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.