VII. 1854-1855…

VII. 1854-1855

THE SOCIAL POSITION OF MR. BUCHANAN AND HIS NIECE IN ENGLAND.

The social position of Mr. Buchanan and his niece in England can be described only by making extracts from letters. Miss Lane joined her uncle in London in the spring of 1854, and remained with him until the autumn of 1855. An American minister at the English court, at periods of exciting and critical questions between the two nations, is very likely to experience a considerable variation in the social barometer. But the strength of Mr. Buchanan’s character, and the agreeable personal qualities which were in him united with the gravity of years and an experience of a very uncommon kind, overcame at all times any tendency to social unpleasantness that might have been caused by national feelings excited by temporary causes. Letters written by Miss Lane from England to her sister Mrs. Baker have been placed in my hands. From such letters, written in the freedom of sisterly affection, I can take but very few extracts. Many most eligible opportunities occurred which might have fixed the fate of this young lady away from her own land; and it appears from one of her uncle’s letters that after her return to America a very exalted personage expressed regret that she had not been “detained” in England. It was entirely from her own choice that she was not.

[MISS LANE TO MRS. BAKER.]

56 HARLEY STREET, LONDON, Friday Feb. 9, 1855.

I have no letter from you, dearest sister, since I last wrote, but shall continue my fortnightly correspondence, though my letters are written so hastily that they are not what they should be. We are luxuriating in a deep snow, with a prospect of being housed, as nobody thinks of sleighing in England—indeed there are no sleighs. I returned home on Friday last, and really spent four weeks near Liverpool most happily, and truly regretted when our charming trio was broken up—we were so joyous and happy together...... Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Miss Hargraves came up with me, and Laly, after remaining a few days at the hotel, came to stay with me. She will remain until Thursday, and is a sweet, dear girl.

To my great regret Mr. Welsh talks of going to the United States on the 24th. I hope he may yet change his mind, for I shall miss him so much, as there is no one in the legation I can call upon with the same freedom as I do on him. Our secretary is not yet appointed; it is said Mr. Appleton has received an offer of the place; if he should come, uncle will be perfectly satisfied, as he was his first choice. The Lawrences talk of going upon the continent in March...... Mr. Mason continues to get better, but I would not be surprised to hear of their anticipated return, as I am sure his health would be much better in Virginia than in Paris......

They have had great trouble here in forming a new ministry, and I am sorry Lord Aberdeen has gone out, as he is a great friend of the United States, and Lord Palmerston, the new prime minister, is not. London is still dull, but begins to fill up more since Parliament is in session. The war affects everything; there are no drawing-rooms announced as yet, and it is doubted whether there will be any, at least until after Easter. The queen returns to town the middle of this month. Uncle is well, and seems to escape the cold that is so prevalent. There are few Americans here now, and the “Arctic” will deter them from crossing in such numbers to the World’s Fair in Paris in May. We have had canvas-back duck sent us lately, and it really takes one quite home again. How you would have enjoyed them. Do you have them in California? Mr. —— still continues in London. He has called since my return, but unfortunately I was not at home; however I like his remaining so long in London with no other attraction...... —— was in London for two hours the other day, and passed one here. His sister continues very ill. Do write me often, dear sister. I dare say your time is much occupied now, but send a few lines.

MARCH 2d, 1855.

I did not send you a letter last week, dear sister, for I was not very well and writing fatigued me. I am much better now, and as the weather has become much milder, I hope my cold will pass entirely off. I have your letters of Dec. 31st and Jan. 15th, and think you have indeed been lucky in presents. There is not much of that among grown persons here; they keep Christmas gaily, and the children receive the presents......

Every thing is worn in Paris standing out. Skirts cannot be too full and stiff; sleeves are still open, and basque bodies, either open in front or closed; flounces are very much worn. I had some dresses made in Paris that I wish you could see.

Uncle wrote you ten days ago, direct to California. He is in good health and spirits, and likes much to hear from you. We have dined with the queen since I wrote. Her invitations are always short, and as the court was in mourning and I had no black dress, one day’s notice kept me very busy...... I ought to have black dresses, for the court is often in mourning, and you know I belong to it; but the season being quiet, I did not expect to go out to any court parties. The queen was most gracious, and talked a great deal to me. Uncle sat upon her right hand, and Prince Albert was talkative, and altogether we passed a charming evening. The Princess-Royal came in after dinner, and is simple, unaffected, and very child-like—her perfect simplicity and sweet manners are charming. Every thing of course was magnificent at the table—gold in profusion, twelve candelabras with four candles each; but you know I never can describe things of this sort. With mirrors and candles all around the room, a band of delicious music playing all the time, it was a little like fairy-land in its magnificence. We had another band after dinner, while we took tea. Every thing is unsettled here about the war and the ministry, and, really, England seems in a bad way at present. It is positively stated that the Emperor Napoleon is going to the Crimea, in opposition to the advice of all his friends.

MARCH 23d, 1855.

I have your bright, cheerful letter of Jan. 31st, dear sister, and rejoice in your good spirits. I have not been quite well for a few weeks, suffering from cold—the weather has been so dreadful—so that I have gone out but little; indeed, there seems to be a gloom over everything in the gay line this year. Archbishop Hughes dined with us on his way to the United States. He spoke of remembering me in Washington at uncle’s, where he never saw me, and of course it was you. We have given one large dinner this year, and I am sorry it is time for them to commence. Our old butler, Cates, was ill at the time, and on last Tuesday the honest old creature died. We all felt it very much, as he was a capital servant, and so faithful—my right-hand man. We dined two and twenty on the 10th, English and Americans, and it passed off very well. Wednesday was “fast-day,” and universally unpopular. They said, “we fast for the gross mismanagement by the ministers of our affairs in the Crimea,” and all such things. There is great satisfaction at the czar’s death, and not the same respect paid by the court here that there was in France. Mr. Appleton, our new Secretary, has arrived, and will be presented to her Majesty on Monday. On Thursday, the 29th, will be the first drawing-room. I shall not go. It will not be a full one, as it comes before Easter, and it is rumored that the Emperor and Empress of the French are coming in April. Unless required to present Americans, I shall not go to more than two this year. It is so expensive—one cannot wear the same dress twice. There are usually four during the season.

I have given up all idea of returning home before June, and most likely not until uncle does in October; but I highly approve of your plan to pay us a visit upon our return. As to my going to California, you know how I should like it for your sake, but uncle would never hear of my taking such a journey. It is different with you; you return to see every one......

April 20th, 1855.

I have yours of February 28th, and am delighted to hear you are so snug and comfortable. Uncle positively talks of my return in June, and he has really been so good and kind that if he thinks it best, I must not oppose it. He is not going to charge me with any money I have drawn, makes me a present of my visit here, and has gratified me in every thing. He gives up his house on the 7th of July, and will go to some place in the country, near London. If he kept it until October, he would have to pay for several months more, and it will economize a little to give it up—every thing is so enormous here. I hope you have better luck about getting to church, as I think you have been living very like a heathen. Much obliged for the postage stamps. There are some alterations in the postage law lately; every thing must be prepaid.

The emperor and empress arrived here on Monday last, and went immediately to Windsor. All London is mad with excitement and enthusiasm, and wherever they move throngs of people follow them. Yesterday they came to Buckingham Palace, and went into the city to be present at a magnificent entertainment at Guildhall. There never was such a crowd seen. In the afternoon at five they received the diplomatic corps at the French Embassy, and I had a long talk with her Majesty, who was most gracious and affable. She is very striking, elegant and graceful. She wore a green silk, flounced to the waist with seven or eight white lace flounces, white lace mantle, and white crape bonnet and feathers. We go to the palace to-night to an evening party, and there I shall even have a better opportunity of seeing them. I was disappointed in the emperor’s appearance—he is very short. Last night they accompanied the queen, in state, to the opera, and there was a grand illumination all over the city. I drove out to see it, but there was such a crush of carriages, men, women and children, that I was glad to get home. They were asking from fifty to one hundred guineas for boxes at the opera, and from ten to forty for single stalls. To-morrow the imperial guests depart, and London will again return to its sober senses. There does not seem to be much gaiety in prospect, but really this visit seems to be the only thing thought of. The Masons are not coming to pay me a visit. Betty has gone to Nice with her father, for his health. It is said the queen will go to Paris at the opening of the exposition in May. Ellen Ward’s marriage is postponed until the fifth of June, by her father’s request. Mr. T. writes he has taken a state-room on the Baltic, which was to sail on the 18th. He has talked of this visit so long that I would not be surprised to hear it ended in nothing. Lu has every thing planned and fixed and destined to take place just as she wishes, even that I am to be married in my travelling dress and very quietly. I was at the Crystal Palace on Tuesday, which is truly the most fairy-like and exquisitely beautiful thing that could be made. The royal party go there to-day. The building far exceeds in magnificence the one erecting now in Paris. Mr. —— has lost his favorite sister, and is in great distress, so I have not seen him for a time. I have made another conquest, who comes in the true American style, every day. He is rich and keeps a yacht, which costs him £2000 a year. Beaux are pleasant, but dreadfully troublesome......

MAY 3d, 1855.

I have yours, dear sister, of March 16th, and really your account of the failures and rascals among your Californians is quite frightful......

London is looking up in the way of gaiety, though the war is still a sad weight upon many hearts. Yesterday (Wednesday) I attended the second drawing-room of the season. You remember I was not quite well at the first, and did not go. It was a very full and brilliant one. I wore a pink silk petticoat, over-skirts of pink tulle, puffed, and trimmed with wreaths of apple blossoms; train of pink silk, trimmed with blonde and apple blossoms, and so was the body. Head-dress, apple blossoms, lace lappits and feathers.[20] There will be one more in celebration of the birth-day on the 19th. Her Majesty was very gracious to me yesterday, as was also the prince. On Wednesday next there is to be a state ball at Buckingham Palace, which we shall of course attend. On Monday Mrs. Shapter and I ran down to Brighton on the sea-side, and returned on Tuesday night. We enjoyed it very much, and I am sure the change was beneficial to both. I had two splendid rides upon horseback along the water. Mrs. Shapter goes away for a week on Saturday, and I shall miss her dreadfully. You have doubtless heard of the attempt to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon since his return from London. The diplomatic corps are invited to be present at the singing of the Te Deum in the chapel of the French Embassy on Sunday next, in celebration of the emperor’s escape......

I have seen ——, and he ordered his gardener to send me from the country all the roses he had in bloom, for the drawing-room. Preceding the box came a sweet little note, which I of course answered in a tender way. Mr. ——, the man of the yacht, is getting quite desperate, as he is ordered to join his regiment for a month. He is constantly sending me flowers, and after his visit to-day, despatched a magnificent bouquet. He is a very nice fellow, and I really am sorry...... Uncle of course knows and sees every one who comes to the house, and places such confidence in me that he gives himself no uneasiness. I have as many beautiful flowers now, as my drawing-room can well hold. I wish I could see you, dear Maye, and hope you can come home for a nice long visit when we return. June is still talked of for my return. I do not know how it will be. My best love to Mr. B.

Footnote 20:

On their return home from that drawing-room, Mr. Buchanan said to his niece: “Well, a person would have supposed you were a great beauty, to have heard the way you were talked of to-day. I was asked if we had many such handsome ladies in America. I answered, ‘Yes, and many much handsomer. She would scarcely be remarked there for her beauty.’” This anecdote is taken from a book published at New York in 1870, entitled, LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE, by Laura Carter Holloway. Deducting a little from the somewhat gushing style in which the biographical sketches in this book are written, it is reliable in its main facts, and it does no more than justice to Miss Lane’s attractions and to the high consideration in which she was held in English society.

FRIDAY, July 13th, 1855.

I have not had a letter from you in a long time, and hope “no news is good news.” London is going through the usual routine of balls and parties, and has nearly exhausted itself of its yearly labors. Lord Raglan’s death has been very much felt, and throws many families into mourning. Miss Steiner, one of the young ladies who stood bridesmaid with me at Miss Jackson’s wedding, is now staying with me. She is a sweet girl; came on Wednesday and I think will leave on Monday. Her brother has just returned from America, and expresses himself much pleased with all he saw. We have dined with the Archbishop of Canterbury since I wrote you, which will please Uncle Edward. He lives in Lambeth Palace, the residence of the ancient archbishops, and we dined in the grand baronial reception hall. We have had two large dinners, and give another next Thursday, which will end our large entertainments, I dare say. We went to Oxford the day of the Commemoration, and uncle had conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law. It was most gratifying and agreeable.[21] The same evening the queen gave her last concert, and we were obliged to return to town. The King of the Belgians is now on a visit to the queen, and they have all gone to Osborne. The season is very nearly over, and I am really glad to be done with lengthy dinners and crowded hot balls for a while. I have now ...... a man of high position, clever and talented, very rich, and the only fault to find is his age, which is certainly great, as he will be sixty next year. He has a daughter who is a widow, and I might pass for her daughter. But I really like him very much, and know how devoted he would be. I should have everything to my heart’s best satisfaction, and go home as often as I liked. But I will write no more about it......

Uncle is well and has passed this season remarkably well. I have partially engaged a state-room for August 25th, but scarcely think I will go then. The steamers are going so full now that it is necessary to engage a long time before.

We have been giving Friday evening receptions since June 15th, and next Friday, the 20th, will be the last; we have had six. I hear the exhibition in Paris is improving, and that will bring even more Americans. As Miss Steiner and I are going out, I must stop writing and get ready. How constantly I wish for you, and trust, dear sister, whether I return to America or remain in England, that it will not be many months before I see you once more. Love to Mr. B. and yourself, from

Your ever affectionate HATTIE.

Footnote 21:

This mention of the Commemoration Day at Oxford, where Mr. Buchanan, along with the poet Tennyson, received the degree of D. C. L., does not do justice to the scene. The students, after their fashion, greeted Miss Lane’s appearance with loud cheers, and on her uncle they bestowed their applause vociferously.

[TO MRS. BAKER.]

LONDON, October 6, 1854.

MY DEAR MARY:—

I received your letter in due time, of the 14th July, and should have answered it long ere this, but that I knew Harriet wrote to you regularly. I wrote to you soon after my arrival in London, but you have never acknowledged that letter, and as you have said nothing about it in yours of the 14th July, I fear it has miscarried.

If I do not write often it is not because you are not freshly and most kindly remembered. Indeed I feel great anxiety about your health and prosperity, and am rejoiced that you appear to be happy in San Francisco. You are often, very often, a subject of conversation between Harriet and myself.

We set out for Belgium to-morrow, where I have important public business to transact. I take Harriet along to enable her to see a little of the continent, and I may perhaps have time to accompany her along the Rhine.

I cannot be long absent, because the business of this legation is incessant, important, and laborious.

Thank God! I have been enjoying my usual health here, and am treated as kindly as I could have expected. And yet I long to return home, but must remain nearly another year to fulfill my engagement with the President when I most reluctantly consented to accept the mission. Should a kind Providence prolong my days, I hope to pass the remnant of them in tranquillity and retirement at Wheatland. I have been kindly treated by the world, but am heartily sick of public life. Besides a wise man ought to desire to pass some time in privacy before his inevitable doom......

I hope to be able to take Harriet on a short visit to Paris before her return to the United States. I have but little time to write to-day after my despatches, and determined not to let another post for California pass without writing. Remember me kindly to Mr. Baker, and believe me to be with warm and sincere affection and regard

Your uncle, JAMES BUCHANAN.

[TO MISS LANE IN PARIS.]

LONDON, November 10, 1854.

MY DEAR HARRIET:—

I do not regard the article in the Pennsylvanian; but if Mr. Tyson has really become a “know-nothing,” this would be a different matter. It would at least, in some degree, modify the high opinion which I had formed of him from his general character and his known ability.

I accompanied Mrs. Lawrence to the new lord mayor’s banquet last evening. I got the lady mayoress to substitute her in your place...... There were no ladies of foreign ministers present and none I believe were invited, so that there would have been no other mode of introducing you except through the lady mayoress. The new lord mayor was exceedingly and specially civil to me.

I wish you to make out your visit to Paris. We can get along without you here, though you may think this impossible. Mr. Welsh informs me that Mr. Mason will accompany you home; at this I should be greatly rejoiced. The news, I fear, is too good to be true. Much pleasure as it would afford me to see him, and have him under my roof, I do not wish this unless he desires to pay me a visit of some duration, and see the wonders of London. If it be merely to accompany you and nothing more, it would be another matter. This would be carrying civility too far.

If I have felt anxious about you, just consider the unaccountable marriages which —— and —— have both made.

Many of your friends make kind inquiries after you. With my kindest regards to Mr. and Mrs. Mason and the family, I remain,

Yours affectionately, etc.

