The constitutional and political history of the United States

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THE CONSIITUTIOBil.
AND POUTICiL iISIOBI
OF IBt
OBITED SIATLS

by

Hermaim Eduapd von Hoist

Volume 6
18E6-18E9

Callaghan & Co.
Chicago
1892

TABLE OF CONTENTS. - V

Financial Situation. — Seward's Rochester S|)eecb. — Lincoln's
Course of Development. — Lincoln's Letter of tlie 15th of Au-
gust, IS').").— Senatorial Election in Illinois in 1855. — The Can-
didate Question in Illinois in 1858. — Lincoln's Speecli Before
the State Convention. — The Lincoln-Douglas Debate. — Lin-
cohi's Position on the Slavery Question. — The Dred Scott De-
cision and Popular Sovereignty. — Lincoln's Criticism of the •
Frecport Declaration. — Rf'sult and Meaning of the Illinois
Campaij^n. — The Southern Radicals.— The Public Lands and
the Homestead liaw. — Danger to Sl avery in the S lave Stat es. —
Ctuitinued Development of the Slavocratic Spirit. — Slavocratic
Spirit in the Churches and Schools. — Slavocratic Definition of
Abolitionism. — Agitation of the African Slave Trade. — Yan-
cey's Letter of the 15th of June, 185S 253

CHAPTER VIL

THE SECOND SESSION OF THE 35TH CONQREfC.

Annual M< ssage of the 6th of December, 1858, on Kansas. — Ore-
gon Admitted as a State. — Slidell's Thirty-million Bill. — Sli-
dell's Committee Report on the Project to Purchase Cuba. — The
Purchase of Cuba and the Questions of Secession and Slavery. —
Collamer's Refutation of Buchanan and Slidell. — Attitude of
Spain towards the Project of Purchasing Cuba. — Buclianan's
Plans and Wishes.— The Fight over Slidell's Bill in the Senate.—
Brown's Speech of the 23d of February.— The Debate of the
23d of February 825

•BTJCHAJSTAJN'S ELECTION

END OF THE 35TH CONGRESS.

CHAPTER T.

THE DRED SCOTT DEC^ISION.

" When the mariner has been tossed for many days in
thick weather, and on an unknown sea. he naturally
ayails himself of the first pawse in the slorm, the earliest
glance of the sun, to Cake his latitude, and ascertain how
far the elements have driven him from hia true course." '
The stream of evolving circumstances shot with so
much force and in such wild eddies lowards the steep
precipice and down into the dark depths of time, that
the memory of the great men of the second period of tho
Iiistory of the Union, under the constitution, faded away
with a rapidity surprising oven in the fasl-livmg Ameri-
can people. These words, however, with which Webster
began his celebrated speech of January 2G, 1830, in reply
to Hayne, were not yet forgotten. But if they had
foand a place only in the reading-books used in the
schools, among the specimens of American eloquence,
Ihey would have been of little value. They contained
» Wtb8t.'B Worka, Ul, p. 2T0.

DL'CDANAN S ELECTION-

- KSD OF 35Tn conaaESB.

an earnest ailmonilion, tlia taking of which to beart
was never so ur/^enUy demanded as after the presiden-
tial election of liS56. To prevent the catastrophe was
impossible, for tho will and the wishes of men were
powerless against the logic of facts. But the time and
form of its coming, the ra|)idity of its course and its final
result depended, in great part, on tho voluntary deter-
mination of the people as to what they would do or leave
ondone, and their determination would bo more fatal in
projKjrtion as they mistook the real situation.

In this respect, the greatest responsibility rested on
the president. The constihition had placed him on the
highest watch-tower commanding the farthest and most
unobstructed view. The express provision of the consti-
tution that he should, from time to time, give Informa-
tion to congress of the state of the Union, imposed on
him the sacred duty to endeavor, with the most scrupu-
lous conscientiousness, nOt to allow his vision to be
dimmed by parly passion an<l party interest. He had,
indeed, been elected b}' one party, but he was bound by
his oath to support the constitution, which said nulhing
of a democratic or republican president, and mentioned
only a presitlent of the United States. True, even Wash-
ington had found it impossible, when invested with the
executive power, to keep entirely aloof from, and above,
party, and the failure of his endeavor was determined by
the very nature of things. It could not but be still more
impossible, if we may be allowed the expression, for hia
successoi's in the presidency to lift themselves, in thought
and action, above party; and even if they coald so have
raised themselves, they should not have been asked to do
it, for the constitution was not guilty of the absurdity of
making the absence of convictions a (jualificalion of n
true president; besides, it was as the representatives of

UESSAflE OF

certain political convictions that tliey Imd been chosen
presidents. But the correct principle that the personal
convictions of the president which coincide more or less
fully with the convictions of a certain definite, political
party must control his judgment and action, should not
be perverted into this, that the president ought to, or
even must, base his judgment and action on wimt the
doctrines of liis party demand of him, or on what would
be of advantage or disadvantage to his party. But this
is precisely what Pierce again did with the naive audac-
ity of absolute shainelessness.

The annual message of December 2, 1856, so far as it
touched on the internal affairs of the Union, did not rise
above the level of a stump speech by a professional party
agitator of tbe most ordinary type. Such a harangue
post Jt^ium, coming from any mouth, would seem very
Tmpty, even lo tlie most short-sighted criticism; coming
from the mouth of the preskiant, it made an impression all
tbe worse, as Pierce introduced it with a referonco to his
duty " lo scan with an impartial eye the interests of the
whole."

If the message was generally judged ranch more in-
dulgently than it deserved, the reason is that no impor-
tance was attached to it. and rightly so; and, further,
because people saw in it a plea for a defendant delivered
from the bench, and in the tone of the judge. The re-
publicans did not now do Pierce the honor of allowing
themselves to be again aroused, by his bold distortion of
the facts, to a still stronger expression of their moral in-
dication. Their sentence on him had been long since
irrevocably passed; and, whether that sentence wa.s well
founded or not, it would have been useless for them to
go buck to the record of his trial, since it was an indispu-
table fact that he was politically dead. When he said

Bl^CllANAS 3 ELECTIOS ESD (

f 35th

that the states in which the republicans were victorious
had tried "to usurp" the government, all he accom-
plished was to awaken doubts as to his political responsi-
bility. Whatever absurdities he might give utterance to,
he thernby, in no way, changed the facts; but the more
ho indulged in exnggorations, evident untruths and pure
nonsense, the less could lie succeed in deceiving the
thinking portion of the people as to the facts. The as-
sertion that those alleged usurpatory wishes had been
"pointedly rebuked" by the people did not transform
the minority vote for Buchanan into a majority vote,
and did not make people forget the honest admission
of the radicals of the southern states, that the democrats
owed even their plurality victory only to the Fillmorcans.
Even if Kansas now enjoyed completely undisturbed
pence, as Pieroe assured the country it did, would the
correctness and justice of his Kansas policy bo recognized,
on that account, by the republicans, and would the Kan-
sas question cease to be the order of the day) 0ns of
the moat influential democratic papers of the country,
the Detroit Free Pre^iit, explained to him that Pennsyl-
vania, New Jersey. Indiana, Illinois, Delaware, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana "could not
have been saved" for the democratic party if he had
been its candidate, or his Kansas policy the decisive ques-
tion, in the electoral campaign.'

Did Caleb Cushing's bold assertion, that the entire
country covered by the territories had already been sur-
rendet'ud to slavery by u series of decisions of the federal
supreme court, become a fact because it was now repeated
by the president J All these decisions had been published

' Tl)e uU)iuiit« cause of hia fatal miitoke tlio article finds in liis
"o^rirecning deaire of a second term." CoDgr. Olobo, Brd S«n,
84th CuugT., p. 14.

UE6SAQE OF DECKMllER 2, 1S5().

long before the elecloral ciimpaign, and yet the territo-
riai qaestion was the pivotai point in thn,t campaign.

Pierce, in ihe name of his party, hiding behind the
mask of tlie triumphor whose victory has been sulli-
ciently coin|)lete to warrant hiiu henceforth to liang his
sword andhhield oa the wall wilh impunity, cut now only
a half-comical, half-pitiful figure. Ko previous president,
not even Tyler, had bo entirely thrown away his moral
reputation and his reputation for statesmanship as had
he; and tho short interval between the election and in-
auguration of the new president bore, in a higher degree
than ever before, the character of an interregnum. Even
if Pierce in the composition of it had been animated xvith
the sincerity of Washington, bis message could have no
practical weight except to the extent that he succeeded
in imparting his own delusions to the political parlies of
the country.

It was not so easy, as might have been expected, to
give a definite answer to the question whether, and to
what extent, this was the case. Congress devoted a great
part of the session to exhaustive debates on the history
and meaning of the electoral campaign. Most of the
speeches, however, were delivered in a comparatively very
calm tone, and tlio speakers kept to the subject. Tim
southerners based their arguments much less than usual
on threats and coarse slander of the republicans, and the
republicans made no effort to find compensation for their
defeat in angry declamation. Neither side retreated from
any position it had previously taken, while both showed
a certain reluctance to advance in the way of attack or
defense. It was plain that this could not be ascribed
solely to tho natural want of rest, after the long and vio-
lent straggle. The two parties were weighed down by a
cgrtain feeling of insecurity. The outlook into the near

BUOHANiN's ELECTION — END OF 35tH CONOREaS.

future was still so involved in obscurity that tliere t
great tjesilalion on both sides to take the initiative.

If the small majority of the secessionists on principle,
in the democratic camp, had continued tlie agitation in
favor of their programme immediately afler the new
democratic victory, as openly and directly as they badj
shortly before and during the electoral carapaiirn, thojl
would, by so doing, have only sapped the foundatioi
under their own feet. Every democrat who honestly da
sired the preservation of the Unian, and who believe*
tbul its preservation depended on tlie supremacy of hM
party, could not but anxiously ask himself, when hd
thought of the next step to be taken, whether that sted
would not make the complete disruption of ihe party un-
avoidable. There were not many lulled by the result ofl
the election into such unreHccting optimism as to consiila
a further straining of [)arty bonds devoid of danger,
how could any advance be made without making such ij
straining necessary! And advance the party muat; fol
with the exception of the cjuestion whether llio democrali
should continue to rule, the electoral campaign had daj
cided nothing whatever. The more prudent democratu
who recoiled before a cataslroplie, would, thoretore, havm
liked nothing better than to see the taking of tlie initiJ
utive shoved on to the shoulders of the republicans, andf
iho latter thus justify the charge made by Pierce, Ihafl
they were pursuing an aggressive policy towards thS
soutli. But the republicans were neither so short-sighte
nor so fanatical as to now adopt the modtts operandi of
the abolitionists and carry it into actual political party
life. Admitted it must be that, by doing so, they would
have exhibited their fidelity lo principle and their loveofJ
freedom in a biilUant light; but such action would hav(
>eeij[ so grave a tactical blunder that, in all probabilityj

its conspqucnce would btive been the loss of their viabil-
ity as a political party. They were honestly convinced
lh.il they were a strictly consfpvative party, and the peo-
ple had flocked around their banner only because tbey
uere believed to be such a parly. The moment they went
beyond acting on the defensive they would lose that char-
acter, and the masses then would, without question, de-
sarl them as rapidly as they had fallen into rank with
them. True, ethico- religions convictions were, to a great
extent, the motire power ibat built up the republican
party; bat only because it was thought that thuy were in
complete harmony with the recjuirements of positive law
did the people believe thin' might join them. Of course,
ibe possibility that the party, by new provocaliuns, might
be forced to make etbico-religious convictions and polit-
ical necessity, viewed from thestandpoint of these convic-
tions, govern in the construction of positive law, could
not even now be denied. Still less could ii be denied
there was danger that the masses would be again inclined
to rest satistied xvtth the condemnation of slavery " in the
abstract,"' if they were not kept awake and eager for the
fray by new provocations. This danger was so great and
so plain that the leaders must have been struck with com-
plete blindness not to recognize that they could not play
more etfectually into the hands of the slavocracy than by
seeking to change the programme with which they had
begun their existence, by making it aggressive.

That party politics — with the exception of the speeches
of a more academic chanictei- referred to — were very
quiet in the winter months of ]t>5ti-57, was, under the
oircumstiinces, very natural. Evidently, however, no
conclusion as to ihe future cuuld be drawn from this
ooniparativo calm. The programme of the Filhnoreans:
conveniently and gafely to get out of the way of all

8 BUCHAMA.n's KLltOTIOS — END OF SStII OONORRES.

danger, simply by the preservation of the atatwt j
was still merely the declaration of bankniptcy of th^
fossil vvisdoiD of political mediocrity — Us declaration oP
bankruptcy skilfully formulated. The question was not
whether the struggle would begin anew, but only how,
and from what side, the impulse to its outbreak would
come.

So far as the latter point is concerned the decision 1
entirely witU the republicans, to the extent that aa o|>-
position party is never compelled to pursue a positivi
policy. They needed only to wait for the end of t'
session, and of Pierce's presidential term, wLen '
democrats would have to lid;e the initiative. The lattei
had only a choice us to whether that initiative would t
taken by congress or by ihe new president. If the latte
wished to lake it he could not be prevented, since, in 1
inaugural address, he had the lirst word. It requirt
very great ambition and a vast amount of self-relianca t
want, in this instance, to assnme the dreadful responst^
bilily of the decision. But the peculiar circumstanoes o
tile case transferred that responsibility to the presiddnl
in such a way that he could not permanently escape
no matter how ardently he might wish to do so. Aa t
next step forward would necessarily broaden and deep!
the split in the dejuocratic JKirty, it was useless for t
president to submit everything to the "wisdom of (
gresu," Even if it had been possible for him to remaii^
absolutely passive, so loug as congress had reached nffi
tirm resolve in the form of laws, tbo factions of bis own
party could allow him to hold no such neutral posltioD,!
because none of them was strong eiiougli to overcomft
the adversaries in its own cainp, the republtcaos and the"
Fillmoreans. It seemed xnr^ doubtful if even the decided'!
partisanship of the president would have weight <

suios OAitr.Ras.

to tmito a sufficient majority on any programme; but
without tl)e eini>luyiiient of all the pressure which the
oxccGlivo was able to exercise by thetlivisiun of the spoils
and other means, any effort in this direction would cer-
tainly have hail no prospect of success.

Verily, therefore, the president found himself in no en-
viable position. But. froiii one sjiccial circumstance there
arose, for Buclianan. difficulties, or at least unpleosant*
nesa, uf a peculiar kmd, from which no other prominent
party politician, in his position, would havo had to suffer
to the same extent. At Cincinnati and in iho presidential
campnign it had been of great advantage to him that,
during the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska bill, ho
had been out of the country; but now, the very same
reason made his position, in relation to his own party,
more diHicult and delicate. If the fact that no one could
positively say where he stood had rendered him the best
of service up to the time of his victory, he had all the
less reason, on that account, to oxpect indulgent iroatment
from the faction against whom he would declare, after
the battle had been won. If he wished to sit between
the two stools his full would certainly be all the worse,
because an energetic effort would be made, on both sides.
to keep him from doing so. And if he made a choice, the
other side, embittered, would, unquestionably, declaro it-
selfshaniefuUy cheated; and the more uncertain it was
where he had stood on the issues of the last three years,
the less was he in a condition to refute the charges of
disloyalty and treason.

Under these circumstances, imagine what thoughts and
feelings must have been awakened in Buchanan's breast
by the news that the legislature of his own state, al-
though the democrats were in a majority, small, indeed,
butnndisputed, in that body, hud, on the 13th of January,

VJ

- ESn OF 35tII COSOBKf

1857, elected the republican Simon Ciinieron to be u
senator of the United States. What importance was to
bo attached to this defeat depended, of course, on its
special causes But it could not fail to luako a powerful
impression on friend and foe,' and this fact alone made
it an event of iniporlance. Pennsylvaniii was not only
Buchanan's own state, but the Cincinnati convention had
chosen hioi as presidential candidate mainly beciiuse he
had bonn tbo most prominent and the bcst-likod iioltti-
cian of Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania, as a matter of
fact, bad turned the scales in his favor in the electoral
campaign. And now ho received this slap, even before
he had taken possession of the White House, It was
even sought to account for it by the fact that he had
tried to obtain votes for one of the democratic candi-
dates.^ And all tbo more weight was attached to it,
because the greatest amount of credit for the victory of
the democrats in Pennsylvania was ascribed to Colonel
Forney.

The repnblica.ns here and there inferred the imme-
diate end of democratic rule in Pennsylvania from this
unexpected incident; yet such an inference might easily
prove to bo an over-hasty oonclusion. But that that rule
would be greatly weakened, and that, in a short time,
perhaps, a very small weight would sullice permanently
to turn the scales, even the democrats could not conceal
from themselves. Still what conclusions the party lead-
ers, and especially Buchanan, would draw from the rec-

I A cjjirespondtnt of the Now York 5V(l>iin« wrote f lom WasliinglOn
to tlint paper on tliH 13th of Januiiry: "A single uveni hna rnrclj
produced groaler sensRtiui) in polilitMil circles here th«n the inlclli-
genoe ot Mr. Cameron's election did to-day," The N. Y, Tribune.
Jftn. 16. 1857,

igiM l)i« letter, in relation hereto, of Jannarjr T, l)4?7, to Henry S.
Uott, iu the Now York Tribune ot Fcliruarr 3, 18.17,

JKFFKIIfioN' DAVIS. 11

ognition of this possibility, was an entirely different
question. If the southern wing looked upon the event
as a warning to take into account, as far us possible, at
leastfor the moment, the pressnre under which the party
politicians in the nortiiera states were kept by public
opinion, in order that they might gain a stronger foot-
hold in the doubtful st.-iies, Buchanan would have gladly
lent thpni a friendly hunil to help them to a cautious
policy of reconciliation. But how if the slavocracy drew
the contrary conclusion from the event, viz.: that all
consideration on their part was love's labors lost, and
that the ii-on must be forged with blows of redoubled
weight?

On the 7th of February, the New York Tribune was
written to fnmi Uarrisburgthat, in all probability, Colonel
Forney would not be called to the cabinet, because
the south did not want the real views of Pennsylvania,
whose vole had been sneakingly obtained only by the
promise that Buchanan's election would insure ihe free-
dom of Kansas, represented in it; in October, therefore,
that is, at the next election, violent storms might be ex-
pected from Pennsylvania.' Three days before, the same
journal had been informed, from Washington, that Buch-
anan had conferred with some prominent southerners
like Hunter and Mason, but that of the present cabinet
officers, only Jefferson Davis had been honored with an
invitation. The subject of discussion was not the com-
position of the new cabinet. Buchanan had communi-
CRlcd to the gentlemen present his views respecting his
inaugural address, and received a promise from Davis to
support the administration so long as it held to the pro-
gramme contemplated.^ That this intelligence deserved,

"TheS. Y. Tribune. Feb, 11. 1657.
I Ibid. . etli and lOtb of Febniarjr.

ELKOTIOS^END

' 3J1

. COKGRESS.

as ihe correspondent wrote, attention as an indication olJ
the future, could no longer be doiibtfd, when the TrtftunsM
on the 12lb of January, ivas teiegra|ilied from Washing-
ton that Buchanan bad said Rusk was dead with the
republican party. Even if the thought bad not been
expressed thus strongly, but had been merely intimaied,.J
the despatch, that more clear-sighted democrats begai^
anxiously to ask tbeuisolvi-s what the party bad to cxpeoU
from the president, had to be believed.' But not onlj^
the democratic party but, the entire country bad everyj
reason to be anxious, when, under a cloud so pregnan^
with the storm, a fog thus dense obscured the vision oA
tlie old man in whose hands the belm of the sbipof Btatal
was to be |)laced during the next four yeai-s.

The pomp displayed at the festivities of the inaugnra-l
tion exceeded what was usual on such occasions. Amild,f
clear, spring day put the population of Washington anda
the guests ivlio bad flocked thither in great numbers ia^
tlio best of humor. Buchanan Iried not to dampen tbeirfl
spirits. Those who honored him as the '* sage of Wheat- ■
land " were able to come down Capitol Hill, after listea*)
ing to the inaugural address, gladder ibun when they had
ascended it.

The president begun with the assurance that, in fiiftj
administration, be woolil be governed by no motive ex*J
cept the wish to servo his country faithfully and wellj
add to live in the grateful memory of the people, as hof
was resolved not to seek re-eleclioo.

Why might not a happy future be looked forward (o,!
considering such excellent intentions? The presidenta

>>■ . . . the lntU>r(K»9k), with others, HTj^iiri-l (hat if BUchd«b I
liisioD could be entertnini'd. others more EH.»ri(ms micht easily occur. T
Tliere spi'iiis tu be II IViL-b.uling on tlie i|{MiiiH.-rntk- niile that the nd- 1
niniBtratioo is dooiiit.-d, undvr a. fatality of tbo president"

THE KEPimUCAS TAKTy,

13

liad said, indeed, in the electoral campnign, tbat tbe
" passions " of the people bad been excited " to the high-
est degree," because that campaign turned apon questions
of "vital importance;" hot he had claimed also that
the "tempest at once subsided and all ivas calm," when
the people had made known tlieir will. What ground
was there to consider this calm a sign that the storm
was gathering strength for a new outbreak with re-
doubled violence? W:is there not rather every reason to
hope that the agitation of the slavery question would
cease, and that sectional or geographical parties, so much
dreaded Ijy Washington, would disappear? Since con-
gress had evolved the "happy conception" to apply to the
question of slavery in the territories the simple principle
that the will of the majority must decide, the " agitation "
was " without any legitimate object."

If the hope that the long and violent struggle between
slavery and freedom had boon terminated by the elec-
toral campaign was based only on this, it evidently did
not deserve to be likened even to a sonp-bubble. That
"happy conception " of congri?ss had already become a law
in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in 1S54. But it was this
vopy bill that led to the formation of tlie republican
party; and on that very ground tbe last electoral baltlo
had been fought ^-ith the high degree of passion alluded
to by the president, Thus far, therefore, the people had
certainly not believed that "the recent legislation of
congress" had deprived the agitation of every "legili-
niatc object." Ilence tbe suspicion couhl not but be
awakened that the alleged hope that the tomahawk
would now be buried, was a conscious sham ; for Buclianan
must have become avictim of megalomania to thinkthat
his ipse dixit would convert the people to his belief. Or

14 bdchanan's electios-

» OF 3oTn coS(.i

might there not be, after all, some other positive founda-
tron for this fair hope discovered (

Much as Buchanan might admire the " great principle "'
of the Kansas-Nebrasiliit bill, ho could not liclpadmittin<;
that it had not furnished, immediately, a complete solu

tion to the (

, he bad to

I question at issue. Will or not, h
remember that the partisans of that bill held very di-
vergent opinions on the question, when the decision by
the majority was to be made. He explained that he had
always understood the bill to mean that it was to be
made when the population of the territory had grown
so large that they could give theraselvea a constitution in
order to be admitted into the Union. The practical im-
portance of the question, however, bo considered very
small.

Scarcely a moment before he had said that, in the
electoral campaign, a "question of vital importance'" was
at issue, But nothing whatever had been changed by
the presidential election, or since it. The republicans
had performed no evolution, and the democrats were as
much at variance as ever in their interpretation of the
"great principle," Notwithstanding this, the contro-
versy bad shrunk. Buchanan claimed, to a question "of
but little practical importance,"' so that the president now-
thought himself warranted to tell public opinion that it
might turn its attention to questions of " more pressing
and practical importance," This was sheer nonsense un-
less reason were introduced into the evident contradic-
tion, by the sentence immediately following the assertion,
that the question in controversy, when the principle of
" popular sovereignty " in respect to slavery should conic
into force, was practically of little importance. "Bo-
sides," that sentence reads, '"it is a judicial question

DrCIiANAN S POSITION.

15

which rightly belongs to the siipreme court of the United
States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is
understood, be speeiidy «nd linuily settled."

If this announcement were correct some meaning
might be made out uf the nonsensical reasoning of the
president, but a meaning very different from that which
the president himself intendcil.

What reason was there for the express assurance that
he, "in common with all good citizens," would "cheer-
fully" submit to the decision soon to be expected?'
If it were ceriain that the decision lay with the supreme
court of the United States, how could it be doubted
that all citizens would submit to iis Judgment, e^'en if not
"cheerfiiUyy" Was there not, in the allusion to the
"good citizens." an expression of the anticipation that
the jnrisijiction of the supreme court would be contested)
Bad astlioso citizens might be who would not submit to
its dei^ision, with respect to the iiractical imjiortance of
the question on which the president hud laid iho greatest
stress, it was evident that only their number was of any
Influence, It was not indivictuids only, but the great polit-
ical parties, whose creed hitherto came in conflict with
the decision of the supreme court. It was not individuals
only, but the great political parties, who denied its juris-
diction, and who, therefore, claimed that its judgment was
not binding. Hence its decision, as a matter of fact, could
tiot be final. In the very nature of things, the battle
must be renewed with increased bitterness on both sides,

' James Biiclinnan Henry, nepliew of the prpsiilent, sHys tliBt ihe
inaugural nddresa was (.-oinposed at Wheatlnni], aniJ tlitit Bitcliauau
add^ to it, nrierwurda, only the portion relating lo ihu Ditd Scott
ikcuion. Curtis. Life of Jauies Buchannn, ir, p. 187. Nii-olny and
HBy, in their history of Lincoln, add. thin " Ic-hIh ui the inference
UiBt it was prompted from higli quartera." The Century Magnztue.
Jane, 1887, p. 219.

16 BUCHAK4n's election — END OF 35tH COKaBKSS,

because the vain effort had been made to settle the con-
troversy in this manner.

Tbe supreme court of the United States must have had
the same opinion of its competency as Buchanan had, if
the expectation of the latter was to be fnllilied that the
court would render an opinion containing a decision re-
specting ihe principle, and ivliich, on that account, could
claim to be a final settlement of the controversy. Bat
from Buchanan's oivn reasoning it followed that, in this
case, his good and bad citizens would undoubtedly coin-
cide, respectively, with the two political parties. The
cbaracterizaliOQ of the "principle" of tbe Kansas-Ne-
braska bill as a " happy conception " evidently contained
a recognition of the unquestionable fact that, together
with it, something new was introduced into the legislation
of the Union. More than lliis, the expression wasA'ery
unhappily chosen, if this new thing, thus ititroiluced into
tbe country's legislation, was to bo declared an absolute
postulate of the constitution,^ a postulate only juel now
discovered. But if tbe application of the principle of
" popular sovereignty " was not required by tbe cunslitn-
tion, but only reconimendable on groundsof equity or po-
litical expediency, it must, to say the least, have appeared
very surprising, at the first glance, that, so far as the time
at which it came into force was concerned, the question
of equity and political expediency should be transformed
into a pure question of law under the constitution, which
was to be decided by the supreme court of the Uniti'd
States. A metiimorphosis thus wonderful could not be
underHtood; the most that can be said of it is that it
might be taken onfait/i. But the Union had now lived
more than two generations under the conslitution. Sev-
eral lerritorics had been organized and admitted into the
Union as states during that jieriod.

THK BLAVKRY QUESTION. It

On tlio occasion of their admission, the slavery qiie*
tion Imd repeatedly given rise to the most violent party
struggles, but they had been fought on different ground
and settled in a different way. The doctrines now rep-
resented by the president were an achievement of recent
years, and ihey had furnished a basis for the transforma-
tion and for a new formation of parties. If the an-
nounced judgment of the federal supreme court bore the
character described, tlien the two parties to the case be-
fore that court were the two great political parties of the
country; and in the constitutional creed of the republi-
can party since its origin, two chief articles were the
two principles: Congress alone has jurisdiction over the
slavery qncstion in the territories; and the doctrine oE
popidar sovereignty, whose unconditional rejection is
demanded by every political, economic, practical and
moral consideration, is destitute of all constitutional foun-
dation. It was, accordingly, a notorious fact that the
repnblican'i emphatically denied the jurisdiction of the
United States supreme court on the gcnui-nl c\avsl\on, and,
as they further considered the doctrine of popular sov-
ereignty worthy of condemnation from every point of
view, they could not, evidently, in the face of all the re-
qaireincnts of loslc, hch'evc, notwithstanding, that the
sjxcial question was. as Buchanan asserted, a "judicial"
one under the constitution. If, spite of this, Buchanan
really expected that a judgment of the supreme court
would practically be a settlement of the controversy,
then he could not but believe that the republicans, for
some reason or other, surrendering their constitutional,
|K>litical, economic and moral convictions, would accept
the supremo court as an extra-constitutional arbitration
court to whose sentence they would voluntarily submit.
II this could be at all supposed, an absolute condition

18 bcchanan's elkction— knd of 35tu concbkss.

precedent thereto was unquestionably this: that the re- 1
pubhcans should bold the slightest suspicion of the par- [
tialitj'ofthesupremecoiirtto be excluded. But they had |
already long brandetl the supreme court as the " citadel "
of slavery, and the history of its development, iviLh which j
even the educated strata of the people were exceedingly I
little acijuainled, was suggestive of the thought that the |
south had. systematically and conscious of its aim, labored I
for decades to make it such in very deed.

The law of Suptember 24, 1TS9, on the organization 1
of the judiciary system of the Union, provided that i
chief justice and five associate justices should constitute J
the supremo court of the United States, established by \
the constitution, and divided the Union into tbirleen dis- J
tricts,' which were to be comprised in three circuits, — an i
eastern, a middle and a western circuit,^an appeal lying
to tbem from the district courts.^ A law of April 20,1
1802, raised the number of the circuits to six, and tbel
north and the south were given three each. Maine and f
the stales of Kentucky and Tennessee continued to con- 1
stitute separate and exclusive districts, but were not |
included in any of the circuits.' Neither was any con-
sideration shown to Ohio, although it was admitted oo i
the following day into the Union. Not until 1807, by a |
law of February 24 of that year, were Kentucky, Ten- \
nessee and Ohio formed into a seventh circuit, and, ac-

1 The rnndamental idea was to make each state a separate district.
North Carolina and'E-hode Island, however, coutd not he taken inl
consideration, a£ tbe^ had not yet ratified the constitution. On the
other band, Kentucky and Maine were even now formed into dis-
tricts, although they atill were parts of Virginia and Masaacbuaetts
revpectively, and although Maine nas admitted intA the Unioo only -
thirty years aflerwarda (llarch 8. 1820;.

^U. 8. Slat. atL.,1, p. 78.

(Ibid., n, p. 157.

THE JCDICIAKT ai'STKM.

19

eordingly, a seventh associale justice was added to the
sapreme court ot the United States.'

So fiir there ivas nothirif; to be observed of any influence
of the slave-holding interest on the orgunisation of the
judiciary system. On the occasion of the next important
law, however, an attempt to influence it was clearly per-
ceptible. The storms of the Missouri struggle and of the
nullification experiment by South Carolina had swept over
the country. The abolitionists, under the war-standanl
of the unbending and inviolable principle, had entered on
the scene, and the slavocracy had opened their eyes to
the fact that the condition precedent to the continuance
of slavery was its supremacy over the Union. Of how
great importance, therefore, a. pre]>onderant position in
the supreme court of the United States was, could not
escape the keen eyes of the leaders,^ an<l the little inter-
est public opinion had in qiicstiona relating to the
organization of a judiciary as well as the little under-
standing it had of them, made the pL^aiization of their
wishes in that direction easy. By the law of March 3,
1837, the number of associate justices of the supreme

I U. S. Slat, at L , n, pp. 420. 421.

1 Wljether autliDriliitive proof can be produced for J. M. Aahley'e
Baser tion (hat Calhoun was the father of the idea, I do not know;
|.liat the nssuiuiilioD seems proLable to me 1 nei-d not say, in view ot
my opinion un the towering position of Calhoun among all the
leaden i>r tlie Hlavocracy. The passage in Ashley's speech of May
211, 1800, from which the fads adduced in tlie text are chiefly taken,
Una follows; " Foiling, however, to secure tlie open indorsement by
the democratic pai'ty of that day of the favorite theory of the slave
puwer, Mr. Calhoun hit upon tlie plan of getting poesessioa of the
BUpreme court, liecnuse it is a power the furthest removed from the
people, b held in great esteem by them, and such acta of aggression
as Mr. Calhoun contemplated, if committed by the supreme court, he
kuew would be to quietly done as tv excite no alarm and pass almost
unnoticed," Oongr. Globe, I Seas. 36th Congr., App., p. 806.

20 Buchanan's electtion — kkd of SStii conoukss.

court iva3 increased to eight, and that ot the circuit
courts to nine. Kentucky and Tennessee were sepamted
from Ohio, which henceforth, together with Indiana,
Illinois and Michigan, constituted the seventh circuit.
The two new circuits were made up of Kentucky, Ten-
nessee and Missouri; and of Alabama, Louisiana, Missis-
sippi and Arkansas, respectively.' The free stales, ivith a
population (according' to the census of Itf-tO) of 9,654,S65,
had, therefore, four circuit courts, while the slave states,
with a white population of only 4,573,930, had five. In
consequence of the rapid increase of population in the Free
states, this unequal apportionment became more inequi-
table and more unreasonable as years rolled by. It at
last came to such a pass that the judge of the seventh
circuit had more to do than the five judges of the south-
ern circuits together,' while the now, free states admitted
into the Union were allowed no representation in the
supreme court ot the United States, and were neither as-
signed a place in the existing circuits nor constituted cir-
cuits themselves, although the amount of judicial busi-
ness in tbem in 1S60, of wliicU such courts would have

IStBt, 8tL„ III. pp. 170. 177.

I Aahley drew up the following table;

1

II--

u

iL
III

is

The five southern circuito. .

1.576

1.428

l,T3l

1.279

1,481

S,087

1,792

AND JlDlClAUy.

21

Iiad jurisdiction, was, according to Ashley, equal to at
least one-third of that ofal! liie tifteen sliive stales.'

Groat as was tlie advantage whioli tbe slavocracy ac-
quired by the law of lSa7, they did not consider them-
selves suflicicnlly secnred by it. Only after they had
succeeded in niiildng snre of a permanent majority in the
judiciary commiilee of the seiialc, did they feel entirely
certain that a majority of the justices of the supreme
court of tbe United States would profess the doctrines
relative to shivery which were agreeable to the slave in-
terest, whenever a legal question bearing on slavery
arose. The proposals of the judLciary committee of the
senate controlled, as a rule, tlie position of the senate on
the nominations of the president to the supreme court,
and, beginning with Tyler's administration, the commit-
tee had, on every occasion, criticised the nominations in
such a way as to make it a moral certainty that the opin-
ions of the nominees on the slavery question would be of
great weight in, if not decisive of, the quesLion of iheir
contirniatiun.' At last even southerners of tried probity
and great, consideration found no favor in their eyes
when, on the slavery question, they had professed consti-
tutional convictions, — convictions which were condemned
by the radical slavocrats, during the development of the
struggle, as dangerous heresies, with an intensity to
which time only added strength.

Notorious as these facts were, no documentary proof
of them Could bo produced because nominations wcru
considered iu secret session, and further, because the sen-

lIowB, Wisconsin, Ciilitorniu, Minneaota and Oregon Imii. accoril-
tng to tlie ceiMUB of IHW, togL-tlier, a population of 3.040,!441. wiiilo
the while populatina of theiiewi]- admitled alave states. Flonila unci
Texxs, union [itL'il to only 45II.(I0'>.

*8«e llic iiitercsling proofs Ashley gives of this In the opeech here
dted. G>uer. Ulobc, I Susa. SUlli Congr, App., p. 387.

DCCttANANS El.E

> OF S^ril CONtiBlCSS.

ators who allowed their vot«s to be determined by i
jrard for ihe slavery question were not so unwise as tflj
sny so openly.' In any event lliey would attain their ob-M
joct moat surely and completely by avoiding to give eveni
tlie Rliglitcst intimaiion of tlicir motive, since, by such!
nvoidance, ihey would, for llio most part, deprive oriti-i
cism of all foundation, especially as recognized judtciHlj
ability and spotless personal lionor were still consideredg
absolutely neeessury qualifications for a seat on the aa-|
preme bench.

If the possession of these qualilications was denied re-'
peatedly and empliaticnily to several judges, in conse-
quence of the Dred Scott decision, the reason was partly ,
this, that people had become too excited not to be unju3t.j
But the principal reason was the much more importanta
fact that, on this (juestion. men's thoughts and feelings^
had grown so divergent that at last they were utterly inca-
pable of understanding one another. Spite of the absence
of documentary evidence, it would be ridiculous to deny
that orthodoxy on the slavtsry question had come to be a
qualiltcalion for a seat on the supreme bench; but it
does not, therefore, follow that the judges were unscru-
pulous partisans, ready, consciously, to surrender their
constitutional convictions at the cominaixi of the slave-
holding interest. What made the opposition between
the north and the south so enormous a danger was th«
fact that the latter was so terribly honest in its faith in

I Aalili-y. iiiJetf), «mcrle<l: " Many lliiiii^ have been said and dun*
III the B«TPt stssions of the United Stntps svnuie. wliieh, if made puWio
DC llie time, would liave conaigiiMl the utlertr to the Hhadeii of privnM
lif* ftiid llie pnrly fci a lioptrlras minoritj'." I. c- In view of th*i ogi-
lation Im'RIIIi iti 1880 in fnvor of (he considerallun of nontinationa by
Ibe eetiatfl in public nKioiu, It ia wortliy of itii-nlinn iliat .4siiloy
waa induced, br Um facta iiieiitioneil,Btruagly toadrocaUUiatcuan*
n tbU lime.

HE SlIfRliMB COURT.

all its erroneous doctrines, conslitutional, economic and
moral, relating to slavery. Slavery had become the
formative principle of its entire life to such an extent
that on that suhjecL it had gradually and completely lost
the power tolliinliand feel aright. What appeared as
the conclusion of its chain of reasoning was, in fact,
alwaya the starung-point of its argument; but because
it was sunk in such deep delusion, it succeeded to per-
fection in clothing the demonstration of the a priori
proposition in the form of an objective, legal investlga-
liou. Willi the further development of the struggle,
the aim of its political endeavor became more and more
the premises of its legal deductions; and the grosser
and bolder tlio sophisms it piled up on this foundation,
the more did they become to it subjective truths which
were declared with tlie fullest conviction to be unim-
peachable tacts or uncontrovertible principles of law.
But the laws of the moral order of the world do not
surround the judge's bench with a wonder-working at-
mosphere in which the poisonous germs that till all the
air besidel lose their viability. The man who lies down
in a swamp must breathe the air of the swamp with all its
. miasmata. But not only had the entire population of the
south fallen victims to the disease — not excepting even
those classes whose own interests should have made them
the must decided opj)onents of slavery — but the poison
was so powerful and subllo that it carried the evil to the
north as a permanent epidemic.

The only question, therefore, could be, what stage of
the development of the disease the thought and feeling of
the southern membecs of the supreme court had reached,
not whether lliey had been attacked by it at all. The
republican press was, therefore, entirely right in con-
sidering a judgment based on the doctrines of the south

2i BUOUAKAS'S ELECTION — SSD OF SoTH CUS0BES3.

a matter of course, und the only tiling doubtful whether I
the judgment of the court and the political question I
would cover each other, that is, whether the EUjiieine I
court would, for political reasons. extend its judgmenton (
ihe legal case before it to a judgment on iho political J
question,' by depriving tho hitter of a lawful founda- [
tion through the decision of tlio constitutional issues in- |
volved in it. But on the otlier hand, the repuhlicans 1
were, for the same reusim, w rong in accusing the judges, |
more or less directly and emphatically, of having debased ]
themselves, against conscience and their bettor knowl-,
edge, to such a degree as to become tho slaves of the 1
slavocracy. The guilt of the supreme court was great, i
but that guilt must not be ascribed to moral turpitude; '
it must be traced to a want of judgment in things polit-
ical. Even if the jurisdiction of the supreme court bad
been undoubted, and if ihc Dred Scott case hud ri;(|uired
the decision nf the general (juestion, its judgment would
not have ended tlie struggle, because, togother with the
actual situation, it had, long before this, outgrown the <
control of formal law. But now its jurisdiction was I
roundiv denied by a political party, which, in tho last 1
election, had cast nearly a million and a half of votes; I
and, in order to pass from the Dred Scott case to the gen- 1
eral question ot the powci-sof congress relative to slavery f
in the territories, the supreme court had to go counter to 1

1 Pike wrole uo January 5, 1837. t-> the New York Tribune : " The I
ruQior lliix the Biiiitemu ctiun Iicls d(>ciili!d against ilic coniitUutioD< J
olity (if the iKJwtT ot i'or]){reBB to teblrict slavery- in llie ti^rrltorics hi
tivcn conimciilcd upon in the most unreflerTed mnnniT nt this inotrup- M
olis. . . . Mnny liuvf cxpri-swl the ojnnion tliut thu (ii)e«tiuii f
WDulJ not be met liy (lie court, and nuuibers aic Mill of thut wuy of 'I
tlilnhinK. . . . If th« (xiuri u to tuke a pulitkul liliie. mid to
a pohticnl ilecieion, t)ien Ii^t ub hy all weans Imve it distinctlj and 'I
uow," Firel Blows ot the CJivii War. pp. M5, 330.

•mV. DKEO SCOTT CASE.

funilamenlal principles of law ivliicli it liail Hself fre-
quenlly recognised. But no ninltpr Imw tJio question o(
jurisdiction must be decided, llic supreme court now
wrongly forced itself between the jKiliiical parlies as arbi-
ter, tind tins, witli a judgment lioldinjj that whioli from tlie
first year of ibo Union's life under tlio constitution had
been the law of the land to be null and void, because it was
an uncunslitiitionul usurpation. The Dred Scott decision
would, therefore, remain the greatest political atrocity
of wbicb a court bad ever been guilty, even it tiio rea-
soning of Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the opinion
of the majority, were as untissadahle and convincing,
historically and constitutionally, as ii was, in fact, wrong,
sophistical and illogical.

Dred Scott was a slave horn in Missouri, whom hts
owner, Dr. Emerson, bad taken with him, in lS3i, to
Kock Island, in Illinois, and from there, in ISSO, to Fort
Bnelling, situated, north of the Missouri line, in tbo terri-
tory of Louisiana. In the year 1S3S, Eniei'son returned
with Dred Scott, who hud not claimed bis freedom on
the ground of his sojourn in iho free stale and ibe free
territory, to Missouri, and sold bim to ono Sandford, of
New York. Subsequently, Scott claimed bis freedom as
against the tatter, and tlie circuit court of St. Louis
connty decided in his favor. The supreme court of Mis-
■onri, however, to whieb an appeul was lal;en, reversed
tbis decision and remanded tbe case back to the circuit
court. Befoi-o it reucbeil a second decision here. Dred
Scott, in November, 1S53, entered suit for damages in
the circuit court of the United States against Sandford
on tho ground that tlio latter had laid violent hands upon
hilD, and, contrary lo law, held him in slavery.' Sandford

'tThe tar<x nnil violence us well ns the complaint extenilcil lo Dreil
Scott's wife anil two ciLiLJren, On this [ihasH of tlie ijuestion I shall

Buchanan's klkciion — knu of 35th conqbess.

denied the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that
Drod Scott, as a negro and the descendant ot negro
slaves, was not a citi7x:ii of the state of Missouri, and
therefore could not, by virtue of art. Ill, sec, 2, § 1, of
the constitution, bring suit in a Federal court. The court
declared this plea invalid, but instructed the jnry that
Dreil Scott, according to the laws in force, had no claim
to freedom, and he was. therefore, adjudged to Sandford
as his slave. Dred Scott now appealed to the supreme
court of the United States. In the spring of 1S5G iho
case came up for argument, but no decision was ren-
dered. Judge Campbell subseijuentiy stated that this was
brought about bv Judge Nelson, because he had as yet
formed noIi.Yed opinion on the question at issue, whether
it was necessary for the supreme court to subject the de-
cision of the circuit court to a revision, which decision
had declared Sandford's objections to its jurisdiction in-
valid; and that NeUon's proposition to hear the attor-
neys of both parties on " that and oth;;r questions " again,
was unanimously adopted.' In republican circles, this

not enter, becnuso the Rpccial oonstltutionnl quntionc iiiTulreil in it
h«vc no iiii}vi [indent potltical eigniflcanc^. Even the pTincipol oon-
■titutiunnl ifuotina I shall discuss ns briefly aa pMaitilc. In what I
any. Ill the text. I sliitU conliiie myself, aa much as pOMtible. to tlie
political napect nt tlio iiiicstion ; for thiit ns)ii.<ot nlone gives the case
it* Kinineiiti hititoricitl importance.

1 See Cooipheira letter or November SI, 1870, to G. Tyler, in tlie
Intter'B Memoir of Koger B, Tnney. pp. S62. S83. Oooch eaiJ, on Hay
3, i860, in the house of representntivea : " It wai not until two of ibe
Juilgfia di^seiiipd from (he opinion of the intkjoiily of the conrt Iliat
Drod Scott wna a slave, and propped to publisli their opinions, that
the majority felt it to be nei.'eaiitu'y to exprixa opinions in rdation lo
the conatitutionallly of the Mli<80tiri oompromiae.

" It was thvn that tlie oourl onlPted the cuff Xn be re-argued for tbo
purpoH of osccrtnining whether it could ho inntln to apiwnr Hint ih*t
act WB9 unconstitutional." Cuiigr. Qlobe, i Scw. SOtli Couitr.. Appi.
p. S03.

TDK DKED S

27

postponement of the decision was believed to be connected
Willi iKo impending presidential election,'

After the case had come up again for argument, the
majority of llie judges resolved to confine the judgment
of the court to the case before them, and Justice Nelson
was intrusted with the writing of the iirgument which
was to serve as the ground of the decision.- It should
have needed no special resolution to confine the judg-
ment of the court to the case before them; such a course
should have been considered simply self-evident. Tbis,
however, was so far from being the case that the resolu-
tion was afterwards reversed, and Chief Justice Taney
requested to write the opinion of the court. Nelson had
already linished the task intrusted to biin, and it now
stands as his personal opinion in the records of the Dred
ScOlt case. Hence the t^rlffinal and real opinton of the
federal supreme court is not Taney's, but is to be found
in Nelson's argument, and it, therefore, should be exam-
ined first. The proper appreciation of the remarkable
and sudden change which turned the original minority
of the judges into a majority will thus be greatly facili-
tated.

Nelson was of opinion that the supreme court had no

'Judge Curtis writes, on the 8th of April, 1856, loTicknor: "Tlie
court wilt not deeiJe the question of the Missouri couiprouise line. —
a tunjorlty of the judges being of opinion that it is not nec^ssarj to
iloso. (Tliis is confiUential.) Tlie one engrossing bubjectin both
liouaefi of congresB and with all the members is tlie preaideuc; ; and
upon this everything done and omitted, except the uiust ordinarj'
■lecemities of the country, de[>ends." Curtis, A Memoir of ttenjamin
Itobbins CuniH, 1, p. 180.

>"The instruction of the majority, in reference to tlie preparation
of this opinion, waa to limit tlie opinion to the ]>articu1ar circuin-
Sluices of Dred Scott ; and Mr. Justice Nelson prepnred his opinion,
tm file, under tiiis iaftruction, to be read as the opinion of the court."
Campbell, in the letter quoted loc. cit., pp. 383, 381

2S BL-I

8 ELECTION — ESD OF 35tU CONGIlliBS.

reason to entortain the question raised by Snmlford us t
the jurisdiction of tbo supreme court. The c|UcBtion, whaq
effect the sojouni. voluntarily caused by his owner, of I
slave in a free state, had, nhen the latter was agniai
hrooght back to the slave state, — that question, Juslicq
Nelson said, had been decided in difTerent wuys by tbq
courts of the slave states. Tbo supreme court of Missouri
had answered this question in the Dred Scott caso, ana
held that only the law in force in the state concerned gov^
erned, and it had further decided that, according to tllfl
laws of Missouri, Dred Scott was still a slave.
the first point, not only he. Nelson, agreed with the st^
prome court of Missouri,' but the supremo court of thtfl
United Stales also had, years ago, laid down the sainn^
principle.' The decision of the supreme cuurt of Mis^a
souri was, therefore, binding on the circuit court, andg
hence the judgment of the circuit court could now onlj^
be affirmed.

' Ue argues thus: "They insist that the removal and tempo
Ksidmcu witli hiH uiAster in Illinois, wlier^ bltiwvy is iiiliibited, t
ibe edcct toBL't him free, and tht-EtiinevO'ei-t is tobcfiivvii toihalnMI
of Illinois, iviihinihe stale of MifcsuurJ. aftir hiaielum. WltywulM
set fr«e in Illinuis? Boi'uuse the l:iw of Mtaiiuuri, under ivhich h6 m-u
lutlil as A slave, bail no opemtioii by ita o»'ii turoe extraterrilurlolljr;
and the stiit« ot Illinois refusecj lorecuguiM its rtrccc ivltliin her lioi- J
ite, upon priuciples of comity, us a state of slnvtri-y w as incoosisteDt J
with licr likWB anU contiory lo her jiolitiy. Uiit huw is tile C
ferent vn tl>u letui'ii at the pluiutiS to the Biate uf Miaauuri? la ahi
boimil to Kcogiiiza and enforce the law of Illinois? For, unlen ■
is, the «Iulu« and coiitlitiuu uf liie, slave upuu his return reiualne tl
sameasuritjiniilly i-siBtwI. Hao Ihslaw of Illinois uny greater ftw
within the jurisdiction of Missouri than the Iu«b of the liitt«r with
that of the former? Ceriainly uot. They iinnd upon an equal foo
ing. Neither bos anyforoe eilialinrilorlnlly, e3iCe|tt what m^ twJ
volunlurily conwdcl to tliem." Ilnward'a Itep., XIX, Williams' edi-
tioD, Boole IS, p. T84.

1 Stradur «t aL ti. Urabam, Howard's Rep., X, p. 8&

TIIR DRED SCOTT CASE. 29

TIlis opinion would not have been very agreeable to
Ihe republicans, nnd an effort would have boon made
licre and tbere by tbem to create political cjipital out
of it, as the fact mentioned by Nelson himself, that even
the courts of dillerent slave states bad given opposite
opinions, would have readily lent itself to that purpose.
It would, however, have created no excitement at all.
Much less would it have been the si^nni for the breaking
out, with redoubled violence, of party war. The Dred
Scott decision became such a signal only in consequence
of the voluntary resolution of the supremo court to use it
us an opportunity, by tiieir aulboritalive decree, to cut
the Gordian knot of the territorial question, and thus
solve the great problem which the politicians bad sought
to solve, always with the negative result of an aggrava-
tion of the evil: the pi-oblem of the permanent exclusion
of the slavery question from politics,

Cefore the opinion whicli Nelson had prepared was
read,' and in Nelson's absence,' Justice Wayne moved to
decide all the questions c;>vered by the record, because
the public were of opinion thai this would be done. This
proposition and the further motion to substitute Taney
lor Nelson as the spokesman of the court were adopted.
Whether all the justices except Nelson were present at
this session, who spoke and voted against Wayne's prop-
ositions, and how strong the opposition was, does not ap-
pear from the sources of information at my command.
Only this is shown by Campbell's letter cited above,
that there was opp<sition; and the pubtisbed opinions
prove that Wayne alone fully agreed with Taney, that
Daniel and Campbell differed widely in their reasoning

■ CatnpboU in the letter died,

» Neliwn lo S. T>ler, May 18, l«l. Tyler, loc. cil., p. 8S8.

30

BDCHANAN S ELECTION — END OF SStH COKQEE8S.

from that of Taney, tbat Grier and Catron, together witw
Nelson, held the first judicial opinion to bo sufBcienI, andl
lastly that McLean and Curtis did not approve tbo judg-
ment of the court in a single point.

Campbell .issures us tbat Wayne had not informed
him, and — so far as he knew — had not previously in-J
formed the other associate justices of his views, and ibaH
the consultations and conclusions of the court had nofcJ
been influenced by any person not belon5;ingto it, in any
manner whatever — especially not by Uticbanan. This
last is the only thing of im[>ortance,and the presumption
is that it is entirely in harmony with the truth, easy as
it is to conceive that, at the time, jteople wore by no
means generally convinced that it was the truth. Bet
even if none of the judges had ever spoken a word out-
side the court room on the Dred Scott case, the incon-
trovertible fact remains that Wayne's motions and tlieira
adoption were prompted by purely political considerafl
tions, and that is, evidently, the main point. Wayne'aJ
own statement excludes all doubt of this. Taney's opin4
ion, be saiti, corresponded both in its argumentation nn<f
in its conclusions so completely with his views, that 1
gave up the idea of handing in an opinion of his own,
although he bad prepared one, believing, at Ur^t, that it
would be both necessary and proper to do so. He did
not, however, consider it superfluous to try to justify lli&
conclusion reached, lo decide "every point which wai
made in the argument of the case by the counsel on eithen
side of it." But of the technical arguments intended td
show that this mode of procedure was regular, he pliicei
the political motive firjt and foremost as the governinrt^
one. "The case," he says, "involves private rights ofl
value, and cuDstilutional principles of the highest im

THE DRED SCOTT {

portanco, aljout wliicb there had become such a difference
of opinion that the peace and harmony of the country
required the fiettlemenl of them by judicial decision." '

Chase had alrendy written in 184T: " If courts will not
overthrow it (the pro slavery construction of the consti-
tution), the people will, even if it be necessary to over-
throw the courts also."' And now the supreme court of
the United Slates undertook, in the judgment rendered
on the second day after Buchanan'B inauguration, to re-
store peace and harmony to the country by forcing upon
it the pro-slavery construction of the constitution in its
most radical form, as an inviolable laiv. But since tliis
could not be done by the simple decision of the case be-
fore it, it pleased the court to decide all the questions dis-
cussed by counsel. It was thns placed beyond a doubt
that the audacious imderlaking would turn out to be a
eervice rendered to the cause of liberty, and that Chase's
prophecy would he fulfilled. Under the combined pres-
sure of their historical development, of their actual cir-
cumstances, of thoir moral convictions and the peojile's
own constitutional views, even this formally final judg-
ment was fated to be ultimately reversed; but the vic-
tory was destined to be rendered exceedingly dilllcult by
the conservative feelings and scrupulous fidelity of the
people to the laws. Yet even the most refined judicial
subtlety could not convince the American masses that a
court might, for political ends, decide every controverted
oonstitulional question which couhl in any way be
brought into connection with a concrete case at law; and
''decision3"of the supreme court based upon a usurpation.
boldly and openly admitted, signified nothing in their eyes
except to the extent that they made it their duly [o wage

■ Howard's Rep,, Williaias* ed., Book 13, p. 731.
iWarden. UU ol a P. Cbose, p. 813.

BUCIIASAN's election END OF SStH OOXGBESa.

the war against slavery more energetically than evol
because such decisions proved that even the suprerd
court of the tJnited States had completely succumbed t
the deadly inQuenee of the pestilential breath of slaverrf
And this must all the more certainly be the effect of tbm
work of "peace," to which the supreme court of tin
United States believed itself called, since I'liney's argi
ment — although it preserved much better by its leclinic
form the appearance oC impartial pragmatism — plat
the fact that the supreme court had been guilty of i
nsurpation in a more glaring light than bad Waynev
imprudent frankness.

Two principal questions, said the chief justice, vt&
presented by the record : 1st, Had the circuit court juris- "
diction! 2d. If it had jurisdiction, is the judgment it has
given erroneous or noti From the way in which Taney
pnt these questions it is plain that the second sup|Kiscd tbat j
tbe6rst must be answered in tbeatiirmatire. He. howe\'erJf
in tbe name of the court, answered it in the ncgulire.

The negative was founded on the claim thai the de-
scendants of negro slaves wore not citizens within the
meaning of the constitution. Tbe demonstration of (his
proposition «as. in its essential parts, not juridical but
historical From the fact that, on both sides of the
Atlantic, negmcs had always been considcrvd subordi-
nate beings and hud no rigbis except such as were
gmntvd then.' it was inferred thai the frarnvrs of tbe
eonsnintion could not tutve looked u]m>d negroes uco-^
possessors of s«i\-ere<gnty, that tbey could not hare li

I " T1i«r w^rv « thai time coB»i(l«rcil ■■ » rabcrvlioUc aad fi

am of Iwtng*, wlio Itad brwa wibjug»ied bf Dm d<uuiiwBt n», m
^«r1iHliM «ai«BcitiUtU or nut. f *t tmnalncd ■utyert to tbcir ntli
■«wl Ind BO rt«lH» >;r pdriligra tm auch » Umn who htU H^m
la fomxatatat niiffat obooM 10 (nut tiwo."

THE DRKD SCnTT CASE. 6C

npon tliem ns citizens. And so it was inferred from the
exclusive rigtit of naturalization vested in congress tbat
it ro'ifd not have been intended' to allow the slates to
make citizens of persons of color, because as such they
would have been much more dangerous to the peace and
safety of a great part of the Union than the few foreign-
ers by reason of whose n,Tturalization a state would per-
haps have given good ground for complaint.

When the chief justice of the United States advanced
such shallow and arbitrary reasoning as constitutional
arguments which were to govern in the decision of legal
questions of the most eminent importance, and, in the
real meaning of the words, of awful political significance,
what became of the proud claim of the American people
that they had "a government not of men, but of laws) "
With such a method of interpretation, there was nothing
that could not bo tortured out of the fundamental law
of the Union, and nothing one wished to lind that could
not be discovered in it.

If, as should have been done, the question of fact were
examined, wbetiier, in the United Statps, negroes born
free could ever, or under certain conditions, be "citizens
of the United States within the meaning of the constitu-
tion," a very different result would have been reached;
and Taney's own reasoning pointed out the road to bo
taken in such an investigation.

After he had correctly shown that a citizen of a state
is not alwiij's necessarily a citizen of the Unitid SUitcs,nnd
why he is not,^ ho just as correctly proves that all who

• " We cannot fail to see lliat thej- could never have lett with the
Btntes a tuudi more iinixirtant powM."

*I. hov/ever. share the opinion ol Justice Curtis, that, even be-
fonthe adojition of tlie fourleeotli amendment, "every free pereon /\
born on the soil of a state, who is a citizen of that etate Uv force of its

34

- EMD OF 35t11 WJNOKE83.

were citizens of ihe individual states, at the timo of the
adoption of the constitution, became citizens of the United
States also. But now, instead of inquiring — as he bud
promised to do' — whom the constitutions and laws of
all the states had reco;;nized as citizens, he proves (!) from
the views concerning negroes tlien prevailing, from the
fact that the celebrated introductory sentences of the
Declaration of Independence should not bo understood
in their literal sense, and from the provision of tlie con-
stitution that the importation of slaves should not be pro-
hibited the slates until the year ISOS, that "the general
terras in the constitution of the lluited Stales as to the
rights of man and the rights of the jieople" should not
be extended to the negro race, and that it was not tD-
Condod to grant them any share in the blessings of the
provisions of the constitution. This was his answer to
the question, what had been the law in the several states
relating to free persons of color? Spite of his great age.
Taney was still in foil possession of his intellectual facul-
ties, and justice to the republicans, therefore, demands
the admission thil he had not made it an easy Tn.Tttcr
for them to believe in his bona Jlh^i. That there had
bt-en free persons of color who were citizens, in the dif-
ferent states. WHS as undeniable a fact as the I>eclara-
tion of Independence and the constitution itself; it was
moreover a tmtvvrsally known fact,' But because Taney,

Dsmlilutbii or Inws, U also ncitixcD of the Unitrd Suin." Willianu,
loj. dt.pp. TTI, 7TJ.

' '■ II tipctinics vvcrvsarj. thrrpfftrn, to dctt^nnioe who were cltiMiM
of the BTVrtal slnttB wl»*n tlio oinstitution waa a(l'»ptn1,"

'S*e tho finyf* of this In ibn opinion of Ja^ge Cnitln. WOIianM,
loft cil,. (ip. TT*). TTI. OihiT intirmitns proof* nre lo be tounil Id
ConcT. ninhf, I Sew. 3'i|h CoDKr,, (ip. ail. 819. Panlmiar aIImiUod
•hoalil b» calM |o Uw fact tlwt VtrKiols In 1763 ivpnW » law (tf
UMf 3, 1TT9. ■cwnllns to which ao\j whlu nitn ooolil bo dllnaM,

I Bcorr CASE.

35

however, did not renlly fxamine, but only Eougbt to prove
an untenable assertion, under the guise of investigation,
he bad to substitute sophistical reasoning on tlic pioposi-
tioQ to bo proven for the ansxver to liis own question;
for thia answer overthrew bis argument entirely. Mo
matter bow all further questions, and especially that in
the present case, t. e., the Dred Scott case, in relation to
the constituLioiinl status of free persons of color, might
be ansivered, tliis much is certinn, that if all those who,
at the time of the adoption of the constitution, were citi-
zens of tho separate stales became citizens of the United
States lilieiTJse, and if there were free persons of color at
that lime in certain states who were also citizens, then
the incorrectness of what Taney sought to prove, and pre-
tended to clothe with the binding force of a judicial decis-
ion, was demonstrated, viz. : that persons of color could
not be, and bad never been, citizens of the United States,
wiihin tlie nicanin<r of the constitution.

