasing to myself. Mr. and Mrs. Swarr are about to attend the funeral of Mr. Mellon, their relative, in Philadelphia.

I am rejoiced that Mr. Johnston and Mr. Schell get along so well together. There is not now, and never has been, any reason why they should not. Mr. Schell is certainly one of the excellent of the earth, and there is no man living whom I esteem more highly.

I return you Sir Henry Holland’s letter, and I am almost tempted to send him a copy of my book, on your account, as he desires. Still, my opinion of his conduct, on his last visit to the United States, has not changed. Perhaps it was too much to expect from a London Doctor, that he would forego the honor of reviewing the army of the Potomac, or the society of Thurlow Weed, Miss Rebecca Smith and Mr. Everett, for the sake of visiting an old man at Wheatland, who was proscribed by the grand dignitaries of the empire.

We have good sleighing here, and have been enjoying it moderately.

With my kindest regards to Mr. Johnston, I remain,

Yours ever affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, January 19, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 16th instant, and am happy to learn that no “fair one” has come athwart your regard for your old friends. I know that your heart is so expanded, that love and friendship will both find suitable quarters in it.

I shall deliver your very kind message to Mrs. Johnston, but do not expect to see her for a considerable time. She left here with Mr. Johnston on the day of the wedding, and is now, I believe, in New York. When they will go to Baltimore I do not know, but believe that soon after they intend to visit Cuba. I know that Mrs. Johnston would be delighted to receive your felicitations under your own hand. Her address will be Mrs. Henry E. Johnston, No. 79 Monument Street, Baltimore. I thank you for the offer to send me Mr. De Leon’s review, but I do not wish to have it. If there is anything disagreeable in it, as is doubtless the case, some person will be sure to send it to me. There is a violent and brutal attack on the book and on me in Beecher’s Independent, and I know not the number of extracts from the paper containing it, which I have received anonymously. The book is quietly making its own way, under the disadvantage of a very high price. Several thousands have been already sold, and the Appletons inform me the demand is still increasing.

I am truly happy to learn that my good old friend Dr. Jones is so well pleased with the book. Please to present him my very kindest regards.

Thank you for delivering my message to Mrs. Clay. She is charming, and has behaved beautifully in her trying situation.

When the opportunity offers, please to return my very kindest regards to Mrs. Dr. Houston. She is, indeed, an excellent woman, and I owe her many obligations.

I ought to thank you for the reports “of the condition of the National Metropolitan Bank.” In these I observe you have blended specie with other lawful money, but the amount of each you have not designated. These reports have led to a train of reminiscences. The Democratic party, under the lead of General Jackson, put down one national bank as both unconstitutional and inexpedient. There are now more than sixteen hundred such banks. All over the country, on account of their enormous profits, these have enlisted great numbers of Democrats as stockholders, and they will constitute the most formidable obstacle to the triumph of the Democratic party. But this event must come sooner or later. I presume our friend Carlisle did not receive the book I sent him.

——, I perceive, has returned to Washington. Of all the absurd things I have encountered in my life, the cause of his enmity to me is the most absurd. I did him the greatest kindness which I could do to a father or a friend, by causing the lover of his daughter, to whom I was warmly attached, to be sent away quietly, instead of making the case a subject of diplomatic correspondence with the —— government.

I sat down to write you a few lines, and I have now written an unconscionably long letter.

From your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS HENRIETTA BUCHANAN.]

Wheatland, March 20, 1866.

My Dear Henrietta:—

I have recently had a photograph taken of myself, and as in duty bound I enclose you one of the first copies. They say it is a good likeness, and it certainly resembles the original, so far as old age and wrinkles are concerned.

I hope Annie and Harriet do not persecute you since their return home. I hope you have as kind a friend to take your part against them as you found at Wheatland.

We are living along here very quietly, but servants are our great trouble. We have no boy at present, our chambermaid is about to get married, and the cook is going to housekeeping with her husband. On the first of April, for any thing I know at present, we shall be left in the vocative......

I have not heard from Mrs. Johnston since she left New York, but the papers inform us that she and Mr. Johnston have arrived at the Havana.....

I received a letter two or three days ago from your brother James, who is evidently far behind the time. He expresses the hope that Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are now living comfortably at Baltimore. I fear that the five Miss Buchanans do not keep their brother well posted in regard to current events.

Please to give my kind love to all, not excepting Annie and Harriet, if they have treated you with proper respect, and believe me to be ever

Yours very affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, July 18th, 1866.

My Dear Niece:—

I have received yours of the 12th, and desire to express my sympathy for your sufferings from the extreme heat of the weather. I have received a letter from Annie giving me an agreeable account of her visit to you, and stating what good a housekeeper you are, and how happy you are in your domestic relations. God grant this may ever continue! She says Mr. Johnston and yourself are looking forward to your paying me a visit in August, and that he is very anxious you should go to the country for a while. You know that my house is ever open to you, and you shall always receive a cordial welcome. The same, I am certain, will be extended to you whether I am at home or not. I feared, from your former life, that you might be inclined to leave home too often, and, therefore, I guarded you against such an inclination, but whenever you come here, you know how much pleasure your society would afford me, and this would be increased by that of Mr. Johnston.

I enclose you the last letter of Mrs. ——, and I confess I am disappointed that your name is not mentioned in it. Please to return it to me. I had only thought of going to Saratoga to meet her, and when informed she would not be there, I determined to go to Bedford, because I really require the use of the water. I intend to take Thomas with me, who has behaved very well since his last escapade. I do not anticipate a pleasant visit. The place will swarm with Republican intriguers. —— and —— have gone there in advance of the main column. The latter, though professing Democracy, will take part in all their intrigues on the Senator and other questions......

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Bedford Springs, July 30th, 1866.

My Dear Niece:—

I have received your favor of the 25th, and would answer it at greater length, but this will be delivered to you by Miss Goughey Carroll who can tell you all the news. My time passes pleasantly enough, and everybody is kind. I shall leave here with Mr. North on Monday, the 6th August, unless some friend should arrive in the meantime with whom I can travel home at a later period. Thomas is useless, and worse than useless. I shall send him home to-day or to-morrow.

You inquire, is there any possibility of Clymer’s election? If I am to believe the shrewdest calculators in the State—I don’t pretend to give my own opinion—he will certainly be elected. Such is Governor Porter’s opinion, though he thinks that on joint ballot there will be a majority in the legislature against us. If so, a Republican will be elected Senator, and among the list of candidates,—such candidates, there is very little choice. Cameron’s chance is, I think, the best. You have doubtless observed that Thaddeus Stevens has made the amende honorable for having charged us with spending more than the $20,000 appropriated.[^[184]].....

With my kind regards to Mr. Johnston, I remain

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—If you so desire, you might come to Wheatland by the 8th August, whether I am at home or not.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, August 10, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

I returned the day before yesterday from a visit to the Bedford Springs, from which I derived much benefit. Indeed my health is now quite as good as I can reasonably expect, considering my age.

You ask my opinion as to the course which the approaching convention ought to pursue. Whilst I do not feel myself competent to state in detail what ought to be their proceedings, yet one thing is certain; they ought, neither directly nor indirectly, to break up the organization of the old Democratic party by forming anything like a new party. Leaving this as it is, and must ever remain, they ought to confine themselves pretty much to the question of reconstruction, and to the admission of Senators and Representatives from the Southern States.

Our most prudent and far-seeing politicians, as they inform me, believe that Mr. Clymer will be elected governor, and this would be the beginning of the end. But drop the principles and the name of Democracy, and our case would be hopeless. In regard to what your history should contain, I have nothing to say. Of this you are unquestionably the best judge. It possibly might appear to be an anachronism to introduce the events of the late war. But you know best.[^[185]]

From your friend very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS JANE BUCHANAN.]

Wheatland, August 10, 1866.

My Dear Jane:—

Your letter of the 19th July was duly received, and would have been sooner acknowledged, but for my engagements at Bedford. I returned home on Tuesday afternoon, after a very agreeable visit, and one, I think, beneficial to my health. As in duty bound, I called to see the Nevins yesterday, and had the pleasure of meeting the bishop in embryo, and Cecil, as well as Doctor and Mrs. Nevin, and Blanche. I find that during my absence, all the younger branches of the family have been diligently employed in croquet. They won a match to which they were challenged by the townspeople, which gives them great satisfaction, and they are eager to enter the lists with Jennie Roland. Has it never occurred to a lady of your sedate character, that croquet, like dancing or any other innocent and healthful amusement, may be carried to excess?...... Your future uncle, Rev. Dr. Alfred Nevin, has, I fear, sustained a damaging defeat in his controversy with Judge Black on the subject of political preaching. Can you not persuade your father to come to the rescue...... The little house at the entrance of the park looks rather shabby, but I have promised you to put it in order, and on this you may rely.

You seem to have suffered much from the heat. Philosophers have calculated how many thousand years would be required to cool a ball of iron as large as the earth, but as your body is not very large, I trust that ere this you have become cool, and been relieved from the headache. I trust that Lois is also learning to live like other people.

—— was expected to return from Cape May last evening, where she had been for some time with her brother ——. I think she manifested a want of taste in not cultivating the “three rowdies.” Certain it is, sinner as I am, I found them very agreeable. I think she should marry, and to this I would have no objection, if her yoke-fellow should be a proper person.

I expect Mrs. Johnston here from the 15th to the 20th. I shall, indeed, be very glad to see her. The Baltimoreans whom I met at Bedford say she never looked better, and that she appears to be very happy. God grant that her marriage may prove prosperous, and that she may not neglect the things which belong to her everlasting peace!

Miss Hetty is as busy as ever, and although we now have a good waiter and cook and two good girls, yet her employment is incessant. She could not live without work. I have never known her to take so much to any of our visitors as she did to the three croquet players.

I have now nearly filled my sheet with a grave letter, and hope you will ponder over its contents.