LONDON, Jan. 20, 1855.

I have received yours of yesterday. In answer I say, do just as you please and then you will please me best. I desire that whilst you remain in England, you should enjoy yourself prudently and discreetly in the manner most agreeable to yourself. If you desire it, there can be no objection to a visit to Miss Hargreaves.

I send the letters received by the last steamer. I got one myself from Mr. Macalester who says, “Please to say to Miss Harriet that ‘Job’ will be out in the spring, provided the ...... gentleman is disposed of (as he could wish) in the interim.”

For my part, my impressions are favorable to “Job,” although I consider him rather a cold lover to wait for a whole year. He does not know that you will be home in the spring, and that he may spare himself the voyage, nor did I so inform Mr. Macalester.

I dine to-day “en famille” with General D’Oxholme. With my regards to all, I remain,

Yours affectionately, etc.

January 31, 1855.

...... In regard to Miss Hargreaves, our loves are mutual. I admire her very much. Return her my love, with all my heart; but alas! what signifies the love of a man nearly sixty-four.

I have accepted Mr. Atkinson’s invitation both for you and myself.

August 18, 1855.

I enclose a letter to you from Mr. H. Randall which I opened, seeing that it came from Manchester, and believing it was about the shawls. I have sent the two shawls mentioned in the letter as requested to Messrs. —— & Co., and informed Mr. Randall where you are, and that you would not be in London until Monday the 27th instant.

There is no news of any consequence. I dined yesterday with Sir Richard Pakenham at the Traveller’s Club, and we had a pleasant time of it. I shall meet him again at dinner on Tuesday next at Count Lavradio’s, to which you were also invited.

Sir Richard is a sensible man. He has absolutely resigned, and has only been prevailed upon to attend the coronation of the young king of Portugal as British Minister. He will be back from Lisbon in October. He says he is determined not to wear out his life from home, but pass the remnant of his days among his relatives and friends in Ireland. I am persuaded he has not the least idea of marrying a young wife, though younger than Sir F. He was born in ’97 and Sir F. in ’96. I am in favor of a considerable disparity between the ages of husband and wife for many reasons, and should be especially so in your case. Still I do not think that your husband ought to be more than double your age.

August 20, 1855.

I enclose you a number of letters, including all received by the “Atlantic.” There is one, I presume, from Lady Ouseley. I wrote to her and informed her of the circumstances of your visit to the Isle of Wight, and your intention to pass some time with me at the Star and Garter before proceeding to Lancashire, and our intention then to visit them and Miss Gamble.

I learn by a letter from John H. Houston that poor Jessie is very ill of a typhoid fever, and her recovery doubtful, to say the least. Brother Edward had been sent for, and was expected.

I have received instructions from Governor Marcy on the Central American questions, which render it almost morally certain that from their nature they cannot be executed before the 30th of September; with declarations that I am the most proper person, etc., etc., etc., to carry them into effect, and not a word about my successor. Indeed, Mr. Hunter, the chief clerk, writes me as follows, under date of August 6th: “I hear nothing as to who is to be your successor. It is no doubt a difficult question to decide.”

August 23, 1855.

I know nothing at present which will prevent me from accompanying Mr. Appleton to the Isle of Wight. Why should I not occasionally take “a spree” as well as Mr. Shapter? You may, therefore, secure me a room in the hotel, should this be deemed necessary. I shall be there some time on Saturday. Till then, farewell!

August 28, 1855.

I opened a letter for you from Glasgow. It is dated on the 24th, and announces the sending of the two shawls—“grey centre, with black and scarlet border.” They have not yet been received, neither had those I returned been received.

There was no letter for you by the “Asia.” I send the three last Heralds. Poor Mr. Lawrence had been given up.[22] There were no longer any hopes of his recovery. Col. L. is still in Paris. His brother and lady are, I understand, in London, and will leave for home by the “Arago,” from Southampton, to-morrow.

I had not a word from Washington, official or unofficial—nothing about poor Jessie. We had a very pleasant time on our return from Black Gang Chine, and indeed throughout our excursion. The Shanklin Chine is much more picturesque than the Black Gang affair. No news.

Footnote 22:

The Honorable Abbot Lawrence, of Boston.

Miss Lane returned to the United States shortly before the date of this letter.

LONDON, October 12, 1855.

MY DEAR HARRIET:—

I have been watching the weather since you departed, and it has been as favorable as I could have desired. If the winds and the waves have been as propitious as my wishes and my hopes induce me to believe, you will have had a delightful voyage. Good luck to you on your native soil! I miss you greatly; but know it was for your good that you should go home in this delightful weather, instead of encountering a winter passage.

Every person I meet has something kind to say of you. You have left a good name behind, and that is something, but not more than you deserve.

Poor Lady Ouseley has lost her son. I have not seen her since this sad event, but of course have called.

I have met Lady Chantrey, Mrs. Shapter, the D’Oxholmes, etc., etc., but need not repeat what they said.

Sir Henry Holland called on Wednesday immediately after his return, and expressed both sorrow and disappointment that he had not seen you before your departure. He desired me to present you his kindest regards, and says, God willing, he will call upon you next summer in the United States.

Take good care not to display any foreign airs and graces in society at home, nor descant upon your intercourse with titled people:—but your own good sense will teach you this lesson. I shall be happy on my return to learn that it has been truly said of you, “she has not been a bit spoiled by her visit to England.”

I forgot to tell you I had seen the good duchess, who said many extravagant things about you.

I received a letter from Mrs. Plitt by the last steamer, directed to you, with instructions that if you had left I might open and read and then burn it, all which I have done.

I wrote to Miss Hetty by the Southampton steamer on Wednesday last, and sent two of the Posts.

I shall give up the house towards the end of the month. Mr. Appleton now occupies your room, and renders himself quite agreeable.

I have not seen Grey[23] since you left; but she says she did put up your slippers in the black bag. I shall make it a point to see her and talk with her before she finally leaves the house. She has been absent, but is backwards and forwards.

I heard nothing from Washington by the last steamer respecting myself. I shall present my letter of recall, and take leave of the queen soon after it arrives. As you know, I am heartily tired of my position. But what then? I do not wish to arrive in the United States before the meeting of Congress. I am uncertain what I shall do, but will always keep you advised, having confidence that you will not talk about my intended movements......

Louis Napoleon at the present moment wields more real power than ever his great uncle did. All the potentates in Europe dread him, and are paying court to him. He has England in leading strings nearly as much as Sardinia. How have the mighty fallen!

Mr. Ward came to the legation to take leave of you a few moments after you left on Friday morning. Consols have been falling, falling continually for the last week, and this makes him melancholy.

Mrs. Shapter promised to write by the steamer. She has arranged the account you left with her in a satisfactory manner. She has not yet sent her letter, which I shall transmit by the bag.

Mrs. Lawrence called this morning to take leave of me. She appears to be much rejoiced at the prospect of getting home.

Footnote 23:

Miss Lane’s English maid.

October 19, 1855.

Whilst I write, I congratulate myself with the belief that under the blessing of Providence, you are again happily in your native land and among kind friends. The passage of the Baltic from New York to Liverpool was one of the smoothest and most agreeable ever made. Hence we have every reason to believe that the Atlantic enjoyed the same favorable weather.

I had a very pretty note from Mrs. Sturgis on the 15th instant, presenting me with a water melon, in which she says: “I was sorry not to say ‘good bye’ to Miss Lane in person, but we did not forget to drink her health and a prosperous voyage, and we feel how very much we shall miss her and her praises another season.[24]” Of course I answered this note in a proper manner.

The good but eccentric duchess always speaks of you in terms of warm affection and regard, and sends her kindest love.

Mr. and Mrs. Alston, of South Carolina, and Mr. Elliott, the Commissioner of that State at the Paris Exhibition, passed last Sunday evening with us. She is a superior woman, and withal quite good looking and agreeable.

I received the enclosed letter from Mary to you on Monday last, by the Baltic. Knowing from unmistakable signs that it came from Mary, I opened it merely to ascertain that she was well. I purposely know but little of its contents. I wrote to her yesterday, and invited her to pay us a visit next spring, offering to pay the expenses of her journey. I suggested that it would scarcely be worth her while to pay us a visit for less than a year, and that in the mean time, Mr. Baker’s expenses would be much reduced, and he would have an opportunity of arranging his affairs.

Doctor and Mrs. Le Vert, formerly Miss Octavia Walton, are now here. Strangely enough, I had never met her before. She is sprightly, talkative and animated, but does not seem to understand the art of growing old gracefully. I shall make a favorable impression on her, I trust, by being a good listener. I have not seen her daughter, but they are all to be with me some evening before their departure, which will be in the Arago on the 24th instant.

I have not received my letter of recall, and entertain but little hope that it will be sent before General Thomas shall reach Washington. I will keep you advised. I dine to-day with General D’Oxholme.

The repulse of the Russians at Kars astonishes me. The Turks and the French have acquired the glory of the present war. Our mother England is rather upon the background.

Sir William and Lady Ouseley are most deeply affected by the loss of their son. I saw her last night for the first time since the sad event, and most sincerely sympathized with her. She became calmer after the first burst of grief was over, and talked much about you. On request of Sir William I write to-day to Mrs. Roosevelt, giving her the sad information.

Lady Stafford requests me by letter to give you her warmest regards, and to tell you she hopes Heaven will bless you both in time and eternity.

Mrs. Shapter looks delicate. I saw her yesterday. She said she would write, but I have not yet received her letter. Should it come, I shall send it by the despatch bag.

Footnote 24:

Mrs. Russell Sturgis.

October 26, 1855.

I have but little time to write before the closing of the mail, having been much and unexpectedly engaged to-day.

Almost every person I meet speaks kindly of you. I dined with Lady Talbot de Malahide on Tuesday last, and she desired me specially to send you her kindest love. Doctor, Madame and Miss Le Vert passed last Sunday evening with me. She is a most agreeable person. I think it right to say this of her, after what I wrote you in my last letter.

I dine to-day with Lady Chantrey, where I am to meet Dr. Twiss.

Grey left yesterday morning on a visit to her relatives in Devonshire. I made her a present of a sovereign to pay her expenses there, besides paying her week’s wages. I have enlisted Lady Chantrey warmly in her favor, and I hope she may procure a place.

I received by the last steamer a private letter from Governor Marcy, in answer to mine requesting my letter of recall. He informs me it had been sent and was then on its way. There is something mysterious in the matter which I cannot explain. It has not yet arrived, though it ought to have been here before your departure. Before that, I had received despatches Nos. 109 and 111. Despatch No. 110—the intermediate one—has not yet come to hand. I presume my letter of recall was in the missing despatch. I have my own suspicions, but these do not attach to Governor Marcy. His letter was frank and friendly, and was evidently written in the full conviction that I would have received my recall before his letter could reach me. Some people are very anxious to delay my return home.

Now the aspect of things has changed. The British government has recently sent a considerable fleet to our coasts, and most inflammatory and absurd articles in reference to the object of this fleet have appeared in the Times, the Globe, and the Morning Post. I have no doubt they will be republished all over the United States. The aspect of affairs between the two countries has now become squally; and Mr. Appleton will not consent to remain here as chargé till the new minister arrives. In this he is right; and consistently with my honor and character, I could not desert my post under such circumstances. I may, therefore, be compelled to remain here until the end of December, or even longer. This will depend on the time of the appointment of my successor, which may not be until the meeting of Congress. It is possible that Mr. Appleton may return home by the Pacific on the 3d November. He is very anxious I should consent to it, which, however, I have not yet done.

I trust I may hear of your arrival at home by the Pacific on to-morrow. The foggy and rainy weather has commenced, and the climate is now dreary. Mr. and Mrs. John Wurts, of New York, passed the evening with me yesterday. He is an old friend and she an agreeable lady. They will return by the Pacific.

November 9th, 1855.

I have received your favors of the 21st and 22d October. I thank Heaven that you have arrived at home in health and safety. The weather since your departure has been such as you know prevails at this season, and London has been even too dull for me, and this is saying much for it.

I received my letter of recall, dated on the 11th September, last Monday, the 5th instant, with an explanation from Governor Marcy of the mistake which had occasioned its delay. Had this been sent on the 11th September, I might with all convenience have accompanied you home, either on the 6th or, at latest, on the 20th October.

The storm which has been raised in England in regard to the relations between the two countries renders it impossible that I should leave the legation at the present moment. Mr. Appleton has at length reluctantly consented to remain until my departure, and this relieves me from much embarrassment. I now hope to be at home early in January, but this for the present you had better keep to yourself. I may in the meantime probably visit Paris.

I regret that such unfounded reports respecting Mr. Mason’s health should reach the United States.

You speak to me concerning the Presidency. You of all other persons best know that even if there were no other cogent reasons, the state of my health is not such as would enable me to undergo the intense anxiety and fatigue incident to wearing that crown of thorns. Of course I wish nothing said about the state of my health.

My friends in Pennsylvania constitute the ablest and most honest portion of the Democratic party. They now have the power in their own hands, and they ought, for their own benefit, not mine, to take care that Pennsylvania shall be represented by proper persons in the national convention. They can, if they will, exert such a powerful influence as to select the best man for the country from among the list of candidates, and thus take care of themselves. This would be my advice to them, were I at home. I hope they may follow it. As far as I can learn, President Pierce is daily growing stronger for a renomination.

I enclose you a note which I have received from the Duchess of Somerset.

I know not whether Mrs. Shapter will write to you to-day. I communicated your kind messages, with which she appeared to be much gratified, and spoke of you most affectionately.

You will be gratified to learn that Sir —— does not bear malice. Mr. Bedinger in writing to me from Copenhagen on the 4th instant, says: “I saw them both several times. Sir —— and his charming niece (for so I found her), told me much of yourself and your charming niece, who they said had recently left you for America.”

I have a very long despatch for to-day, and must bid you adieu. May God be with you to protect and direct you. Be prudent and circumspect and cautious in your communications to others. There are very few people in the world who can keep a secret. They must tell or burst.

November 16th, 1855.

I have received your favor of the 30th ultimo, per the Atlantic.

General Webb’s advice is likely to be followed, very much against my own will. I am now in the midst of the storm, and my sense of duty leaves me no alternative but to remain at my post until the danger shall have passed away, or until President Pierce shall think proper to appoint my successor. Mr. Appleton goes home by this steamer. The President had sent him a commission as chargé ad interim, to continue from my departure until the arrival of my successor. I resisted his importunities to go home as long as I could, but the last letter from his wife was of such a character that I could no longer resist. He is a perfect secretary, as well as an excellent friend. He has been in the house with me since your departure, and I shall not now give the house up for the present. The little cook has done very well.

I presume that ere this you know that Colonel Forney has come out openly in favor of the renomination of General Pierce. You know that I considered this almost unavoidable. General Pierce placed him in the Union, and has maintained him there and afforded him the means of making a fortune. Besides, he is the editor of the President’s official journal. Under these circumstances, he could not well have acted otherwise, and I do not blame him for it. Still he will be severely attacked, and in self-defence will be obliged to come out and say that he has acted thus because I had determined not to become a candidate for nomination before the national convention; and this defence will be nothing more than the truth. This will possibly place Mr. Dallas and General Pierce as rival candidates before the Democracy of Pennsylvania, which might prove unfortunate. But still be quiet and discreet and say nothing.

If I had any views to the Presidency, which I have not, I would advise you not to remain longer in Philadelphia than you can well avoid. A large portion of my friends in that city are bitterly hostile to those whom you must necessarily meet there. I presume, without knowing, that Governor Bigler will be the candidate of the administration for the Senate.

Lady Ouseley desires me to send you her kindest love, and I believe she entertains for you a warm affection. I have not seen her to deliver your message since the receipt of your letter. Lady Alice Peel, Lady Chantry and others send their kind regards. I dine with Mrs. Shapter to-morrow.

I shall write by the present steamer to James Henry to come out here immediately, as I may be detained until January or February, and I shall want some person to be in the house with me. Could I have foreseen what has come to pass, I might have been selfish enough to retain you here. I can scarcely see the paper for a “yellow fog.” I wish you could call to see John G. Brenner and his wife.

Give my love to brother Edward and his family.

November 23d, 1855.

I have received your favors of the 5th and 6th instants, and immediately posted your letters to the duchess, Lady Ouseley and Miss Hargreaves.

The weather here has been even more disagreeable than usual for the season, and I have had a cough and clearing of the throat exactly similar to your own last winter. I have not used any remedies for it, and it is now, thank Heaven, passing away. Since Mr. Appleton left, I have got Mr. Moran to sleep in the house with me.

Lady Ouseley has been quite unwell, but she was able to ride out in my carriage yesterday...... She says, “when you write to Miss Lane, pray give her my best love, with many thanks for her kind note, which I will answer as soon as I am better.”