But, certain as it was that Taney liad not proven his
proposition, he could appeal in its favor to the decision
of a state court,' to ihe uHicial opinions of two attorneys-

snd Bccording to the new Inw " all fr^e persona bora witbin tlie t^r-
rltorjrof lliis coiumonwenltli . . . sh.-ill be deemed citizena ol
thia commonwealth." The boldneaa of tlie attempt, however, to dia-
poee of the matter by VRgiio, general vensoning on iiotorioua facts ia
placed in ilic otearvet light bj this, that the motion of Bnuth Car-
olioa to insert the word ■■while" belweeo ■'free" and "inhabJitLiita"
io the fourth article of the Articles of Confederation, was Ui^aied.
The article reads as follows: " The free inhabitants of each of ib^so
■tales — paupers, vagaixinds and fugitives from justice excepted —
sbnil bo entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizcna in
the Mverat states."

iThe State v. Claiborne, 1 Meigs (Tenn.). p. 831. "The citixenn
tpoken of (art. IV, sec 3, § 1) are those entitled tooll (I}the privilege
Oitd inimuoitica of citizens. But free negroes were never, in any
state, entitled to all the privileges of citizens, and coneequentl; were

3C bucuanan's electios-exd of 35tu congress.

general' and to a law of the TJnited States.* Hence thisi
decision could not create the impression that "the pro- i

not intended to be included when this word was used in the coastita-
lion;" and, " the meaning of the langunge is that no privilege en-
;o)'ed hj, or immuDities allowed to, the most favored class (t) of
citizens in eaid state shall be withheld troni a citizen of any other
state." There in not a word in the coustilntion that affords the leoat
support tor the claim that it recognizee different classes of citisens.
Under such a construction what would become of women and minors? J
'Wirt's Opinion of November 7, 1821 (Op. of Att'y Geni, I. 606 fD.!
The opinion, however, does not go so far as would appear from Taney. F
Wirt only says that iu Virginia free persons of color are not oitizeRiJ
within the meaning of the constitution. He says: " I^ookiiie to tl
constitution as tho standard of meaning, it ^eems very mnntfest that
no person ia included In the description of citisen of the United State
who has not the full rights of a citizen In the state of his residencei*
and. "lam of the opinion that the constitution, by the tlescripttoi
* citizens of the United States,' intended those only who enjoyed tl
full and equal privileges of white citizens in the state of their r
deuce." These definitions seem to me by no means hB|ipy. PracU*9
cally, little can be ma<Je of these sentences. Although, for instaoc^l
a pcraon can unquestionably be a citizen without having the right <i
BUfTrage, and, convei-sely, have the right of sn<rraj,-e without being •
citizen, it can scarcely be questioned that thi? right of Eiiffrage lielonsal
to the " full righla of a citizen." An exact and exhaustive ei
tion of the " lull rights of a citizen " — both of the United State* u
of the separate states — it baa not yet been possible to make ; i
CnlebCuslnng says, in an oOicial upinioii on the provision of tho coiisti^
tution that " tbccltizcnsof each state shall be entitled lo all privily
and immunities of citizens of several stalee:" " Wliat that metu
it it means anything, it is very hurdtosay " (lot cit.. VID, p. ]
But be this OS it may, Wirt certainly docs not say lltat fre« p
of color in no state have or can have the " full rijihts ot a dticen,'^
ftn<l hence never can be dtlaens of the Uiiitoil Slates. Whether hi
thought so I do not know, but it is certainly probable that he (I
»lDCe he says tlint a negm or mulatto would Iw eligible U
deiicy of ilw United States '■ if nativity, residence and nllegianoa
cointnned (without the rights nnJ privileges of a white man) a:

t A law ot Hay 3, 16 13, prov ide« thai, after the cIom of the war wiihl
Enghkod, "It shall not be law ml to employ on board any of th« pab-

THE DKKD SCoTT CASE.

37

alarory construction of llio constitution '' liad won a new
victory. It was only making sure of a success lont;
since achieved — preat enough, indeeJ, to embilter the
republicans, but neitber involving so vitiil a constitutionul
principle nor politically of so mucli importance as to

cient to make him a ctiJKen of the United Stales in the Eensa of (lie
const iiutiou." Tlie fcundera of the constitution, as well ns Wirt,
woald c^lttinlf have i^onsidored a. col<ii'L-d president bd absurdity,
)>at this tact duee not malie the objection a conslitutjonal argument.
The Philadelphia convention did not consider all the subtle questions
which would grow out of the question of citizenship ; least of all ilul
Hdream of this logical consequence, becauee a colored president «nB
a practical impossibility.

The second opinion conies from Ciileli Cusbing. Taney docs not
give any reference to it, and I have been able to find none which
treats the question directly. If, as I suppose, that of July IS, IB3n, on
the " Reliitioris of Indians to Citizenship " (loc. cit., VII, p. 740), be
meant, it might have remained unmentioned, as Gushing simply ex-
presseil. in pnssint;, his agreement with Wirt, but giveE no reason for
bis opinion beyond thati

lie or prit ate vessels of the United States any person or persons ex-
cept cJtixens of the Uni'.ed States, or persona of colour, natives otthi'
'Dniled Slates." (Slat, at L., 11, p. 809.) From this opposition of
terms, however, it does not necessarily follow that, in the opinion of
confess, persons of color could never be citizens of the United
Stales. Nobody quettioned that the great majority of them werenot
citiiens. But it wus in contradiction with the wording at the law to
construe this passitKe to the effect that persona of color, even if they
were not citizens of the United States, might be employed on Ameri-
can ships, provided they were natives of the United States. Indeed,
one mnst so construe it, unless itbeaosumed that the congress of 1HI3
ftndlhatotlSOII had thought differently on this constitutional question,
for la a law of February Se, l80iS, already quoted in the uoond vol-
UDlcof this work, we read; " Any negro, mulatto, or other |H?rson of
Oirior, not being a native, a citizi-n or registered seamnn of the United
Stat«fl." (Slat, nt L., II, p. 305.) Taney cited also the natural izution
law of March SS, KOO. and the militia law of 17B3, in support of his
position. 1 do not. however, think it iieceBsdry to enter into a dis-
ouasiou of tliis question, because be rould make It say what lie
wanted to llnd in it only by an over-artful interpi eta lion.

38 bdchanan's election — end of 35tii

constitute tlio immediute occasion of the cntranco into a
new pfiase of development of the struggle over the slavery
questioD. This was effected solely by the fact tlint Taney
or the supremo court was not satislicd with deciding
the case before him, and which was disposed of when it
was decided that the circuit court had no Jurisdiction.

After that there was no case at law befora tho court.
But, according to the constitution, the courts of the
United Slates arc authorized to decide cases at law and
not Ifjal queatinna in general, tho authoritative decision
of which may, for one reason or anoMier, seem desirable.

How diflicult it was to meet this objection to ibe claim
that Taney's further inferences and amplifications con-
stituted a binding judgment, based as the objection was
on principle, ap|>ears most clearly from the more than
bold inanoDiivre Senator Benjamin had recourse to. The
supreme court, he said, had denied the jurisdiction only
of the circuit court, but not its own jurisdiction, and
the question of iU own jurisdiction had been answered
in tho affinnativu by all ihc justices.' Denjamin's great
reputation as n learned »nd astute lawyer was well de-
served, but Ibis claim was an absurdity pure and simple.
This case was one in which the supreme court had ool
original jurisdiction ; itsat as an ap})el!aie court, and tbl
constilDlional grounds of want of jnrisdiction appliei
equally to liolh courts. Tho judges were no morv uniui-
imuus on the question of jurisdiction than on most
other questions. Benjamin's claiin was correct only tp_
this extent, ilint all the judges cluiniod jurisdiction in a
vray or another and in one sense or another; butwn
of them believed, for various rpasons,!lint the case shoi
not be decided on the bn^is of tho formal, legnl questioi
wbcilier Dred Scott had a standing in Itic federal com

■ iJonsr. Q\o\m. lit Scm. MUi Oonitr., pth 1061^ IVTO.

TASKV 8 OPINION, 39

while the others were of tlie opinion that, notwithstand-
ing the decision of this question in the ncgutiru, they had
power to decide further questions; but no judge made
the prepostGroiis claim that tho jurisdiction denied the
circuit court belonged to the supreme court.

There is no reason why w« should examine tho views
of each judge on the question of jurisdiction. If any-
thing besides the want uf jurisdiction of the circuit court
was "decided " in the Pied i^cutt case, it is contained in
Taney's opinion, and lience only the reasons he assigny
forgoing beyuiul this decision can be considered autliori-
tutive, i. c, the decision of the court.

Taney was of opniiun tlmt the claim that, with the de-
utsion of the want of jurisdiction of the inferior court, the
power of the supreme court to render any legally binding
decisions in the case bofore them was cxliauslcd, was
hiised on the error that a fundamental principle which
lias force only as regards the judgments of state courts
oould be extended to llie judgments of United States
courts; when the judgment of a United Stales circuit
court was brought, by writ of error, before thu supreme
court, the whole record came before the latter for exami-
nittton and decision, and if the sum in litigation was large
enough, it was not only its eight but its duty to examine
ibe whole case as presented by the record, and, if the cir-
cuit court had fallen into any material error, to reverse
the judgment and remand the case; and, added he, "it
is the daily practice of this court, and of all appellate
courts where they reverse the judgment of an inferior
court for error, to correct by its opinions whatever errors
may appear on the record material to the case; and they
have always held it to be their duly to do so where the
silenco of the couit might lead to misconstruction or

40

- END OF li.'nll CONG

fatui-e controversy and tlie point has been relied on by J
either side and argued before ibe court."

It could not be surprisin;^ tlial layiiien allowed theni>l
selves to bo overawed by ibe statement made with s
inach positiveness by the ayed chief justice C'Oncerniag'
the practice of all appellate courts; but every jurist couldl
not but perceive, at the tirst glance, the bold sophistry byfl
which Taney eiuleavored to explain away iho usurpatioQj
of the supreme court. In the present case i
structions" or "further controversies" were p
cuuso It was not remanded to the inferior court to I
again examined and deoidL-d, but was simply adjudgi
dismissed for want of jurisdiction, i. e^ the essential, autJ
ual condition precedent to the practice of nppellate court
of whiuh Taney spoke was wanting. That what Taoeyi
said of that practice was, in itself, correct, was a matt«
of utter indifference, as it did not apply here. Taneyl
himself subsequently said that the decision of the othei
questions had no signiriciince, so far aS Ured Scott an(l|
Sandford were concerned. But. we are, further tuld.Mui
could not justify the "sanctioning" of an evident error]
in the judgment of the inferior court, if evil consflJ
(jucnces, in other cases, might follow. The preceding ad-J
mission tost nothing of its importance by this argumentjl
but it must have opened tin; eyes of even thinking lay>j
men to ibe previous sophism. Common sense was :
liigher forum than the supreme court of the lTnlt«d|
States, and it could not he convinced that tiie suprciiK
court of the United States could reeognizo as correct uUJ
the rulings of an inferior court when it entered into O0|j
examination of those rulings, beeiiuse its dectsioD was l
the elTect that the inferior court should have concorru
itself no farther with tbo case than to declare it& want o^
jurisdiction.

TANGY S OPINION.

41

The reason why the majority of the judgfs, after the
rendering of Ihe judjiment in the ense at law, uudertook
in tiecide all other kimis of questions, was doubtless to
prevent further controversy, but controversy in the ter-
ritories ond ahoul the territories, in congress, /. f.,
Tiiney's learned talk was only an unhappy etfort to cover
the nakedness of Wayne's honest admission that lUeconrl
hod ulloHcd itself to be determined by political consid-
erations, with a lig-leaf of bad jurisprudence, the out-
growth of ba<l logic. yUence the reiisoning by wliieh the
further principles were supported was political, ulthuugli
clothed in rich legal raiment. The constitution speaks
only of the territory that belonged to the United Slates
at the lime of its adoption, and speaks of it only aa prop-
erty in the quality of an object of value, and docs not
grant congress, in the only clause in which it speaks of
it, general and unlimited legislative power in relation to
it, a power which would be incoinputiblo with the I'unda-
mental principles of the constitution; still less ca.i sucti
power over the regions subsequently acquired be inferivd
from that clause; they were acquired for the peuplo of
' tbe individual states, and thecitizens of these states havL',
therefore, an equal right to them and in them ; tlio oansli-
lation makes no difference between slaves and other prop
erty, but distinctly and expre-sly recognizes slaves »■-
properly; hence congress cannot prohibit the bringing of
slave property into the territories, and, therefore, the Mis
Mturi Compromise, which prohibits slavery in the terri-
lorics north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes, is null
Md void, because in conflict with the constitution — such
are the principal propositions to which Taney's further
reasoning leads. The refutation of these propositions, in
detail, is contained in the history of slavery in the pre-
ceding volumes of this work, and hence cannot be here

49 Buchanan's eleciion — knd of SStd co.nobess.

undei taken anew, nor ia it necessary it should bo. We
would o;ily say a few words on two points.

Tbe territorial acquisitions were not made for the peo-
ple of ibc individual states, but for the United States, as
is expressly stated in all tlje treaties rcialing thereto.
Taney's arguiuoat was an intellecliial sword -player's
trick, by wLiuh lie made what he undertook lo prove the
prcBUp|iositioi) of Iiis demonstration. I'rocisely in the
eunstitutional relation of the federal government to the
territorial possessions of the Union had the bational
phase of the idea of tbe federal slate found the most
pregnant expression, and Tuney took the principle of the
confederated state as the stiirtingpoint of the proof of
the proposition which was only the application of that
principle to the slavery question in tbe territories.

Still clearer was tbe utter untenahluneas of the second
claim, without which it was impossible to reacli the con-
cluding proposition, which wns the sole obj<£ct of the entiro
second part of the "decision." The constiiutioa made a
difference between slaves and other property, and this
by the very clause relating to the delivery of fugitive
slaves, to which Taney appealed. Why did it not also
provide that horses, oxen and hogs which bud strayed
into another state should be delivered to the owner!
Plainly because that was self-evident. In the case of
slaves, however, an express provision was necessary, pre-
cisely because the United Stiiti-s as such did not took
apon tboai as property, and t/iia, not what Taney claimed,
was "expressly " provided for in llio text of the consli-
'tution which recites that persons escaping from a state
who by the laws thereof were held to service or tabor
should be delivered up on claim. The constitution,
therefore, only provided that the laws of tho several
states on slavery should be regarded as controlling by alt

TANEY 3 OI'ISION.

olljer Slates, to this dlcnt, thai itiey would, in a given
case, liare to perform a corresponding duty to tbtiin.

If il Hei-e to bo inferred from this provision that the
constitution of the Union looketl upon slaves as pro|)-
erly, then, as Ihe Washington Union in iin article of
November 17. 1857. very rightly eaid, the ulliniato con-
sequent;c of tho Dred Scott decision was thut the states
thcmsulves could not declare slaves brought wiihia ihcir
borders free.' Benjamin denied this because the constitu-
tion |irohihited only tho government oC the Union, and
not the stales, to deprive any one of his properly "with-
out duo process of law,"

I " The constitution declares tlint * the citijcens of each slate slinll be
entitled to oil llip privilcgts aod inimunities of citieena lu the sev-
eral stales.* Every citizen of one eintu ociuin^ intu another slate
iiBB, thurctoT?, II right tu tlir protection of his jiereon, and thut i>ro|>-
«rty whicli is ri-c'u^'iii£vd an Guib by the conEtilutioQ of tlie United
Stales, any law of a state (!) notwithstanding. So far from any
state jiaving a riglit to deprive hitu of Iiis property, it is its bounden
duty to protect him in its possession.

" If (hree views ore correct — and we believe it would be difficult
to invaliduio tliem — it follows ihnt all slate lawB. whether organic or
otherwise, wliicli praliibit a citizen of one state from settling in an-
other, and bringing hia slave pioiierty with him {even several slase
states halt dono so), and most especially dectsring it forfeited, are
direct \ iotutions of the briginnl intention of the govei-niuent, nliich,
as before elated, \a the proiection of person and property, and o(
tho constitution of the United States, which recognizea property in
Klitvea."

And «o Fugh, of Ohio, said: "If the constitution of the United
States gives this form of property its pci-ullar protection . . . and
the right to carry it, il is cairied into every Btate over the conatitu-
tion and laws ot the slalo; for the constitution of the United Statea
b supreme above the constitutions and laws of the slntes, and it
means tliisor it means nuihiiig. There is no dJHinction, there can be
none made." Congr. Globe, II Sess. 8Slh Congr., p. ISOO. To this
faithful shiold-bcarer of slavery this consequenco seemed an abom-
ination.

44

ILANAN 8 ELEUTION" -

■■ 3JTU COKQl

To this it could bo answered ttiut all tlio state consti-
tutions contained the same provision. But oven if Bacb
were not the case the argument would not have had the
slightest weight. The constitution of the United States
wiis above all slate constitutions and state Iiiws. If a
slate deprived an owner of that which thu constitution of
the United States "expressly " declared to bo property,
because it was not property within the boundaries of that
state, ihe coDstiiuiional ur legislative provision which de-
prived him of it was null and void, because in coafliot
with the constitution of the United States. That Taney
did not draw this last consequence was intelligible
enough, for the ultimate foundation of all claims of the
slavocracy was the principle that the states had reserved
their full sovereignty with res|)ect to slavery — the im-
portation of slaves alone excepted. In order to open all
the territories to slavery he had, in the name of the su-
preme court, to interpret htto the constitution principles
which overthrew the fundamental principle of the slavoc-
racy. Even IE tlie Dred Scott decision had met with no
opposition from any cjuarler whatever, it could not possi-
bly be abided by, on this account: the supremacy of the
slave-holding interest over the Union, bused upon slate
sovereignly, could not but ultimately develop tnU> a de-
mand for the unconditional nationalization of slavery.

Alexander H. Stephens frankly admitted that the
Kred Scolt decision would never have been made if the
agitation and discussion of the slavery tpioslion had not
preceded it, and brought to light the clear principles on
which it is based. These were, llierofore, ii<!w principles
of which the framors of the constitution and those whoi,
in the earlier decadfs of its history had, as legislators,
prcsiUonls and judges, to apply them, knew nothing.

Yet, on this decision, Stephens claimed tlio fate of the
country hung.'

What then ha<l become of the siiporhtiman wisdom of
the "fathers.'' iind what did the hyperwise poliljciana
think they miyht not ventore with the common sense o(
the people? The third generation since the adoption of
the constitnlion had entered on the stuge, and now a few
aged judges had to save the country— thanks to the
ligbt obtained by the politicians — by overthrowing what
hadhitlierto been considered constitutional law and what
had always, up to the most recent time, been enforced in
the legishition of the land. Even if the qacstion had '
come before the supreme court in such a way that it rauat
give a judgment, and if all the eight associate justices
had nnquulifiedlj agreed to every word of Taney, the
decision would have been a political enorinity. If the
former condition existed, political considerations neither
could nor should have been excluded, but ihey must bring
the judges to subordinate their own legal views to the
constitutional law which had hitherto been in force,
simply because, for almost seventy years, it had bciio the-
constitutional law aciuaily accepted; for the history of
the country could not be altered by judicial decree; and it
was as impossible to change the actual Conditions which
had grown up under this constitutional law as it was to
allow them to continue in a constitutional stale with all
Iheir practical and legal consequences, while declaring
their utter legal nullity. But not only was there no need

' " On the principle (of the Dred Scott decision) depended ... in
all pTobabititj the deetiny of this country. And n-ho is vain ecough
ta snppose that tlie Dred Sott decision would hare lieeii made but
for the agitation and discussion ivhich preceded it. and llic sound
clear [irinciplcs which that discussion brought to lij{lu." .\ugu9t 3,
1S99, in Augusta, Ga. Cleveland. Al. H. Stephens, in Public and
Private, witli Letters and Speeches, p. OH,

iG BOCUANAN'b ELEC3TI0N — END OF SS'ITI COXOHESS.

of the decree, but it was against right and issued con-
fessetllyon political grounds. The opinions of theinnjor-
ity differed from one another in their argumentation, and
to some extent ia their conclusions, so widely that, taken
together, they constituted an inextricable tangle, and two
of the judges not only opi>osed the chief justice on one
point after another, but the severest moral condemnation
conid bo heard in their juridico-historical deductions,
spite of tiicir calmness and strict pragmatism. How
could iho op|iosition fail to look upon the judgment,
legally as an invalid usurpation and as a perversion of the
law, never to be recognize'J, polilicallj aa an absurd and
bold assumption, and morally as an unpamllclcd prosli-
talion of the judicial ermine! The supremo court of the
United Stales had wished to put an end to the contro-
versy, and all il did was to add fuel to tljo flames which
had already risen so high during the presidential cam-
paign, and to drag itself down into the dirt, in the eyes
of one-half the people. The last strong bulwark against
the revolutionary spirit awakened by the triumphs
achieved by the slavocracy and its northern follon-ing
was broken down.

The scnalo, or a committee of tho senate, in its name,
eent thousands of copies of tho opinion, without delay,
throughout the country. Tho republicans might rejoice
that, from this place and in so forcible a manner, evidence
was immediately borne before tho whole people, that
what appeared in the garb of a judicial deci-eo was, in
reality, only a campaign docnnicnt. Of its own freo will,
the supremo court of the United States had taken the
initiative for the democratic party in the sense of tho
radical southern wing, and sounds of jubilation from the
halls of the senate announced the great fact to the entire
country.

THE LECOMPTON COSVENnON.

CHAPTER II.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION.

Tho Washington correspondent of the Charleston Mer-
cury had saiil of Buchanan, in a report on the cabinet
which Poll: had formed: "He is known to bo an able,
modpratB old Ilnnlier — very timid nnri hiitcs trouble."
Tho twelve years which had passed since then had
thinnetl and bleached Buchanan's hair, and now a glance
at the full, closely shaved face sufltced to convince one of
the correctness of iliis tlescpiplion. In private life he
could Dnqncstionubly knock at every door with tlie as-
Buranoe of beinw accorded an honest welcome; for hia
carriage ami stately form, no less than the expression of
his Rot unremarkable countenance, showed liim at once
to be a genilcmiin. even to the unpniciiced eye. In the
line that lay over his heavily arched brows above hi3
oleiu", bright eyes, unstudied dignity and self -conscious-
ness too highly strung vied with each other for the mas-
tery, but he neither awed nor repelled one, for the good
hamorund the enjoyment of physical comfort stamped
on the loiver half of his face, and hrs broad, double chin,
acted as a counterpoise to it. One could believe his ad-
miring friends that the ligure he cut at the court of (Jueen
Victoria met with the applause of even liin exacting
English aristocracy, and that his skill .lad tact as a dip-
tomatc were recognized by English statesmen ; while the
fact that, at the well-provided table and the cimlty lea,
he was a stimulating and winning talker — too inclined
(o teach, nt limes^did not fail to make him some
enemies. But tho person who, judging from Buchanan's
appearance, saw in him a great sintesamn, must have

4S

iLECTION — KSD OF SStH COSOBE83.

been either a very bad physiognomist or havo had a verv
unclear idea as lo what the requirements of a statesman
are. If this man was a great character, nature in fram-
ing him must have been taken nilh the 8tran;c;e whim
to make the form a mask to hide the contents. This
flesh was evidently too sensitive not to be always very
much inchned to purchase freedom from trouble, care
and danger, at a high price. But, at the same time, his
vanity was great enough, notwithstanding all this, lo
play lor the highest prize, and his vain self-reliance could
not but grow, through his great degree of weakness, to
senescent wilfulness, and this all the more tim doe|M)r he
was dragged into the whirlpool of the conHict of ovcr-
jiowerful actual events, promoted as much by his mar-
rowlessness as by his blind self-reliance. Weakness,
self-overcstimation and wiHulness — a more disastrous
combination' of qualities could, under exislinj^ circum-
stances, be scarcely imagined.

Self-ovorestimation was tiie warp of bis unrortiinate
policy, weakness and wilfulness its woof. T.iat he did
not hope for a stormless future ns confidently as one
might suppose from his inaugural address is undoubted.
Acconling to this, it might appear as if, after the publi-
cation of tlie announced Dred Scott decision, ho could
descry no darker cloud in tlio heavens than the overflow-
ing coffers of the treasury, for tlio relief of which ho
made various propositions. Little as one mi{:bt think
of his statesmanlike capacity, lo impute such a lack of
judgment to him as to assume that that was his real opin-
ion was simply absurd. But he evidently cherished the
happy belief that he would succeed, by his superior diplo-
matic skill, in so moulding and directing things that,
graduallv, the ship of slate would sail in smoother
waters, and that at least his administration Monld re-

BOOHANAS S DIFFICOLTT.

49

main free from the more violent perturbations which
might portend some great catastrophe. The politician
who know not how to introduce the moral powers of the
nationiil life as an element into his calculations, but con-
sidered the solution of every problem possible, by means
of art debased into a trade, might find some ground for
this illusion.

Buchanan's first difficalty and danger grew out of the
split in his own parly m respect to the authentic inter-
pretation of its creed on the territorial question. Al-
though ho knew perfectly well that he owed his nomi-
natioa to the circumstance that, to use the felicitous
expression of the Xew Orleans Delta, he could prove " an
alibi " ' in the case of the Kansas bill, he had, even before
ibe election, frankly declared in favor of the view taken
of it by the south.^ Bui he was cautious enough to so
declare himself only before his neighbors who had como
to congratulate him on the result of the stale elections
in October; and, although he may not himself have
brought it to pass, it was certainly very agreeable to him.
that his remarks did not find their way into the press,
although he had carefully committed them to writing.
Now be could, in accordance with his whole conception
of the controversy, harbor Ihe fond hope thai, so far aa
the democratic i>arty was concerned, this attitude of bis
would have no serious and permanent consequences. The
leaders, in the debates on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and
then again in Cincinnati, agreed to recognize the courts
as the competent forum, wherein to settle the contro-

'The New Orleans Delta, Dec. 19, 1857.

* " TliiB does no more tlian . . . recognize the right of & major-
ity of the people of a territory, when about to enter the Union aa a
atat«, to decide for themselves whether domestic slarcry shall or shall

not exist among ihcm." Curtis, Life of J. Buchanan, 11, 1*6.

50

A SAX 3 ELECTION -

.HD OP 3aTH C0KURE8S.

verteil question, when the right of self-dotermi nation of
the territorial population in respect to slavery came into
force. Now the supreme court of the United Slates had
decideil, in the sense of the south, and even if the re-
publicans denied this part oF the judgment the binding
force of law, betnuse obiter divta, r.lill the Douglas demo-
crats were bonnd in honor by that agreement to submit
to the decree.

That the submission would be unreserved and uncom-
plaining Buchanan scarcely expected, spite of his self-
complncent optimism. Ho knew very well that Douglas
and his associates had not stopped at squatter sovereignly
because their own convictions were an insurmountable
barrier, but because they had considered it impossible to
draw the majority of their constituents beyond that line.
If, in this matter, these cool, calculating, |)olilical wire-
pullers, with their aridity of heart and their ice-buuml
consciences, were not involved in an inconceivable delu-
sion, the manoeuvering even noir couKI not be too cautious,
for a judicial decree was not a charm by means of which
convictions could be obliterated. For this reason it was
deemed advisable, so far as the internal state of the party
was concerned, to act as if the controversy had to do with
a purely theoretical question. Would not the vanquished
become all the more rapidly and more easily reconciled
to their defeat, the less they were made to feel formally
and materially that a deadly blow had been dealt theinf
The more the internal dissensions in the democratic party
threatened to grow, in consequence of the Dred Scott
decision, the more necessary it was to have it outwardly
appear that the party presented a united front. If its
disruption could be prevented at all, the first pre-eonditioa
thereto was the knitting of bonds so firm and lasting that
the time needed for a new intergrowth would be obtaiaed.

CASS ANP COBB.

51

These must b&ro beon the considerations that guided
Buchanan in the formation of his cabinet, if in forming
it he was guided bv any general political ideas at all.

Cass was secrelary of slate. He was certainly not
chosen for the first place because ho was the father of
squatter sovereigntj'; but he was its father none the less,
and therefore the suspicion that the adherents of that doc-
trine were to be treated henceforth as democrats of the
second class could be warded off by pointing to the selec-
tion made of him. But whether they would consider this
guaranty sutficient was all the more doublful, as Dong-
las, although he had adopted the Cass chanee'ing, was
by no means Cass's political twin brother, and had long
since acquired an incomparably more important position
in the party than the one-time leaderof the northwestern
democracy. The Xew York Tribune dhi^Alched the latter
with the declaration that ho was " the most venerable
office-seeker in America." ' Even from the mouth of an
acrimonious opponent. Cass might well have claimed a
somewhat less depreciatory judgment, but there was much
truth in the statement. He had always been greatly
overestimated, and now he was really Ittlle more than a
great name. People did not criticise or rebel against the
tradition which mitdo him one of the giants of a genera-
tion of whom only a few still remained on the stage; but
no one looked upon his name as a programme; he was
the stately figure-head of the ship of the admiaisLratton.

The conduct of the treasury department was confided
to Howell Cobb. He had, for a long time, been numbered
among the magnates of the first rank of the party, and
even his op|7onents readily admitted that he was a man
of real talent; but it could not be inferred from bis

'The N. Y. TrOmne. March T, 1857.

52

ICCHANAS'S ELECrnoN — END OF SoTU CONOKESS.

career hitherto, that he would prove himself specially
qualiHed for this office. He was not called to the cabinet
us a tried financier; bat lie was considered, more than any
of the other secretaries, and particularly more than CasF,
a political minister. It was not long before he was rightly
looked upon as the very soul of the cabinet, so far at least
as the cabinet seemed to bare any soul; but what made
him such was his personal qualities and not his programme,
while it was believed that he owed bis appointment, in
great part or even mainly, to the role he had played as
leader of the " Union party " of Georgia, in the dis-
turbances of 1S50-1851. This was, perhaps, correct; but
to attach much importance to that fact was certainly
\"ery hazardous. We have shown in a previous volume
in what a peculiar light the "Georgia platform " placed
the fidelity of the stale to the Union — a platform the
praises of which were sung with so much enthusiasm in
the north. Since then things had taken a long stride
further, and the times had assumed a very different char-
acter. That the Cobb of 1S57 was still the Cobb of
I$50-1851 was, to say the least, only an underaonstrated
assumption. The man who based his confidence that the
altitude of the administration in the sectional quarrel, at
least in respect to secessionist tendencies, would be a cor-
rect and vigorous one, on this ground, might well beware
lest he built on sand. That the two cabinet places which,
according to an old tradition, were considered the first,
were given to Cass and Cobb, had to be interpreted to
mean that Buchanan, at this time, certainly did not look
ujwn it as a self-evident consequence of the triumph of
the radicals of the southern states, that the helm of party
policy was to he directed solely in accordance with their
compass.
On the other band, be was just as far removed from

53

considering It necessary to bold them more severely in
check on account of that great victory. This was made
evident by the selection of Jacob Tboin|Json to be secre-
tary of the interior, for be had been, in 1S61)-1S01, in
Jlississippi, as zealous an agitator in the cainp of the
radicals as was Cobb in Georgin, for tlie ratification of
the compromise, and tlie republicans at least claimed
that lie ivas called to the cabinet precisely on this ac-
count; for, altbougb he bad sat many years in the house
of representatives, he bad left his name, in other re-
spects, in the historical records of the country only as the
ardent defender of the foul repudiation experiment of his
adopted stale. Buchanan, therefore, seemed to ivish to
have the same sun shine on, and the same wind blow for,
both wings of the party — as the New York Tribune
said — with the limitation that he did not invito one of
the great "Fire Eaters" to his counsel board, but, wilii
commcnilable deliberation, gave the radicals as unim-
portant a representative as possible,

J, Toucoy of Connecticut, the secretary of the navy,
was politically Buchanan's own reflected imago. lie was
indebted for his election to the senate to the supiwrt of
some pseudo-wbigs, and the part he played in that body
was, durmg the last years, an outrageous deRance of tlie
political convictions which were obtaining the supremacy
in his own state. His term had now expired, and, in
Connecticut, the most he coidd hope for was to be used
as a liorrible example. Whether as a cabinet olilcer ho
could and would render the south as valuable service as
ho had in the capacity of an orator and constitutional
dialectician the future alone could tell. The south cer-
tainly owed its thanks to Buchanan for making the
stone which the heretical builders of Connecticut had re-
jected one of the pillars of his administration, for Toucey

1 EI.KCTION KND OF auTH (

was a man of talent and endowed with a cerliiin sharp-
ness. When he entered the arena for the slavocracy,
there ran through his arguments a pecuhar. clear tone uf
conviction not to be foimil even in the constitutional ser-
mons of Buchanmi, nitliousjb Senator Brown of Missis-
sippi had lauded him as Just as worthy of the aoutli as
Callioun himself.' Tiiis man, who knew so well bow to
arrange southern airs for northern fiddles and northern
ears, furnislied a goorl connecting link between tlie sec-
reiaries we have already described, if indeed the latter
really differed so widely ou constitutional and polJticci-
party fundamental questions as to need an intermediary.

The postmaster-general. Brown, had belonged to the
house of representatives for six years, and had also been
governor of Tennessee; but the general public knew
scarcely anything more about hnn than that, because of
his activity in the interests of his parly, bo was a valued
and esteemed personalty in the circles of professional
jtoliticians. In the eyes of the machine politicians, he
was the most important member of the cabinet, because
the patronage of ibu postotHce department was the
largest. It was not to bo doubted that ho would turn
this very large party capilal to good account, and to do
so was considered the principal task of the postmaster-
general.

The secretary of war, Fbyd, and the allorney-gunernl.
Black, were entirely now leaders on the national stage.
Whoever took it into his head to inc)uire to what merit
Floyd owed his elevation had to be content tviih the
answer that he belonged to nno of the lirst families of
Virginia. Of Black, too. people could say nothing; but
that a judge of the supreme court of PennsyKania wuultl
be an able jiinsl ami a man uf honor could not be culled

■ In • Inttcr to il It- Ailnuu. Tlw Rkhnionil Eitguirv, Ao^ ST, ISSt.

Bf CHANAH S CABINliT.

in queslioa bj tbe opposition party so fonff as uo facts to
the contrary could be adduced.

This cabinet «as curtainly not an imposing one, and
the man who would infer from it Uie policy which tbe
president had traced out for himself must have had much
practice in answering riddles. If one judged from the
political weight of this list of names the suspicion sug-
gested ilself that Buchanan had in view, not so much
the strength of the administration, as to make sure of
his own position as actual lord and master; and if one
looked at the shading of the party color in the individual
members he naturally divined that the president had
decided, at least so far as the near future was concerned,
in favor of a policy of his own will — a (wlicy which could
not be readily distinguished from the total absence, on
principle, of a political programme. This was not only
the surest, but the only, way to gain time, and it was
easily intelligible, if he thought he could live in the hope
that the saying, To gain time is to gain all, was appli-
cable now.

He had, in essentials, free scope during nine months, for
congress did not meet again until December. Tbe repub-
licans might pluck the Dred Scott decision to pieces,
judicially and morally, as much as they pleased, but they
could not, by so doing, tflfect anything of immediate
political importance. It entered no one's mind to con-
test the legal validity of the decision, so far as Dred
Scott personally was concerned, and the declaration that
the remainder of the decision would never be recognized
meant only that the conflict in congress and in the terri-
tories would bo continued, and that if the party should
come into power vacancies on the supreme bench would
be filled in such a way that the constitution and justice,
humanity and morals, freedom and rational politics,

56 BCCnANAs's ELECTION — END OF SOTIt COSORE88,

would get tbcir rights once more. He, therefore, had Do
reiison to trouble himself about the republicans. To
keep ibe different fractions of his own party asunder was
tbe i)roblem he had nnw to solve, and he thought he
L'ouid solve it by being obliging to tbem all. If, by doing
so, he satisfied no one, bo at least gave uo occasion for
grievances such that they would openly oppose him. If
he continued to hold to this policy when tlie op]K)sing
elements within the party came into collision his fate
would furnish another illustration of the truth that the
more stools one tries to sit on at the same time the
greater is the danger be runs of coming to the ground.
For the present, however, he might disregard the warn-
ing contained in this old truth, because he ex|wcted that,
during the nine months, the question which alone gave
the controversy the character of a real contlict of interests
would fmd its practical solution. If this expectation wero
realized it would assume for a lime the appearance of tin
academic question, and then people would hare, indeed,
to hope that this period would last long enougli to ])ermit
the wisdom of the politicians, cotubined with the fre-
quently experienced favor of Providence, to lind a way
out of the labyrinth before a new crisis could mature. He,
however, needed lo do nothing to bring about the actual
settlement of the question, but to allow things calmly
to take their legal course. Then, no matter how the die
was cast he could not justly be held responsible for it.
When, therefore, people hoped here, and feared there,
that he wouhl immediaiely and of his own free will begin
to play the part of the zealous and unscrupulous servant
of the slavocracy they judged him very wrongly. His
wish was not lo incur the UiEpleasure of cillier Jehovah
or Bual, and hence ho honestly wished, at the time, to be
nothing more than the guardian and executor of the laws.

BtlCHAXAS AND HIS PARTT.

57

In this calculation Buchanan bad overlooked only one
thing. Would the democracy fold their arms and allow
bim to carry out his laudable resolutions? And if they,
with the same brutal shamolessness witb which they, on
the occasion of the first territorial election in Kansas,
tore the principle of popular sovereignty to tatters, should
oppose hira and, despite all law and right, seek a prac-
tical decision in their favor, what would become of bis
virtuous intentions? He wanted to be neutral, but in the
drawing up of his programme he did not go so far as to
ask liimself what aide he would lake if the slavocracy, by
overt acts, forced him to become a partisan. But the
programme he had drawn up for himself contained noth-
ing to warrant the assumption tbat, with regard to this
question, the unanimous opinion of bis slavocratic friends
and his republican opponents, on what was to be ex-
pected from him, would prove to be erroneous.

Buchanan, in the address referred to above, delivered
to his neighbors after the happy result of the October
elections, bad given them the consoling assurance that
this baleful episode bad been brought to an end through
the calm restored by Governor Geary and General Smith
in Kansas.' Geary himself, in a. letter of December 31,
185fi, to Marcy, proudly claimed that, in proportion to
its area and population, fewer crimes were committed in
Kansas than in any other part of the Union.' One, how-
ever, would have to bo more than an optimist if a nine
days' earlier report of the secretary of state did not

I ■' We ahull bear no more of bleeiling Kansas. There will be no
mora ulirieks for livr unkiappy desliny. The i>oopb of tliia fiiio coun-
tty, XiTOtecleii fi'tim external violence and internal cotiiinotjon, will
decide llie qui^stion of slavery for themselven, and [lieit elide grace-
fully into Ihe Union and become one of the aiaters of our groat con-
federacy." Curtis, Life of J. Buchanan, II, p. 170.

'Seu. Doc., 35lh Congr.. let Seas., vol, VI. No. 17, p. 101.

5S

;cTioN — KXD OF 35ru conorkss.

awaken the fear that the " bajipy state of things" which,
according to ilie letter of the 31st, had reignctt during
the last three months in the territory, would not be last-
ing. The governor coiniilainetl that there was still, in
hoLh parties, n, minority who violently maligned him.
While he was reproached by the one because, without re-
gard for the constitution and the laws, he did not hasten
the formation of a state government, he was slandered
by the other because he would not consent to " a crusade
in support of one idea'* — ihe idea of slavery. If on©
read no further, one might certainly beHeve, from the
expressions used by Geury.' that both groups were too
small to occasion any serious anxiety. But, from the
sentences that followed, it appeared that the latter ruled
in the legislature, and that, therefore, their importance
should not be measured solely by llieir numbers. Geary
said be hud to enter into the crusade obligation by bis
approval of the resolutions adopted by the legislature on
the evening of Its last session. These resolutions de-
nounced the proposition " to organize a national demo-
cratic partv,"' and declared that every man who did not
make the slavery question the sole dividing line between
Iiarties was an ally of abolitionism and disunion.*

' " A Tew ultra men" and "a few violent men."

^" WlipreaB the sitins of the times indicate tbat a measure is now
on toot, fraught with more danger In the intoreiits of llie pro-sJaverf
)iai'ty and to tlie Union than any that has been agntated, la wit, the
propoBition to organize a national democratic (lartj; and whereua
some of our friends Imve already been misled bf it; And whoreos Ihe
result will be to divide tUv pro-slavt-ry wldga from deuiocmts, thus
weakening our partj one-half: and wherea* we believe that on the
success of our parly depends the per|*tuity of the Union: therefore

"Be it resolved by tlie house of repreaeritatives. the council concur-
rinn therein, that it is the duty of the pro-slavery party, the Uiiion-
lovini; nieii nf Kaniias territory, to know but one issue, slavery ; and
thai any imrty makiuK or attempting to make any other is and should
be held as an ally of nbolitionisoi and disunion." Ibid., p. H.

SAVgAS ASD SLiVEBY. f.9

The report which informed theadminiBtration of these
resolutions was furnished, scarcely two weeks later, with
a very surprising commentary. At a party meeting which
the members of the legislature held on the 4th of Janu-
ary, 11S57, with the delegates of the counties, the leading
men declared, in plain terms, that the pro-slavery parly
Wits only a small minority, and timt, tlierefore, there was
no hope of success, unless they united with the free-state
democmts: that is, unless they renounced making Kansas
a slave state, in order lo be able to make Jt at least '"a
conservative democratic free state."'

The old leaders of the pro-slavery party who had made
a name in the earlier history of the troubles of the ter-
ritory, like Stringfellow, Dp. Tebbs, A, W. Jones and
Whitfield, admitted the fact that the majority of the
population would have nothing to do with slavery, and
Bell, of Tennessee, subsequently stated in the senate that
of the twenty pro-slavery newspapers in the territory
nineteen were agreed tluit after January, ISiiT, there was
no hope of bringing Kansas into the Union as a slave
slate.' As there were scarcely three hundred slaves in
the territory, and that small number was continually di-
minishing;" and, as Walker in a letter of June 28, 18.17,
lo Buchanan remarked, a considerable number of the
immigrants from the slave slates were, in their own in-
tei-est, which they well understood, free-state people,' it

1 Governor Wnlket to Cass. Dt*. 15. 1857. Sen. Doc.. 85lh Congr..
iBt Sew., vol. I, No. 8, p. '.23.

'CoDgr Globe, "^8i«a. 35lli Congr., App.. pp. 130. 137.

■ Walker, ia the letter at Diiueniber 13, 1867. Bell eaid in tile
speecli of Slaf IK, 16S8. above referred to, that Ihe number had
shrunk in one year to one hunilreil, and according to some to fifty.

' A *■ very Iflr^^e majority of the KiiiiatterB, wlio came to the territory
from the slave statea. are wiid to be for a free Btnte, partly from con-
viction that their claims would bring a larger price, and partly be-

CO

BUtinASAK's ELECTIOS--ESD OF 3t>rU OOSOBE33.

was, indeed, difftcuU to understand how any one could
escape recognizmg this fact, if he formed, and wanted to
form, his opinions in good faith. But ii was, none the
less, very questionable wliether all those facts warriiDled
Walker's assertion that, long before his arrival in Kansas
(May, 1857), the slavery question, as n praclicnl question,
had disappeared, and that its place bad been tu.ken by
the question of self-government.'

In February, 1857, the legislature resoh'od to call a
constitutional convention. Geary vetoed the bill because
it contained no express provision that the convention
should submit the couslitution drafted by it to the people
for ado])tion or rejection.- The legislature proceeded im-
mediately to another vote, and the bill was adopted (_Feb-
ruary 19) by the necessary majority. There was no need
of i-ecalling the previous history of the territory to ex-
clude all doubt as to whether the legislature refused to
take into account the reasons of the governor or whether
it intended to add another to numerous drastic illustra-
tions of the "great principle," surpassing all previous
ones in atrocity. The committees of both houses told
Geary to his face that tbey in accord with their friends
in the southern states had resolved to limit the co-opera-
tion of the people, in the work of giving Kansas a consti-
tution, to the election of delegates to the convention.*

nmse m&iiy of tlieui caiue liere expresalj to settle in a free state.
The same is the cose, to a limited extent, with pi'f>-slarcT7 men hold-
ing towu lots, alioriis aoU interests ia the projected railroads." Hep.
of Comin,, 80lh Congr., 1st Seas., toI. V, No. 648. p. 118,

I Walker, in the letter of December IS. 1857.

'See the veto message, Seo. Doc, 8Sth Congr., 1st Seal, vol. ^'I.
No. 17, p. 167.

»Geary writes; "In aconferenoe with the romniitteeB of the two
housca, by whom the bill liad been reported. I proposed to 6ij(o Iba
hill, proviiied they would insert in it a section authoriaing the eab*

BODEllT J. WALKEE.

CI

The struj;:gle for slavery, therefore, was not given op;
on tlie contrary, it was announced in the most unambig-
uous manner that it would be continued, regardless of
consetjuences, with the old means.

Seldom lias a federal officer as honestly rejoiced as
Geary did that, in accordance with the piiiiciple of "ro-
tation in office," he had to look upon a change of admin-
istration as the natural end of his ofKciaL life. On the
4th of March ho handed in his resignation, and Buchanan
chose Kohert J. Walker to be his successor. The latter
at tii-st declined, but on the repeated retjuest of the presi-
dent accepted the post.

"Walker was born and grew up in Pennsylvania, but
when a young man of twenty-live years of age emi-
grated to Mississippi. Lil;e most northerners who had
removed permanently to the "sunny south," he became
a decided partisan of slavery. If he had not been so, it
is self-evident that his adopted state would not have sent
him lo the senate in 183*3, nor Polk made him secretary
of the treasury in ISiS. His opinions on this funda-
mental {|uestion of the political life of the Union had
undergone no change. He made no secret of his desire
to see Kansas become a slave state.^ I3ut the southern

miasinn o( the conslilution as above indicated. But they distinctly
iiirunueJ me that the bill met the apprubation ol t1ii;ir friends in the
south — thiit it was not their intern ion the conBtiluiion Hhould ever
be BUl>niltt>.'d to the people, nud that to all iulents and purposes it
was lilie thu iawB or the tledes and Persians, and oould not bo al-
tered." CoiifcT. Olobe, 1st Sess. 35th Congr., p. Slfl,

> ■■ 1 should have preferred tliat a majority of the people of Kansas
would have made it a slave state. ... 1 never disguised my
(pinions upon this subject, and I especially reiterated the opiuioii
that I WHS thus in favor of niaintainiug; the equilibrium of the gov-
ernment by giving the south a. majority in the senate, wliiie the
north would always iiecesssrily have a majority in the botiae of rep-
reeentatives, which opinion I have entertained ever since the Mia-

63 iccuasax'b enection — esd of 35th o

radicals were, nevertheless, mistaken, if they supposod
they had found in him a man entirely after iheir own
iieart, lie had not sacritieed his political, and still less
his private, conscience on tlie alter of slavery; and this
the man had to do who, as governor of Kansas, wished so
to manage their case that they might Hnally triumph.
Walker accepted the nomination only after he had, in
writing, made it a condition that the president and his
cabinet would bind themselves lioncstly to carry out tlio
principle of " popular sovereignty ;" that is, " that the act-
ual, hnii'i filJe residents of the territory of Kansas, by u
fair and regular vote, unaffected by fraud or violenci.',
must be permitted, in adopting their stale constitution, to
decide for themselves what shall he their instilulions." '
In the written instruction which the secretary of state
sent Walker on the 30tb of March, Buchanan, in duu
form, gave the pledge demanded. Cass declared in his
name that the elections to the constitutional convention,
the deliberations of the same, and the vote of the people
on the constitution,' must and would bo protected iigiiiniii
fraud, violence and undue influence.

After Walker had sliown, in this way, that he was re-
solved not to be the baildl of the slavocracy, but to at-

souri compromiae, avowing it at thnt time and on a great tuan.v
public occasions ever since, espei'i ally in my efforts to make twoslnve
states out of Florida, and elx slave stntea out oZ Texas. Tills opiuiun
1 sllll entertitin." Declnrntlons ninrle before the Cof ode Committee.
Rep. of Cumm., SStli Conj; , 1st S«u,. vol, V, No. 616. p. 10^.

■Congr. Globe, lai Sess. S5[li Con^r., p, M.

>"Wheo (not 'If 'or 'in caae') such a uonstitution elinll be sub-
mitted to tbe people of tbe lerritorj', the; must be protecte<l in ttie
exerctse of their right (I) to vole for or against the i
(t ' the inslrunient' aud not the BlaTery clause of the ii
and the fair expression of the popular will umst not be JDii-iTUpted
by fraud or violence." Sen. Doc., SStli Coukt., IK Hk*^, vol. I,
No. 8, p, 4.

LAW OF FKBRDABY 19.

63

tend to his ofBce as an honorable man, and thai he well
knew ihe carrying out of his intention would meet with
resistance, it was to bo ex|>ected that he would proceed
immediately to Kansas, in order to balk the people from
whom tliis resistance was to be feared, before they could
iigain create accomplished facts which might make his
tusi: much more difficult and pcrhnps impossible. But
he tool; his time, as if there was not a cloud in the heav-
ens, and his secretary, Fr. P. Stanton, had to carry on
the government for him,' The recognition his subse-
quent conduct deserved has caused it to be too mucii
overlooked tb.it he had, by doing so, assumed no small
part of the responsibility for the events tiiat followed.

According to the law of February 19, only those were
to have a right to vote at the elections to the constifi: '
tional convention who were residents of the territory on
the loth oE March or previous to that date. By tixiny
the term thus early, not only the fresh emigrants from
llie distant free states were excluded from the suffrage
but also the free-state people who had left the territory
ia consequence of the troubles of the previous year, and
who now intended to return with the good season, since
it seemed that life and limb were no longer at stake, if
they did so. The Mis&ourians, on the contrary, could
easily come over, and be registered in the list of voters,
then go home and quietly remain thereuntil immediately
before the election.' As bold an emigration from Mis-
souri to Kansas as to the lirst elections could not bu

1 Even Stanton did not come to ir»^nM» before the second half or
ApriL

*Gilion, Geary's prirate secretary, writes: "But even that trouble
was at length conBidercd unneurasary. for ttie slieriffa and cenaus
takers found it more couvenient to carry tlieir Ixjoks into Missouri
and there record their namea." Congr. Globe, lat Smb. Sith Caagr,,

(ii

Hasan's electios -

) OF 35tii (

started now, and hence this little trick olono oould evi-
dently not sutSce to insure the slacocracy a favorable ,
result at the polls. To bring tliis nbout, arduous labor
was necessary, and the small but poworrul band under
the leadership of tlio y^neral land-surveyor, John Cal-
houn, did not recoil before it.

Thehnv of the 19lh of February ordered a census of
all the counties and the preparation of lists of voters, in
accordance with which the apportionment of delegates to
iho convention should bo made. The sheritTs and pro-
bate judges who were intrusted with this Uisk were
nominated by the legislature, and were, as "Walker and
BtantoD agreed in stating publicly, decided adherents of
the pro-slavery party. They were not satisfied, in draw-
ing up the lists, with making advances, to the atmcet, to
the Missourians, and manifesting the greatest neglect
and forgetfulness of the free-state people.' Under the
pretext that they had not the necessary money, they took
no census at all in nineteen out of thirty-four counties,
and in tifteen at least they prepared no lists of voters.'

iTIie Knnaas neu'spapera cited so maaj names of fienons widely
known, t)iHl lliert' can lie no doubt thut lliere wns good ground fur
these coinjilaint*. In one place the entire personnel ol the free-Btate
iiews|ia|K.-r uud. In iiuotlior, even the host of one ot tlie officers who
hod lo prejiai-c the hsta, wure forgotten.

■ Some leudttta of the pro-eloTery party suiiaoqueiitly putilished a
document in which ttiey endeavored to deprive tlictit.' Tacts of tbvlr
Hignlficani-e. by olleeing tlint iu (out counties the oPBciul* of the free-
■tate people bad been hindered by threats atid rioleucv, and tlial the
" other flrieenvrerc, (or civil purposes, attached tourg^oiied coun-
ties," which Ihvy wanted to be understood tu mean tliat tlie penon*
living lu lliein and entitled to vote might have eutciavd their right
or snange in «tlier counties. (CoQgr. Globe, tst Seas. SOlli Coukt.,
p. S86.) Stuart o( Michigan said in the aennte in relation to the
■ame point : " I( you can nttnoh five or aix countios to another for
voting purposes, thcM countlce, I presume, being tweuty or twenty

THE IfREE-BTATE PEOPLE.

65

"Walker could therefore say, as he did later, with the
best of reason, that the convention had "vital defects,"
sinoe cardinal conditions of the law to which it owed its
existence had not been fullilleO.'

The free-state people had not yet given up their Topeka
constitution, and were therefore inclined, from the start,
to refuse to have anything to do with the Lecompton
convention.' But now tliis seemed totliein to be a dubious
policy, and their niosi distinguished Itmders, ihereforCf
aililrcssed a letter, on the 25th of April, to Stanton,' in
which they offered to participate in the elections, pro-
vided they were allowed, in the manner specitied by

luur miles square, yuu may send a man a hun(lre<l milra to vote, and
jou might na well deprive hiui of the privilege entirely." (lliid., p. SSlj.
Besides this, Stanton said: "Nor could the people of these disfrao-
chised counties vote in any adjacent county, us has been fuUely BUg'-
cested." (Ibid., )). 5^.) That the complaints made against tlie Troe-
siate people were not ullagetlier unfounded Js all the more probable
an they would have nothing to du wlili the o invention, and, there-
fore, nothing to dii with the measures introductory thereto. Stanhin,
too, says: " In some iiislances, people and utllt;eni were alike ail-
veree to Ihe pmcot-dings." Sen. Doo., 35th L'ongr., Ist Seaa., voi. I.
No. 8. p. i 15.

' '"Tliat convention had vital, nut technical, defecla in the very bu'j-
Htaace of its organiEation under the territorial law." Cougr. Olohe,
IstSess. 3Sth Congr., p. 150.

»Plairorni of the free-state convention at Topeka of Haroh 10, 1857.
In an address to the people of the United States by the free-slate
convention we rend ; " We ask but that congress may adopt tlie To-
)>eka oonHtltuIion. which baa already passed the house, or tbut both
it and the one that n'ill be ndnpted by the pro-slavery eoDicntion in
Snpteuiber be returneil In the people of the ti'rritorj-, with an enabling
net providing for a fair and honest vote ot the bona fldc residents.
Weasli no more than this — we can ask no less." .V. Y. Trilnitii',
Mity 4, 1IS57.

' The It'tttT is printed in full in the Congressional Globe, 1st Sess.
«Oth Congr., p, 1318.

«0

-END OF 35tii congress.

them, to correct atitt complete ibe list of voters, and were
granted an impartial electoral count. Their demands were
so undoubtedly equiiable and well -grounded that Stanton
gave tliem reason to iiope tor a favorable answer. But
ilie Calhoun party urged him so strongly to refuse their
claims that the free-state people finally, mstcad of the jus-
tice promised, received a long-winded argument, on the
grounds which forbiide him to meddle in this matter. A
month later the delegates were apportioned in accord-
anoe with the incomplete and fraudulent list of voters..
Walker finally came to Kansas at the same time. On
the 2Tth of May be published an inaugural address
which, as Douglas alleged, had been revised and cor-
i-ected by the president himself.' He urgently exhorted
the free-state people to desist from their intended absten-
tion from the elections, since no matter how many or
how few voted, according to the principles which ob-
tained everywhere in the United Stitles, the result would
be binding on all, and what ivas now lost by their own
fault could not be won again by a subsequent vole. The
most important thing was not what the majority decided
in favor of, but that the majority should decide. The
question of self-government towered high above tha
question whetiier Kansas should bo a free or a slave state,
and, therefore, it would never bo admitted into the Union
as a frec'or a slave stale unless the state constitution was
adopted by a majority of the people, by a direot vote,*

I •■ Qovernnr WatktY rend hia inaugural nildrem to me. as sligbtly
modified bj^ inlerlmenlionn in the bnndwriting n[ the presidept of
the United Blalts liltiiMir." Cutis. TreatJM) on loristil uiional and
pmrty (piMiionit ... us I received it frum St, A. Douglaa. |i. 111.
St« tlie addreu. ^-'en. Doc.. 35th Cougr.. lot Sv^.. \ul I. No. 8, p. IC.

* " And in no n>nling(.-Dc]t will coDgrcsB Diltnit Kniuos na o Kla*« or
m B ttw •Uttc, uDlvtf ft uiftjoriiy of tlie pooplff ot Kau«as th&tl first

; FKEE-STATE PEOPLE.

67

On the 2(1 of June, he informed Cnss the popuIatioD
demandi^d almost itnunimously that the constitution,
should be submitted to a direct, popular vote, and assured
him that " a most disastrous civil war would have been in-
evitable," if a promise were not given that this should
be done.'

Matters, indeed, threatened to take a dangerous turn
n<;ain, and it was to be feared now that the incentive
tlierelo would come from the free-stale party. The
Topeka legislature was to meet on the 9ih of June.
Walker himself hastened thither. On the 8th he deliv-
ered a speech urgently exhorting the people not to be car-
ried away by passion into a chase after shadows, and
thus revive the old troubles in a worse form, while it
needed only the honest carrying out of the law of con-
gress in order to reach a decision in accord with the
fundamental principles of repubhcan-democ ratio self-gov-
ernment, A new legislature would be elected in Octo-
ber, and if the party then won, it would be entirely in
its power to repeal the territorial laws which they ob-
jected to, and then before the close of the year the peo-
ple, by voting on ibe constitution, would have to decide
whether Kansas should be a free state or a slave state.
The question: " Who elects the convention Che answered
evasively, saying that it mattered little who submitted
the constitution to the people provided Kansas got no
constitution which was not wanted by a majority of the
people. The (|nestion: Whether he had the power to

have faii'ly and freely decided the question for themselves by a direit
vote on tilt; adoption of tbu coDetUuiion, exctudiog all fiaud or vio-
lence." TliiB declaration ia repeated tivice in a somewliut altered
form hut with the same emphatiia.
■ Sea. Doc., SSCh Congr., Isl Sess., vol. I, No. 8, p. 9.

68 BUCIIANAJi'e ELECTION — END OF SitTII C0N0KES3.

compel this, he answered with the promtso to unite with
the free-state party in legal opposition, if tbe cotivontton
did not order a popular vote on the coiistitution.'

Walker's speech effected this much, that the moUona
of the radicals having in view the completion of the state
organization and the adoption of state laws were de-
feated by a largo majority. They were content with de-
claring that they held fast to what had already been
resolved and done in the Topeka movement, and that a
petition for the admission of the territory as a state, under
the free-state constitution, shonld be again circulated.'

This moderation was certainly due in great part to
their recognition of the fact that Walker could really do
no more than he had promised to do. The advice of the
radicals would, however, probably have been listened to
more readily if it bud not been so firmly believed that the
convention would not dare to force a constitution on the
people conlrarj' to the promises of the president, made
through the mouth of the governor and against the almost
unanimous will of the |)o|iulation. And, indeed, thai, in
respect to this i]uestion, as Walker alleged, there was
scarcely any difference of opinion among the population,
was too evident to be coniesled. Not only was the pol-
icy announced in Walker's inaugural address approved
by nearly ail the newspapers of the territory, but Cal-
houn and seven other pro-slavery candidates for the con-
vention considered it necessary, on the 13th of June, to
publish a letter in which, referring to a resolution of the
democratic party convention, they repelled the "slander"

> See tbe re|>ort in the Topeka Stalrwiaan of Juno 9, ISST, on tile
Bpei^li Id the Congr. Olobe. tt.i Hvm. USih Uongr., p. 1889.

' WalkM'a report of July 15 to Coaa. SeiL Doc, SStb OoDgr., In
Baw., vol. 1, No. e. p. 87.

ELE(TIO-VS TO THE I

that tliey were opposed to n, popular vote on the eoiisli-

lioii.'