Give my kindest love to your father and mother, as well as the rest, especially to Lois, for whom this letter is partly intended. Never again call her Lodi.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, October 2, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

I was greatly amused and pleased with the graphic description of your dream which placed me in the pulpit. We have sore need of such preachers as you saw in your vision. I fear that infidelity and indifference to religion are making rapid advances in our country. Away with political preachers!

I rejoice to learn your advancement in the very important history, and earnestly desire that the blessing of Heaven may rest upon your labors.

In answer to your inquiry about the probable result of our governor’s election, I can say but little of my own knowledge. Our most discreet friends, however, calculate with considerable confidence on the election of Clymer. The President’s pilgrimage to the tomb of Senator Douglas has done the cause no good. It would have been better had he rested on the issue as it was made by the Philadelphia Convention.

Mrs. Johnston returned to Baltimore a fortnight since in good health and spirits. I intend to pay her a visit soon after the election.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO CHARLES GRAFFEN.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 22, 1866.

My Dear Sir:—

I regret deeply that I did not see the Philadelphia firemen at Wheatland on their recent visit to Lancaster. A visit from them would have been a gratification and an honor which I should have highly prized. Unfortunately, I did not receive Mr. Howell’s note of the 18th, appointing the time at half-past nine o’clock of the next morning for the purpose, until the afternoon of the 19th at five o’clock. Instead of this being sent to me by messenger, it was deposited in the post office, and thus it did not come to hand more than seven hours after the time appointed for the visit. I would thank you to explain the circumstances to any of the firemen whom you may happen to meet, should you deem this necessary. I should be deeply mortified could any of them suppose I had been wanting in the high respect to them so eminently their due.

From your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MESSRS. OSBORN AND BALDWIN.]

(Private.)

Wheatland, near Lancaster, December 26, 1866.

Gentlemen:—

I received, on last evening, the New Haven Daily Register, containing an extract from Abbott’s Lives of the Presidents. This is a repetition and concentration of all the slanders which were in circulation against myself during the first years of the war, notwithstanding their falsehood has been since established by clear and conclusive official evidence. For your very able and searching reply to Mr. Abbott’s statements, please to accept my most cordial thanks. As the work purports to be history, I may possibly notice it in the only manner which would make its author feel how much injustice he has done me. I remain, very respectfully and gratefully,

Yours,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO THE REV. E. Y. BUCHANAN.]

Wheatland, December 29, 1866.

My Dear Edward:— I have received your favor of the 26th, and am truly happy to learn that you and yours are in the enjoyment of good health, and that you have received so many substantial tokens of regard from your parishioners. May it be ever thus! My own health, thank God! is as good as it was when we parted in Philadelphia. Your kind wish that the good Lord may spare me to see many Christmases will scarcely be realized. This, at my advanced age, I cannot expect. May He enable me to be always prepared for my latter end!

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

Mr. and Mrs. Shunk passed the evening at ——’s a few days ago, and I was sorry to learn that a principal portion of the entertainment was spirit-rapping and communications from the spirits.

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

My dinner at Judge Cadwalader’s was more than usually agreeable. With my best love to your lady and family, I remain, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, February 12, 1867.

My Dear Niece:—

I was glad to receive your favor of the 6th, after so long an interval. Poor Mrs. Jenkins was buried yesterday, and Miss Old and myself were invited as mourners. Her death made a deep impression upon me. I have been intimately acquainted with her ever since I first came to Lancaster, and was groomsman at her wedding. Her life is all before me, and, with some slight failings, it is a beautiful picture. Her social and domestic character were nearly all that could have been desired. Whether in prosperous or adverse fortunes, she was ever the same kind wife, mother and friend. I was always attached to her.

My own health is now pretty much as usual, though after my dinner in Philadelphia, which was all I could have desired, I had a pretty sharp attack of rheumatism, which confined me to Wheatland for a week, but thank God! it has passed away. Like Achilles, I was wounded in the heel, and, funny enough, it passed out at the little toe......

I knew that Henrietta Jane would render herself agreeable wherever she went, and am not at all surprised that the Carrolls are unwilling to part from her. This shows they are sensible people......

I have not seen Mrs. Franklin since the receipt of your letter. When I do I shall not fail to inform her how much gratified you were with the present......

I regret to say that the slippers are much too large for me, and, therefore, I have not worn them; but, as a token of your regard, I value them as highly as if they were a good fit.

We have no local news of much importance, except that everybody is to be married. The engagement of young Mr. —— to Miss ——, so soon after the death of ——, is thought by some to be strange.

On Thursday last, Jane Slaymaker, Harriet Old and Mrs. Lane passed the day with me on their own invitation, and it was a most agreeable day. Mrs. Jenkins was not considered at all dangerously ill on that day, though she died on the next. Mrs. Shunk was not with us, having gone over to York to look after her house. She is now here, as agreeable as ever, though Mr. Shunk has gone to Philadelphia for a few days. I see the Nevins as often as usual. The Doctor and Mrs. Nevin, Blanche and Wilberforce, were all at the funeral, though the Bishop in embryo was not present. I presume he has returned to his studies, as his mother said nothing about him, and I forgot to ask her for him......

With my kind regards to Mr. Johnston, I remain,

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. SHUNK.]

Wheatland, March 7th, 1867.

My Dear Madam:—

On this auspicious anniversary of your birth, permit me to present my cordial wishes that you may enjoy many, very many, returns of it in peace, prosperity and happiness.

Please to accept the enclosed trifle as a birthday token of my affection and esteem for one whose society, during the last few months, has imparted a charm to my old age, the memory of which shall never be effaced from my heart. Deeply regretting that you must so soon leave me, I am, and ever shall remain,

Your much attached friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, April 29th, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your favor of the 14th instant, and have perused, with much interest, your letter to the Rev. Mr. Blagden. The subject of it, which you treat so ably, has attracted but little attention in this part of the country; still, some symptoms are apparent that the Republicans in this State intend to make capital out of it. In this, I think, they will entirely fail. Lager beer, especially among the Germans, and old rye will be too strong for them. Still, intemperance is a great curse to our people, but it will never be put down by laws prohibiting the sale of all intoxicating liquors......

Mrs. Shunk left me more than a month ago, and is now at her father’s, in Washington, with her husband. They will all return to York on the adjournment of the Supreme Court. She is one of the most charming persons I have ever known. I ought to add that Mr. Shunk’s health is far from being good.

I have been endeavoring for the last two days to prepare an index for my book, but find great difficulty in the task.

The result of the spring election throughout our State has been favorable to the Democratic party; but we have of late years been so accustomed to defeat, that I shall not, too sanguinely, calculate on success in October.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, June 11, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

Your kind letter of the 30th April would long ere this have been answered, but for an intensely painful attack of rheumatic gout, several weeks ago, from the effects of which I am now slowly recovering. The index was, of course, abandoned, probably forever. I cannot think for a moment of imposing the task upon you, by accepting your friendly offer. I am now in my seventy-seventh year, an age when my mind should be disembarrassed, as much as possible, from all worldly affairs.

I trust, for your sake, that the “Grand Hotel” may be a great success, and may fill your pockets with stores of gold.

I am glad that the Radical postmaster of Boston has been directed by the Department to apply to you for advice respecting the postal service. “Better late than never” to recognize the value of your improvements and your wise policy in removing the post office.

I no longer give any minute attention to passing political events; but I confess I entertain much apprehension from the efforts now being made to indoctrinate the negroes of the South with the belief that they are entitled to a portion of their old masters’ real estate. When will Massachusetts stay her hand?

What is to become of the Supreme Court of the United States—the conservative branch of the Government? When I recall the names of the pure, able and venerable men who have filled the office of Chief Justice, from John Jay to Roger B. Taney, and witness the efforts of the present Chief Justice to drag the judicial ermine through the dirt to propitiate radicals, I cannot help thinking we have fallen upon evil times. But I am now an old fogy.

Should Judge Sharswod be nominated for Judge of our Supreme Court by the Judicial Convention this day, I venture the prediction that the Democratic party will triumph in his election in October.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. BAKER.]

Wheatland, July 16, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

Shortly after your last letter to me, several weeks ago, I wrote to Mr. Reed and invited him to Wheatland in the most cordial manner. I have received no answer from him, and think it probable he may have never received my letter; and yet, none of my letters between this and Philadelphia has ever miscarried. When you see him, I would thank you to ascertain how the matter is. I do not like to write myself under the circumstances.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston will leave here on Thursday for Bedford, but I shall not accompany them. I am literally weak in the knees. Do you go anywhere this summer? I have some idea of visiting Long Branch or Cape May, for a few days, for sea bathing, but am reluctant to leave home.

I suppose you are now in the midst of your harvest, enjoying the delights of a country life and enacting the character of Farmer Baker. May your barn overflow with plenty!

With my kindest regards to Mrs. Baker, Miss Emily and all, I remain,

Very respectfully, your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Cape Island, New Jersey, August 14, 1867.

My Dear Niece:—

I have received your favor of the 12th, and am rejoiced to learn that you are now at Wheatland, where I hope you may remain until the change of the season. You say nothing of the health of baby;[^[186]] but from your silence I infer this to be good. I do not know exactly when I shall leave this place, but I think early next week. I have been much pleased with my visit here, and have, I think, been strengthened, but much more by the sea air than the bathing. I am not quite certain that the latter agrees with me. We have had a great crowd all the time; but the weather has been charming and the company agreeable.

Mr. Bullitt of Philadelphia gave me a dinner the other day, which I only mention from the awkward situation in which I was placed by not being able to drink a drop of wine.

I am very well, thank God! Mr. Reed is expected this afternoon, and Judge Black to-morrow.

With my kindest regards to Mr. Johnston and Miss Hetty, I remain

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

P.S.—I ought not to omit to mention the obligations I am under to Mr. Baker for his kindness and attention.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. SHUNK.]

Wheatland, near Lancaster, September 2, 1867.

