CHAPTER 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.