Two days later the elections to ibe convention were
Iield, Whilo the census lists, which embraced only nine-
teen out of thirty-four counties, enumerated nine thou-
sand two hundred and fifty-one persons entitled to vote,
only two thousand two hundred, that is, fewer than one-
fourth, took part in the election," The free-state party
Imd, therefore, remained true to their word as originally
given, to abstain from voting; only a part of the free-
stato democrats, who were zealously defended by the
New York Times, had gone to the polls. The successful
pro-sla^'ery or "regular"' democratic candidates received
about one thousand eight hundred voles.' This figure
furnished overwhelming evidence as to the manceuvre
resorted to by the pro-slavery party in previous elec-
tions. In March, 1S55, they would have it appear that
they had cast six thousand three hundred votes, and now,
in spite of the notorious doubling or trebling of the
population' entitled to vote, they could bring out a
vote of only one thousand eight hundred' in an election
of such importance. This, however, proved not only
that they had been previously guilty of gigantic election

' Sec ihe letter and rosolutionB, Congr. Qbbe, Ist Sess. 35tb Congr. .
,.. hi.

I SUnton'B message of Dkc. 8, \fSi1. Sen. Doc,, 35th Congr,, iBtSesB.,
vol I, No, 6, p. IID.

)Loc cit.

• In a letter ot "' PemaijuiiJ," correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune, n(
July 1 1, 1857, we eveu read : " It is known to all that at Least thrw-
fuurthsof the actual resident popiilHtion of Kans.'is hate gone thither
since llie riots ot Marcli HO, 1855. If there was then n pro-slavery
vute ot six thouBDud three hunUied, there ought to be odo now »(
Iwentj-live tliouoand."

* Walker Haya: "Kfiireely more than one-teDth of Ihu present vol
era of Kanaas." Congr. Olobe, 1st Sesa. 35th Consr., p. IBB.

BTJCHANAM S 1

- ESD OF 35Tn CO.NQEESa.

frauds, but also that they could attain their end only on
conditiou that they operated with still greater harshness
and criminality. They wore able, indeed, owing to the
abstention of the free-state party from voting, to draft a
constitution in accordance with their own wishes, as un-
hindered as if there were no one in the territory who
thought otherwise than they; but, when they submitted
their work to the people, its rejecliun by au overwhelm-
ing majority was beyond a doubt. Their victory, there-
fore, of the 15th of June established the fact that they
would be ignominiously defeated if Buchanan's and
"Walker's promises were fultilled.

No one was surprised at this result. People in the
south had long been just as well informed as those in the
north how matters stood in Kansas. Hence the radical
slavocracy had not awaited the issue of the election.
Even before the election the underground warfare against
the new right obtained bj- surprise lliree years before, was
raging liolty — against the new right, not perhajjs as
Douglas wanted it to be understood, but as the south it-
self had interpreted it. As it was unquestionable that
the majority of the iiopuiation of Kansas did not war.t
shivery, they were not allowed in organising the stale
out of the territory, any more than in the question of the
duration of the territorial condition, to exercise the right
of self-delermlnatlon. Scarcely had Walker's inaugural
address been given to the country than it was seen with
what justice the territorial legislature had ap|>ealud in
iheir negotiations with Geary on the law of February Ifl,
to the wishes and the will of their "southern friends,"
"Walker was not only violently denounced by the press,
but the democtntio state conventions of Qsopgia and of
his own adopted state, Mississippi, made ti SaVftgu attack
on liiui. The former commented on their cOQdcmnatioD

BrCHANAN DNDECEIVED.

71

of tbe promise tbat the constitution would be submitted
to a direct popular vote, by making tbe further charge tbat
Walker had pointed out the way iu which Kansas might
become a free state.

Thus Bucbanan, three months after his inau<^uratiun.
was rudely awakened out of the pleasant dream that,
eren before the meeting of congress, by simply letting
things take their course, the Kansas question would be
solved, and that the whole slavery question would be
allowed to assume for a long period of time the charac-
ter of an unuiljustahle conflict of material interests. Tbe
projected neutrality accompanied by a conscientious exe-
cution of tbe laws, according to tbeirspirit as well as their
letter, meant the defeat of the slave-holding interest, and
the radical slavocracy declared with wonted frankness
that their interests alone would govern their action.
Buchanan must have wanted to deceive himself, if he did
not see that nol!iing had been gained even by the un-
conditional recognition ot his doctrines through the
Dred Scott decision, since the radical slavocracy had it
followed immediately, in this way, by the annouDcement
tbat they had no use fur tbe -'great principle" of popu-
lar sovereignty, even when thus explained, but tbat of a
little cloak of lies. Tbey forced him to resume the bat-
tle, and bis freedom of choice was limited to deciding
whether he would ivage it with them and for them or
against them. If he decided for them, he was of course
to be allowed the use of the lillle niuntleof lies. There it
lay ready-made, and was neither shorter nor more trans-
piirent than the one Douglas had wrapjied about the
JvanaaS'Nebraska bill or Taney tiie Ured Scott decision.
To take the initiative in favor of the slave-holding inter-
est was not asked nor even desired of him at the lime.
All he was asked to do was to substitute absolute passiv-

- END Of 3olH CONOKl

ity for his intended neutrality; tliat is, not to oppose,
even by words, the action of tlie Lecompton convention
iF it treated the riglit of the people, guarantied by the
Kansiis-Nebnislia bill and recngnizud by tlie Dred Scott
decision, of self-determination in organizing the state, as
exhansted by the election of a constitutional convention.

The Washington Union of July 7 published an article
which was construed to mean that the adruiuistrution
decidedly refused to comply with this desire. When,
however, it was examined more closely the doubt could
not but suggest itself whether the refusal was to be as
decided and unconditional as might appear from tho Qrst
impression. A direct, popular vote on tbe constitution,
the article said, was certainly not, under all circumstances,
an absolute requirement. If no great differences of opin-
ion existed, either in the convention or among the popula-
tion, it might properly be dispensed with, as has frequently
been dono without objection. But the previous history of
Kansas showed that there, there was no other means to
surely ascertain tbe will of tlie people. No matter what
the constitution might contain, it nould always be called
a fraud by its opponents, if not approved directly by the
people. It would be asked what reason the convention
could have had for refusing the popular vote asked for,
except tbe conviction that its work <lid not meet the will
of the people, and this it would be dillicuU to anstver.
Tbe controvi'isy would be continued and tho will of the
majority linally prevail.

If tlie f^iii'/ii had stopped here, the article would have
met with tbe entire approval of all who honestly desired
the settlement of the controversy on the basis of the
principle of popular sovereignly. Hut tho organ of iIil'
administration raised the further question, Who was
tbe people, that is, what conditions had to be fulfilled to

THE Pnri'tjlR VOTE.

73

have the right of suffrage at the popular voting on the
constitution, and its answer wiis that tliis was to be de-
termined by (he conslitotional convention, Tliis may
have been tjiiite right theoretically, although, to say the
least, it might be a mutter for discussion whether it was
not rather congress that should determine it, when tJiere
was question of transforming a territory into a state.
But, in this particular case, it was perhaps expedient to
leave thiit undecidi-d, since the territorial legislature had
ordered the electious to a constitutional convention, not
ly virtue of an enabling act, but jjropno vwiu, and con-
gress reserved full liberty to decide whether, and for what
reasons, it would refuse its sanction to the whole prooeod-
ing. But the history of Kansas was verily rich enough in
exuinples to show that the settlement of such questions
could be most effeclually abused in the interest of pnrty,
and that u repetition of such foul practices was not to be
apprehended of this convention would have been, consid-
ering the history of its origin and its composition, an alto-
gether too bold assumption. Must that history and com-
position not rather awaken the suspicion that the Ihiwn
wanted to give a friendly hint to the convention as to how,
without too gross a disregard of the principle of jiopular
sovereignty, still to do a groat deal in the interest of the
sluvocrucy f This suspicion coid<l be allayed all the less
by making a show uf moral indignation, as the sentence
on the right of suffrage in Buchanan's inaugural address
sounded very differently,' And if a hint were not in-
tended, it was still to be expected that the passage in the

'It IB tiie imperative and indispensable duty (1) of tbo guvernnipnt
of tlie United iitlalea to st^cure to ever; resident inhabitant (I) the
free and Independent expression of bis opinion by bis vote. This ae-
cred riglil of each individual (!} tuust be jireBeivt^l, Slateaiu,'s
Mitn,. Ill, p. 2233.

Ti BCCHAXAN S ELECflON — END OF 35tH COKGBRSB.

article in the Union would be looked upon as one, and
this not by the atrabilious republicans only. But if it
was consicleretl such a hint in Lecomplon and in theslav-
ocratio camp in general, the further question readily sug-
gested itself, whether the declarallun that a popular vote
was not necessary under all c i re u instances, might not be
made use of as a back door through which the president,
by the employment of proper pressure, might be forced
out of the rest of liis virtuous reasoninfj.

If a document emanating directly from the president
but whicli saw the light only subsequently became known
now, such interpretation of tho Union article would have
been excluded, and the course of events perhaps greatly
modified, since it might have been represented to tho
president in time, i. a, before bis disgraceful and fatal
change of front bad become un accomplished fact, that
he had. so to speak, nailed himself fast. He wrote to
Walker on the 12th of July, exhorting him not to allow
liimself to be forced from the programme drawn up,
since on that ground he was " irresistible," and announc-
ing his own resolve to "stand or fall" with the demand
that the constitution should be submitted to a vote of tho
people.'

> " The point on wtiiuh your and our success dciiends ia the aub-
uiissioii u( lliB ronsLitutioQ to the people of Kaii»as. ... On lliu
quvstiun of hubmitting the constitution to tlie bonu fiile resiileut s«t-
tlera of Kansas, 1 am willing to Htnnd or faJl. Iii suslnining sucli a
jirinciple nu ctumot fall. It is the [irindplis of the Ennsas-Nf brnsku
bill; the iiriiiciple of popular »uverrit;utj^, and the priuciple at tlie
fii initiation of all popular ^T«rniuetit. . . . Should you uugwer
the rv»alution of the latter (Misaiesippi;. I would adviae you to nialco
th« great prinoiplp of the suhiuiesiou of the coustjtutiou to the bonn
fide residents ot Kaunas couspicuouslj' prouiiuenl, Ou tliis you will
bo irresistible." Itep. of Uomm., SSth Congr., lat Seai., vaL V, Ko.
Mi. pp. 113,118,

JCHEMKS OF THK ITLTKA8.

75

It by no means reqnired any extraordinary courage to
remain true to this resotve. There was slill enough
lionor left in the slavocrntic camp to approve it wichout
resi'i-ve. Thus, for instance, in an article in the Rich-
mond Examiner, of tlie Hth of July, the schemes of the
" Ultras " were branJeil in terms as scathing as the most
rtidical of republicans cuulJ liave employed.' Besides, the
reports of Walker from Kiinsas were very satisfactory so
far as this question was concerned. The governor was not
without anxiety, but it was in the new "revolutionary"
movements of the free-state people that he saw reason
for serious apprehension. It seemed to him that Lane*s
agitation for a certain mititiiry organization of the party
and the intention of the citizens of Lawrence to constitute
tiiemselves a state under the Topeka constitution, by
dint of obstinacy, might again lead to deuds of violence
at any moment. He wa^, therefore, not satisfied with

i"'A paltry fraud, a political juggle, a legal Bwiiidle, upon the
IHKiplc of Kaiisas — insUted iiiion, deuiandpd, ulaiuored (or, bj ' tiie
cliivalry,' pat excellencs, fay the pink and pick poUtiuiaos of the
south 1

" ' Out tools in the convention will frame a constitution for Ean-
«ai : ' ' it will be suuh as tlie pei>pIo would repudiate ; ' ' we will t«ke
c«re to preveol the people from voting upon it : we will juggle it
through with a bIiuw of mock fnruialilies ; ' and ' we will accomplish
by chicane what we could noL liave accoinpliahed by stiaigliirorward,
honest, douiocratic practice.' Such is tlie position of the peculiar
champions of the south; such the attitude in which they are striv-
ing to place tlie south before the Union and l>efore the world ; such
the humiliating depths of dislionor — with faith violated, pledges
broken, and reputation blasted — in which they would sink the uoble
democracy of tlia slavebolding states. The fraud is infamous enough
ia itself, but it is doubly so in being in violation of express pledges
given by the deniociHcy ot the Union, and particijiuted in, in the
uu»t soleniil^ manner, by the ultraa themselves." The Wmhinglou
Union had the boldness to give ita commentary of the l&Eli of July
the following heading: "'Will the south couatenauce the fraud?"

76

BDOnANAS's ELKrnON KND OF 3JTI! CONGRESS.

an express wtirnino^, in his proclumatioii of July 15 to
llie citizens of Lawrence, but lie aslied llm president, in
accordance with ibc obligation entered into with him,
in the negotiations above refun-ed to, to place at bis dis-
posal a sufficient number of troops, as a poase comitatuB.
Tbe troo|)3 wliicb on account of the Mormon troubles
wore to have marched to Utah, were, therefore, left in
the territory, and the free-state people gave no occasion
for an appeal again to powder and lead, while the matter
of the constitution was, in AValker's opinion, proceeding
most satisfactorily. That in tiie democratic convention of
July 3, in Lecoinpton, no one had alleged the possibility of
making ICansas a domain of slavery, )m thouglit be might
construe to mean ibat it was unicefsally recognised as im-
possible that Kansas could be made a slave stale "in
consequence ot tbe laws of climate and tbe well known
will of the people."' And on tbe 15tUof July he reported
to Cass that frequent conversations with the majority of
tbe delegates to the convention made tbe adoption of a
constitution patterned after those of ditTerent slave stales
aeeni to bini highly probable: security of the right of
properly in aiaves who were such at the time, prohibition
of tbe further impiirlation of slaves, complete exclusion
of ail froo persons of color, and tbe strictest e-tecution of
the fugitive slave law. At a popular vote sucb a con-
stitution would probably be adopted by a large raajority.
as free-stale democrats and the pro-slavery party could
unite on tbal platform: "Indued, il is universally ad-
mitted here that the only real quoslion is ibis: Whether
Kansas shall be a conservative, onnstitutioDal, democratic
and ultimately free state, or whether ii shall be a repub-
lican and abolition slate.''
In his letter of July 13 already moniioned, llucbanan
iSeii, Doc.,35tUCcmgr.,latS«s., vol.1. No. 8, ji. 133.

THE CLBKOTMES 9 MEMOKrAt..

had stated that, in his opinion also, salvation coiiM lie
hoped Tor only from a union of the pro-slavery party wiih
the free-stale democrats; that is. in other words, that the
south had to tie satisfied with what the free-state demo-
crats were roady to grant it. Walker, now, on the 20th
of Jnly, wrote that the violent attacks of tho slavocratic
"ultras" upon himsalf and his policy on the constitu-
tional question had already given such offense to so many
free-state democrats that they would, presumably, spite of
all representations, go hand in hand wrlli the repub!ic!ins '
If Buchanan still wished to remain true to his programme
hitherto, this news, which made the fulfillment of the
hopes awakened by the report of the 15tli, must induce
him ostentatiously and strongly to back his governor
against the slavocratic whippersin, in order that the free-
state democrats might not be driven entirely into the
arms of the republicans. But nothing occurred from
which such an intention could be inferred. On the other
hand, he made use of an opportunity which accidentally
presented itself to express himself on the Kansas question.
in a manner which must have dampened the expectation,
encouraged perhaps here and there by his previous atti-
tude, that he would stand out against the rage of the
slavocnicy.

Some clergymen from Connecticut had addressed a
niomorial to the president on his Kansas policy. His
answer' of the 15th of August contained, indeed, the
statement that, on the transformation of the territory into
a state, the people had the right to decide the slavery
question by voting on the constitution ; but as to the rest

iSeii. Due,, SGtli Congr., let Bess., vol. L No. 8, pp. 30, 31.

'Pcinled in llie N. Y. Tribune of Se\>t. i, 1&47. See also in the Jii-
dtpendent of Oct. 1, 1867, the memorial ot the clergj-iiiea nnd thvir
esbauslive refutation of Btichansn's Hopliistical reaBoiiing.

cccriASAs'a electios — esd of 35th cosgresb.

of it. even Calhoun himself, accordinf^ to Brown of Mis-
sissippi, could not liiive written anything more accept-
able to the slave barons. The election law relating to
the constitutional convention was called equitable and
just because it recognized the right of all honajiile inhab-
itants to vote, and had, at the same time, by the three
months' limitation above mentioned, guarded against
fraud and the intrusion of citizens from neighboring as
well as remote states. A refutation of the reasons
which rendered these provisions inequitable and unjust
in the eyes of the opposition was not attempted; — to
prove the more than strange assertion, that an intrusion
from remote states was possible in the same sense as from
neigliboring Missouri, nothing was said; — on the man-
ner in which the provisions of the law relating to the
taking of the census and the drawing up of tlic list of
voters were carrietl out, a discreet silence was observed.
The free-state people, on the other hand, were again, suh
j'Oiff, described as rebels. If their rebellion was yet in its
first stage, still the announcement was thought necessary
that it was the imperative duty of the president to protect
the convention by federal troops from violence, as if thu
intention to overwhelm it could not be doubted. Leav-
ing this last insinuation out of consideration, it must
have seemed an altogether unwarranted piece of mild-
ness to speak only of a state of "incipient rebellion," be-
cause slavery, as the supreme court finally det'lded, had
always existed and still existed in Kansas " under the con-
stitution of the United States." "llow it could ever
have been seriously doubted is a mystery." Bnt it will
always remain a still greater mystery bow Buchanan
could write this sentence and allow it to be published to
the country, since he must have known that the ducu-
montary proof of ibe fact, that he had thereby exposed

HEW TOEK DEMOCKATIC CCISVEXTIOS,

his own capacity of judging on constitutional matters
to an unexampled teatinionium pituperlatis, could not only
bo produced at any moment but would unquestionably
be produced by numberless newspapers and orators.
Many a beardless youtli could remember the time when
he declared the legislative competency of congress in re-
spect to slavery in ibe territories to be undoubted as em-
phatically as ho had done so since the beginning of bis
political career; ' and in the defense of himself which he
pubiisbi-'d after tho civil war, be again severely con-
demned the repeal of the Missouri com|)roinise. It has,
however, never been denied that he was at this time as
accountable as a man, as a politician and a jurist as at
any other period of his life; and this sentence, therefore,
was an aspersion of himself as severe as can well be
imagined.

Tlie New York democratic state convention passed a
very different judgment. In its resolutions, the reply to
the Connecticut clergymen was styled "an admirable
letter." ' But, even from this point of view, it could not
be denied that the letter betrayed an anxious and ardent
desire to obtain the favor nf the southern radicals. That
the new arlilices of their representative were to be traced
directly to that desire itiust not, indeed, be assumed, and
certainly cannot be proved. But if it must bo admitte<l
as probable that these artifices would, under any circum-
stances, have been resorted tg, we must say, on the other
hand, that these people must have undergone a really
wonderful raetamorpbosis for the belter, not to allow

'In IhelMler frequently quoted of AiigiiBt 31, 1S4S, to Saadford, he
Mfa: "Hnving urjceU the adoption of the Uisaourl coiupromiae, iho
li)tereni:e is invsixtible thai congress, In my o|iinion. [KiMwsee the
power to legislate upon the eubjevC of slaver; in the ttfrritoriea."

*N. Y. Tribune. Sept. H. 1S57.

80 iiuciianan'm ELKL-no-v — lixii OF 35ti

tliemseUes to determine to reconsider tbeir resolntion ia
consequence of tliia prostration of the president at the
feet of the slavocnicy, if they had wished to deaist from
continuing the struo;glo because entirely without prospect
of success.

Tlie Lecompton convention met on the 1st of Septem-
ber only to adjourn until ufter the October elections.'
That they did not adjourn merely that they might be
able to take the iviU of the people, as expressed in the
elections lo the legislature, ns their instructions, to some
extent, in their work on the constitution, and turn it to
account in that work, but mainly to mtiko it possible fur
the members to devote their time and their various tal-
ents entirely to the interest of the |iiirty, before and dm-
ing the election, was soon seen to bo only too certain.

For some time the republicans had bei-n divided In
opinion on Ihe question wht'ther the freesnilers had
acted not only constllutlonulJy and morally riglit but also
wisely, In a political sense, in drawing, for so long u
time and with rigid consistency, all logical consequences
from the illegal origin of the tcrritorlnl legislature, in-
stead of preserving tlie priiici|»le by a prolfsl ami placiriir
themselves on the ground of fads, because now the for-
mal legality of the actual situation created by the ille-
galities of their opponents liad also grown to be an
undeniable fact. Their opponents hud indubitably long
been very clear on this point, although their Interest for-
bade the frank expression of their views. The mode uf
warfare of the opposition had on the one hand left them
free to continue building on the foundation laid by their
deeds of violence, and, on the other, had given their pos-
ing as the defenders of the supremacy of law and order,

< Duii>;lnB'a Minority R«port of Februu; 19. ItlM. Sna. Rep., «3ih
Cougr., lat Seaa. vol, I, No. 82, p. 70.

WALSEK S ASSCRANOES.

SI

which at first bore so unmistakably the stamp of the
boldest mendacity, the appearance of truth ; and this the
more the longer it lasted. Now. at last, Walber'a assur-
ances induced the free-soil people to resolve to come to
terms with the principle for the moment, at least, with
words, but to maintain the actual struggle on the field of
their opponents. Considering the notorious numerical
proportions of the parties, this resolution, in and of it-
self, completely changed the situation. The pro-slavery
party was thus deprived of the two props with which the
free-sotlers had supplied it by their policy of absolute
fidelity to principle, and they inimediaiely showed how
perfectly they were conscious that these props had be-
come the corner-pillars of their supremacy over the ter-
ritory. If Kansas were not admitted into the Union as
a state under the Lecompton constitution, the new terri-
torial legislature might repeat all the laws passed by its
predecessors, and all the vile deeds and crimes since those
days in March. 1S55, would have been committed in vain;
and if the election of a free-soil legislature were allowed
to follow on Iho heels of the adoption of a slavery con-
stitution without a popular vote, all the sophists of the
world could adduce nothing in answer to the charge that
slavery had been forced upon the people against their
will. The victory of June was, therefore, worse than
useless if it were to be followed in October by a defeat;
for if the convention, spito of such defeat, drew the in-
ferences it intended to draw from that victory, the pro-
slavery party would thereby brand itself on the forehead
with its own hand. Walker had merited to be more
ardently hated by them than the Lanes, Kobinsons, etc.,
for he Imd lieivn down the branch on which they sat, by
bringing it to pass that the free-soil people resolved lo
take part in the October elections. Any idea of victory,

83

ELECTION END OF SuTH CKIM0RRS9.

in an honest struggle, was excluded; and sharp practice,
which would of course be resorted to,' would avail noth-
ing. To strike tbeir colors or return to the policy of
election frauds of the glorious "law and order" days,
with an energy utterly regardless of consequences — they
liad no other choice.

Owing to a defect in the laws of the territory — we
must hero leave it undecided whether the defect was in-
tentional or not — election frauds could be perpetrated
with perfect safety to any extent desired. Penalties
were indeed attached to illegal or fraudulent voting, but
there was no provision th^it made the drawing up of
fraudulent lists of voters punishable.' There was no need.
Uierefore, of troubling the MlssouHans; the same end
could be attained, much more easily, mncli more cheaply,
without any unpleasant altercations, brawls or frays in
the places of election, and without any dangerAvbatever,
by writing fictitious names on the necessary quantity of
paper; and this was now done. Johnson county, on the
border, was joined to the densely populated county of
Dougliis, and provided with a disproportionate represen-
tation in the legishitnrc.* In the Oxford district of this

iStantoii Bays, in tlie meaioi'bil referred to, "To the People of the
United Slnti^;" '" When ... it hud beoomo appnrcnC th^it ih<>
mass OF Uio people were pre[iai'cd and delerniined to parti(;i|iati.' In
tlie Octulwr eiectiotta, tlio luiuority ondcavored to d^tcat tJie result
by reviving the tax ijiialillcacion for electors, which lind Imh^d n'ptnird
by the previous legislature. Opininiia were obtained fr.jni Jiigh legal
aourc^a, [he etiect of which, had they prevailtHl, would havi< been to
exclude the UJasa of the people from voting, to retuiii tlie coiilrol In
tlie hands of the miDoritv. and, na a con sequence, to keep up aglta-
tipn, and to render civil war ineritnhlc."

= Stnnton'ii luessitge of Dec. 8. 1S37. Sen. Doc., BOlU Congr.. lut
Sesa., vol. I. No. y. p, 110.

>Stauton eayn in the uiemoriul of JauuHry 29, 1SS8: "with n
lar^e and controlling representation in tliv lej^Uturc. Tk« ccli-

KANSAS ELECTION FBADDS,

83

electoral circuit and in three districts of McGeo county,
the pen repaired the damage done by the votes of the
population in the rest of the territory. Here the con-
spirators snromed up a vote of twelve hundred, although
not ^nite a luindred jiersons had the right of suffrage,'
and there they prepared a list, fifty-foar feet long, of
sixteen hundred names, ail of which bat one hundred
and twenty were copied exactly in alphabetical order
from an old Cincinnati directory,'

Even in the United Stntes, where everything has a
tendency to assume gigantic proportions, notliinj of the
like had ever occurred before. This fact may have given
some satisfaction to the forgers, and they miglit try to
console themselves by it as best they could, for as to the
rest they had wasted time, ink and paper, since Walker
felt called upon to continue to play his part and 8|)oil the
game. Xeitiier abuse nor tlireals could move him to re-
store to its place of honor an ancient Cincinnati dii-ectopy,
made waste paper of ihroughuge, by Irunsforming it into
a. poll-list of the 0,\ford district of Kansas. Even a writ
of mandamus issued by Judge Cato did not change his
mind.* Thanks to his honest and manly redemption of
the word he bad pledged to the free-soil people, the lat-
ter obtained a large majority * in both houses of the legis-
lature, and their delegate to congress was elected by a
majority of about live thousand voles.

Walker publicly and officially expressed the opinion

brnted Oxford frond was perpetraled with a view lo obluiii miijorilies
In both Ikjiisps of the assembly."

I The I K'lf pendent, Nov. 5. 1S.17.

»Tho Indtpendrnt. Nov. IS. IBoT.

*Sea. Doo., 3St1i Congr., 1st Sure., vol. I. No. 8. pp. 10«-10e.

• In the council nine agninst four, and in Iha houae of ropresenta-
Uvea twentj-seveii agninac twelva The Indeptndent of Oct. 28,
I85T. after tbe Chicago Tribune.

H

BLXnAXAS's ELECTION — BSD OF 35tH CONGRESS.

that a victory obtained by sanctioning such monstrous
frauds of the pro-slarery party would have been more
disastrous than the worst defeat.' If he had been abetter
adept in the art of reducing the ballast of civic morality
in his political bark to a minimum, he would have seea
that the victory could have been secured without sanc-
tioning the frauds. The Kichmond Enquirer condemned
these just as eniphaticiiliy as he did,' but claimed at tbe
same time, with Judge Cato, that the certificates of elec-
tion should have been given to the persons elected, in
accordance with the fraudulent poll-lists, because the ter-
ritorial laws made the legislature, and not tbe governor,
tbe judge of the legality of tbe elections. This, in itself,
was entirely correct; but, on the other hand, it was un-
doubted that a party which bad not recoiled from these
maiiceuvres, if it were allowed by means of such poll-
lists to get a majority in tbe legislature, only for the first
twenty-four hours, would never deprive itself of a major-
ity by an examination of election certificates. The
formal law would again have served only to set atrocious
force ill motion, in such a way that it would become
permanently and legally binding. Walker bad undoubt-
edly assumed a power which the latv did not give him,
but he thereby prevented an unparalleled piece of knav-
ery becoming again a foundation on which a new citadel
of criminal force might be erected out of formal law — a
citadel against which, according to the doctrine preached
for years in Washington by those in power and carried

I Sw liis proclaitiationB of October 19 and OctobiT 22, I85T. 8«n.
Doc., ystli Conpr.. IbI Sew., vol. I, No. 8, pii. 101-106.

- " Tlie UDlure nml rtinracttT of llieae TrauitH uru tiu<:h as preclude
the |)i](8ibilitT iif rlefcnHe anil Pxl^fUatiou. Tliere Is no defense fur
tbe proceed ingt at Oxford, nud no power on earth onu induM lu to
exteauHt^ ttuil manatroas tratuactlon." Priutvd in tho H. T. Trib-
une at Xuv. B, 1837.

THE PRESIDENTS DELUSION.

85

out by armed force, not a fiuger could be lifttid without
becoming guilty of rebellion.

The history of Kansas's sorrows thus far made this so
clear that the most stii|iid town politician needed no ex-
planation to enable him to understand it. But the presi-
dent who Imd lulled himself into the deiiision that he
could drive the Kansas question out of the world until
congress met, by the im[iai-tial execution of the laws,
placed himself entirely at the point of view of Judge
Calo, on which Pierce, too, hud stood from the first. The
motto of the White House was still not: Ji<it justUia, ruat
calum, but: woe to the hand that touches the letter of the
Jaw conceived in violence and fraud and born of artiHce
and deceit, no matter how completely justice, through its
rule, may be crushed by the fulling heavens. Soma jour-
nals even betrayed, in the unwise zeal with which they
defended Buchanan, that he had foreseen what had haiv
poned, and had expressly instructed Walker not lo think
of going boyonO the letter of the law in the interests of
justice.' The governor's guilt was, therefore, double; fur
he had, contrary to express oniera, become guilty of an act
of usurpntion, by means oF which ho deprived the pro-
slavery party of the fruit of its infamous acts. Hence,
for a time, the rumor was widely believed that his re-
moval had been decided upon and would soon take place.

1 Tlio Ricliiiionrt ^igiii/frwaa written on the 2d of November from
WAsliin^tun : " Pi'i«id«int Bucharian tDOSt tinequivocuUy cundenins
tlie ni'liou of Governor Walker [oucliing the Kansas elections. . . .
I rcrl nssui't'd Walker'n aotions will be pronounced an rrror, and be
will be reprimunded for falling into it in direct vjolatioti of bl* in-
Btructjon of S^ptembt^r 8, in which he is especially charged to leave
all quetitions of fraud to Ilie legislature, where it, pruperlj' belong«d.

" Tlitj president regrets this blunder the more, bb it places tbo
•uutliL'rn meiiilM.'rs of his cabinet in an tinnleasHnt imaitlon. and is
likely to rti-o|*n the Kausiia iiuostion tlu-ou^bcut the aouth, Mr.

80 Buchanan's election — end of SuTu conokess.

The press friendly to tbe administration immediately
met tlis I'uinor willi the assurance that the president,
notwitlistimding the gravity of tiie offense, would exer-
cise consideration, partly hecuuse it was the first fault

Buchanrm is surprised that Unvprnor Walker Bhoutd Imvo Fallen into
sutli itn error, as liix iDetruttionB n-vrc too [tlaiti to be misiinderatood,
und wtre prepareil lo uiecl preiiisf ly the state ot llie <aao which oc-
curred." N. Y. Hcntid Mild The Star. (See Congr. Globe. 1st Seas.
33tli Congr.. N. V. Herald und The Star.) All tbrte jouriials dt-nW
that Walker'a reuioval was Inteuded. The iUBtructJoiis of Srpteiu-
ber8 werijnot to be (nuiid iti tbe docunieiita trausiiiitltd louungresit.
Our infomiatiou coiit-erniiig the hc cret hi^torj ot tbe Kaasaa ques-
tion has recently — a cimaideratle lioie after thia cbapttr hnd been
conipleled in niunuscrliit — received a valuable uldltiun by the pub-
lication or a letler ot Buchanan dated October 2S, l8IiT, tbat in, on the
dsy of Walker's pruclaniation referred to, sddreaat?d to tbe governor
in relation to the elections. (Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Liuuulu:
A History. The Century Mujf..iiliie. July, 18t)7, pp. al7, MTS.) Tho
president expre^^ses his GatiuCHctiou that the Leconipiun coDvuniion,
as Walker bad inturmi^d him, vruuld HUbmitthe coniititucion to a vote
of tbe jieople. " Tbix,'' as well ns " that the lute election passed off
ao pencefulljV induce biiii tu btdievo that "■ we mny now fairly an-
ticipate a happy conoluaion to all tbe difflcultiea in that territory."
He then decl arm Walker's compluint about tbe attitude of Harris,
editor ot the Unwn, unfounded, but ndinila tliat tbe latter dowi not
acquiMce in biit m]Uei>t to send him an article, by which Walknr fvit
Rpecially aKRrievcd, Hnrria was not responiihle. he said, for tho
non-publicntion of the letter sent by Walker of Dr. Tehba and Gen-
eral Whit&eld, in which the Ini ler admit that Kansas was lost beyond
recovery to slavery, '' I knew nothing; of tbeiu until after the re-
ceipt of yaura(I); and upon inquiry I found their publication had
be#n prevented by Hr. C^bb{!) under a Hrni conviction that they
would injure both yountclf and the ndtninistraliun. Wlivther be
judgcid wisely or not I cannot suy. for 1 never bjiw them. That be
acted in fairneaal!) and friundship I have no doubt." In connection
with this letter. Nlcoluy and Uay recall that, accotdiiig to Walker's
lesliuony before tho Coviido cinumittee, Calhoun aa'.ure'l hiui Ihiil
tho administration bod chan^^ed ita pulley, liud that he trim] by Ilm
bait of the presidency to induce him to change with him. Tbe in-
ference Ihey draw fiom these facts is as followa: "The conduiiun

ALEEB LEFT I

87

Walker had committed, under such exceedingly difficult
circumstances, partly because he would certainly see it,
frankly acknowledge it, and, to the extent of his power,
ntake amends for it. lie was, therefore, left in office,
but whelhei- for the reasons just givtn must seem highly
doubtful. Much more probable was the supposition that
the "Wliite House calculated thus: his removal cannot
undo what has been done; besides, it would be looked
upon by the enemy, and more or less successfully, as an
open siding with tbo forgers; it could, therefore, not help
and must injure. The game with the accomplished facts
which could not be gotten over had been played long
enough for the participants to understand thoroughly
that ihcy were not going to allow themselves to be mis-
led by vexation into the mistake of knocking down the
wall with their iieads. Great as was the rage of the
slavocratic radicals, nothing coutil be done for them at
the moment. Nothing was left for them hut to await
what the Lccorapton convention would and could do for
them, not only without the su|»port of a similarly -minded
but against a hostile legislature.

Many of their partisans in the territory evidently con-
sidered their cause irretrievably lost. Of the sixty mem-
bers of the Lecompton convention only forty-three put
in an appearance; of these frequently only a few over
thirty were present, and it was notorious that sessions
were held without a quorum. The slavery question was

is almoat forced upoD us tliut a cabinet intrigue, of wLich the preei-
dent was kept in ignorance, was being carried on, under the Tery
eyea of Mr. Buchanan, by tboas whoni lie himself significantly calls
• the eitremiBta," — a plot lo supersede his own inlenlions and makis

him falsify his own declarations. As ii

then

by the same agents a. few years later, ho bad neither the wit t
oelve nor the will to resist,"

per-

SS ntciiANAs's ELEtrrioN — END OF 35to cosoress.

decided by only twenty-eiglit votes, and the question of
the popular vote was carried by only the miserable ma-
jority of two votes. One di,l not need a very lively im-
agination, nor very great party animosity, for this con-
vention, with its body-;;iiard of federal troops, to impress
him as a light-shunning conventicle of conspirators. Dur-
ing its last days no journal was kept, or, at least, none
could be found.'

On the 7th of November the convention was done wilU
its work. That work corresponded perfectly with what
was to be expected from the first two steps it had taken,
namely, the election of John Calhoun as president, and
of Hiind, one of iho manufacturers of the Oxford poll-list,
as secretary. What the party had lost by the pusilla-
nimity of one part of its members the others had, by re-
doubled audacity and tenfold craft, endeavored to maku
ap. The border counties were accorded an undue weight
in the legislature, from the fact that the fraudulent poll-
lisls were made the basis of representation. That the
way was paved as smooth as possible, hy all sorts of pro-
visions, for the Jlissourians to intrude themselves at fut-
ure elections need only be mentioned in passing. The
free-soil legislature elected in October was completely
crippled by iho provision that "all laws now in force in

' The facts recited ore all taken f ratn llie MJaority Rejjort of J. 8.
Morrill, EJ. Waile, H, Bi-nnelt. D. H. Walbriilge and J. RuWntog.
Rej). of llie Select Comm, ot Fifteen, May 11, 1858. fU-p. of Cottim.,
a^tli Congr., iBl Seaa., vol. Ill, No. B77, p. 100.— The Bostua TVavei-
ler wo* wriileo from Lawrt-nce on the 0th of November: " Wlion
tho constiiuciun was eJopted aa b whole, only lwi-uty-§«v»ii votes
were cast for it, and niiiu agalnal it. It was with diiliculty tliat a
qU'inim could be secured to sign it, and but thirly*two names went
appended to the instrument. A convention elected hy n uilaeraUe
minority and n constUuiion voted for on its final posjaKe by a minor-
ity of the convention!"

PROVISION OS SLAVERY.

8D

the territory shall continue to be of force until altered,
amended or repealed by a legislature under the provis-
ions of this constitution." The liands of the governor
were tictl by transferring the direciion of the election
and the exjimination of the polling-lists entirely to the
president of the convention.' The officers of election
were not required to tiilte the usual oath to discharge
the duties of their office conscientiously. Tlie material
provision respecting slavery was, ■iJt-i-F/iif.iia, as follows:
"The right of property is before and higher than any
constitutional sanction, and the right of the oivuor of a
slave to such slave and his increase is the same and as
invioliible as the right of any property whatever. The
legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the eman-
cipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or
without paying the owners, previous to their emancipation,
a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated.
They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to the
state from bringing with them such persons as are deemed
slaves by the laws of any one of the United States or ter-
ritories, so long as any person of the same uge or de-
scription shall bo continued in slavery by the laws of
this state." Verily, there lacked but little here to trans-
form the provision which, until the discovery of the "great
principle" of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, had governed in
this mutter, into its direct opposite: The abolition of
slavery and of involuntary servitude is forever prohib-
ited.
The crowning of the work was the resolutions respect-

•The Independent scarcely pxagRBrated when it wrote (November
lU, ISTi') : " It ItliB convention) actually constituted a provisioual gov-
erntneiit for KariBas, whereof its president, United States Surveyor-
Oenernl John Calliuun, is made governor." Somewliat morp detntJed
d«ts regarding Callioun'a powera may be found in Ccingr- Globe, lot
Seas. 3jtli Coni^r., p. 101

90 BLCnANAs's ELECTION — END OF 35rH CONGRESS.

iDg tlie popular vote. The convention had decided in
favor of a popular vote. Tlie 'Washiniiton Uniun of No-
veinbor IS broke out into enthusiastic jubilation over this
news. The pioljlem, it exclaiuicd, is solved in accord-
ance with the great principle of the Kansas- Nebraska
bill, and tlie republicans who live by the eternalization
of the troubles ia Kansas are ruined.'

This must have had a startling effect on those even
who despised Buchanan the politician too much to be
able to liate him. The man who could have caused that
to be written had no right to complain if the question
was asked wiietber he could be taken seriously.

The Utiiou stated that the "constitution" would be
submitted to a popular vote. That was simply a lie,
and the organ of the administration lied, fully conscious
that it was lying. The voting formula read; "Constitu-
tion with slavery " or "Constitution with no slavery."
Hence, so far as the conalitutt'on was concerned, no choica
was loft to the people; the people had to voLo for it; that
is, it was forced on the people by the convention; only
with respect to slavery — so far as could be disowred
fi-om the voting fonmda — was the decision to rest with
the people. Bui the constitution, quite independently of
slavery, gave occasion for very many and very weighty

I ■' The vexod (lUration is spttlL-d — the problem ia solved — the dead
point o( ilnnger is pnssed — all seriras trouble nbont Kansas Hffaira is
over and gonu. Anoilier star ia added u> the republican consiellation,
not shining on sucnes of terror, conflagration anil bloiid, but lendin;;
iU light lo the penoetul pursuiU of a contented and prosperous pt-o-
ple. . . . This newH, BO full of hope to every American patriot,
will bring sori-ow only to one class of our jiooplc. The blacli repub-
Uuitl politiciuns had nil their cripitol staked on the chances of disor-
der and confuBioii in Kanaus. The enterprise line foiled, ond thoy nrs
ruined. The pt'ace of the country, Ibe prosperity of lliti people, «nd
the safety o( the tJoiou is destruction to their hope."

objections, and the ppiiici|}Ie of the Kansas-Nobraska bill

lopulai

inly in rogurd to slavei

ivereignty c
but [lopiilur sovereignly absolutely, llmt is, in regai-d to
all insLituiions, and in accordance with tLis, not only
Walker but Buchanan as well bad promised to use all
bis influeuco to have the constitution submilti-'d to a popu-
lar vote. If, therefore, he now approved the resolution
of tbe convention without reserve, he became guilty of a
breach of word, and made matters worse by the hypo-
critical untruth tliat his word bad bceu fully redeemed
by the convonliun. That the latter endeavored to have
people believe that this bad, indeed, been done, did not,
of course, diminish bis ^uill.

This, however, was, so to speak, only the introduction
to the gigantic fraud which the conveution had hatched,
and which the organ of the administration celebrated
with such hymns of praise. The voting formula itself
was a cdutemptible lie. The '"constitution with no slav-
ery " was a deceitful mockery; the people had to choose
between two slavery constitutions, for the " constitution
with no slavery" provided that the slavery existing in
[ho territory should not be touched. In one respect it
was even worse thnn the "constitution with slavery."
The latter contained provisions on the right of owners to
emancipate their slaves, and these provisions were voted
out of existence by the formula "constitution with no
slavery." What the people were allowed to do was lim-
ited to prohibiting the further introduction of slavery;
but they had to make Kansus a slave state. The conven-
tion had endeavored to veil this under a false formula;
but deliani recklessness had, through ilieir success hith-
erto, become tlie nature of the slavocracy to too great a
degree for them not to be able to find people enough to
jinnouncB it immediately loudly and lri»aiphantly to the

92 BVCHANAs'a KLBOTIOH — EXD OF 3.'>Ta C0SOUES3.

world. On the very day on which the contention com-
pleted its labors the real state of the case nas clearlv ex-
posed in a lellor from Leconipion to the Jackson Mmit- j
alppian, wilh the most audacious frankness.' Nor did |
the correspondent forget to call attcn lion to the fact that,
to parlicipation in the popular vote, the condition was A
attaclied that tlie voter should bind himself by oulh to i
support the federal constitution and thia slate conttltu-
tion — a really ingenious, knavish strala<retn, of whiali \
Mephistophcles himself might have been proud. On the
2fith of Kovember, a day before this lettur appeared i
the paper named, the Charleston Mercury bad, with u '
broad smile, informed its readers that Walker and the
republicans had been corajiletely outwitted by the Le-
oompton convention; tho constitution recited: "And no
slavery shall exist in the state of Kansas," but the only
object of that provision was to give the gentlemen of -
tho Washington Union, a small plank on which iboy
might stand in practicing their feats of jugglery.*

'"Thus }'tiu sec that whilst, by subiiiUtin){ the qut^tiou in thui
tatta, timj ore bound to liave a ratifli.'Aliun uF tlip oiis ur the utbcr,
(tod that while it seeois to be an eleciion between a. freo slnle and at
prodaver; conKtitution, it ia in fact but n question of tlie future IB-
ttoduction of el&very that ia id coatroverBy : auil yet it furnish^* our
tri«nJa in congress a l>as)a on which to rest tlieirjrindliMiun uf Urn
admissiou of Kansas na a state uiider it into tlie Union, while tbqr
would not have it. sent directly from the coitvenlioD.

"It isthL- very best proposition for uiakiiig Kansas a iJavestnletlial
was Eubmittt^d fur the coiiaiUerution of tlie L\>uv).-ntion." Rep. of
Oomm.. S5th Congr., Isi Sess.. vol. 111. No. 877. p. 147.

* " It is clear that the pro-slavery party have i.'uinplt^toly ontwiit«d
Walker and Stanton nnd Lh« whole Uack rvpubllcaii party : and that,
afl^r all, Kansas will apply to congress tor ndniiraion as a slave stoto,
with a pro-slttvery conBtittttion, , . . Now. if Ihp right of ijrop.
erty in slaves now in this teriitory slinll in no uianoer be- intprftred
with, liuw is shivery abolisliml? Il nut only pxiutB, but hew is ■
: it iball in no tnsiiut-r be iiiierfvred witl). We liava

THE POITLAK TOTE,

"When Buclianan, in his annual mesmge, officially placed
himself at ihe head of these political jugglei's. the sheet
repeated its point' ia a polite and serious manner in-
deed, but with the utmost positiveness, while warmly
praising his positiou on the whole question. The Le-
compton National Demof^rat had made tlie same point,
with the same firmness, on the 19th of November. And
the person who believed he should reject all these wit-
nesses must have allowed himself to be convinced by
John Calhoun's official declaration. In his proclamation
of the popular vote, on the 21st of December, we read,
a vote should be cast " for or against tlie future introduc-
tion of slavery." This was still another faUification, for
instead of "slavery " he should have written: ofdavea;
but this much appeared beyond a doubt from this official
document, that the popular vote did not extend to the
slavery that existed.

The popular vote resolved upon by the convention
was an adder hidden in a fisb-abin. In the convention it-
self there were decided partisans of slavery who branded
the scheme as a base piece of villainy.' It had been

not a doubt that the first part of the dauae EcemitiEly abolishing
Hlavery was iiiBtned tor the benefit of Jxist audi peuple in the north
as the editor of the Washingtou Union. It will give tliem a amaJI
plank on whiuh they may atand in practicjng thp juKglinj; feats of
bumbuggcry, whilst the prohibition in the latter piirt of the clauie
wcnred to the |)ro-slar^ry party substantially Kaneaa be a ejave atat^."

I " Whtrthcr the clause in the constitution is voted out or voted in.
•l»»ery exist*, and has a guaranty in the conatitiilion that it shall not
be Interfered wllii; whilst, if the alavery parly in Kansas can keep
or get th« QiajoTity of tlie legislature, they may open wide the door
for the ImiiiigratiOQ of alaves."

SBttndolpb, of Atchiaon, said: "Now, what waa thin scheme?
What iasnid! Why, here we have two constitutions — one for slav-
ery, and one without. Well, that's a good one. (Laughter.) Yes,
yon may laugh; It's just humbug. The fact is it is a slave-state

»1

BCCIIANAS'S ELECTION END OF 35tH (

hatched by one Martin, a clerk in the department of the
interior, and the writer of the letter to the Jackson Mii-
tissippian}

The president must really have had an enviable teroper-
ameni, if, under such a condition of affairs, things seemed
to him to have as bright and promising an aspect ns tlio
article in the Union of November IS would have one be-
lieve. "What he subsequently said about his frame of mind
on this matter during' the first terrible shocks of the hur-
ricane of secession exceeds the bounds of ereduliiy, but
he was spite of this, by no means, now, in a very cheerful

constitution, anil a slnve-state coiiBtiliitiun. Tliot'a it; 7011 mov
Inugh. I'll tell jrou, the worlil will uoon be Uughing at us. Thin i«
a grand humbug. It's not fair. It is bUp[K»e^d bv some of tlie grn-
llemen liere that ilwy are awful smnri, or that the abolUioniats urv
anful fools. V/e pxpect them to vole for a sUvu t<tnle In this wav.
Thejr are not eiicIi fouls as j'ou suppose. But let 11a supiKiee that
th*ynre such fools. Is it right to swindln them iu this way? It
isn't fair; 1 won't do it. If tve are to Eubuiit it at all. inibmit it fair:
let them have a free-»tate constitution if thej' vote lu beat us, or ito
not submit it at all. I tell jrou this scheme of en-indling eubniiwioii
wdl be the blai'kest page in your htstiiry; and "■« will never hear
the end of it,"

And Hobley; "It is a swindle — a luoustruus fraud. It wears
faUehiMil on its face in letters of braw. It preienda lo submit the
Ciinstitulion, and dues not. This is n glaring fraud. It was con.
cocted. not by the pro-slavery party, but the political democracy. It
ii a lie, a cheat, a aniadle." Congr. Globe, lat Sess, SSth Coner.,
App., pp. 485, 488.

' " It cannot, at least, be documentnrlly proved that he was an em-
isMiry of the adiuinistraiion. He dialed thai he had liriiught no
iuBtruetions with him from Wnshinglon. and even that his chief had
expressed himself to him in fnvor <it a. popular vote on the entire
conntitution. On further examination he had, however, to admit
that Secretaries Tlioniption and Cobh had shown themselven not dis-
•allstied with the reeolntion whispereit by bim into the ear of the
oonventiun." Bep. of Com., 83th Congr., Ist Sew., vol. T, No. 6t9,
pp. 10 and lOl-lTl.

OOLONEL FORSEY S POSITIOS.

humor. The moral side of the question may not hnve
Ifjtiched him in the least, and he could even tahuly antl
serenely face the storm of republican indi;jnation, con-
fiding probably in his frequently tested democratic coat
of mail; but he was not so obtuse ft politician not to (even
if he had l)een mistaken on it for n moment) see very
soon and very clearly what evil days were in store for
him, as the official head of his party. Douglas showed
little inclination to swnllow the "Ijecomitlon swindle,"^
all the so-called " free democrats " declared that, if they
made the attempt, the bit would infidlibly choke them. —
in his own slate, the Philadelphia Pre8s, the organ of
Colonel Forney, the leader oE the party in Pennsylvania,
was nauseated at the sig;ht of It. This was a kind of
signs of the time that a mnn like liuchanan understood
perfeclly how to read. "While the Union trumpeted thus
loudly, the presiflenl was endeavoring to dissipate the
approaching Btonii-cloud before the tempest should break
loose. Secret negotiations about a compromise were
carried on with Walker, who had coine to "Wasliington.
He agreed with the president that the legality of the
convention should not be attacked; but he demanded
that the legislature should be empowered to call another
convention, whose draft of a constitution should be sub-
mitted to the approval of the people. This was asking
Buchanan to do the very reverse of what ho had just
done. "Whether ho did not now secretly curse the hour
when, true to the old custom, he resolved to act on this
question too as train-bearer to the slavocracy, cannot be
said; but once he had lifted its train, he could no more
drop it than could the boy in the fairytale tear away
his fiuger from the feathers of the golden goose. Even
if Martin had not been his emissary, and if he, under the
delasioD that ho was thereby averting a catastrophe, ran

96 BrCOAXA^-'s ELECTION — E5D OF 35tH COXGBESS.

after one, he now had to become its standard-bearer, if,
to use a forcible American expression, he did not want to
" face the music." *

The president and his governor had allowed them-
selves to be parted so widely from each other bv events
that thev coald not now meet half wav. And even if
Buchanan had been willing and able np to the las: day
of Xovem^>er to turn around, he certainly coukl not do
so the day following. Walkers representative closed
the only road through which, perhaps, a retreat could
still be attempted. Stanton, urged onward by an irre-
sistible power, and dreading, from the exasperation of
the free-soil people, that they would, at any moment,
break out in fatal acts of violence, on the 1st of Decem-
ber called an extraordinary session of the legislature for
the Tth of the month, to see how they could wipe out all
that the Lecompton convention had done.

Buchanan had entered on the duties of his office with
the joyful confidence that the Kansas question would be
settled forever before congress met, and this is how mat-
ters stood when the thirty-fifth congress opened its first
session on the Tth of December, 1S57.

'The Washington coiTeqx>ndent of the Commercial Advertiser
writes on the 24th of XoTember: " Unfortunately for the presi-
dent he allowed bis cabinet to commit him and to commit tl.emselTes
also upon the matter without due consideration. Tliere is now no
retreat for them. Tliej have determined, as a unit, to face the
music — that is, to stand bj the convention at all hazards — against
Douglass (sics R. J. Walker, Col. Forney, and a host of southern
democrats. No northern democratic member of the bouse can rote
for the acceptance of the constitutioo with sUtvery, and it is in that
form that it is to be presented. *"

CHAPTER ni.

TUE ANNUAL MESSAtJE OF DECEMBER 8, I8."i7.

The fall elections had resulted so favorably to tlie
democrats that the tone of the people in Washington be-
came more conKdont than ever. The correspondent of
the New York Tribune there inferred from this, that,
with the election of an anti-slavery legislainre in Kan-
S!ia, the struggle for freedom was not victoriously ended,
biit would rather begin.' The prophecy was fulfilled.
But the more tlie democrats allowed themselves to be
misled by their triuiiiplis to lift their heads in defiant
confidence of victory, the less reiison hsid the republi-
cans to drop theirs. Even hofore the meeting of con-
gress, it was more than questionable whether a direct
inference from the results of the election, as to public
opinion, could he pertinently drawn. The elections had
taken place before the perfidious gameof the Lecompton
convention, in all its viieness, bad been exposed to the
light of day. Hence, only if the wish were father to
the thought, could it be inferred, from thorn, that the
party might dare, unpunished, to make the lecompton
swindle the basis of a new attack, in the interest of the
slavocracy. That was the calculation of a gamester
whom pusston had de|)rived of ihe power of reflection;
for even, leaving out of consideration the doings in

1 "The gencrnl rt-ault of the recent plectioHB, wiili the exceptions
of KausHB and MaBKUfhusette, has ent^nurnged (be adminiBtratiuii
jiiid t-oitfirined the deruocritio party in lu ilitTiisin n' of- negroes policy.
A bolder iodei is (ibaei'vublt; here sint-e the New York election. Not-
w itfihtanding our triumph in Kansas, the contest for rreedom is not
<iver. but is only beginning." The N. Y. Trihunt, Nov. H. 1857.

BUCHANAN 3 ELECTION ~

> OF 35th conobess.

Kansas, the nutumn months had been very rich ioJ
events, and nbat had hiippencd way not calculated tofl
strengthen the position of the parti'.

In entering on the duties of his office Bachanan bad{
tinhesitatingiy left the [ircsident of the Union so far b
hind the pai-tisun tliat he had used in his inaugural ad-
dress a haughty lone which accorded bailly with the
actual stale of things. Notwithstanding the many elect-
oral victories the party had to record, not the faintest!
echo of this tone was now to bo heard in his annuals
message. It began witli a funereal jeremiad over thofl
'"deplorable" economic condition to which the countryj
had been reduced, in a night, so to sjicuk, notwithstand-f
ing its unbounded natural wealth and its rich harvests.!
The economic state of the Union, indeed, presented tbm
picture of a luxurious country whose blossoming splendon
and wealth uf fruit had been suddenly ruined by a terriJ
hie and disastrous hailstorm. The sun, indeed, is wontJ
to bid many a prostrate blade to rise again, and the deV'j
astation is generally not as great as is thought at fii'st.fl
That this case would be no exception to the rule was sal
certain that Buchanan rightly expressed the fear tbatj
rapidly returning prosperi'y would too soon make ih^a
people forget the lessons bitter experience had just taught^
them. But the probabdity of the realization of this fearj
must have been all the greater, ihu more absolutely antlM
generally the people approved the view of the president,!
that the present economic crisis — in contrast with ulll
previous ones which were traceable to the en-operation 1
of various causes — resulted "solely from an extraVHgMntT
and vicious system of paper currency and bank credits.**!
It WHS indisputable lliat this system could not be toose-f
verely condemned, and that it occupied the lirst pta<

; the direct causes of tbe catastrophe. Bat thutj

CALirOENIA GOLD,

tlio evil effects of the bad system had grown to such
enoriDOLts dimensions and cast their roots so deep could
he acconnted for only by causes much more universal and
of much earlier date. It was evident, in the first place,
that tbe"craBh" was by no means con fined to tbo United
States. The "crash" occurred in the United States first,
and was the immediate inipuhe to the production of the
entirely similar and, in part, no less violent commercial
crisis in Europe; but the latter was not produced by it;
it bad its origin in the same general causes. In tlie crisis
of 1857 the dark side of rapid and increasing consolida-
tion, by the modern methods of trade and machine in-
dustry, of the national, economic life of civilized nations,
into one great world-economy, became clearly manifest
for the first time.

The transformation and new-formation of the economic
life of Europe, in the si^Lteenth century, became so pro-
found and was so rapidly accomplished, in comparatively
so short a time, because the sudden and bountiful flow of
silver from Spanish America was allied with the progress-
ive derangement and change in the great commercial
highways of tbo world between the Orient and Occident,
which were a consequence of the sea route to India.
The influence which the rapid increase of the production
of gold exercised, since 1849, was certainly neither so
great nor exactly the same as the former, but the two
were essentially simitar events; other and deep-rooted
causes — there cheaper ways of transportation and here
new means of trade and production — caused a new de-
velopment which must coniiaue uninterruptedly, but
whose intensity is greatly added to and its tempo consid-
erably accelerated by the rapid increase of the precious
metals.

According to Buchanan's message, the gold yield of

AS 8 ELECnOS-

> OF 35th conosess.

California alone, during the last eight years, amounted
to $100,000,000. Since 1851, the gold diggers in Aus-
tralia, likewise, were oumbered by thousaoiis. According
to Evans, the total annual production of £7,000,000-^8,-
0110,000 in tie year 1S49 rose to 4:34,O0O,OO0-£35,O00,0OO
in the years 1853--1857,' Colossal as these figures are,
one would remain far behind the facts, if, from them
alone, one drew a direct inference as to tiie intensity
of the impulse given to the whole economic life of the
western uivltized world, and espeotally of its leading
countries, by this extraordinary increase of gold. On the
firm basis of the precious metal, credit paper of every
conceivable kind towered into a pyramid of giddy height.
The demands made on capital by the utilization of steam-
|>ower were so enormous that the flow of gold would not
have overrun the bounds of a healthy economic develoij-
menl; nay, it even could not, by a great deal, have satis-
lied real wants. A large field of prosperous activity still
remained to the modern system of credit. But it was
more and more lost sight of, that, even in the age of
steam, time must remam an essential factor in every pro-
cess of development; and, iliscounting the future by dec-
ades, stirred the credit-fire under the boiler to such a
heat that an explosion was inevitable. That conscious
swindling, in this economic carnival, played a part is self-
evident. It was not of decisive importance, however.
The mischief had ils source in the ignoring of the two
facts that production majtsurpass the capacity for con-
sumption, and that a business enterprise to be warranted
should not only be desirable in itself, and become nt
some time or anutlier undoubtedly remunerutive, but must
answer an already existing want, or at least be able prob-
ably to create such a want within a reasonable time.
> The Histurj' of (bu Cumtueruial Crisis ot 1897-1338, pp. 97-39.

jlN ECONOMIC KEVOLUTION, 101

Tlio United States would necessarily reap greater ad-
vuntages tlian any otliei- country from tliis co-ope rati on of
the new tecbnic acliievenients with thosndden iaci'ea3e<)r
gold, but, for the vury same reasons, the right limits would
necL'ssarily bo earliest and furtliesl overetepped in thi;
United States. The largest part of the new trc^asurcs
was dug out of its soil, and promised the quickest and
greatest multiplication if intrusted to it again in the
form of economic enterprises. Circumstances had made
the desire of gain, skill in acquisition and a spirit of bold
and venturesome enterprise the domineering and most
striking traits of the national character; and tho natural
resources of the immense country had just been disclosed
sufficiently to show cloarly the impossibility of formiii.j
an idea now of what its economic greatness would one
day be. Nowhere was it so difficult as here always lu
bear in mind that it is only in fairy-land that one can
charm what he likes into existence out of nothing, but
that real life knows only development, and that rapid us
that development may be, the wishes and endeavors of
individuals always greatly exceed the extreme limits
of velocity set in the life of nations by the nature of
things, to the possibility of development. Hero scarcely
an undertaking could be imagined which did not appear
remunerative, if one only put the time in which it would
be remunerative correctly into the calculation. But in
this respect precisely, sober beads might too easily make
serious miscalculations, because one was left entirely in
the lurch by all the previous experience of mankind.
Machines driven by steam had acceleratod the material
develojiment of the whole civilized world, in a way of
which earlier generations were able to form no idea
whatever. Even those who, now, not only saw the
cliangc going on before their eyes, and daily felt its ef

102 IIUOHANAN's election — END OF 35th oougeesb.

fects, direct and indirect, in a hundred ^vays, but who
were active factors in it, ivere like swimmers in a power-
ful Bireara; even iha weak and unaccustomed did not
sink as easily as in shalloiv, stagnant water, but only the
strong and skilful remained masters of their movements;
the multitude rushed with it whithersoever it carried
them with irresistible forco. All, indeed, under the press-
ure of necessity, learned more or less well to reckon
with the small part of the new facts whicb affected ibem
most immediately ; but even the clearest beads were not
yet able to get a lucid and exact picture of the phenom-
ena in their entirety, not only because the rapidity of
the development was so enormously accelerated, but also
because, in many essential respects, a far-reaching trans-
forumlion of the entire organization of society be^an to
bo accomplished with tbu change in the conditions of
production and trade. But in the United Slates the im-
pulse Wiis strongest and the resistance of friction woakesl.
Here there was no history of many centuries, with its
social and political traditions, customs and institutions,
to maintain a relative stability in the material circum-
stances and in tbu sentiments, thought and will of the peo-
ple such as exists in Europe, and like a. dam to keep the
new economic era from deluging tbu land with the sudden-
ness and violence of a cataclysm. Everything was in pro-
cess of a growth of unparalleled extent and intensity.
As the water must run down the valley until it meets
the basin of a lake or linds its way to the sea, the settle-
ment of the west had to progress unceasingly until civili-
sation had taken possession of the continent from ocean
to ocean. The treasures created by the quiet labor of
nature, during innumerable myriads of years, and yet un-
touched by man, Imd to be garnered up. The treasure-
diggers vrho annually pressed upon their predecessors

T[IB QOLD FEVEE.