My Dear Mrs. Shunk:—

I know you will be glad to learn that I have so far recovered as to be able to sit up and write to you my first letter since the commencement of my very dangerous illness. Thank God! the doctor gives me reason to believe I am now out of danger, and it has been His holy will to spare me a little longer.

Next to heaven, my thoughts have been fixed upon a preparation of my biography, as an act of justice to myself and the great men with whom I have been associated. This work shall be immediately prosecuted. I was rejoiced to learn from your favor of the 5th ultimo that Mr. Shunk will give me the notes and the review. Indeed, without the notes I know not how I could get along in regard to my earlier life. I hope he will send me all, as all will be useful. The slightest note will revive my memory......

I shall ever remember with heartfelt gratification the period during which I enjoyed your charming society at Wheatland. I trust you may visit me again before Mrs. Johnston leaves for Baltimore, which will be on the first proximo.

With kind love to your mother, Mary and Jane, and my regards for Mr. Shunk, I remain faithfully and affectionately your friend,

James Buchanan.

P. S.—You will please to deliver the notes and review to the bearer hereof, your old friend, James B. Henry, who will await your convenience.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]

Wheatland, September 23, 1867.

My Dear James:—

I regret to say that I have not received Benton’s “Thirty Years,” which you sent me by express some ten days ago. It has certainly not reached the office at Lancaster. Will you look after it, and, if not found, send me the receipt? I now need it.

The baby has been very sick, but probably not more so than what often happens to children in their teething. Harriet became alarmed and sent for Mr. Johnston, who is now here, but will leave this morning. The child is greatly better, but has yet got no tooth. He proposes to return and take his wife home the beginning of next week......

My health and strength are improving daily, but, in opposition to the doctor, I do not think the obstruction is entirely removed.

Yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, November 2, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

Since the receipt of your favor of the 17th ultimo, I have had another attack of my old enemy, the gout, in a severe form, from which I am just now recovering. This is the only reason why I have not sooner answered your letter and thanked you for your delicious pears. I shall use them as time mellows them. Please to present my grateful acknowledgments to Mrs. Raney for her contribution to the delicious fruit which has afforded so much pleasure to her father’s old friend.

I hear perhaps once a week from Mr. and Mrs. Johnston. Both, as well as the little baby, are well.

I reciprocate your congratulations on the result of the late elections, and I do not doubt that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will do their duty to the country. Still, it may be too late to restore material prosperity to the Southern States. The establishment of negro suffrage throughout their limits, as well as negro government, will nearly destroy the production of the articles which rendered both them and New England so prosperous. I have always been very much of an optimist, but I confess I have now greater fears for the future than I had during the war. Should New England teaching in the South produce a war of races, commenced by the negroes for rights in the soil of their masters, which they claim under the teachings of Sumner, Stevens, and other self-styled philanthropists, the result would be too horrible for contemplation. But enough.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. CAPEN.]

Wheatland, October 19, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received your congratulations on the result of the late elections with heartfelt pleasure. For this we are mainly indebted to the attempts on the part of Congress to grant suffrage to the negroes, although there are many other good causes for the reaction in the popular mind. Negro emancipation is a fixed fact, and so let it remain forever; but the high privilege of voting can only be constitutionally granted by the Legislatures of the respective States.

I am happy to inform you that, under the blessing of Providence, my health has been restored to its former condition. Indeed, I believe I am better than I was before my attack.

I have no news which would interest you except the old declaration that I am now, and always shall be,

Sincerely your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. BAKER.]

Wheatland, October 31, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

I have just received a letter from Sample, who expresses a strong desire to remain on the farm, and says that the impression he intended to leave must have arisen from the fact that he has been looking out for a farm for his brother. I shall not remove him.

The sting of the poisonous insect, whatever it may have been, is now converted into a painful attack of gout in my left hand and wrist. I have not been able to attend to the biography, or prepare for Mr. Reed. I presume, however, that the trial of Jeff. Davis will occupy all his thoughts until after it shall be over.

With my kindest regards to Mrs. Baker and my love to Emily,

I remain, always your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. SCHELL.]

Wheatland, November 9, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

I have received a proxy, to be signed by me, from Robert L. Banks to H. Henry Baxter, to vote my shares in the New York Central Road Company, at the approaching election for directors. Before filling it up, I desire to know whether it is in accordance with your wishes. I desire to vote according to your wishes.

You have done nobly in New York at the recent election, and your Democracy have earned the gratitude of the whole country. The opposition to Negro Suffrage in the South, as well as in the North, has been the principal cause of our triumph everywhere. Abandon this, and we are gone. The Constitution, as expounded by the Democratic fathers, ought to be our watch-word. It is long enough and wide enough to cover all our interests, and needs not to be enlarged to suit our present size, as recommended by the World. Emancipation is now a constitutional fact, but to prescribe the right and privilege of suffrage belongs exclusively to the States. This principle the Democracy must uphold in opposition to the Reconstruction Acts.

I am getting along as usual, and have had much company of late. The Misses Pleasonton have been with me for some weeks, and I find their society very agreeable. I am sorry to say they will leave in a few days.

Your friend, as ever,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, November 14, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

I know how cordially welcome I would be at your house, but I fear I shall not be able to pay you a visit for months to come. Like all old men, I feel a very strong reluctance to leave home. The idea of becoming dangerously ill away from home deters me from going abroad. Although relieved from acute pain in my left hand and arm, yet my hand is still so weak and swollen that I cannot carve, and it is but a few days since I ceased to have the meat on my own plate cut up for me. And to add to all this, my left eye is now as black as if I had been fighting with shillelahs at Donnybrook Fair. On Saturday last, supposing that I was at the head of the steps on the front porch, I took a step forward as if on the level, and fell with my whole weight on the floor, striking my head against one of the posts. Thanks to the thickness and strength of my skull, it was not broken, and the only bad consequence from it is a very black eye. How soon this will disappear I know not. I sincerely and devoutly thank God it is no worse. During all this time, the Misses Pleasonton have been a great comfort to me, and I am truly sorry they will leave me on Tuesday next. I do not fear, however, that I shall be miserable without them. I have had a good deal of transient company this fall. But what a long rigmarole I have written.

. . . . . . . .

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I rejoice to learn that the baby is thriving so finely. Please to remember me kindly to Miss Snyder, and with my best love to Harriet,

I remain, your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, December 9, 1867.

My Dear Niece:—

I have received yours of the 3d instant, and am happy to learn that baby has recovered from the effects of his trip to New York. You need not be sorry to hear that James left me as soon as I gave him notice that I would not want him after the 1st January. I have obtained a much better man, a Frenchman, for the month of December. Indeed, he is so good, I shall be sorry to part from him.

I was truly sorry to hear of the death of my kinsman, Mr. Russell. He was an able and excellent man. It appears that he died a Roman Catholic, which, doubtless, gratified his wife and family. I wrote to her the day after I received the paper from you.

I perceive, by a cable despatch, that Mrs. Eustis is dead. I sincerely sympathize with her father, although he behaved badly to me, notwithstanding I rendered both her and him the greatest service in my power. I always liked her very much......

I wrote a few days ago for Henrietta Jane, with a request that either Harriet or Lois might accompany her. Edward’s answer, without mentioning the name of Harriet, informed me that Lois would follow Henrietta in two or three weeks. Thereupon, I wrote to Henrietta, giving Harriet a kind and pressing invitation to come in the meantime. It is doubtful whether she will accept it. Henrietta is to be here on Wednesday, as well as Emily Baker, so that I may expect a gay house......

I have no local news to give you beyond what you see in the Intelligencer. The Nevins are as kind as usual. Blanche is an excellent reader. The Doctor passed an evening with me a few days ago. Robert has undoubtedly received great attentions from the clergy in England, and has preached there once, if not oftener. I was sorry to learn he was obliged to go to France on account of his health.

I hardly know what to say in regard to my own health, though it has been pretty good for the last two or three days. Even had Mr. Reed been able to come here, I felt so dull and listless as to be almost incapable of mental exertion. Writing was a great labor to me. I have felt bright for a few days.

I fully realize the truth of the Psalmist’s expression, that “The days of our years are three score and ten, and if, by reason of strength, they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Nevertheless, I am neither dejected nor sorrowful, but preserve a calm and tranquil spirit, thank God! My left hand is still feeble, but is gradually growing stronger.

It is quite impossible that I should pay you a visit during the holidays, though you must know I would be very happy to see you. With my kind regards to Mr. Johnston, I remain, as ever, yours affectionately,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO DR. BLAKE.]

Wheatland, December 25, 1867.

My Dear Sir:—

I owe you many thanks for your biographical sketch of Mr. Jones. I have perused it with great interest and pleasure. It is a worthy tribute to an excellent man. At the request of the first Mrs. Webster and Mrs. George Blake, I accompanied them to the house of Mrs. Mattingly, a few days after the alleged miracle had been performed, and heard her own relation of all the circumstances attending it from her own lips.

I have, also, to thank you for the report of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Thank God! my own health is now pretty good—quite as good as a man of my age has any reason to expect.

I have been cheered by the company of the Misses Pleasanton, and after their departure by that of two of my nieces, the daughters of my brother, and Miss Baker, who are still with me. They have made the house gay and agreeable.

I have no local news to communicate which would be of any interest to you.

I saw a telegram, some weeks ago, announcing the death of Mrs. Eustis, and sincerely sympathize with her father on account of his sad bereavement.

I presume the interest due on the Virginia bonds, on the 1st January next, will not be paid. Should I be mistaken, please to inform me of it, so that I may send you a draft on John B. Martin, Cashier, for $220, as I did before.

Wishing you, with all my heart, long life, health and prosperity, I remain, ever very respectfully,

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MRS. JOHNSTON.]

Wheatland, January 1st, 1868.

My Dear Niece:—

I have received yours of the 27th ultimo, and am rejoiced to know that your health is good as well as that of baby. I sincerely and ardently pray for your boy long life, happiness and prosperity, and that he may become a wise and a useful man, under the blessing of Providence, in his day and generation. Much will depend on his early and Christian training. Be not too indulgent, nor make him too much of an idol.