In a letter from Mrs. Roosevelt, dated on the 13th ultimo, in which, after mentioning that she had learned your intention to return home, she invites you to make her house your home while in New York, etc., etc. I have written to her to-day, thanking her for her kind invitation, and expressing the desire that you should know each other better.

I agree with you in opinion that Mr. —— is not the man to succeed in public life, or in captivating such fastidious ladies as yourself; but yet I have no doubt he is a good and amiable man, as he is certainly well informed. Much allowance ought to be made for wounded vanity. But I admit I am no judge in these matters, since you inform me that Mr. —— has been the admiration of Philadelphia ladies.

Mr. Van Dyke does not properly appreciate Mr. Tyler. I like them both very much, as well as their wives.

Van Dyke is able, grateful, energetic and influential, and should he take care of himself, will yet win his way to a high position.

Do not forget to present my love to Lily Macalester and my kind regards to her father and Mrs. Lathrop.

I know of no news here which would interest you much. A few dinner parties are now given, to which I have been invited. I dine to-day with Monckton Milnes, and on Tuesday next with Sir Henry and Lady Holland.

Many kind inquiries are still made about you. I wish you would inform Eskridge without delay that I attach great importance to the immediate transfer of the Michigan Central Railroad stock about which I wrote to him by the last steamer. I hope, however, that ere this can reach you he will have attended to this business.

In one respect, at least, I am now deemed a man of great importance. In the present uneasy condition of the stock exchange, an incautious word from me would either raise or sink the price of consols.

I see much of Mr. Ward, and he is thoroughly American in our present difficulties. This has raised him much in my estimation.

London, November 2, 1855.

I have but truly a moment to write to you. We did not learn your arrival by the Pacific, which I had expected with much interest.

Lord Clarendon told me yesterday that the queen had expressed her regret not to have seen you before your departure. He said she had heard you were to marry Sir ——, and expressed how much she would have been gratified had you been detained in England. We had some talk about the disparity of your ages, which I have not time to repeat, even if it were worth repeating. I said it was supposed Sir —— was very rich. “Yes,” he said, “enormously.”

There is a great muss here at present about the relations between the two countries, but I think it will all eventually blow over and may do good. Everybody is now anxious to know something about American affairs; and both in the press and the public we have many powerful defenders against the measures adopted by Lord Palmerston’s government.

November 30, 1855.

I have received your favor of the 12th instant from Lancaster. Ere this can reach you Mr. Appleton will have seen you and told you all about my affairs. I have but little to say to you of any consequence.

I saw the duchess two or three days ago, and she spoke in raptures, as is her wont, about your “beautiful letter” and yourself. She begged me to say to you she would soon answer it.

I shall deliver your message to Mrs. Sturgis as soon as she shall appear in public after her confinement........ Among the ancient Jews she would have been considered a prodigy and a blessing. I like her very much.

Van Dyke’s message is like himself. He is a kind and true-hearted fellow. I am persuaded, however, he does Tyler injustice. His being for Wise was but another reason for being for myself. He had written me several letters of a desponding character. He thought the State was going all wrong,—great danger of Dallas, etc., and attributed all to my refusal to be a candidate, and not returning home at the time I had appointed.

By the last steamer, however, I received a letter from him of a character altogether different......

I shall be anxious to learn what plans you have adopted for the winter.

The enclosed letter from Lady Chantrey was handed to me by Charles. In a hurry I opened it. “Why,” said he, “that is to Miss Lane, and was brought here from Lady Chantrey.” I now take the cover off, and enclose it to you, assuring you that I have not read a single word of it.

December 14, 1855.

I have nothing of interest to communicate by this steamer. The past week has been dull, gloomy, and cold for the season. The walks in the park are covered with snow, and I find them very slippery. The winter has set in with unusual severity, whilst the price of provisions is very high. God help the poor in this vast Babel! Their sufferings will be dreadful.

Although I have not suffered, either from ennui or despondency, yet I shall hail the arrival of James Henry with pleasure. I think it may be of service to him to be with me a month or six weeks.

I am extremely sorry to learn that “Mrs. Plitt’s health is very bad.” She is a woman among a thousand. Most sincerely and deeply do I sympathize with her. Give her my kindest love.

I have heard nothing of the six shawls since your departure, but I have already written to Mr. Randall, and requested him to send me the bill, which I shall pay as soon as received......

I have received your furs from Mrs. Shapter, and shall send them to New York by the “Arago,” which will leave Southampton on the 19th instant. They are packed in a nice little box directed to the care of George Plitt, Esquire. I shall, through Mr. Croshey, get Captain Lines himself to take charge of them and pay the duty. Please to so arrange it that some friend at New York may be ready to receive them and refund him the duty which he may have paid.

I have again inadvertently opened a letter addressed to you which I enclose, and I assure that I did not read a single word in it, except “My dearest Hattie.” I can, therefore, only guess who is the writer.

I started out yesterday and paid three very agreeable visits to the Countess Bernsdorff, Lady Palmerston, and the Duchess of Somerset. I found them all at home, and had a nice little chat with each. The duchess told me Lord Panmure had been with her, and had been quite extravagant in his praises of what he termed my able, friendly, and discreet conduct in the late difficulties between the two countries. But for me, he said, these might have produced serious consequences. The duchess, as usual, spoke extravagantly in your praise, and desired her love to you.

I presume that Mrs. Lane and yourself have had a fine time of it hearing Rachel. She is quite competent to understand and appreciate the beauties of French tragedy. However this may be, she possesses as much knowledge in this line as thousands of others who will be quite enraptured with Rachel’s acting. I am glad you are on good and friendly terms with her...... From present appearances the war will end before the spring. This will be the case should the czar accept the terms suggested by Austria and consented to by the allies.

December 21, 1855.

Since the date of my last letter I have received the news of the death of poor Mary.[25] I need not inform you of my devoted attachment to her, and she deserved it all. Poor girl! she had her own troubles, and she bore them all with cheerful patience. She is now at rest, I trust, in that heavenly home where there is no more pain and sorrow. Her loss will make the remainder of my residence here, which I trust may be brief, dreary and disconsolate.

How happy I am to know that you are with Mrs. Plitt! She has a warm heart, and a fine intellect, and will, better than any other person, know how to comfort and soothe you in your sorrow. I am thankful that you are now at home.

With Mrs. Plitt’s kind letter to me came that from Mrs. Speer to you, and one from Lieutenant Beale to myself. I shall always gratefully remember his kindness and that of his wife. His letter was just what it ought to have been. I wrote to Mrs. Plitt from Southampton by the “Arago,” which left on Wednesday last.

The death of poor Mary has been your first serious sorrow, because you were too young to feel deeply the loss of your parents. Ere this can reach you a sufficient time will have elapsed for the first natural overflowings of sorrow. I would not have restrained them if I could. It is now time that they should moderate, and that you should not mourn the dead at the expense of your duties to the living. This sad event ought to teach you the vanity of all things human and transitory, and cause you to fix your thoughts, desires, and affections on that Being with whom “there is no variableness or shadow of turning.” This will not render you gloomy, but will enable you the better to perform all the duties of life. In all calamitous events we ought to say emphatically: “Thy will be done.” At the last, all the proceedings of a mysterious Providence will be justified in another and a better world, and it is our duty here to submit with humble resignation. Although my course of life has been marked by temporal prosperity, thanks be to Heaven, yet I have experienced heart-rending afflictions, and you must not expect to be exempt from the common lot of humanity. I have not seen Mrs. Shapter, but I sent her Mr. Beale’s letter, which she returned with a most feeling note. She, also, wrote to you by the “Arago.”

You will know sooner in the United States than I can at what time I shall be relieved. I shall now expect to hear by the arrival of every steamer that my successor has been appointed. Should he arrive here within a month or six weeks, I still have an idea of running over to the continent; but I have yet determined upon nothing. I have a great desire to be at home.

Footnote 25:

Mrs. Baker.

December 28, 1855.

I have received your favor of the 11th instant with the copy of Mr. Baker’s letter, which I have read with deep interest. I wrote to you last week on the subject of poor Mary’s death, which I deeply deplore. I hope that ere this can reach you your mind will have been tranquillized on that sad event. It would have been wrong, it would have been unnatural, had you not experienced anguish for the loss of so good, kind-hearted, and excellent a sister.

Still, the loss is irreparable, grief is unavailing, and you have duties to perform towards yourself as well as your friends. To mourn for the dead at the expense of these duties would be sinful. We shall never forget poor Mary, her memory will always be dear to us; but it is our duty to bow with submission to the will of that Being in whose hands are the issues of life and death. You know what a low estimate I have ever placed upon a woman without religious principles. I know that in your conduct you are guided by these principles, more than is common in the fashionable world; but yet if this melancholy dispensation of Providence should cause you to pay more attention than you have done to “the things which pertain to your everlasting peace,” this would be a happy result. I have lost many much-loved relatives and friends; but though age becomes comparatively callous, I have felt and feel deeply the loss of Mary and Jessie. Poor Jessie! She died breathing my name with her devotions. What can I do—what shall I do for her children?

I send by the bag to the department a letter from the duchess, to whom, I believe, I have not mentioned our loss.

Sir William and Lady Ouseley dined with me a few days ago. There were no persons present except ourselves. She sincerely sympathizes with you. Time begins to produce its healing influence on her grief, though both she and poor Sir William have been sadly cast down by their calamity.

James Henry arrived here on Christmas evening after a passage of three weeks which he evidently enjoyed. He talks to Mr. Ward knowingly about every part of a sailing vessel. His plan of travel is quite extensive, far too much so for the sum he intends to expend. I shall gradually cut it down to more reasonable limits.

No news yet of the appointment of my successor, notwithstanding the efforts of Mr. Appleton. I have not received the President’s message, but expect it on Monday with much anxiety. Should I then hear nothing of a successor or secretary of legation, I shall give them formal notice that I will present my letter of recall on a particular day; and should no person arrive in the meantime, that I will leave the legation in charge of General Campbell.

January 4, 1856.

I have received yours of the 17th ultimo, and am pained to learn that you neither see your friends nor take exercise since your return to Philadelphia. Your grief for poor Mary’s death, or at least the manifestation of it, exceeds all reasonable limits, and I am truly sorry that you have not more self-command. Although I know it is sincere, and it ought to be deep, yet you ought to recollect that the world are severe censors.

In regard to the bringing of dear Mary’s remains from San Francisco to Lancaster or Franklin county, I have not a word to say. This must be left to her nearer relatives. She sleeps as sweetly on the distant shores of the Pacific as she could do on any other spot of earth, and her disembodied spirit will be equally near to you wherever you may wander. Still I know it is a sort of instinct of nature to desire to have the tombs of our friends near us; and even if I had any right to object, I should not exercise it. Do as you please, and I shall be content......

James Henry is with me very busy and persevering in sight-seeing. I am sorry I do not feel it proper to detain him with me. The carnival comes so early this year that he must soon be off, as he intends to take Naples en route to Rome. I get along very well with Mr. Moran, though the labor is too great for one man to perform. In truth I cannot answer all the letters I receive, and attend to my appropriate duties. I shall, however, endeavor to write you a few lines every week. Friends still inquire after you with great kindness.

January 11, 1856.

I have received your favor of the 25th ultimo, together with an agreeable little note from Mrs. Plitt, for which give her my thanks.

James Henry left us yesterday afternoon. He had drawn all his plans with mathematical precision, and I did not like to mar them. He was to go direct to Naples, and be at Rome during the carnival, so that he had but little time. He is a calculating, and I think a determined boy....... He has certainly made a favorable impression here on the persons with whom he has been in company, especially on Lady Holland. The dinner went off extremely well; some of them said almost as well as if you had been present. As you would probably like to know the company, I will tell you:

Mr. and Madame Tricoupi, the Count and Countess de Lavradio, Count Bernstorff, the Brazilian Minister and Madame Moreiro, the Swedish Minister and Baroness Hochschild, the Danish Minister and Madame D’Oxholme, Mr. and Mrs. Comyn, Sir Henry and Lady Holland, Lady Talbot de Malahide, R. Monckton Milnes, and J. Buchanan Henry, Esq.

Count Colloredo had the commands of the queen, and could not attend. Countess Bernstorff was ill. Baron Bentinck had an engagement in the country, and so had Mr. and Mrs. Musurus. So you have the list of invitations as well as of those who attended. I expect to leave the house next week.

I very often think of poor Mary, and shall always cherish her memory with deep affection. I trust that ere this your grief has moderated, and that you begin to bear your loss with the philosophy of a Christian, and with humble resignation to the Divine will.

James desired me to send his love to you, and say that he would write to you from Rome.

January 25, 1856.

Without a secretary of legation, I have so much business to transact and so many persons to see, that I must give great offence by necessarily failing to answer the letters of my friends on your side of the Atlantic. I have not yet heard of the appointment of my successor from Washington; but the last steamer brought out a report, on which some of the passengers thought reliance might be placed, that Governor Toucey either had been or would be appointed. It would be difficult to make a better selection. In all this matter, they have treated me discourteously and improperly. By every steamer since the return of Mr. Appleton to the United States, I had a right to expect news of a new appointment. I have written more than once emphatically upon the subject, and they are now fully apprised that I shall leave the legation next month, and entrust its affairs to General Campbell, should neither minister nor secretary in the mean time appear.

The Central American questions might now, I think, be easily settled with any other premier than Lord Palmerston. Since the publication of the correspondence here and the articles in the Times and Daily News in our favor, there would seem to be a general public opinion that we are right. This, I think, renders it certain that serious difficulties between the two countries cannot grow out of these questions. I enclose you an article from the Morning Advertiser, but little calculated to do me good in the United States. What on earth could have induced the editor to write such an article is a mystery. So far as regards any effect it may produce upon the Presidency, I feel quite indifferent. There is a profound wisdom in a remark of Rochefoucauld, with which I met the other day: “Les choses que nous desirons n’arrivent pas, ou, si elles arrivent, ce n’est, ni dans le tems, ni de la manière que nous auraient fait le plus de plaisir.” I had a letter yesterday from Judge Mason, dated on the 23d, giving me a pressing and cordial invitation to stay with him when I visit Paris. This, I believe, I shall accept, at least for part of my brief visit. He is much pleased with Mr. Wise, his new secretary of legation. James B. Henry, he says, who took the despatches to him, “remained but a few hours in Paris, hurrying to Marseilles to take a steamer for Italy.” I have not heard from him since he left, nor did I expect to hear so soon.

Mrs. Shapter has been quite unwell, but is now down-stairs again. I have not seen her since the date of my last.

We had quite an agreeable dinner party at Lord Woodehouse’s on Wednesday last. I had a very pleasant conversation with the Countess Persigny, who speaks English very prettily, though not yet fluently. She is evidently proud of being the grand daughter of Marshal Ney, and well she may be. We had quite a tête à tête. She, or rather the count, has been very civil to me of late. The woman-killer, for whom, as you know, I have very little respect, and with whom I have had no intercourse for a considerable period, seems determined that I shall be on good terms with him. I suffered as usual the penalty of this dinner—a sleepless and uncomfortable night. Dinner invitations are again becoming numerous, but I shall accept none except from those to whom I feel under obligations for past kindness. Your name still continues to be mentioned with kindness by your friends and acquaintances. I sent the other day by the “Frigate Bird,” to Charles Brown, the collector, a portrait of the justly celebrated John Hampden, from our friend MacGregor,[26] intended to be presented to Congress, and have requested Mr. Brown to keep it for me till my return. I also sent two boxes containing books and different articles—one of them champagne and the other wine. These might be sent to Eskridge. Please to tell Mr. Plitt about them, who, if he will call on Mr. Brown, will hear all about the picture. I have neither room nor time to write more.

Footnote 26:

James MacGregor, Esq., M. P.

February 1st, 1856.

I have but little time to write to-day.

Parliament was yesterday opened by the queen. I need not describe the ceremony to you, as you have already witnessed it. What struck me most forcibly was the appearance in the diplomatic box of a full-blooded black negro as the representative of his Imperial Majesty of Hayti.

I have received a letter from James Henry, dated at Rome on the 20th ultimo...... Realities never correspond with the expectations of youth.

I had confidently expected to receive by the Atlantic, whose mails and despatch bag have just come to hand, an answer to my last most urgent request for the appointment of my successor and the immediate appointment of a secretary of legation, but in this I have been disappointed. Not one word in relation to the subject......

I wish I had time to write you more. This steamer will carry a most important despatch to Washington.

February 8th, 1856.

Our latest dates from New York are to Saturday, the 19th of January. We have had no Collins or Cunard steamer during the present week. Since the first spell of cold weather, the winter has been open, damp and disagreeable.