103

were numbered by hundreds of tliousands, — they came
itrmed with alt tbc acquisitioiiE mutikind bud made since
lirehistoric time,— each mie of ihem used his arms more
vigorously and strained his wit more intensely the larger
the drops of swpat were ihiit flowed from bis brow, be-
CKUse as ibcy fell he expected to see thein transmuted
bito gold, — the institutions of the country allowed every
one tbe freest and fullest manifestation of bis strength,
;ind the thoughts, aspirations and doings of all spurred
each one on to utilize the possibilities ofTered, to the ut-
most. Every one pushed and crowded and was, in turn,
pushed and crowded, so that not only the pressure of the
onward-striving masii-s grew in almost t;eometrical pro-
gression, hut energy overstimulatcd, more anil more gen-
erally, hcoanie impatience and precipitation, which seemed
to make all victims of Mie delusion that to-morrow noth-
ing could be done which had not at least been begun
lo-day, and that everything must be done immediately
and at the same time. With every forward step the
picture of the future assumed more gigantic dimensions
and appeared in more cuptivaling colors. Greater and
greater became the nuniher of narrow rooms in Europe
into which its brightness streamed as the glad message
of promise. It lured hundreds of thousands every year
across the ocean. The now world received a large
amount of capital daily from the old in the form of strong
arms, skilful hands and clear heads. The instinct of ac-
quisition it was tiiat first urged them to cross the sea.
and hence tbe national spirit, in its predominantly eco-
nomic phase, became incarnate in them with astonishing
rapidity. To tlie growth from within outwards, which
had even now surpassed all that the development of na-
tions in former times could show, there was superadded
that which might he compared to the mechanical increase

104 QlCllAM.

-KND OF 35th CONOBE39.

in size of an avalanche. Tlie raagiiiLude of this factopj
could not, iniJeed, be foreseen from one year to anothera
but, at least so Inng as the ilirection was an ascendinab
one, this uncertainty served, for iho most part, only tffl
supply new food to the inclination peojile felt to wandeq
from the grand reality into unrealizable dreams. Thi^
people, who were then reproached in Europe, even mor<
Iban now, for their cold-blooded sobriety, worked ihein
selves deeper and deeper into tiie delusion that the fancyi
could scarcely keep pace with the reality, and were thuftfl
led to mould the reiility in their minds in accordance withj
what imagination pictured to them.

The building of new railroads naturally occupied thd
first place among the great economic entoppHsea. Therrt
was not in the new world, as in the old civilized conntrie)
of Europe, a dense net of artiliolal highways. Leaving
out of consideration tlie near neighborhood of tim larger "
cities, in the free states of the cast, there were really but
few that deserved the name. Corduroy roads, through
swamps and sands, aimoyud the traveler greatly, and. j
jn many places, he might be glad if, in the bad season,-!

f he could pursue his journey any distance without serlousfi
interruption. Cities, the naiiius of which were known

. ihe world over, were frequently connected by roads which
could not compare even with the turnpike roads of Ger-
many. The further one went west the more frequently

" could one scarcely say whether be was traveling on a
real highway or only on a "trail" gradually beaten into
Bomething like a road by ihe wagons of the earliest pio-|
neers as thoy passed over ground which no wheel had ev<
furrowed before. But now, side by side with and ovor3
these primitive hi<;hways of trade, railways were built]
in every direction. The whole development which
Earope embraced a period of many centuries, and ;

I Till': UNITED STATES.

6omo places of two thousand years, was overlen peil, Tho
United Stales bcjfan, so to speak, at tlie end. Europe
liad all il could do to provide llie chief lines of existing
tnide with tho new means of communication; but here,
m addition to this, a civiliz^ition hud to be crualed. Rail-
ways hail not only to precede artiticiul roads, but to widu
i;irclea of the people it did not, by any means, seem an
absurd idea to build them into the wilderness. They
were to open np tho rich back-lands, which without iheni
would have to remain for docndes longer the home ex-
clusively of the savage and the buffalo, Tlio whistle of
UiB locomotive was certain to be followed by the settler.
This was riglit enough; but the question suggested
itself, whether settlers would come, or even could come,
so (juickly, or in such numbcra, that the enterprise would
pay. Was not a great part of the roads which connected
really im[Jortant places with one another built much in
advance of the times! These starling points and termini
were certainly — if the expression be allowable — ripe for
railways. The distance between theiu, however, was, for
the most part, gi-eat; and whether tho same (question
could be answered in the affiruiative fur tho intervening
country was more than doubtful. As a rule, the profit-
ableness of a railway depends mainly on tho development
of local trade; and this was, for the most pari, so slight
that, to say the least, it was highly improbable that any
interest could be paid iuimediately on the capital invested
in railways. On the other hand, railways were naturally
the best instrument for the development of local trade,
and as they were becoming, year after year, the most
important means of intercourse of the civilized western
world, they nec(?ssarily became, year after year, simply a
condition of the existence of cities: every mile which was
in any way added to the railway net of the country was a

106

An's KLECIION — EKD OF SSxn CONOBEBB.

step more towards making populous and commeroiiil cities
witliout railway connections an impossibility. Hence the
peculiar circumi^taDces of ihe country made it incom-
parably more Irequently here than in the densely popu-
lated stated of Europe, a necessity to budd raihvays
which — judged exclusively Irom the paint of view of the
payment of interest on the capital invested — would turn
out to be unsuccessful economic enterprises. Butforthis
very reason, the danger of precipitalion was also mu(4
greater here: the more people had to reckon with I
future, the more easily could one be misled mto taking
the present too little into consideration; that is, into bas-
ing one's calculations too exclusively on what lie supposed
he might expect from the future.

As the state was not the railroad builder with bat|
the moral right and the actual practical possibility,
enterprises of a permanent character conducive to tfai
common welfare, to throw a larger or smaller part of tH
cost on tbe future, the evil oonsctjucuces of <ill the uii
economic --uneconomic in [ho sense just, referred lo-«
oonstruction of railways would, necessarily, within i
conceivable time, be keenly felt by a largo pari of tij
people; but that fact — the fact that the state was i
the builder of the railways — was only another rease
that made them shoot up like mushrooms after a raioj
night.

There was no question, in the construction of railway!
of humanitarian, butsiniply of economic, ends; and bend
individuals as the builders of them were found, ont]
when they e.xpected to do a good business by construol
ing them. Large capital can, indeed, dispense with I
immediate earning of interest, in expectation of subi
quent great success; and this it naturally did licre to J
greater or less extent. But, as a rule, iho risk was i

BAILWAY COSSTEUCnorf. 107

apparent that the builtlcrs of the railways did not intend
a permanent investment of ibeir capital. They stalied
only the comparatively small sum necessary lo start the
enterprise. Tlio construction funds proper were provideil
by the middle classes out of ihu savings they bad uccu-
mulated by hard work, These were in no condition to
form a judgment as to the probable profitableness of the
roads, and did not evtn try lo form such a judgment.
Why should they hesitate lo invest their money in high,
interest-bearing bonds? since — at least so far as they were
informed — existing roads paid very well, and their cap-
ital was secured, because, in case the companies did not
fulfill their obligations to their creditors, the roads would
beoome the property of the bondholders. Before it
oould be seen on what an unsubstantial basis this reason-
ing rested, the builders of the roads had really dono a
splendid business ^partly by the awarding of the con-
tracts or by assuming them themselves, and partly by
selling their stoclc at the right time. If they were cau-
tions people, there was no necessity of their engaging in
stook-jobbing at all, and yet they could count on a large
profit. As everybody believed in the great future of the
roads, a rise in the stocks was as good as certain, and
everything depended on fixing the sale for the exact
rQomenC when the rising tendency would reach tho high-
est point.

Considering the disposition of people generally to be-
come intoxicated by this business '* boom," such a mode
of procedure would have, even in the absence of all mt^la
jidea on the part of tho builders, called many a new road
prematurely into existence, and would have reduced the
vi/ell-being of many a family. But whore such rich bootv
waa the allurement, »««/« jft/^a naturally soon took j>os-
session of the field, and it met with the best success. To

108 BUCrlANAN's ELKCrlON — END OF 35tU CONOEKSe.

these railway enterprises there were added others whicU
were subsequently called " foundations " (Gruendnngen)
in Germany, and the " fnundors" were by no means al-
ways people who are ever and everywhere known as
swindlers, and who move about continually in the vicin-
ity of the boundary line, the crossing; of which ia certain
tu bring one before a court of criminal justice. They were
generally men who considered theiTisulves thoroughly-
honorable, and were so considered by others. They onljj
did as directors and members of administrative boardi
without hesitation what they would have condemned
with unfeigned moral indignation outside of business lifu
:ind as simple individuals.' Business life, when the bust-
noss had assumed gri.'at proportions, had long since begun,]
like high politics, to carve out a morality of its own — a|
morality which departed widely from the command^]
ments and prohibitions of civic morality. A refiuef
system was developed under which iho capital put ii
the enterprises by the "founders" contracted more an(6
more, and their profits, at the expense of the delndedl
bondholders, swelled to greater and greater dimensions.^

' "I believe myself to !« strictly justified whfn 1 say that then
lutions of tlie last ten yenra sliuw tUut, in the munuf^mnent of thua
great ami useful cotporntions, our most eminent busitiees m*
not scrujilerl to do or to wink nnil (Wiinive iit eouraee of conduct whlrtlT
involved directly or indirectly tiluiost every crime aguinat property
knotvii to our laws. 1 nver my solemn belief that most eminent
business men, handed togeUjer and noting ua n board of directors,
have iiurMued methods which, if n single nian in his private oapticity _
ahoulcl pursur, would convict him irredeemably ot crime, and O
hiiD with ignominious pnnishmenl.

" Thn (Mnaei|nenCG bos been that onu of th« moat impr)rtaDl. ys
dis|iciji>iilile, elemenUi at property in this land la eo asaooiated w!t1l|
d(M'i-it and ftaiid thntit is likely to Iwiwmo a by-woni anda hisBiii|$l**'|
Vu IndrpmiUnl. Oct. 9, 1807.

'See the »xcell«iit deacrlplion iu the Independent <it July 18, 1857 J
la on urtii'le of the North AmeritBU Review of January, 1608 (p. IM), I

BAILWAT CONSTRUOTION.

11,9

Not only were interest and unearned dividends paid out
of the construction capital, but purchases oE building ma-
terial, to the amount of double what was needed, were
made on credit, and one-half of it inunodiately sold m
order to carry the vile operations still further with the
proceeds. And it was all the easier and safer to keep
playing this game undiscovered, until the "founders"
had bao;god their game, as among the public generally
an epidemic of childdilje confidence prevailed, while legal
control was utterly insufficient, and conditions had become
developed in the entire system of credit which power-
fully promoted economic thoughtlessness and swindling
of every description.

The two last-mentioned evils had their roots, to some
extent, in the political nature of the Union. They cer-
tainly were neither impossible in a unit-state nor unavoid-
able in a federative state; but they had had so luxurious
a growth audeaten their way so deeply, because thirty-one
legislatures, entirely independently of one another, wiih
insufficient penetration and comprehension and with not
entirely pure moral principles, had managed their affairs
confusedly and regiirdlessly without plan and withoutaim,
legislating at cross-purposes, whereas, in its economic life,
the practical consolidation of the Union into a national
state was rapidly and uninterruptedly progressing. The
politico-economic wisdom of congress frequently, indeed,
left much to be desired ; but still, in ibe average, its mem-
bers surpassed those of the legislatures of the states in
^ucation and natural endowments, while their field of

we read: "The seeming, though in almust every instance unreal,
prospcrily of our oXdec railways, has given a dCiuiiilus to enterprise
in the oouatruction ot new routes of travel; nud railway corpora*
tloUH bave been enabled, by the prestitje of dividends Ihat were never
earned, to ollain lu&ita to au incredible amount, and often on an in-
credibly aleniier basis of actual jiropi-i tj- and potential inoouie."

110 BL'OHAHAN's election — END OF 35tH Ci)XURB83.

vision was broader, because their point of view was bo
much higher. And so the motives that guided the law-
makers in Washington were not always above siiS|iicion;
but whiit here seemed too insignilicant lo even warrant
an attempt at improperly influencing legislation was fre-
quently considered remunerative enougii, on the smaller
stages of the separate states, to set in motion tongues
with whose piercing whispers the corridoi-s and recep-
tion rooms of the American "Capitol" are so familiar.
Perhaps the constitutional provision that transfers liie
regulation of commerce between the states to congress
afforded a possibility of preventing many of the evils
arising out of the fact that thirty-one different legisla-
tures had power to grant chartei-s for the construction of
railways and to make laws governing the joint-stock
companies. But, leaving the general political question
entirely out of consideration, it might very easily have
had very bad consequences, i£ congress had now given to
this clause a scope which bad never been allowed it when
lliere were no railways and when joinl'Stuck companies
still ))luyod a relatively subordinate part in the economic
life of the people. The country was confronted now with
new problems, and many and serious mistakes were, there-
fore, unavoidable; but all errors of principle assumed a
much greater signitieance when committed, not by the
legislatures of individual states, but by congress, whoso
laws were in force throughout the entire land. The os-
jiorience gained in bankruptcy legislation was, however,
not calculated to make congress itself inclined to leave
to Wasliiiigton the most essential portion of the experi-
mentation relating to these matters. Dut above all, a
satisfactory regulation of them w;i3 not possible unless a
thorough reform of the atrocious banking systom put
a stop to the woeful abuse of credit.

Ill

Bnctianan was certainly right when he said it was an
"anomaly" that the federal government, to which the
constitiitLon had granted ihe privilege to coin monev,
"should have no power to prevent others from driving that
coin out of the country," by paper " which does not rep-
resent gold and silver." The country was supplied with
paper money by fourteen hundred banks "acting inde-
pendently of one another, and regiilatitig their paper
issues almost exclusively by a regard to the present in-
terest of their stockholders." And this does not, even
remotely, show the real extent of the confusion. The
more tlian fourteen hundred banks not only acted inde-
pendently of one another, but every state had its own
banking system, and those sys'eins differed from one an-
other not in points of subordinate importance only; the
differences between ihem were differences of principle,
and reached even to their foundations.' Even if each, in
its way, had been admirable, this state of things would
have been attended by many and great inconveniences.
But in realily they gave occasion always to much criti-
cism, so thai the proper way to put the question was to
ask, not whether this was better than another, but whether
it was less bad thau another.'

■Baker distinguislips three prineipal classes: "The specie BjrBtem,"
"theaafetv fund syeteru" and "tlie frt:e banking system," "which
hnsbut apoperbaBiB." Banks and Banking inthcUnittd States, p. 44.
■ " A banking ayetera which varies from state to stale, and which,
outside of New England and New York, where it ia by no means per-
t«ci, is as buiighng a contrivance, for the enda to t>e answered. a«
wssever inflicted on tlie patience of nmnkind." Tbe Financial Flurry.
Atlantic Monthly, November, 18ST, p. 119. In addition to this, it was
frequently much worse with the eiecotion ot the laws than with the
laws theinselves. Baker, whose work cited ubove appeared in 1858,
-SMks: "But where is an instance that directors of fraudulent or irre-
sponsible banks have been made amenoble to tbe violated laws of ths
BtaleT" p. 20.

112 BCOOASAX's ELKCrrON END OF SjTH CONGRESS.

That no one was legally bound to take the notes of the
banks in payment couM weaken the bad effects of this
legal anarchy but little, for ihey bad become the basis of
all business life to such ao extent that ii was practically
impossible to refuse tliein.' But if it required some study
to become acquainled with tiie bunk lawsof all the states,
what was there one bad not to do to acquaint one's self,
even superlicially, with the solvability of the banks!
The more business life in general partook oC the ntitura
of a revel, the greater the number in which the banks
shot up out of the ground ; and tho greater their number,
the more they endeavored to take the wind out of each
other's sails by not only readily meeting all the wishes of
their customers, but oven anticipating them. The greater
the competition was which the newly -established banks
had to meet, the more were they necessitated to push
ease and freedom in their mode of transacting business
to the limits of recklessness, and even beyond them;
and, the easier and freer they were in iheir business meth-
ods, the less solid became the customers they obtained.
Whether the htrger or the smaller banks did most mia-
ohief by this disastrous rivalry, it ie hard to decide. If
the bad influence which the former exercised extended
over a much larger area, the corrupting effects which the
latter frequently had on the business life of iheir narrow
(ieldsof operation were all the moi-o intense. " Instunces
have occurred," says Baker, "in which bank-bills have
been put into circulation before the bank itself had either
a banking house, books of account or even capital to com-

' " We constitute, by our acts of leEislation. bank-notes as the cur-
rency of ths country; and ahliough they are not BlrJctly a legal len-
der, yet the tra<ler, mecliauic ot farmer who should mfose to rooeive
ihem in payment could have but little to da with the comniuhity."
Bilker, loc. cit., p. 3S.

EISE IN FR1CK9.

113

mence with." The brisker business life became, the greater
li)o became the supply of " mone}- ; " and the easier it was
to gel " money " or credit, the greater the briskness intro-
duced into business life. The boiler was heated at once
from above and below; and the greater the tension of the
steam became the more coals were put on belli above
and below.'

The steady deterioration of the "money" found its
natural expression in a corresjionding steady enhanee-
tncnt of prices; but this ste;idy rise in prices acted at first
like a stimulant on business: in every department of it
increased activity developed into a violent fever. The
enormous increase of imports had, for years, awakened
here and there the gravest anxiety. During the ten
years from 1844 to 1854, they had risen from $5.03 to
$10 per capita.' As freight rates were high at the same
lime, ship-owners did a must thriving business. The
A'oith American liev ie w * siales it had happened that a
ship paid for itself in a single year. On the other hand,
the profits of importers began to diminish seriously, as
the market was overstocked. The proximate conse-

■ The following figuros borrowed from the report of the aecre tar j
of the treaBurj, McCulloch, of December 4, 18flr>. will HufBce as an
illustration. The flrsl figure (^vee the condition on the Ist of Jntiu-
ary, 1S57, the figure in pnretitheses thnt of Janunry, 16S8: Bank-
note circulation. $314,778,833 (1150.303,944); depoails, »2.!0.851,0(>'l
(«l8S.O8'i.0OO): loiiLia. $084,456,000 i|.^8a, 105.000). Congr. Globe, Ll
hess. UOth Coiigr., App., p. 30.

' " . . . To tliese Ten dollars we niimt add chnrges and dutifn,
and profits, that will bring the wbi.le up to an average of sisteeii <>i
eighteen dollars of murchandise imported for each Mai on onr soil,
e«ch of the last two years (1853, 1834). Such a monstrous fact neeiis
only to be stated. It needs no Poor Richard to cipher out its menninj;
and its consrquenoea." J. W. Laurens, The Crisis: or, The Enemies
of Amenia Unmaalied, p. 230

iJan. 1858, p. ISO.

114 SrCBANAK's ELKCl

qnence of this, however, wsia not a (Jecrease but a further
incrense of imports. As credit was to be had every-
where, an effort was made to remedj' this by purchasing
much more than was required. Of course, the prices ftt
which the auctioneer had to let one-lialf of those imports
go were under-priccs; but with the proceeds one could
get on a little while longer, and thns leave lime for fort-
une to bethink itself of some new saving favor.' The
derangement of the right relation between capital and
credit, as buses of economic life, became greater and
greater, and daring ventures, in the same measure, be-
came greater and more universal. Even in 1^53, Baker
wrote: "Tliere are enterprises enough at the present
moment actually undertaken to task the lalior of the
next twenty years to pay for, and each additional under-
taking opens a new vista to still more miigniticent proj-
ects." The feverish desire to grow rich rapidly spread
from the commercial and indiislrial cenltTs over the
whole country and attacked all classes of the population.
In "regular" business, credit was substituted for the
working capital, that the tatter might be cast into one of
the innumerable urns of fortime which promised all the
miracle of its rapid doubling or trebling. Everything
became an object of speculation, and everybody specu-
lated.* The demands made by alt the habits of life
naturally increased with the same rapidity and to the same

'"Those who locik only aijuHrtLTota milli"ii JoUnfB' worth of goods
f rom EDgUnU. utidvr the tuvurof the Lnnks. mtviMit onc-hnlf, iliou;-li
it was well kitomi Ihal tht; iiiujur purtioii of tlit<M iiurclia^en vroulil
have to go to .mctUm. The oporutioiM on the pan nf thitU&niiJs
■Dereljr rt!prw-nl?d a tucn agttinsi titue. on the atrynglh of bank
favtwKanil roKign cruilli." Evans. The H.biory of the Comiuorciul
CriBiB of 1M7-JSJ8. V »■•■

'" Nor in [he (peculntive HpiriC conllnpd to our commercial ciliea;
it pervades the whole counlrjr, and a tictitious value ia affixvd to

OHIO LIFli: & 1

115

extent;' and the increased demands, in turn, heiglitened
and spread the fever of speculation, because they could
not be satisfied quickly and completely enoogh in any
other way.

And thus it n'ent on, in endless reciprocal action. As
the N'orth American Reoiew happily expressed it, people
were huilding an inverted pyramid; a marvelous struct-
ure, which did not taper as it rose, but grew bi-oader the
higher it towered. It had only one defect; a compara-

e*er;thiDg nniniate or ioanimate, movable or fixed, whicb has any
Talue at all." 1. c

" The man who lias been possessed of a sunicjent workiog capital
has been tempted to invest it in stocks, and to relf on loans or loDg
credits tor the ineflns of conducting his own operations. The im'
porter has epeoiilated in western citj lots, and discounted the notes
ot the jobbers to meet his obligations in the foreign market. The
jobber has bought railroatl burida under par with his funds in hand,
and, as his notes came to niBtnrity, has paid Ibem with the paper of
his customers. And the retail dealer, bujiig an eight months' credit,
and thus realizing tlie proceeds of his sales before they became due,
has gone with tliem into the stock market, and reeurted to loans
wfaeujiis notes reached maturity." The North American Review,
Jan. 1858, p. 180.

" Merchants are forsaking their legitimate business and dabbling
in this pool (the monstrous and over-bloated sin of vtock'gambling).
Their clerks, following their example, gamble too. Simple men,
seeing these marvels of success, venture their hard eaminga and go to
gambling likewise. The lawyer follows suit : and, that there may be
no want of moral sanction, ministers of the Giispel are found, not a
f^w I am informed, Recretty buying and selling stocks." The Inde-
pendent, Oct. 8, 1807.

■ " Much of the trouble is due also to the extravagance and reck-
less waste of our people, which, though owing in some degree to our
want of good manners and good taste, are directly traceable to the
rtimulns given to expense by the over-issue of artificial money,"
The Financial Flurry. Atlantic Monthly, Nov, 1857, p. 119. Baker
jtave expression to the same censure four years earlier, and traced the
era to the aame causes.

An's election — END OF 35ru coNOBess.

lively light blow would make it lose its csnlre of gravity
and crumble to pieces.

The ileclaratioa of bankruptcy of the Ohio Life and
Trust Company on the 24th of August, 1857, is wont
to be generally considered as the blow that introduced
the catastrophe; but the structure had been trembling,
from summit to base, for some months.' Although the
amounts involved were large enough to cause this bank-
ruptcy to make a great im pression,' it was mainly the oc-
oorapanying secondary circumstances that gave it so
melancholy an importance and celebrity. It was not
one of the new " foundations," but an old trust company,
which had always enjoyed a good reputation, and which
had declared its half-yearly dividend a few days before
it suspended payment. It was this that made the blov
act like an alarm signal. Mistrust took the place of un-
critical, sanguine confidence — the propelling power that
made the numberless wheels of the whole moving appa-
ratus hum so merrily about each other. The bankruptcy
of a few large railway comjiaiiies, like the Erie & Michi-
gan Southern, which bad also had the best of reputations,
soon fanned the spark into a flame. The dry material
lay everywhere piled so high that the fire could not but
eat its way further, without any artificial assistance; bnt
a powerful clique of stook-jobbors blew through their
'■ bear" speculations on it — systematically discrediting

' " A. aeriea of fuilurcs had begun in Arnericn for several montha
before Ihe coi nine nee ruent of the crisis, but did not iiltract much ul-
tention." Evaii:<, The Ulutoiyof the Cummoroiut Ciiais of 1S5T-1BS8,
p. U.

Carey calls the fiimnci.il crisis of 1&17 " the most destructive, and,
U> merchants f^nerally, the most ntilooked for of all that «tnnd on
record." Hcview of the Decade, 1857-1967. p. 17.

>«t^ll,W3. a^leo, Chaptera in Political Beoaomy, p. Ii9.

TlllC CKNTKAL AMEKICA,

117

railway valnea especially — witb pouched clieelis,' The
doclino of prices, which had bcfjun even beforo tho col-
lapse of the Oliio Life and Trust Compiiny, became
greater and more universal, and assumcJ, in part, llio
character of a sudden plunge. Tho chorus of dancen;
was again led by the railways, whose second and third
issues of bonds, as was alleged by the article in tho Nurth
American lievinw already cited, could scarcely be ex-
changed for the same quantity of blank paper. But bank
credits had tlius far been based, by way of preference, on
railway values; and the banks wbichhad already been
seriously affected by the collapse of the Central America,
with a semi-moiilhty remittance of gold from Califor
nia,* were exceedingly alarmed and began to curtail their
credit bnsiness. This was, no doubt, warranted, but its
effects were very disastrous. Sobriety did not come to
the people, but inebriate-like optimism turned into incon-
sistent pessimism. As it was the banks that in the first
place had put the speculation carnival on the stage, tiie
least that could now be expected of them was that tiiey
would keep within tho bounds of discretion. But they,
most of all, became the victims of unrcQecting faint-heart-
edness. The greater and more general embarrassment
became, the more they believed that salvation could be
found only in tho most energetic carrying out of their

1 BoUrs prints iXie following passage rrom a New York letter to tlie
London Tttiies of September 10, 1857 : " A large body of active buuHFii
are known to be associattd for the purpose i to influence llio prtsss to
work out ll)eir vk'ws, and are alleged not merely ta operate with n
joint capital, but t» hold regular mtetings, and permanently retain
legaJ ndvi^iers whose chief vocation, it may be assumed, is to discovet
points thiLt may ensible the validity of each kind of security to be
■ailed in question, and thus to create universal distrust."

■Tbe Intlr^ndtMt, Dec. Ul, 1BJ7.

lis Buchanan's electiox — end of 35th congiii^ss.

policy of contraction, and the consequence was a real
panic'

From the 8th of August to the 5th of September, the
contraction amounted, in round numbers, to SIO.OOU.OOO
($122,077,252 and $112,321,305). As the fall payments
were near at hand, this alone was a considerable sam.
If the banks had stopped here, people would, after all,
have gotten off pretty welt. But, during the course of
the month, they withdrew sis millions more from trade.'
The tumble of all values and the scarcity of money were,
in consequence of this, so great that the banks themselves
were caught in the eddying waters and carried into the
whirlpool. The number of banks that suspended specie
payments from the 25th to the 29th of September, in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and KhodelsliiDtl, was
estimated at one hundred and fifty.' The banks of New
York were strong enough, at first, to meet all their obli-
gations without difflcalty. But,ns they bore the weighty
responsibility of the policy of contraction,' jealousy and
animosity now became allied with thoughtless pasitlanim-
ity. When it was seen, from the bank statements for

I The Bunkern' Magazine (XII. p. 430) subsequently wrote: "Th«
contraction of bank acoommoJatioiis at New York, it (a uow con-
ceded, was unnecessBrily auiMen and too greut. . . . This cotirae
of contraction is now uonHidered by our leadinj; b^nk directors ns an-
oecessury, and as productive of nearly tttl the evil tliat bas nriaen. A
more liberal policy would have HBvcd the meroliitntii extraordinary
losses." Bolles uddo; " Indeed, many of them saw the end of their
fatal policy, and made an effort to extend their Joans: bnt, as all the
banks would not ngme to tliia, it was linally abandoned." Chapters
in Political Economy, p. 13)).

'The IiKkpendeiU, Oct. 15. 1857.

> Evans, p. 84.

* " The loans of the New York city banks were contracted $30,000,000
n the Ut of Augiiat aud the 34th of Octobw." Bulles, p. 12t.

THE NEW TOBK BANKS.

119

the week from the 3d to the 10th of October, that there
was a futther contraction of §2,700,000, llieii- measure
was considered full, and people wanted to ruin tliem too.
On the 13th of October, they were, by concerted action,*
so pressed with demands thut they loit courage. Eight-
een of them suspended cish payments immediately. On
the next duy the other banks rosulved lo follow their fx-
ample, and now the banks in the remainder of the cities
of the state, in Boston and in all New England, could not,
or would not, hold out any longer.

It soon appeared that the catastrophe could well have
been avoided. The banks of New York proved to be
still perfectly solvent.^ But, at the moinent, this was of
Utile avail. Tliure was a crash and a. fall, as if a whirl-
wind had, with irresistible force, hewn its wuy through a
mighty forest. The Independent of October 22d enu-
merated fifteen niihvuy companies, with a burthen of
debt of over $IS1.0()U,000, which had collapsed during
the last thirty days.* The total number of bankruptcies

I " A preuoncerted run." Evans, p. S4. "As the banks bail fur-
ther nppUi'J the screws un depinitorsaeekingdiacounis, the dppoaitora
resolved to brMik the bankH, nod immediatdy cnmiapnctHl a run,
-wtiieh hus ended in general bank GUs|>en9inn^ the Chciu.cal Bank
being the (inly one conliiming to pn.v in gold." Thu IndepcndKm,
Oct. 15, 1857.

* " It is Irue that in mnny {linces sfXHiie ivaa domnnded, but it wna
not distrust in tlie iihility of the New York cily hanks lo redeem
their nolea wliich led Iheir holdere to demand payment of them in
specie. All uf the notod were imiply secured by the pledge of sound
bonds held by the state comptroller. U-'sidca tiie spvuie owned by the
liftnks, .\nd, in fnot. every note was paid. Not a bank in New York
I'ity failed in 19-^7 having insnflicient funds tn pay every dollar ot
its i^lrcnlntion. Their nines etroulaled without loss of value during
all llio time tliAt specie payments were 8ii8|>eiided.'' Boltes, p. 133.

) " Uuvitj>> neither gono tu protest on tlicir floating debt, suspended
nr mode an iissignment of tlieir projwrty."

120 bdchanan's election-

I OF 35tii coNOBicaa.

in tlic United States and Cannda n-as estimated at fire
thousand one hundred and twenty-three, with an aggre-
gate capital of nearly J293.000,000, of which perhaps
$156,000,000 were secured, so that gl3G,000,0(10 were de-
finitively lost.' These figures may, on the one hand, be too
high, but, on the other, they by no means show the en-
tire real loss. In order to folly measure the effect of tlie
catastrophe, the enormous reductions in the prices of all
goods must bo taken into the account. The farmer, too.
who had not shared in the bankruptcies to tlio extent of
a single dollar, suffered severely enough, iis pork wliioh
had been worth ^'H per barrel had to go id search of
purchasers at $15. aud dour that hud been worth $li)
per barrel was paid for only at the rale of from $5 to tH.
The planter fured sciircidy any better than the fiirmor.
The ^cenijiff Post was written to from Mobilo tliat ono
thousand bales of cotton, even at five cents per giound.
could find no purchasers if the money had to be laid in
cash OH the table, Tlie pressure which the general cnsiii
exercised on coUon jiriccs meant, to the south, according
to the osliniateof BenatnrGarlingron. of South Carol mil.
a loss of *70,[)00,noo.- The farmers and planters, how-
ever, still had their proiluels, although they were greatly
depreciated, and the harvest had been a good one; but on
what were the workingmen w!io had been discharged on
account of the d<-pression in all liranchcs of business to
fall back? Their number was frightfully large, and the
winter had just begun.

The roesaago of the jiresidunt was specially mindful of
these pitiable victims of the catastrophe, who sulfurcd
most Borety frojti it, ultliough they hud no share in tlio
guilt. Buchanan was no colxl-hearted egotist, and the

> EvaiiH, pp. U, 123.

»The IndtpcndenI, Dec. 81. 1807,

BCCHANAN 8 E

121

ivmpntliy he expressed for these iinfortiinatps he cer-
tainly and truly felt. But it was just as certain ihal lie
looked upon thdir misery as he did on the whole ma^js
of ruins that covered llie laiul from onu end lo tlio olher,
not siuijily from tin; jiurely liuiininitarian point of view.

It was surely his duty us president to lake some po-
sition on llm cmisea us well as on the probable conse-
quences of the culauiity, and his message did this in »
way which allowed tliat he did not take the matter
lightly, altliough he did not and could not comprehend
its scope m all its phases, and could not measure its
bearing, because ho had not fully understood its causes.
But, in all probabdity, it produced the greatest anxiety
in his mind when ho viewed it from ii third point of
view, which he did not oven hint nt in the message.
What consequences would the direful collapse of the
over-sanguine prosperity of the country have for the
democratic party and for himself, in his capacity as head
of that party! At first nothing could be said in answer
to this question except that tlicse Cionsequoncas nii^ihl be
very serious; but that was bad enough, since, in the case
of a man like James Buchanan, there was more danger
that he would be driven to some deplorable resolution,
by his wavering between fear and hope, than by a disa-
greeable but undoubted certainty.

Buchanan was too much of a routine politician not to
make e.xlensive use, in his political thought and calcida-
tions, of the unreliable support of preeedent. And now
80 much was said and written of the precedent of 1837.
that he couUl not help pursuing the comparison to its
ultimate details, even if ho had not hit on it himself.
Bat the experience Van Buren had had. twenty yeai-a
before, was not at all calculated to make him very conii-
dent. In one vorv essential point, indeed, the circum-

n"8 ELEOTIOK — E-S'D OF 35tII CONGRESS.

stances were entirely different, and in his favor. The
finances of the Union had novr no connection whatever
with the banks, and hence were not even indirectly af-
fected by the catastrophe which had overtaken them.
Buchanan, of course, did not fail to cull attention to this
hajipy consequence of the indtijicndent treasury, which
was an achievement of Van Buren's administration. But
no political capital could be made out of it, because, for
a long time, only one opinion had prevailed on this sub-
ject, viz.: that, in this respect, the present situation w&&
preferable to the former one. On the other hand, the
crash of 1837, notwithstanding the unquestionable honors
Van Burenhad won in the administration of the finances,
was the primary cause of his political death and of the
victory of the whigs in the next presidential election.
Its history taught the doleful lesson that the masses are
very much inclined to lay the load of responsibility for
such calamities, to a greater or less extent, on the shoul-
ders of the party in power, and especially on the admin-
istration, without inquiring whether that burthen should
rightlv be laid upon them. Men always like to look for
a scape-goat, and if there be question of affairs in gen-
eral, intellfctuat sluggards naturally turn their eyes first
on the government, and if they do not do so of iLeir
own motion, tiie political opposition takes care to direct
tliem towards it. Ko matter what its true and direct
canse may be, the party in power has seldom any good
to expect from great and widespread dissaiisfiUJtion.

In the case before us, it was cei'tainly impossible to
charge congress or the president with having occasioned
the catastrophe, or to allege that it could have been
averted by them. But it did not at all follow herefrom
thai only universal dissatisfaction would have to be reck-
oned with — a dissatisfaction which docs not reason, but is

FIKAKCIAL M1:ASL'£E8.

121

inclincil In strike simply to vent its anger. Jlad legis-
lation or the jid ministration done nothing, directly or
lodinsctly, tu intensify the crisis or to make its disas-
trous consequences more disastrous still! These, too,
were important questions; and Bucbauau must have been
very blind if he had persuaded himself that they would
be unanimously answered in the negative of conviction.

He liad himself, with the best of intentions, done some-
thing which was judged disapprovingly by many. In
order to come to the relief of the people, as far as ho
could, during the terrible scarcity of money, he had or-
dered certificates of debt of the United States to be pur-
chased with the stock of gold in the treasury. Consid-
ered as a financial operation, this was, of course, a bad
business transaction ; for these bonds were at a very small
premium, and were now, without any necessity, redeemed
at a very high premium.' But this measure did not cause
any great alleviation of the market, while the vaults of
the treasury were rapidly becoming depleted. As early
as on the 13th of October, the Washington correspondent
of the New York Triftwiiti informed it I hat the redemp-
tion of the funds had been suspended, because the slock
of gold, which had still amounted to about $19,000,000 in
September, had now dwindled to $9,000,000. And these
89,000,000, too, were flowing; out on one side of the treas-
ury with frightful rapidity, without being replaced by an
iofluw of gold on the other. In December such & pass
had been reached that it became necessary to have re-
course to paper.

A writer in the Atlantic Monthly scornfully told the

'"The usurers end ttie stoclc-jobbore received aisteen per cenl.
tor wlmt lliey had boujfht ac u premium of but two or three per
ccDt." ilr. BuchaoBti'e Adtuinistratiou. Atlantic Moiitblf, April,

IS4 BCCUXSAS'^ KLBL'TUrS — ESO OF SOtEI COXOKKSS.

president that be haul so inconsiderately arnugned the
banks, in bis message, becaose ttiey Lad not a sulGcteDt
metallic basis for tlieir note circulation, and now the nd-
tn nistration was bringing IitUe bits of paper, back of
tvhicb ibere was no bard money at all, amoo^ the people;
tbeir only basis was: "We promise to pay."

IL must bave come to this, even if tbcre bad been no
redemption of tbe stocks. "Tbe current revenao is bat
one-fourtb of tbe amount of tbe current oxpenditares,"
wrote the correspondent of the New York Tribune io
bis report of October 13. Tbis was the principal canseoE j
the ebb la the treasury, and a change for tbe bettor wmI
scarcely to be expected m the near future ; for the cam
Was the new tariff of March 3, 1857. Tbe singular spec-
tacle was repeated of congress passing stringent laws to
decrease the revenue of the Union, because the surplus of
the treasury, existing and prospective, threatened serious
embarrassment, and of its action being followed imme-
diately by a baleful change of circumstances, which sub-
stituted great scarcity for the threatened embarrtut dai
riflifisge. The customs constituted the chief source of ra*'
Bliue of the federal government, and, under the old highj
tariff, their product during tbe most brilliant econoraial
period which lasted several years, with their colossal ia
ports, bud risen to such a height that a largo reducUoo:!
was looked upon us urgently demanded. Imports nov.l
greatly shrunk in conseijueiiLe of ibo crash, and paid, fori
Llie must part, much loH'er duties.

Tbo fulling off must, therefore, have been eaormons;.!!

'Thus the /iitl^pci'iciitur Ui.-tolM.T8ri?port!i: " Ttio receipts nt m
U>ms ore v«tj auinll: In ull Si'iileiiilwr they oiilj amouDt«d tol
|3.31i0.48i:« M. wliorfU« in ^'[ilcmber. I»5a. tliey were {^,803,425.6^ |
Hhowin;{)iilvclin«i>t |l,rilU.0Ta.T4. Tbe imporlof merchDndlM tt
wmV uriiuuiili^ to (;3..-iUa.UJt : ooctraponding week of ISTin, «3,450,«aa) I
dtcriiise, (M.sas. TJiu greulur part waa ware Louse; I."

BPOnANAN S l-OLIfTT.

125

As the new tariff had only jnst gone into force, an im-
mediate alteration of it could scarcely be thought of,
Buclianan.at least. espressed himself to that effect in bis
message, and congress approved his vien*. Hence re-
course had to be liad to loans. Opinions here could differ
only as to the How, not as to the Whether. It was,
nevertheless, certain that the debts contracted would be
entered by the opposition in flaming letters on the list
of the sins of the de.nocratic party, and especially of the
administration : and it was just Jis undoubted that the
opposition's declarations and denunciations would not die
awny without leaving some impression. The democratic
party was responsible for the new tariff. Under the old
one, the government would hare had to feel the effects
of the crash loss severely; and a government never wins
popularity by getting into debt,

If Buchanan's expectation, that the effects of the catas-
trophe would be soon, perhaps too soon, recovciL-rl from,
proved to be well founded, and if, further, in the real
political questions of the day, the smoldering lire of dis-
content, in his own party, was not fed anew, he might,
indeed, feel confident that the economic calamity would
be attended b}- no specially serious consequences to him
or to the party. But who was able to guaranty flial those
two conditions would be fulfilled? Was it not necessary,
or at least highly proper, to come to the assistance of
the healing effect of time by turning the attention of the
people from the economic situation to other matters
which might excite their interest, if not stir their pas-
sions, .just as much! But if this were done, was there
not reason to fear that there might be danger of jum|v
ing out of the frying-pan into the fire? Was not the
turning of the public interest to such things the surest
means to sow the seeds of dissension still more widely.

i96

BDCHANAK 3 ELKtTfOS -

f 3orlI C0SGBKS9.

and to make tlitim shoot up more luxnrinntly! Or could
any questions be found on which the party would, with-
out u doubt, take a position unanimiously and with some
manifestation of enthusiasm ?

These were the sceptical reflections between which tho
president oscillated. Documentary proof of ihia cannot,
indeed, be produced; but so far as it is at all allowable,
in writing history, to base a statement on grounds of
internal probability, this assumption is unr^ueslionably
warnmied. The whole political situation and the pecul-
iarities of the president, in which the tirniness of the par-
tisan bordering on uiior regard lessness was intimately
intertwined with a weak character and an elastic moral-
ity, pointed directly to it; and by it, his entire policy,
forever wavering between bold adventure and anxious
groping, is must easily and most surely accounted for.
It would certainly bo going much too far to say that the
consideralion of the fatal consequences which the com-
mercial crisis might have for himself and his party was
tho direct incentive to any of the more im[iortant under-
takings or projects of his administration; but he always
took counsel of that consideration at this lime, and it-
bad much to do with the carrying out of all his ide;is.

The conduct of the head of a great nation, during a
period of four years, can of course never be properly and
exhaustively described in a single word, ami the richer
in events the period has been, tho less possible it is to de-
scribe it in this way. But Buchanan's administration is
an exception to this rule. Although mutih more ei'ent-
fid than thai of all his predecessors, it can be more easily
and better characterized in this way, and so I might call
Buchanan the president with a lightning-rod policy. It
was not the commercial crisis that made him this; but
from his whole nature, as a man and a politician, he

127

could bn Tiothing else in a highly critical perioil. This
was plainly eTident, even from his inaugural address.
As. on the one hand, he knew only too well that there
were millions who did not belong to the good patriots
who saw, with him, a satisfactory settlement of the slav-
ery question in the principle of thy Kansas-Nebraska
bill; and as, on the other, he declared it wudd be the
greatest good fortune if the people would now turn to
more practical and more urgent tasks, it was obvious
that he would, with patriotic zeal, test every existing
question, by inquiring whether the majority of the peo-
ple could be induced to look upon it us more practical
and more urgent. And if it could not be asserted that
any of the existing questions possessed this character, his
patriotism would necessardy impel him to create one or
more which might be expected to posses? it; for in his
opinion the further agitation of the slavery question was
entirely unwarranted and would be attended by the most
direful consequences. But what he had to adiluoe, in
this respect, in his inaugural address, was worth little or
nothing. The construction of a " military road " to OaU
iTornia, and the best disposition of the puL)lic lands, were
certainly highly important questions, but it was impos-
sible to give them such proportions as to make lliem
overshadow the slavery question; and it had nlreatly be-
come BUlHciently manifest that they too were weighed
down by the curse that had fallen on all national ques-
tions indissolubly amalgamatetl with the slavery ques-
tion. Tiie difficulty of a suitable employment of th«
surplus revenue which received so unexpected a solution
by the crisis, now called for no action, aud only those
who speculated on getting fat contracts could be induced
to take a lively interest in the increase of the navy.
Hence only the intimations about the eventual acquisition

138 BUCHANAS'S ELECTION END OF 35tH C0NGKES8.

of new territorj' could be oonsideped, "Whether, back of
them, there was a fixed programme, or wbetbor they
were merely intended cautiously to nscerlain how great
a obarm sucb bait would exercise, could not be disoov-
•jred from the vague phrases used. Buchanan, there-
fore, could not abandon himself to the illusion that
public opinion would find, in the inaugnrnl address, the
answer to the question, wliat tiie more practical and more
urgent questions wer« to which they should turn; and
hence it was to be inferred from il that iio would soon
be seen devoting himself, with ardent zeal, to a hunt
after such questions. The self-overestimation of suc-
cessful metliocrity, ambition and vanity exorcised, indeed,
n much greater influence on his policy than has been
generally believed; but, even if these qualities had been
entirely wanting; in him, he certainly would not have
been satisfied with being the head of the administration.
Their flattering whisperings, to which the self-compla-
cent man listened only too willingly, and honest, earnest
patriotic solicitude pointed out the same way to him,
The role of a president of high politics not only pleased
him, but he considered it bis duty to play it, in order to
force the people away from the unfortunate question
which was impelling them with demoniacal power
towards a most terrible catastrophe. But aa a, really
great question neither existed nor couUl be raised, he
seised on everything that presented itself, in domestic or
foreign politics, wiih uncritical zeal, in the foolish bopc
that in the opinion of the public tlie resultant of the
combined forces of all Ihe small ({Ueslions would tosii
the giant weight of the slavery question out of aiglil.
But he did not meet with real success in a single one of
them. In the most important, he made a complete fail-
ure, and the aggregate result of his altogether too poliC'

THE MOliMOSB, VIO

ten i>oliey ivas llmt the flames he wished to stifle shot
higher Eiill, because they were nil connected, directly or
indirectly, with llie burning question of slavery.

"With respect to the first question with which Buchanan
tried to play this roie. he could not bo reproached with
having artfully raised it, or even ivith having given it
unseomty proportions. He found it as a legacy from
former presidents or from the thirty-first congress, and its
solution had become so urgent that it would have been a
serious neglect of duty not to grap.ile with it earnestly
and vigorously. But to judge of his mode of procedure,
it is not sufficient, as he and many writers — among them
the German, Neumann, by no moans friendly to him —
did, to simply state this tact. Side by side with perti-
nent reasons, there wore motives that could not be ap-
proved; in the choice of means to attain the laudable
end, he was guilty of greatly exceeiliug his legal and con-
stitutional powers; improper grounds of action caused
mistakes in the execution of the wrong, or, at least, in-
sufficient, plan —mistakes which would have become al-
most ruinous; and. in consequence of all this, the result
was, essentially, a covering up of the evil instead of its
removal, which was desired, and which it was pretended
had been accomplished.

The annual message asked for the formation of four
now regiments to reduce the seditions Mormons, in Utah,
lo obedience. "This is the first rebellion," eaid the pres-
iilont, " which has existed in our territories, and humanity
itself requires that wo should put it down in such a man-
ner that it shall be the last." Strange! Buchanan had
neither reached the stage of extreme seneclitude when
the memory docs not reach back farther than a few
weeks, nor did he give the least ground for the suspicion
that he was in conflict with the policy, approved and sup-

130 BUCEANAn's election — EXD OF 35tB 00NGKES3.

ported by the democratic party, of his predecessor, who
had over and over again declared the free-soil people of
Kansas to be rebels, and who had made ample use of the
federal troops against them. Not only Kansas but the ea-
liro [lenple had the right — and it was even their duty —
lo be informed how the contradiction between Ibis dec-
laration und Pierce's words and deeds could be recon-
ciled. Either Buchanan's assertion was a notorious un-
truth or I'ierco bad lied a dozen times and scandalously
abused his olBcial power.

The information furnished by the message on the his-
tory of the development of the rebellion and the state
of affairs at that time was very meager. The presi-
dent recalled the fact that Utah had been organized «s
a terriloi-y by a law of September &, 1850. with a pro-
vision that the governor of the stale should be c.v offieio
supcriniundent of Indian affairs. On Se^ptember 20th
of the same year Brigham Young was appointed gov-
ernor, and had since then filled the office. Since, at the
same time, ho claimed, as the head of the Mormon church,
to govern its members by virtue of direct divine inspira-
tion and authority, and to dispose of their pro|)erty. his
power over both church and state had been absolute.
tftah was inhabited nlmost exclusively by Mormons, who,
wiih the fanatical certainty of conviction, kioked upon
him as tho ruler of the territory, set over it by God. If
it pleased him to bring about a conflict with the federal
government, they would yield him absolute obedience,
and. unfortunately, it could scarcely be doubled that he
desired a conflict. All the federal officials except two
Indian agents had left the territory to insure their per-
sonal safety, because the only government it had w.is the
despotism of Brigliam Young. Then the president pro-
ceeded as follows: "This being the condition of affairs

131

in tbo territory, I couid not mistake the patli of duty.

As chief executive magistrate. I was bound to restore the

supremacy of the constitution and laws witliin its Limits.

In order to effect this purpose, I appointed a new gov-
ernor and other f-jderal otScers for Utah, and sent with
them a military force for their protection, and to act as
a. j)usM comitatus, in case of need, in the execution of the
laws." The instructions given to Governor Oumming
were made to conform strictly to the principle that the
power of officials extended only to acts and not to relig-
ious convictions. When these instructions were dis-
patched, it was hoped that there would he no need of the
military to restore and preserve the supremacy of the
law; but this hope had now disappeared. Young bad de-
clared, in a proclamation, that he was resolved to assert
his power by force, and had aiready given e.\pression to
this resolution by acts, although he had been assured by
Major Van Vliet,' who had been sinit to Utah to purchase
provisions for the troops, that the government had peace-
ful intentions, and that the troops were to be employed
only as ponsu comitalus when a rotjuisition to that effect
should be made " by the civil authority," in order to assisi
in the execution of the laws. There was reason to be-
lieve that Young had kept this issue in view for a long
time. He know that the continuance of his despotic
power depended on the exclusion of all non-Mormon set-
tlers from the territory. Hence he had been industriously
collecting and manufacturing arms and amniunitioa for
years, had given a military training to the Mormons, and
had, as superintendent of military aflairs, disaffected the
Indians and stored up provisions for three years, with
which, as he told Van Vliet, he would flee to ihe mount-
ains and defy the entire power of the governmeut.

' ThuB ihe oieBaage. Van Vliet Bubacribes his repart as ■' cnptoiu."

m3 BUCHANAS'S ELECTION KXD OF SStH CONQRESB.

Buchanan coold not have said less in justification of tbe
fact that he had, on his own sole responsibility, sent a
military expedition to Utah, and yet he said a great deal
too much ; for his nearly erery sentence was either a gravo
chai^ against tho 31st congress or the last two presi-
dents, or convicted him of boldly exceeding his legal
powers and of gross mistakes which were being already
severely pnniabed.

Whut Buchanan said about the nature and extent of
Young's power as well as about tiio tendency, the effects
and the aims of his policy was entirely appropriate; and
the more he — without becoming guilty of the slightest
esaggeration — filled out this outline with a description
of the details, the clearer it became to the ininds of the
]»eople that the situation was really a dreadful one and
demanded a radical cure. But from this it followed di-
rectly that the responsibility for the atrocious anomaly
o[ the existence of such a community as a territory, or-
gjinized under a federal law, lay, in the first place, on thu
yist congress, and, in the second, on the presidents who
had made the head of the Mormon church governor or
left him in that office. It was well enough knoivn, even
in 1S50, that the religious fanaticism of tlie Mormons was
not harmless, and was, by no means, a matter of indiffer-
ence, from a politico-social point of view. In Missouri
and Illinois, part of their history had been written in
blood; and because their convictions and their aims
had proved irreconcilable with the political institutions
of the land and the elhico-moral convictions of the
people, ihcy had wandered over the desert and sought an
asylum, in complete seclusion from the whole civilized
world. With the fantastic and absurd garaishmont of
their belief, the political powers had, according to the
prmciplo of complete religious freedom and absolute sep-

TBE MORMONS.

133

aratron of cluircli and state, nothing todo. But the prin-
ciples of an inflexible theocracy, the germs of which had
been hiid in the Mormon doctrine, came in conflict, iit
every step, with the fundiiniental principles of American
nationality, and would necessarily, in isolation, lead to
the development of a sacerdotal state, which would have
to defend itself with the utmost energy against any or-
ganic connection with the rest of the people, because such
a connection would render its decay and final collapse in-
evitable, liigid exclusivenoss was the first condition of
its safe existence. And if all this was already determined
by the political nature of Mormon ism, llie same was true,
in a still higher degree, of the social institntion, which,
partly on account of its exclusiveness^that is, its absolute
irreconcilability with the etbieo-moral convictions and
with the fundamental principles of legal life of Uie rest
of the people — tended more and more to become its prin-
cipal pillar, althoiigh it was only a supplementary a)>-
pendage to the original body of doctrine. And paople
were sufficiontij' well informed of their existence in 1850.
although Brigham Young did not venture, until 1852,
the publication of the decisive revelation which Prophet
Joseph Smith protended to have received, in reference to
polygamy, on the 12th of July, 1843. Even if congres-s
could not bo accused of conscious imprudence, it had at
least manifested a great lack of judgment in giving the
Mormon district a territorial organization, and by so
domg Mormonism, in a certain sense, a legal sanction — a
lack of judgment all the more difficult to understand and
which deserved to be all the more severely condcmnod,
because there had been no lack of warning voices.' It
gave the poisonous germs a soil to feed them, and the
presidents, by appointing Young its governor, acted as if
' Especiully Dell of Teunessee.

134 iUTiiA.va.v's EDicTioK — END (jF 35tu co.VGitEsa,

tbey coiisidored it thoir rlnty to promote its luxurious de-
velopmifnt as far as lay in iheir power.

The PonseijueRccs of this policy became more evitlent
every day; but both eono;ress and tbe executive not only
looked M'ilb folded bands od tbe development of Ibe evil,
but continued to provide it wilb fresb aliment. Tbe in-
terests of the slavocracy, wbich controlled in uU Dalional
questions, were guilty of tbis too, directly or indirectly.
Tbe Cass-Dougias invention of popular sovereigntj" had,
indeed, been made only for tlie slavocracy; but as it had
to be proclaimed as a principle universally applicable,
the Mormons niiturally claimed the benefit of it for them-
selves. No objection could be made to this, for polyg-
amy as well as slavery was a ■' domestic institution," and
with the rest of the institutions of Muimonism the fed-
eral government had no right to interfere, if, according
to the funduinenliil principles of Ainorican nationality,
tbe territorial population had to be recognized as sov-
ereign on a question affecting the weal and woe of the
entire republic so direeliy and in so great a measure as
tbe slavery question.' The slavocracy of course had
nothing against fair (vords. These very religious people
allowed themselves this innocent luxury, on proper oc-
casions, for tbe absolution of their sins; only they would
hear nothing of taking steps against tbe Mormons, since
the Mormons had no grudge against slavery and would
cheerfully pay that price for admission as a state. As
all the preconditions to the viability of slavery in Utah
were wanting, this olTer woe wholly worthless; but before
people were sufficienlly clear on this point to grant that,
room would be made for other considerations, Mormon-
ism had grown strong enough and taken root sufficiently

> See Bell's appiopri:ito reTuarice ol Jauuor; 37, 1958, od tUis pnint.
Congr. Globe, Ist Sew. 35ih Coiigr.. p. 431.

THE MORMONS.

105

to allow Erigliam Young to have tbe flag of open rebell-
ioa hoisted as soou as Buchanan departed from the pol-
icy which the federal government bad hitherto pursued.
That the message did not say a word about these tn-o
importunl chapters from the antecedent history of the
rebelliou could excite no surprise, but its whole repre-
suntuliori of the rebellion was uninteUigible because it
did not refer to them. The president rightly traced the
revolt to ibe nature of Mormonisin, and yel it did not
appear frum bis description that it had gone through any
stage of development. Xot the slightest intimation was
given that his predecessors or congress had been guilty
either of u sin of omission or of a sin of commission, and
yet he claimed to have found himself confronted with a
condition which made immediate and energetic action an
imperative duty. Wben Cumming was given his in-
structions, he pretended to have ground for hope that
the employment of force would not bo necessary, and yet
Young, It was said, had been industriously making prep-
arations for years to forcibly assert his despotic power
against the United States. These were contradictions
which could not be reconciled. Logic was introdnced
into tbe matter only whea the report was supplemented
by the facts which Buchanan had thought well to bo
silent upon. By this means it was made clear, not only
that this silence sprang from consideration for others,
but that it was intended to protect himself also.

It was not precisely untrue ibat, as Buchanan said.
Young had been the governor of the territorj' since its
organization; but it was not the whole truth. Even
Pierce had intended to remove him; but Colonel Stepton,
whom be had sent to Utah in that behalf, soon became
convinced that tbe Mormons could be governed only by
the head of the church, and so reported to Pierce, who

130

1 ELECTiOX — KND OF 3jTH CONOKESB.

folloivcd bis advice, and left matters as thev were. That
Young was a federal official only in foi-ra and in reality
tliu ruler of Utah, was, ihcrefore, not a discovery just
made by Buchanan, but a fact loiiy since established be-
yond ii doubt, by what we may call the counter-proofs.
('liief Justice Drum luund, wbu, in his iettorof resiguation
of March 31), lS57,oxlmiisLiveIy exposed the consenuenoes
(if this fact, and based his resignation on them, hod not I
coine to recognize only after Buchanan's entry into ot&ce
thut it was " noon-day madness" to attempt to adminis-
ter the law there as a federal judge.' His nomination to
iho oEIice dated from the year 1851, and the Mormons I
had even then looked upon Brigham Young as their I
only rightful law-maker, and made no secret of tlm 1
fact. Drunimond was certainly not responsible for it, if I
Buchanan was really so ingenuous as to expect that tha j
military ponse vmnituias woabl not have to act, but only
to show itself, to mend matters. The picture lie bad I
painted, in the most glaring colors, could not make oven i
the must thoughtless optimist imagine that that opinion i
of the Mormons, that is, of the entire population of th« '
territory, was not an article of faith which would find i
expression in acts, in such a way that the civil authorities

1 See the letter, Exec. Doc. SSth Congr., Isl Seas., No. LXXI, pp. SlS-
2U. Wcmaylierequotatwoplaces verbatim: " Tlio records, papem, |
flC, of the si,i|in>ine court have been deairofed bj* order of the cburcb, |
with direct knuwlodge and upprobalioo of Governor B. Yonpg;" '
'"llie judiciary is only irented as a farce; . , . iUaniwu-day mod-
iiem and fully to attempt to administer tlie lavi ia that tcrritorf. ,
Tlie offlcere are inaulted, baraased and iiiurdertd for doing their duty ^
und not ri-cogniting Brigliara Toung aa the only law-givet or law-
■imlceroii earth " Compure. however, the lottor of the deputy-clerk
•■f the supreme raurt, Button, of June 2l!, 1857. to Allorney-Qeneml
Blauk, in wliich Druimrond'a charges aroeinpbatically repelled, tbid ,
pp. 814, StS.

JUDGK DBUUMOND.

137

woaM have tbo right, nay, that it would ha tlipir duty, to
cjncern themselves with it. That pictiii-c showed the
traits of fanatics raying with passion — fadaltcs for whom
the most aboniinabto crimes ar« coiivcrtcil into holy
deeds — and placed Erigham Young in the center, as the
scheming chief and the directing will.

It might be hard to determine whether, and to what
extent, Drumraond was guilty of oxaggpralion ; but his
descri|ition certainly contained so much tnilh that it was
unquestionably the duty of the jiresidotit to employ all
the means furnished him by the constiliition nod the
laws ' to (jffect a radical and permanent change. This
does not mean, by any moans, that he must, or even
should, have acted as he did. Precisely because the evil
had roached such a degree that none of the reasons
which had hitherto prevented action should or could be
considered, and because Buchanan, as undoubtedly a|)-
peared from his own utterances, had clearly recognised
that it was of a chronic and not acute nature, cautious
steps were demanded, and nothing should have been
risked unless under absolute necessity. It was impera-
tive not only that no wrong steps shouhl be taken which
might irritate the wound instead of helping heal it, but
that all half measures, which, at best, could achieve only
partial success, should be avoided — half measures by
which people might delude themselves a few yeai-s longer,
only to be iinally convinced once more of the necessity of
a radical cure, which last might be rendered much more
diOlcult by the fact that the eOlux of the poison had been
partially checked.