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Miss Emily’s party passed off very well. She is gay, sprightly and agreeable, and has much more information than I had supposed. Her father is my best and most useful friend, who is always ready to serve me, and I wished to treat his daughter kindly.

Harriet and Henrietta are still with me, but the former, I regret to say, will leave some time next week......

We have no local news of interest. The Nevins and myself get along kindly, as usual.

With my kindest regards to Mr. Johnston, I remain,

Yours, with great affection,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MISS BAKER.]

Wheatland, January 1, 1868.

My Dear Emily:—

I have received your kind note of the 29th, and can assure you we all missed you very much, and I was almost broken-hearted at your departure. Still, I think I shall survive in the hope that you may visit us again during the winter. I thank you for the Church Journal. It must be a paper according to your own heart. I think I can see you standing gracefully on the highest pinnacle of Ritualism, and taking your flight over to Romanism. You will not have a difficult passage to the dome of St. Peter’s.

John Strube has, I believe, got a place for the winter, but, I have no doubt, he will gladly go to your father as a gardener in the spring.

The two girls and Miss Hetty send their kindest love to you.

With my very best wishes for your health, prosperity and happiness, I remain, respectfully and affectionately

Your friend,

James Buchanan.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. NAHUM CAPEN.]

Wheatland, January 11, 1868.

My Dear Sir:—

Many thanks for your kind New Year’s greeting! The friendship and good wishes which you express for me are cordially reciprocated. May you live many years in health, peace and prosperity, and may your great work prove to be a triumph for yourself and a lasting benefit for your country! I think you were right in not turning away from it to write a volume of four hundred pages, as a political hand-book for the next Presidential campaign. Such a volume would be highly useful and important, but it may well be prepared by Messrs. Burke and Gillet. Should they undertake the task, I would suggest that you recommend to them a careful perusal of the debates and proceedings of Congress during the extra session, after the election of General Harrison (first Session of 27th Congress, 1841). Mr. Burke was then a member of the House.

Thank God! I now enjoy reasonably good health.

Your friend, very respectfully,

James Buchanan.

CHAPTER XXX.
1868.

DEATH OF MR. BUCHANAN—HIS CHARACTER AS A STATESMAN, A MAN AND A CHRISTIAN.

Notwithstanding the prospect of longer life with which the year 1868 began for Mr. Buchanan, the end was drawing near. The world and the world’s interests faded away, the unknown future opened before him, and naught earthly remained for the strong old man, bound down by the infirmities of age, but the tender care of those who had assembled to soothe and cheer him.

When in health, he was very fond of having bright and cultivated women about him, and in sickness he was peculiarly dependent on their ministrations. For him, there had never been wife or child. But he was specially blest by female kindred, who never failed or faltered in their devotion to him. There were present at Wheatland, during his last illness, his brother, the Rev. Dr. Buchanan; Miss Henrietta Buchanan, daughter of that gentleman; Mr. and Mrs. Johnston; Mr. Henry, and the ever faithful “Miss Hetty.” Kind neighbors were at hand, among whom his friend, the Rev. Dr. Nevin, was one of the most assiduous. Doctor Buchanan was obliged to return to his home, near Philadelphia, two days before the death occurred, at which time the event was apparently not very near. Miss Henrietta Buchanan, whose absence from her uncle’s room, even for a short time, made him impatient, as well as Mrs. Johnston and Miss Parker, watched him with the utmost tenderness to the last. So did the others whom I have named. His death, the immediate cause of which was rheumatic gout, occurred on the morning of June 1st, 1868, in his 78th year. His last hours were free from suffering, and his mind was clear. Miss Annie Buchanan says, in a communication addressed to me:—

In his last year he began to feel that he was very old, and looked forward to death, and spoke as if he expected it constantly. Not that his health was such as to create this expectation, for it was as good as persons of his age usually enjoy. He had a very severe illness soon after his return from Washington.

He had, previous to that illness, been unusually strong and well, but afterwards I do not think he was quite so much so. He had attacks of gout, more or less severe, at intervals, up to the time of his death. He had, besides, an illness which came upon him during a short visit which he paid to Cape May, which prostrated him so much that it was necessary to take him home as a sick man.

Each one of these illnesses made him realize more clearly that his hold on life was very weak, that the “silver cord would soon be loosed,” and he devoted himself to making all necessary preparations for that great event. His affairs were all arranged with exactness, so as to cause as little confusion as possible after his death. He chose the exact spot for his last resting place, saying, either as expressing a desire or as predicting a fact, that he would lie alone. Having carefully arranged all his plans, he waited, with faith and hope, for the final change which would open to him the real and satisfying life. When the dreaded messenger came, those who loved him knew that rest had come to him at last, and that his “faith had changed to glad fruition.”

The funeral obsequies of the late President took place at Lancaster, on the 4th of June, with every imposing demonstration that was consistent with a proper respect for his unostentatious character. I need not describe the scene, or recapitulate the ceremonies by which the event of his death was marked throughout the country. They may be read in the public journals of the time. But from the funeral sermon, preached over his remains by the Rev. John W. Nevin, D.D., President of Franklin and Marshall College, an extract must be permanently recorded in these pages, at the close of the present chapter.

It is unnecessary for me to undertake a formal and elaborate portrayal of Mr. Buchanan’s character as an American statesman. It has been exhibited in the foregoing pages, and the reader does not need to be farther assisted by me in his estimate of the public character of the man. But there are some observations which should be made by the author of this work, before citing the testimony of those who stood to him in the relations of near kindred, or of personal friendship.

There may be persons who will be disposed to think that he should not have allowed himself, in his old age, to be disturbed by the attacks that were made upon him by the press after his retirement from public life. But such persons should remember that he had to administer the Executive Government at a very trying period, and that many of the charges that were subsequently made against him involved his integrity as a statesman, and the oath of office which every President must take to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Moreover, I cannot, for one, subscribe to the philosophy which assumes that a statesman should be indifferent to what is said of him by his contemporaries, or to what is made to pass into the materials of history, if it be not corrected. It must be admitted that in all free countries there is prurient appetite for detraction, and our American world is certainly not free from it. A considerable part of the public, in a certain sense, enjoys disparagement of the characters of very eminent public men. If this were not so, the press would at least be more careful and more conscientious than it often is. The absolute freedom of the press is of the utmost consequence. Its licentiousness is best restrained by the moral sense of the community, in the case of the higher statesmen; and to the extent to which this restraint does not operate, vast mischief may be done. It is impossible for posterity to know how to estimate any man who has filled a conspicuous place in history, if the materials for a sober judgment are to be looked for only in the criticisms or laudations of the contemporary press; nor is it generally in the power of posterity to determine what deduction is to be made from the assertions or opinions of contemporaries, on account of the rancor of party or the malice of individuals. If Mr. Buchanan had not taken the pains, which he did take, to collect and preserve the most ample proof of his acts, his purposes, and his efforts as President of the United States, he would have gone down to future ages in a light utterly false, simply because he happened to be the object of enormous misrepresentations from motives of party policy or personal ill-will, without the protection which the community should have thrown around him at the time. That this protection was to a great degree wanting, is doubtless due to the existence of public danger, and to the passions which may find their excuse in the fact that in many minds they had their origin in patriotism, whilst in many the origin was of the basest description. That he, who was the object of all this misconception and misrepresentation, forbore, as long as there was serious danger to the institutions of the country, to demand the public attention as he might have demanded it, and calmly relied on the judgments of the future, is to be accounted to him for a praise and a public spirit of no ordinary kind. No man was ever treated with greater injustice than he was during the last seven years of his life by a large part of the public, and yet he bore it with dignity and with an unchanged love of country.

In regard to his moral and religious character and his personal virtues, I should not feel that I had done my duty if I did not here say what has impressed me in my study of the man.

His strong family affections, his engaging social qualities, his fidelity to friends, and his forgiving temper towards those who had injured him, or from whom he had once been estranged, are well known. To those who stood in the relation of friends, he was ever a most generous benefactor. Many a man received from him pecuniary aid which prevented disaster and ruin, and which could not be repaid by political service, for in many cases the individual never had it in his power to repay in anything but the simple discharge of the pecuniary obligation. This had been his habit all his life, as I learn from a full examination of his private papers, and he did not cease from it when political service was no longer needed. His tender of such aid often came without solicitation. He would not allow a friend whom he valued to incur serious loss, when he knew of the danger, and could supply the means of averting it. For what was justly his due, he expected and required performance; but he was always a forbearing and considerate creditor. For the poor, he ever had a tender and thoughtful feeling. The city of Lancaster holds in perpetual trust, under his will, a benefaction of a peculiar kind, which marks the nature of his charities, and was large for one of his means.

That he did not enrich himself out of the public, or receive gifts, or accumulate money by means of the opportunities afforded by his public positions, or give way to the weakness of nepotism, should, perhaps, not be mentioned to his praise, if it were not that his example in these respects has become conspicuous by contrast.

No charge against his moral character or personal virtue has ever been made to my knowledge. It was doubtless his early Presbyterian training by religious parents that saved him, amid all the temptations of a long and varied life and the widest social experience, from any deviation from the path of virtue. The tongue of scandal, the prying curiosity of the censorious, or of those who are always ready to drag down others to their own level, never could fasten upon his intercourse with the other sex any cause for suspicion, nor could the wiles of the impure ever ensnare him. It is believed by those who knew him best that his life was in this respect absolutely without stain, as his conversation although very often gay and festive, is known to have always been free from any taint of impurity. He was a man of too much refinement to be guilty of indelicacy in anecdote or illustration, or to allow of it in his presence.

The reader who has perused what I have written and quoted must have seen that there are scattered all through his life traces of a strong religious tendency and religious habits, a deep sense of religious obligation, a belief in the existence and government of God, and a full faith that this world is not the only sphere of man’s existence. That he had a habit of daily prayer, according to the injunction which said, “Enter into thy closet,” is perfectly well authenticated.