I have gone a good deal into society since the meeting of Parliament, because it is my duty to embrace every opportunity of conversing with influential people here on the relations between the two countries. The Morning Advertiser has been publishing a series of articles, one stating that high words had passed between Lord Clarendon and myself, at the foreign office, and that he had used violent expressions to me there; another that I had, because of this, declined to attend Lady Palmerston’s first reception; and a third, which I have not seen, that Sir Henry Bulwer and myself had been in conference together with a view of settling the Central American questions. Now all this is mere moonshine, and there is not a shadow of truth in any one of these statements.

I went to Count Persigny’s on the evening of Shrove Tuesday, and had quite an agreeable time of it. There were a number of distinguished persons present, though not a crowd. Many kind inquiries were made respecting yourself. I dine to-day at Sir Henry Holland’s, on purpose to meet Macaulay, should his health enable him to be present. On Tuesday at Mr. Butt’s, and on Wednesday at Lord Granville’s, where there will be a party in the evening.

I met the “woman-killer” —— in the ante-chamber of the foreign office on Wednesday last. He now seems determined to be such good friends with me, that in good manners I must treat him kindly. Knowing my tender point, he launched out in your praises, and said such extravagant things of you as I could scarcely stand, notwithstanding my weakness on this subject. Fortunately for me, before he had concluded, he was summoned to Lord Clarendon, greatly to my relief.

I think they will hesitate about sending me away, even if Mr. Crampton should receive his passports. Mr. Cobden told me the other evening at the Reform Club that Mr. Willcox, the member of Parliament from Southampton, had said to Lord Palmerston: “Well, you are about to send Buchanan away;” and his reply was, “If Buchanan should remain until I send him away, he will be here to all eternity.” This, however, is à la mode de Palmerston, and means but little one way or the other. I only repeat it as one of his jokes, and my hesitation on the subject is not in the slightest degree founded on this remark.

I should infer that my Presidential stock is declining in the market. I do not now receive so many love letters on the subject as formerly, always excepting the ever faithful Van Dyke and a few others. Heaven bless them! I see the best face has been put on Bigler’s election, but still it is an ugly symptom. Declining prospects give me no pain. These would rather afford me pleasure, were it not for my friends. Pierce’s star appears now to be in the ascendant, though I think it is not very probable he will be nominated. Heaven only knows who will be the man.

February 15, 1856.

Nothing of importance has occurred since I wrote you last. I have been out a good deal, deeming it my duty at the present crisis to mingle with influential society as much as possible. Everywhere you are kindly remembered. Lord and Lady Stanhope have been very particular in their inquiries about you, and say much which it would be gratifying to you to hear. I promised to Mr. and Mrs. Butt, that I would transmit you their kind compliments. The Duchess of Somerset begged me to say to you, that at the date of her letter to you, she had not heard of your affliction.

I trust that Mr. Dallas may soon make his appearance in London, as I am exceedingly anxious to be relieved from my present position...... What will you say to my reconciliation with Governor Bigler? He addressed me such a letter as you have scarcely ever read. It was impossible for me to avoid giving it a kind answer. I accepted his overtures, and informed him that it would not be my fault if we should not always hereafter remain friends. He had often made advances to me indirectly before, which I always declined. This seems to be the era of good feeling in Pennsylvania. Davy Lynch’s letters, for some months past, have been quite graphic and amusing. He says that “the Eleventh hour Buchanan Legion” at Harrisburgh have unanimously elected him a member, for which he kindly thanked them, and at the same time advised them to work hard and diligently to make up for lost time. They responded that their exertions should be directed with a view to throw my old fogy friends into the shade.

Notwithstanding all this, the signs of the times are not very auspicious to my experienced eye, and I shall be neither disappointed nor sorry should the Cincinnati convention select some other person. It will, however, be always a source to me of heartfelt gratification, that the Democracy of my native State have not deserted me in my old age, but have been true to the last.

I am truly sorry to hear of Mr. Randall’s affliction. He is an able and true hearted man, to whom I am much attached. Please to remember me to him and Mrs. Randall in the kindest terms.

Your uncle John has died at a good old age, with a character for integrity which he well deserved. He had a kind and excellent heart. As he advanced in life, his peculiarities increased, and apparently obscured his merits, in his intercourse with his relations and friends. But still he possessed them. For many years after he came to Lancaster we were intimate friends, and we always continued friends.

I trust that Mr. Dallas may arrive by the next Collins steamer. It is my intention to act handsomely towards him. I thank Heaven that a successor has at last been appointed. Whether I shall return home soon after his arrival or go to the continent I cannot at present determine. On the 18th December last I paid Mr. Randall for the six shawls, and have his bill and receipt.

At Lord Granville’s dinner on Wednesday, the Marquis of Lansdowne and Mr. Ellice said very pretty things about you. Colonel Seibels, our minister at Brussels, is now here with me, and I am delighted to see him. He will remain until after the queen’s levee on the 20th. I shall leave the house on Tuesday next, on which day the inventory is to be taken, and shall most probably go to the Clarendon.

February 22, 1856.

Another week has passed, and I am happy to inform you that you are still freshly remembered by your friends and acquaintances on this side of the Atlantic. I delivered up possession of the house to the agent of Mrs. Lewis on Tuesday morning last, with the exception of the offices, and went to Fenton’s, because I could not obtain comfortable apartments at the Clarendon. I retain the offices for the present at the rate of £10 per month, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Dallas. I earnestly hope he may be here in the Pacific, which is expected at Liverpool on Wednesday or Thursday next. The two house agents, on the part of Mrs. Lewis and myself respectively, have been employed on the inventory ever since Tuesday morning, and have not yet finished.

I expect to be all ready, upon the arrival of Mr. Dallas, either to go home or go to the continent, according to the then existing circumstances. At present I am quite undetermined which course I shall pursue.

You will see by the Morning Post that I presented Col. Seibels at the levee on Wednesday. He paid me a visit for a week, and his society afforded me great pleasure. He is both an honorable and agreeable man, as well as a tried and sincere friend. I dine with Lord and Lady Palmerston to-morrow, and with the Lord and Lady Mayoress on Wednesday, and on Thursday attend the wedding of Miss Sturgis and Mr. Coleman at 11 o’clock at the Church of “St. John, Robin Hood,” close to the Robin Hood Gate of Richmond Park. Mr. Sturgis’s country residence is close to this church.

I receive letters from home, some of which say, with reference to the Presidency, “Come home immediately,” and others, “Stay away a while longer.” I shall not regulate my conduct with any view to this office. If it be the will of Providence to bestow upon me the Presidency, I shall accept it as a duty, a burden and a trial, and not otherwise. I shall take no steps to obtain it.

Mrs. Shapter’s health is delicate, and John has been quite unwell. I shall not fail to leave her some token of my great regard before I leave London. She richly deserves it.

February 29th, 1856.

...... I dined with the queen on Wednesday last, and had a pleasant time of it. I took the Duchess of Argyle in to dinner, and sat between her and the princess royal. With the latter I had much pleasant conversation. She spoke a great deal of you and made many inquiries about you, saying how very much pleased she had been with you. The queen also spoke of you kindly and inquired in a cordial manner about you. Indeed, it would seem you were a favorite of both. There has been a marked and favorable change of feeling here within the last month towards the United States. I am now made something of a lion wherever I go, and I go much into society as a matter of duty. The sentiment and proceeding at the Mansion House on Wednesday last were quite remarkable. Perhaps it is just as well I received the command to dine with the queen on that day.

I am yet in ignorance as to the time when Mr. Dallas may be expected to arrive. The moment I learn he has arrived in Liverpool, I shall apply for my audience of leave and joyfully surrender the legation to him with the least possible delay.

March 7th, 1856.

I received your two letters of February 15th and 19th on Monday last, on my return from Mr. Lampson’s, where I went on Saturday evening. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lampson talked much and kindly of you, and desired to be remembered to you...... I shall expect Mr. Dallas about the middle of next week, and intend soon after his arrival to cross over to Paris. I hope to be at home some time in April, but when, I cannot now inform you.

I am glad to learn that you purpose to go to New York. It was very kind in you to jog my memory about what I should bring you from Paris. I know not what may be the result. Nous verrons.

Becky Smith is a damsel in distress, intelligent and agreeable, and a country-woman in a strange land. Her conduct in London has been unexceptionable and she is making her way in the world. She has my sympathy, and I have given her “a lift” whenever I could with propriety.

I delivered your letter to the Duchess of Somerset on Monday last, and she was delighted with it. She handed it to me to read. It was well and feelingly written. I was sorry to perceive that you complained of your health, but you will, I trust, come out with the birds in the spring, restored and renovated. I am pleased with what you say concerning Senator Welsh. In writing to me, I think you had better direct to me at Paris, to the care of Mr. Mason, giving him his appropriate style, and you need not pay the postage; better not, indeed. But you will scarcely have time to write a single letter there before I shall have probably left. I shall continue to write to you, but you need not continue to write to me more than once after the receipt of this, unless I should advise you differently by the next steamer.

Mr. Bates is quite unwell, and I fear he is breaking up very fast. At the wedding of Miss Sturgis the other day, as I approached to take my seat beside Madame Van de Weyer, she said: “Unwilling as you may be, you are now compelled to sit beside me.” Of course I replied that this was no compulsion, but a great privilege. Mrs. Bates complained much that Mrs. Lawrence has not written to her.

March 14, 1856.

I tell you the simple truth when I say I have no time to-day to write to you at length. Mr. Dallas arrived at Liverpool yesterday afternoon, and is to leave there to-morrow at nine for London; so the consul telegraphed to me. I have heard nothing from him since his appointment. I expect an audience of leave from the queen early next week, and shall then, God willing, pass over to the continent.

I have this morning received your two letters of the 25th and 29th, and congratulate you on your arrival in New York. I hope you may have an agreeable time of it. Your letter of the 25th is excellent. I like its tone and manner very much and am sorry I have not time to write you at length in reply. I am also pleased with that of the 29th. I send by the bag the daguerreotype of our excellent friend, Mrs. Shapter. I have had mine taken for her. I think hers is very good. I saw her yesterday in greatly improved health and in fine spirits.

March 18, 1856.

The queen at my audience of leave on Saturday, desired to be kindly remembered to you.

The Marquis of Lansdowne at parting from me said: “If Miss Lane should have the kindness to remember me, do me the honor to lay me at her feet.”

Old Robert Owen came in and has kept me so long that I must cut this letter short. I go to Paris, God willing, on Thursday next, in company with Messrs. Campbell and Croshey our consuls. I send a letter from James which I have received open.

BRUSSELS, March 27, 1856.

I write this in the legation of Colonel Siebels. He and I intend to go to-morrow to the Hague on a visit to Mr. Belmont, from which I propose to return to Paris on Tuesday or Wednesday next. It is my purpose, God willing, to leave for Havre for home in the Arago on Wednesday, the 9th of April. I do not believe that a more comfortable vessel, or a better or safer captain exists. All who have crossed the Atlantic with him speak in the same terms both of his ship and himself.

I shall return to Mr. Mason’s at Paris, because I could not do otherwise without giving offence. What a charming family it is. Judge Mason, though somewhat disabled, has a much more healthy appearance, and in the face resembles much more his former self, than he did when attending the Ostend conference. The redness and sometimes blueness of his face have disappeared, and he now looks as he did in former years.

I shall defer all accounts of my doings on the continent until after we meet. I may or I may not write to you once more before embarking.

You might let Eskridge and Miss Hetty know at what time I shall probably be at home, though I do not wish it to be noised abroad. You cannot calculate our passage to be less than two weeks. Should I reach my native shore on my birth-day, the 23d April, I shall thank God and be content. The Arago takes the southern route to keep clear of the ice.

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VIII. 1856

RETURN TO AMERICA—NOMINATION AND ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY—SIGNIFICANCE OF MR. BUCHANAN’S ELECTION IN RESPECT TO THE SECTIONAL QUESTIONS—PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Buchanan arrived at New York in the latter part of April, 1856, and there met with a public reception from the authorities and people of the city, which evinced the interest that now began to be everywhere manifested in him as the probable future President. With what feelings he himself regarded the prospect of his nomination by his party, and his election, has appeared from his unreserved communications with his friends. That he did not make efforts to secure the nomination will presently appear upon other testimony than his own. He reached Wheatland in the last week of April, and there he remained a very quiet observer of what was taking place in the political world. Before he left England, he had been informed that a Democratic convention of his own State had unanimously declared him to be the first choice of the Pennsylvania Democrats for the Presidency. To this he had made no formal or public response; but on the 8th of June he was waited upon by a committee from this convention, and he then addressed them as follows:

GENTLEMEN:—

I thank you, with all my heart, for the kind terms in which, under a resolution of the late Democratic State Convention, you have informed me that I am “their unanimous choice for the next Presidency.”

When the proceedings of your convention reached me in a foreign land, they excited emotions of gratitude which I might in vain attempt to express. This was not because the Democracy of my much-loved State had by their own spontaneous movement placed me in nomination for the Presidency, an honor which I had not sought, but because this nomination constitutes of itself the highest evidence that, after a long course of public services, my public conduct has been approved by those to whom I am indebted, under Providence, for all the offices and honors I have ever enjoyed. In success and in defeat, in the sunshine and in the storm, they have ever been the same kind friends to me, and I value their continued confidence and good opinion far above the highest official honors of my country.

The duties of the President, whomsoever he may be, have been clearly and ably indicated by the admirable resolutions of the convention which you have just presented to me, and all of which, without reference to those merely personal to myself, I heartily adopt. Indeed, they met my cordial approbation from the moment when I first perused them on the other side of the Atlantic. They constitute a platform broad, national, and conservative, and one eminently worthy of the Democracy of our great and good old State.

These resolutions, carried into execution with inflexibility and perseverance, precluding all hope of changes, and yet in a kindly spirit, will ere long allay the dangerous excitement which has for some years prevailed on the subject of domestic slavery, and again unite all portions of our common country in the ancient bonds of brotherly affection, under the flag of the Constitution and the Union.

The Democratic National Convention assembled at Cincinnati soon afterwards, and from a gentleman who was present, although not a member of the body—my friend, Mr. S. L. M. Barlow of New York—I have received an account of what took place, which I prefer to quote rather than to give one of my own, which could only be compiled from the public journals of the time:

In February, 1856, I was in London, with a portion of my family, and had lodgings at Fenton’s Hotel, St. James Street. Shortly after I reached London, Mr. Buchanan, who was then our minister at the court of St. James, gave up his own residence and came to the same hotel with us, where for some weeks he remained, taking his meals in our rooms. I had known Mr. Buchanan for some years, but never intimately until this time. During my stay in London, I became much interested in his nomination for the Presidency, and frequently spoke to him about the action of the National Democratic Convention to be held in Cincinnati in June, 1856, and expressed to him the hope that he would be the nominee of the party. He said that so great an honor could hardly be expected to fall to his lot, as he had made little effort to secure the nomination, and his absence for so long a time from home had prevented any organization of his friends to that end, save what Mr. Slidell in Louisiana, Mr. Schell in New York, and his own nearest political friends in Pennsylvania, had been able to effect, and that he thought it very unlikely that he could receive the nomination. After a few weeks in London, Mr. Buchanan joined us in a visit to the continent, remaining in Paris about ten days, and he then embarked for the United States.

I returned to New York in the early part of May, and shortly afterwards went to Cincinnati, upon business connected with an unfinished railroad, in which I was interested, and as the day for the meeting of the convention approached, I was surprised to find a lack of all organization on behalf of the friends of Mr. Buchanan, and was satisfied that his nomination was impossible, unless earnest efforts to that end were made, and at once.

I had taken a large dwelling-house in Cincinnati for my own temporary use, and shortly before the meeting of the convention, I wrote to my political friends in Washington who were friendly to him, telling them the condition of things, and that unless they came to Cincinnati without delay, I thought Mr. Buchanan stood no chance for the nomination. Among others I wrote to Mr. Slidell, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. James A. Bayard, and Mr. Bright, all of whom were then in the United States Senate. I promised them accommodations at my house, and, much to my gratification, they all answered that they would make up a party and come to Cincinnati, to reach there the day before the meeting of the convention. Before the time of their arrival, prominent Democrats from all sections of the country had reached Cincinnati, and the friends of Mr. Douglas were very prominent in asserting his claims to the nomination, through thoroughly organized and noisy committees.

A consultation was held at my house, the evening before the meeting of the convention, and it was evident that if the New York delegation, represented by Mr. Dean Richmond and his associates, who were known as the “Softs,” secured seats, that the nomination of Mr. Douglas was inevitable. The other branch of the New York Democrats, who called themselves “Hards,” was represented by Mr. Schell as the head of that organization.