Hence the lirst question which Buchanan had to ask
himself was whether the problem could be taken hold of
rightly and with the necessary energy without tho in-

138

UANAn's election — KSD of 35tU CONOKU&a.

torvention of legislation. After what be had said rf
the nature of Moniionistii, ho should certaiuly hiive an-
swered this question in the nej^ative. But if he did not,
and his aliinniitive answer did not exclude ull doubt, he
should not liave come to a. decision himself, hut should
have consulted congress; for, according to the spirit, if
we may not even suy of ibc lettui-. of the constitution, the
will of congress should have governed ; but he confronted
congress with accomplished fucts which greatly inter-
fered with its freedom of will. There was nothing what-
ever to render this necessary. No material change of
the situation, in the territory, had occurred since the last
session of congress, and none was to he uxptHstcd before
its next meeting, unless produced by tlio action of the
president, liut if he was not of this opinion, or if be be-
lieved liiut, notwithstanding this, the federal government
should no longer look inactively on the criminal game of
the Mormons, the constitution gave bim the right imme-
diaLe!^' to summon congress to meet. Was the matter
not worth his doing this, and still of such eminent im-
portance that the president did not hesitate to grapple
with it on his own responsibility, and in a way which —
leaving everything- else out of consideration — made
really enormous demands on the treasury, although it
was a fundamental principle of the constitution that the
administration should not lay out one dollar which had
not been approjiriated by congress) He could not pro-
tect himself by an appeal to the maxim pericultim in
mora. Even the statement that he had not expected that
Cumming would have to call for theservices of the troops
Gouhl scarcely bw reconciled with this. But above all, he
had, by the way in which be executed bis resolution, en-
tirely abandoned the justification of himself by this argu-

139

ment, wliile the other argnmeat, tLat his sworn duty to
exocuto the laws left him no choice wUatovci', was re-
futed by the resolution itself.

The fact that the systematic disregard on principle of
the laws in Utah dated far biicb, that bis predecessors and
congress had not opposed it, and thai, in the main, the old
state of things would continue if he left the territory to it-
self untilcougressmet, certainly did not give the president
the right not to fulfill his sworn duty to see to the execu-
tion of the laws, for a single day, to say nothing of a space
of nine months. But it was not only not llie duty of the
president, but he bad not the right, to make use of all the
means for the execution of the laws that seemed to him
expedient. lie could only use lliose prescribed or allowed
by tbe laws; otherwise he would begin to execute the
laws by violating ihem himself. If ibcse means were not
sufficient he was freed from all responsibility, with the
exception of that other duty, expressly impo.scd on hira by
the constitution, to inform congress thereof ami to rec-
ommend the passage of such laws as soemed necessary to
hira. Hence no objection could be made lo his appoint-
ment of a new governor and other federal officials with-
out flrst consulting congress. The right to give them a
military escort was not quite as iudispuiable; but tins was
not seriously objected to in any quarter, if tlie escort was
to serve only for their personal protection, for which pur-
pose little more than a corporal's guard would have been
needed. But in what article of the constitution or what
provision of law did the president Hnd authority to send
any number of troops he wished into a territory to serve
the civil authorities in a case of necessity as apoaae comi-
tatu«? What powers he possessed, as commander-in-chief,
over the distribution and stationing of troops, did not en-
ter into the question at all. He expressly stated that be

140

-KND OF 35rn cosqress,

bad sent them to serve as a posse comitatvs, and Iienoe the
onlj' question was whether he should have sent them for
that puqiosc. The undisputed and indisptitable lawful-
neas of the employment of the, posse comiUitus in the ex-
ecution of the laws was no answer to this question; for
the troops of the regular army no more became a posse
comitatua by the president's calling them so, than a bird
would become a fish by his declaring that it was one.'
Neither the president nor the governor had even the rigbl
to call out the real passe comiiatun, and the president con-
sidered il a self-evident conse[|uence of his duty to see to
the maintenance of the supremacy of the law. that he
should give tho army to the governor to be substituted
for the posse comitatua — a self-evident consequence, for
the message did not contain a single word in defense of
the claim. Ent this was simply senseless, even if from
that duty the more general right to employ the armed
power of the country whenever, in his judgment, it
seemed expedient or necessary, could be directly and an-
doubtedly deduced.

That he did not possess this right was nut questioned

ITrumbull eaid on the 21st of April, 1858. in the Eenute: "Sir.
there is no authority for the president to use the arinj- as a piis»e c«fn-
ilatus; aad it is a perversion of tprma, and it is .in tibsurility, to call
the mililary power of thia country a posse comilittiis. Wiiat is such
a posse f It is the power of the county, the civil poiver of the coanty,
summoned (o tlie assistance of an executive officer to enablu liim to
execiito process, summoned to the assistance of a manthal, or a sher-
iff; but has your governor any autliuiity to execute o writ? lias iho
governor of Utali, or any otiier governor of a territory, a right to
summon a posse comilalut furany purpos^i'i'iiatovi-r? I deny it. No
such authority is ^iven, The presideut liaa just as luuoh riglit to as-
semble the whole army of the United States in the city of Washing-
ton as aposMe eomilaltui to protect bloiself or to overawe coiigreas as he
has to assemble it as a j«Mse cowi'fofus to accompany Governor Cum-
ming to Ultth." Congr. Globe, 35th Congr., Ul Sees,, p|i, 1713, 1714.

THK MOKMOXa.

141

by any ono. The law3, of coui-se, recognized the army
as a mciins to ninintain the supremacy of the law, but
they also provideil that the president shoulil employ that
means only under certain conditions; and that these con-
ditions existed in the case before us was denied in some
tjaarters, while the message was entirely silent on the
qaeslion. The law of the 3d of March. 1S07.' authorized
the president to employ the land and naval forces of
the United States in the execution of federu! laws and
the laws of a state or territory, in all cases in nhlch
he mi^ht, in accordance witli existing laws, call out
the militia for that pur|iose. In the law of the 2Sth
of February, 1795,' which was referred to here, no men-
lion was mnde of the territories, and hence it was
not universally considered unquestionable that it applied
to ihem hitowise. As they were expressly mentioned in
the law of 1S07, it certainly cannot be denied that it was
the opinion and tho intention of thccongr.'sa iluit passed
this later law that it should be applied lo Iht-in. Yet,
very prominent politicians, who were also considered
distinguis'icd jurists, as, for instance, Trumbull 'and Bell,'
claimed that the president could not at stil appeal to this
law, since it allowed him to call out the militia only if
requested to do so by the legislature, or, if the legislature
could not be convened, by the executive of a state. That
was not correct. This condition was inserted in the first
section, "in case of an insurrection in any state, against
the government thereof." It is not to be found in tlie
second section, which relates lo the hinderingof the execu-
tion of federal laws. Here all that is required is that

> 8tat. at I^., 11, p, 443.

»Ibid.,I, p. 4J1.

iCoDgr. Gtobo, 33tb Congr., 1st Seas., p. 17IS.

"Ibid., p. 751.

li-2

An's election — END OF 35tB CONGRESS.

the resistance must be by combinations too powerful to
be ovepcorae by the usual course of law or with tho pow-
ers granted the marshals. It' ii must be admitted that
this condition was fulfilled in Utah, vre cannot under-
stand how the president could be accused of exceeding
his legal powers if he sent troops apainst the rebellious
Mormons, But this was merely a theoretical question;
for, according to his own statement, he had not done so,
evidently because, in his own opinion, at the time when
he appointed Gumming governor, the resistance of tho
]Vrormons had not assumed such a form that he would
hare been warranted by the requirements of the law to
interfere with the sword. But the question was not what
he should have done, but what, accoitling to his own dec-
laration, he had done, and which the laws of 1795 and
1807 authorized him no more than any otlier laws to do.
It certainly was not "a distinction without a differ-
ence" whether the army was employed in accordance
with the laws of 1795 and 1807, or were placed at some
one's disposal as a po».K comitaUis, but something essen-
tially different. Even the masses of the people were
sufficiently trained in political and constitutional thought
clearly to understand this difference nnder certain circum-
stances, and tu recognize its extent. But in this case
that was not to be expected if tlie issue was in favor
of the president. The terrible stories which circulated
about the murdering band of "Danites," and the horribla
crimes they had really committed in tho territory and
others they were said to have committed, had so far
transformed the earlier theoretical, elhi co-religious con-
demnation of these smgular "Latter- Day Saints" into a
feeling ready for action, that people were very much in-
clined to hall with lively satisfaction the putting of a
rigid rein on their wild doings, even if a strictly consti-

EKPLOYIIEST OF THE MILITAEl'.

tational criticism found many faults with the means used
by the government to attain that end, Tet, on the otliep
hand, Utah was too distant, and, in the descriptions of
the state of affairs there, the disgusting, revolting reality
Tvas alloyed with too large a proportion of fiction, for
people, on sober reflection, to get into a great passion
over what was going on within its borders. If Boclianun
ncoomplialied the end sought, quickly, surely, and at a
relatively small cost, with the posse ciTr'itatm fiction, why
should it not be winked at that he did not — even if it
would have been constitutionally more proper — pursue
a wildcat with the arms he would have used in a tiger
bunt? But his policy drove the Mormons into open re-
bellion, which could be subdued only by calling out a
large military force and at, great cost; and the principal
reason why he effected the very opposite of what he had
intended, and of what would have insured forgiveness
for the wrongfulness of his procedure, afforded another
illustration of the old saying that the interests of slavery
had to taiie precedence oE everything else. To all for
whom the party standpoint exclusively was not decisive,
the legal as well as the political question was placed
hereby in a very different light.

As early as June the troops intended for Utah were
collected at Fort Leavenworth, and General Harney, who
commanded the troops stationed — as a pogge comiiatvs
likewise' — in Kansas, was appointed corainander of the
espedition. Governor Walker repeatedly and emphatic-
ally protested against the troops being withdrawn from
Kansas. In bis report of the SiOth of July to Cass, lie
said that the territorial government would be infallibly
overthrown if at least two thousand men wero not im-

'See Buchiknnn'B answer of August M, 1857, to the New Baven
meiuorial. 1h& I adcpcnth-nt , Qi^t. 1, IS37.

lU

it'CHASAN S KI.KCTIOS — ESD OF 30Tn C0XGKKS3.

mediately sont to Fort Leavenworth to support it.' This
report, and a letter of the president dated July 12, «'hich
was intendetl completely to calm the governor, crossed
each other. Buchanan wrote hira: "General Harney
has been ordered to command the expedition against
Ulah.* but we must contriva to ijave him with you, at
least until you are out of the woods. Kansas is vastly
more important at the present moment than Utah."' Of
course, the president liere was not thinkini^ solely of
Harney personally. The intention at firet was to send
tliree thousand men to Utah; now the number was re-
duced to two thousand tive hundred; and at the last, it
was thought that one thousand five humli-ed must be
enough.* But weeks and months passed before even that
number departed. " Pemaquid " wrote to the New York
Tribune of September 5 from "Washington that three
months ajro it had suited the government organs to im-
pute so much evil to the Mormons with their pens, in
<ir(ier to divert public opinion from the rcid and living
issues by a sliow of morality and decency, tlut now the
expedition had been given up, as Buchanan really cared
little wlietherCumminp reached his destination; forBrig-
liam Young, by his declaration in favor of slavery, bad
become a pet of the sluvooracy and, tburcforo, of the
administration.'

The correspondent oversiiot tlie mark in the last sen-
tences, as ihc Covodo couimiUee did subicquently, since
he roadu mention of the charge that the Utah expedition

'Sen. Doc., flSlh Congr.. 1st Sees., vol, I, No. Vm. p. 47.
'How did this (>xi>re>w)ion agree with tliejicuar-cornf/dtur doctrine?
»TI)e New York THbutte. April 19. 1800.

* AMOvdiua to Bell's ligurea iii iliu teiiste. Congr. Glubc, t»t Seat.
SGtliCoTi|i!r., p. ITol.
•The N, Y. Tribune. Sept 7, 1857.

OESEEAL ecorr s i-eotest.

had been arranged in order to force slavery on Kansas,
in a rasinner which left no room for tloubt that he held
it to be wotl founded.'

The expedition was not given up, and it had not been
planned as a pretext to bring together so large a number
of troops in Kansas, ihiit, by means of thein, a satfi-
cient pressure might bo exercised lo realize the wishes
of the south. That one of the reasons for the expedi-
tion was the wish to divert the attention of the peopla
from the slavery question is at least highly prob-
able, audit is documentarily established — as has been
shown — that they did not begin to march until autumn,
and had been redueed to one-half of the number origi-
nally determined on. because, il was believed the troops
could not be dispensed with there, without seriously en-
dangering the Kansas policy of the administration.*
Whether, and to what extent, this furnished an occasion
for a criticism of Buchanan's motive, is a question on which
opinions differed, according to men's views on the slavery
question and the Kansas question; but the consequences
of it were so disastrous that the partisans of the adminis-
tration could serve it best by beingentirely silenton this
phase of the question.

General Scott relates in his Memoirs that he protested
against the expedition which had been set on foot by
the secretary of war, Floyd, on account of the great op-
portunities it would afford for fraud and intrigae.' This
last was evidently a foolish charge, although the economic

' B*p. ot CoTnin,. 3Gth Congr., 1st SesB., vol. V, No. 648. p. B. Ma-
jority Report of Fiiiin, June 16. 1880.

* Buulianan liimself eaya in his meBcaj^e nf Ft-'bruary 3, 1658i "1
have b(! en obliged in some degree to interrere with the expedition
to tltHli. in order to keep don'u rebellioa in Ennaai
Man., III. p. 22G1.

*Uem.. 11, p. GOJ.
10

14G Buchanan's election ^ es]> of 35th ciis

bistory of the expedition constituted a wonderful illus- I
tration of tlie einphatio duclaratton which Me president I
had made, in the inaugrural address, on the duty "of j
preserving the government from the taint, or even the |
suspicion, of corruption,"' Nor is the first allegation right.
It is not only denied by Buchanan.' but Scott's instruc-
tion to Harney prove tliat here, as in muny other ques-
tions, his memory or his vanity deceived him when he
wrote bis Memoirs. But even if Scott did not protest f
against the expedition, he called attention to how hazard-
ous it was to begin when the season was so advanced. |
After Buchanan had let the entire summer go by, he j
thought he could not wait a single moment. In his self- !
defense, he afterwards congratidateil himself greatly i
that he did not allow himself to be determined by this
consideration to endure BHgham Young's lawless rale a i
year longer.' But in truth theriMvas not question of a
year. Spring and snmmer came before the troops oould
march through Salt Lake City and encamp in Codar
Valley, and before the Mormons submitted to the extent
they did. If the postponement of the expedition until I
spring had delayed the quelling of the rebellion, a few |
wcelis at the most would have been lost, while the ITnited I
Slates would have saved ail that llie wmier campaign had I
c>>sl it. This cost was so great that it required no small I
degree of arllessnessorandacity, after the result had thus J
passed judgment on this policy, to use it for the purpose I
of adminng self-con leraplation.
On the 24lU of July the Mormons, in Cottonwood I

1 Stenliouae relHttv that tlif Morinoiia bmi called the expedition thfl J
■■ Cotitrnitora' Wor." Thn Buclty MouDtain 8ninls, p. Alfl.

^Mr. Bui'hnuim'B AOininistratioD oii iho Eve oX tha B«beUioB,l
p, 33D.

'ItiJ., pp. ^>. ^^^

THE MORMONS.

iversary of their entry into
$ before. Here they re-

Canon, had celebrated the an
the valley of Salt Lake ten ;
ceived the news that the coatract which intrusted thei
with the carrying of the mails to Utah had been can-
celed by the postmaster-general. The excitement was
great, for tliey saw in this the first act of open hostility.
Brigham Young reminded them that he had told thera
on the day to celebrate which they had assembled, that,
in ten yeai-s, he would bo able to cope with the United
States.* The pulpit and the press had since then faraiUar-
ized the multitude sulliclently with the idea to make them
enthusiastically agree with tbe resolution announced, to
oppose force by force.' Captain Van Viiet, whose mis-
sion has been already mentioned, was very courteously
received by Tonng; but not only was the sale of provis-
ions to liiin refused, but he was told, with the utmost
decision, that tbe troops would not be allowed in the ter-
ritory.' On the 15th of September. Young issued a proc-
lamation in which he briedy recapitulated all the injustices
that tbe Mormons bad suffered for twenty-tive years;
declared their religious convictions to be the sole cause
of their persecution; branded it as a shameful slander
that tbe Mormons had ever demanded more than the
rights guaranteed by the constitution to all other citi-

l " Give us ten yenrs of peace, and we will ask no odds of tlie
United States,"

'Hyde, Mormon iam. ita Leaders anrt Designs, p, 177, gives the fol-
lowing citation from the Deaeret A'ejM of September I. IBSfl: ■' I say
as the Lord lives, we are bound to become a sovereign state in the
Union, or an independent nation by ourselves. I am still, and still
will be, governor of this territory, to the constant chagrin of my en-
emieia, and twenty years shall not pass before tbe elders of this church
will be as much thought of as kings on their thrones."

*See his report of tbe Iflth of September. Message and Documents,
n. p. 25.

148 BITCII4NAN'8 KLKtJTIOtf — end OF 35 TH CONG BESS.

zens; complained that the mendacious tales of anony-
mous accusers and corrupt officials had not been exam-
ined, but tiiat forthwith '■ an armed mercenary mob " bad
been let loose upon them, and that they Lad then been
forced to seek refuge under the primeval law of self-
preserration; in the name of the people of the Dnited
States in the territory of Utah, he, therefore, as gov-
ernor, forbade anj' armed power whatsoever, under any
pretest whatsoever, to come into the territory; com-
manded all to keep themselves in readiness to repel such
an invasion, and declared the territory in a state of
siege.'

This was indisputably an actual if not formal decla-
ration of war, and it was meant seriously. Although
Young was certainly not a comedian but an honest
fanatic, he bad a clear and really able head for political
affairs. His thought, speech and actions were clothed
in a fantastic, extravagant dress, but the kernel of them
was always a sober and shrewd calculation. Even now
he was not carried away by passion or megalomania.
He had admitted to Van Vliet. wiihout any reservation,
that he would be defeated if the government persisted
in its design, but added that it would find Utah trans-
formed into a desert if it did so. Hence he desired to
wage war with all his strength, and still without the
shedding of blood, on the small force that was advancing
against him, and which he fell able to cope with, in order,
if possible, to deter the government from the further
prosecution of its design, and to insure the possibility of
a compromise in case he did not succeed.

On the 27th of September, Colonel Alexander crossed
Green river. This, in Young's opinion, made the invasion

■ S«e Hyde's report of tlie 16th of Septembsr. Uetaage and Docu-
inpnts. II, p, 33.

THE MORMONS.

149

a f»ct. His declaration that the troops might remain at
Bluck Fork or Green river unniolesteJ, anti obtain the
neceasary means of subsistence during the winter, if thov
surrendered their arms,' could, of course, be taken nolico
of only as a new insult and provocation. To retreat witli-
out disgrace or covering tfiemselves with ridicule wiis
now impossiolc. But, at every step forwai"d, the troops felt
more bitterly how well founded were the objections to the
hazardous enterprise of attempting the subjugation of
liie fanatics at this season of the year, in the rougb mount-
ainous country, and this, at first, only with infantry and
artillery. "Welts, the commander-in-chief of the Mormons,
was instructed to shed no blood, but to direct his opera-
tions against the provisions and draught cattle. He was
told to fight the intruders, not witb powder and lead, but
with hunger.* Tliis must have been expected, and, there-
fore, care sliould, above all things, have been taken to
protect the train by cavalry. But it was thought that
the cavalry could not be dispensed with in Kansas, and
Kansas was given the precedence. In addition lo this,
Alexander could not take the shortest road. From the
camp at Hum's Fork, the distance to Salt Lake City,
through Echo Canon, was only one hundred and fiUy
miles; but the Mormons had put the narrow ravine in so
good a state of defense that he did not venture to engage
in a Btruggle with them there, and chose the road, twice
as long, over Soda Springs. The Mormons hung contin-
ually on his flanks, and operated with such success against
the train that he resolved to turn back, when the winter,
by a snow-fall, announced that it did not intend to wait

1 See Hyile'a report of tlie IGtIi of September. ttessagM ami Docu-
meiitB. II, p. 33.

*Qee biH (tecloration in TowuaeDd, Tlie Hormoa Trials at Salt Lake
City, p. 83.

Buchanan's election — end of S^tii conoress.

longer than usnal, or to exercise a milder rule, to please the
presiiient. The news now came from Colonel Smith,
leader oF the other division, that Colonel Albert S. John-
ston, who had in (he meantime Ijeen placed in chief com-
mand, and »'ho Bubsequently played an important part in
the civil war, was fast approaching. Johnston's first c
was to unite the troops. Uefore he could accomplish this,
November had come, and it was full winter. The idea o
pushing his way through the Wasatch mountains, bofo]
spring, bad to be given up. On the 6th of Jfovcmbi
Johnston set out for Fort Eridger to winter there. A p«
of the train could not be despatched, because, on the pro^
ous evening, the Mormons bad again succeeded in dispen
ing five hundred head of cattle. The troops, with great"
effort, advanced slowly, the weather being rather cold and
the snow deep. During the night, the cattle saved from
the Mormons perished in masses from cold and hunger.
The van required eleven days to travel the thirty miles
to the fort which Ihe Mormons had vacated the week be-
fore. Four days later (November 20) the dragoons under
Colonel Cook arrived there with Governor Ouniniing.
They had lost a large part of their horses, and cold and
hunger had so reduced the troops that thoy were, at
first, unfit for active service, "With courage undaunted,
but under great privation, they waited there inactively
with their comrades who had arrived before them until
the spring, to resume operations with better prosjiccCs of
success.
Such was the condition of affairs when congress met,
Th»' results of the president's ]K)licy were certainly not
calculated to make the opposition approach the decision
of ihe constitutional question in a placid frame of mind, —
or to incline them greatly to grant the sum of six or sovon
fi;jures for iho contracts already concluded and partly

FOKEION AFFAIRS.

151

cxecated, tvithout close examination and without raising
the general question whether the president did not hold
in his hand the purse iis well iis the sword, if, under the
cloak of cseculiug the laws, he could send any number
of troops he liked to any point he liked, with nothing
more to do but to present the bills to congress afterwards
for adjustment, — or, iind lastly, to pei-siiude it to give Ihe
president, gladly and immediately, the four new regi-
ments asked for, for llie successful carrying out of his
tixpedition, although tlie message had announced that, in
consequence of the crash, the expected surplus in the
treasury had been transformed into a deficit, so that re-
course must be hnd to the issue of paper money.

So far ns congress was concerned, all this could trouble
Uuchauan hut little, ns he certainly expected, and had
reason to expect, that the majority in that body would,
at the lejist, not leave him in the lurch. Wiiat effect the
s|)eec]ies of the opposition on all these points would have,
outside of congress and among the people, was a very
different question, as this d;d not by any means exhaust
the arsenal of wea|>ons wliich the message had placed
in the hands of all the dissatisfied elements against the
administration.

The information the president gave on the relations of
the Union to foreign powers showed no clear horizon.
There was nowhere to be seen a cloud large and black
enough to warrant even the pretense that a heavy storm
might soon break over the country. But little as tho
nebulae to which Euchinan referred could of themselves
excite alarm, the manner in which he referred to them
was a warning to be cantious. From those to whom
Ruchanan seemed an untrustworthy pilot, il could not be
concealed whether he liad seen reason for mistrust in his
proposals. If his wishes were granted, it lay entirely

w.

-END OF oJTH (

with himself to raise a little storm at will; and there was I
no lack of ground for the suspicion that it woiiM not bo I
(lis|)leasing to him and his otHcial as well as unolTicial I
advisers, if a stiff breeze should blow towards a certain ]
point of the compass.

The differences with Spain of which the message spoke 1
coald not calculate on special consideration, as Cuba was I
not even mealioned, and long j'etirs of habit bad brougl
it to such a pass that the relation of the Union to thaU
power was scarcely imaginable withont friction in all^
kinds of minor questions.

A matter that excited more attention was tlie fact that|
the president asked to be authorized to employ "other
means" against Paraguay, if it did not agree to a de-j
mund, to be presented " in u lirni but conciliatory spirit,"J
that it make compciisa'iun fur the many iiijusticea it had)
done to American citnerii, and give satisfaction for havingi
fired on the armed American steamer " Water 'Witoh,"r
which had navigated the Parana in the interests of<l
science and commerce and examined its navigableness^!
If Paraguay's guilt was really as undoubted and as greaU
as Buchanan supposod, it was of course the duty of thw
Union to defend its citizens and their flag. But this, n
the sequel proved, was by no means unquestionable; antC
hence it would certainly have been better not to Icavr
the matter so entirely lo the discretion of the president "
that it might end in war.' If congress had had to do

1 By a Tceohitioii nf tlii? Sci of June, 1SSH. llie prt'si'li.'Tit was " bti-
thorixed to adopt sucli tiieaMir«^ (inrf use suuh *(iree ns, Jii hia judg-
ment, amy bv uecvea^rj mul advJMiblo in tlie event of n refusal of jiiiit
satiBfactioti liy ilie go\ pirmif tit of Porngimy." (Stnt. at L.. XI,
p. aiO.) LopeK vcnlured na ri-sistante. hb the conimisaioner, Bowlin, j
was accoiiipnnied by uititiecii war ships with two hundred cannoi
ftnd twii thousand five hundred Hailnra and marine Boldieis. On thi
Igbtaary, t6Q9, acuuveiiliou wusooncludvd at AsaunoionflbidiJ

FOKEIGN AFFAIU3.

153

with a more powerful state, or if secondary intentions as
tu questions of iiuporLitnce had becc suspected in tlie
presideut, it wuuld certainly have considered the mutter
mure matucely before granling him the authority asked
for.'

Congress proved this by not acceding to the wish of
the prt'Sident thai he should be allowed to have the free
disposition of the army in another question.

The American ch«rg6-cl'affaires, B. A. liidlucU, whu hiid
conducted the negotiations relating to the treaty of the
lath of December, 184(J, with New Granada, had " u|i..u
his own responsibilitj- and without instructions''^ adroLt-
ted in the ihirty-fifth article thereof a guaranty obligation
in respect to the isthmus of Panama,* Alttiough Polk,

XII, p. 1087), nnd Buchatian aDDounred in tlio annual mpssai;a of
Deceiubcr 10, 180B, thai " all our Uiiliuultk'S with llii: republic of Pnr-
aguay have Ijeen satisfactorily adjusted." (C'ungr. Globe. Ist Sess.,
itOtli Congr., App,. p. 3.) lu the book iin Lis ndminlBt ration (pp. 3fl4'
267} he speaks with E^eat BulisfnetioD of lliis suocess, but forgela to
meution lliat llio claima of American citizens were found to be un-
grounded by the commiaaion appointed in accordance with the con-

t Buclianau i» also silent on the objection that be had exceeded the
authority given tiim by putting the expedition on foot, because the
condition precedent of refuaiil of just Batisfaction hod not been ful-
flllrd. (See Congr. Olobe, 2d Sesa. 3Sth Cungr., pp. tn04. tOU8.) It may
be renmrked. in passing, that the shot at the "Water Witch" was not.
as wuiilil seem from the message, fired altogctlier without pivivoui-
tion. (See Ibid., p. 160S.)

^ Acconling to Buchanan's conftdentinl nieaange of April 5, ISOO. to
the senate, eiteil by R. Schleiden iu Die rechtllche und politische
Seite der Pnnnma-C'anul-FrBge. Preiiss. Jabrbflcher, Xi IX, p. 586.

* ■' The United Stnlea giiBranty. positively and efficaciously, to New
Uranada. by the preaeitt stipulntion, the perfect neutrality of the be-
fore-nienlioned isthrnua. with the vitw tliat the free transit from the
one t>i the other sea may not bo interrupted or euibarratiaed in any
future time while this treaty exists: and, in consequence, the United
States also gu.iranty, in the same iiiiuiner. the rights of sovereignly

15i Buchanan's elkctioh — end o¥ 35th cosgbkss.

in his message of the 10th of February, ISIT, called
Lbe attention of the senate to tliis, it seems probable to
Sclileiden tbat neither tbe president nor the senate then
nltacbed auy particular weight to tbis point. By repre-
senting that the United States had a greater interest than
uny other people in tlie freedom and safety of all com-
mercial highways over the isthmus, Buchanan asked for
power, in case It became necessary, to employ the land
and naval forces of the Union in the redemption of the
guaranty obligation, as well as for further laws for the
security uf any other transit routes in which tbe United
States might obtain an interest by treaty.

It would have been very hazardous, at this time, to agree
to this request. But that the president, at this very time,
should have asked congress for such a vote of confidenoe,
was so great a piece of presumption that it might prop-
erly be asked whether it was cause for wonder or alarm.
It could not bo ascertained from tbe message whether
Buchanan had even thought of England in the question;
and it certainly was not invpossible that, in his request, he
had in view only the other Ceulral American states, But
this did not alter the fact tbat the diBerences between the
United States and England, on tbe right interpretation
of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, had not yet been settled,
and that it could in nowise be coiifidontly expected that
the pendinjf new effort to come to an understanding
would bo successful.'

The president himself expressed the opinion Ibat it
would have been much better if the two powers had long
since agreed to cancel the treaty and had begun negoli- .

and property whieli New Gratiailit haa and (HMdessuB over the said
territory." Blat. at L., IJC, pp. 888. SOU.

'See, on tliis whole qutelioii, tile away of Sclilcidun above re-
feiTwi Ift

CESTEAL AMEHICAN DlFFICUl-TIEB

155

ations nnoxv; if that haJ been done immediately, all the
Central American diflicultiL-s would probably have been
solved alfoady. But tlie transit routes were of incom-
parably mope importance than all the qucslions out of
whicli the difficulties hitherto had grown. And now the
president wanted to get such |X)wer in respect to the for-
mer at tho moment that both sides were seriously con-
BJdering whether the negotiations relating to the latter
should not he canceled "to commence anew." Much
might be said to show that an understanding could be
still hoped for, only on condition that this venture was
resolved on; but the better founded this opinion was, the
more certain was it that Buchanan's request would have
to be denied. Either lie had reason to assume that it
woulil be necessary, sword in hand, to defend the neu-
trality of the isthmns and the sovereignty of New Gra-
nada over it, or he had no reason for such an assumption.
In iliK latter case his demand lacked all foundation, and
in the former it was necessary to avoid, as far as possible,
doing anything which might make it easier for England
to oppose the right of the United States to interfere.
Buchanan's statement that iho interest of the two coun-
tries in Central America was identical was entirely cor-
rect, since it was confined to insuring the safely of trade
on all interoceanic ways of communication over the
istbmi'.s; but for this very reason congress should not pave
the way for a conflict by giving him the possibility of
practicing high politics there at his own discretion. If
he had no intention to do this, uud if the transit routes
were not endangered, the granting him such power would
have been folly; for there was nothing to be gained by
granting, it and it could not fail to arouse distrust; but
if he had such an intention, or if danger threatened
from any quarter, how could congress be warranted to

156

BDCUASAJi's ELECTION — END OF 35tH CONGKGSS.

cast its own constitutional responsibility on the shoulders
of the president! That the president otlered bimsolf as
an Atlas, whose back was able to bear tbe burthen of
those Weighty interests of the country, could scarcely be
consitierad sutfioicnt.

In London no doubt was entertained of the honesty of
Buchanan's assurance that be heartily reciprocated the
friendly spirit in which England invited the Union to
new negotiations. Great liritain was fully convinced
that the edge of bis demand was not turned directly
against her, but it could not touch her agreeably on that
account. The assurance of his secretary of state, in a
note of the 20th of October, 1857, to Lord Napier, that
"the United States . . . demand no exclusive priv-
ileges in these passages, but will alwaj's exert their influ-
ence to secui-e their free a.nd unrestricted privileges, both
in peace and war, to the commerce of the world," and
his own declaration in harmony Fherewilb, on the iden-
trty of the interests of the two powers in Central Amer-
icii, were satisfactory as far as they went; but they
contained no clear, express disclaimer not to strive for a
controlling influence there. If the equal rights of Eng-
land to the transit routes depended, even in the smallest
degree, on the good-will of the United States, then her
rights were really not equal. But Cass had again, as
Pierce had already done, rejected the proposal to alloxv
a third power to decide, by arbitration, the controverted
points of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, although only Eng-
land had anything to lose by a decision so madu, as the
United States did not claim to have any possessory rights
in Central America; and in the diplomatic circles of
Washington it was rumored that he had, in September,
decitledly rejected the further proposition, in ootQtnoD
with England and France, to guaranty the freedom and

CENTRAL AMERICAN DIFFICTJLTIES.

157

safety of tbe transit routes by a triple treaty. The rear
sons for the rejection were not parliculai'Iy convincing in
either case. A court of arbitration, Cass thought, did
not commend itself, because the English language was
best understood in England and the United States; and
he is said to have urged against the triple treaty that
England iind Franco could, by separate conventions, ac-
complisli with New Granada what the United States had
already accomplished by the treaty of December 13, 1846.
Buchanan evidently wanted to reserve full freedom for
the United States or for himself to decide alone when
and bow they would fiillill the guaranty obligation as-
sumed. The question was therefore warranted, whether
the intention now impuled to congress was not prompted
more or less by the wish immediately to use every oji-
portunity that presented itself to obtain a domineering
position. It could not be suspected that the transit
routes were in danger from England, and just as little
could it be suspected that Buchanan desired to have free
disposal of the troops in order to checkmate England.
"It is our duty to take care that the freedom and secu-
rity of all communications across the Jstlimus shall not
be interrupted either by invasions from our country or
by wars between the independent states of Central Amer-
ica." There was no reason to doubt that, in this sen-
tence of the message, those were correctly described whom
the president wished to oppose, the occasion being given,
with a cogent quos ego. without being obliged to have
Xiourse to congress. But if he did this with the vigor
ti success demanded, England would be forced into
B second place; and as in politics the appetite is best
Rrhettcd by eating, he might be led by hia first success to
take further steps, among the remote, possible couse-
nuences of which serious differencea with England might

JCIIA.NiX 8 ELV.Cl'V.

perhaps not bo considered the most dangerous. It was
clear, from another part of the message, tbat Buchanan
had a very definite cause to Relieve tbat the tirst Step
Avould become a necessity in the neur future; and those
who were so situated as to get a look behind the curtains
kne^v that the further possibility, 8o far as il depended
on the will of tiic president, was on the way to becomo
u probabibty.

"William Walker bad suddenly re-appeared on tho
stage, after it had been supposed for a moment that a
revolution of the wheel of fortune had relegated him for-
ever to the ranks of retired adventurers, By the united
ell'orls of the elements opposed to him in Nicaragua and
the other Central American states, his power had been
broken just as tjuickly as he had built it up. After sev-
eral unsuccessful bailies the conlinuance of the struggle
had become impossible, and he miistfear that the enemy,
if ho fell into their bands, would visit the same punish-
ment on him that he hud inflicted on Corral. This dan-
ger he escaped by deliveriag himself up on May 1, 1857,
with sixteen companions, to the American commander of
the American war sloop the " Si. Mary's,'' ' who brought
him to Panama, whence he proceeded to New Orleans.
He began to agilate the equipment of another e](|>edition
without delay, and immediately found so much support
that Cass sent a circular, at the end of September, to the
proper olticuils with an order to prevent the execution of
the illegal undertaking; and the secretary of the navy,

1 In the opiuEon of Watker'H Trltixls his defeat was owing partly to
the liustile nltituile of Cnptain Davig. See, for inKtnnce, ZollicoN
tn'e leiiiHrks, Congr. Glolw, 1st Sess, 35tli Conjir.. p. 8*5. His 0|(-
potipnttt aii'l tlie ml ministration, on ihe olhEr himd. clnfmed thut
Davla, or, in mlier wortis, the ad mint At ration, hail eared lilm from
Certain ruiii, Hru Ihv siAtements of Txucey in his uhdujU report mul
Djulidli'** (wuimeuu on the same. Ibid,, p. 'JdO.

WAIKBRS EXPKDITIOS,

350

Toncey, took measures, at the beginning of October, to
capture Llio iilibuslers on the sea, in case Cass's order was
not ciirried out,' Walker was imprisoned in New Orleans,
but set frei3 again on bail in only $3,OUO; and on the lUh
o£ November he sailed in the "Fashion," as was given
out, for Mobile, but really for Punta Arenas.

Of tilt' furiher fate of the expedition the messa<;e could
give no information. Indeed little was learned from it
about the actual steps taken, although ibe message de-
voted a whole pnge to the matter. Walker's name did
not uppear in it, nor was it mentioned when and where
he bad begun his new march of conquest. These, bow-
ever, were only oditorial singularities, as a knowledge of
these things had to be supposed.

On [he other hand, a matter of essential importance
was the dearth of proof that the government had done
its full duty. Whetiier intended or not, it was none the
less a fact that it could not be discovered from the mes-
sage whether the ]irL'sident considered the existing laws
in.suffictont. He indeed recommended "the whole subject
to the si?ri(ius attention of congress," since duty, interest
and national honor demanded effective measures against
llie filibustering system; bat he not only made no def-
inite pro|iosal himself, but did not even directly say that
new and more stringent laws were needed. Emphatic,
therefore, us was his condemnation of the wrong because
contrary to international law, because disastrous and dis-
honorable. It still bore the character of vagueness. If
iiuchanan were fully in earnest in his condemnation, he
^liouhl have avoided this; since he well knew that its
honesty would be very much doubted by a great many.
He did not need to ask himself now whether it was not
an obvious consequence of the history hitherto of the
■ S.'it. Doc., 35th Ckingr., 1st Seit., vol. I, No. 13, p. T.

160 BCOnASAN's ELECTIOS — Ern> OF SStH C0SQEES8.

filibuster question: the fgct was stated in the concisest
terms in the official reports of the officers to the mem-
bers of his cabinet.' Yet the fact was the essential
thing, even if he had to suflfer innocently for the sins of
omission of his predecessors. Bui with what right conld
the co-author of the Ostend Manifesto, and the person
elected by the Cincinnati convention, claim that he
shouM be considered above suspicion in this respect!
The Cincinnati platform had declared it to bo self-evi-
dent tiiat the American people sympathized with ef-
forts at regeneration in Central America — that is, with
the successes of the filibuster, Walker; and had g^iven
utterance to the expectations of the democratic party
that the next administration would insure the ascendency
of the Union over the Gulf of Mexico; and I3nchanaa
had declared that he heartily approved the platform is
which his individuality would be entirely swallowed up
and disappear.* The secretary of state had gone even

' Lieutenant Aluiy writes to Toucey on the £9Hi of Octolwr. 183T;
" He {A, J. Requier, district attorue}- of tlie United Slates iu Mobile)
BBLil tbut he ci'uM not but hi^lp cxpreiotinK the opiuiuo tluit public
Mutiiiient in Mobile was in favor of thesie «xp(.-djtiODS to Central
Atnerica: that it was a frequent theme of conversation on 'change, iu
the streets, and at the hotels ; and further that there seemed an idea
to be prevaiUng in this part of the country that the cabinet aX Wash-
ington ratber winked ut the fitting out and dtrparture of these expe-
ditions than to be si^rioiialy dLspused to prevent tbum." Ibid,, p, 13,

'According to the New York TYUntne of January 8, 1858, be had,
on the aist of May, 1867, telegraphed to a meeting held iu Neiv Yorlt
to sympathize with Walkrr:

'■ I am free to confess thai tlie heroic elTort of our countrymen at
Nicaragua excites tiiy admiratjuu while it engages all uiy soh'citude.
I am not to be deterred from the exprcfisloa of tliesu feelings by
sneers, or reproaches, or hard words, lie who does not sympathiie
with finch an enterprise has little in common with me,

"The dilHmilties which Ueneral Walker hna encountered and over*
come will place bis uame high ou the roll of tbo distinguished uien

ECCAPE OF THE "FASHION."

ICl

further. He Imd taken occaaion to give public and em-
phatic expressions to his admiration for Ihe person and
doings of the adventurer. It was only natural, therefore,
and WHS no evidence of unusual boldness, that 'Walker
should have sent to Cass a formal protest against the
request of the representatives of Costa Rica and Guate-
mala to take positive measures against him, although it
was ridiculous for him to protest as the " rightful and law-
ful president " of Nicaragua.' By this protest the govern-
ment was informed, in the most authentic manner, of his
intention to return to Nicaragua; and of the three pos-
sible explanations why it did not prevent bis doing so —
the complete insufficiency of the laws, the great unskil-
fulness and negligence or the secret connivance of the
government and its organs — the last was necessarily,
judging from the facts cited, considered universally ^the
most obvious and most probable.

Public opinion, however, was in error. The whole mat-
ter was very disagreeable to the administration, not be-
cause it wanted subsequently, on moral or other grounds,
to sever itself on this point from the Cincinnati platform,
but because the filibuster had, in an awkward way,
thwarted its plans to carry it out.

The escape of the "Fashion" Lad prompted Buchanan
to have Cass conclude a treaty in hot haste with Tri-
zarri, before the latter had ao much as handed him his
credentials as representative of Nicaragua.' "Walker had
put to sea on the 11th of November, the contract was

ot his age, He lias concilinted the people he went to aid, the gov-
einmpDt of which he mitkes a part ia performing its functions without
oppiisition. hitI inli'i-nul trnnquillity marks the wisdom of its policy."
The flnnl xetitencea make the correctness ot the data seem doubtful.

iSept. 26, 18!j7. Exeo. Doc., 8Sth Congr., l8l 9e«., vol. VII, No.
31. p. 6.

^See, on the Caas-Yrliarrl treaty, Schlelden, pp. OlO ff.
11

112 BCcnANajj's election — end of Sjtb conukkss.

signeJ on the 15th, and then the New York Steamahip
Company dotermined to have its outgoing steamer, con-
Irary to the usual custom, rua into San Juan dol Xorte,
in ordur to get the treaty to Nicaragua soon enough to
bare its ratilication in Washington by the end of No-
vember.

The message did not contain the least intimation about
the treaty — certainly not because it was not of sufficient
importance, but, on the contrary, because it was too im-
portant to allow anything, at this moment, concerning it
to be divulged. Here we need only briefly mention two
provisions of articles 15 and 16. The United States ob-
tained the right, without a previous demand of the state
government, to send troops over the transit route of
Nicaragua, and after notice — not after a demand, as
Yriairri had desired — to defend it by force of arms and
keep it open in case that duty was not fullillcd by Nica-
ragua. The gentlemen of the cabinet spoko to the for-
eign diplomalos with wonderful frankness about iho
broad prospective which these provisions were destined
to open. In a conversation with Ibe Uanscatio minister
resident, Dr. Schleiden, Cuss called the Clayton-Uulwer
treaty a "nuisance," wliicb must be canceled; and the
secretary of the treasury, Cobb, even told bim that the
government was beat on a territorial awiuisition, and
that, on tiiat account, the filibustering march was very
inopportnne, because it made it seem as if the govern-
ment wished to use illegitimate means to accomplish its
ends.^

In the light of those facts, the correctness of the judg-
ment expressed above on nuchnnan'a request to be allowed
to use ilie land and naval forces of the United Slates in
the protection of the transit routes, if he thought it wag

'Sec, ou llie CitBS-Yricitrri treaty, Scliloidiia, [i. 013.

t TBANSIT ROUTES.

nncessary to do so, cannot appear doubtful. Any one
wlio does not lake Cobb's words cited above as conclusive
evidence, must, indeed, consider it an open cineation
whether the govepninent intended to make any territorial
acquisitions; for no positive proof of sucli an intention
can bo produced from documentary material. But this
much is certain, that the president desired to carry out a
great policy in the Central- American question, with all
f Oisible independence of congress — a policy which might
lend to entanglements of the most serious conspquence;
and there is much to warrant the supposition that lie was
intent on something more than the control of the transit
routes. The reinarit in the message that peaceable im-
migration, so highly advantageous to all concerned, was
prevented by the filibuslenng marcij, might be looked
upon as a very intelligible intimation of intentions, or at
least wishes that extended much further, when one bora
in mind liie manifest-destiny doctrine and the expari-
mcnis Mexico had made in Texas and California with this
peaceable immigration. And even if Buchanan wanted
nothing but control over the transit ruutes, would the
slavocracy bo satisfied with that, when the Union had a
Arm footing there in the tropics? But, if the slavocraoy
wanted more, was Buchanan the right man to meet them
with an unconditional and irrevocable nonpossumun/ The
siavocracy really looked upon Walker's undertaking as if
they sup|)osed Buchanan was playing false. If this had
, not been the case, would he not have fuund means to pie-
► vent the escape of the filibuster, which was so disagree-
^able to him, and would he not then have plainly slated
that the neutrality laws must give the government more
extensive powers to guarti against such occurrences in the
future? It was certainly correct that Buchanan was not
t such a friend of slavery as to desire to strengthen it.

104 nUCIIANiN's ELEOTIOS — END OF SoTH C0K0RES8.

But it was just as certain that be would not refuse to do
anything that seemed desirable, and at the same time
practicable, simply because it would have that effect.
And that bo would not do so, in this case, was beyond all
doubt; because, considering his whole way of thinking,
ho must have hoped that ihe Kansas question, whicb had
been slumbering, would ba awakened into life again by
the fact that a prospect of compensation was here opened
to the slavocracy. The fact that the millstoue of the
slavery question hung to the Central-American problem,
as to all other problems of national politics, could not only
not deter him from making a bold attempt to swim in the
currents and billows of high politics, but it was an addi-
tional reason for him to make it, because lie considered
it possible, b^' so doing, to get rid of a great part of the
burthen which tlireatened to dr.ig himself and the dem-
ocratic party to the ground, in his own country, and thus
to destroy the Union,

We hare now exhausted the questions of importance
in constitutional history and in the development of the
irrepressible confiict discussed in the message, tor in the
previous chapter the meagre data of the message on
the doings in Kansas there recei^'ed all their necessary
completion ; and the politico-constitutional utterances
on them, in tbe meaning of the answer of August 15 to
the Connecticut clergy and of the article in the Onion of
November IS, have been critically passed upon.

If now it be asked what were the results of the policy
of tbe president during tbe Grst nine months of his ad-
ministration, they may be thus briefly summed up: The
confident hope of seeing realized his honest and ardent
wish — that the slavery question would bo banished from
the world, or at least that it would be deprived for a
while of its acute and domineering character — was uot

Buchanan's hopes. 105

fulfilled, but he was driven further and further from that
hope; and the blame for this lay not entirely with the
ever-active logic of facts. His own weakness, his own
ambition, and his dependence on the slavocracy, which
had become a second nature to him by habit and political
calculation, as well as a complete want of understanding
of the moral side of the slavery question, made himself,
with busy hands, knit mesh on mesh of the fatal net
which was destined to drag his party for almost a gen-
eration from the seat of power and plunge the country
into the frightful depths of a four years' civil war. The
thirty-fifth congress found marked out by Buchanan a
broader plan for a collision of minds than any of his
predecessors had presented to any other congress.

166 OUOHANAn's ELECrlOM — END OF 35tH 00NORES3.

CHAPTER IT.
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION IN CONGEES&

Figures do not lie — provided they are correct, Th«
proposition is unassailable; but, in its practicable applica-
tion, it bas, perhaps, more frequently led to wrong than
to correct conclusions. The difficulty lies in thig; that
the figures must be not only right but rightly under-
stood; and tlio right understanding of right figures is
difficult in cases oilier than where one has to deal with
long columns of figures which have to be combined in
dilferent ways. Correct rows of figures can never lie;
but they frequently decoivo, because tbey seem to mako
undoubtedly clear conditions and circuin stances whicli,
by their very nature, can find no adequate expression in
simple figures.

Judged solely by the relative numbers of tlie two par-
ties in congress, tlie democrats uiight look forward to-
wards the legislative action of the new legislative period
with really pleasant feelings. In the senate they could
in no way lose the supremacy.' Tho effort to crowd
them out of the White House had failed; and tho buuso
of representatives, in which they had been able to lay
down the law to the republicans only with the assistance
of the southern opposition, and therefore had met with so
many severe detcuta, was in tlieir hands once more. On
the very first ballot, their candidate^, James L. Orr, of
South Carolina, was elected speaker, by one hundred and
twenty-eight against ninety-seven votes, of which the re-

'The ruling party Imil now » majority of ten (tliirty-HTe (i{;tiiDit
twenty -five), whicli would he iiicreuseil to twolvo as soon as tlie two
-Soiitb Cnroliim unil Tpina — wereflllpJ.

ECO M pro N OOSSTITl

1C7

publican candidiite received only eighty-four. If they
only had been united ainony themselves they would, there-
fore, have Imd llie power to do whatever the^' pleased.'
But on the very nuxt day it became manifest that, in
respoct to one question, this precondition did not exist.
This (juestion cast all others in the ^hnde, and hence all
calculations of the probabilities based solely on the rela-
tive numbers of tlie two parties in congress were en-
tirely worthless.

As soon as the president's niessajie had been read,
Douglas rose. He spoke only a minute, but among all
the brilliant speeches ever made in congress it would not
be easy to find one of a significance even approximately
equal to the few calm words he spoke. "I have." he
said, "listened to ihn message with great pleasure, and
concur oonlialty with much the greater part of it, and in
most of the views expressed; but in regard to one topic —
that of Kansas — I totally dissent from that portion of
the message whit-h may fairly be construed us approving
of the proceedings of the Lecompton convention,"

This — the fact that the lirst blow aimed at the admin-
istration was dealt by Stephen A. Douglas and not by
the republicans*— was llie omen under which the thirty-
fifth congress began its labors;- — this, an'I not the election
of the speaker in the house of reprcseni; rives. The dem-
ocratic party itself had now to feel whether the power
of Douglas's arm warranted the ],ioud name it bad given
him. The "Little Giant" had cerlainly not become a
Don Quixote, who, in company only of a Sanclio Panza,
set out, bent on adventure. lie had won the name be-
cause he knew so well how to turn his party colors into
a battle-flag. Not only Douglas himself, but the Douglas

i The Independent nf NiiTcmlcr CO. lyiT, diviileil ihe hnuseinto:
All shades of ilcmocriits. 129; Flee American and republican, 90;
Sonth American (oil froiu tiui Hlave stules but obgJ, IS,

1G8 BDCHANAN'a ELECTION — ESD OF SStII CONOKl

democrats, through the mouth of their leader, Douglas,
refused any louger to serve the presidi-nt and the slavoc-
Tucy in tlio Kanitas (jiicsliun so Fur us they iiitcnOod to
identify themsolves with the Lpconiploii fmud. Even
if Stuart, of Michigan, hud not iiiimcdiutely joined in
Douglas's declanttion by siiuwing that the Lecoiiijrton
convention had overthrown the ppinciplo of the Kansas-
Nebraska bill, no one could for a moment have harbored
the slightest illusion in regard to this fact — a fact by
means of which that d(it:iaration miglit, nay even must,
draw after it consequences the import of which could not
be estimated.

The gauntlet was immediately taken up. First and
foremost, the future jireaident of the Confederate States
entered the lists in defence of the Lecumpton convention.
Jefferson Davis declared that, to question the right of ibo
people to have a directly valid constitution given them
by their delegates, n-as to deprive tbem of their sover-
eignty. Of course, tlie people might have reserved the
decision to themselves; but it had not pleased them to
do so.

If no better arguments than these transparent sophisms
could be advanced, Douglas and Stuart would find no
difficulty in giving the reasons they had promised for the
stand they had taken. The two assertions in the second
of Davis's propositions were simply not true; and, hence,
so far as the decision of the question at issue was con-
cerned, it was entirely indifferent whether the first prop-
osition was, in itself, right or not. The governor hud
vetoed the bill relating to the calling of a cousiitulional
convention because it did not provide that the constiiution
should be submitted to a vote of the people, and the legis-
lature had passed tlie bill over the governor's veto. Hcnc«
it had pleased not liw peopk:,bui only lhelt<fialaturc,that
the final decision should not bo reserved expressly to the

) DKMOCnAT3.

169

people ; — tlie [icople had merely to elect delegates. The
great majority of the people bad not taken part in the
elections: and their leaders had declared over and over,
orally and In writing, that they would not do so, because
the resolutions of the legislature did not correspond with
their wishes or their will. Davis's assertions, therefore,
were a complete misrepresentation of the facts; for the
majority of the people bad al initio protested, in every
way possible for them to protest, against everything re-
lating to the Lecompton convention; but the administra-
tion, its organs and its entire party, inferred from the
abstention of the people from the polls that they had en-
tirely abandoned their right to complain, because they
might have endeavored, by taking part in the elections,
to send persons to the convention who would have framed
a constitution in accordance with their wishes.

Davis was Followed by Bigler of Pennsylvania, who,
for the present, contiued himself to stating that he agreed
with the doctrines developed in the message just as em-
phatically as Donglas iiad rejected them.

Before even one republican could open his mouth, there-
fore, the declaration had gone forth to the whole country
that Lecompton had split the norlhein democracy into
two camps. Both still clung to the old shibboleth: "the
great principle of the Kansas- Nebraska bill;" but it could
bencetortii serve to show only that one was not a repub-
lican; the answer to the further question, what one was,
was first given by the battle-cry: Douglas! or Buchanan!

Now the republicans began to enter on the scene.
Hale confined himself to placing the veracity and bona
fidi:« of the president in their proper light; but he did
this in the must effectual manner by calling attention to
how the message, in its discussion of the (juestiou sub-
mitted by the Lecompton convention to the people to be

170

JL-CIliSASS E[.ErriOX — END OF uJTH cosoHKaa.

voted upon, bad grossly misrepresented the facts in the
most essentia! point, by omittinij in one pluce both tlia
quotation-marks and the dufiuite article before the word
"constitution," and substituting for tbe latter tbe indefi-
nite article — a ruse which to ttiesupcrQcial reader miglit
seem perfectly barniless, Seward merely paid liis ilemu-
cratic colleagues the compliment due llioai. The pre-
cedence in the debate, he said, unquestionably belonged
to the guntlemen who stood on the platform of the Kansas-
JTebraska bill, but who now turned against the president;
for their speeches would bo more effectual than those of
the opponents on principle of this entire pohcy. This
blow was more keenly felt than the best arguments and
the sox'eresi. denunciations, for its meaning was simidy
this: tertUis fjaiidct. Trumbull spoko somewliat longer
than any of the other senators, but he shattered with a
mighty blow tlie whole foundation of the president's rea-
soning. Congress, ha said, has certainly the right, to
admit a stale into tlie Union, even when the territory
has given itself a constitution in an extru-legnl manner,
Ihit there can be no obligation, on the part of iho Union,
10 adniil a state, in such a case; and the present is such
a case. The Lecompton convention never had a legal
existence. The legislature could not give it such an ex-
istence; and congress had not only not given it a legal
existence, but it had repeatedly refused, during its bist
session, to authorize tbe territory to adopt a stale consli-
tiiliun. The question of tlie competency of the territorial
legislature had been already raised under Jackson's presi-
dency, and very clearly decided in the negative by Attor-
'ney-General Butler in an official opinion.' If the presi-

' " To suppose tlinl llio leglsliii.ive pow cru graiil^il to the gunenU
uwwiubljr iiicluile llie aultiority to Rbroj^alc, ollur or inciilify llip tcrri-
lorlttl guvernmeiit cstnbltslietl by Ilio act vf ooogruss, unil o( which

THiC DlVIDliD flEMOCEATS. 171

ilont (lid not recognize this authority he certaiuly would
not livny iinother — that of James Buohaiian, who, in the
case oF Michigan, had uurcservcdiy professed the same
doclrine.'

When, on tlio following day, after he had first taken
])rec:8ely the same position as Duller and Trumbull, Doug-
liLs a^^uin called attention to this fact, the only answer
Dialer could make him was that the Michigan question
WHS (tf so old a date that the president might take refuge
in the statute of limitations. The answer provoked no
laiightor, either beciiuse it was not intended as a witticism,
or because the senate did not want to have wit take the
place of argument in this question. But in what light
did the facts distorted by Jefferson Davis appear, if the
course of the legislature, on the whole question of the
constitution, was outside the law! Everything relating to

tlieDBseinblf isaconstitiient pnr[, woitltl be uaiiireHtly absurd, . , .
It is not in lli« powur of tbe genernl assembly at Arkansas to pass
an,v Inw (or the purpose of plectinii nieiubers to a cunventjon to forai
a I'uiiBlJlution anil state government, nor to do nciy other act, directly
or indirectly, to create such new governwent. Every such law, eren
though it were Approved by the governor o( the territnry, would be
liutl und void; it passed by tliem, notwithstanding Ills veto, by a
vote of two*thirds of each branch, it would still be equally void."
Op. of the Att'ys Oen., II, p. 726,

1 Till' opposite side was aware that, with the question of the legality
of llie couiae pursued by tbe legislature, the prwidunt's whole argu-
ment t-tood or fell. Before Ti'uuibuU took the floor. Mason had said :

"Irl understand by the president'snii'ssngehe means [hat the action
of the Kansas convention, being a legitiinatd convention, be the ac-
tion of the ponvention what it may, is to be respeuted by tbe congress
of tbe United States, I not only agree with him, but I here aver that
there is no jnriHt in the Innd who could not demonstrate, as a quea-
tion of law, that the federal governnieot was bound to resgiect it
under the existing law — 1 mean the KausBs-Nebraskaact; , , .
his (the president's) position is entirely impregnable on that subject."
Congr. Glolie, 1st Seas. S5th Congr., p. 7.

172 bucuanan's ELKtrriON — end of Sotii cosaitEss.

it that bad been done up to the present moinont and that 1
was yet to be done, in accordance witli tlm resolutions of j
tbe convention, ivaa destitute of legal foi'ce. Parti ci|Kl*a
tion in the election of delegates, and in tbo Tote on tboj
slavery clause in the constitution. lixed for the Slst otm
December, weighed, in law, not a grain moro than non-
participation. If the will of the population was to bo
decisive of the resolutions of congress, congress had to
consider both in precisely the same way — for there was
not a question of law before it; it had to do only with a
question of f^.ct, and, so far as the latter was concerned,
the truth could be arrived at only on this presupposition.
Through the initiative of the pro-slavery party in the
territory, the Kansas question had undergone a material
change of character, to the disadvantage ot the slavoo-
racy. The irreconcilable contradiction between law and
right, the unprincipled turning of which to account had
alone made the continuance of the struggle possiblo to
them, did not consist in the Lecompton question. It
should have been decided solely in accordance with equity
and expediency, because the law of February 19 was a
law only in form and not in essence.

Douglas was thus thrust into a position which had the
charm of novelty for him, Ix)ng habit had made it his
second nature to treat the slavery question, at least so far
as it concerned the territories, only with the arts of an
unscrupulous logic. He was now relieved of this neces-
sity. He could not mate his attacks more effective nor
defend himself better than by meeting the subtle, sophis-
tical arguments of his opponents with unimpeachable
facts — the plain arguments of healthy common sense
and the feeling of justice of a man of honor who observes
the fundamental principles of civil morality in |)olitic8.
This part was not only new to him, but his entire past

nOCOLAs'a POSITION. 173

made his consistent plriyin^ of it difficult, not to say im-
possible. What imjieUod him now to ivage wnr against
tho president anil the slavocracy ! Was it solely, or at
least mainly, his own convictions and fiilelity to princi-
ple, or was it not rather the recognition of the fact that
the political and moral convictions of his following,
on ivhom his power chiefly depended, left him no other
choice) If this was the case, how far might one ex-
pect to see him go? That lie would, if it were at all
possible, biirn the bridges behind him, was self-evident.
But would he stop on this side of the line, the crossing of
which made his complete break with the slavocracy and
the administration party of the north inevitable?

These were questions which were decisive of more than
his own personal fiiLure. Tho fate of the democratic
party de[ie!ided on the answer given to them ; and, hence,
how he would defend his short statement of the 8th of
December, :n the speech annonnced for tho following
day, was of the greatest interest and highest importance.

Tho strained expectation of tho senate and of the
densely-filled galleries was enhanced by his fii-st sen-
tences, lie began with the statement that, on closer
examination, the language of the measa;:;e on the Lecomp-
ton question was not, lo his great sntisfaclion. as objec-
tionable as he had thought the day before. The presi-
dent had, indeed, signified his willingness to sign a bill
admitting Kansas us a state under the Lecompton consti-
tution. But the important [.ict must be considL-red, that
he had expressed no approval of the course of the con-
vention, and had not recommended congress to pass such
a bill. Rather did the irrefutable reasoning of the mes-
sage show that — whether he had wished to come to that
conclusion or not — with his views and principles ho
could not accept that constitution.

174 Buchanan's electhix — esd of 35th oonokess.

By these introductory remarks Douglas evidently
wished to show that be did not desire the struggle, but
that he wislied to hold fast to tbe hope thiit tliu bi'each
might still be avoided. On the other hiind, it could not
bcdiseovorcil from thein whether he wanted to luiivw ojien
for himself a line of retreat, or to facilitate, as fjr as pos-
sible, the return of the president. That was the decisive
question; and, in the course of his sjicoch, ho gave an an-
swer to it, with greater precision tlmn democrats or repub-
licans had been led to expect from )iis opening sentences.