There may be men of the world who will smile when they read of a statesman, in a grave juncture of public affairs in which he had to deal with the passions and ambitions of individuals and with the conflicting feelings and interests of great communities, seeking guidance from his Maker. Prayer in the midst of party politics and the business of official life may possibly provoke the cold derision of some part of mankind. Whether it is or is not efficacious in human affairs—whether a resort to it is a sign of weakness or of strength, is just as men think and feel. Be it one way or the other, I did not dare to withhold this trait of character, which was revealed in the simplest manner in a confidential letter, in which he said of himself that he weighed well and prayerfully the course that he ought to adopt, at a time most critical for his country and for himself. I leave it for such estimate as the religious or the irreligious world may form, according to their respective tendencies, adding, however, that what he said of himself on that special occasion appears, on the testimony of those who knew him best, to have been in accordance with the habit of his life.

There was, in truth, no fanaticism in this man’s nature, no cant in his speech or writing, whatever of either there may have been in those stern Puritans of an earlier age, in whom policy and valor and worldly wisdom and statecraft were strangely mixed with a religious enthusiasm which made them feel that they were the chosen of the Lord. The blood that he drew from a remote ancestry of pious Scotchmen had been tempered by the practical sense of our American life, and yet it had not lost the conviction of man’s relation to his God.

When he was about to embark on the mission to Russia a female friend of his in Lancaster, Mrs. E. J. Reigart, presented him with a copy of the book called “Jay’s Exercises.” This was a book of short sermons, or lessons, for every day in the year, each on some appropriate text of Scripture, and was much in use among Presbyterians. The style was quaint, and the comments on the various texts were marked by a good deal of excellent sense and much religious feeling. Mr. Buchanan made daily use of it through the remainder of his life, wherever he was. On its margin he noted the dates of his embarkation for Liverpool, of his arrival there, and at London, Hamburg and Lubeck. The text and lesson for the day on which he arrived at Lubeck, on his way to St. Petersburg, read somewhat oddly:

“May 26th. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Psalm ii. 8.—The heathen—the uttermost parts of the earth—viewed in the representations of Scripture and the reports of historians, travellers and missionaries, seem a very unenviable acquisition. If it is true that the whole world lieth in wickedness, it seems fitter to be the inheritance and possession of Satan than the Son of God. But two things are to be taken into the account. Notwithstanding the present condition of the estate it contains very valuable and convertible materials.”

That he did not make what is called a public profession of religion until a late period of his life is accounted for in an interesting paper which I have received from the Rev. William M. Paxton, D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, in the City of New York. Dr. Paxton, in answer to my inquiry, kindly wrote to me on the 11th of April, 1883, as follows:

In the month of August, in the year 1860, Mr. Buchanan, then President of the United States, visited the Bedford Springs, in the State of Pennsylvania. I happened to be present when the stage arrived, and having had a previous personal acquaintance with him, was one of the first to bid him welcome.

A day or two afterwards, as he passed me in the hall, he stopped and said, “May I take the liberty of sending for you to come to my room, when I can find leisure for a conversation?” To this I replied that it would give me great pleasure to obey such a call. The next day the invitation came, through his private secretary, and when we were seated alone, he turned to me and said, “I sent for you to request that you will favor me with a conversation upon the subject of religion. I knew your father and mother in early life, and, as you have some knowledge of my family, you are aware that I was religiously educated. But for some years I have been much more thoughtful than formerly upon religious subjects. I think I may say that for twelve years I have been in the habit of reading the Bible and praying daily. I have never had any one with whom I have felt disposed to converse, but now that I find you here, I have thought that you would understand my feelings, and that I would venture to open my mind to you upon this important subject, and ask for an explanation of some things that I do not clearly understand.” When I had assured him that I would be gratified to have such a conversation, he began immediately by asking, “Will you be good enough to explain to me what an experience of religion is?” In answer, I opened to him the Bible account of our sinful estate, and of the necessity of regeneration by the Spirit of God, and of atonement through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He then began to question me, as closely as a lawyer would question a witness, upon all the points connected with regeneration, atonement, repentance and faith. What surprised me was that his questions were not so much of a doctrinal as of an experimental character. He seemed anxious to understand how a man might know that he was a Christian, and what conscious experiences entered into the exercises of repentance and faith. It is needless for me to detail the particulars of the conversation. It gave me an opportunity of speaking to him in the most simple and familiar way. When I related the experience of some eminent Christian, or used a simple illustration, such as I have employed in Sabbath school addresses, he seemed much gratified, and proceeded to put his questions to draw out still more definite explanations. He particularly was anxious to understand how faith receives and appropriates the Lord Jesus Christ, and how a man may know that he believes. He put himself in the position of a little child, and asked questions in the simplest manner. Sometimes he asked me to go over an explanation a second time, as if he wished to fix it upon his memory. His manner was so earnest, and his mind was evidently so deeply engaged, that I was strongly impressed with the conviction of his entire sincerity.

After the more experimental points had been disposed of, he asked a few purely doctrinal questions, the answers to which he received without any disposition to enter upon a discussion. At the close of the conversation, he asked particularly what were the conditions of membership in the Presbyterian Church, and what were the points upon which an applicant for admission would be examined. The conversation lasted, probably, from two to three hours. After sitting quiet for a few minutes, he said, “Well, sir, I thank you. My mind is now made up. I hope that I am a Christian. I think I have much of the experience which you describe, and, as soon as I retire from my office as President, I will unite with the Presbyterian Church.” To this, I replied, “Why not now, Mr. President? God’s invitation is now, and you should not say to-morrow.” To this he answered, with deep feeling, and with a strong gesture, “I must delay, for the honor of religion. If I were to unite with the Church now, they would say hypocrite from Maine to Georgia.” I felt the truth of his answer, and did not continue my urgency.

This closed our conversation, but, as Mr. Buchanan remained at the Springs for some time, he seemed to seize every opportunity, when he met me in the hall or in the parlor, to ask some question which he had been pondering, or to repeat some passage of Scripture upon which his mind had been dwelling, and ask how I understood it. For example, meeting me in the passage, he asked me the meaning of the verse, “The bruised reed he will not break: the smoking flax he will not quench;” and when I explained the figures, and showed how beautifully they expressed the tenderness of our Lord, he seemed to exhibit the most simple-hearted gratification.

I take pleasure in giving these recollections for record, because I have never entertained a doubt of the entire honesty of Mr. Buchanan’s religious impressions. I did not agree with him in politics, or feel any sympathy with his public career; but I think that he is entitled to this testimony from one who was placed in circumstances to judge fairly of the reality of his religious convictions. The purpose which President Buchanan expressed to me of uniting with the Church was fulfilled. He connected himself with the Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pa., immediately after his retirement from the Presidential chair.

Mr. J. Buchanan Henry concludes his communication to me, from which I have already quoted, as follows:

In personal appearance Mr. Buchanan was tall—over six feet, broad shouldered, and had a portly and dignified bearing. He wore no beard; his complexion was clear and very fair; his forehead was massive, white and smooth; his features strong and well marked, and his white hair was abundant and silky in texture; his eyes were blue, intelligent and kindly, with the peculiarity that one was far and the other near sighted, which resulted in a slight habitual inclination of the head to one side—a peculiarity that will be remembered by those who knew him well. He dressed with great care, in black, wearing always a full white cravat, which did not, however, impart to him anything of a clerical aspect. He was, on the whole, a distinguished looking and handsome man, and his size and fine proportions gave a dignity and commanding air to his personal presence. His manner and bearing had much of the old-fashioned courtly school about it.[^[187]]

I do not think he was a very easy or fluent public speaker, but what he had to say always commanded attention, even among his great compeers in the Senate.

Mr. Buchanan’s parents were Presbyterians, and he always evinced a preference for that form of worship. He was a regular attendant upon church services, both at Washington and in Lancaster, being a pew holder and an always generous contributor to both the building and maintenance of Christian worship. I have known him to give a thousand dollars at a time in aid of building funds for churches of all denominations, and many of his most faithful friends were members of the Roman Catholic communion. He was, to my knowledge, always a sincere believer in all the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, had no eccentricities of religious belief, but accepted Christianity as a divine revelation and a simple rule for the conduct of human life, and relied upon it for the guidance of his own life. He certainly always pressed their force upon my cousin and myself, in our family intercourse under his roof, as his wards. I remember that she and I always hid away our secular newspaper or novel on Sunday if we heard him approaching, as we were otherwise pretty sure to get a mild rebuke for not better employing our time on Sunday, either in good works, or at least in better reading.

The candid student of history, intent only on getting at the very truth without fear, favor or prejudice, after the perusal of President Buchanan’s plain exposition of the threatenings of the impending rebellion, as set forth in his message of December, 1860, and the message of January 8, 1861, must ask the question, why did not the Congress, sole constitutional depositary of the power to raise armies or to call out the militia, then and there, by proper legislation, authorize the President to stamp out the incipient revolt by voting the money for and the authority to employ any necessary military force to accomplish the legitimate end? I have reason to know that the President would not have hesitated to faithfully execute any law which Congress might then have enacted. Why, then, did Congress, from December to March, with the plain facts fully brought to their attention by President Buchanan, and in the face of such imminent public peril, neglect to perform its constitutional function, or to vote either supplies or men? What more could President Buchanan have legally done? Should he have become an usurper, and declared himself Dictator, after the fashion of South America? The conclusion must be, that Congress, from some inexplicable reason, saw fit to abdicate its functions, leaving its powers dormant at the most critical period. Can it have been from any unworthy partisan motive? It could not have been from doubt of its possessing the authority. Whilst President Buchanan held, and rightly held, that he could find no authority in the Constitution to coerce the States, as States, or mere legal entities, he clearly enunciated the true doctrine of the constitutional power of the National Government to fully enforce its laws, by acting coercively upon the persons of all citizens when in revolt or resistance to its authority, wherever they might be, and whether as individuals or massed together in armies. That doctrine then set forth by Mr. Buchanan was unpopular, but it stands to-day confessed to be the only true construction of the Constitution. After the flames of a four years’ civil conflagration had beaten against the text, no important writer on the organic law held any other construction to be tenable. Its present universal acceptance proves the sagacity and correctness of Mr. Buchanan’s views at that early date.

