[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:—