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.