If there was any more marked political bias of Mr. Buchanan’s mind than any other it was that of an almost idolatrous respect and reverence for the Constitution. He had been educated and lived in the old constitutional school of statesmanship, and wholly believed in the wisdom and perfection of that great organic law devised by the founders and builders of our Government. He fully and ardently believed in its sufficiency for all purposes, whether of peace or war. Perhaps such a faith as was entertained by that race of statesmen would be considered by the present lax school as savoring of political fetichism. Certainly there were many who so regarded it, and who rather contemptuously avowed in Congress that their views and measures were, in many instances, extra-constitutional. To me, at least, this knowledge of Mr. Buchanan’s political religion, so to speak, explains why he did not for an instant contemplate the usurpation—for usurpation it would have been, pure and simple—of the constitutional prerogatives of Congress to declare war, or, at least, to precipitate war: or by seizing the persons of the Southern members of Congress and of the State authorities who were working to secure the secession of their several States. Congress was in session, and it was, that being the case, only for the President to lay the facts before that body and obey their behest, whether for peace or war. No belief that the American people would have condoned his usurpation, if made, or have upheld his extra-constitutional act, such as calling for volunteers, or declaring war, or making an aggressive war, would have justified him in assuming the prerogatives of Congress, then actually in session. Although such an act might have made him the most popular idol in American history, I do not think he could have been tempted to break his solemn oath to support the Constitution, by ignoring its plainest provisions. “Nothing succeeds like success.” I am sometimes asked why Mr. Buchanan did not “take the responsibility?” Such a course would have remained impossible to him, with his views of his duty, and I think that in time he will be applauded, not blamed, for his self-sacrificing devotion to what he regarded as the right, rather than seeking his own personal popularity by illegal means.

I cannot close without a few words upon my uncle’s views upon slavery. He simply tolerated it as a legal fact under our Constitution. He had no admiration for it whatever. I know of a number of instances in which he purchased the freedom of slaves in Washington, and brought them to Pennsylvania with him, leaving it to them to repay him if they could out of their wages. His constant recognition of the legal existence of slavery in the South, and its right to protection so long as it legally existed there, rendered him liable to misrepresentation at the North and to misconception at the South; the one regarding him as an apologist of slavery, and the other as its open friend, whereas he was neither. He was only desirous to see the Constitution and laws obeyed, and did, emphatically, not believe in the so-called “Higher Law.” In fact I cannot but regard Mr. Buchanan as having been cruelly misrepresented at the North and betrayed by the South, which began its unjustifiable secession when quite safe from any invasion of its Constitutional rights. The Southern leaders did not hesitate to precipitate what they knew would be disastrous to his benign administration, if it did not actually terminate it in blood. It was, too, the grossest ingratitude to the Democratic party, which had always stood like a wall of fire between the South and its assailants in the North.

Mr. Buchanan, to the day of his death, expressed to me his abiding conviction that the American people would, in due time, come to regard his course as the only one which at that time promised any hope of saving the nation from a bloody and devastating war, and would recognize the integrity and wisdom of his course in administering the Government for the good of the whole people, whether North or South. His conviction on this point was so genuine that he looked forward serenely to the future, and never seemed to entertain a misgiving or a doubt.

The day is now not very far off when the American people will appreciate his faithful services to the Republic, his stainless character and his exalted patriotism.

The remainder of Miss Annie Buchanan’s very interesting paper is as follows:

The society in Lancaster, at the time of my uncle’s early residence there, must have been quite above the average in intellectual culture and in social qualities. He was very fond, in the latter part of his life, of conversing about those times, and told a great many anecdotes of them and of the people who flourished in them. Unfortunately, they have gone from our memory, only leaving behind faint outlines of their former interest.

My uncle had the most delightful way of throwing himself back into the past scenes of his life, and, as it were, living them over again. He would tell you the whole position of affairs, make you understand the point of the story thoroughly, and then laugh in a most infectious way. When he was in a vein of conversation, and felt in the humor for going back into the past, a whole room full of people would sit all the evening, listening with delight, no one daring to interrupt, except in order, by some leading question or remark, to draw him out to talk more freely.

After his return from Washington, it was his constant habit to come into the parlor after tea, and there to spend the evening, with whatever members of the family might be staying with him. After listening, as he often did, to reading for an hour, he would begin to converse, and it was a rare treat to be a sharer in these conversations. I knew it to be a great privilege, thoroughly appreciated it at the time, but now that those evenings are forever gone, with what mingled feelings of delight and regret I look back upon them! They always ended at ten o’clock, and he very seldom sat up much after that hour, even when he had guests in the house who did not care to retire so early. “The time for all good Christians to be in bed,” he would say, and, bidding good-night, would leave us to remain as long as we saw fit.

Of course my uncle was not always in the vein of talking in the way I have described, and sometimes much preferred having others to talk to him. I have often been struck with the easy grace with which he, who had been so much a man of the world, and had associated with men and women of the highest culture, could take and show the greatest interest in the rather uninteresting details given by some humble neighbor about the sayings and doings of his family and establishment. My uncle was a Democrat, not only in political principle, but in the large and true democratic sense. He looked upon his neighbors, even those who were plain and uneducated, as his fellow-men, and treated them accordingly.

I remember his talking to me very earnestly about visiting and relieving the sick and the poor, and trying to make me realize that Christianity which could lack this fruit must be worthless.

On one occasion, when I was quite a child and on a visit to Wheatland, I saw him go anxiously to the window and look upon the night, which was cold and stormy, with sleet and snow, and I heard him say, “God help the poor to-night!” I mention this because very soon after, I think the next day, he sent some money, quite a large sum, to the mayor of Lancaster, to buy fuel for the poor. The same idea he carried out, when he made a provision in his last will for this very purpose.

My uncle was very generous to those who were in need, and very many were the persons whom he helped by gifts and loans, who would otherwise have been in great straits. He was not lavish in his expenditures. He knew exactly what he was spending, spent nothing foolishly, was careful of what money he had, and was anxious to invest what he had in such a way as that it should be remunerative[remunerative], so that when he gave, he did it from principle, because he wished to do a kindness, or because he thought it was right to do it. His heart made him always anxious to ameliorate the miseries of those around him.

He was very much interested in his family and their welfare, and to him it was that each and all looked for advice or assistance. While he did not hesitate to speak sternly when he thought duty required it—sometimes even more so than was necessary—he was always ready, even at the same time, to lend a helping hand. He was the oldest child of my grandfather who lived to grow up, and this fact, together with his eminent uprightness and wisdom, made him to be looked upon by all the different branches of the family as their head. Our particular family have great reason to remember his kindness, and we look back with great pleasure to the many visits of months at a time which we paid him, at his request, both at Wheatland and in Washington. After his death, we felt that we had lost the friend who, next to our own father, cared most for us, and one on whose sympathy and kindness we could most depend.

The accompanying qualities in my uncle’s character to his kindness were his justice and integrity. No debt of his was ever knowingly left unpaid. Even the return he made for his taxes was often larger than that of most of his neighbors, because he scrupulously returned an accurate account of his possessions to the assessors. He would not have retained in his possession the smallest sum which he thought to justly belong to another.

And this honesty showed itself quite as much in relation to public affairs as to his own. He was honest even about his time. While he was President, his time was given most scrupulously to his work. He entered his office at nine o’clock in the morning and remained there until four o’clock, when he would take a walk before dinner, which was at five o’clock. After dinner he generally spent a large part of the evening attending to business; and this was the case not for some months of the year only, but for the whole year. Except while he was making a short trip into North Carolina and during a visit of about two weeks each year at Bedford Springs, which was necessary to his health, he remained at his post for the four entire years. I remember hearing some members of his cabinet say that he loved work for work’s sake. I do not know whether this was the case or not, but certain it is that he did a great deal of work. He always went over carefully, himself, every matter presented to him by his cabinet officers, and tried to possess himself with all the ins and outs of what was going on under his administration.

It surprises me very much to read insinuations to the effect that he was not the President. I knew quite intimately nearly all the members of his cabinet, and heard a good deal of their conversation, and I know with what respect they spoke of him, and that the whole tone of their conversation was that he was the master.

There was a peculiarity of his mind which may possibly account to some extent for this mistaken impression. It very often happened that when some new idea or proposition was suggested to him, he would, at the first blush, entirely disapprove of it, so that any one not well acquainted with him, might think the case was hopeless. When he had time, however, to think about it, and if some one would quietly give him the points of the case, and draw his attention more particularly to it, he would sometimes make up his mind in quite an opposite way from that which he had at first intended. After, however, he had once definitely and positively come to a decision, he was unchangeable. What he considered to be right he did, and no fear of consequences could alter his purpose. And the value of this quality to him will be understood when we remember that after his return home from Washington he did not seem to regret his course while there. I never heard him say that he wished he had acted differently in the troublous times through which he had passed. He knew that the steps he had taken had been with the single earnest aim and desire of preserving the country from disunion and war; and that being the case, his having failed in his endeavor did not trouble his conscience at all. “I acted for some time as a breakwater,” he said, “between the North and the South, both surging with all their force against me.”

I say did not touch his conscience. His heart was greatly distressed. I remember the morning on which the news came of the ships being sent to the relief of Fort Sumter. “I fear Governor Chase is bringing war upon his country,” was his sad exclamation, and from that time until peace was declared, his true and loyal heart grieved over the distress and misery of his country.

