[TO WILLIAM B. REED, ESQ.]
Monday Morning, July 7, 1856.
My Dear Sir:—
I return Mr. Stevenson’s letter with thanks. He appears to be “a marvellous proper man.” There never was a more unfounded falsehood than that of my connection with the bargain, or alleged bargain. At the time I was a young member of Congress, not on terms of intimacy with either Jackson or Clay. It is true I admired both, and wished to see the one President and the other Secretary of State; and after Mr. Clay had been instructed by the Kentucky legislature to vote for Jackson, I believed my wish would be accomplished. It must have been then that I had the conversation with Mr. Clay, in Letcher’s room, to which Colton refers, for I declare I have not the least trace on my memory of any such conversation. Had I known anything of the previous history of Jackson and Clay, I could not have believed it possible that the former would appoint the latter Secretary. A conversation of a few minutes with Jackson on the street on a cold and stormy day of December, fully related by me in 1827, and a meeting with Mr. Clay in Letcher’s room, and a conversation perfectly harmless as stated, have brought me into serious difficulties.
Your friend, very respectfully,
James Buchanan.
[TO THE HON. JAMES C. DOBBIN.[[28]].]
Bedford Springs, August 20, 1856.
My Dear Sir:—
Your favor of the 13th instant did not reach me at the Bedford Springs until I was about leaving, hence the delay of my answer. I did not reach home until the night before the last.