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]

Footnote 27:

The prominence given by Mr. Barlow to Mr. Slidell, as an active and earnest friend of Mr. Buchanan, led me to ask him to add a sketch of that distinguished man; and I have been at the greater pains to show the strong friendship that subsisted between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Slidell, because, as will be seen hereafter, when the secession troubles of the last year of Mr. Buchanan’s administration came on, this friendship was one of the first sacrifices made by him to his public duty, for he did not allow it to influence his course in the slightest degree; and although he had to accept with pain the alienation which Mr. Slidell and all his other Southern friends, in the ardor of their feelings, deemed unavoidable, he accepted it as one of the sad necessities of his position and of the time. I think he and Mr. Slidell never met, after the month of January, 1861. The following is Mr. Barlow’s sketch of John Slidell:—

“He was born in the city of New York in 1795; was graduated at Columbia College in 1810, and entered commercial life, which he soon abandoned for the study of the law. He removed to Louisiana in 1825, and was shortly afterwards admitted to the bar of that State. In 1829 he was appointed United States district attorney for the Louisiana district by President Jackson, and from that time took an active part in the politics of the State. He was soon recognized, not only as one of the ablest and most careful lawyers, but as the practical political head of the Democratic party of the Southwest.

“In 1842 he was elected to Congress from the New Orleans district. In 1845 he was appointed by President Polk as minister to Mexico. This mission was foredoomed to failure. The annexation of Texas made a war with Mexico inevitable, but the broad sense shown by Mr. Slidell in his despatches from Mexico was fully recognized by the administration of President Polk, and his views were maintained, and his advice was followed, to the time of the breaking out of hostilities.

“In 1853 he was elected to the United States Senate to fill an unexpired term, and in 1854 was again elected for a full term, which had not expired when the secession of Louisiana in 1861 put it at an end.

“He was shortly afterwards sent to France as a commissioner on behalf of the Confederate States. On his voyage to that country he was taken from the British steamer ‘Trent,’ and was imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. His release by President Lincoln, under the advice of Mr. Seward, will be remembered as one of the most exciting and important incidents in the early history of the war. He remained in Paris as the Commissioner of the Confederate States until the termination of the rebellion, and during that period was probably the most active and effective agent of the Confederacy abroad.

“His influence with the government of Louis Napoleon was very great, and at one time, chiefly through his persuasion, the emperor, as Mr. Slidell believed, had determined to recognize the Confederacy; but fortunately this political mistake was averted by the great victory gained by General McClellan over the Confederate army at Antietam.

“In 1835 Mr. Slidell was married to Miss Mathilde deLande, of an old Creole family of Louisiana. He died at Cowes in England in 1871. His pure personal character, his indomitable and coercive will, his undoubted courage, and his cool and deliberate good sense gave him a high place among the advisers of the Confederate cause from its earliest organization to its final collapse.

“One of his most striking characteristics, for which he was noted through life, was his unswerving fidelity to his political friends. From the lowest in the ranks to those of the highest station, who were his allies and advocates, not one was forgotten when political victory was secured, and no complaint was ever justly made against him for forgetfulness of those through whom his own political career was established, or to whom, through his influence, the success of his political friends was achieved.

“With strangers Mr. Slidell’s manners were reserved, and at times even haughty, but to those who were admitted to the privacy of his domestic life, or who once gained his confidence in politics, he was most genial, gracious, and engaging.”

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.

In accepting the nomination, I need scarcely say that I accept, in the same spirit, the resolutions constituting the platform of principles erected by the convention. To this platform I intend to conform myself throughout the canvass, believing that I have no right, as the candidate of the Democratic party, by answering interrogatories, to present new and different issues before the people.

In all Presidential elections which have occurred for the past fifty years, the State election in Pennsylvania, occurring in the autumn before the election of a President, has been regarded as of great importance. The Republican party was now in the field, with General Fremont as its candidate, and with the advantage which it had derived in all the free States from the consequences of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the passage of the so-called “Kansas-Nebraska Act,” which had been followed in Kansas by an internecine contest between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. A brutal personal assault upon Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, by a rash and foolish Southerner, had added fuel to the already kindled sectional flame of Northern feeling. The precise political issue between the Democratic and Republican parties, so far as it related to slavery, concerned of course slavery in the Territories. It was apparent that if the Republicans should gain the State of Pennsylvania in the State election of October, there was a very strong probability, rather a moral certainty, that the electoral votes of all the free States in the Presidential election would be obtained by that party, while there was no probability that it would prevail in a single slave-holding State. The political issue, therefore, was whether the sectional division of the free and the slave States in the election of a President was to come then, or whether it was to be averted. The State election in Pennsylvania, in October, turned in favor of the Democrats. Her twenty-seven electoral votes were thus morally certain to be given to Mr. Buchanan in the Presidential election. In the interval, a large body of his friends and neighbors assembled at Wheatland, and called him out. His remarks, never before printed, are now extant in his handwriting. He said:

MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:—

I am glad to see you and to receive and reciprocate your congratulations upon the triumph of the Democrats in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

It is my sober and solemn conviction that Mr. Fillmore uttered the words of soberness and truth when he declared that if the Northern sectional party should succeed, it would lead inevitably to the destruction of this beautiful fabric reared by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a priceless inheritance.

The people of the North seem to have forgotten the warning of the Father of his Country against geographical parties. And by far the most dangerous of all such parties is that of a combined North against a combined South on the question of slavery. This is no mere political question—no question addressing itself to the material interests of men. It rises far higher. With the South it is a question of self-preservation, of personal security around the family altar, of life or of death. The Southern people still cherish a love for the Union; but what to them is even our blessed confederacy, the wisest and the best form of government ever devised by man, if they cannot enjoy its blessings and its benefits without being in constant alarm for their wives and children.

The storm of abolition against the South has been gathering for almost a quarter of a century. It had been increasing by every various form of agitation which fanaticism could devise. We had reached the crisis. The danger was imminent. Republicanism was sweeping over the North like a tornado. It appeared to be resistless in its course. The blessed Union of these States—the last hope for human liberty on earth—appeared to be tottering on its base. Had Pennsylvania yielded, had she become an abolition State, without a special interposition of Divine Providence, we should have been precipitated into the yawning gulf of dissolution. But she stood erect and firm as her own Alleghanies. She breasted the storm and drove it back. The night is departing, and the roseate and propitious morn now breaking upon us promises a long day of peace and prosperity for our country. To secure this, all we of the North have to do is to permit our Southern neighbors to manage their own domestic affairs, as they permit us to manage ours. It is merely to adopt the golden rule, and do unto them as we would they should do unto us, in the like circumstances. All they ask from us is simply to let them alone. This is the whole spirit and essence of the much abused Cincinnati platform. This does no more than adopt the doctrine which is the very root of all our institutions, and recognize the right of a majority of the people of a Territory, when about to enter the Union as a State, to decide for themselves whether domestic slavery shall or shall not exist among them. This is not to favor the extension of slavery, but simply to deny the right of an abolitionist in Massachusetts or Vermont to prescribe to the people of Kansas what they shall or shall not do in regard to this question.

Who contests the principle that the will of the majority shall govern? What genuine republican of any party can deny this? The opposition have never met this question fairly. Within a brief period, the people of this country will condemn their own folly for suffering the assertion of so plain and elementary a principle of all popular governments to have endangered our blessed Constitution and Union, which owe their origin to this very principle.

I congratulate you, my friends and neighbors, that peace has been restored to Kansas. As a Pennsylvanian I rejoice that this good work has been accomplished by two sons of our good old mother State, God bless her! We have reason to be proud of Colonel Geary and General Smith. We shall hear no more of bleeding Kansas. There will be no more shrieks for her unhappy destiny. The people of this fine country, protected from external violence and internal commotion, will decide the question of slavery for themselves, and then slide gracefully into the Union and become one of the sisters in our great Confederacy.

Indeed, viewed in the eye of sober reason, this Kansas question is one of the most absurd of all the Proteus-like forms which abolition fanaticism has ever assumed to divide and distract the country. And why do I say this? Kansas might enter the Union with a free constitution to-day, and once admitted, no human power known to the Constitution could prevent her from establishing slavery to-morrow. No free-soiler has ever even contended that she would not possess this power.

The result of the election shows, with great distinctness, the following facts: 1st. That Mr. Buchanan was chosen President, because he received the electoral votes of the five free States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois and California (62 in all), and that without them he could not have been elected. 2d. That his Southern vote (that of every slave-holding State excepting Maryland) was partly given to him because of his conservative opinions and position, and partly because the candidate for the Vice-Presidency, Mr. Breckinridge, was a Southern man. 3d. That General Fremont received the electoral vote of no Southern State, and that this was due partly to the character of the Republican party and its Northern tone, and partly to the fact that the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency (Mr. Dayton, of New Jersey), was a citizen of a non-slaveholding State. General Fremont himself was nominally a citizen of California. This election, therefore, foreshadowed the sectional division which would be almost certain to happen in the next one, if the four years of Mr. Buchanan’s administration should not witness a subsidence in the sectional feelings between the North and the South. It would only be necessary for the Republicans to wrest from the Democratic party the five free States which had voted for Mr. Buchanan, and they would elect the President in 1860. Whether this was to happen, would depend upon the ability of the Democratic party to avoid a rupture into factions that would themselves be representatives of irreconcilable dogmas on the subject of slavery in the Territories. Hence it is that Mr. Buchanan’s course as President, for the three first years of his term, is to be judged, with reference to the responsibility that was upon him to so conduct the Government as to disarm, if possible, the antagonism of section to section. His administration of affairs after the election of Mr. Lincoln is to be judged simply by his duty as the Executive, in the most extraordinary and anomalous crisis in which the country had ever been placed.

I take from the multitude of private letters written or received during and after the election, a few of the most interesting:—

[FROM THE HON. JAMES MACGREGOR.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 20, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I am, indeed, very happy to receive to-day the decision with regard to you at Cincinnati, and God grant the result be as successful as I wish. The feeling in this house, and I am sure in the country, is, I believe firmly, such as you could wish. I wish that miserable dispute about Central America were dissipated; for my part, I believe that if not only Central America, but all Spanish America, south of California, were possessed and governed by an Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-American race, the more would the progress of civilization, the progress of industry and commerce, and the happiness of mankind be advanced.

I went over to Paris a few days after you left for Havre. Saw much of Mr. Mason, Mr. Corbin and Mr. Childs. The latter drew me a most able statement relative to the disputes with America, which I made good use of, on my return, with Lord Palmerston.

You will observe that even the meretricious Times, which I send you a copy of, is coming to be more reasonable; although I cannot trust that journal, which, I believe, was truly characterized by O’Connell, in the House of Commons, as representing “the sagacity of the rat and the morality of a harlot.” I write in great haste for the post; but believe me always, and with my very kindest regards to Miss Lane,

Faithfully yours, J. MACGREGOR.

[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.

I congratulate you, with all my heart, on the result of your election. The population of the old North State is steady and conservative. Of it you may be justly proud. The Southern States now promise to be a unit at the approaching Presidential election. Maryland is still considered doubtful, but the changes in our favor have been great within the last three weeks. The letters of Messrs. Pierce and Pratt have had a happy effect.

I am glad to learn that our foreign affairs are assuming a favorable aspect. I most heartily approved of the dismissal of Mr. Crampton, and would have been quite as well satisfied had he been sent home in the last autumn. About the present condition of the Central American questions I knew nothing until the receipt of your letter, except from the revelations in the British Parliament, which I know, from experience, are not reliable. Mr. Dallas said nothing to me about his instructions or the views of the President, and, of course, I did not solicit his confidence. The question of the Bay Islands is too clear for serious doubt. Lord Aberdeen, the purest and most just of British statesmen, when premier gave it up, as is shown by my correspondence with the State Department, and it is highly probable Great Britain may make a virtue of necessity, and surrender these islands to Honduras to whom they clearly belong.

I am glad to learn that the President enjoys good health, notwithstanding the fatigue, troubles, and responsibility incident to his position. I concur with you in opinion as to the character of his manly and excellent address on the receipt of the intelligence from Cincinnati. It was no more than what might have been expected from him by all who knew him. My aspirations for the Presidency had all died four years ago, and I never felt the slightest personal interest in securing the nomination. It was easy to foresee the impending crisis, and that the Union itself might depend on the result of the election. In this view, whilst we all have everything near and dear to us of a political character at stake, the President of all men has the deepest interest in the result. My election, so far as I am personally concerned is a very small matter; but as identified with the leading measures of his administration, the preservation of the Constitution and the Union, and the maintenance of the equality of the States, and of the right of the people of a Territory to decide the question of slavery for themselves, in their constitution, before entering the Union, it is a subject of vast and transcendant importance.

Most cordially reciprocating your friendly sentiments towards myself, and wishing you all the blessings which you can desire, I remain, as ever, very respectfully,

Your friend, JAMES BUCHANAN.

Footnote 28:

Secretary of the Navy under President Pierce.

[TO NAHUM CAPEN, ESQ., OF BOSTON.]

WHEATLAND, August 27, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

On my return from Bedford Springs on Monday night, I found your favor of the 22d instant, and your manuscript. The latter I have endeavored to find the time to read with care, but this has been impossible. I have, therefore, only been able to glance over it. It is written with characteristic ability, and that portion of it which gives extracts from my speeches has been prepared with much labor and discrimination. I have not seen the manuscript of any biography of mine before publication, nor have I read any one of them since, and this simply because I did not choose to be identified with any of them.

For my own part, I consider that all incidental questions are comparatively of little importance in the Presidential question, when compared with the grand and appalling issue of union or disunion. Should Fremont be elected, he must receive 149 Northern electoral votes at the least, and the outlawry proclaimed by the Republican convention at Philadelphia against fifteen Southern States will be ratified by the people of the North. The consequence will be immediate and inevitable. In this region, the battle is fought mainly on this issue. We have so often cried “wolf,” that now, when the wolf is at the door, it is difficult to make the people believe it; but yet the sense of danger is slowly and surely making its way in this region.

After reflection and consultation, I stated in my letter of acceptance substantially, that I would make no issues beyond the platform, and have, therefore, avoided giving my sanction to any publication containing opinions with which I might be identified, and prove unsatisfactory to some portions of the Union. I must continue to stand on this ground. Had it not been for this cause, I should have embraced your kind offer, and asked you to prepare a biography for me, and furnished the materials. Indeed, I often thought of this.

I am deeply and gratefully sensible of your friendship, and therefore most reluctantly adopt the course towards you which I have done to all other friends under like circumstances.

In the cursory glance I have been able to take of your manuscript, I observed one or two errors. In page 37 of No. 1, my allusion was to Mrs. Adams, and not to Mrs. Jackson. I entered college at the age of sixteen, not of fourteen, having been previously prepared for the Junior class. It is not the fact that I accepted no compensation for trying the widow’s cause. “Millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute,” was not original with me.

I am so surrounded, I regret I cannot write more, and still more deeply regret that my omission to sanction your very able manuscript may give you pain. I sincerely wish you had referred it to the National Committee, or to the committee in your own State.

We are fighting the battle in this State almost solely on the great issue, with energy and confidence. I do not think there is any reason to apprehend the result, certainly none at the Presidential election, so far as Pennsylvania is concerned.

In haste, I remain always, very respectfully, your friend,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

[TO WILLIAM B. REED, ESQ.]

WHEATLAND, September 8, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I have received your favor of the 5th inst. I do not recollect the names of the two members of the Society of Friends to whom you refer; but should you deem it important, I can, with some trouble, find the original letter. I have no doubt Dr. Parrish was one of them. He, William Wharton and Joseph Foulke were the three gentlemen referred to in my remarks on the 25th April, 1836, in presenting the petition of the Society of Friends against the admission of Arkansas, etc. They not only acquiesced in my course, but requested me to procure for them a number of copies of the National Intelligencer containing my remarks, and left Washington entirely satisfied. (Vide the volume of the Register of Debates, to which you refer, pages 1277 and 1278.)

I cannot procure the London Quarterly in Lancaster. I took the Reviews in England, but neglected to order them since my return. I have no doubt it does me great injustice. I was so popular personally in England, that whenever I appeared at public dinners, etc., I was enthusiastically cheered; but now they are all for Fremont ......, and a dissolution of the Union.