I remember an incident early in his administration, which shows his integrity in the matter of his duty. A young man was sentenced to be hung in Washington for murder, who had, for some reason, enlisted great interest for himself among members of his church (Roman Catholic), and not only the mother of the condemned man, but several clergymen and Sisters of Charity, also, waited upon my uncle to importune him for a pardon. My uncle’s feelings were greatly enlisted, and I heard him say that he had gone over the case three times, in order that, if possible, he might find some reason that would make it right to grant a pardon. But finding, as he did at last, that there absolutely was no such reason, he said the law must have its way, and the young man was executed.

Another great characteristic of my uncle was his independence of spirit. He would not be under obligation, for gifts, to any one while he was in office, and in fact he did not like to be so at any time. I remember the ——’s were very anxious to present a grand piano to my cousin, soon after she went to Washington, but my uncle positively declined allowing her to accept it. When the Japanese commissioners came, bringing with them curious and costly gifts, some of which were intended for the President, he sent them all to the Patent Office, as the property of the country. He even went so far as to insist, at all times, upon paying his fare whenever he travelled, never receiving a pass, even when he was out of office. He would have been horrified at the idea of travelling free while he was President. I have often heard him say, “I will pay my way while I can afford it. When I cannot afford to pay I will stay at home.” The salary of the President during my uncle’s administration was $25,000. So far from being made any richer by his office, he was obliged to supplement some of his own private means each year, in order that the becoming hospitality and mode of living might be kept up at the White House.

As long as I can remember my uncle, he was a religious man, becoming more and more so as his life drew near its close. His knowledge of the scriptures was very thorough, and whatever doubts he may have had in his earlier life, had been dissipated by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. He was, certainly, during the latter years of his life, a strong and firm believer in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. It was his constant habit, after his return from Washington, to read daily in the New Testament, and a large part of Sunday he spent in studying that and books founded upon its teachings. A devotional book, Jay’s Morning and Evening Exercises, was his constant companion, and he read a great deal in the sermons of the great French preacher, Massillon, a French copy of which he had and often quoted. He conversed much about the Gospel and its teachings, and one could easily tell that he was deeply interested in the subject.

It was his practice, during all his life, to attend church on Sunday morning, and some effect of his early teaching, which very strongly inculcated the hallowing of the Lord’s day, was shown when he was in St. Petersburg. It was the custom there for even the most devout, after they had attended service through the day, to go to balls and festivities in the evening of Sunday. My uncle thought that he could not be excused from attending the Emperor’s balls, but made it a rule never to dance on Sunday evening, and so caused great surprise to some of his friends there, especially when he explained to them that in America the manner prevalent in Russia of spending Sunday evening would be thought quite shocking.

To show how my uncle respected the religious sense of the community, I will mention, that when the Prince of Wales was visiting him in Washington, and when a large company had been invited to do the Prince honor, my uncle would not consent to having any dancing at it. He took this position, not that he disapproved himself of dancing, but he thought that it would cause scandal to the religious people of the country if there were to be a dance there in the White House. “I am the servant of the people,” was his motto, and with this feeling in his mind he toiled, he lived and acted, always trying to prevent anything from being done which would give offence to that people.

I remember dining with him, in company with a lady who seemed to be a thoroughly worldly woman, one whose life had been spent in public and among worldly people. I do not remember the whole conversation, or how my uncle came to say it, but I remember his remark, “I say my prayers every day of my life.” The lady looked up at him in surprise, and questioned, thinking he was jesting. “No,” said my uncle, “I am not jesting, I have always said my prayers.” I will only add, while on this subject, that not only did my uncle attend church constantly on Sundays, but he was very particular to omit his ordinary avocations, and to make it a day of rest, through all his life.

There was one thing very noticeable in my uncle’s conversation during those years which he spent at Wheatland, after his return from Washington. He conversed very little on the political matters of the day, and, particularly, he showed remarkably little bitterness towards those whose indifference and even hatred towards himself showed themselves so strongly when power and influence had passed out of his hands. Occasionally, certainly, he could not help speaking his mind about one or two particularly flagrant cases, but as a general thing he passed over their conduct in silence. He was not fond of picking people to pieces, and his inclination was rather to speak and think kindly of his neighbors.

My uncle was quite stout, although not at all overgrown, and you could not see him without observing that he was a person of distinction. Although he was of so stout a build his foot was rather small, and I often noticed how lightly and quickly he walked. He was very quick of apprehension, and there was very little going on around that he did not know and understand. He has told me that when he was in his prime his hearing was so acute that he could often hear whispering in the adjoining room, and he very often heard things not intended for him to hear.

Owing to a difference which there was between his eyes, one being near and the other far-sighted, he held his head to one side, particularly when looking at any person or thing. When listening to any one he would hold his head in this way, close one eye and gaze very steadily, and so conveyed the impression that he was looking the speaker through and through. I have heard him say that he did not know until he was forty or fifty years of age the cause of this habit. Some friend walking with him suggested to him to try his eyes and see if he could not see better, at a distance, with one than with the other, when, to his surprise, he discovered that with one eye he could not distinguish the landscape at all, while with the other he could see very far. Whether this peculiarity was the cause of his long continued sight I do not know, but the fact is that up to the time of his death he was able to read everything without the aid of glasses. He found, however, during the last year of his life, or perhaps a little longer, that when he read fine print at night, which he often wished to do, it strained his eyes, and for these occasions he procured a pair of spectacles, but he never used them at any other time.

He had a very peculiar way of reading at night. No matter how many lights might be in the room he always had a candlestick and candle, which he held before his eyes, and by that means read his paper or book. As he grew older we often felt quite anxious for fear his paper might take fire, and, occasionally, on the next morning a hole would be found burnt in it, but, as far as I can recollect, nothing more serious ever came of his reading in this way.

My uncle was an extensive reader and had a good memory for what he had read. His reading embraced all classes of literature, and he conversed intelligently on all subjects. He continued to read a great deal after his return to Wheatland, and enjoyed being read to. Near the end of his life, however, he remarked to me one day, “I am tired of reading; I don’t seem to care about it any more,” and, as if that were the case, he might at that time be often seen sitting without either book or paper, whereas formerly, when not conversing, he was almost always reading.

My uncle’s political life had been an unusually long one, and, in consequence, his remembrance of the sayings and doings of the great people of his time was very interesting. I have heard him say that the first President whom he had met was President Monroe, “a gentlemanly man, wearing a blue coat and metal buttons,” and after him he had more or less acquaintance with all the Presidents. It was, in great part, on account of this wonderful fund of personal knowledge which he possessed, that his friends urged him to have a book written which should contain, not only the facts of his own life, but also the reminiscences which he was fond of narrating.

He was very fond of ladies’ society, and was all his life in the habit of entertaining them at his house. During his different residences in Washington, while in London and St. Petersburg, as well as in Lancaster, he was very hospitable, and greatly enjoyed the society of his friends in his own house. When he finally returned to Wheatland, he saw much less of society than he had ever done before, and, I have no doubt, his life must have seemed very monotonous to him, but he never complained at all, and was remarkably cheerful and happy.

I have written these pages at the request of my father, hoping that some things in them may be of service to Mr. Curtis, in forming an estimate of the character of my uncle. They have no claim whatever to any literary merit, and are only an effort to do some honor to one so truly loved and so deeply mourned. To me, though it would be a great joy to know that men recognized the wisdom and greatness of his actions, it would be of far greater account to have them realize his goodness, nobility, honor, self-sacrifice, courage and honesty. There may, and must, always be a difference of opinion about questions of polity and administration, but the true elements of greatness lie in the soul of man, and are of far higher value than praise and popular estimation, often attained through a turn of Fortune’s wheel.

I close this memorial chapter with some extracts from the sermon preached by Dr. Nevin at the funeral of Mr. Buchanan. Dr. Nevin chose for his text the words: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”

...... In connection with this momentous subject, the occasion on which we are now met together is full of more than ordinary interest and significance, such as may well invest it with the most profound solemnity for all who are here present.

We have before us, and will be called soon to follow to the grave, the mortal remains of James Buchanan, the fifteenth President of the United States; who, after taking an active part in the politics of this great nation for half a century, having filled the highest places of honor and trust in the gift of his country, and having represented her for a long time with prominent distinction in the diplomacy of the civilized world, has now, at the advanced age of almost four score years, been gathered to his fathers, and enrolled on the catalogue of the great and illustrious dead. His name has been famous, not simply through his own merits, but through association, also, with the leading political characters and the leading political interests of the times in which he lived.

He belonged to a generation of eminent statesmen, giants in their day, whose names were once household words in the land, but who, in him as their representative, we can all feel have passed away forever from the drama of our national life. There is something peculiarly affecting in this thought. He was the last link that held us in communication with that buried age; and in parting with Mr. Buchanan, it is as though we were called to part again with Clay, and Webster, and Benton, and Calhoun, and Jackson, and Cass, and the whole political world to which they belonged. Now, more than ever, their age has become to us, in view especially of the late war, like the years before the flood. Then the occasions with which he has been intimately connected, especially in the latter part of his public life, have been of the most momentous, as well as the most difficult and trying character, involving in the end a crisis which amounted to a full revolution for our own country, while it made itself felt, also, as of truly world-historical importance for the age at large.

This is not the place nor the time, of course, to enter into any consideration of Mr. Buchanan’s public career, or to pronounce any judgment in particular on the policy of his administration as President of the United States. The time, indeed, has not yet come for a fair and competent historical verdict on this subject, in any quarter. We stand too near the vast and mighty struggle through which we have just passed, and from whose surging billows we have not yet fully escaped, to understand it properly, or to estimate fairly its moral and political merits.