Not onl3' was Buchanan frequently mentioned in the
most flattering terms, but the error into which he had
fallen was declared to be very pardonable, since his at-
tention in London had been too mucti engrossed by na-
tional interests of the greatest importance to occasion
any wonder that he was not fidly informed of the battle
that had been fought, in the meantime, over the terri-
tories. He thus liirew a thick and downy carpet over
the sharp thorns that covered the way leading b;ick
from the I^ecompton heresy to Kansas-Nebraska ortho-
doxy. The president's feet were to bo spared to the
utmost; but lie was to be left no choice save to go the
hard road, or assume all the responsibdity for the schism
from the steadfast in the faith.

The president's assertion that the Kansas-Ncbrnska
bill meant, by the term "domestic institutions,"' with re-
spect to which it guarantied the right of seir-delerniina-
tion to the population of tlie territory, only slavery, was
a " fundamental " and " radical " error; the bill had not
made an exception of slavery; on tho contrary, it bad
taken it out of the excepted cases in which the Missouri
compromise had placed it. and brought it under the gen-
eral I'ule. On this Douglas based his entire argument.
It WU3 vain to try to shake such a foundation, and just

i AEGCMJiNT,

175

as anslialcable as tlio foundatioa itself was tho demon-
stration raised upon it, that the Lecomption convention
bad iraitipled under fool tlie principle of self-deternii nation
in all non-nationai affairs, witliin the limits of tlie fedural
conslitution, niore syateinatically, boldly and periidlously
iLan it had ever before been done in the United States.
and than had been hitherto supposed possible. He intun-
tionally did not use slavery as an illustration. "With
revolting straightforwardness he declared that it was
perfectly inditferent to him whether tho slavery provis-
ion, as he expressed himself, was voted down or not.
That, in viuw of the next presidential election, he meant
lo lell the slavery interest that it must not harbor the
ridiculous suspicion that he had, because ho said this,
become suddenly infected with either abolitionism or
even free-soilism, is unquestionable. But just as little did
his wliole p:ist allow the slighlest doubt that tho state-
ment was entirely true. In their want of understanding
of the moral phase of the slaver}' question, Bucbunaii
and he liad still the same ground under their feet; only,
Douglas, who was a coarser man, was entirely wanting
in the purely humane feeling for tho sad fate of the
slaves — a feeling which, it certainly could not be denied,
Buchanan possessed to a great extent. But, on tho other
hand, Douglas understood ibe nature of the slavery ques-
tion, .IS a politico-party i)roblem, incomparably better
than Buchanan, and hence it was not of the least use
to the slavorracy that the brutally cynical expression
Voting "up" or voting "down" the slavery provision
was honestly meant. Tlie doctrine of the message, he
said, destroyed the platform of the party; if tho party
had doimed the right of self determination as it bad
now been interpreted by the Lecompton convention tn
its resolutions, the democratic presidential candidate, and

ITO BUCIIAy-VN's ELECTION — END OF SJTH COSGHESS.

every man who sided with him, would Iiave been rejected
by the people. Douglas's term expired with the present
session, and he made no secret of the fact that he desired
to be roSlccted, Hence, thesentence just quoted was per-
Boually applicable to himself; and it was, therefore, on-
doiib:e<l that he was irrevocably resolved to draw every
consequence from it, Eis assurance, very generally
given, that his readiness to sacrifice himself for lliii party
had no limitexcept his principles and the reqnirtmonts of
honor — a limit which, evidently, might be overstepped if
the preservation of the party demanded it — was certainly
not given absolute credence to any Rreat extent among
the people. But even those who believed it could not,
in view of its conclusion, consider that assurance an idle
phrase in its relation to the case before us. How much
weight was to be attached to the declaration that the
party would not be worth preserving if it did not remain
true to itself was a matter of indilTerence. The decisive
words, were the last: it cannot be preserved unh'ss it re-
mains true to its principles both in theory and prac-
tice, and fultitU its pledges. Many would have been less
surprised if he had purchased the preservation of the
party with his principles and honor rather than with his
political future; but no one could take him for so weak
u visionary as, contrary to bis own declaration, to ex-
pect that, to gratify the sluvocracy and the president, he
would sacrilico his principles, his honor and his pulitical
existence, altlion^h fully convinced of the usulessness of
the sacriHce,

On the fallowing day (December 10) Douglas an-
nounced his intention to introduce a }jill permitting the
population of Kinsas to hold a constitutional convention,
lie at the same time nailud himself fust, so to speak, to
bis declarations. The Washington correspondent of il>e

TUB UNION IN DAHaua.

177

Independent, on the 13th of December, wrote to his paper,
in Ilia report on the speech: " Thus the 'beginning of the
end' IiHs corae. From that hour the nationul pro-slavery
party of the country may date its death."' The slavo-
cratic press thus Eoniiuhitcs iis iipjMMViil of this view :
The traitor Douglas luia awakened the moribund republi-
can party to uew hfe. But the conclusion it drew from
thifi was: the result may be the disruption of the Union.'
In this sentence, however, it again coincided with Duug-
!as. He too had emphatically said, on December 16, that
llic game Jeopardized tho Union,' And they were joined

aid thnt Ih"? re(iiih-
lii-'iin frlv, which, after the result ot rhe electionB in siimmer and
nuiiimn, " 8e«tnetl on the brink or diESulution, has reuontly been gal-
vnniKeil Into lenewed ajmptDmB at vitnhty and rigor. Just nt tiie
uiiini«nt when a vigorous effort of loyalty on the part oC the national
(Ir'niocracy was alone required to quell dincontent at the south, to
iillprly prustrate anti-aUverj at the north, and (a secure U> Kanus a
|ieiice(ul adiniiisiun into the family of atutes. Stephen A. OoUglAs
liirna recreanl lo bis prufeaieil faith, and leagues hiiuaelf with the
i'n?inies of order, eijual rights nn<i tlie Uuion. . . . The conse-
■[uences of this movement cna scaroelj be cxtiKstsrati^d, and for once
we believe with tiic ifcrufd thnt we hntre before ua the inevitable
lunlingeucy of a nortliern anti-Blavcr.v eoalitioti in IBBl) which will
sweep everything Ixifure it as with the fori;e of a whirlwind, . . .
D.ni(;lna bus donu incslculiitilu niisuhiet by lukint; grounU against Mr.
Ihiehaniin on this Kansa* qufstion — misfbief tlmtoutH'eighs athou-
•iMid-told his past aervici:."

The New Orleans DeJfa ot the same dnto: "Only the other day tho
hopes of the black republicans were down to sero; now they are ap-
parently up to vernal hent. . . . Altogether, this Kansas im-
lirogllo at Washington is big with tremendous reeult!>- It is an
immense political fuul. It is an alg^bmic njiintion containing a stu-
pendous unknown qunnlity. The next prealdcncy hangs upon it,
doubtti?£!i. but inflniiely mure thnn the ni-xt presidency, perhaps."

>CoDgr. Olobe, 1st Bess. B3th Congr., p, 60.
la

178 Buchanan's elkctmw — knd op S&rn congress.

by the organs of tlie more radical wing of the republicans |
with the alarm-cry: "The Union is at stakiil"

Often as the cry: "The Union is in dangnrl" had boon
sent through the country, it had never been hearkened to.
The threatening of the south was us old as the constitn-
tion, nay, older, for ihc constitution would not have be-
come what it did if some of the representatives of the
south had not made use of such threats in the Philadelphia J
convention to carry out their wishes. But it was some- J
thing new to hear the cry uttered inthiskey by a democrat-'
of Douglas's stamp; that is, not as a means of compulsion
to wrest, further concessions in favor of the " peculiar in-
stitution," but as a rebuke and warning to the slavocracy.
And something equally new was tlio pecnltar sound of
the echo from the republican ranks. It had not even the
slightest aci:ord with the deliant conlidence with which it
had become the custom of late years to mock at tho ter-
rible picture of the dissolution of tho Union as an empty
specter. The profound darkness that had lain on the
eyes of the republicans seemed to bo rent for a moment,
as by a stroke of lightning. Lecompton is only a pretest,
said the New Tork Tribune; the real object of the people
by whom the president, in his blindness, allows himself to
be niisusL'il.is the disruption of the Union, timt they may
erect a new confederacy on tho foundation of slavery.'

1 Letter of ihe Wflsliington correspHiirlent: "The president is Hf-
leivod nnd w unwiitiuKt/ lending himself to the purposes of men
« lio are pliiyinK n deep iiiiil daiigeroua game. Tlie Houthern nutlioni
vl this Leoumptun scheme care nothing for Kansas, which they know
la lost lo thi^Di, Tht^.v «re uiining at a tllssotution i>f the Union anti
llie funnotiiin of a pufe *lnvi'h(>lding republic. They expect through
civil wiir lo drive Ihu frw slati-^ out of ttie Cfinfederucy. with the vx-
L'l-ption of Penn«ylvmiia, and |>trhD|« New Jersey, Indinna and
Illincrii." The leaders were resolved to remain in pmsFssiun of tlif
guveninient, but they probably doaily wiw that the r«publi<.^nH

NION IN DANOER.

179

NothinfT less was on foot, chimed in the Independent;
things may soon have reached such a pass that we shall
need a second Jackson in the White House,' This was in
such bold contrast with the traditional, theatrical thunder
of the secessionists, that one might have supposed it a
tactic feint, were it not that the democratic papers of the
Dorth had, with equal, sustained earnestness, and free
from all exagfroration which might betray or excits a
panic-like terror, fully confirmed the alleged facts and ox-
plained them in the same way.*

irould win in 1880, Tbis they ivanted to prevent at any cost. "To
this enil, and wilh thia riew, thuy are preHsing Che Lecompton echeme
upon the prcsiilent. They expect and hope that itH enforcemeat in
Kansne will be r^atsied. and that a civil war wilt be the result. They
expect through Guch a war to divide and conquer the free states and
to drive the most obnoxious of them out of the Union. With the rest,
or, at the worat, with tlie south alone, they calculate upon forming a
confederacy in which tlie Blaveholding class shall have the unques-
tionable eupremncy, with nothing to check the expanHiou of its
dominion over Mexico, Central America and the West Indies.'' The
N. Y. Tribune. Dec. 31, 1857.

' Tlio WaBliingtoii correspondent of the Independent writes, on tlie
2d of Jiuiuary, ltM>8: "In my liiat, as in tins, I have alluded to a
ei;cret disunion feeling here, which is laking form and sliape (or an
emergency wiiicli it hopes to create. . . , They look to a disnip-
tion of llic present Union and thi^ estublishnient oF a southern con-
federacy, IIS the grand panacea to cure all the abolition ills to wliicb
they are now lieir by tlieir federal connection i and when they have
fully prepared the ground, the grand scheme will be attempted. Tim
great hody of the south, I am satisfied, are hostile to this crazy and
fratricidal scheme. Yet they can be brought into line by some
flaming niantfestoes of their political leaders, as Ihey have heretofore
been in religious matteiti by their ministry. . . . Weshall need the
purity, the sternness and lieroism uf Jackson in the executive chair,
unless the designs of these titibustern against their country's unity
shall be thwarted." The Independent, Jan. 7, 1858.

'Thus, for instance, the Washington correspondent of the Boston
Fatt wi'ilca: " I find that tliere are entliusiasta here, ardent worship-
ers of the ' Southern Cross,' who e.xpect the early diseolutiun of tUia

180

nan's election — liND OF SJTH CONOKESa.

All this, iQ<lee(l, did not necessarily make it impossiblv
that injustice was done to the southern radicals, or th^
their inSiiencc, in the White Uouse as well as in the soutlld
was overesiimalud. But. even if the aiiiiation were nol
as serious as it was thought to be, it became very serioiu
from the fact that it was considered so. Above all, tbq
breach in the democratic party could not be closed upt
It mattered not whether the southern radicals would lei
Kansas go at no price, or whether they would use thffi
Ijccompton qiiestioa as a lever to further their sccessioit
ist wishes. Douglas hud as little pardon to expect from
them in the one cnse as in the other. He had also !
come guilty of an unpardonable sin in the eyes of th0«
president and of the adminisLration democrats in the!
northern states; and it made no difference whetber thoy I
slill really found tbe unadulterated principle of the KaifJ
sas-Nebraska bill in the Lecomptna programme,
sidered it now as self-evident as in 1S51 that the part4
basis in tbe territorial question bud to be shifted if 1
slavocracy declared it to be a precondition of tbe pre»l
ervation of the party, or even of the Union.

If Douglas had harbored any illusions us to the const
qucnces which his conduct would have for himself, peri
Bonally, a few days sulficed to dissipate them. As earlj
as on the 21st of Di-cember be complained in the senaU
that curtain people, but especially the entire press wbicU
depended on the adniinitilration, were endeavoring 1

tinion, anil who dream of a sonthern enipirK, eDibracing the staM
aoutli ol Hosun and Dixuii's line, the republic of Mexico, the Btates ol
CVnlrut America, and tlie island of Cuba. . . . Thnl portlol
of tht> H»uthi-rn deniuiTuu}- wbidi favors an eicluoively southen
p;>rty is now in llie ascendant ; and it :a uniliT their cdudgtIb and A
accomplish their purposes thui a dilTrrence of opinion with Jud|
Di.u^'laB has Iwen prntlied tn a [Kraonal and mortal quarrel," Prii
in \\w Indepcndait of Jan. U, ISM.

lOLKil.ABa Vdb

181

cast Iiim out of the party and to hunt him down, while
aliuast every really independent doiuocriitio paper slui.d
stoutly hy Lim, Ho expressly exonerated llio president
from all participation in that guilt.' Many were rightly
convinced that bo did not believe this himself. If their
convictions were well founded, he either had desired Id
keep the way open a mouieot longur for the possibility
of Buchanau's coDversion, or ho had hoped, by the un-
truthful coinplimeut,' to be able to move liim to charm
away the raging mutiny. He miji:hl, have spared himself
bis pains in both instances; they could meet with nu suc-
cess in tho latter case, because they must have been lost
in the former. To induce Buchanan to become converted
he would have been obliged to move the slavocraoy to
become converted; and as the conversion of the slavoc-
racy, which had never yet been converted, was not to be
thought of, the attacks on him could not be stopped when
the Qrsb ebulliLions of anger began to yield to sober re-
flection. The very opposite must happen and did hap-
pen. He was entirely right; it was a systematic hound-
ing which could cease only when the game was bagged,
Douglas's Kdelity to principle had never been subjected
by the republicans, with such rigor and sagacity, lo a
historical tost as it was now by the administration demo-
crats. In the Chicago 7Vm«*, which passed as his organ,
an article was published in which it was alleged that the

' Congr. Globe, 1st Seas. 36th Oongr.. p. 120.

I In a speech wliidi lie delivered on the lUth ot October, 1800, in
Milwaukee, he reliUed thai, iui mediately after his arrival iu Wasli-
ington and before tbe beginninf; of tlio seEsioD, be had an angry con-
troversy with the president. The latter remiuded him "that no
democrat ever yet diftured [rum iin administration of his own choice-
withont being crushed. Beware of the (ate of Tallmadge and Rives."
To which he is £aid to bnve answered : "Mr. President, I wish yi>u
to remember that QeuenJ Jarkaoii ia dead."

182 bccuanan's election — end of 35th conokess.

Topeka partj' of Kansas bad forfeited all right to say a
word on the question of the constitution ; tbe inhabitants
of tbo Fiji Islands might bo allowed to vote on the adop-
tion or rejection of the constitution just as well as they.'
It was said that Calhoun, tho president of tbe Lecomptoa
convention, inrornied his good friend Douglas, by letter,
of tbe manner in which he intended to submit the con-
stitution to the people, but that Douglas had left the
leller nnanswered, which could be interpreted only as a
tacit approval of it. But the heaviest blow was dealt by
Bigler's calling attention to the fact that the provision re-
lating to tbe vote of tlio people had suddenly disappeared
from tbo Toombs bill of tbe previous session, and this —
which was not known before^in accordance with tbe
resolution of a conference held at Douglas's house. Doug-
las's answer to Bigler was that he bad not attended the
con Terence, and therefore was not responsible for its res-
olution. But his answer did not parry the blow, as he
could not claim that he had not been informed of the res-
olution, and had not, like many other senators, remarked
the alteration. Uence, he further declared that he had
not referred to it in the debate, because, in bis opinion,
all that could be inferred from lbs silence of the bill
was that a vote of the people was a matter of course.
But then it was utterly undiscoverable why be had taken
up an e.xpress provision on tbe subject into tbe Minnesota
bill. Toombs's assertion that tbe provision bad gotten
into his bill solely because he had cut the formal part,
which was, as a rule, worded in precisely the same way,
out of an old printed territorial bill, and had, without
closer examination, allixed it to the part drafted by
himseJf, made the matter worse rather than belter for
Douglas. Toombs added that, after his attention had
1 Sve Cougr, Globe, Ut Sesi. 85tli Congi.. p. 3S31.

STANTON BEMOVED,

183

been drawn to it, Ue consiilered tlie striking out of it in
thiit conference n matter of course; for the bill had not
provided for s. second popular vole after tho election of
delegates, and hence was not in harmony with tho ratiB-
cation clause.' This was about the very reverse of what
Douglas claimed to have considered a matter of course.

But what would be gained if Douglas could be shown
that his tidelity to principle wtts inach more like a worn-
out and faltered garment than an impenetrable coat of
mail? The less his convictions were the real reason of
his opposition, the greater would bo the pressure of pub-
lic opinion, forcing hiin to play the part of an inflexible
knight of ptincipic, nlthough he could not but see that
the kniglil of {irinciple, Douglas, would overthrow Doug-
las, tho presilcntial candidate. Ilis tliought, will and
action obtained significance only because of the masses
who stood behind hira. The more forcible the proof ad-
duced that he changed liis principles as lie changed bis
clothes, the more undoubted it became that he was now
not the mover but the moved, and that, therefore, the
slavocracy and the administration would have to give
up their I,ecom]Kon policy, unless they were willing to
pay for the attempt to carry it out witli the permanent
disruption of the democratic party.

What had happened, however, in the meantime in
Kansas excluded all hope that they would change their
course in the slightest particular. The president imme-
diately folhiwed the inforiiiiilion of tiie convocation of
the legislature by the removal of 8tanton. As a reason
for this, it was expressly stated that the latter, by coii-
voliing the legislature, liad cast another apple of discord
among the people, and that the step was "directly at

1 " Ttie l>ill being iiiconeruoun as to ttint puriHwe." Ibid., Apgi.,

184 BliCHANAN'tl

- END OF 35Tn GONORKe

war, therefore, with llie peaceful policy of tlio ndniinis- '
tration." Denver, the Indian commissioner, was put in
liis place. Walker did not wait to be told to go. Ho-
hent in his resignation on the Ifith of Dtcoinber, defend-
ing his resolve in an cxLanstive document, which, while
I'Xlremely considerate in form, exposed not only tha
perversity but also the untruthfulness of the ]tresident's
whole Kansas policy in all Ws nakedness. It devolveil
on Cass, as secretary of state and as the attorney of that
policy, to refute Walker's demonstration — a lamentable
part for the father of the doctrine of popular sovereignty
to play. But ho found himself so (wl! adapted to it that he'
did not even hesilato to smite the truth in the face. With
Buchanan's letter of the 12th of July to Walker before
his eyes, be boldly asserted tliiit the president bad never
entertained or expressed tho opinion that the convention
was bound to submit any part of the constitution, except
tiio provision relating to slavery, to a vote of the people.'

I Casa to Wallfer, Dec. 18, 18.17. (Ibid., p. I3^.1 Biictmnan liimself
had avoided bo direct An untriitli in tlio ni^ssAK'^. H« lind \oa}nA
for forms, by uliicll lie wiuciiided, so lo Hpenk, a compromise with
tbe tiutli: ''I toolt it fur (jratittnl thai ttie convention of Knns4ia
would att in aucordance witti ilii» (■xtiiii|>1e(of tli<< vntiflcatiuii pru-
visiOD in tliu Minneiiiita bill), founded, bei it is. on correct princlplm;
and hence m; instructions toGiivrrnor Walker, in fovor of submit-
ting the constitution to tlie poiiple, wero expreKsed in general anil
unqualilled teruis." Hewt^nt on: " lu the KunsaB-Kotirnaltn act,
however, tills reifuin^nienl. ns npplicnblo to Ibe wliole conatitution,
had not been ineerti'd. ond the i-onvenlion «ero not bound hjr Its
terms to eulimit Jiny other imrtiiin of the inatrumi'Ht to nn electfou.
puceptthal which i-elnte* l« Uie ■ domestic inslilulion' of slavivy."

But, in tbe Hrsl |ilu('i>. tht- phraae '-by its terms" was confronted
\>y tho express BtnCi<ment, in tho tt-tter ot July 13. thnt It wits n-
quired by the "priucipW" of Ihu KflnBaB-Ntrbrn^lni bill — that is, of
popular siiverelgnty: and, in tho sL'cond, the law giiiJ "domealic in-
HtltnlionH," not "domeslic Itotilntlon." It Budmnan now wisliiid l-i
justify t)w Avu'iaX o( tlie priiiuiple by appealing to the wording of Uiu

EFFEcr OF STANTOX'S RKSinVAl- lt>5

By the removal of Slanton for the reasons assigned,
wliut Douglas hud (Icclared to bo so Important in llie in-
irodiiction to iiis first sf)eecli lost nil support ; it was now
certain that the presidcnl itesireil the uttiniesion of Kan-
sas, ander llie I^ecouipton constitution, although he had
not plainly said so in his message, liut little or iKithing
was gained towards the realizalion of this desire by llm
removal of Sisinton. The ad ministration again, to nse
II homely saying, lucked the stable after the horao had
been stolen. The summoning of the legislature to meet
could not he recalled; and it was clear tliat that body, in
ncconhincc with his demand, would not only very gladly
submit the entire constitution to a vole of the people, but
would go much farther, in order to obstruct the road of

law, the f!r«t cniidilioi) n-ns ttiat be should not cliange the n-ordiiig
it} an entirely artiilrnr.v wny. In niie and the same bi'ealh he ap-
renle^l to ll o wording ot Ihp law, and endcuvuri'd to prove Ihnt wliile
it tised the plural it meant tlin sintnilar.

In the nnnaal mes!>a)te of December 0, 1SS8. he hntl r(?$f>rt t« an-
other evasion, which served no bptter to get him out of the dilemma,
htit wliivh i;ave the lie directly to Cass.

"It in true that, as an individual. I bad exprettced nn opinion, both
hefore snd diiHnja; the sepBino of the convention. In favor of sabmJI-
tins the remnlniriK rinusea of the canstitution. as k-pII as that con-
eeriiinz sInri'Ty. to the people. But, acting in an offli-ml cliaroc-ter,
neither myself nor any humnn outliority had the power to rejtidKa
the iirocei'iliniis of the convention, and decluuf the conatititlion which
It linil framed to be a nullity." ConRr. Glolie, Sd Seas. 05th Con|[r.,
A pp.. p. 1.

The letter of July IS to Walker was not written by him "as an in-
dividual." but aspreiiidenti nnd even if hi' did not have the power uf
wliich the second sentence spoke, it did not follow that l>« could do
n.iibin« whatever. Even if lip bad apokon only as an '• iitdividual.''
hi- not only should hut must — unless he had changed hi« views —
cidi upon roncrenB " to rejndse the proceedinns of Ibe conveulioD,"
hv rvfiisini; udtiiinioii to Enneaa. The aweriion now made, that the
Ka>l»a^<-Neh^■skn bill did not allow this, was siuiply irrccoacilable
With the Uttef of July 13,

i

1S6 BT'c

- ESD OF 35X11

the Lecomptonists. Over Stanton's veto, it re^ieaied the
laivs of (he preceding legislutaru relating lo tlie Lucomp-
ton convention und ttie militia, forpiiallv adopted a "joint
resolution" prolrsling against the Lecompton constiti:-
tion.and culling; upon congress not to admit Kansas, with
tliat constitiiiioii, as a slate, and asked, in a " concurrent
resolution," ' for its admission under the To]>ck:L constitu-
tion, which it reaffirmed.- The vote of the people on the
whole constitution was fixed for the 4th of January — that
is, for the day on which, according to the resolution of
the Lecompton convention, the elections to slate offices
were to take place. The majority of ttie anti-slavery
party in the legislature, adhering to their previcpus policy,
decided not to take part in these elections. This resolu-
tion, however, was subse(|Uontly reversed by the minority.
At the eleventh hour they called upon the party lo vote
for its candidates.

On tho 21st of December the vote on the Lecompion
constitution ordered by the convention was cast. The
result, according to the official returns, was: Si-i ihuui^nd
and sixty-throe " for the constitution with slavery " and
five hundred and seventy-six "for ihu cunstituticm with
no slavery." Even if not a single illegal vote haJ been
cast, the real will of the people could not be ascertained
from these figures, because those who would have noth-
ing to do with the constitution, in the one form or the
other, had not voted. Among them were people who,
o|>enly and zealously, did their best to make Kansas u
slave state, but who were not willing to j)urchas'3 that re-
sult by sacrilleing the principle of the right of sdf-deter-

' This form wub cliown in order U> iliaponse with the ner(«aily of
(he approval of the executive.

*"Be-iiffirming" Is I lis expression used in ihe Independent ot V^
ewnber 81, 1837.

VOTE ON TDE LF.COMPTON COSSTITCTION. 1S7

minution, the supremacy of the law, justice and personni
honor.' Hence, under the specified presupposition, not
even the strength of the pro-slavery party could be in-
ferred from the vote of the 21st, of December. This was
all tlie less possible, as the opponents of tbo Locotiiptoii
ewindle among the partisans of slavery were an eva-
nescent number as compared with the number of tho
notoriously illegiil votes which were cast, or counted
without being cast. The pro-slavery party were entirely
eeriain of a majority, because no anti-Lecompton vote
could be cast on that day. But, considerincr the vote of
the 4th of Januar}', they must have attached great im-
portance to a large figure. At least one-balf of the six
thousand and odd votes was demonstrably illegal.* The
wire-puUei'S had, therefore, lost none of their audacity.
Their corrections, notwithstanding, remained far behind
the requisite measure. On the 4th of January, ten thou-
sand two hundred and sixty-six votes were cast against
the Lecomplon convention.' However the question of

1 A nieeliDg o[ tbe detuocraU of Duuglaa county, la Lawrence,
bad, uit tlie llitli uf Deceiulvt, ptotestvd aj;uiust the aJiuiiision of
Kansas uiitfer either the TopeUa or Lecomplon couatitutinn. beoauB«
n«itlier answered the witjlie» of the peo(4e. On the 24th of Decem-
ber, the deniucrutio territorial (x)nTeatioii at LeaT«Dworth foIlowtKl
thi« exatni>le. Thu Leavenworth Journal exprcusly udvuciitud theaa
rtvoluliotiB, whilo it at the Btime tiuw Jeclured that It could not
ucase favoring making Kansas a slave atnte. Tht< resolutions of the
two nicetitigs and the article of the Leavenurorth Journal are printed
in the Gongr. Uiubc, 1st tiesa. SStb Congr., Ajip., pp. 173, 170.

'bee the details in Congr. Glolte, 1st Sess. tlSth Congr., pp. 389,
484.480; App.. p. 390; Rep. of Comni.. :i5th Gongr, IsC Suae., vol.
Ul. No. 377, pp. Ill, 205.

■Sen. Rep,. 85th Coagr., 1st Seas., vol. I, Na 83, p. SB. One bun-
drtid and sixty-two votes were cast for the Lecoinpton constitution :
onebundred and tUirty-eight " with" and twenty-four ■' without "
slavery. These flgui'es, however, have no sigDiRcatice, as an order
bad been issued to abstain from rating.

18S

LICIJANAN 3 KLKCl

-KHD OF 35tII CONOEF.SS.

llie formal legality of tilts voting lui^lit be iinswered, tbd
fact (vas irr«fragably establiabed by il tiiat an over
ivbcliiting mujurity of the population did not want tb«
LeconiptoD constitution. If congress aJniitted Kanso
as u state under lliat constitution, it would do so againstl
the will of the people, and Jiave to bear the entire respon-T
sibility of that enormity; for it would not have been!
obliged to tidiiiit it, even if the Leconiptun party bad beeafl
in the majority and bad acted optima Jidn from Grst tal
last.

Althougli the Dotiglus democrats and the repablioansfl
had gained a [wwerful weapon on the itb of January, it i
WU3 very doubtful wbicb party would ultimately derive
ibe greater advantage from that day. They had, indeed, ,
taken part in ihc elections to state offices only under pro- J
test: but then the fact remained that they bad partici- f
paled in tliL'm. By so doing, they had again given aid ]
lu the administration democrats in the formal qiicstioD.
" You have yourselves made your choice under the Le-
ooniplon consiituiion,and thereby rendered nugatory all
objections to llie action uf the convention and to the re-
sult of tlie voting of the 21st of December;" — the earlier
history of the troubles sulHciently proved with what
etfect this argument could and would be turned to ac-
count. This considerutiun, as lias been already men-
tioned, bad determined the legislature to declare in favor
of the old policy of abstention from the elections. But
as Ihe minority did not submit to this resolution, it would
have been belter if it had not boon drawn up at all. On
the one bund ibey exposed their flunk to an attack on
the formal quesiion ^a fact from whicli a surrender of the
principle might Ik- construed; and, on the other, thoy
lessened the strt-n^lh of the vote by conlnidictory orders.
If the diminution in the number uf rotes caused thereby

COUSTINO THE VOTE,

189

liajipeneil to be largo, it was to be feared, consiilering
the skill acquired by tlieir opponents in the correction of
the votinf^-lists, that they would fignre out a victory for
themselves. That thoy would attempt to do this was as
good as certain; and oven if nnsuccessful, the monil
e£fect of the large majority of votes against the Lecorap-
ton constitntion would necessarily be greatly weitened
if it seemed for a moment doubtful which party had
been victorious in the state elections.

The Lecom]tton constitution provided that the presi-
dent of the convention, to whom the election lists were
to be sent, should count the votes within eight days,
Calhoun fulfilled this duty to the letter. After an agree-
ment of tho chairmen of the two houses of the legisla-
ture, he miido the count, but neglected to make its result
known. It hnd to remain undecided whether his associ-
ates, spite of the zeal wiih which ihey had worked to com-
plete the poll-lists of Delaware Crossing. Kickapoo and
Shawnee,' had not done enough, or whether they had
nocomplished so much that he thought it prudent not to
expose this newest illustration by the law and order party
of the principle of popular sovereignly in too glaring a
light, so long as it could still be hoped to reach the end
in some other way. He left Kansas to itself, and went to
Washington, Still, even there, it could not be ascertained
what further be intended to do about the elections of
the 4tti of January. He now gave one answer and now
another, but did nothing. Hence, for the present, the
statement was presumably true that he was resolved to

' Tlio mods of procedure was very ainiple. Tlie ollicinl certificate
at the end ot the Hat wns cut iiff, and after tlie iulci-pulaliou of n num-
ber of elipelp*, with names chosen at will, affised to it agnin. The poll-
lUts of Shawnee were, for tlie sake of Rrenler convenience, taken over
the Itorder to Missouri. See Hie ileiaila in Douglas's speech of Uurcli
8. ISM. Congr. Ololw, let Scsf. »5lli Congr., p. 820.

ISO ItUCliiNAN's I

) OF SdTH OONOBEHS.

issne no certiScates of election until congress Ijad re-
solved on a ratilioation of tlie Lecoinpton swindle.

The probability, however, that it would do this seemed,
nt first, to grow continually less, not greater. Not all
ihe representatives of the south even cured to fight
for the interests of the slavocracy with such weapons.
Among the " South Americans," in whom the interest of
party was not assneiaied with the pressure of the slave-
cratic interest, there was moro than one who rebelled
against the foul bargain. Outside of congress, the com-
bined pressure of both did not prove always sufficient.
Many an influential southern democrat protested loudly,
and even some democratic papers bad the courage to do
the same.' Moral indignation, indeed, was not always
the sole ground of this opposition. "Douglas ami his aa-
Bocinles," wrote a Kentucky democrat to iho linid'tovn^
Gtisette, "are undoubtedly right; but. even if they are de-
feated, there is no reason why the party should be ruined
by the Locompton matter, provided they are not put out
of the party because of their opposition; but, if this last
should happen, the parly, and with it the Union, is lost." •
But this reasoning of the opposition could not fail etTect-
ually to strengthen the courage of the politicians among
tile Douglas deinocrals, whose own ballast of moral prin-
ciples was not quite full weight, while the moral indigns-
liun of decided democrats like Henry A. Wise* was the
>Suine of tliesu u(ti.'raiices or the prvw Hi'eprijited in Cungr. Globe,
\f.t &'3B. until CuriF;r,. p. 1->8D, Scniitur Bell, reprL-sentntivpn U. W.
DnviH. Hurris and Ricnud of Hiii'ytand, MamlinJI unrl Uadcrwuud ot
E^i^luck;. nnd Giluitr of North Cnrolina. went with tlic op|>o8iiion
1 1 congress. Tim liitter. Iiowever, subsequently voted for tUe Eng-
tieli bill, buciiiiae, us he said, of the pressure bis enulbern Trlends ex-

hirn.

1237.

»Cnngp, Olobe, Ist Sesa. 83lh Congr. p. 1
iSec hiu letttrla theLecuuij'tonuunvuntion in Pbiladelpbia. Ibid.,
p, 1209.

F09ITICIN OF THE DEM0CSAT9.

19i

best means to open the eyes of that part of the demo-
cratic iimsses of the north, who conUI not be reckoned
among the " voting cattle," to the knarish mendacity of
the Leconipton policy.

How powerfully the spirit of rebellion stirred among
the masses, the slavocracy could infer from the fact that
the tone of the politicians in congress grew continually
louder,' This was a sure sign that tbey su]>posed they
were swimming, not against, but with, tiie slream. Di-
rect proof that they were not mistaken was soon found.
In Concord, the democratic stale committee of New
Hampshire adopted resolutions based entirely on Doug-
las's views.^ A resolution of the democratic state com-
mittee of Indiana, adopted by a vote of three bnndred
and seventy-eight against one hundred and fifteen, de-
clared that the people of every territory had the right
to vote on the constitution drafted by a constitutional
convention.' The democratic legislature of Ohio declared
that Buchanan "still" had their "entire confidence," nnd
that his administration could count on their cordial sup-
port; but they requested the representatives and in-
structed the senators of the state to vote against ihc
admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution.'
In Illinois, as a matter of course, the great majority of
the democrats stood by Douglas, and the German demo-
cratic press, almost without exception, went with him.*
Hence, a new trial of the policy "to agree to disagree,"

1 9. 8. Coi, of Oliio, the first democratic orator ol the houap, bad
obaracteriied their course as " a gross breach of faith." Ibid., p, 61.

»The Independent, Jan. 7, 1858.

•The Independent, Jan. 7, 1858.

•See the reeolutionB, Congr. Globe, let Seas. 35lh Congr,. p. 438.

*'I\to States o^rted that out of over one huodi-ed papers only
thre«, wliich bad a place io the atatc crib, sided with the administni-
tion on this question. Bee Ibid,, p. 1£3T,

193 BUCniNAN'S KLECnON — END OF 35tH CONOBE83.

or an abandonment of victory in the (iresidential election
of 1860. seemed to be the only alternative.

The pressure which the knowledge of this fact exer-
cised on Bticbaniin was groat; but ihc counterprcsstire
of the slavocr-icy was not weaker. Hu became more and
more convinced that the end of the anpremacy of the
democratic piirty would be the end of the Union. But
it ho decided in faror of anti-Lecompton, the disruption
of the party was more certain than if he ma<le Lecump-
ton the party shibboleth; and if he required that nei-
ther I^corapton nor anti-Lecompton should be inscribed
on the banner of the party, bat that full liberty of con*
victjnn in respect to ihis qui^stion should be allowed,
he would be sitting between two stools, and would come
to the ground. The slavocracy took as decided a posi-
tion against tliis as against anti-Lecompt.^n, because the
result would be the same to them, since the republicans
and the anti-Lecompton democrats together had a ma-
jority in the house of representatives. "lie that is not
for me is against me." The developmL-nl of the irre-
pressible conflict, incessantly promoted by the force ot
facts, made this text more and more, as the years rolled
by, the moltu of the slavocnicy, np to which they would
rigidly live and must live. "The whole power of this
government has been exercised in Kansas to crush out
southern rights, break down the institution of slavery
there, and sacrilico tiie south upon the altar of partv." '
Such were the thanks which Shorter, of Alabama, now ex-
pressed to the present and to tiie last president for their
devotedness. Buchanan did not need to fear that manv
would soar to this height of absurdity. But, in the form
of this foolish indictment, Shorter gave hnn notice that
the alavocracy would not permit the appeal to his former

> Congr. Olube, Ut Sess. SSth Coagt.. p. 773.

"tut lAST DESPEKATE THROW."

15)3

merits to have any force; and this notice was repeated,
day after da_v, in the senate and the house. Its formula-
tion was now severer and now milder; as a rule only
suggestive, witli more or less indulgence; still, not unfpo-
quently very clear and direct. But, under every cover,
as a bitter kernel, lay concealed tlio simplu sentence:
Choose 1 we are resolved not to yield a hair's breadth,
even if it should come to extremes in this matter.

The republicans tliemselvea had, at the openin/» of tho
session, suddenly begun to see the threats of secession in
a very different light from that in which they had pre-
viously looked at them ; and how could these declarations,
which were steadily accumulating and growing more in-
tense, fad to make a powerful impression on Buchanan?
When he commenced his prcsidenliul career he was al-
lowed to blow hot and cold ut the same time; that is, he
was left at liberty to use northern phrases when he
thought that by employing them he could most easily
and most surely reach soulheni ends. But now the state
of things had greatly changed. With Lecompton, said
Cochrane, of New York, the south has made "tho hist
desperate throw of the dice.'" This was true; and who-
ever wished to use tlio loss of Kansas as pretext for the
disruption of the Union, or really believed that its loss
would be the death-blow of tho slavocracy, should, on
that account, have demanded not only great energy in
action, but also entire clearness in speech. The radicals'
own declarations were as concise and definite as possible.
If the Union is to be preserved. said Gartrell.of (Georgia,
on the 28th of January, Kunsas must be admitted with
tlie Lecompton constitution with the slavery clause.'
Even if Buchanan had seen in this only au idle ihreai,

I CoDgr. niobe. Ut Sess. 35ili Congr., p. WO,

'IbiA.. p. OW.

194 buohasan's blection — end of 35th conobigss.

the execution of which the most hot-blooded "fire-eater"
would never dare to attempt, he must have inferred from
it that he would he forced, under any circumstances, to
take a very decided position. However, it could, at most,
still seem questionable to him whether the radicals would
succeed in carrying out tho secessionist programme. He
could not douiit the st^riousuess of their will to execute it.
The couHdential letters which furnish tho documentary
proof of this' he certainly was not acquainted with, so
far us their wording is concerned; but hrs southern cabi-
net members and other friends scarcely served him so
poorly as not to let him know that such letters went from
Washington into the stales.

But even this was not needed. In the utterances of
tho press there were to be found, side by side with the

I Thus, for inataiiDe. Quitman writes on the 1st of Februiiry to John
Marshall: "I predict Dm (I«voiiiptont conatitutioii will be rejected.
H th<! admitiUtration falters in Ihclenst.uDtl t foiir a little it will, oar
defeat ia certain. Putilic sentiment uomes down to iia from tlie norlii
and west like a MisBisaippi flood. Few. 1 tUink, will be nble to stand
it Well, suppose we carry tlie constitution. Nntiuunl deinocracy
will almost oeaee to exist in tlie dee stuttn. Every man who votes
with ua will be swept off at the next (^Im-lion. The black repulilicans,
or the anti-slavery party nndrr soniB other nnine, will swee[i every
free atate at the neit coalPBt for president. Parties will biHMime
purely seutioDal, and no remedy left to us of tlie minority hul^epara- '
t4oD. On the other hand. Khiinid the <!onstitutioii he rejected, the
south inuat regard the plighted f.-iith of the northern detnovrauy vio-
lated. It will assure us that do more reliance can be placed on them
to aid in protecting our rights; thnt national d<>macracy is worthless.
We must also Gee in the act a llseil and inexorable determination an
the part of tlie majority never to admit anutUer slave slate. . , .
Who cmi doubt what, under aui'b a atatu of things, the eouth ought
to do? If abo waits for the burder states — Virginia, Maryland, Ken-
L tucky and Missonri — or citht-r of thcni, fllie will never nut, butgradu-
■'^ly hecoioe the willing slave of an insatiBte master. Tlie cotton
tntee must move first, The Others would then have to follow,"
Claiborne, Life and Correspondence of J. A. Quitman, pp. 2G3, 3Q3.

THE AWAKENISO.

old-style bombastic tirades which, from too frequent rep-
etilicju, mado no impression, a great many completely
sober arguments tbat undeniably bore the stamp of
conviction, and could not bo rL-futed.' Tbe American
people liad, in consequence of the circumstances sur-
roundin;^ them, hilberto been obliged to lire so inten-
sively, ill order to satisfy their mutunal wtiuts, that the
develo[iment of tbc hiaiorical sense in them bad re-
mained surprisingly bubind their intellectnal develop-
inent in other respects. Only in the lip^ht of accom-
plished facts did numberless otherwise remarkably clear
minds begin, very gradualiy, to perceive that, with the
general development of things, the history of the slavery
question bad, of necessity, to ever grow more and more
out of tile legal formulas by which it had been possible
to settle it in the constitution two generations before,
and why it bad to grow out of them. Hence, otherwise
clear and acute thinkers were lillle or not at all ojien to
arguments on the question of secession, based on this
historical development of the sectionid problem of slav-
ery in a democriitic union consisting of states witli
equal rights. But the man who was as mncli inclined as
Buchanan to consider all the nrgnments of the slavocracy
well founded, must, even when bis thought conld not fol-
low the convincing loyic of this reasoning, have been
made instinctively to feel from tlntni that Kansas was
really a vital question to the slavocracy, because, in the
nature of things, the maintenance of its supremacy was
the precondition of its existence in the Union.

'SeB, espfclallr, an nrticle in Do Bow's IVffklg Prean of Jnn. IB,
1S5S. TliesCreiBtliere is laid on tills: " tlJHt tijo luau oC Kansiis to tfae
south u'ould involve tlie Iom of MUhouH; nnd tbe loss or Missouri
would ileslroj tbe moral as well as political prestige of tlie Eouth,
and invadu the inti^gritf at tlicic institutions The moriil pieelige of

19C

S KLKCTION -

t OP 35m coxoiiESS-

These arguments were not, indeed, new. It had already!
been proven, in precisely the same way, tliat for the t
slavocracy, with which the southern states had allowed
themselves to be more and more completely identified,
there was but one aUornative; and still the Union bad
been maintained. Spite of this, however, one coidd not-f
now say: Words and nothing but words I The legisla-
ture of Alabiuna had unanimously adopted resolutionsj
making it the duty of the governor to order elections to!
a state convention, if congress refused to admit Kansai
as a slave state, under the X/ecompton constiiuUon;* and!
the democratic state convention o( Texas cuUu'd upon the I
legisliiture to charge the governor to appoint delegates to I
11 convention to bo called of the slave states.' These
not mere words — they wore acts; and Buchanan rcr-
luinly attached more weight to them than to all tha
speeches made and articles written. But the slavocracy
had. before this, gone as far as those preparatory act3, I
and even a step farther, and still the storm cloud rolled }
by without discharging itself on the country. The satna
uords and the same acts, however, have not always the
same import. In Ihe most essential point, the circum^
stances were now entirely different from what they had
been in all earlier struggles, and hence all conclusions
drawn from tlio supposition that analogous cases existed ,
were unwarranled. Hitherto the slavocracy had always, I
with the assistance of the democrats in the northern J
states, been victorious in the principal matter, and there- ^

states, like that of indlviiJuule, once destroyed, no eaithl; power can
resUire ; auii tliu iulegrity of state establish mpDtti, like tlio cbaatil^
of woman, once Bubjected to iuvaaiou, continues at thu will of the
dMpoiWr."

■ CoDi^. Globe, lat Seaa. SOtb Congr., p. 770.

I Ibid., p. 610.

U>7

fore had no occnston to go beyond words and preparatory
nets. Now, on the contriiry, a part, and presumably bj'
far the greater part, of the democrats of the uortliern
states, gave notice to the slavocracy that they wouhi not
swerve from tiie declaration they had made in 1854. viz.:
that the limitsuf the concessions which thoy would make
or could make had been reached in the Kansas-Nebraska
bill; and if ibey were — as up to the present they seemed
to be — irrevocably resolved to make their word gofnl,
the slavocracy would not only be defeated on this ques-
tion, but would have nothing to hope for in the future.
Hence, even those politicians of the south to whom seces-
sion, on account of Kansas, soenied criminal folly, might
very well be of the opinion that the remainin;r of the
slave stales in the Union must be made to depend on the
decision of the Kansas question.

As Buchanan, considering his whole way of thinking
and his entire political past, must have looked at tlie
matter, the pressure to which he was exposed from the
south was, therefore, not only — as was said above — at
least as great, but much greater, than that from tlio
north. Besides, in the inoantime, the Nicuraguaii ques-
tiuQ had reached a temporary settlement, which must
contribute to depress the scale on the side of the south.

On the 24th of November ihu "Fashion" arrived in
safety before San Juan del Norte. As it saw the United
States man-of-war "Saratoga" lying there, it did not
enter the harbor until the following day, after it had
landed the tilibusters at another jioint. It hail been uo-
lieed the day before by Fr. Chatard, the commander of
the "Saratoga," and bad excited his suspicion. He,
therefore, sent a boat to examine its papers, which, how.
ever, were found to be in due form. Suspicion, indeed,
became a certainty; but still Chatnrd thought that he

193 nuonASAs's election — end of Sots oosoBEi

should do nothing op oonid do nothing. The only result
of a cotifereace, for the purpose of wliich Walker cume
on board the " Saratogn," was the order to take his ship
away from Scott's building, because it was American
l»ro|>eriy.'

Commodore Paulding liiid a ditferent idea, of his dnty.
He did not begin by the investigation of subtle questions
of international law, but conlined himself to the notori-
ous fuels, Wlien Walker look forcible possession of Fort i
Castillo, cunliBcated merchandise and steamships, shot 1
people down in his incursions uiid carried them away \
as prisoners, the commodure, with his prosaio notions I
of honor, deemed ihese doings acts of " rapine and mor- I
der,"' On the 7th of December he ordered the "general"
and his companions to lay down their arms and to repair
to the ship, to be designated by him, to ho carried to the
United States. Walker protested, but obeyed.

On tho 4th of January the senate requested the presi- I
dent to transmit to it the papers relating to the affair. \
Buchanan sent them lo that body on the 7th, together
with a message.' The latter began with the declaration
that Paulding "had committed a great error," hut that
his motives were unquestionably pure and patriotic. Tho
first of these assertions was not supported by an appeal
to international law, but was based on the further ona
that tho commodore had arbitrarily gone beyond his in-
structions. Although this last could not bo called in
question, it needed a commentary, which made the matter
appear in no favorable light for the administration. Paald-
ing himself declared that he was "sensible of tho respoD-

' Chotord'a Report of Nov. 23. 1857, to Paulding. Sen. Doc., 85lh
Conjtr., lat Seas., vol. I. No. 13, p. 16.
^Report o( Dec. IS, to Toucey. Ibid., p. 97.
»Stateam. Man., in. pp. a349-33r.i

PACLDIXO S ' QEEAT KRHOE.

190

sibility he had ' incnrred.' " He, therefore, admitted that
his instructions did not expressly authorize hiin to do
what lie hail done. But while he stated that he had gone
beyond tlie lettei* of his instructions, it, appeared from his
report that he was convinced lie had acted in entire ac-
cordanct! with their spirit. His right to do so, however,
could not be binntly and absolutely denied. Davis had
not been censured wheu he — in a less rude manner, in-
deed—had done essentially the very same thing, i. c,
when he had arrested Walker and shipped bira away;
Chatard, on the contrary, was disciplined because he had
not given chase to and captured the " Fashion." Besides,
Lieutenant Almy had, with the utmost precision, asked
to be instructed whether he should capture a filibusier-
ing ship, if he found one in a Central American harbor.
Toucey answered neither yea nor no, but only repeated
(October 12th) that the landing of crews or arms in Mex-
ican or Central American harbors should be prevented
by force; that is, he actually refused to give the unam-
biguous instructions asked for. But in what consisted
the difference, in international law, between the employ-
ment of force in the harbor of a foreign, friendly power
and on the adjacent shore?

The president passed over this question in silence.
Nicaragua alone, he said, had a right to complain; but
Paulding bad rendered it a great service, and it certainly
would notdo so. This was true; but the suspicion might
arise that the president did not feel unmingled satisfac-
tion at the fact. Why did he not say that Yrizarri, as
early as December 30th, had expressed the lively grati-
tude of the three governments he represented.' Would he
have preferred to have been able to base the blame put
on Paulding on complaints made by Nicaragua? No one

■ He oalta epecial atteption la his note to Cass to this, that " the
point from which Commodore Paulding forced away thoao bandita

200 BUOHASAS'S ELECTIOS — ESD OF I

could have objected to the duclamtion : The coniinodorelj
course ID coiilraventioii of international law was nofl
anthomed by the government, and tlie govornineiit disJ
AVOWS it. But, on the other haad, a ceiisuie beToru tliq
whole country on account of liis cxcocUing bis instriK
tions. by which net he rendered a friendly state a greafl
and fully-acknowled;jeJ service, and at the same lime a<!f
compliahed what, according to the onlers of his ou'n govM
eminent, should have been done bel'ore, in another way]
could be justified only on condition that tlio form '
considered more iniportunt thtin the mutter. Did thfl
message wish to allege this, on the [innci]>le that the ex*
ceeding of instructions is almost unavoidably attended bjl
had consequences? In this concrete case, none could t
mentioned. Could it not or would it not do so? The flB
busters, it said, could certainly not complain in the namfl
of Kicaragua. But whether they could not do so in theijg
own name, it did not say. As it gave information thaj
the marshal had been dispatched by the secretary of etatj
with an order that the government could not look apt
Walker as a prisoner, this must hivve been talien to t
the opinion of the president. That only ihe courts could
decide on Walker's guilt or innocence was unquestionabld
true. But was not the government bound to indict h
after it had ordered its men-of-war to give chase to hiUB
on account of a breach of the neutrality laws) Jjid 1
become guiltless in its eyes simply because he came inU
Paulding's power through the exceeding by the latter ofi
liis instructions?

All these obscurities and contradictions could flod a
unforced explanation only on this assumption: Wit|i
Buchanan consideration for the sli^vocracj was all-coD9

. . . is nn nlmost ilesert nne, on which thorc exists noNicarnguui
ftuthorities that cuald have uianti^d the npprcheOBion of thclj
felons. "

ITRAL AMEBICA AND TUE UNITED STATES.

■2-Jl

trolling; for the slavooracy, who believed their interests
injured, looked upon the defense of those interests as the
flpst duty of iho president, antl iuft him no alternative
but to disavow Paulding or let them pour the overflow-
ing vials of their wrath U]>on his own head.

Although this was for Duchanan an alternative without
a citoice, it required no little skill to conjure the threuteu-
ing storm. We have already shown how greatly Walker's
expedition grieved Buchanan, because it tinvarled his own
policy, llence Paulding hud rendered him also a great
service, and he now over-estimated it. as it could nut yet
be foreseen that the expedition, notwithstanding its quick
and lamentable end, would partly directly and partly in-
directly cause the rejection of the Cass-Yrizarri treaty.
The probloui, therefore, that Buchaoun had to solve was
how to disavow Paulding, and at the siimu time to turn to
account the fact that the "grave error" he had coiiiuiitled
had again cleared the way for the carrying out of his
policy. This he tried to do by, on the one hand, taking
refuge behind an appeal to Paulding's instructions, and
by the primf that he had a right to, and was obliged to,
pursue the lilibustci's until they were before the harbors
of Nicaragua; and, on the other, by further amplifying
the short sentences of the annual message, which were
intended to prove that filibustering enterprises could not
open uu the way of the starry banner to Central America,
but must, on the contrary, obstruct it.

The claim of the |)resident that the " Americanization "
of Central America was a natural necessity found a loud
echo in both houses of congress;' but the alavocracy did

' In llip Report of thi? lloiise Committee on Naval AtTuirs made by
Bocock on the ad o[ February. 1858. we read: ■' DoublleBB in pxxl
time, whatever uiaj- bet^^iuti of Walher, that countri' (Ceutrot Amer-

202 BuciiAXAs's KLiscnoN — Exr or 35tii oongei

not allow themselves to be convinced that the proniotioi
of that pi-ocess, by the means of force, such as Walked
had recourse to, was against their interests. While thq
republicans called Buchanan to account because he dei
clared Paulding's uioritorious act a "grave error." thafl
radicals of the southern states pressed him slill harder'
with the proof that he had given these imjiortam-sound-
ing woi-ds no palpable tenor, and that his policy had wnr<J
ranted the commodore in tliinking thtit he ".vas carrying oulir
his ideas. At the same time, spite tlie severity of therf
tone they assumed, it was very apparent that they had, ibt
their own opinion, imposed a great restraint upon them-
selves. What determined them to do tliis could not be '
doubtful, and was frankly declared in the letters of ■
prominent leaders which afterwards saw the light. Kan-,
sas was, at the time, much more important tn them; and i
they, therefore, showed indulgence to the president in tli^>l
Nicaraguan question, in consideration of his siding unrn-
servedly witii them in the Lecompton question,'

ica) must und will be Americanized, . . . Whether litis ie
brought about b; the sudden action of our goveruinoiit in acqai^
ing pogsession of it by treaty, or whether tlie wurk is to be d
the healthier, if alower, proceaa of gradual imniigratioii from oarM
borders; whether, wlien Americanized, it is to constitute a part of ^
tltia republic, or whether another great feJer.^tlve system is to bfrjj
created on our southern borders," was not to bi? examined n
here. Rep. of Conmi.. 85th Congr,. 1st Sea,*., vol- I. No. 73, p. 7.

lA. H. Stephens writes, on the 3d of Jnnuary. 1S58: "The Wnllti
and Paulding embroglio just now embarrasses us. Our eympathlM
are all with the filibusters. We do not ngrec with the adminisl
tion on tiie Central American question; but if wo denounce it, ai
feel it deserves to be, we endanger their support of our views ol
Kannns question. This we fear. The strength of that questioi
the north lies in its being an administration measure; but if we M
the south oppose the administration on one qneation, it nllonls a
text tor men of the north to oppose it in onother, and yet be n

DOCOr-AS AKD TOE DEM00R4CT.

203

If the republican papers were rightly informed by
tUeir Washington correspondents, Buciianan did not im-
mijdiately and Avitiiout reservation accept this burguin;
but he thought tbiit by acting thus he was rendering a
service to the slavocracy. On the 22d of December, Doug-
las had ventured the prophecy ihat wiibin sixty days he
would bo again recognized as an orlliodox democrat, be-
cause the question would appear to the genlleraon who
now excommunicated him in a very different light when
Kansas presented them the Lecompton constitution with-
out the slavery clause.' The expectation that this
would happen was not, indeed, fullilled. But had not

part;' men. In this wny the question ('mbarrnssea ub." JohDeton and
Browne. Life of A. IT. Stephenn, p. 838.

■Congr. Glabf. 1st Sees! DSlh Coii^., p. 140.

And in a letter of Qui to) an to John Marstinll dated February 1,
ISoS, ne read : " At the commencemeut aC the session, wc canio here
to force a test n)X)n Wulker's administration of affaira in Kanttas, and
to compel the .id ministration to ni'prove or disavow his leading nets.
Before that could be matured, bowevor, we learned that there would
be a funniduble defection from the nortliern democracy, on the pre-
tense that the (LccuiiipUin) constitution sliould have been submitted
to Ihe people. Mr. Buchanan took ground (or the constitution, not,
however, without hesitation and apology, but still hia position, quoail
hoe, was for us. This put an entirely di£Ferent phase upon the mat'
ter, and we determined to adjourn our complaints against the preai-
dant for his support of Wniker, up to bia last act, unlit the controversy
betncen northern democrats should be determined. White the re-
Hlilt8 o( the proceedings in Kanaaa were doubtful, and while this
northern controversy was pending, our best policy was to make no
final is.ioc3. You will see, from the representations, why we of the
extreme state-rights wing were quiet, and presented no uitimatum,
When the neutrality and Paulding questions came up, we were
obliged, for the sake of principle, to come out; but, aware that the
great question was still before us, we were as moderate as possible.
We- wished Id give the president no reason for shifting his position
on the Kansas constitution," Claiborne, Life and Correspondence of
J. A. Quitman, II, p. 351.

204 liUCIHNA?i"s E[,ECTION" — END OF 35tU COSOEKSa,

the vote of tlio 4tli of January turned the edge of iho
weapon forged hy theslavocracj' against llioniselves moro
dangerously than ever? Even if all consideration wore
refused the vote on the constitution for the well-known
formal reasons, would they not have prepared a bed
oE thorns and thistles for themselves, if the oppositiou
had won in the state eluL-tions! That^ this had hap-
pened seemed now to be so undoubted that it was more
and more generally conceded in their own camp. The
SiaUa and the Union began zealously to aiipeasu the irri-
tation, and frankly confessed that they did so on this ac-
count. " The free-soil people," wrote the Siate», on the 23d
of January, "have won thirteen out of nineteen seals in
the senate and twenty-nine out of forty-four in the
house — a majority of twenty -one on joint ballot; Parroll
has been chosen to the house of representatives, and
Liine and Kobinson will probably he tiie future senators
from Kansas; which gives 'an entirely now aspect' to
this question,"

Buchanan, it was said, saw the matter in the same light.
The Evening Pimth&d been telegniphed to from Wash-
ington, on tho 20th ol January, that on the evening bo-
fore there had been a great ctaeh of opinions in tho
cabinet. A compromise, it was reported, liad been pro-
posed to the effect that Kansas shoald, indeed, be ad-
mitted as a slate with the Lecompton constitution, but
on condition that the first legislature should submit " the
whole thing" to a vote of the people. Buchanan, Cass
and Toucey were in favor of this compromise; Cobb,
Thompson, Floyd and Brown against it, while Block hatl
not attended the conference.

This piece of news was scarcely a pure invention; for a
lie toid with a purpose would have imputed somettiin;;
to Buchanan and his cabinet which needed no comnicn-

THE COMPROMISE

2ri5

tnry. But here a conundrum was proponiidod and an
answer asked for. The compromise proposition alluded
to gave each of the two wings of the democr.itic party
ono-hnlf of the shell, and to the republicans the kernel of
the nut: Kansas was to be admitted into liic Union with
the constitution foisted upon it by fraud, and which yave
it the name and the rights of a slave slate — this was
conceded to the south; immediately thcivafier the prin-
ciple of the Kansas-Nebraska bill got its deserls in a pop-
idar vote — this was accorded to the Douglas democrats;
but the republicans, in whose hnnds it. very pmbahly was
in the interval, through the result of the elections of the
4th of January, got Kansas by means of this popular
vote,

Snih a proposition coming from Buchanan could be
explained only on the assumption that the president had
become convmced that Kansas was irrevocably lost, not
only to the slavocracy but to the democratic party, and
that, therefore, he desired to give the capitulation a form
xvhich would make at least an external union of the in-
ternally divided democratic party possible. If ho were
successful in this, the defeat would perhaps be less re-
gretahle in his eyes than a victory, the cost of which
would be the votes of the Douglas democrats in the next
presidential election.

But what had dotorralned all the southern members
of the cabinet to reject the proposition? Did they still
cling to the hope that Calhoun would, after all, be able
to Ggure out a victory for them from the poll-lists of the
4lh of January) Did they believe that the great major-
ity of the Douglas democrats would finally veer about
again and follow the standard of the slavocracy? Or did
they not desire the preservation of the democratic party
if the slavocracy was now defeated?

206 Buchanan's election — end of 35th conoeess.

The dispatch to the Evening Post said nothing about
all this. Every one might answer these questions as he
wished, and no one could prove that his answers were
the right ones.

The fact, however, that every thinking patriot had
been made to ask the questions and to attempt to answer
them was, notwithstanding, not without value. On the
2d of February, the president sent to congress a message,
in which he unconditionally and unreservedly defended
the Lecompton fraud. The questions had now, therefore,
to be extended to him too; and whatever the answers
given them, the situation, so far as the immediate object
in controversy was concerned, was cleared, and that was
something gained.