I am gratified that you have sent me Mr. Stevenson’s letter. I have no doubt he is a gentleman of fastidious honor as well as much ability. Although a patient and much-enduring man, I have never had patience about “the bargain and sale story.” So far as I am concerned, it all arose from the misapprehension by General Jackson of as innocent a conversation on the street, on my part, as I ever had with any person. I cannot charge myself even with the slightest imprudence. And then, as a rebutter, a conversation equally innocent, in Letcher’s room, about the particulars of which I have no more recollection than if it had never taken place. Still, I have not the least doubt it has been stated accurately; because it is just what I would have said under the circumstances, and in entire ignorance of the nature of the personal relations between General Jackson and Mr. Clay. Blair’s exposé has fallen dead, so far as I can learn.

(Private and confidential.) WHEATLAND, September 14, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I have at length found, and now enclose, the letter to which you refer. I have very often spoken in the Senate on the subject of slavery in the different forms which the question has assumed, but have not the time at the present moment to look over the debates.

I have recently received a letter from Governor Wright, of Indiana, who informs me it would be of great importance in that State should the National Intelligencer come out in favor of the Democratic candidates. He had heard, as we have done, that such was the intention of its editors, after the adjournment of Congress. But they have at length come out in favor of Fremont. I say this, because they scout the idea that the Union would be in danger from his election...... Better they had at once raised the Republican flag. This opinion they have expressed, notwithstanding I am in the daily receipt of letters from the South, which are truly alarming, and these from gentlemen who formerly opposed both nullification and disunion. They say explicitly that the election of Fremont involves the dissolution of the Union, and this immediately. They allege that they are now looking on calmly for the North to decide their fate. When I say from the South, I refer to the States south of the Potomac. These evidences of public determination first commenced in the extreme South; but now the same calm and determined spirit appears to pervade Virginia. Indeed, the most alarming letter I have received has been from Virginia, and this, too, from a prudent, tranquil and able man, who has for some years been out of public life from his own choice. The remarks of the National Intelligencer will either serve to delude the Northern people, or the Southrons are insincere. God save the Union! I do not wish to survive it.

From your friend, very respectfully, JAMES BUCHANAN.

P.S.—I refer to the article in the Intelligencer of the 11th instant, headed, “The Balance Wheels of the Government.” One gentleman informs me that the men who were our contemporaries when the States lived in peace with each other, before the slavery excitement commenced, have passed away, and they have been succeeded by a new generation, who have grown up pending the slavery agitation. He says that they have been constantly assailed by the North, and now have as much hatred for the people of New England as the latter have for them; and many now deem that it would be for the mutual advantage of all parties to have a Southern Confederation, in which they can live at peace. I have received such communications with regret and astonishment.

[TO A CITIZEN OF CALIFORNIA.]

WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, PENN., Sept. 17, 1856.

SIR:—

I have received numerous communications from sources in California, entitled to high regard, in reference to the proposed Pacific Railroad. As it would be impossible for me to answer them all, I deem it most proper and respectful to address you a general answer in your official capacity. In performing this duty to the citizens of California, I act in perfect consistency with the self-imposed restriction contained in my letter accepting the nomination for the Presidency, not to answer interrogatories raising new and different issues from those presented by the Cincinnati convention, because that convention has itself adopted a resolution in favor of this great work. I, then, desire to state briefly that, concurring with the convention, I am decidedly favorable to the construction of the Pacific Railroad; and I derive the authority to do this from the constitutional power “to declare war,” and the constitutional duty “to repel invasions.” In my judgment, Congress possess the same power to make appropriations for the construction of this road, strictly for the purpose of national defence, that they have to erect fortifications at the mouth of the harbor of San Francisco. Indeed, the necessity, with a view to repel foreign invasion from California, is as great in the one case as in the other. Neither will there be danger from the precedent, for it is almost impossible to conceive that any case attended by such extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances can ever again occur in our history.

Yours very respectfully, JAMES BUCHANAN.

To B. F. WASHINGTON, Esq., Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee of California.

[TO JOSHUA BATES, ESQ., LONDON.]

WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, Nov. 6, 1856.

MR DEAR SIR:—

I received in due time your kind congratulatory letter of the 10th July, which I should have immediately answered had I been able to express a decided opinion as to the result of the Presidential election. It was one of the most severe political struggles through which we have ever passed. The preachers and fanatics of New England had excited the people to such a degree on the slavery questions, that they generally prayed and preached against me from their pulpits on Sunday last, throughout that land of “isms.” Your information from Massachusetts was entirely unfounded—Boston is a sad place. In that city they have re-elected to Congress a factious fanatic, ...... who, in a public speech, said that we must have an anti-slavery Constitution, an anti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God.

Whilst the British press, by their violent attacks, did me much good service, I very much regretted their hostile publications, because it was and is my sincere desire to cultivate the most friendly relations with that country. The Times does England much injury, at least in foreign nations; it has made the English unpopular throughout the continent, and keeps alive the ancient prejudice which still exists in large portions of our country. In very many of the Democratic papers, throughout the late canvass, beautiful extracts from the Thunderer, the Chronicle, and other English journals, were kept standing at the head of their columns. But enough of this. I most sincerely hope the Central American questions may be settled before the 4th of March. I know nothing of their condition at present. I never doubted in regard to the true construction of the treaty, nor did I ever consider it doubtful. The purest and the wisest statesmen I met in England agreed with me in regard to the construction of the treaty. If we are to be as good friends as I desire we may be, your government ought to be careful to select the proper man as minister, and not send us some government pet simply because they have no other provision for him. I have said much to Lord Clarendon on this subject before I had the slightest idea of becoming President. By the bye, I like his lordship personally very much, as well as Lord Palmerston. They are both agreeable and witty companions, as well as great statesmen. I should like them much better, however, if their friendly feelings were a little stronger for this country. I have no doubt they both, as you say, expressed their satisfaction at the prospect of my becoming President. This was, however, at an early day. They have probably since changed their opinion. I have been a good deal quizzed by private friends since I came home, [because] I spoke in strong and warm terms of the kindness and civility which had been extended to me in England, and of the vast importance to both countries and to the world that friendly feelings between the two countries should be cherished by the governments and people of each. How often have the articles from British newspapers been cast up to me as a comment upon my remarks. They have, however, produced no effect upon my feelings. I was delighted to see Sir Henry Holland, and to gossip with him about valued friends and acquaintances on the other side of the water. Please to remember me very kindly to Mrs. Bates, and Miss Lane desires me to present her warm regards to you both. It is long since I have heard from Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence.

From your friend, very respectfully, JAMES BUCHANAN.

[FROM THE HON. EDWARD EVERETT.]

BOSTON, Dec, 8th, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

....... I can hardly congratulate you on your election, first, because I did not vote for you (unless upon the theory that every vote given to Fillmore was in effect given to you), and second, because I fear that to be chosen President is not a thing upon which a friend is to be congratulated, in the present state of the country.

You have my best wishes, however, for a prosperous administration. I devoutly hope that you will be able to check the progress of sectional feeling. The policy of the present administration has greatly impaired (as you are well aware) the conservative feeling of the North, has annihilated the Whig party, and seriously weakened the Democratic party in all the free States.

Though much opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, we could have stood that, but the subsequent events in Kansas gave us the coup de grace. Those events, and the assault on Mr. Sumner, gave its formidable character and strength to the Republican nomination. You can do nothing directly to prevent the occurrence of events like the assault, but you may, even in advance of the 4th of March, do much to bring about a better state of things in Kansas, and prevent the enemies of the Constitution from continuing to make capital out of it.

I am, dear sir, with much regard and sincere good wishes,

Very truly yours, EDWARD EVERETT.

[TO THE HON. JOHN Y. MASON.]

WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, December 29, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR:—

Ere this can reach Paris, you will doubtless have received my letter to Miss Wight. I shall not repeat what I have said to her, because such is the pressure now upon me that I have scarce time to say my prayers. This I can say in perfect good faith, that the man don’t live whom it would afford me greater pleasure to serve than yourself. In this spirit I have determined that you shall not be disturbed during the next year, no matter what may be the pressure upon me. I am not committed, either directly or indirectly, to any human being for any appointment, but yet I cannot mistake the strong current of public opinion in favor of changing public functionaries, both abroad and at home, who have served a reasonable time. They say, and that, too, with considerable force, that if the officers under a preceding Democratic administration shall be continued by a succeeding administration of the same political character, this must necessarily destroy the party. This, perhaps, ought not to be so, but we cannot change human nature.

The great object of my administration will be to arrest, if possible, the agitation of the slavery question at the North, and to destroy sectional parties. Should a kind Providence enable me to succeed in my efforts to restore harmony to the Union, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain.

I beg of you to say nothing to any of your colleagues in Europe about your continuance in office during the next year. Had it been announced I had informed you, in answer to Miss Wight, that you should continue indefinitely in office, this would have done both you and myself injury. We know not what may transpire in 1857, and therefore, in reference to the mission after that period, I can say nothing. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Even if I had the time, I could not communicate any news to you which you will not see in the papers. The pressure for office will be nearly as great as though I had succeeded a Whig administration.

With my kind and affectionate regards to Mrs. Mason and your excellent family, and cordially wishing you and them many a happy Christmas and many a prosperous New Year, I remain, always,

Very respectfully your friend, JAMES BUCHANAN.

P.S.—In reading over my letter, I find it is quite too cold in reference to Mary Ann, and therefore I beg to send her my love.

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IX. 1857-1858

INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT—SELECTION OF A CABINET—THE DISTURBANCES IN KANSAS—MR. BUCHANAN’S CONSTRUCTION OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, AND OF THE “PLATFORM” ON WHICH HE WAS ELECTED—FINAL ADMISSION OF KANSAS INTO THE UNION.

From the communication which has been furnished to me by Mr. James Buchanan Henry, I select the following account of the period preceding the inauguration of his uncle as President, on the 4th of March, 1857:

Soon after Mr. Buchanan’s election to the Presidency, he sent for me—I was in Philadelphia, where I had begun the practice of the law—to come to Wheatland. He then told me that he had selected me to be his private secretary, and spoke to me gravely of the temptations by which I should probably be assailed in that position. Soon afterwards prominent men and politicians began to make their way to Wheatland in great numbers, and the stream increased steadily until the departure of Mr. Buchanan for Washington.

In addition to personal attendance upon the President-elect, I soon had my hands full of work in examining and briefing the daily mails, which were burdened with letters of recommendation from individuals, committees and delegations of various States, in regard to the cabinet appointments and a few of the more important offices. Mr. Buchanan was also preparing his inaugural address with his usual care and painstaking, and I copied his drafts and recopied them until he had it prepared to his satisfaction. It underwent no alteration after he went to the National Hotel in Washington, except that he there inserted a clause in regard to the question then pending in the Supreme Court, as one that would dispose of a vexed and dangerous topic by the highest judicial authority of the land. When the time came to leave Wheatland for the capital, preliminary to his inauguration, Mr. Buchanan, Miss Lane, Miss Hetty and I drove into Lancaster in his carriage, escorted all the way to the railway station by a great and enthusiastic crowd of Lancaster citizens and personal friends, with a band of music, although it was very early on a bleak winter morning. I remember his modestly remarking upon the vast crowd thus doing reverence to a mortal man. At the station he was met by an ardent personal and political friend, Robert Magraw, then president of the Northern Central Railroad, and received into a special car, built for the occasion, and the windows of which were in colors and represented familiar scenes of and about Wheatland. After receiving ovations all along the way, especially at Baltimore, the President-elect and party arrived safely in Washington. We were somewhat fearful that Mr. Buchanan might be seriously embarrassed during the inaugural ceremonies from the effects of what was then known as the National Hotel disease, a disorder which, from no cause that we could then discover, had attacked nearly every guest at the house, and from the dire effects of which many never wholly recovered. Dr. Foltz, a naval surgeon, whose appointment in the service, many years before, Mr. Buchanan had assisted, was in constant attendance upon him, and I remember that he and I went together to the Capitol in a carriage just behind the one that conveyed the retiring President and the President-elect, and that he had occasion to administer remedies. The inauguration ceremonies, the ball, and the first reception at the White House by the new President, were very largely attended and successful. It happened that they took place during a short era of good feeling among all shades of politics and party, but unhappily an era of peace destined soon to terminate in bitter discord over the Lecompton Constitution, or Kansas question, and by the more disastrous following appeal to the passions of the two great political sections of the North and the South, which so nearly ended the administration in blood. The dinners at the White House, during the first year, were attended by Republicans as well as Democrats, with great seeming friendship and good-will.

The Inaugural Address of the new President was as follows:

FELLOW-CITIZENS: I appear before you this day to take the solemn oath “that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

In entering upon this great office, I most humbly invoke the God of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and responsible duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and ancient friendship among the people of the several States, and to preserve our free institutions throughout many generations. Convinced that I owe my election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the Union which still animates the hearts of the American people, let me earnestly ask their powerful support in sustaining all just measures calculated to perpetuate these, the richest political blessings which Heaven has ever bestowed upon any nation. Having determined not to become a candidate for re-election, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct in administering the government except the desire ably and faithfully to serve my country, and to live in the grateful memory of my countrymen.

We have recently passed through a presidential contest in which the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest degree by questions of deep and vital importance; but when the people proclaimed their will, the tempest at once subsided, and all was calm.

The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government.

What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule—that the will of the majority shall govern—to the settlement of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories! Congress is neither “to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.” As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed that, when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it “shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.”

A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves.

This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion that, under the Nebraska-Kansas act, the appropriate period will be when the number of actual residents in the Territory shall justify the formation of a constitution with a view to its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the government of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference, to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.

The whole territorial question being thus settled upon the principle of popular sovereignty—a principle as ancient as free government itself—everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other question remains for adjustment; because all agree that, under the Constitution, slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power, except that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists. May we not, then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is approaching its end, and that the geographical parties to which it has given birth, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will speedily become extinct? Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind shall be diverted from this question to others of more pressing and practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of this agitation, which has scarcely known any intermission for more than twenty years, whilst it has been productive of no positive good to any human being, it has been the prolific source of great evils to the master, the slave, and to the whole country. It has alienated and estranged the people of the sister States from each other, and has even seriously endangered the very existence of the Union. Nor has the danger yet entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy for all mere political evils in the sound sense and sober judgment of the people. Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but a few years ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed away and are now nearly forgotten. But this question of domestic slavery is of far graver importance than any mere political question, because, should the agitation continue, it may eventually endanger the personal safety of a large portion of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that event, no form of government, however admirable in itself, and however productive of material benefits, can compensate for the loss of peace and domestic security around the family altar. Let every Union-loving man, therefore, exert his best influence to suppress this agitation, which, since the recent legislation of Congress, is without any legitimate object.

It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union. Reasoned estimates have been presented of the pecuniary profits and local advantages which would result to different States and sections from its dissolution, and of the comparative injuries which such an event would inflict on other States and sections. Even descending to this low and narrow view of the mighty question, all such calculations are at fault. The bare reference to a single consideration will be conclusive on this point. We at present enjoy a free trade throughout our extensive and expanding country, such as the world has never witnessed. This trade is conducted on railroads and canals—on noble rivers and arms of the sea—which bind together the north and the south, the east and the west of our confederacy. Annihilate this trade, arrest its free progress by the geographical lines of jealous and hostile States, and you destroy the prosperity and onward march of the whole and every part, and involve all in one common ruin. But such considerations, important as they are in themselves, sink into insignificance when we reflect on the terrific evils which would result from disunion to every portion of the confederacy—to the north not more than to the south, to the east not more than to the west. These I shall not attempt to portray; because I feel an humble confidence that the kind Providence which inspired our fathers with wisdom to frame the most perfect form of Government and Union ever devised by man will not suffer it to perish until it shall have been peacefully instrumental, by its example, in the extension of civil and religious liberty throughout the world.

Next in importance to the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union is the duty of preserving the government free from the taint, or even the suspicion, of corruption. Public virtue is the vital spirit of republics; and history shows that when this has decayed, and the love of money has usurped its place, although the forms of free government may remain for a season, the substance has departed forever.

Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. No nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure, and begets a race of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is suspected, and the character of the government suffers in the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great evil.

The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment is to appropriate the surplus in the treasury to great national objects, for which a clear warrant can be found in the Constitution. Among these I might mention the extinguishment of the public debt, a reasonable increase of the navy, which is at present inadequate to the protection of our vast tonnage afloat, now greater than that of any other nation, as well as to the defence of our extended seacoast.

It is beyond all question the true principle, that no more revenue ought to be collected from the people than the amount necessary to defray the expenses of a wise, economical, and efficient administration of the government. To reach this point, it was necessary to resort to a modification of the tariff; and this has, I trust, been accomplished in such a manner as to do as little injury as may have been practicable to our domestic manufactures, especially those necessary for the defence of the country. Any discrimination against a particular branch, for the purpose of benefiting favored corporations, individuals, or interests, would have been unjust to the rest of the community, and inconsistent with that spirit of fairness and equality which ought to govern in the adjustment of a revenue tariff.