Only this much, in justice to the dead, I may be permitted to say, in the form of two general observations:

In the first place, we have no right to judge Mr. Buchanan’s conduct at the beginning of our late civil troubles by the course of events subsequently, when the contingent became actual, and the problematical certain, in many ways, which only the eye of Omniscience could previously foresee. How far this ex post facto judgment (cruel and wrongful in history, full as much as ex post facto statutes in legislation), has been carried in the case before us, all who care to look into the matter can easily see and know. Every man, every public man especially, has a right to demand that his opinions and actions should be measured by the circumstances and conditions of his own time, and not by the circumstances and conditions of another and, it may be, a wholly different time. Any other mode of judgment is at once grossly unhistorical, grossly unphilosophical, and I will also add, grossly unchristian.

My other observation is, that whatever may be thought by others, now or hereafter, of Mr. Buchanan’s Presidential administration on the eve of the rebellion, he himself never changed his mind in regard to the righteousness or wisdom of the course which he saw proper to pursue. That his own policy was thwarted and overwhelmed by another policy, altogether different, never led him to believe that, in the circumstances of the country, as they then were, his own policy was not right. “Had I to pass through the same state of things again,” he would say, calmly but firmly, “I do not see, before God, how I could act otherwise than as I did act.”

This, of course, does not prove that his course was the wisest and best for the exigencies of that fearfully volcanic time, as they came to view afterwards in the lava flames of our civil war; but no one who was intimately familiar, as I have been, with the last years of Mr. Buchanan’s life, could doubt, at all events, the sincerity of his own convictions, thus expressed in regard to the closing portions of his political career.[^[188]] Whether absolutely wise or not in all his counsels, he was, in this time that tried men’s souls, honest, at least, conscientious and patriotically true to what he conceived to be the highest interests of his country.

But these political surroundings of the present solemnity, however they must unavoidably crowd upon our thoughts while we are engaged in it, form not, by any means, what we should all feel to be, for us now, its main interest. The relations of time, however otherwise vast and momentous, are here to-day, swallowed up and made small by the relations of eternity. Mr. Buchanan has passed away, not simply as a politician and a statesman, but as a Christian; and this it is we now feel, standing by his coffin and his grave, to be a distinction of infinitely higher account than all the honors and dignities of his life, under any other form.

These, at best, are but of ephemeral significance and worth. One generation of politicians passeth away and another generation cometh. Where are the voices that, thirty or forty years ago, filled our Congressional halls and electrified the land with their eloquent words? Kings and Presidents, the princes of the earth—terrestrial gods, as they are sometimes called—die like other men. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” And where do we find this enduring word of the Lord in full presence and power, save in the Logos Incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega of the whole creation, the same yesterday, to-day and forever?

Happily[Happily], the venerable sage of Wheatland, as he has sometimes been called, sought and found here what he himself was ready to acknowledge as something better than all the greatness of the world; an humble but strong trust in the atoning righteousness of Christ, which brightened the whole evening of his life, which proved to be the strength of his spirit, when heart and flesh began to fail, and which now makes his death but the quiet sleep that precedes the morning of the resurrection. He died in the Lord; this is our great comfort in following him to the grave. We sorrow not as those who have no hope. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

In some sense, Mr. Buchanan was a religious man, we may say, all his life. Brought into the Presbyterian church by baptism in his infancy, he enjoyed at the same time the unspeakable advantage of an early Christian training, which made itself felt more or less sensibly on all his character and conduct in later years. In serious conversation with me on this subject less than a year ago, he referred, with moistened eyes and faltering voice, to the lessons that had been instilled into him as a boy, especially by his pious mother. She had taught him to pray; and her presence, as an invisible ministering spirit, seemed to hold him to the duty, as it were in spite of himself, through the whole of his subsequent public life. Whatever of worldliness there might be in his thoughts and ways otherwise, his conscience would not allow him to give up the outward exercise, at least, of some private as well as public, forms of devotion. He made it a point to read the bible, honored the Sabbath, and observed more or less faithfully stated times for secret prayer.

His general character, at the same time, was always good. Those who stood nearest to him in his public life, and who knew him best, have ever united in bearing the most favorable testimony to what he was in this view. He has been known and spoken of on all sides as a true gentleman of the old school, distinguished for his personal integrity, a man of honorable spirit, upright in his deportment, and beyond the common measure virtuous in his manners. He was unquestionably one of the purest in mind, and most exemplary in life, belonging to the generation of public men, which has now come to a close in his death. It is, indeed, something wonderful, that in his peculiar circumstances he should have been able to pass through such a long life of exposure to all forms of corruption and sin, so generally unscathed as he seems to have been by the fiery ordeal. In this respect, he is worthy of lasting admiration, and may well be held up as an example for the study and imitation of younger candidates for political distinction coming after his day. When will all our public men lay to heart, as they ought, that true oracle of the olden time: “The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot?”

All this, however, Mr. Buchanan himself very well knew, fell short of what was required to make him a Christian in the full sense of the term; and as he advanced in life accordingly, he seems to have turned his mind more and more seriously to the necessity of becoming a follower of the Saviour in a more inward and strict way. This practical discipleship he believed himself to have reached in some measure years before he withdrew from political life. Yet, he made then no open profession of his faith, in the way of what is commonly called joining the church, under the idea that there was some reason for postponing it in the peculiar circumstances in which he stood as a public man. That idea, of course, was a serious mistake, as he himself acknowledged it to be afterwards, when earnestly spoken with on the subject. He ought to have joined the church sooner, he said, and especially before he left Washington. As it was, he took this important step in due course of time, subsequently, after full serious consideration, by connecting himself in form with the Presbyterian church of Lancaster, which had been his regular place of worship previously, where he continued to worship afterwards, and in communion with which he has now departed this life, “looking for the general resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world to come.”

It was my privilege to converse with him frequently on religious subjects, during these his last years, and I can say his mind seemed to be always clear and remarkably firm, as well as consistent, in the apprehension of Christianity, under its simplest and most commonly acknowledged evangelical form. He had studied carefully, I may be allowed to state, the Heidelberg Catechism (that most œcumenical, and in some respects most genial of all the Reformed Protestant Confessions), and he was accustomed to speak highly of it at all times, as being a summary of religious truth, to which he could cordially subscribe as the full expression of his theological faith.[^[189]]

More particularly, however, it was during the last summer, that I had the opportunity of coming to the most intimate knowledge of his Christian views and hopes, on the occasion of his returning home from Cape May, under an attack of a strange sickness which threatened at the time to carry him to the grave. The sickness was attended with but little bodily pain, and it left his mind perfectly clear and free, while yet it was of such a character as to produce in his own mind the strong impression that it would end in his death. In these solemn circumstances, I had interviews with him day after day for some time, in which I talked with him, and prayed with him, as a dying man; and in which he talked also most freely himself with regard to his own condition, giving utterance to his views and feelings in a way which furnished the most satisfactory and pleasing evidence that religion had become with him, indeed, a deeply-settled principle in the soul, and such a conviction of faith as could not be shaken by the powers either of earth or hell. Let it be sufficient here to say, that he was able to resign himself with full filial confidence and trust into the hands of God as a faithful Creator and Saviour, and that he found Him an all sufficient help in his time of need. At the same time, his faith was far more than a vague trust merely in God’s general goodness and mercy. It was most explicitly the humble, penitent reliance of one who knew himself to be a sinner, on the mercy of God secured to men through His Son Jesus Christ. At this time, especially, more than before, he was brought to see and feel the importance of simply looking to Jesus (in the spirit of St. John’s gospel and of the Apostle’s Creed), as being Himself the sum and substance of the whole Christian salvation. His mind fastened with peculiar interest on the text: “Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ the Son of the living God.”[^[190]]

Altogether it was a death-bed experience, full of tranquil light and peace, the calm evening sunset of a long life, which seemed to be itself but the brightening promise of a new and far better life beyond the grave.

His late sickness, which has now terminated in his death, was more prostrating for him throughout, both in body and in mind, than that of which I have just spoken. Through it all, however, his views and feelings in regard to religion he declared to be, in the prospect of quitting the world, just what he had over and over again witnessed them to be before. He bowed with entire submission to his Heavenly Father’s will. His last intelligible word, indeed, whispered in the ear of anxious affection bending over him, as he was turned somewhat painfully upon his bed, and felt, no doubt, that the end had come—after which he fell away into the gentle sleep that some hours later closed the scene—was the short Christian prayer: “O Lord, God Almighty, as Thou wilt!” Thus he passed away. His trust was in Christ crucified and risen from the dead, and in Christ alone. He died in the full faith of the gospel, and in the joyful hope of having part at last in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

He sleeps in Jesus. Be this his epitaph; the last and crowning honor of his long, illustrious life; the richest ornament of his public, no less than of his private memory and name. Be this also the consolation of his sorrowful friends as they look upon that venerable majestic form here lying in state before us, and are called now to follow it in slow melancholy procession to the grave. We sorrow not as others, which have no hope; for if Jesus died and rose again, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. The aged statesman has been gathered to his fathers full of years, like a shock of corn fully ripe and laden with fruit; he has served his country well, and enjoyed its honors largely, in his generation; he has left behind him a fair example of justice, benevolence, integrity and truth, a bright record indeed, of honorable and virtuous character in all respects. In all this we find matter for thankful satisfaction, and occasion for bowing in meek submission to the Divine will, which has now at last removed him from our sight. But, through all this, at the same time, we triumph and rejoice most of all, as Christians, in what we know to have been his Christian death, and in the assurance that we have, therefore, of his being still with us, and near to us, in Christ.

To Whom, now let us offer our united and unfeigned thanks for that victory over death and the grave, which he has obtained for us and for all who sleep in Him; while we pray also for power to follow the faith of those who have gone before us, “that we may enter at death into their joy, and so abide with them in rest and peace, till both they and we shall reach our common consummation of redemption and bliss in the glorious resurrection of the last day.” Amen.

The remains of James Buchanan lie in a beautiful rural cemetery near the city of Lancaster, beneath a simple monument, which records only the date of his birth and of his death, and the fact that he was the fifteenth President of the United States. It is well that the soil of Pennsylvania holds his ashes, for he was the most eminent statesman yet given by that great commonwealth to the service of the country since the Constitution of the United States was established.