The message did not adduce a single fact or a single
argument more. All it contained had been heard before
over and over again, although not ail from the mouth of
the jTresident. On the contrary, there was much in it
that did not coincide with what he had previously said
and done. There Avas now not a word in it, not the
slightest intimation of paroxysms of impartiality and jus-
tice. The man was completed lost in the advocate who,
on principle, recognizes no duty to truth when the inter-
ests of his client demands its suppression or distortion.
But as he was, at the same time, forced into contradic-
tion with his own words and acts, he fell into the mistake
characteristic of the plea of advocates of that stamp; he
overshot the mark, and injured the cause of his client by
unbounded exaggeration.

The basis of the whole argument was the old allegation
that the opposition in Kansas had been for years in a
state of open rebellion, and that that fact was decisive
of the question. The argument was much weaker than
those which had been so frequently heard from Pierce,

MESSAGE OF FEBKUAEV !

207

Douglas and so many others; but the audacity of the con-
clusion made amends for that. If the whole Lecomp-
ton constitution had been laid before the people, said
Buchanan, the opposition would have voted against it only
in the interest of their revolutionary Topeka constitution,
and not because they hud found anything in it objection-
able in itself. But was tho principle of (wpular sover-
eignty to be applied only when congress a nd the president
approved the grounds which, in their opinion, had deter-
mined tho people's will in one way and not in anotherj
Besides, Buchanan produced no jiroof of his allegation.
He simply made tho further usseriion that the Lecotnpton
constitution gave no cause for objection. Such might be
his opinion. But that a great majority of tho people of
Kansas thought otherwise was established by the figures
of the vote of the 4th of January. Tho president got
over that fact by ignoring this vote. As the facts were
against him, every assertion had to find support in some
new assertion. Convincing as was the testimony borne
against him by the loiters he had vvrJUen to Wuliser, he
would now have it believed tliat he had never had in
mind anything but the slaveiy clause when he spoke of
the constitution, and that no one could ever have had
in mind any other question.' The message also [lassed
over in silence the manner in which even the slavery
question had been submitted to the people; the facts

'It 19 flignificant thnt Buclmnan — with, indeed, a break in ihe
quotation- mark a — inseria tlie n-orda " in fraruiiij; their constitution"
in the populfir sovereigntj cluusa of the KanBos-Nebraska bill. In
other questions, also, he could not dispense with similar petty arti-
fices, but flpace will not allnw os to follow tiim tiirough all bis crooked
ways. Compare B II channn'a earlier dpclnratioii made in the iinnunl
measage of December 0. 1838, The president plves the lie in this ail-
misBion not only lo Cam directly, aa was alreatly remarked there, but
to himself.

20S BUCHANANS ELECTION END OF OOTU CONGRESS.

were simply covered up by the statement that the oppor-
tunity afforded them on the 21st of December, to make
known their will, had been "fair." What had gone be-
fore, on the contrar\% was discussed in extenso^ in order
to prove the statement at the beginning that a less ob-
jectionable mode of procedure could not be imagined.^
Hence, the opposition which had put itself in the wrong
from the verv be;j:inninor bv its rebellion, had not, in this
question, the shadow of a reason in law or equity to ad-
duce; it had even recognized the Lecompton constitution
by taking part in the state elections. Hence, the presi-
dent could not help being "decidedly in favor of its
[Kansas'] admission " as a state under the same.

After the message had thus discussed the legal and
equitable question, it took up the question of expedicnc}'.
The mode of argument remained the same; that is, asser-
tions, in the most glaring contradiction with the facts, were
substituted for reasons, and the result was just as satisfac-
torv. A":ainst the admission of Kansas nothin^ir could be
adduced, while the reasons which required its admission
must be decisive with every patriot, since the continued
ex stence of the Union would be imperiled b}' exclud-
ing it.

Buchanan declared that Kansas was, at that moment,
a slave state precisely as Georgia and South Carolina
were, since the supreme court of the United States had
<lecided "that slavery exists in Kansas by virtue of the
constitution of the United States." Not onlv Reverdv
Johnson, who had been Sanford's attorney in the Dred
Scott case, but Buchanan's own attorney-general. Black,
publicly stated that the supreme court of the United

1 ** It is impossible that any people couUl have proceeded with more
regularity in the formation of a constitution than the people of Kan-
sas have done."

THE LECOMITON CONSTIITTION, 200

Slates had not and could not have said so, for the state-
ment \vas pure nonsense.' There was a touch of humor
in the fact that the president had to take a severe repri-
iiiand from such a quarter for his too great zeal.

The bold assertion had been made, in order that it
might be infcri'ed from it that the admission of Kansas,
under llic Lecompton constilntion, was in the interest oE
the opponents of shivery Ukewise, since slavery could bo
abolished only by a constitutional provision, and the adop-
tion ot such an amendment might be effected more rap-
idly than if another beginning were made by the calling
of a constitutional convention. Opposed to this asser-
tion was the claim of the opposition that the Lecompton
constitution prohibited all change before the year 1864.
Buchanan not only denied that the provision of the con-
stitution referred to was to be understood in this way,
but declared the proposition that liie people could, at any
moment, renounce the right of exercising their sover-
eignty to its fullest extent, in respect to any question,
irreconcilable with the principle of popular sovereignty.
He, at the same time, appealed to the fact that New York
had then a constitution which had been drawn up and
put in force, in direct contradiction of a provision of its
previous constitution. He might have also referred to the
history of the federal constitution. But such facts did not
overthrow the principle that changes of a constitution
not made in the manner provided for by the constitti-
tion are always of a revolutionary character. That facts
often make the law bend to them, and that the illegal
facts then frequently become recognized law; and that
the interests of nations frequently demand they should,
80 imperatively, that those who oppose it sin against the
state, is an old and unquestioned truth. To interpret the
> See Congr. Olobe, let Sesa. SGlhCoDgr., p. 4ie,and id., App,, p. 08.

210 ni'c

- END OF SjTII CONORSaS.

Iirinciple of popular sorcroiflTity to mean ihat the major-
ity of tlie population Iiaving a right to voto might re-
solve, at any moment, in the face of tlic express provisions
of the constitution, to mako any constitutional change
they wanted, in a manner legally binding, is, in princi-
ple, to deprive the denioeratio state, under a constitution,
of the character of a constitutional state. The Chicago
Tribune, a republican pa|jer, thought tliat tlie president's
doctrine miglit be accepted if it were to a|i[)ly to the
Dnion aa well as to the several states. Uiit the logical
consequences of his premises had evidently, according to
Buchanan, a claim to recognition only to the extent that
they served his purpose. IIo bad immediateiy placed
iiimscU in contradiction with himself, l>y mailing & reso-
lution of the legislative pownr the precondition of tlio
action of the sovereign pooplo. But it was conceivahlo
that the majority of the people might want the change
of the coTisiilution in question, hut that the legislative
power miglit not think it well to ask the views of the
population on the subject, because of the ouustitutional
provision objected to by the opposition, or for some othtr
reason. As Calhoun had not yet allowed anything to
he divulged regarding the result of the elections of the
4th of January, this possibility might at uny moment be-
come a certainly. How tlio sovereign people could, in
that case, carry out their will, the message did not say.
The claim that lliu admission of Knnsas, under the Le-
complon constilution, not only left the entire question in
the hands of the people, hut also assumed its most expedi-
tious settlement, rested, therefore, upon a very unsubstan-
tial basis. Nor would the state of the case have been at nil
different if congress, as the message propo.^i>d, expressly
recognized the right of the people asserted by Buchanan,
in the law admitting Kansas into tho Union. But it the

PSACE AKD THE KAS848 QOKSTIOS. 211

opposition nglitly interpreted the provision of the Le-
compton constitulion on cliangcs of tlie constilution, such
an autliociUitive declaration of congress would have been
the annulment of that constitutional provision — that is,
tho grossest violulion of the popiilarsovoreignty principle
of the Kansns-NcbrasUa bill.

If tho reasoning of the president on this point could
not be recognized as valid, his chief urgmnent from ex{>e-
diency lost its force, viz.: the immediate rcsloralion of
pence and quiet by tho dropping of Kansas from the list
of potiiical questions. But even if all else that tho mes-
sage contuine<l had been incontestable, tho untenable-
ness of this decisive claim must have been patent to the
dimmest eye, unless it entirely refused to see. Infallible
means to bury the Kansas question and to restore peace
and quiet to the country, had been already found almost
as often ns tho revolntioniiry men of France from 1789
to 170fi had saTcd the fatherland; and, after every new
infallible treatment, its wise inventors — just like the
French saviors of their country — averred that the case
had assumed a more disheartening and desperate appear-
ance. Tu tho claim of the president, mado in private
letters, in the daily articles of the press, and in the formal
resolutions of the legislature, the answer now came from
Kansas itself that it bad been decided not to recoil oven
from forcible resistance, if the federal government tried
to thrust tho Lecompton constitution on tho people.'
That men there would be convinced by bis arguments
that tbey had no ground for complaint, and could most
expeditiously and most certainly realize their own wishes
it his proposid was carried out, Buchanan himself had not
even ventured to represent as a possibility. And if, ia
this latlor respect, said the message, a slight delay were
'Bee Consr. Qtube, tst Sess. ;iSth Congr., App., p. S44.

Buchanan's kleotion — end of 35th conohess.

really caused by the admission of Kansas under the Le-

oorapton constitution, it would be of the smallest impor-
tance compared with the evil consequences which a re-
vival of the agitation of the slavery question would have
in the whole counlry; and that, so far aa the decisioQ
miyht affect the few thousands of inhabitants of Kansajs
who liad, from the first, resisted the constitution and the
laws, it should not he forgotten that for that very reason
the rejection of the Lecompton constitution would be felt
all the more keenly by the fourteen slave states. But
even supposing that, as compared to the fourteen slave
states, the inhabitants of Kansas had no chiim to con-
sideration, partly because they were eo small in nomber
and partly because they were rebels, what became of the
millions in whose names the republicans and the Douglas
democrats declared that not only was the outrageous
oppression of Kansas encouraged, but that a sacrile-
gious attack was being promoted on the supreme princi-
ples of American freedom and on legal popular sover-
eignty. It was very evident that these millions, just
like the opposition in Kansas, would not consider that
everything was right and as it ought to be, if the presi-
dent should win a majority in both houses of congress
over to his views. The restoration of peace and quiet
was, therefore, as completely excluded as it would have
been by the rejection of the Lecompton constitution.
The only difference was that, in the one case, the slavoc-
raoy, and, in the other, their opponents, should be the dis-
satis&ed parties, who could have no answer bnt blows to
the victors' hymns of peace. Buchanan's allegation would
have been a fallacy even if the tacit presupposition of
his entire argument on this point had been right, viz.:
that, in the nature of the case, only the slave states had
occasion for just complaint in the slavery qnestion. Bui

UK SLAVOURACY

213

to this fallacious conclusion he had to come, for the end
and aim of the whole argument was this: The slavoc-
racy has named the price for which we can get peace and
rest from them; it would be criminal fully not to pay it,
for it is a mei-e bagatelle as compared with peace and
rest.

The assurance that, deeply convinced of his responsi-
bility to God and to bis country, he had done his duty,
might be subjectively true. But it was undoubted that,
at the same time, he wa* carried farther than ever from
the goal he had described as his only earthly ambition;
"to leave my country in a peaceful and prosperous con-
dition, and to live in the affections and respect of my
countrymen," Pugh was certainly a tried friend of the
south, and yet ho had wanted to make the admission of
Kansas, under the Lecompton constitution, dependent on
the condition that the slavery clause should be again sub-
mitted to a popular vote.' Buchanan assured the people
that he believed he might be the restorer of peace, and
acquire a new claim on the affection and respect of the
people, by placing himself entirely on the side of one
party in the struggle on the issue of which, in his opin-
ion, the life or death of the Union might depend, ami m
which, therefore, the passions ot the people must liave
reached the boiling point. His delusion, whether renl
or pretended, must have led to consequences too serious to
allow the opposition to yield to the temptation to answer
this strange logic by a loud peal of laughter.

The coutidence of tlie opposition that Lhey would re-
main victorious had, for some lime, rather decreased
than increased. Again, the south was alforded an op-

I See his
by him ii

n short statement of the L-onteots of the bill introduced
seaate on the 4th of January. Congr. Globe, let Seea,

85th CoDgr. , p. 175.

314 DTICUA«(AS'S ELECTION — EMD OF 35x11 COSGRESa,

porttinity lo play the old game of " tit-for-tat," and soma
of its rciiresentativea had announcoti that they would do
80. Minnesota also had petitioned for admission as a
state. But there, too, all kinds of grave irregularilies
bad taken place on the occasion of the adoption of the
state constitution,' and, referrinj; to them, Miison and
Brown had declared in the senate: "If you do not com-
ply iviih our wishes in the matter of the Lccomplon
constitution, Minnesota too \v\l\ be refused admission."*
That this threat alone would exercise a sufficient pressure
on one or olhcr of the grou]is of the united opposition
was not probable. But still it exercised some pressure;

iTh? enabling act provided that the conslilutional conrenUon
ahould he composed of seventy-eight membera. Inalead of that, ore
liuiidred aud ejglit wpre clioaen. who, liowevtr, did not wiwiV in OIW
orinvuulion, hut, dicldiag BtcordJng to party, ia two, coiiiiiatiiig tf
fifty -fuur and Stty-nine tncmberii respeetively — that le, luore than
'hud been chosen nltogether. Conference commitlees n^^recd upon a
iTonslitation, wliich, however, was siibecribed b; the democrats, but
was, in accordance with the enabling act, euhmitted to a vote of tliu
people. It was approved bj n large niBJoritjr, and all irregulariiiiB
were cureil. in the eyes of the democrats, by popular sovereignty.
The republicans complained of enormous frauds of ercry descrip-
tion, but desired admissiot) notivithstandin^, in order to increase
the number of free states. Hence the Adinission of Minnesota waa
against the slavocratic interest. But it was, in a hit;li degree, in the
Interest ot tlie democratic party, as the elect ions bad been inJUfnvor.
Tlie latter, therefore, raised no objection to the fact that the state
io^islnture met Mid elected United State senatora without waitinR
for admission, wliile the Tupeka legislature in Kansas was accused
of rebellion. Neither did the democratic party object to tbo fact
lliiit the cenlftcateB of election bad been issued by tho governor of
the terriory, who now did not even live in Minnesota, but was a poet-
Ditisler in Ohio. And that, instead of the two members of the
house of representatives allowed by tbe enabling act, three had beea
elected, waa a bappy thought, to which, of course, it did not refUM
fla reeognition.

'Congr. Globe, let Sess. 83tb Congr., p. 501.

EGES'E IN THE HOCSli, 215

and perhaps it did not require much more to move this
or tbat represenlatire to bring the Lecoiiipton question
up for serious reconsideration. Some southern papers
bad declared against the Lecompton swindle; but, on tbo
other band, nortlii-rn papers which lit first clung to Doug-
Ins had already returned with flags unfurled to the camp
of the slavocriicy.' Thus far, indeed, the rents in the dcai-
ocraltc party were not very deep; hut the administration
bad a gi'eat many weapons of the genus club at its dis-
posal; and that it was resolved to make the most exten-
sive use of tlicm with tbo most reckless energy was the
only conclusion tbo opposition drew from the raessago.
Its direct clfect, therefore, was a moro violent clashing
of opposing forces. This was the flrst proof which tbo
facta furnished lor the president's assertion that, in it, ho
had pointed out the way to peace.

During the night of tbe 5Lb-Gth of February, the
bouse of representatives again presented a dreary picture.
The excitement readied its height when Keitt began to
use his Ost instead of his tongue ngainst Grow. The late
winter morning had begun to dawn when the representa-
tives of tbo people left the Capitol. The Sabbath tbat
interrupted the struggle saw, indeed, the majority of
them in the churches; but the " Peace bo with you " thej
left at tbe threshold of the house of God. On Monday,
the 8tli of February, there were no speeches — there was
only voting, Tbo Lecompton party was defeated, but by
a majority of only three votes. Harris, a democrat from
Illinois, who, like Douglas, hud previously held the free-
soil party alone responsible for the Kansas troubles, had
made a motion which waa adopted to refer the message
to a committeo of fifteen members, who were to investi-
gate and establish the facts relating to the Lecompton

'£jeu aome examples, Congr. GIoIm, Isl Sese. SSth Coagr., p, 1238.

216 bdchanan's klkotios — end of 35th conobess.

constitotion. TUe speaker did not blush to rob the viclore
of the fruit of their victory by, contrary to all parliament-
ary usage, giving the opponents of the resolution a major-
ity in the committee. The opposiiion with iv majority of
only three votes, antl the adniinistratiim party not recoil-
ing from the use of such weapons — well might the most
hupeTul be alarmed about the issue of the struggle.

What the majority of the lionse of representatives
wanted to obtain through a comniiUee, Douglas wanted to
obtain through the executive. The resolutirms moved by
him, on the 4th of February, enumerated separately tha
]K>ints on which the president was to be requested to
give information to the senate, by communicating to it
the facts known to him and by transmitting to it the of-
ficial corresponilence.' The majority did not allow the
resolutions to come to a vote. Mason opposed a vote on
thorn, an the ground that these facts did not concern the
senate, and should not influence its conclusions. Because
the demand of the slavocracy could not be maintained in
the face of the facts, congress was denied the right tu
take any other phase of the question, as the purely for-
mally legal one, into consideration, Colfax afterwards
proved in the house that, according to this doctrine, even
Utah would have to be admitted into the Union as a
state as soon as it submitted a constitution to congress.'
But even if only a formal question of law was before
congress, which it must decide regardless of justice and
of consequences, it should not have refused to inform
itself fully on all the facts. How could congress look
upon it as established beyond a doubt that the constitu-
tion transmitted to it was, as the committee on territories
expressed itself in its report, the "legal constitution" of

iCongr. Globe, 1st Seas. 35tli Cotigr., p. 870.
"Id., p. 1231.

OBEEN 8 BILU

317

the state to be admitted,' if it did not know all the facts
relating to the history of its origin? The facts were no-
torious; and because, both in mutter and in form, they
were not irrelevant, but, on the contrary, of decisive im-
portance, the slarocraoy prevented their offieia) establish-
ment by lowering the rights and duties of congress in
the admission of a state to the level on which the notary
public in civil cases between man and man stands when
drawing ujj the instruments to be executed by him.

This was the view on which the report' that accom-
panied the bill introduced by Green in the senate, in the
name of the committee on territories, on the 18th of Feb-
ruary, for the admission of Kansas, wns bused. By the
utter ehamelessness with which, from this point of view,
it dofonded the Lecompton swindle with all the weapons
of sojihistry, this report bus a distinguished place among
llie dark monuments which the slavocracy creeled to it-
self in the parliamentary annals of the Union. Men per-
sonally respcclttble would not have been ablw to descend
so low were it not that the knowledge, or the instinctive
feeling, that their cause — that is, the asseniun of their

1 " This committee is of opinion that, when a constitution of &
newly-formed state, created out of our own teiriloiy. ia in-eaented to
congress for ndiiiisaion into tlie Union, it is no part of llio duly or
priTilegti of congress t-itlier to approve or disapprove tlie ounstilutiua
itself, and Its various proTisions, or nny of tliem (tlie opposition by
no oienns based tlieir action oti tlijs riglit}. 1iui simply to see wliether
it be the legal constitution of the new atnte."

So. too, Stephens says in the report of the majority of the commit
tee of lifleen; " Wlien a new slate presents a constitution for ad-
mission, congress has no more power to inquire into the manner of
its adoption than the matter of its Bulmtance; . . . the mode and
manner of ita adoption can l>e inquired into only so tar ns to see that
it has been formed in such way as tlie people have legally eatablL^bed
for the ui selves."

»Sc-n. Bi'p,, 35th Congr., Isl Sess., vol. I. No. 63.

218

lirCIIiNAN'S ELKCTIOS — END OK aSTH CONOHEgS.

supremacy over the Union — was liopoloss, exerted such
a pressui-c on tlieir mora! acntiments that every means
seemed alloivuble to them. This masterpiece of refined
psuodo-logic should, therefore, perhaps have excited sym-
pathy rather than disgust and moral indignation.

Douglas had so often, in the service of the slavocraoy,
proved himself a master in the bad art tl)at it could not
be hard for him, now that it disturbed his plans, to show
in his minority report what a distorted face grimaced
behind the smooth mask. But the sla\"ocracy knew this
just as well as he, and it conld, therefore, make no im-
pression on them. Their resolution was irrevocably made
to take, in what thoy said and what they did, no point oC
view but that of success. Almost every day now brought
new and stronger proof of this.

On the ith of March, Green moved in the senate to
substitute for the bill of the committee on territories an-
other bill, in which Kansas tind Minnesota were coupled
together. On the 11th of March, Ilarris informed the
house, in the name uf the minority of the committee of
fifteen, that the majority of that committee had voted
down every motion that aimed at the investigation and
establishment of the facts they were appointed to inquire
into, that they bad adjourned sine d!t\ and hail, there-
fore, bid defiance to the command of the house. But
the speaker defeated him by deciding that it was not a
'■privileged question," since the minority of a committee
had no report to make. On the 15ih of March tlie ma-
jority in the senate, in accordance with a caucus resoln-
tron, made a brutal attempt to force a Vote, although
there were still many members of the opposition who
wished to be heard. Thus far the senate had deemed
itself too distinguished a body to abridge that right, u
the bouse of representatives had done, in any vray, and

OK SENATE.

31!)

tlic smallwr number of its members, as well as its justcp
mode of warfare, bad always allowed its time lo bu suf-
ficient for it. Now tho majority suddenly took the
unscruiuilous coercive practice of tlie house ayainst minor-
ities as its example. Clark was refiiseil the adjournment
bo had asked for, altiiou;;h he liud stated that lie was al-
most unalile to speak, because be had not eaten anything
Btnca S o'clock in the morning. Stdl, ho spoke, but took
tho liberty, after a while, to interrupt his speech, in order
to refresh himself, before the assembled senate, with a
cup of tea and a piece of bread and butter. In the
meanwhile the senate killed time with an angry debate
on questions of order. Toombs threatened that the
majority would "crush this faction," Fcssenden replied
that that was not very easy. The opposition gave the
assurance, over and over agnin, that they were far from
having any intention of improperly postponing tho de-
cision; all they asked was to bo heard. At last the
majority declared that they were ready lo adjourn, if
the opposition bound themselves to allow the vole to bo
taken on a deSnite day. The opposition did not agree
to tliis, because they first wished to consult with one an-
other; but, next morning, they would bo willing to accede
to it. Now, however, tho majority wore not satisfied.
Benjamin called on tliem lo go, leaving the house and
tho responsibility for tho disruption of the government
to the minority. Toombs said they should refuse to do
liny business until the "previous question" was intro-
duced in the senate likewise. But tho minority did not
allow themselves to be terrified by all ibese threats, and
the majority broke off the' hopeless struggle at C o'clock
in tlie morning.
This undignified parliamentary scuffle was of impor-
BtoDoe only so far as it afforded a, striking illustration of

BUCHANAn'b election — END OF SfilU OOKaRBSS.

the stubborn violence with which both sides fought. It
could not inQiience tbe result of the baitle. In the sen-
ate, the slavocracy had been sure of victory from tbe
start. The decision lay with the liouse; aud there they
had to resort to meaiia of a different kind if they wished
to hold the field. Since opportunities of learning what
these means, as a self-evident consequence of the spoils
system, could effect, had already frequently haen had, it
was not considered doubtful that they would be em-
ployed now. But hitherto the concession, as a rule, ha4
been made to political morality of boldly denying what
was done — as a rule, we say, and not alivays. But it had
never before been as frankly declared as it was now, by
the organ of the administration, to be the duty of tbo
administration to bear in mind that purchased votes
counted for as much as votes that were not purchasod.
Now, wrote the Union, the executive can make its in-
fluence felt in a decisive manner; "the shaky and hesi-
tating democrats" are known, and they can be again
brought mto the ranks by the government patronage.'
Covode subsequently stated that the investigating com-
mittee, commonly called after him, found proof in the
hooks of the Bank of the Metropolis that people bad not
conSned themselves to the employment of the patronage
system, but that votes had been directly bought.'

I "The democratic party must be preaervedl If patriotic Bervioee
deserve reward at the bands of the people when displayed on the
field of battle, thoj no less deserve it when displayed in civil life;
Tho matter is now in the precise condition in wbich the executive in-
fluenco mny be most availuble and decisive. The Bbaky and beajtat-
iog democrats arc marked, and may be brought iDto the ranki. A
large e;(ecutiTe patrona(;e is yet undisposed of. Additional patroo-
age is to be afforded by the nrmy bill, if it should pass, aa it will, In
some sliape." Quoted in Gongr. Globe, let Sras. 3oth tJoiigr., App.,
p. 223.

3See, ia the N. V. Ti'ibime, the report of his speech delivered the

"sHAKt" DEMOOEAT3.

221

"Wlietber or not, with his republican eyes, Covode saw
more llian tbore was to be seen, there were certainly
men in the bouse of representatives who, by an appeal to
their personal interest, might be made to see the intereata
of the public in a different light, and the Union's ex-
hortation was not nnbeeded. But there were democrats
who jnst as certainly could not be bribed, and still were
"shaky."' Another bridge was now built for these by
Calhoun — one over which the way to Lecompton might,
perhaps, seem passable to them. If they were not obliged
to recognize, in addition to the Lecompton constitution,
a state government which, to use Douglas's words, de-
pended on "forgery and perjury," a great difficulty would
certainly be removed, Callioun. therefore, now sent to
the publisher of the Star a, letter intended to create the
impression that, in this respect, they bad no cause to be
uneasy. He said that he had, indeed, not yet received
any official information, but that evurything else that
had come to bis knowledge bad convinced him that the
poll-lists of Delaware Crossing were a fraud, and that
therefore the free-state candidates were electeJ.

Whoever wanted to go into the net miglit do so; but be
had to do it without being able to saj' afterwards that he
had not seen it, and had not been warned in time. Doug-
las, too, knew exactly how many of his followers had

doy before in New York, The money raised for lh« purpose of brib-
ery waa all entered under flctiiious namea. AceordiDg to the atate-
tuent o( the caahjer "S. U.," for instance, meant "'to snve the
tJnion." One entry rnn : '• Pay K.insas $5,000."

1 H. S. Foote aleo relates, however, that Cobb, the secretary of the
treasury, bad aaid to him : " Oh, I thiok we hIihII get it (the Lecomp-
ton bill} through. We have now secured almost as many votes aa
wilt be necessary to its passage: and you know that thia department
is always, in such a atrugglo, good fcr at least twenty votes." Casket
of Reminiscences, p. 118.

-END OF 33-rn ooKoiiEsa.

bpcome "shaky," and ho was not the man to facilitate
their fall by li;a\'irig them such excuses. For months,
said bo, in UiG senate, on the 22il of March, tho roporta
about Calhuuti's ialcntinii^ hud alternated lllic the heat
and chills in an inteimittent fever. Now, suddenly, im-
mediately before the decisive vole, lie feU impelled to
make the public his conlidanis. Tbc trap was so clumsy
that only " green " people could fall into it. Uis declara-
tion WU3 a worlhlt'ss bit of paper; for, according to the
provisions of the Lecompton constitution, his powers in
this question Iiad been transferred, by his absence from
Kansas, to the president jjro temporeot the convention.

This was true, and hence the letter could bavo no aim
but that imputed to it by Douglas, The only surprising
thing is that Calhoun did not delay its publication until
after the vote in ttie bouse. Only as a surprise could
the dishonorable manceuvre, perhaps, bo atlendod with
success; and, in the bouse, ibc decision for or against
might depend on two or three votes, while in the senate
the undoubted majority would, at the most, havo been
only soinowbut increased. As the Leeoniiiton parly
had this majority, it was evident from tlia lirst tiiat limy
would have to let tbo senato talio the initiative; that is,
that the decision of the house would havo to take the
form of a vote on a bill transmitted to it by tho senate.
On the 23d of March the Lecompton bill was passed by
the senate by a voto of ibirty-threo against twenty-five
The coupling of Minnesota with Kansas was abandoned,
and the express recognition, recommended in tho message,
of popular sovereignty, as a trap for "green" iiieuibers,
after tho exact paltern of tbo Calhoun letter, was made.
"Notiiing in this act," we road, "shall he conslrucd as an
abridgment of the right recognized in the constitution
of Kansas of the people to alter the same at any time in

TOTE ON TUE 8ESATE BILL.

the manner they wish." Nobody had ever expressed or
entertained the footisb fear that that right would bo cur-
tailed by congress in n Imv admitting a state into the
Union. The question in controreray was ivlielher the
I^comptoii constitution uhsolutely recognized it or for-
bade its exercise before 1S0+. The declaration that con-
gress did not deny iho e.sistcnce of the nglit recognised
by the I.ecom|tton conslittition was, tliereforo, not what
it was meant to appear lo be: an answer to the question
whether Kansas aiiglit abolish slavery before 1804. Lie
upon lie, fraud upon fraud, swindle upon swindle, — such
wns the unavoidable consequence of the resolution, by
means of the monstrous fraii<l of the Kansas- Nebranlia
bill, to deprive freedom of tlie possession granted her for
all time.

On April 1st .1 vote was talicn in the house on the ques-
tion wlioilier ilic senate liill should be rejected at llio
firet reading. A large part of the opposition refused to
hive anything lo do witli so radical a comlemniilion of
the entire Lcconipton policy. The question was decided
in the negative by a tnajoi'ity of forty-two votes. Mont-
(joraery, of Pennsylvania, tlien moved, as a "substitute,"
a compromise bill, the real father of which was Senator
Crittenden. Before a vote was taken on this bill Quit-
man moved lo strike out of the senate bill the clause
referred to relating to the right of amendment. That
clause, had, indeed, as has been seen, only a problemal-
ieul value; but it v.-as all the more significant, on that ac-
count, iliut seventy-two southern representiitives refused
to make even this seeming concession to the principle of
popular sovereignty agamst the slavocratic interest.

The Critlondcn-Montgomery bill, which was adopted
after the rejection of the Quitman amendment, by a vote
of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and twelve.

22i BCOBANAN's election — END OF 35tH CONGKl

provided for a popular vote on the Lecompton constitu-
tion. If it were adopted, tiie president was immediately
to announce the admission of Kansas by a proclamation;
if it were rejected, the people of Kansas might elect dele-
gates to a new constitutional convention.

By this manceuvre the mask was completely torn from
the hypocritical face of the Lecompton party. But did
not llie republicans pay too high a price for that, since it
had long been certain that that party know no law but
the inleri'sl of the slavocracy, and was resolved to train-
plo the principle of popular sovereignty under their feel,
as, under the leadership of the Douglas democrats, they
had torn the llissouri compromise to pieces! A victory
was not won, but an attack was repulsed for the moment;
and it was repulsed, not by the republicans, but by a coali-
tion of Douglas democrats and six southern Americans,'
whose following the republicans had constituted them-
selves. As early as March Uth, Chase had seriously re-
monstrated with Seward because he had not strongly
advocated holding fast to the principles on which the
party had grown up as a natural product of the circum-
stances of the time,* but seemed to maintain that for
the present the party should change its base to that of

> Stephens writes, on the 3d of April; " Sixaoutliern ' Amerioans '
defeated ua, Twentr-nine northern democruta stood firm. Had alt
the Bouthem members stood firm also, out majotity nith a full house
would have been elglit." Johnston and Browne, Life of A. H.
Slephenii, p, 333.

t •■ It Beenis to me that, in the regular process of mental and polit-
ical developments, wortciug siaslj and irresistibly, a transition and
transformation of parties, the republican orgaaizntion has grown up,
not as much by clioice as by neceBsity, Our true policy and true
wisdom is to adhere to it, ioateadof chnng^ing, to strengthon its base.
Another course may seem to give greater immediate acDCBsionsof
■Irength, but will result, I verily believe, in defeat," Warden, Pri-
vate Life and Public Scrvic« of S. P. Cbase, p. 348.

DOUGI-AG ASTt KANSAS

32r.

the principle of popukr soverejgntj'. Its representa-
tives in the house had now taken the great retrojjrade
jili?p, spite of the certainty that the senate would not
iilloiv itself to be determined thereby, to return to the
principle of the Kunsas-Nebraska oill as interpreted by
l>uuglas. Its advocacy of the principle which it had
condemned on numberless occasions, not only from the
point o[ view of constitutional law, but also of common
sense and freedom, could at best produce only the nega-
tive result, that tlie admission of liansas as a state, with
iho Lecomptoti constitution forced on it, would not bo
carried. lint could they consider it certain that those
whose fluy llicy toUowed would themselves remain true
to it tliroughuul! The Lecumpton party was defeated
by a coalition of three parties, and only by eight votes.
Was a mm of the scales quite inconceivable, even if the
opposition were to a man so honorable that no attempt
would be made to try the convincing power of patron-
age? "Was the gap between Ituciianan's popular sover-
eignty and Douglas's so much broader and deeper than
that between republican principles and the popular sov-
ereignty of the Douglas observance? "What warranted
the iissiiinjtiou tliaC some honest Douglas democrats
would not be able to discover reasons to overleap the
former — reasons allcist as weighty in their eyes as were,
in the eyes of tlie republicans, those which had led them
over the latter? Democratic politicians who, four years
before, had hmdcd tlie substitution of popular sovereignty
for the MisiTOuri compromise as a glorious achievement,
now required much less short-sightedness, self-deception
jind party spirit to consider an understanding with the
ruling wing of the party a patriotic duty. And if only
five Douglas democrats in the house were converted to
this view-, what would the republicans have gained by

22C Buchanan's election — end of 35tii coxorkes.

the actual denial of Iheir principlea? They claimed to bo
the party par excellence of principle and conscience, ano
lience could not overwhelm the "traituis" with their
moral indignation without smiting themselves in the face.
The Isl of April is nut, as the republicans thought, a
day of honor and rejoicing in the struggle for freedom.
right ami self-govBrnment. Their unanimous vote for
the Crittenden-Montgomery hill showed that, since the
presidential campaign of 1S5S, they had made no prog-
ress, but had been driven back; that more reliance wa?
placed on sl^ilful tactics than on correct principles, and
that the slavocracy had to add many terrible items more
to their list of national sins before they forced an unwill-
ing ]T00ple to recognize that the proposition : compromise
is the essence of politics, was not only a fatal errof in
this question, hut that, in the nature of things, it must
become steadily fatal in an over-rising degree. A new
proof wus added to all the enrlier ones, that the solution
of the question was not to be expected from the sagacity
of statesmen. They were, indeed, working at it, from
every direction, with all their might; but they were
doing so chiefly through their erroneous calcidatiims and
their moral weakness. There was only one solution: the
grinding weight of brutal facts. The problem had out-
grown the limits of the power of statecraft. The man
who cannot recognize this must be unjust in his judg*
ment of all parties and of the leading ]H>rsonalities in
thorn. In very different ways and from very different
motives, pure anil impure, willingly' and unwiilinglj",
moving and moved, by what they did and what tlioy loft
undone, they all heljwd force the problem out of these

) It is wortlijr of note that this charge was most svverelj formu-
lated bj ft Bouthemer. Oilmer aaid, on tlie <la7 lM>rore the vol*: "I
have hpord and rend speechM delivered butfa In this house and tn

BATCKE OF TUE CIVIL WAS.

227

limits, and tliereb^- forced it to thatonly possiblo solution.
Judged from the jioint of view of llie Ilnal resull, tliey
all, therefore, labored for the salvation of the country,
by the right and the ivrong in their liiinking, in their
will ivnd in their deeds, because they prevented stagna-
tion and brought about the catastroplje so early that it
might become a blessing lo all. But thia was possible
only because — ulthough again in very different ways
and in very ditferent measures — in the thought, will and
action of all, the right and the just were so amalgamated
with the wrong and the unjust that in the catastrophe
and through the catastrophe the moral powers necessa-
rily attained a stronger and stronger development, since,
on the one side, they forced the war for the restoration
of tho Union into a war of annihilation against slavery,
and, on the other, tninsfurmed secession for the purpose
of founding a slavocratic con federuib republic into a
lieroio strngglo for independence. Because the adoption
of the Crittenden-Montgomery bill was, in one sense, a
great step backwards, it was in another a great step for-
wards: a new stage on tho way to the redeeming catas-
trophe had been reached.

the other end of this cnpitol, by gentlemen from the nortli and from
the south, the true ipiiil antl lueaiiiug or which is dUuuion.

"True, most, if iiot ull. pnifess to love the Uaiou and the consti-
tution. . , . They inilulgB id putriotlc strain The

spirit of disunion ia, liowf^er, the core. . . , The design is evi-
dently to infuse the pojsonoua ^irit of disunion wliere, for it, there
could be no receptimi. wore proper labels utWched. Professions of
patriotism are Utler^l in loud and eioqui>nt tones, for peace and har-
mony, while the evident drift Is to exaspernio aad make wider the
brenoli," Congr. Globo. lat Sess, aSlhCoiijir, App., p. 882. Tbeivord
design waa certaitdy uot justifled as regards a aiugle northern repre-
sents tire.

22S buchasah'b election — end of Soth CO.VOKBSS,

ENGLISH'S BILL.

The present generation, which surveys the entire his-
tory of the devclojiment of the slavery prablem, from its
inaeption to its final solution, Hods it didicult to under-
stand how, even at this time, so dense a cloud coulil
obscure the vision of the cleiirest eyes. Wliere mora!
earnestness and courage, not to recoil even before tho
extreme consequences which mig'ht be entailed upon the
country by inviolable fidelity to principle, were want-
ing, there was no cause to wonder at the greatest ob-
liquity of tliought and the greatest errors of judgment.
Bm ns not n single republican in the house of repre-
sentatives liad voted against tho Monlgotnery bill, the
surprising retreat of tho "party of principles" could
evidently not bo traced to these alone. Men like Gid-
dings and Lovejoy must have been deteriuined by other
motives. Tho most probable supposition, iCi their case, is
that, with heiivy bearls, tlicy made the concession to
their party associates weaker in the faith, becaase, by bo
doing, they thought they would be able to prevent some-
thing worse. This at least is a view which there is no
difficulty m understanding. But how are we to account
for the fact that men with clear heads, gn^at and fear-
less hearts and strong nerves, in one and the same
breath, laid stress on their unshakable fidelity to princi-
ple and approved the Montgomery bill as a tactic ma-
neuver? But wlien Chase, who had recently endeavored
so strenuously to ruuse Seward's conscience to a senea
of not sacrificing principle to momentary considerations
of expediency, saw no intrinsic contradiction in such nc-

MISTAKB OF TDE RKI'UIII.ICANS.

2:i9

tion, even after the value of these tactics was placed in
the most glaring light' by a successful counteMnaneuver,
no great reproof can beadministered to average politicians
because they were involved in the greatest darkness as
to the character and import of this step.

If I have a correct conception of the entire situation
at this moment, the grave mistake of the republicans in
this case was due only in a very small degree to their
want of moral energy. The heat of the battle had
warped their judgment on tlie point wliich they should
have recognized as the decisive one. Because Kansas
had been, in recent years, the position most hotly con-
tested, they had, to a certain extent, lost the conscioiia-
ness that il was in itself only a jiart, nnd a comparatively
small part at that, of the whole field of battle. Tliey
looked upon the slavery question as so much absorbed hv
the Kansas question that they were not able to rise to a
recognition of the fact that, in order to be able to con-
tinne the general struggle efTocLuaily, they would have
to he resigned to the loss of the territory, even if there

I InaletterdatFdMHj 12, 18r)8, written, therefore, immediitely lifter
the pssita^e uf the English bill, to Pibe, ive I'paij : ''Itcsistnnce to il
(the Iiwwnjptnn iniquity) by all nieana not diBhonorablc, ami lo tliL-
last extremit]' (!), was ever my counsel to all who thought it wurtli
aakingfor. I even counseled ngaiiiHt the contingent consent pro-
posed by tho Crittenden amendment, and would never, had I bi?en
ill congresii. have voted for that proposed by the Montgomery amend-
ment, except BK the only nienns left of defeatini; the dii-ect consent
U> the Lecoiupton bill. Regarding it as the only lueaua left, 1 should
have acted just as our friends in tht> bouse acted, wbode votes, undut
the circumstances, for that auiendment 1 have couBlanlly approved
iind still approve." And also: "I am very certain that the grrat
niafueB of the republican party agree with me in di^ term in at ion to
maintain republican principles witboot compromised), . . . fiiinly
resolved not to leave our own (prinuiplel to stand on foreign ground."
First Blows of the Civil War, pp. 410, 430.

230 Buchanan's election — end of Sara conoress.

was a means of saving it. To save it now seemed to3
them their chief duty. They looked upon the diroetj
triumph of the Lecompton swindle as the worst tbinj
that could now happen to the country, and, in tUeifl
opinion, there was no better means than the one thej
had made use of to avert ih.it worst of evils. Hence tbeiij
eyes could not bo opened even by the fact that, on I
very following day (April 2d), the Semite rejected thi
Montgomery bill.' They bad certainly expected thiaa
and even if they bad been able, they would not on tb^
account have undone what they bad done.

It was almost two weeks before the sweet illusion thit]
they had deserved well of their country was disturbed
by a single fihock. Secession, the fire-caters had threap
ened, would be the answer of the slave slates if Kunsas'l
were refused uncoiiilitional admission under the Lecomp- J
ton constitution, and it had now been cuu]iled by tbOi
house with a condition which the slave states well knea^
would never be fultilled. '■ If you show Kansas the doc>K|
Minnesota too will have to stay outside," was said thena
and now, on the 7th of April, the senate passed the MifS
nesota bill by a vote of forty-nine to throe. The senata
bad declared that it would stand by the Kansai bill, atid
the bouse likewise resolved that it would abide by tlH
Montgomery substitute. Should not, nay, must aoM
every reasonnble man, who was not made oblivious to Ctig
attainable by the desirable, have rccognizeil all this i
highly thanknortby, since, in view of the solid maJoriCjR
in the senate, a victory was impossible? This way (
looking at the mailer left one thing out of coiisideriition<]
that it would end willi this purely negative result V
all the more improbable, as, in Kansas, a new consll^
tntionul convention bad closed Its labors at Leaven worily

' By thirty-two against twonty-three voles.

A CONKKBESCE COMMITTEE. 231

on the 3(1 of April, und the constitution it had drafted
was to be submitted to the popular vote on tiae third
Tuesday in Ma}-. The argument that the two houses of
congress would have to unite on a positive measure of
some kind, in order to prevent the affairs of the terri-
tory from becoming tiristed into a diseotangleable knot,
could, therefore, be employed again with groat force.
The decisive trial whether the fall of the "shaky " ones
could be prevented was yet to be made.

On the 13Ui of April the senate moved that a confer-
ence comiuillee be appointed. The vole in the house on
the following day was equally divided; ibe speaker's vote
gave the decision in favor of the adoption of the motion.
The republicans did not deceive themselves as to the
importance of ibis defeat. But whether the game was
irrevocably lost to them already might, however, seem
■loubtful. As the scales had been in equilibrium, the de-
cision might easily dei>end on how the speaker would
construct the committee. He appointed English of Indi-
ana, Stephens of Georgia, and Howard of Michigan.
The latter was a republicau, and his and Stephens's vote
oITset each other. The decision bad to be made by Eng-
lish. What bad the different parties to ex[K)ct from the
man who considered Orr of South Carolina the fittest
person to speak the word on which depended, perhaps,
tlic fate not only of Kansas but of the Union!

English was one of the three northern democrats who,
notwithstanding their vote on the Kansas-Nebraska bill,
sldl bad a seat in the house of representatives. This fact
attracted all the more attention to the firmness with which
he took a pnaition, in a long and excellent speech, deliv-
ered on the 9tb of March, against the unconditional ad-
mission of Kansas under the I.ecjmplon constitution. He
bad never yet, he said, been guilty of the slightest oppo-

23S Buchanan's ]

KSD OF 35Tn COSQEESS.

sition to a party command. lie should, tlicrefore, claim
consideration, now tliat lio uUered a word of warnin;j.
The representatives of the nortb could not do certain
tilings even if they wished. A severe defeat had been
the consequence of the Kansas-Nebraska hill, which, in
the opinion of all party comrades in congress, reeled on
correct prtnci|iIos. What was to ho expected from a
ineiisure" which nine-tenths of the people of the free slates
hold to ho a fraud, and at war with the plainest princi-
ples of justice and republican government?" The states-
man had to grasp "the great political facts;" und tho
incontestable fact that tlie Lecompton constitution did not
give expression to the will of the people of Kansas was
plain as day, and they would have nothing to do with il,
It betrayed the "spirit of a ShylocU'' toapjieal from these
facts to legal subtleties suggested by the wording of the
law; but these' were the only arguments which it had
been possible to produce for the assertion that Kansas
should be admitted under the Lecompton constitution.'

This was a confession of faith wliich could not be mis-
interpreted, and English allowed it to be believed, up to
the last moment, that he stood by it. In this way only
could the exhortation bo understood, which he addiea;>il
to the speaker beture the appointment of the confer-
fnco committee, in conformity with pnrlitiinentary law,
to take the majority of the members of it from tlie ma-
jority of the house; that is, to choose ihem from among
ihose who were in favor of tho house bill,' He had
then voted for the mutton, although ho had received no
answer to the question whether the speaker would agree
to his suggestion. What sense was there in this if, in his
opinion, one should not allow oneself to be forced beyond
the line to which the house had gone in its concessions to

I Congi'. Glolie, lat Sess. 35l1i Congr, pp. 103, 101.
libit!., p. I(i8».

KKyLisn t; poBimiM.

xhe senate in tlie Montgomery billJ Must not Orr bave
inferred from this, or become cuni'iriced in soino other
way, that he was ready to enter iuto negoiiationsi That
the confc^rencG committee would noi be ab]e to reach any
{lositive result, if the majority of the re|iresonIatives of
the house should meet their programme with an obsti-
nate lion possumiig, was self-evident.

The republicans could not be so confident as not to
have asked themselves these questions, even if the recol-
lection of the speecli of March 9th did not make them give
up all hope immediately. But as early as the 20th of
April, Lovejoy wrote to Pike: "It seems as thouj^h
English would strand our aliip." '

How the pilot appointed by Orr was to bring about
the shipwreck, the republicans, so far as I can see, then
seemed not to have suspected. When, subsequently, the
administration party in the house urged a speedy decision
on the adoption or rejection of the proposals of the con-
ference committee, and even betrayed no great dislilie
not to allow the opposition a close, critical ctamiiuitiuu
of them, Howard, at least, declared that he was probably
the only republican member of the house who had liad
any knowledge of the bill before it was read by the clerk,
while he had reason to believe that it had been before
the opponents of his party for examination for several
days.' But there is no lack of direct proof, however, that,
conscious of working at a job that feared the light, a
surprise was planned from the start. Uoward and Sow-
ard, who, together with Green and Hunter, represented
the senate, asked for a day to examine, the bill which
English had submitted to the conference committee as a
proposal of mediation; but the majority resolved to grant

I First Blows of the Civil War. p. 417.

»Congr. Gloth;. lat Sesa. 85th Congr.. pp. 1767, 1768.

23i Buchanan's election — esd of 3orti coN'CREsa.

them only two bours.' This resolulion waa. it is true, not

ried ■

, but not bccaiisE

1 closer

earrie

showed a want oF courtesy nud justice, but because diffl-
cidtics bad arisen in the ciim|). Tliia cntinot surprise lis;
for tlie bill to tvhich Eiiglisb owes Ibo unenviable im-
mortality of his name was a legislative monstrosity —
uluiost the only one of its species,

As ihe peojtle of Kansas, said the bill,^ by a conven-
tion at Lecouipton have adopted a republican stale con-
stitution, and simultaneously an ordinance in which it is
declared that the state desires to renounce the right
claimed by it to tax the lands of the United Slates situ-
ated within its borders, on certain conditions (namely,
the assijrnniont of definite parts of these lands), and as
that constitution and that ordinance have been sent to
congress with the petition to admit Kansas as a statu,
but the conditions are not acceptable, it is provided that
ibe people of Kansas shall declare, by a general vote,
whether ihoy arc willing to accept olber more minntcly
specified and considerably less favorable provisions in re-
spect to the federal lands to be assigned; every ballot
shall have on it the words "proposition accepted," or
" proposition rejected ; " if the majority vote for the adop-
tion of the proposition, the president shall Inimeitiately
announce the admission of Kansas as a state, with eqnal
rights, by a proclamation; "but should the majority of
the votes be cast for 'proposition rejected,' it shall be
deemed and held that the people of Kansas do not desire
admission into the Union with said constitution under
the conditions set forth in said proposition." In this case
tile people of Kansas are empowered to hold another
constitutional convention, but only after it shall have

' Congr. Qlol>c, 1st Sesa. 35lh Coiigr.. p. 1880.
'Seethe entire text, Ibid., pp. 1703. 1786.

ESOLlSn S SPEIXII.

235

been established bj' a census legally taken tbut the terri-
tory las at least tbe impulatiun requireii for the election
of one represfntative; before the convention proceeds to
tliu drafting of a constitution, it shall decide by a vote
i\hethei- the people, at the time, desire admission as a
state; whatever tbe law provides in respect to the ratiti-
cation of the constitution shall be valid, and the admission
shall take place with or without slavery, as established by
the constitution

In the short speech with which English, on the 23d of
April, introduced the bill in the house, be stated that
the conference cominilteo had been guided by the idea
that they must cling to the "correct principles," but that
they should not '-hazard the peace of the country for
the sake of an unimportant point or unmeaning word."
If the bill were passed, tbe Kansas question would, per-
haps, never come before congress again, and even if it
did come before that body again, it would be "deprived
of all power of working evil." " It is one of those cases
where much is to be gained and nothing losi." The re-
sponsibility of those who, "for a slight cause," jeopar-
dized all the blessings that flowed from the union of the
states would be a frightful one. Of the material con-
tents of the bill, ho touched only the land question, call-
ing attention to the fact that the difference in the present
selling value of the public lands asked by Kansas and
offered in the bill amounted to $25,000,000 in favor of
the Union,

On reading the bill and this explanatory speech, the
people had to rub their eyes and ask themselves whether,
after all, the long, hot struggle over the Lccompton ques-
tion was only a confused dream. Neither the bill nor the
speech contained a single word on tbe great issue of princi-

■2^6

IL'CUANAN S ELKCTION -

r 35'n

pie OD which the battle had beeu fought. The sole objuo-
tion to the admission of Kansas, undci- tliu Lec-ornpton
constitution, that now appearcJ, seemed to be the claim of
the Lecoinpton convention, made m the ordinance, that the
slate might tax the federal lands; and the absurdly high
[iriee demandol for the abandonment of that alleged
right. In the earlier negotiations these two points had
not, by any means, been overlooked, but the administra-
tion party itself had insisted that they constituted no diffi-
culty whatever, Pugh, who now declared that the English
bill WHS a ■' fair ami honest compromise between the son-
ate bill and the hoiisi^ bill." bad previously said: "The
ordinance is not a part, cannot be made a part, of the
constitution, no matter what Mr. Calhoun ceriitiea. This
does not iiffeet its legal force." The question was only
about public lands; and, from the time when Ohio was
admitted, all the new states had asked more of such lands
than congress had granted. The endeavor to make a
mountain out of this mole-hill would not be successful.
Benjamin, likewise, had called attention to the fact that
new states had already frequently claimed the right to
tax property of the United States, in order thereby to
compel greater land grants; and he remarked, besides,
that that right " has never yot been conceded, and never
will." And it was not only individual semitors who had
spoken with this determination. The senate bad, not-
withstanding the oixJinance, adopted its Lecompton bill,
which assigned to Kunsits just as much land as seemed
proper to that body, and it had asked the assent of the
liouse to that bill. More yet. Not even a single voice
had been raised in the senate against an additional amend-
ment, proposed by Green, which simply and uncondition-
ally, in express terms, rejected the claims and the demand

HB BILL NUT A COUPROMISli. 237

made in the ordinance.' Ilence, Wilson did not make
use of too harsh terms n'heo lie said the report of thu
conference committee "comes to ua undef a false and
lying (iretenae. Yes, sir; false and lying pretense."*

The bill was nut a compromise; tliu false and lying
pretense simply charged the hoiiso willi surrendering its
position. Tlin principle on whicli it had objected to
the admission of Kans.as under this Lcfompton consti-
tution was tliat that constitution ivus not the will of tbo
people. But Hunter truly said that English's bill was
bused on the assumption that the people of Kansas
asked for admission under the Lecompton constitution.
Not the constitution, but only the propoiilton of con-
gress in relation to the public lands, was lo be submitted
to the poo|>le to vote upon. But the rejection of the lat-
ter was lo liHve, as aconst-quencu, the rfjcclionof the for-
mer; and solely on account of thia consequence was the
proposition lo be submitted to a vote of the people.
And this actual voting on the constitution, in the form
of a vote on the proposition, was favored in order to
afford a [wssibility to vote for the bill, both lo those
who denied and to those who allirmcd that the con-
stilalion had lo be submitted to a vote. Its fate de-
pended upon this; for that was the back-door which was
opened to the anti-Lecompton democrats who were will-

1 ■' Tbal noiliins in this act ehali be construpd as nn aascnt by con-
grpBB to nnyor nil of thu iiroposit ions or claims coiitniiied in tlie ordi-
nanpo annpxod to said conetitution."

I Less dromic iii tvrni, but just a* decided in the lUAIter, Crllien-
den exin'ossed bimaplf. He snid; "Thnt (oro you willing to Uke
llicse gri"'* o( lund?) is tbo only question to be suhiuilted to tbo
peoplo: but by legislation a consequence is lo flfiw tram their action
perfectly arbitrary in its nature, and allogetlter illogical In the oon-
uluBion. . . . It is a sort of feiguud issue out o( congreas." Ibid..
p. 1814.

23S bochanan's election — end of 3rn

ing to be converted. They asserted with their leader, Enf?
lish, that they bad not surrendered tlie correct principles^
since the bill, if not in express terms, yet practically, con^J
ceded a popular vole on the constitution; while Stophens^l
libi! Hunter and Green, with great determiniilion, do-
cliired thiitsuch was not the case, but that the English blllfl
held fast to t h« principle of the senate Lecompton bill, ihara
everything that had taken place in T.>ecoinpton was en-.,
lirely legal, and that the demand for a popular vote was!
wholly unwarranted,' It n-as a repetition of the experi-F
meat which had succeeded so well with Douglas in thej
Kansas-Ntbraslia bill: an effort was made to unite thesev?
eral factions of the democratic party in order to suhservo'l
the interests of the slavocnvlic south, by means of a for-j
mula which each of iheui might interpret as it wanted.!
Bui there was now one ditflculty in the way whicbl
had not existed then. In ease Kansas decided againatf
admission, under the conditions of the English bill, i
hud to be determined what position would liavo to t
taken when a request was made for admission under i
new constitution, on the (juostion of a ralilioutioo by H
vote of the people. The difficulty was siinnounttnl \ifM
taking no position at all on the question of principle, ana
by, at the same lime, giving the slavocraoy tinotbvi^
chance to try, eventually, to repeat the Lecompton §

I Eoglish refUBcd to make n direct ntid unambiguous HtateuinjCN
to whether he iiiter|ireU.'U his bill in this reapect ns Siephi^iis did? f
a question relntitit; liuri'ti) put by Muishall, he anaweroih "Tbliti
if drawn in tolerably noad English, and I suppose Iho gentli
from Kentucky understaude thftt languuge, and U conipetmt Ij
judge what the meaning of the bill is." Ibid., p. 1883. Owen JoRv4
ot Pennsylvania, an ulher destrier from tliecunipof the anti-Lecomp-«
ton democrats, anaveced tlie same question: " I am nilliag to 1<
the people ot thia country «onstru« this bill for ttiemsiilve*," Ibkl.iJ
p. 1003.

AKD ENGLISH 8 BILL.

23i)

over a;*ain. Tbe matter was left to the tlecisiou of Kan-
sas, while the ratification by tLe people was made a twi-
ililio sine qua non ' in the case of Minnesota, and had been
urgently recommended by Eucbanan to bo made hence-
forth the invariable rule,

Tiiis was not the only point on which the administra-
tion party, under their new leader whom ihoy had won
tid hu<! from tbe democratic opposition Jiithcrto, turned
against tbe president. The English bill upset the reason-
ing by which Buchanan had supported his advocacy of
tbe admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitu-
tion.* His argument culminated in the proposition tbat
all considerationsshould yield to this one; that peace and
quiet would be restored to the country as soon as Kansas
became a stale with all the rights ot a state. English,
on the other hand, now asserted that peace and quiet
would bo given to the country by his bill, because it de-
prived Kansas, for an indefinite time, of the possibility
of becoming a state, unless it ;igreed to the adoption of
tbe Lecompton constitution under the form of adopting
the land propositions.

The majority of the conference committee could not
possibly have expected that tbe opposition would not no-
tice this contradiction. Notwithstanding this, English
neglected to support bis assertion by even a single word,
Tbat was undoubtedly the wisest tiling he could hare
done. In addition to all kinds of sophistry, formal legal
arguments had been adduced for the men represented by
Suclianan and the senate bill. In favor of the compro-
mise patched u]> by English, even a Lecompton democrat
had nothing to adduce, and the shrewdest anti-Lecomp-
lon democrat would not have been able to devise any-

ISWI. atL.SI, p. 1(W.
' Bte Critleadt-'ii'
8Sth Coogr., p. ISIS.

n this point. Congr. Globe, l«t S

240 Buchanan's election — end of Soxn congress.

thing like an argument which would not have turned
against himself.

English had called it a great political fact, staring the
nation in the face, that the immense majority of the peo-
ple or Kansas would have nothing to do with theLecomp*
ton constitution; and now he said, in his bill, that it could
be admitted under this detestable constitution if it would
be satisfied with a small part of the public lands which
were demanded bv it for the state. This was the sheer-
est nonsense — if, indeed, it were not going over to the
ground of the Lecompton democrats. For this condition
was certainly not a concession that could reconcile the
population to the ** fraud," although the republicans
rightly declared it to be an attempt at bribery.

The administration party treated this charge as a ridic-
ulous absurdity, ])retending to understand it to mean
that the republicans wanted to make Kansas believe that
the democrats intench'd to kccj) from it entirely the cus-
tomarv dowrvof public lands, unless it earned them now
by compliance in the constitutional question. But such
an absurdity was far from entering the minds of the re-
])ublicans; for the subventioning of the new states in this
way for their school system and other public purposes
had long been a custom so firmly established that no
party would have ventured to depart frf)m it, in a partic-
ular case, for party, political reasons. Tiie complaint was
based on the provision of tlie 1)111 that Kansas, from the
moment of its admission as a state, should receive five
per cent, of the net proceeds of the sale of the public'
lands situated within its borders, for the building of roads
and other internal im;»n»ve;n(Mits. The best land, said
Wilson, had been already taken possession of by settlers,
under the pre-emption laws, but had not been paid for,
and the government had ordered the sale of large tracUr

ALTEENATIVE.

241

in July; tfie proceeds, lie saiJ, would amount to millions,
and the poor territory, if it becamo a state by July Isi,
would obtain liuiulreds of thonsands whiob would be losl,
to it, if it rejected the Englisli bill.

Wilson's vsltiuiues might liavo been too Iiigh; but that
tluTo wci'o sums involved wliicli wereof no small impor-
tance to the territory, poor as it was in capital and not
great in contribulivc power, could not befjuestinned. Bill
the reward it was to receive, in case it accepted the Le-
oomptoii constitution, was insignificant compared witli
the punishment it was threatened with if it remained
obstinate. The " great principle" of the Kansas-Nebraska
bill received a now practical interpretation which cast
almost everything that had hitiici-to been done in this
respect into the siiado. If tho people of Kansos agreed
to ths adoption of tbo constitution which, according to
the emphatic testimony of English, the Lecoihpton con-
vp.nlion sought to defraud them into, congress was willing
to consider the territory, in every respect, ripe enough to
become immediately a state with all tlie riglits of a state;
hut if thoy still opposed the fraud and tlio violation of all
the fundamental principles of republican government,
they were to be condemned to continue to bear, until they
had reached a certain figure, all the hardships of the terri-
torial condition which had repeatedly grown into crime-
surfeited, chaotic anarchy; and congress was to leave
Kansas this alternative, because, by that means, whatever
Kansas chose, it would restore peace and quiet to the
country. As a reason for this proposition, nothing could
be adduced except that Kansas bad no riyht to ask for
admission into the Union before it bad the population doc-
essary for the election of a representative, and could not
complain of injustice, as freedom of choice was allowed
it. So far as tho right was concerned, this claim was in-

HANAN's ELEOTIO!! END OF SStII CONGRESS.

contestable. But that was not the question. In the i
port on the senate bill, it was exjiresslv declared that Ih
pupulaliun sliuuld be considered sutlicitint;' and tlia Enn
lish bill udupled this view, in cusu Kansas said it was «
isfied with the Leconiplon constitution, but rejocted it i)^
ciise it did not. It measured, therefore, with dilTcrenE
measures. It indeed left tlio poi)ulation a choice, but
tinder the exertion of a heavy pressure in favor ofsab-
miasion to the violence attempted by the Lccomplon con-
vcnlion. Ilenee. English m;ido himself an iiccomplice of
the convention, hut by doing so descended to a much,
lower moral level than it and its original defenders iOj
congress, because of his own accord he gave evidence fc
fore the entire people that ho clearly saw how deservef
was the moral judgment pussed by " nine-tentlis of th^
people" on the intended outrage.