But the squandering of the public money sinks into comparative insignificance as a temptation to corruption when compared with the squandering of the public lands.

No nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with so rich and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. In administering this important trust, whilst it may be wise to grant portions of them for the improvement of the remainder, yet we should never forget that it is our cardinal policy to reserve these lands, as much as may be, for actual settlers, and this at moderate prices. We shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new States and Territories by furnishing them a hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and our children’s children, as well as for those exiles from foreign shores who may seek in this country to improve their condition, and to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Such emigrants have done much to promote the growth and prosperity of the country. They have proved faithful both in peace and in war. After becoming citizens, they are entitled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on a perfect equality with native-born citizens, and in this character they should ever be kindly recognized.

The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers; and the question whether this grant should be liberally or strictly construed, has, more or less, divided political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, I desire to state, at the commencement of my administration, that long experience and observation have convinced me that a strict construction of the powers of the Government is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution. Whenever, in our past history, doubtful powers have been exercised by Congress, these have never failed to produce injurious and unhappy consequences. Many such instances might be adduced, if this were the proper occasion. Neither is it necessary for the public service to strain the language of the Constitution; because all the great and useful powers required for a successful administration of the Government, both in peace and in war, have been granted, either in express terms or by the plainest implication.

Whilst deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider it clear that, under the war-making power, Congress may appropriate money towards the construction of a military road, when this is absolutely necessary for the defence of any State or Territory of the Union against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution, Congress has power “to declare war,” “to raise and support armies,” “to provide and maintain a navy,” and to call forth the militia to “repel invasions.” Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the war-making power, the corresponding duty is required that “the United States shall protect each of them [the States] against invasion.” Now, how is it possible to afford this protection to California and our Pacific possessions, except by means of a military road through the Territories of the United States, over which men and munitions of war may be speedily transported from the Atlantic States to meet and to repel the invader? In the event of a war with a naval power much stronger than our own, we should then have no other available access to the Pacific coast, because such a power would instantly close the route across the isthmus of Central America. It is impossible to conceive that, whilst the Constitution has expressly required Congress to defend all the States, it should yet deny to them, by any fair construction, the only possible means by which one of these States can be defended. Besides, the Government, ever since its origin, has been in the constant practice of constructing military roads. It might also be wise to consider whether the love for the Union which now animates our fellow-citizens on the Pacific coast may not be impaired by our neglect or refusal to provide for them, in their remote and isolated condition, the only means by which the power of the States, on this side of the Rocky Mountains, can reach them in sufficient time to “protect” them “against invasion.” I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion as to the wisest and most economical mode in which the Government can lend its aid in accomplishing this great and necessary work. I believe that many of the difficulties in the way, which now appear formidable, will, in a great degree, vanish as soon as the nearest and best route shall have been satisfactorily ascertained.

It may be proper that, on this occasion, I should make some brief remarks in regard to our rights and duties as a member of the great family of nations. In our intercourse with them there are some plain principles, approved by our own experience, from which we should never depart. We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations; and this not merely as the best means of promoting our own material interests, but in a spirit of Christian benevolence towards our fellow-men, wherever their lot may be cast. Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due. We ought to cherish a sacred regard for the independence of all nations, and never attempt to interfere in the domestic concerns of any, unless this shall be imperatively required by the great laws of self-preservation. To avoid entangling alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its wisdom no one will attempt to dispute. In short, we ought to do justice, in a kindly spirit, to all nations, and require justice from them in return.

It is our glory that, whilst other nations have extended their dominions by the sword, we have never acquired any territory except by fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, by the voluntary determination of a brave, kindred, and independent people to blend their destinies with our own. Even our acquisitions from Mexico form no exception. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war against a sister republic, we purchased these possessions, under the treaty of peace, for a sum which was considered at the time a fair equivalent. Our past history forbids that we shall in the future acquire territory, unless this be sanctioned by the laws of justice and honor. Acting on this principle, no nation will have a right to interfere or to complain if, in the progress of events, we shall still further extend our possessions. Hitherto, in all our acquisitions, the people, under the protection of the American flag, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty, as well as equal and just laws, and have been contented, prosperous, and happy. Their trade with the rest of the world has rapidly increased, and thus every commercial nation has shared largely in their successful progress.

I shall now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, whilst humbly invoking the blessing of Divine Providence on this great people.

In the selection of his cabinet, the President followed the long-established custom of making it a representation of the different portions of the Union, so far as might be consistent with a proper regard for personal qualifications for the different posts. The cabinet, which was confirmed by the Senate on the 6th day of March, 1857, consisted of Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Secretary of State; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, Postmaster General; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior; and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Attorney General. So far as was practicable within the limits of a selection which, according to invariable usage and sound policy was confined to the Democratic party, this cabinet was a fair representation of the Eastern, the Middle, the Western and the Southern States.

The state of the country, however, when this administration was organized, was ominous to its internal peace and welfare. The preceding administration of President Pierce had left a legacy of trouble to his successor in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Had it not been for this ill-advised step, the country might have reposed upon the settlement of all the slavery questions that was made by the “Compromise Measures” of 1850. How the flood-gates of sectional controversy were again opened by the repeal of the earlier settlement of 1820, and how this repeal tended to unsettle what had been happily settled in 1850, is a sad chapter in our political history.

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was effected in the following manner: In the session of 1854, Senator Douglas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, reported a bill for the establishment of a Territorial government in Nebraska. It did not touch the Missouri Compromise; and, being in the usual form, it would probably have been passed without much opposition, but for the intervention of a Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Dixon. He gave notice, on the 16th of January, that when the bill should be reached in its order, he would move a section repealing the Missouri Compromise, both as to Nebraska and all other Territories of the United States. Mr. Dixon was a Whig, and Mr. Douglas was a prominent and most energetic Democrat, who had long been an aspirant to the Presidency. Conceiving the idea that a new doctrine respecting the sovereign right of the people of a Territory to determine for themselves whether they would or would not have slavery while they were in the Territorial condition, would better reconcile both sections of the Union than the continuance of the Missouri Compromise, he introduced a substitute for the original bill, which, after dividing Nebraska into two Territories, calling one Nebraska and the other Kansas, annulled the Missouri Compromise in regard to these and all other Territories. This he called, “Non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States or Territories,” which his bill declared was the principle of the settlement of 1850, although that settlement had not only not invalidated the Missouri Compromise, but that Compromise had been expressly recognized in the case of Texas. Mr. Dixon expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with Mr. Douglas’s new bill, and the latter, being a man of great power, both as a debater and as a politician, carried his bill through the two Houses, and persuaded President Pierce to approve it. It was long and disastrously known as “the Kansas-Nebraska Act.”

Its discussion in Congress was attended with heats such as had not been witnessed for many years. It laid the foundation for the political success of the party then beginning to be known as the Republican, and it produced the hopeless disruption of the Democratic party when its nomination for the Presidency next after Mr. Buchanan’s was to be made. Proud, disdainful of the predictions made by others of the danger to the Union arising from his measure, confident in his own energies and his ability to unite the Democratic party in the South and in the North upon his principle of “non-intervention,” Mr. Douglas gained a momentary triumph at the expense of his own political future, of the future of his party, and of the peace of the Union. For a time, however, it seemed as if he had secured a following that would insure the acceptance of his principle. All the Southern Senators, Whigs and Democrats, with two exceptions,[29] and all the Northern Democratic Senators, with three exceptions,[30] voted for his bill. The Whig Senators from the North, and those who more distinctively represented the Northern anti-slavery, or “Free-soil” sentiment, voted against it; but the latter hailed it as a means that would consolidate the North into a great political organization, with freedom inscribed upon its banners. Mr. Buchanan, it will be remembered, was at this time in England.

Footnote 29:

Mr. Bell, of Tennessee, and Mr. Clayton, of Delaware.

Footnote 30:

Messrs. Allen and James, of Rhode Island, and Mr. Walker, of Wisconsin.

He has said that although down to this period the anti-slavery party of the North had been the assailing party and kept the people of the South in constant irritation, yet, “in sustaining the repeal of the Missouri Compromise the Senators and Representatives of the Southern States became the aggressors themselves.”[31] And it was one of the worst features of this aggression that it was made under the lead of a Northern Democrat; for if the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was a boon offered to the South, they could say that it was a boon offered from the North.[32]

Footnote 31:

Buchanan’s Defence, p. 28.

Footnote 32:

It must be remembered that this took place long before the case of “Dred Scott” had been acted upon in the Supreme Court of the United States.

The fatal effects of this measure were two-fold; first in unsettling what had been settled in 1850, and secondly in precipitating a struggle in Kansas as between the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery parties, which, although it was local, spread itself in opposite sympathies throughout the North and the South. The Compromise Measures of 1850 had settled every possible question in relation to slavery on which Congress could then or ever afterwards act.

Such was the general repose of the country upon these topics when President Pierce was inaugurated, that he congratulated the country upon the calm security now evinced by the public mind, and promised that it should receive no shock during his official term, if he could prevent it. But the shock came within two years, and it came because the repeal of the Missouri Compromise threw open again the whole question of slavery in the Territories, to remain an unending sectional controversy until it had divided one great national party, built up a new and sectional party, and finally rent the Union into a geographical array of section against section.

The more immediate and local effect remains to be described. Kansas at once became the theatre where the extreme men of both sections entered into a deadly conflict, the one party to make it a free, the other to make it a slaveholding Territory and State. Congress having abdicated its duty of fixing the character of the Territory by law, one way or the other, the beauty of Mr. Douglas’s principle of “non-intervention,” now become popularly known in the political jargon of the day as “squatter sovereignty,” had ample room for development. What one party could do, on this principle, the other could do. The Southern pro-slavery settler, or his sympathizer in the Southern State which he had left, could claim that his slaves were property in Kansas as much as in Missouri, or Tennessee, or Kentucky. The Northern anti-slavery settler, or his sympathizer in the Northern State from which he had come, could contend that slavery was local and confined to the States where it existed. Fierce war arose between the parties in their struggle for local supremacy; both parties were respectively upheld and supplied by their sympathizers in the near and in the distant States, North and South; scenes of bloodshed and rapine ensued; and the bitter fruits of opening a fine Territory to such a contest were reaped in an abundance that made sober men stand aghast at the spectacle.

It was when Mr. Buchanan entered upon the duties of the Presidency that this condition of things in Kansas came to its culmination. The pro-slavery party in the Territory, in general violent and lawless enough, in one respect kept themselves on the side of law. They sustained the Territorial government which had been organized under the Act of Congress, and obtained control of its legislature. The anti-slavery party repudiated this legislature, alleging, with some truth, that frauds and violence had been committed in the election.

To meet this wrong they committed another. They held a convention at Topeka, framed a State constitution, elected a governor and legislature to take the place of those who were governing the Territory under the organic law, and applied to Congress for admission into the Union. They had thus put themselves out of pale of law. Congress at the end of a violent struggle rejected the application for admission into the Union, under the Topeka constitution, and recognized the authority of the Territorial government. This took place in the session of Congress which terminated on the day before Mr. Buchanan’s inauguration. As President of the United States, he had no alternative but to recognize and uphold the Territorial government. The fact that the legislature of that government was in the hands of the pro-slavery party, made the course which he adopted seem as if he favored their pro-slavery designs, while, in truth, he had no object to subserve but to sustain, as he was officially obliged to sustain, the government which Congress had recognized as the lawful government of the Territory.

This government at once proceded to call a convention, to assemble at Lecompton, and frame a State constitution. It was now the President’s hope that the anti-slavery party would cease their opposition to the Territorial government, obey the laws, and elect delegates to the Lecompton convention in sufficient number to insure a free constitution. But for the ten months which followed from the 4th of March, 1857, to the first Monday in January, 1858, this party continued to adhere to their Topeka constitution, and to defy the Territorial government. In the meantime the peace had to be kept by troops of the United States to prevent open war between the two parties.

The President, soon after his inauguration, sent the Hon. Robert J. Walker to Kansas, as Territorial governor, in place of Governor Geary, who had resigned. Governor Walker was directed, if possible, to persuade the anti-slavery party to unite with their opponents in forming a State constitution, and to take care that the election of delegates to the convention should be conducted so as to express the true voice of the people on the question of slavery or freedom. The governor performed this duty with entire impartiality. The laws which provided for the election of delegates to the convention, and for the registration of voters, were just and equitable. The governor administered them fairly; he exhorted the whole body of registered electors to vote. Nevertheless, the party that adhered to the Topeka government and refused to recognize the Territorial legislature, stayed away from the polls. The consequence was that a large majority of pro-slavery delegates were elected to the convention which was alone authorized, under the principles which, in this country, recognize the sovereignty of the people, and require it to be exercised through the ballot-box, under the superintendence of the existing government, to form a constitution.

While these things were taking place in Kansas, in the summer of 1857, while a portion of the inhabitants were in a state of rebellion against the only government that had any lawful authority; while the friends of freedom were setting the example of disloyalty to the established authority of the Territory, and the friends of slavery were, in one respect, the law-abiding part of the community; while the revolutionary Topeka legislature was in session, claiming to be the lawful legislature, and a turbulent and dangerous military leader was at the head of the anti-slavery party, in open opposition to the only lawful government of the Territory, presses and pulpits throughout the North teemed with denunciations of the new President, who had not allowed revolutionary violence to prevail over the law of the land. At length there came from the State of Connecticut a memorial to the President, signed by forty-three of its distinguished citizens, among them several eminent clergymen, imputing to him a violation of his official oath, and informing him that they prayed the Almighty to preserve him from the errors of his ways. To this he replied with spirit and with a clear exposition of the mistakes into which ignorant zeal in the cause of freedom had led those who thus addressed him. His reply, dated August 15, 1857, is worthy of being reproduced:

“When I entered upon the duties of the Presidential office, on the fourth of March last, what was the condition of Kansas? This Territory had been organized under the Act of Congress of 30th May, 1854, and the government in all its branches was in full operation. A governor, secretary of the Territory, chief justice, two associate justices, a marshal, and district attorney had been appointed by my predecessor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and were all engaged in discharging their respective duties. A code of laws had been enacted by the Territorial legislature, and the judiciary were employed in expounding and carrying these laws into effect. It is quite true that a controversy had previously arisen respecting the validity of the election of members of the Territorial legislature and of the laws passed by them; but at the time I entered upon my official duties, Congress had recognized this legislature in different forms and by different enactments. The delegate elected to the House of Representatives, under a Territorial law, had just completed his term of service on the day previous to my inauguration. In fact, I found the government of Kansas as well established as that of any other Territory. Under these circumstances, what was my duty? Was it not to sustain this government? to protect it from the violence of lawless men, who were determined either to rule or ruin? to prevent it from being overturned by force? in the language of the Constitution, to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed?’ It was for this purpose, and this alone, that I ordered a military force to Kansas to act as a posse comitatus in aiding the civil magistrate to carry the laws into execution. The condition of the Territory at the time, which I need not portray, rendered this precaution absolutely necessary. In this state of affairs, would I not have been justly condemned had I left the marshal and other officers of a like character impotent to execute the process and judgments of courts of justice established by Congress, or by the Territorial legislature under its express authority, and thus have suffered the government itself to become an object of contempt in the eyes of the people? And yet this is what you designate as forcing ‘the people of Kansas to obey laws not their own, nor of the United States’; and for doing which you have denounced me as having violated my solemn oath. I ask, what else could I have done, or ought I to have done? Would you have desired that I should abandon the Territorial government, sanctioned as it had been by Congress, to illegal violence, and thus renew the scenes of civil war and bloodshed which every patriot in the country had deplored? This would, indeed, have been to violate my oath of office, and to fix a damning blot on the character of my administration.

“I most cheerfully admit that the necessity for sending a military force to Kansas to aid in the execution of the civil law, reflects no credit upon the character of our country. But let the blame fall upon the heads of the guilty. Whence did this necessity arise? A portion of the people of Kansas, unwilling to trust to the ballot-box—the certain American remedy for the redress of all grievances—undertook to create an independent government for themselves. Had this attempt proved successful, it would of course have subverted the existing government, prescribed and recognized by Congress, and substituted a revolutionary government in its stead. This was a usurpation of the same character as it would be for a portion of the people of Connecticut to undertake to establish a separate government within its chartered limits for the purpose of redressing any grievance, real or imaginary, of which they might have complained against the legitimate State government. Such a principle, if carried into execution, would destroy all lawful authority and produce universal anarchy.”

