When the convention was organized, Senator James A. Bayard, of Delaware, was made chairman of the Committee on Credentials, and to that committee was referred the claims of the two rival Democratic delegations from New York. The remainder of that day, and much of the night following, were passed in the earnest and noisy presentation of the claims of these two factions to be represented in the convention, each to the exclusion of the other, and it was soon discovered that a majority of this committee was in favor of the “Soft,” or Douglas delegation. A minority of this committee, headed by Mr. Bayard, favored the admission of one-half of the delegates of each branch of the party, so that the vote of New York in the convention might be thereby equally divided between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Buchanan. The preparation of the minority report to this end occupied all the night, and it was not completed until nine o’clock of the following morning, the hour of the meeting of the convention. So soon as we could copy this report, I took it to Mr. Bayard, the convention being already in session.
On the presentation of the majority, or Douglas report, it was moved by the friends of Mr. Buchanan that the minority report should be substituted, and this motion, after a close vote, was adopted by the convention. As was foreseen, by thus neutralizing the vote of New York, dividing it between the two candidates, Mr. Buchanan retained sufficient strength to secure the nomination, which was then speedily made. There can be little doubt that this result was achieved almost wholly by the efforts of the friends of Mr. Buchanan, who were induced at the last moment to come to Cincinnati. Our house became the headquarters of all the friends of Mr. Buchanan. Every move that was made emanated from some one of the gentlemen there present, and but for their presence and active cooperation, there is little doubt that Mr. Douglas would have been nominated upon the first ballot after organization.
Mr. Slidell was naturally the leader of the friends of Mr. Buchanan. His calmness, shrewdness and earnest friendship for Mr. Buchanan were recognized by all, and whatever he advised was promptly assented to. At his request, I was present at all interviews with the delegates from all parts of the country, which preceded Mr. Buchanan’s actual nomination. I heard all that was said on these occasions, and when the news of the nomination came from the convention to our headquarters, Mr. Slidell at once said to me: “Now, you will bear me witness, that in all that has taken place, I have made no promises, and am under no commitments on behalf of Mr. Buchanan to anybody. He takes this place without obligations to any section of the country, or to any individual. He is as free to do as as he sees fit as man ever was. Some of his friends deserve recognition, and at the proper time I shall say so to him, and I think he will be governed by my suggestions, but if he should not be, no one can find fault, as I have made no promises.”
After the election, at the request of Mr. Buchanan, I met him on the occasion of his first visit to Washington, before the inauguration. I went to his room with Mr. Slidell. He had then seen no one in Washington. In this first interview, Mr. Slidell repeated to him, almost verbatim, the language which he had used to me in Cincinnati, as to the President being entirely free and uncommitted by any promise or obligation of any sort, made to anybody, previous to his nomination.
I do not know that the matters to which I have alluded will be of any interest to you, but I have recalled them with much pleasure as showing, contrary to the generally received opinion as to Mr. Buchanan’s shrewdness as a politician and “wire-puller,” that when he left London, there was no organization or pretence of organization in his favor, that could be considered effective or likely to be useful, outside of the efforts of a few personal friends in the South, in Pennsylvania and New York; and before he returned to America, he evidently saw that he had little chance of success before the convention. The same marked absence of organization, and of all political machine-work, was evident up to the day before the meeting of the convention, when the friends of Mr. Buchanan, whom I had thus suddenly called together, made their appearance in Cincinnati.
Mr. Buchanan’s opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise left him without support from the ultra Southern leaders, many of whom believed that Mr. Douglas would be less difficult to manage than Mr. Buchanan. Louisiana was controlled through the personal influence of Messrs. Slidell and Benjamin, and Virginia was from the beginning in favor of Mr. Buchanan’s nomination. Apart from these States, the South was for Pierce or Douglas. Mr. Buchanan’s strength was from the North, but it was unorganized.
To that time, no one had undertaken to speak for him. There were no headquarters where his friends could meet even for consultation. There was no leader—no one whose opinions upon questions of policy were controlling, and but for this almost accidental combination of his friends in Cincinnati, it was apparent that Mr. Buchanan could not have been nominated, simply because of this utter lack of that ordinary preliminary organization necessary to success, which was by his opponents alleged to be the foundation of his strength, but which in fact was wholly without existence.
Mr. Slidell undertook this task, and before the meeting of the convention Mr. Buchanan’s success was assured.[[27]]
When officially informed of his nomination by a committee, Mr. Buchanan, on the 16th of June (1856), made this simple and straightforward answer:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 13th inst., informing me officially of my nomination by the Democratic National Convention, recently held at Cincinnati, as a candidate for the office of President of the United States. I shall not attempt to express the grateful feelings which I entertain towards my Democratic fellow-citizens for having deemed me worthy of this—the highest political honor on earth—an honor such as no other people have the power to bestow. 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 by deed. Now that it has been offered by the Democratic party, I accept it with diffidence in my own abilities, but with an humble trust that, in the event of my election, Divine Providence may enable me to discharge my duty in such a manner as to allay domestic strife, preserve peace and friendship with foreign nations, and promote the best interests of the Republic.