And again: “I thank you for the assurances that you will ‘not refrain from the prayer that Almighty God will make my administration an example of justice and beneficence.’ You can greatly aid me in arriving at this blessed consummation, by exerting your influence in allaying the existing sectional excitement on the subject of slavery, which has been productive of much evil and no good, and which, if it could succeed in attaining its object, would ruin the slave as well as his master. This would be a work of genuine philanthropy. Every day of my life I feel how inadequate I am to perform the duties of my high station without the continued support of Divine Providence, yet, placing my trust in Him and in Him alone, I entertain a good hope that He will enable me to do equal justice to all portions of the Union, and thus render me an humble instrument in restoring peace and harmony among the people of the several States.”

The condition of Kansas continued for some time longer to be disturbed by the revolutionary proceedings of the adherents of the Topeka constitution. The inhabitants of the city of Lawrence undertook to organize an insurrection throughout the Territory. This town had been mainly established by the abolition societies of the Eastern States. It had some respectable and well behaved citizens, but it was the headquarters of paid agitators, in the employment of certain anti-slavery organizations. It became necessary for Governor Walker to suppress this threatened insurrection. The military leader of the Free State party undertook, in July, to organize his party into volunteers, and to take the names of all who refused enrollment. The professed purpose of this organization was to protect the polls at an election in August of a new Topeka legislature. Many of the conservative citizens, who had hitherto acted with the Free State party, were subjected to personal outrages for refusing to be enrolled. To meet this revolutionary military organization, and to prevent the establishment of an insurrectionary government at Lawrence, the Territorial Governor had to retain in Kansas a large body of United States troops. The insurgent general and his military staff denied the authority of the Territorial laws, and counselled the people not to participate in the elections ordered under the authority of the Lecompton convention.[33]

Footnote 33:

Governor Walker’s despatches to the Secretary of State, July 15th, 20th and 27th, 1857.

The Lecompton convention, which met for the second time on the 2d of September, and then proceeded to frame a State constitution, adjourned on the 7th of November. Although this constitution recognized slavery, the convention took steps to submit the question to the people of the Territory, in a free ballot, by all the white male inhabitants, before it should be sent to Congress for admission into the Union. It would have been more regular to have submitted the whole constitution to the people, although the organic Act did not require it; but on the question of slavery, which was the vital one, it can not be pretended that the convention acted unfairly. The election was directed to be held on the 21st of December, (1857), and the ballots were to be “Constitution with Slavery,” and “Constitution with no Slavery.” Thus the opportunity was again presented for the people of the Territory to vote upon the question on which they were divided; and again the anti-slavery party, with the exception of a few hundred of the voters, abstained from voting. The result was that there were 6,226 votes in favor of the “Constitution with Slavery,” and only 569 against it.

The Lecompton constitution provided for holding an election of State officers, a legislature and a member of Congress, on the first Monday of January, 1858. The President sent instructions to the Territorial governor which secured a peaceable election. A larger vote was polled than at any previous election. The party which had previously refused to vote, now changed their tactics. They elected a large majority of the members of the legislature, and the political power of the proposed new State was therefore in their hands. But for their previous factional resistance to the authority of the Territorial government, they might have attained this result at a much earlier period.

On the 30th of January, 1858, the President received the so-called Lecompton constitution from the president of the convention, with a request that it be laid before Congress. And here it is necessary to pause, for the purpose of a just understanding of the grounds on which the President recommended the admission of Kansas with this constitution. He was assailed with almost every epithet of vituperation of which our language admits, as if he was responsible for and in favor of the pro-slavery feature of this constitution. A simple and truthful consideration of his official duty under the organic Act by which the Territory was organized, and a candid recital of the reasons on which he urged the admission of the State with this constitution, will enable my readers to determine with what justice he was treated in this matter.

Mr. Buchanan was elected President upon a political “platform,” adopted by the Cincinnati Convention, which nominated him, and which, like all the platforms of that period, dealt, among other things, with the vexed subject of slavery in Territories. But the Cincinnati platform of the Democratic party did not affirm the right of a Territorial legislature to establish or to prohibit slavery: nor did it admit the doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” as applied to a people while in the Territorial condition. What it did affirm was, that at the period when the people of a Territory should be forming and adopting a State constitution, they should be allowed to sanction or exclude slavery as they should see fit. This distinction has of course no interest at the present day. But in the condition of the Union in the year 1856, this distinction was of great practical importance. The political men who framed the Cincinnati platform had to consider how they could present to the people of the United States a principle of action on this exciting topic of slavery in the Territories, that would be consistent with the rights of slave-holding and non-slaveholding States in the common property of the Union, and at the same time affirm as a party doctrine a basis of proceeding that could be safely applied in any Territory and that would maintain its true relation as a Territory to the Government of the United States. If they were in pursuit of votes for their candidate, it should also be remembered that they were preparing for a great national party a set of political principles that would live and be active for a long time to come. Mr. Douglas had caused the Missouri Compromise to be swept away; he had procured the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had affirmed something that was both new and strange in the politics of this difficult subject. This was, that in creating the body politic known as a Territory of the United States, Congress should neither legalize nor prohibit slavery while the Territorial condition continued, but that the same species of “popular sovereignty” should be held to be inherent in the people of a Territory that is inherent in the people of a State, so that they could act on the subject of slavery for themselves from the time of their first entry into the Territory and before they had been authorized to form themselves into a State. The ad captandum phrase “popular sovereignty” procured for this theory many adherents. But it was irreconcilable with what others asserted to be the true relation of a Territory to the Congress of the United States, and equally irreconcilable with the claim of the Southern slaveholder to go into a Territory with his property in slaves and to maintain there that property until the State constitution had sanctioned or prohibited it. The framers of the Cincinnati platform did not propose to elect a President on this basis. They therefore did not affirm that a Territorial legislature, or the people of a Territory, should be allowed to act on the subject of slavery in any way; but they proclaimed as their doctrine that when the people of a Territory, acting under the authority of an organic law, should frame and adopt a State constitution, they should be at liberty to make their State free or slave as they might see fit.

Before this period the Cincinnati platform was silent; and it was silent because its framers did not see fit to trammel themselves or their candidate with a doctrine of “popular sovereignty” irreconcilable with the governing authority of Congress, and also because in this matter of slavery there was a question of property involved. When, therefore, Mr. Buchanan accepted the Cincinnati platform, and was elected upon it, he went into the office of President without being in any way committed to the doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” as expounded by Mr. Douglas.

But the Kansas-Nebraska Act was both a bone of contention between two portions of the Democratic party and a law of the land. As President, Mr. Buchanan had only to construe and administer it. It contained, as explanatory of the purpose of Congress in abolishing the Missouri Compromise restriction, the following declaration: “It being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.” This was in one respect ambiguous, and in another not so. It was ambiguous in not clearly defining the time at which this right to form their own domestic institutions was to be considered as inhering in the people of a Territory. It was unambiguous in subordinating the exercise of this right to the Constitution of the United States. In carrying out the law, the President had to consider what was the limitation imposed by the Constitution of the United States upon the operation of this newly created right. This brought before him the action of the Supreme Court of the United States on the subject of slave property in the Territories, which had occurred a few days after his inauguration.

Whatever may be said of the action of the Supreme Court in the well-known case of “Dred Scott,” in regard to its being technically a judicial decision, there can be no doubt as to what a majority of the judges meant to affirm and did affirm in their respective opinions.[34] This was that property in slaves, being recognized as a right of property by the Constitution of the United States, although established only by the local law of a particular State, travelled with the person of the owner into a Territory; and while the Territorial condition continued, such property could not be abolished by the legislation of Congress or the legislation of the Territorial government. Mr. Buchanan always regarded this as a judicial decision of this question of property; and as the construction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was by its express terms to be determined by the court, he considered it his duty to regard the period of time on which the people of Kansas were to decide the question of slavery or no slavery to be at the formation and adoption of a State constitution. This was the clear deduction to be drawn from the constitutional doctrine which had been enunciated by a majority of the judges.

Footnote 34:

I have more than once publicly expressed my belief that there was, technically speaking, no judicial decision in that case. But others, among them President Buchanan, always regarded it as a “decision.”

Hence it was that all his official influence was exerted, through the Territorial government, to induce the people of Kansas to act on the question of slavery at the proper time and in the only practical way: namely, by voting for delegates to the convention called under the authority of the Territorial laws, and then voting on the constitution which that convention should frame. It certainly was no wish of his to have Kansas become a slaveholding State; he could have no motive in the whole matter but to get it decided what her domestic condition was to be, by the ballot-box instead of the rifle, by voting and not by fighting. He could, by no sort of justice, be held responsible for the result which was produced by the refusal of the anti-slavery party to vote; and when the Lecompton constitution reached him, he could not avoid submitting it to Congress. He submitted it with a strong recommendation that Kansas be received into the Union under it. His reasons for this recommendation are now to be stated.

1. The Lecompton constitution was republican in form, and it had been framed and voted upon in a free and open ballot, which the convention had directed to be taken on the all-important question of slavery. 2. The question of slavery was thus localized, confined to the people whom it immediately concerned, and banished from the halls of Congress, where it had been always exerting a baneful influence upon the country at large. 3. If Congress, for the sake of those who had refused to exercise their power of excluding slavery from the constitution of Kansas, should now reject it because slavery remained in it, the agitation would be renewed everywhere in a more alarming form than it had yet assumed. 4. After the admission of the State, its people would be sovereign over this and every other domestic question; they could mould their institutions as they should see fit, and if, as the President had every reason to believe, a majority of the people were opposed to slavery, the legislature already elected under this constitution could at once provide for amending it in the proper manner. 5. If this constitution should be sent back by Congress because it sanctioned slavery, a second constitution would have to be framed and sent to Congress, and there would be a revival of the slavery agitation, both in Congress and throughout the Union. 6. The speedy admission of Kansas, which would restore peace and harmony to the whole country, was of infinitely greater consequence than the small difference of time that would be required for the people to exercise their own sovereign power over the whole subject after they had become a State, compared with the process of a new convention to be held under the auspices of the Territorial government.[35]

Footnote 35:

See the President’s message of February 28, 1858, submitting the Lecompton constitution. In describing the President’s views on this subject I have not only relied upon his messages and other official papers, but I have drawn them also from an elaborate private paper in his hand-writing, which is of too great length to be inserted textually in this work. It relates to the construction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a construction which he felt bound to adopt in consequence of the views taken of the subject of slavery in Territories by the Supreme Court, as he said in his inaugural address that he should do. In this MS., he speaks of “The infamous and unfounded assertion of Mr. ——, that in a conversation with Chief Justice Taney, he [the Chief Justice] had informed him in advance of the inaugural what the opinion [of the court] would be.”

“This message,” says Mr. Buchanan, “gave rise to a long, exciting, and occasionally violent debate in both Houses of Congress, between the anti-slavery members and their opponents, which lasted for three months. In the course of it, slavery was denounced in every form which could exasperate the Southern people, and render it odious to the people of the North; whilst on the other hand, many of the speeches of Southern members displayed characteristic violence. Thus two sessions of Congress in succession had been in a great degree occupied with the same inflammatory topics, in discussing the affairs of Kansas.”[36] At length, however, an Act which had been reported by a committee of conference of both Houses, admitting Kansas into the Union as a State under the Lecompton constitution, was passed in the Senate by a vote of 31 to 22, and in the House by a vote of 112 to 103, and was signed by the President on the 4th of May, 1858.[37] The validity of the proceedings in Kansas which had produced the Lecompton constitution was expressly admitted by the preamble of this statute.

Footnote 36:

Buchanan’s Defence, p. 45.

Footnote 37:

II U. S. Laws, p. 269. In the Senate, Mr. Douglas voted with the minority, as did a few anti-Lecompton Democrats in the House. [Congressional Globe, 1857-8, pp. 1899, 1905.] The Act was carried by a party vote.

But the Act annexed a condition precedent to the final admission of the State under this constitution. This related, not to slavery, but to the public lands within the territory. The ordinance of the convention which accompanied the Lecompton constitution demanded for the State a cession of the public lands more than six times the quantity that had ever been granted to any other State, when received into the Union. Congress would not assent to such an exaction. It was therefore provided that the people of the State should vote upon a proposition reducing the number of acres to be ceded to the same number that had been granted to other States; and that when this proposition should have been ascertained by the President’s proclamation to have been accepted, the admission of the State, upon an equal footing with all the other States, should be complete and absolute. But the condition was never fulfilled. The people of Kansas rejected it on the 2d of August, 1858, and the Lecompton constitution thus fell to the ground. “Notwithstanding this,” Mr. Buchanan observes, “the recognition by Congress of the regularity of the proceedings in forming the Lecompton constitution, did much good, at least for a season. It diverted the attention of the people from fighting to voting, a most salutary change.”[38]

Footnote 38:

Buchanan’s Defence, p. 46.

In his next annual message, of December 6, 1858, the President said:

When we compare the condition of the country at the present day with what it was one year ago, at the meeting of Congress, we have much reason for gratitude to that Almighty Providence which has never failed to interpose for our relief at the most critical periods of our history. One year ago the sectional strife between the North and the South on the dangerous subject of slavery had again become so intense as to threaten the peace and perpetuity of the confederacy. The application for the admission of Kansas as a State into the Union fostered this unhappy agitation, and brought the whole subject once more before Congress. It was the desire of every patriot that such measures of legislation might be adopted as would remove the excitement from the States and confine it to the Territory where it legitimately belonged. Much has been done, I am happy to say, towards the accomplishment of this object during the last session of Congress.

The Supreme Court of the United States had previously decided that all American citizens have an equal right to take into the Territories whatever is held as property under the laws of any of the States, and to hold such property there under the guardianship of the Federal Constitution, so long as the Territorial condition shall remain. This is now a well-established position, and the proceedings of the last session were alone wanting to give it practical effect.

The principle has been recognized, in some form or other, by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses of Congress, that a Territory has a right to come into the Union either as a free or a slave State, according to the will of a majority of its people. The just equality of all the States has thus been vindicated, and a fruitful source of dangerous dissension among them has been removed.

While such has been the beneficial tendency of your legislative proceedings outside of Kansas, their influence has nowhere been so happy as within that Territory itself. Left to manage and control its own affairs in its own way, without the pressure of external influence, the revolutionary Topeka organization, and all resistance to the Territorial government established by Congress, have been finally abandoned. As a natural consequence, that fine Territory now appears to be tranquil and prosperous, and is attracting increasing thousands of immigrants to make it their happy home.

The past unfortunate experience of Kansas has enforced the lesson, so often already taught, that resistance to lawful authority, under our form of government, cannot fail in the end to prove disastrous to its authors.

The people of Kansas, from this time forward, “left to manage their own affairs in their own way, without the presence of external influence,” found that they could decide this question of slavery by their own votes, and that the stimulus and the materials for fighting, which had been supplied to them from the Northern or the Southern States, were poor means in comparison with the ballot-box. The anti-slavery party were numerically the strongest; and having now given up all factious resistance to the Territorial government, they were able, under its auspices, to establish a free constitution, under which the State was admitted into the Union on the 29th of January, 1861. But the effect of this struggle, precipitated by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and carried on for a period of seven years, was most disastrous to the peace and harmony of the Union. It fixed the attention of both sections of the Union upon a subject of the most inflammatory nature. On the one hand, the Democratic party, which extended throughout all the States, slaveholding and non-slaveholding, and which had elected Mr. Buchanan by the votes of both free and slave States, no longer had a common bond of party union in a common principle of action on the question of slavery in Territories. A portion of the party, under the lead of Mr. Douglas, and known as “the Northern Democracy,” rejected the doctrine enunciated by the Judges of the Supreme Court, and still adhered to their principle of “popular sovereignty.” The residue of the party, calling themselves “the Old Democracy,” adhered to what they regarded as the decision of the court, maintained that the time for the people of a Territory to act on the subject of slavery was when forming and adopting a State constitution, and that in the previous period, the equal right of all the States in the common property of the Union could be respected only by confining the power of the people of a Territory to the time of adopting a constitution. On the other hand, the new party, to which these events had given birth, and into which were now consolidating all the elements of the anti-slavery feeling of the free States, rejected entirely the principle enunciated by a majority of the Supreme Court, maintained that the Southern slave-holder could have no right to hold as property in a Territory that which was property at all only under the local law of a slave-holding State, and proclaimed that Congress must, by positive statute, annul any such supposed right in regard to all existing and all future Territories. If these conflicting sectional feelings and interests could have been confined to the practical question of what was to be done in the Territories before they should become States, there might have been less danger resulting from their agitation. In the nature of things, however, they could not be so confined. They brought into renewed discussion the whole subject of slavery everywhere, until the North and the South became involved in a struggle for the Presidency that was made to turn almost exclusively upon this one topic. But how this came about, and how it resulted in an attempted disruption of the Union, must be related hereafter.

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