The democratic party, said Seward, Isilew no jiislioo in ihd
application of its principle of popidiirsovereignty; it liU
been convicted out of the months of thesoutliern seniiton
Crillenden and Hell, iind of the democrals, Douglas, Stu-
art and liroderick, and llieir associates in tiie house, of tttl
lonjjor holil iiig the scales equally poised between freedoifl
and slavery, but of intervening in favor of shivery againi
freedom.* In those words Seward appropriately nnd con
cisely churacteriwd the new " compromise " that an am
I^compton democrat ventured to impate to the nortb.-l
Even on the lltb of March, Polk of Missouri bad deolureii,,,
in the senate, that ihoru was no pcrtmcnl re;ison iigaiBfi)
the admission ut Kansiis; that it had the requisite populn
tioQ wan conceded and not contradicted.' The English bifl

t " Oi needing the Eunicieiiuj/ of ttie |>o[iulation."
'Cimgr, Ulobe, Ul Sim, a5lh Congr., p. 1W)7.
* * All cont-cUi! tIJHt ilie (Kanuu) lins the reiiuioiti' j^opulation.
one rniBea an ohji'inion on IhiB ground." IWd., [>. lOllO.

ADUISSIOM OF NEW STATES.

now modiSed this to the cfTect that, as Collnmer expressed
himself, there were "[Mjople enough lo bold sliivea, bul
not people trough to enjoy freedom." The jjower of con-
gress regiirding the text of the constitution of a new state
to be admitted into tiie Union does not extend hevond the
question whetliei-such constitution is republican. Tliia wns
a dogma of the democratic party — one which had been
for years constitutionally defended and politically landeJ
in numberless speeches. And now it was to be practi-
cally applied, by tolling Kansas: According as you meet
our wishes or not, with regard to your constitution, the
conditions also change under which we shall approve
your admission as a state. Originally it was the univer-
sal, and then for a long time, at least, the prevailing view,
that congress might attach conditions to the admission
of new Slates. On the other hand, the idea of indirectly
forcing them to do what congress could not coni]>el them
to do directly, by giving them their choice between dif-
ferent conditions based on the principle of reward and
punishment, was an acquisition now made, for the first
time, by the partisans of the doctrine of popular sover-
eignty and non-intervention.

It was a long way from the substitution of squatter sov-
ereignty for the Missouri compromise, with its absolute
and perpetual prohibition of slavery, to a law that opened
wide the door to a stave state made such against its will,
without respect to the size of its population, but which de-
manded proof that the population amounted to at least
ninety-four thousand, before the right of the territory wns
recognized to adopt a constitution which gave expression
to the real will of its people. And the meaning of this
was not: Kansas must yet wait an indefinite time, if in
accordance with the wish of the great majority of its pop.
uiation it wants to keep its soil free from slavery; its

24i duchakan's eleotios — end of 35th conorehb.

Dieaning was: Not until Kansns has, at least, nincty-foor
thousand inhabitants shall it free its soil from slttTery.
English's bill left Kansas a choice, but not a choico be-
tween freedom and slavery. The alternative, as Cotlamer
rightfully said, was this: "If you voto for the land grants,
you are to have this slave constitution; and if you rote
against the land grants, you are to have slavery in your
territory wilhuut a constitution. That is, you are to have
a constitution with slavery, or slavery without a Consti-
tution; but slavery at any rate."

The majority of the senate was, of course, snttsQod
with this '"compromise." Tlunter's statement that, at
tho worst — that is, ia case Kansas declined the offers of
the bill — "a truce," at least, would bo secured for some
years, was jnst as unfounded as Buchanan's and English's
prophecies of peace. But the slavocracy had gained time,
and that, next to the immediate assurance of the lasting
possession of Kansas, was the best that could be obtained
for them. This really gave tho slavocracy another
chance; for a provision of the bill, hitherto nnraentionod,
saw to it that, in the final decision by ICinsns, the old,
unclean means might be again employed to tho fullest
extent.

The house bill had, by the provisions on tho composi-
tion of the board who were to bo intrusted with tho
elections provided for in it, guarded against this ns far as
possible. Of the four members, two were to bo federal
officials appointed by the president (the governor and
secretary of the territory), and two persons holding office
of trust elected by tho people (president of tho council
and speaker of the house of representatives), while tho
presence of three members was required to pass a resolu-
tion ; hence, equal representation aod tho impossibility of
taking undue advantage by means of resolutions beyond

THE ELECTION BOARD. ^-iO

tlio control of the otber side. The English bill addeil to
theso four ineiiiliGrs the district attorney — ibal is, a third
feilernl official appointed by the president — and retained
tho provision respecting the number requisite to pass a
resolution. Kot only was the population to have one
represent ativo less than the goveniment, but tho lliree,
entirely dependent on the administrulion, wcro, in the
absence of tlio trusted representatives of tho people, to
hare llio right to pass binding resolutions. And the
provisiors as to tho powers of this board of commission-
era in relation to the election, Itentiott, of New York,
without tho least exaggeration, summed up in the follow-
ing words: "Unlimited powers, without appeal or revis-
ion." The history thus far of the elections in the territory
made ail commcniary on the meaning of these cliangos
Eupcrfluous, That tho chiinges were caused by the very
rememhranco of that history must have seemed all the
more certain to tho opposition, as nothing could bo ad
duced in justilication of them except this strange claim:
as it has been recognized that the president deserves suffi-
cient conlidence to allow him to place two of the officials
appointed by him on the board of commissioners of elec-
tion, tho right has been abandoned to entertain suspicions
of any kind because a third official nominated by the pres-
ident has been made a member of tho board of commis-

Eveo among the fire-eaters of the bouse, there were
people who found no good Suvor in this kind of legisla-
tion. Although Dunham, of South Carolina, and Quit,
man, may havo been determined to vote against English's
bill more by the fact that, as they suid, ji submitted thi:
constitution to a popular vote and made Kansas a free
state, still they expressly mentioned the dishonesty of tho
bill as one of tho reasons for their surprising vote. But
opposed to theso two rare bird* thoro were many "dis-

846 bdchanak's election — end of 35x0 conghess.

linguished" membora of ihe adininislration party who
did fult justice to llio genius for gettiiifr out of a scrapo
displaye<l by Englisli; and iis Ellieridjjf, of Tennessee,
subsequently said in thu liouse, declared his "a better
bill tban the senato bill itself."' Tim eunatu was in
such a hurry to see it become a law that it not only dis-
regarded ita usual parliamenrary courtesy, but violated
the rules of the order of basiuess. Ntilv/ilhstandinff
Gritlenden's request for postponement, the report of tlio
conference coraraittco was sol for deitate on the Sfilh of
April, although the original bill could not even bo read,
because at the time it was not "in pos^^cssiou of tiic sen-
ate," but was before the house.

This inconsiderate pressure of the majority bad no
rational ground, unless ihcy considered it necessary to
oppose the storm of indignation of public opinion in the
north, which was contiinially growing more violent, by
their speeclies and with all their power, in order to Iteep
the eacHHcial courage of the little body of men on ivhoin
the decision in the house depended up to the rc(]uired
point.

Their former associates nnd the republicans did not,
indeed, make it easy for English's immediate followers
ugain to bend the knee to Baal, after they hud for months
unnuunced tliat the anger of Heaven and the scorn of
men would fall on those who did not render obedience to
Ihe comuiiinds of his priests.

On the day before the vote in the house Marshall said
liiat the republlailis were, without exception, Iiilly con-
scious of the fact that by the Montgomery bdl they had
. agreed to admit Kansas as a slave state, "if it was the
ivlll of the |ieopli3 of Kiius^s," When Btirnot, of Ken-
tucky, qui^stloned the uurrcclncss of this statement, sev-

■ Ck>ngr. Olobo, Ist Sess. S6lb Congr. . p. 441.

SnERMANS STATEMENT.

©ral repiiblicitns crieil out to him itial Marahall was noi
tnislaken; and SheruiiUi declarud tliat, tollieextontof liis

wiedg

iiiublic

i Iiad voted with

3licati in the buiise ii
his eyes open;' but, hu added: "We did ilbecuusoibeanLi-
Lecomptoii dcnificratj had [ironiised us, on their honor, not
to depart from llie demand for un honest appUcalion of
their principle of popular sovereigntj'."- I, Luo, said Gid-
dings, was m.idu to believe that all Douglas democrats had
bound themselves to the country, to themselves and their
constituents, " to stand by thai proposition forever; and
that alone moved me, aluiosL the last, to agree to the adop-
tion of llie Crittenden -Monlgomerv amendment," Oaiii))-
bell laid still greater stress on this charge on t lie following
day. llealleged that, on the bas>s of caucus resolutions of
the anti-Lccompton democrats, a formal iigreument be-
tween iheni and the republicans had been eniered into, in
which the former had promised that under no circum-
stances would they vote for another motion ; and he even
slated lh:it the caucus hud appointed a committee with
power to speak lor ibo culire body.' Owen Jones declared

1 " So far na my kiioivli'ilge cutends, every reptiblicun member of
the house I en J, carefully cuiisi tiered and pondered over llie CHltenden
amendmeiil, aud voted fur it with bis ^yi's open." Cuiigr. Globo, 1st
Bern. 35th C<mgr.. p. ISM.

*"But with the ilistintt uiiderstandiog that the gentlemen from
the fiv« Htati'S. belonging to the democratic partj, had iiledgcd to ub
their faith iind honor that they only nanted a fair, Ptrnishtforwan),
open optofluiity 10 carry out their princij)le of |iopular Mivfrt'ignly
in Kunaaf, and Ibal they would stand by and adhere to Ihii propOBi-
tion made in that Hmcndmcnt. Reljinc n-ith implicit faith uimju this
underatnnding, ue TOled for the amendiiient. and hove steadily ad-

'■■The frieiida of Mr. Douglas wert pledged, by thoee who were
nuthoriKed to speak for them, as I understand, upon the bigli point
ol personal honor, to go fur tbutpropouiUun. . , . I would inquire

243 bcchasan's election — end of Zutu cosokess.

that he know nothing of the ap[)ointinent of such a coi
mittcc, and contended timL lie had never given aach^
(jromiso himself or uulhorized others to give sacli a. prom-
ise in his name; he ndniilted, bo\vover,that he had "once
itr iHiee" taken part in a caucus, but avoided, above all
things, todenj- dirt'CLly that liisattitudeivarranteiJ the re-
publicans to assuiue that ho was resolved to act like tliose
ivho thought as he did, and who had made a formal prom-
ise. And the other renegades stopped in their defense i
this lino, Just as Jones did. Had it then reached suclll
pass with the politicians that a notarial seal was necess
in order to have a right to require truth and fidelity fraj
iheml Nor was it every deserter of his flag wl
say as much in his defense as Owen Jones. Samuel f
Cox, of Ohio, had publicly, and with an appeal to Ilij
name of God, boasted that his vote would " never be dra^
gled in the ijecoinpton mire;"' and yet he now belongi
to the majority of one hundre<I and twelve by whtcBD
the English bill had been adopted, on the ;;Olh ol Apri

of the (jQiillenitui from Pentisylviiniu (Owrn Jones) wlietliit hedid d
repeatc-illy meet in caucus witti ilmt pui'limi of tliu di-iuociiitio f
known as oiiti-Lecomplon iDE:n7(iiiii whi'lhcr a cciinniitteewss d
a|ipoint«d witli jtowcr to lejircsent and Epeak for thu entin: h
IbiO., pp. lOUS, 10U3.

' In a letler intcniJpd for pnblicnlion, flddrcssed to Colonel J
nndoUiere. under (inle of Ffbiuaij-e, IBJS. hi- wrilcs; "While lb
a votu in ihifi (.-onRivBii ilehiill never be drsKt'^''' ■" tho Lecoinptfl
tnire. Tliut is my dcUberate jud(;inetit, mid iny irievocable wilL I
cannot i<oy or do nthprwise, so help too God. Hat while Doii|
stands in tlie Renate: not nbito Wise tipeiilis fi'orn his Virginia t
can; net nliilu Walker crni give ns wiftdom or St.inton ran eti
truth, or Sluurt ciin argue the law. or Forney ran wield the p
the northwest i an eclio llio neRrei;alo ihnnder "f these tribunes |
the jieople,— ahull this grent mron:; bo done in the face rf thl
millions of freeuran." Ibid., p. 1903.

6CEXHS IN TDE HOUSE.

249

Against one bnndrcd nnd Itirco votes. On tho very same
liiiy llio senate adojited iL by a vote of lliirlj-one against
twenty-uvo.

In tho liouso, scenes of violence had preceded the vote.
Campbell subjected the majority to a real castigntion by
catechising tlieni on the question wlietlier the bill re-
f}uiiL'd a vote of tlio people on tlio Ix'coinpton cunstitu-
tion. Cox received the heaviest blows. Aftcp Campbell
had re^id the letter to Forney already mentioned, Ilas-
kin, of Now York, informed the house tiiiit Cox hud
also condemned both Englisli personally and the bill, in
the severest terois, in a letter to the 0/iia Statesman.
Cox, and Lawrence oF Ohio, who loo had now returned
to party onhodoxy aa a repentant sinner, hud expressed
themselves in a similar manner iigalnst himself. Cox
denied that he liiul charactt>rized the bill and its author
m the insuiliii<^ manner alleged by Uuskin, but admitted
that it ut lii-st had seemed to him entirely nnacceptable,
and that he continued to have great objection to it, but
Gtdl maintained that he adhered absolutely to every
word he had written in his letter to Forney,

Even it one bad become thoroughly versed in the zig-
mg policy which the democratic party had followed for
four years in regard to tho slavery question, one needed
more than ordinary diiileetical acumen to consider it
possible to prove that there was no contradiction in
these three declarations. IF Cox himself had not felt the
hopelessness of this nmlertuking, he would not have met
his assailants with a vinlenco which was barely able to
keep back the tears of impolent rage; and yet there was
no unmistaltablc ring of Irulhlulneas in the overflowing
passion with which be called Heaven to witness that, from
the very beguining to the present, he had acted in the
best of faith, and was consciuus of freedom from all im-

350 BnctiiNAx'a .

END OV 35th COXWRES9.

pure motives.' Gngljsb too — so far as we are warranla
to draw a conclusion from liis private life and liis subi
quent attitude durlnj^ the civil war —could say the &
iif liiniself. But tne more respectable liie renegades
private individuals were, t lie sadder was the light c
by llieir ai>ostacy on the position of a larye circle of tho
people on the terrible national problem. The most scan-
dalous -Tudas-Iike bargains made by political uspiruuts
and demagogues, who respected no principle but thoir
own sellisb iutercsls, would have given iucumparably less
occasion for alarm than this moral euiiucbism wbioh_
led otherwise bonorfible men to play such antics wiU
their own and the peo[)le's convictions, only that then
might purchase from tlie slavocracy another postpoaw
ment of the decision. They could not assert their jwiBJ
ci pics and keep faith with the republicans without puttind
an end to the supremacy of the democratic party;
Bupremacy of the democratic party threatened more a

■The admlniBtralion, however, did not consider lihii too good
to try to inflaeiice liini witli the " pntron.ige," maccordauce witho
tain inaxiiii9 of rewnnl aad puniBlimeot. (Compare Congr. Ololw, fl
Sbbs. SSth Congr, App., 1T3 ) Tlie fulluwing, liuwever, Irutn the f
)»rt of the WuHhinglon (.-oii'f ^tpondent of tliC IndepcuJfiit at Maj iM
warranta the assumption that even the radical republicuns believed
tbat he and his nssot-iates had been won ot'or. not by brilicry, but li;
persuasion: "From llial momeottof the appointmenl of tha O
ferencc committee) until the committee reported, the defectii
thesecood division (the Duuplns deni'K-ratsj of the amiy nereet
jly goiitgnn. tip to Monday lout (April 3?th\ honoviT, cnoi
by their pledges to make it certain that slnverj woulil be defeated %
ita designs. Tho president was nt work carneiill.v ; and all th« C
net, it wna nnderstiiod, mode tho success of Ibis nicnsur
mount question. Some of them were upon the Hour of the hot
daily, and in earnest consultation wiili tlie refractory inemben, I
BlaTcry senators t<-nusa'.-ted more biisincM in tlic huu^e tbnn tticf d
in tlieir own chnmber, At last Ohio began to tuinblo." Tbe Im
pendent. Hay B, 185a

DEMOCKATin SUPRKMACV.

251

more to become the precondition of the prcaerration of
the Union, and pati-iotic anxiety for the Union induced
them, after » hard internal stni^'gle, to prostitute them-
Gfilvcs not only in iho eyes of the world but in their own
eyes; habit had given constitutional sophistry such power
over political thought that these people were able to
convince themselves that conscious self-degradiition was
ennobled by love of country. Not only the Union but
American nationality itself had lost the right to continued
existence, and therefore the possibility of continued ex-
istence, if self-degradation was the price to be paid for it.
When the vote was taken on English's bill, the twenty-
three anti-Lecompton democrats of the house had been
reduced to twelve. If the eleven renegades believed
that they could confidently rely on the fact that the
population oT Kansas had become tired enough of the
troubles, or that they would be so greedy for the material
advantages offered as to agree also to this conscious self-
degi-adation, their blindness to the consequences of their
disgraceful treason to their own principles was explicable
to some extent. Even then English's bill would have
remained a sharp-edged weapon in the hands of lUo re-
publicans, which they certainly would not have neglected
to use with terrible effect; but the struggle of the two
great parties for Kansas would thereby have been brought
to a close; for all idea of a revolt of the republicans
against the legal decision was excluded. But would this
have justified the shout of Jubilation with which Bigler,
in the senate, had greeted the announcement that the
house had adopted the bill —"the magnetic telegraph is
spreading, with the speed of lightning, a message of
peace all over the land?" If the earth had swallowed
op all Kansas, and with it all remembrance of the contest
over it, the struggle would still have to go on without

252 Buchanan's election — end op 35tii gonqikess.

interruption,' because the slavery question could disapi)ear
only with slavery. What chapter in the history of tho
territory' up to date warranted ono to estimate so low
the firmness and spirit of sacrifice of the men of Kansas
in defense of tho rights guarantied them by the demo-
cratic party against that same democratic part}' ? Would
they, now that that party was divided, throw into tho
mouth of the sneaking fox what, at the price of their
blood, they had snatched out of tho jaws of tho raging
wolf, in the days of the border ruffians, while fighting
the externally serried ranks of the democratic party?
The lip-democrats from the free states, who sold tho right
of the self-determination of tho people in whose name
they had torn to pieces the perpetual charter of liberty
of the northwestern territories, had now to listen to Crit-
tenden, tho shive-holding senator, when ho told them:
"I am perfectly certain" that Kansas will resist "all
these temptations and reject your oflFers." If he was not
deceived in this expectation, nothing could bo gained by
this bill; "not a straw, not the dust in the balance in
which the peace of tho country is weighed."^

1 Lincoln on September 18, 1858, in Charleston. Debates between
Lincoln and Douglas, p. 157.
2Congr. Globe, 1st Sess. 35th Congr., p. 1814.

THE lEKEFKESSIBLE CONFLICT.

CnAPTER VI.
THE "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT."

The first session of tlic ihirty-fifth congress lusted until
Juno 14, 1S5S. Some of the questions which, after the
passage of English's bill, had to be disposetl of, were of
much greater importance than could be inferred from the
interest public opinion took in the deliberiitions concern-
ing them. This fact could not tcacli the presumptuous
narrowness of the routine politicians that it was not a
happy thought to have given the rcpnhlicans the nick-
nurao of llio "party of one idea." Precisely because
they were a party of one idea, the future belonged to
them ; for the intellectual and moral elasticity of the peo-
ple became more and more completely iibsorbed with the
struggle for this one idea. All else could excite no great
intereai escept to the extent tliat it promised to bo, di-
rectly or indirectly, of iraportfinco in the progress of this
struggle. The attention with which a few questions were
still followed was attributable not so much to these ques-
tions themselves as to their presumptive influence on the
altitude of the masses towards the administr^ition and
the democratic party.

On the ISth of May, tho bill for the admission of
Oregon as a state was passed by the senate by a vote of
thirty-livo against seventeen, although everything that
had been said in defense of English's bill, in refeience to
its provisions about tho number of tlio population, was
just as applicable bore. The republicans very naturally
threw a glaring light on the wry faces made by tho mem-
bers of the administration party at one another; but the
majority of them — ten against six — voted, notwith-

254

BANANd EI.BCnoS-

standiiig, for llio bill. They did not want to let Oregi
atone for tlio sins of congress against Kansas, and e
' muted tlie gain which every increase of tlie free slate
would bring lo the cause of freedom higher than the lot
which would be caused to it by the direct strengtbenir
of the democriitic party in conj^ress and in the eiectort
college. The administration party, on the other haiH^
did not believe that it should allow any consideration
to weigh against this strengthening of the dcmocmtil
party. Tho administration party might easily disregard
the fact that it was obliged to expose its perfidious intei
vention against the free-state party in Kansas thus plainl}*;
but it was certainly a groat trial for the south to admit n
free state without having the admission of a new slara
state in prospect withm any conceivable time, fial
Oregon was sure for the democrats: tliree, votes mon
or less, in the cicclorul college might easily turn thesoalca^
and it became plain to the south, day after day, that in j
the next presidential election the decisive throw of thdj
dice of fate would be cast.

That the bill at first lay quietly in the hoare i
a matter of no conseciiiencB. It would be time enoDgH
if it were passed in the next session; and that it would li
passed then might, considering the attitude of the repob- I
Jicans in the senate, be looked upon as almost undouUtedy

If, therefore, Buchanan had good reason to be satisfiM
with the course of this matter, he was — at least so fa^
as be was iHjrsonally concerned — certainly much bett
pleased with the turn which things took in Utah. TbJ
debate on the so-called deficiency biU had caused bid)
many unpleasant hours. Fifteen millions had been ori^
inally granted for tbe army, and now eiglit millions mot
were asked for it. Even if the colTera of the tri'asarjll
had been full, ond if normal prosperity had prevailed ilfi

inB DEFICIENCY BILL.

25 :>

the economic condition of the country, this would not
have been looked upon n-itli equanimity. But trade had
not yet, by any means, recovered from the crash of the
preceding year; tlie revenues from the customs duties
under tlie new tariff still flowed in scanl ily, and the gov-
ernment's coffers were still so euiptj- that the country
migiit he expected at any moment to hear the seeretfiry
of the treasury declare that recourse must be again had
for money to tlie printing-press. And. in the first place,
it was the campaign arbitrarily undertaken against the
Mormons which had mndc this enormous cstr.i demand
necessary. The criticism would, therefore, not have been
undeserved, even if the administration had proved that
with, the greatest economv and tlie strictest honesty the
cost could m^t have been lessened one cent. But the con-
tracts entereil into for this expcdiilon were not the least
c;iuso that led Toomlis, in the senate, to express the con-
viction that, in the whole world, there was no govern-
mvnt so corrupt as that of the United States.'

The bill w.is rejected by the house on the 8th of April,
by a vote of one hundred and twenty-four against one
hundred and six. The most material objection was, in-
deed, to the third section, which did not have reference to
the army, but which, contrary to an express legal prohibi-
tion, gruiiteil extra remuneration to the appointees of the
house. Reconsidcnition was resolved upon the very next
day, and the bill piissed by a vote of one hundred and
eleven against ninety-seven. Stili, the Hi-st vote, by which
it was defeated, when twenty seven democrats voted with
the majoriiy, contained a censure of extraordinary sever-
ity, and discontent over the Utah expedition had contrib-
uted not a little to the adminisiration of that censure.

Buclianuu might, therefore, look upon it as a spoctal

I Congr. Glube, Ut Seas. 35th Coagr., App., p. aS8.

25li bccuanan's election — end of 35tii co:toees9.

favor of Heaven that, immediately before tbo end of the
sejsion, a dispatch from Cumining, dated the 2d of May,
reached the secretary of state; — one wliicb, in his own
eyes, complotely and striUingiy justified tbe policy lie bad
pursued on tbe Mormon question, Tbe iuesaa<,'o of tbe
lOlb of June, with wbich bo transmitted it to the senate.
informed the country tbut tbe two regiments of volun-
teers granted by tbe law of April 7t!i were now no longer
needed, because Ibo news received from tbo governor
warranted the assumption that "our dilllc-ulties with tbo
territory of Utali have been terminated."

Others, indeed, miglit not come to this conclusion from
that information wilb tbo sumo conlidencu. In a letter of
Cumming'8, dated April 15tli, to Colonel Jolinston, who
brought tbo dispatch to the notice of ibe president, we,
indeed, read: "I liavo been everywhere recognized aa
the governor of Utah," and Brighani Young has, in re-
peated conversations, "evinced a willingness to ulfont
mo every facility which I may require for I he etticient
performance of my adaiinistrativo duties." He, how-
ever, also stated that a great many Mormons were pack-
ing up their property and moving away, without knowing
whither themselves. Something said by Young seemed
to imply that they would, perhaps, go to Sonora. And
this embittered feeling of the people had, at least up to
the sending of tbe dispatch, undergone no change, for U
ro|)ortcd: "Tbo masses everywhere announce to mo that
the torch will bo applied to every bouse, indiscriminately
throughout the country, as soon as the troops attempt to
cross the mountains.'"

Even in the most favorable case, therefore, tho presi-
dent's declaration greatly anticipated events, unless, by
tbo termination of difficulties, tlio unconditional snbJHO-
1 3eu. Doc., B5lh CotJgr., lat Seas., vol. XIU. Na 07, pp. 3, 6.

SANK AND me MOBUONS.

257

lion of the Mormons waa to be nnderetood. But that a
grp.a.1 deal more had been accomplished than could have
been expected at the beginning of the winter was unques-
tionable. This was due most directly and in the fullest
measure to a brother of the celebrated explorer, Kane,
who was indebled to the Mormons for careful nursing in
a severe illness, and wlio now most fittingly discharged
that debt by mediating, with the approv'al of the govern-
ment but in no official capacity, between its organs and
Brigham You.ig. lie had arrived at the cam|) in Fort
Bridger on the 12th of Marc li. Under the warm rays
of the Bun in spring both tlie snow and the courage of
the Mormons had begun to melt away. On the 21st of
March, i'ourtg held a "special council" in theTaberoacle,
in order to como to a decisive resolution. We must, lie
said there, seek refuge in negotiation. If we take the
initiative and shed the blooil of tlie troops, the people of
the United States, in their bitterness, will place unlimited
means at the disposal of the government, and we will
linally succumb in the unequal struggle.' If the govern-
ment decided to keep the troops inactive a while longer,
and, at tlje same time, try what it could accomplish
by negotiation, there was, therefore, every prospect
that an amicable settlement would be reachc-d, provided
both sides wore satisfied with tiie restoration of a modus
vivetidi.

Tem|orizing was not to the liking of Colonel John-
ston, but Camming permitted himself to be induced to go
with Kane to Salt Lake City in tlio beginning of April.
Young, as we have seen, did not hesitate to submit ex-
ternally; but Cumming purchased this submission with
the promise that the troops should not coniL^ into the
vicinity of the settlement, and should not interfere as

I Sue Stealwua?, Tlie RtxVy Mounuin Sdiita, p. 383,

n

258 buchasam's election — esd of 35th cosgress.

a p08s6 comitatus nntil all other ineans had been ej|
haustcd.

In the meantime, on the 6th of April, Buchanan had
issued a proclamalion to the Mormons, in which he ac-
cused them of treason and rebellion, assured them tbri
they would still remain entirely unmolested so far as thei
religion was concerned,' promised full pardon to all wM
would submit, and announced that the troops would not
be withdrawn from the territory until the population
■manifested a proper feelina; towards the federal govern-
rment. On the 7th of June, Powell and McCullo'-.h arrived
as peace commissioners in Salt Lake City, with this proc-
lamation. A gloomy quiet prevailed in the place, Tha
Jiosts which had moved southward were already nun
bered by tens of thousands; and, unlerrified by tbq
fatigues and severe privations, others followed daily |
their footsteps from town and country, as if this Ql|
chosen people of God were firmly resolved to wundl
forth once- more into the unknown, pathless wildernd
in ordoi', in complete isolation from the rest of the wo^
to seek a new place of refuge.* On the 10th of Jaw
however, Young, Kimball and other elders of the chaiW

■ " Do not deceive yourselves, nor try to miEleud others bf ptM
Ifating the iden tlial this ia a crusade ngainst yuur religion. The a
etitution and laws of this country can take no notice of joiu o
whether it be true or false. Tiiat \a a queBlion betwefn your Q
and yourselveH, in which I iheclaim all right to interf«m
obey the laws, keep the pence, and respect the Just rightg of oth
you will be perfectly necure, and may live on in jour pn
or change it for another at your ]>leasure. Every intelligant n
among you knows very well that this government has nev
or indirectly, siiught to molest you in your worship, to control J!
in your ecclesiustical affairs, or even to Jnllaence you in your n
fousopinioDB." Stat, at I., XI, p. 797.

»AccordinB to Stenhouse, loc cit., p, 890. thirty thousand j
participated in this new exodus.

SEOOTTATIONS WITH THE MORMONS.

259

came from Provo, ivhero tbe fugitives were oollecting, to
negotiate with the commissioners. But opinions might
<liffor widely as to whether the result of the negotiations
came entirely up to the expectation to which Buchanan
gare expression on the same day in his message. John-
ston was, indeed, able to complete his march, begun on
the 13th of .Tune, to Salt Lsike City wiliioot molestation.
The Mormons' throat that be would find the country
turned into a desert by the toreb was not carried out. On
the other hand, he only marched tlirouifh the desolated
city, and moved into camp on the other side of it in Cedar
Valley. While, therefore, the Mormons had to be resigned
to seeing their utter powerlessncss to ofTcr forcible resist-
ance to the federal government proven in the most un-
doubted manner, the organs of the lailer showed just as
plainly tliat they were satisfied with this, and did not in-
tend to hold down tlicir delianL spirit wiib an iron hand
until it was coinpletely bent or broken, but rather con-
sidered forbearance towards thorn advisable and prudent
lo the extent of sparing them the humiliation of even
a temporary military occupation of their capital. And
that that spirit was not yet hunt or broken was manifest
enough from the fact that their piissivi; resistance by no
means ceased either immediately or universally. Not
until Young liad left Provo on ilie 5ih of July, with the
declaration that he had resolved to put an end to bis
volontary exile, did the others gradually begin to return
to their deserted habitations. They returned much more
Bobor-min<led than they had left, but not as contrite or
converted sinners, nor in the least discouraged. They
had recognized the necessity of acting more oantiouslv
in the future; but they not only persoveretl unmoved in
their resolution that, in the main, the condition of things
would have to continue as it bad been, but they were also

2110 BDcnANAtJ'a elkchos — F..vn of 35tii coxaKKSs.

Srmly conTineed that the federal government had coi^
sented to allow them to .so continue in consideration ol^
their external submission.

Whether, as their leaders made them believe, Camming
and the commissioners had privately made them the raoi
eatisractory promises, must remain undeeided. The seqao^
however, proved that the policy of the federal goverO)
ment needed only to agree with the declarations made in"
tlie {irodam.ition of the president in order to realize ttiis
confident expectation of the Mormons. Buchanan's prop-
osition that the constitution did uot give the federal gor-
ernmeni a right to any legal procedure against religious
convictions was unassailable. The principle tliut govern-
ment liati nothing whatever to do with the thought, I
only witli the acts, of the subjects of the state, is u
in it wjthoul limitation. But the Mormons gave proof c
their religious convictions; and this proof, in the firs
place, led, in consequence of polygamy, to a conflict n
tht! moral convictions of the entire people and with thi
civil law based on these convictions — a coiiSiot whlofaj
in the nature of things, could not possibly bo lastingly e*
Uurcd; and, in the second, to the organization of a r
dotal iitttle, which, by its very essence, excluded the organid
construction of a political community and subordinatJod
on principle to any external authority. But if this v
no, what had been gained by the expedition? Thatitfa
oponnd or cured this abscess in the body of the '
t\UH un illuHion. So long as the Mormons, in accordanci
with ttio promiscH of the proclamation, might continue fc
enjoy Ihu rulL-at freedom in the exercise of their religiot^
they would neceBsarily grow, although some of the wo
symptomatic phenomena might he considerably allayet

A generation has since passed. Congress has ]
law after law, each more stringent thau the precedtngJ

THK MCKMOS QUESTION.

20 1

tbe coiirls have discimrged iheir duty with a strictness
lliat look no consequences into consideration; for years
the pulse of the economic, intellectual and moral life of
the rest of the nation has beaten along the linos of rail-
way and telegraph through the territory; an ever-increas-
ing number of unenliyhteiied children of the worhl have
settled among the Latter- Day Saints; but the Mormon
question has not yet been solved. Flcnce we need not
say anything more on how far from warranted Buchanan
was in acting as if ho had banished tbis tjuustion out of
the world hy his^M.M(»MiiVi(w*cam|mign. Yet the great
siicvifices made were not entirely useless. The moment
Hormonism was deprived of its isolation, an internal
process of dissolution had necessarily begun; the fresli
draught of air deprives the fungus of its conditions of
existence. The hole made in the walls with which Young's
political instinct had surrounded his ehurcb, by the in-
coming troops, was, indeed, not large — but it could not bo
stopped up again; and the Mortuous did not resist the
temjuation gradually to enlarge it, because it was aohan-
nel for the coveted gold of the Gentiles. Young could
secure rfspect for his command that tbe Mormons should
abstain from all business with ihcm all the less, as his
own instinct of gain was so strong that lie secretly acted
counter to it himself.

At the time, however, the nature of tbe Mormon ques-
tion was so httle mulerstoud that a great over-estimate
of the value of the results accomplished by the presi-
dent's policy could not be a matter of surprise. If the
message of the 10th of June had been his farewell greet-
ing to congress he might, therefore, have ho|Md, {lerhaps,
that it would shed a ray of light on the end of the ses-
aion, which would, at least for some time, lighten the
shadows which rested upon it and the previous history of

-END OF 35th congress.

the admlDistration. But although the legislators had al-^
ready packed their trunks, thej' received a new messug^fl
from the president on the 12th of June. He strongly
exhorted them not to adjourn on the 14th, as they hacfl
determined, because the legislative decisions di;nmnde<
by the financial situation could not be reached in twd
days and submilted by him to a conscientious examinfc
tion, as the constitution required. Congress troubled i
self little as to hotv the presidunt might come out of tb^
conflict between the urgent necessities of the treasurw
and his constitutional duty in i-espect to the examination
of bills. The session was notprolon^d, hut a resolution
was hurriedly passed authorizing a new loan of tiftcen
millions. No effort was even made by the employmoDtf
of the oratorical art, of which an unscrupulous use vrum
made on almost every occasion, to color the sad condw
tion of the tinauces. (iluncy Jones, the chairman of th^
house committee on ways and means, exposed it i
terms so blunt and plain tliat one might have suppose
he belonged to tlio opposition and not to the administn
tion party. The twenty millions of treasury notes <
ihorized by the law of December a:j, 1S57, were spent; tbd
receipts of customs had fallen from almost twenty-ollffi
millions in the first tjuarter of the fiscal year to sometbina
over seven millions in the second quarter; it was of nq
use now to deliberate about a customs tariff, for the tretis
ury would not get one dollar more from higher dutiet
because nothing was imported; the expectation ihattrada
would revive had unfortunately not been fulfilled-
was the only consolation he offered the country.'

Even if the administration and the dernoeratio party batfl
been really as completely guililess of all this us they bw

' See the message. Congr. Globe, Ist Sees. 3Jt]i Oongr., p. 2961, 4
JoncsH Bjietcli, id., pp. 3018 JT

KANSAS BBJli^CTS EKGLISll S BILL.

2013

lieved or pretended to believe themselves to be, these
facts were a bed of thorns against the points of which a
tuiieh thicker cover than the triumphant message of
peace of the 10th of June would not have been able to
afl'ord protection. The politicians recognized this so
clearly that the appiirent philosophic calm with which
thej' stretched themselves on it was a subject of groat
surprise. To one thing only it conid not be traced: the
certainty of tbcir powerlessness to change in the least the
condition of affairs. The only satisfactory explanation
was the assumption that they understood the signs of the
time well enough to be firmly convinced that these ques-
tions, heavily as they might weigh in the balnnce, under
ordinary circumstances, could not now decide on which
side the balance would turn in tho party struggle.

The wordy battles which were immediately begun when-
ever the fall elections were impending, as well as tho
daily utterances of the press, must have forced tho rec-
ognition of this fact on those who were most slub'jornly
determined by their wishes to close their eyes to it.
Both sides naturally showered their blows wherever they
thought they discovered a weak spot or defect in the
armor of their opponents; bnt in attack and defense both
sides employed all their strength, from the very start,
only on what related to slavery; — which bad never be-
fore happened to the same extent in a. case in which no
concrete question called for an immediate decision. This
was still true, in the main, after Kansas, on the 2d of
August, had rejected the offer of English's bill, by a vote
of eleven thousand three hundred against one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-eight,' This majority was so
overwhelming that even the most sanguine slavocratB
were at last obliged to abandon all hope of forcing Kan-

1 Wilder, Annnls ol Kansas, pp. 180-18a

264 BlCilANAXS liLECTCON — ESD OF SJTII COSQBESS,

sas into the Union as a slave state. Now the only questioi
was how long the slavocracy and their northern alliei
would be able to prevent its admission as a free statej
iind this was a matter of relatively inferior importance
So far as Kansas was henceforth used by the news)>apeid
writers and orators as a subject at all, it was rather t
the most obvious and striking illustration. The real ker;
nel of the argument was the discussion of tiiu general
principles. This was in iiself the most significant andj
most menacing sign of the times; for people engaged in
empty wrangling about stcrilo abstractions, not bGCaus<
they had no concrete object to battle for, bnt althouglid
at the moment, nothing detinito was to be gamed or lostjl
The burning questions of iho day were treated by them am
of secondary importance, and they concentrated ail theiB
strength on the struggle over the differences of principle
on the slavery question. Politicians who delight to ffOUH
out their floods of eloquence on principles arc freqneu^j^
doctrinarians who masV ihe impotency of their statM
inanship and their will under n parade of glittering g
eralitios. But to now interpret the going back to Uid
ultimate causes of the struggle over the slavery qnestion
in this sense would have been a dangerous error. On t
contrary, in this going back a powerful expression W(
given to a terrible deepening of the contest, for it I
nonnced aa awakening to the lecogniiion that the dA>
cisive fact was the existence of a dilTerencu of prinoiplftV
The more thoroughly this difference was discussed tbaT
clearer it must become that all the concrete questionn
which had been fought over with so much passion weraa
the natural and inevitable consequencosof it; and,wh6thai'r
people wished it or not, the discussion had to becuntinuo(tl
until its last, logical consequence wa.s drawn and expr
so clearly that there could be no mistaking it.

TEE ritULI'llliSSIULE (

205

This Seiviird tliil, oa the 25Lh of October, in a spoecli
at Roclicstcr;- and his nords resounded like a mighty
clftp of thuiuiei" ihrougli tho whole country. A storm ot
iimignation broke loose u|)on him, us if ho Lad committed
Hn unb..'.ird of and horrible crimu. A doubt semned to
be possible only on one thing: that is, whether llie amaze-
ment or indignation excited by his speech was ibo greater.
And yet ho had only aaid what all felt. Nay, only l)e-
causQ all Celt that be hud so churactertzed the real nature
of the struggle in a few words that it could never again
be hidden in the mist of deception was the impression
these few words made so powerful. The speech was a
historic act, the import of which could not yet be mcus-
ured; not because of the ideas to which ii gave ex-
pression, but only because of one sentence of happy
indention — "it is an irrepressible conflict."

A sentence of happy invention: — this is evident not
on!)' from the rest of the speech, but becomes still more
apparent from the fact that Seward was, so to speak,
struck completely blind when the hist consequences ol
the words became accomplished incls. His speculative
powers of thought were sufliciently acute and well trained
to enable him to discover the concisest formula of tlie
problem, and he Lad the courage, in his speculative think-
ing, to pursue the logical consequences to be deduced
from it to the end; but Le had not the statestnun-tike
genms or instinct to discover, from the previous actual
development of events, bow their subsetjuent actual de-
velopment must take place in accordance with the for-
mula Lu had rightly constructed. The saying invented by
the thinker was a blast in the trumpet of judgment, bnt
the infei-cnces of tbo statesman drawn from ii amounted
to a hope which was not only destitute of all real foun-
dation, but which could not by any possibility bo ful-

2fiO

UAXAN's election — END OF Z^ITU CO-VG.

filled, if that Baying correctly describeti t!ie nature of Ihei
struggle.

"Tlio two systems of slave labor and free lubor," said
Seward, "aro more tlian incongruous — tbey are ini±om*4
palible. They liiive never |)erinanently existed togqtfcei
in one coiinlry, and iliey never can ; . . . it is an in
repressive conflict between opposing and enduring forces*
and it means tbat the United Stutes must and will, soonei
or later, become eillier entirely a alave-holding nation oS
entirely a free-labor nation. . . . k is tbe failure to.1
apprehend this great truth that induces so many unsuc-l
cessful attempts at final compromise between the slave!
and free states, and it is tbe existence of tliis great faot.j
that renders all suoli pretended compromises, when made,
vain and epiieraeral.'' '

Generally only these sentences arc qr.otwi from thecele-
briited speech, and, out of them, a wreath is woven about
Seward's head to which bo had no claim. A conclusion J
had to follow them; for otherwise the speech wouldl
have been an academic essay from the professional chair,r
and not tbe political confession of faith of a statesmani
who already occujiied the first place among ihe leulei
of his party in congress, and who bad the best prospeotfl
of being in two years its presidential candidate. If thet
claims were well founded, what became of the constitQ-l
lion which left the elates free to choose belween the twol
systems? Could or would the pro])hecy be fulfilled aodfl
etill ihis constiiulional right of the states be preserved F J
Not until this question was answered could these propi
sitions, no matter bow unassailable, become the basis of]
a political programme; and Ibeir proclamation had ntA
poliliualsignihcance except to the extent that they wer^l
a political programme, Seward did not ignore UuKifl
jBewnt Speeches and Writings ot W. U. Sevvnrd, |>p. 391, 2V2.

267

His answer to the question was: "If these states are to
again become universally sliivc-lioUling, I do not protend
to say with what violations of the constitution that end
shall be accomplished. On the other hand, while I con-
fidently believe and hope that my country will yet be-
come a land of universal freedom, I do not expect that it
will be made so otherwise than through the action of the
several states co-operating with the federal government,
and all acting in strict conformity with their respective
constitutions."' Whether the politicians continued or
stopped the useless work of subtly devising compromises,
the people might contemplate the further development
of the irrepressible conHict with the calmness with which
one hears the angry hiss of a venomous serpent without
its sting; for the realization of the first alternative was
and would remain an impossibility, even if the constitu-
tion were lorn into shreds.

Seward was universally considered as the statesman
par excellence ot the republican party; and he possessed
the qnalifications demanded by the school-like, not to say
guild-like, statecraft which dominates in cabinets and em-
bassies, more fully than any other republican politician.
But precisely on this account he did not perceive that his
reasoning excluded a peaceful, constitutional solution of
the problem; for he was certain a priori that the possi-
bility of such a solution could not be questioned, because
the possibility of the permanent existence of the Union
without a violation of the constitution had evidently to
be the fundamental presupposition of the entire action of
every statesman who was faithful to the constitution.

Another republican who, until within a few months,
had occupied so modest a position among the politicians
of the party that the great majority of the people knew

I Ret-ent Speeches and Writings of W. H. Seward, p. 398.

2US BUCHANAN S ELECTION — BSD 01' 35t1I COSOKES8.

only his name, or even not ihat, had, three years before
become thoroughly convinceil oF the irrepressiblpnessa
the conflict, witliout faUing into tho conLradiction I
which Seward overthrew his own reiisoning, Troe, evei
he had not followed out the diain of ihou^^ht to the 1
frightful consequence; but he bad simply broken it witl^
a deep sigh, leaving the matter in the hands of un i ""
wise and all-merciful God. On his way through life b^
had been able to gather only a few crumbs of methodic*
statecraft, but for that very reason he made no pre
sumptuous over-estimate of its power. Afiicii as
wish that its postulates might be found in harmony WitU
the reality of things, ho viewed facts loo laively ailA
soberly to couple, like Sewaixl, the absolute negatlVi
proclaimed by the latter, and in accordance with his o
interpretation, with the confident aflirmative to be i
(erred from tiiat arbitrarily presupposed harmony,
too was tar, very far, from fully understanding wliaS X
involved in the irreprcssibleness of the conflict;
might come to understand it, if he continued in the pall
into which the simple truthfulness of his political t
had led him; while Seward, with his Eochcslcr apeeotlj
could never bring the ship of slate into the right coun
for either his compass or his chart was wrong,
in Abraham Lincoln, a much more dangerous enemy u
against the slavocracy than in the senator from Noirf
York who was so grossly abused because of his Rochesten
speech, but not because Heaven had givcpi him to 1
people as a political genius and savior. Seward was n
only far superior to him in genenil culture and i
training as a statesman — he surpassed him also in nutOM
endowments. But Lincoln had gone through a !
which more than compensatetl for all this; and i

laTished on him the gifts which might, in that school^

AUB.MIAM LIKCOLIT,

2C9

develop info tlio intollectual powers nnd qualities of char-
acter which would he needed more than all else by the
man in whose hands the helm was to ha phiccO during
the storm.

lie was born in a, slave state,' and grew up in a free
state in the jioverty and privation of pioneer life. What
he was indebted to the schoolmaster for would not have
filled him to fill the place of a teacher of an elementary
class. But while his muscles \voro{?;iiningextraordinnry
power behind the plow and in the steady use of Iho ax
iind spade, belaid, in his leisure houi-s, hy unwearying in-
dustry iind earnest, inlellectual and monil labor, the broad
and deep foundalion of his future hisloric;il greatness.
Yet he would himself certainly have made nieiriest over
it, if he had heard it prophesii;d, during these years, that
lie was to be called upon to play a part of any importance
in the destinies of hia country, to say nothing of a part
of such importance that not only his grateful countrymen,
but the judgment of history, would assign him a place im-
mediately utter, if not equal to, AVashington's. Jt even
seems as if, at this lime, he had not the tniidlcst spark of
ambition, in th^ ordinary sense of the word. Neither
can it be snid that it in any way led him to the situations
in whiob fate placed him. He was only conscious that
the lot which had fallen to him .it birth, from fortune's
wheel, wua almost a blank; but herecognizi'd, at thesame
time, that a persevering will was sufficient to enable
hJm, Willi the development of this gigantic new world, to
grow into a position in life which might never perhaps
be brilliant, but which would improve rapidly and stead-
ily. This gift which is laid in the cradle of every Amer-
ican lie was resolved to turn to account, for be wiis

1 On tlie 13tK of Febiuarv, 1809, on the farm of his father, Thomas,
111 Hordiii, now La Eue. county. Ktntuobj'.

270

'S ELECnoH — £ND OF 35tH COKOBESS.

certain that he possessed the power lo will calmly and
soberly. He seemed not to have yet foniied any idea a»J
to the special manner in which he would become the
architect of his own fortune. Until the time had come
when lie could usehts own judgnteot in choosing between—
the opportunities life might afford liim, he was sarieiiet
with the considerntiun that knowledge and inCellectuafl
ability are a power in every calhng. In his reading, bff"
was spared the trouble of a choice, lie had to take what
chance tlirevv in his way; and. altliough lie did so, llio
number of books ho could procure was very small. But j
he not only read them, but studied them in snch a wa^
thai he mastered them completely and for all time, Hoj
dwelt on every new conception and every half-understo<
idea with imperturbable perseverance, until he grasped !■
with such clearness that he could give it a form in whici
it became inlelligibtc to minds much less well-trained tban^
his own. The intellectual discipline he thereby acqiiiredfl
was worth more than the biggest bag of knowledge htb
could have carried away from the desk of a scliool. Bad
this quiet, unwearying struggle, without exlraneouBbela
without the incentive of a direct, practical object, whiclL
notwithstanding he engaged in with all his strength, '
besides, a moral act; and all the more so because it bftcfi
not its origin in an ardent, innate thirst for knowledgfti
Without being indolent, Lincoln was not one of those t
whom labor, whether intellectual or physical, is a plai
are. And if, notwithstanding this, he not only worla
as much as, and at what, he was obliged to, be did t
partly because labor was the only means of succeBS
life, but partly also because he had so lively a sentiment^
of tho moral importance of labor in general that he ooak
not do otherwise than prosecute the mtellccluat lubor to!
which he had once subjected himself, with the deep, eac>]

LINCOLN e CABEER.

riBcing earnestness which is the preconJition of that
sontimetit being developed to a clear UDderstandJng.
Equipped wilh few acquirements, but with a conlidenco
in his intellectual strength, which, with all his modesty,
was as strong as that in his muscular power, because like
the latter its capacity had been tested long enough, he
luft the paternal roof and lauDched his ship on the broad
stream of American life.

The old figure may be taken here in its literal sense, for
the real beginning of Lincoln's career was as a boatsman
on atrip on the Mississippi to New Orleans. Aftersome
time he repeated the journey in the same capacity. The
scenes of slave-life which he saw in New Orleans made
a deep impression on him. It is not at all improb-
able that, as it is related ho said himself, they decided
his position on the slavery question. But we must not
suppose that the impressions muile on him by slavery
were so overwhelming that they naturally rijiened into a
resolution to seek his real tusk in life in combating the
"peculiar institution." He had not the temperament to
become a fanatic, nor was his religious feeling of such
intensity as to prompt the thought — and especially at
so young an ago — of his devoting his life to the service
of a definite, ethical idea. He was not only a genuine,
matter-of-fact American, but all his thoughts and feel-
ings were still too directly and too completely under the
influence of rough, backwoods life, for the suH'erings of
the slaves to throw him into sentimental paroxysms of
marked violence. But the kind-natured eyes of a child
in the surprisingly homely face of the uncouth giant told
of a warm heart, to which the weak and the unfortunate
could always confidently appeal, while a bright mind
looked out from them; one which, under the guidance of
such a heart, must have already learned too well how to

272 blchanan's elkciiox — ksd of Soih cosgekss.

(Irstingtii^h between rigbt and wrong, to pass such ;
wrong unmoved. The peculiar, melancholy streak in thd
nature u( the inimiLnhle anecdottst, whose fveqaentlfl
coarse sLorles made his hearers roar with laughter, i
ceived nuurislimunL here; and the germ which bad been
implunled in liim by his own obsui- ration found in thq
innate truth of his nature, and in the moral earnestncs
of his endeavor, the most nntriliong soil. But we aw
undoi'ltedly warranted in as^nming that the deeponingon
hia thought on slavery did not begin until many yean
later, for we see it then keep pace exactly with the de-
velopment of the struggle of parties about it; and it
remained cimracterisiu: of him to the last, and was of
immense importance during the civil war, that he never,
or in any particular, went in advance of the time. Be-
sides, he was still not only intetlectiially too immature,
but he had nor the leisure necessary to oc^jupy liimscll'
tenaciously, profoundly and earnestly with problums of
such magtiituUe. If his thought, will and action bud
not had, lor a long time more, the one aim to becoiii%
something biiriself. ho would scarcely ever have been ubl^
to co-operate, in any important way, in the solution o
tbo slavery question.

He hud tried many things bofoi'e he was admitted 1
the bar in Illinois. Ho hud been a clerk in a store, a aho^
keeper an<l surveyor — tirst as an assistant lo the B
John Calhoun who was afterwards to achieve such t
celebrity !is president of the Lecimipton convention,
a merchant he gave proof of no great capacity, and U I
surveyor he merely discharged his duties with satisfu
tion, but did not, like so many adepts in that art, lay th3
foundation of a fortune of his own by speculttionln landj
By his political activity he began slowly to climb rountt
after round of fortune's ladder. There wore at this tima

LINOOLK 8 CAREKB,

2T3

no reai professional politicians in the young state, and he
certainly was not one. Bul,consiiIering liis interest in all
public affairs, it was natural that lie should lake an active
part iu the agitation precedinf; elections. His gift of
oratory, materially lielped by the great personal affec-
tion fell for hira, and emphasized by his powerful gestures,
soon brought him a local reputation. The success he met
with in this field gave him an increased liking for it, and
finally decided his choice of a profession. In the younger
stales politician and lawyer were coincident ideas much
more than in the older states. As a minimum of legal
knowledge sulliced for admission to the bar, it was almost
a matter of course that the young, struggling polilician
who had to make a livmg should become a lawyer. When
he thundered his monologues from the stump, or parailed
his readiness and hie wit in genenit conversation at the
street corners, before the court house or about the glow-
ing stove of the tavern, he acijuired a clientele for him-
self who were ready to place tlieir cases before judges
and juries in bis hands, and, on the other hand, the court-
room was the high training-school for the stump and the
tribune. In these growing commonwealths, lawyers and
politicians could make their way without going to great
expense for printer's ink and lump od. Success depended
here, incomparably less than under more developed and
more stable circumstances, on knowledge; and one at-
tained it must easily and most certainly by continually
mingling with the people in their daily life and avocations.
In the younger states it is seen, more clearly than any-
where else, that in the United Slates the sole source of all
power is the people; and the people stand most readily
and firmly by those in whose leadership the pulse-beat of
their own thought, feeling and will is felt most power-
fully. But this docs not imply that the masses begin to

274 BUcuA

1 ELKcmos — END ov S'y\

ttirn away frnm a leader wlion he goes beyond a certatm
line close tn their nivn intRllecInal nnd moral level. Si^
long as tlioy Fee! thiil he has not become alienatntl fi-oni
them at heart, they grow prouder of him the higher hJ
towers above all; for his greatness raises ibemsplTes ifj
their own eyes. Flence, notwithslantling the briUiantl
success which may be achieved in the United States "H
the aid of the arts of the demagogue, the politlciiin, nvetti
there, builds most securely, who does not descend to tliO
level of the masses, but who endeavors, in his own efforts
towards a loTty goal, to lift them np with litm by pOK
means. If Lincoln wished todotbishohad tobegin togivirj
his intellectual ability a much greater breadth nnd mnoli f
greater depth than it bad hitberio bad^by earnest lalmr. j
This he did by honest industry. His legal book-knowl-l
edge, indeed, never exceeded rather narrow limits; but. J
by the study of the cases contided to bim, he trained hwl
power of logical thinking so tlioroughly that, notwiib-
standing, bo gradually became a lawyer of great dislinc- I
lion. He learned quickly and surely to discover ttteV
decisive points, and acrjuired sncb skill in the art be bail I
practiced early, of clothing his thoughts in the simplest J
nnd clearcsL form, that competent judges said that biaj
statement of u case was so convincing tiiut. argument^
was scarcely necessary in order to pronounce a corrucW
judgment. Greater praise could hardly have been
stowed upon him; for this meant ibnt the lawyer needeill
only always to servo bis client in sucli a way as to remain^
at all times, an honest servant of the law and of justice
This high moral earnestness became more and mm
characteristic of bis professional activity as his intelloc
ual development advanced, and it entered also iatu llial
political life in cver-increusing mousure. By bis eOl^
oivnoy in the legislature (l»3i-184'i), he worked bimai-lfl

278

into so (listin^nished a position in the party that be —
the only whig in Illinois — was elected by a great major-
ity to the thirtieth congress (lSi7-lS+9j, altliougb the
opposing candidate waa the popular preacher, Cartwright.
According to the customs of tlie party at the time, in
Ilhnois, a re-election was absolutely excluded, and on that
accoant alone the part he playud on this, his first appear-
ance on the national stage, had to be a modest one. Nut-
withstanding this, he had the courage to take the initia-
tive in a step in the slavery question which might have
had farieacbing consequences if it had been crowned
with success. And it seemed for a moment that this
was not im|iossibie; for his propositions were not only
nnquestionably capable of being carried out, but were so
evidently drawn up in the spirit of a really "honest
broker" that the representatives of the two opposing
camps, who firet obtained information of it, considered it
acceptable. Tlio bill iniroduced by him on the lOlh of
Jannary, 18-19, for the gradual abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia, met with the approval of the mayor
of Washington as well as of Giddings. As it not only
assured lull compensation to the owners of the slaves, but
provided that the law should not go into force unttl after
it had been established by a vote that the population of
the District was in favor of it, it must seem at the first
glance less surprising that Colonel Seaton agreed to it
than that Giddings did.' Since Lincoln, as appears from

■ Oiddii]i;9 writofl on the lltb of January, 1840, in his journal, on
the CMnsiderations that determined him: "This evening our whole
iDMa remained in the dining-i'txim after ten, and conversed upon the
subject of tir. Lincoln's bill to abolish elaverj. It wbb approved bj
all; I believp it as ROihI n bill aa we could get at this time, and wbb
willinft to pny for Bltii'es in order lo save them from the Bouthern
market, a^ I suppose every man in tlie District ivould sell liis elavea
ir he Buw tliat slaver; was to be oboliahed." Jolin Q, Nicolaj and

BUOHANAU'a KLECTIOS — END OF 35l

SeatoQ'a questions, did not n-isb merely to make a dem-
onstration, bat actually hoped for success, his bill really
only proved how deeply sunk in optimistic illusion bestiU
was as to the nature of the struggle- Had not even the
most moderate representatives of the south for years de-
clared the abolition of slavery in the District, without
the consent of Maryland and Virginia, a breach of good
faiUi ! Did not the slavocrats know how greatly all their
successes hitherto had been facilitated by the fact tbat
the federal capital was situated in the domain of slavery,
or had they lost all sense of the importance of moral de-
feats? Was it not a presupposition of every project of
emancipation that slavery was an evil? And how far
i\-ere the great majority of slaveholders still from admit-
ting this in wordsl The bill was an invitation to the
District to give its consent to a terrible blow at the in-
terests of the slavucracy, and wanted to pay for it out of
the federal treasury; that is, in part with the money of
the south. It must, therefore, have been unacceptable
to the representatives of the south in proportion as it
offered more to the people of the District, and especially
to the slaveholders in it.

The struggles of the next six years made Lincoln under-
stand that his bill was a chase, and why it was a chase,
after an intangible shadow. In the remarkable letter of
August 15, 1855, to which reference was made above, lie
says: The hope of a peaceful extinction of slavery is a
delusion, because the south will not give it up,' The fact

John Hay. Abralmm Lincoln {The Century Magazine, February, 188T,
p. 033), aflvr Ihe Cleeeland Pott of March 81, 1878.

■"SiDce then (a speech in which Roberlsou hnd spoken of the
peaceful estinction o( slBvei-y) we have had Ihlrly-sii yesxr, of expe-
rience; and ihii experience has demonstrated, I think, that thera is
no peaceful extinction of slavery in proapecC lor u». . . .

" That spirit which deiiired the peaceful extinction of alaTery linn

LISOOLN AND 9KWAHD. 2 . i

that Ibis was the allilude of the south towards the ques-
tion Lad long been well known to the whole people.
The point of signidoaiice was that Lincoln had the cour-
age of the truth to admit to himself that from that fact
it followed directly that the peaceful extinction of slav-
ery was impossihie. While Suward, three years later, In
his Rochester speech, still endeavored to deceive himself
and the people on this subject, Lincoln even now declared
theirrepressiblenesso! the conflict in words from which it
was clearly evident what would be the final issue. ''Our
political problem is, 'Can we, as a nation, continue to-
gether pertnaneHlli/ /'orever — half slaves and half free?' "
that is: Is the permanent preservation of the Union, under .
the present constitution, possible!'

But what was gained by the fact that Lincoln saw-
farther than Seward, if his two concluding sentences,
"The problem is too mighty for me.' May God in IIis

itself becnme PTtinct with tlie occaeioo and the men of Ibo Rtvolii-
[iou. Under the impulse of that occasion nearly halt the stHtFs
adopted sysIemH of emancipation at once ; and it is a significant fact
that not a single state has done the liku since. So fur aa peaceful,
voluntary emancipation is concerned, the condition ot the negro elave
in America, scarcely leas terrible to the conteui plat ion o( a free niimi,
is now BO fixed and hopeless of change for the better aa tliat of the
loHt soul@ of the finally impenitent. Tlie autocrat of all the Riissiaa
will resiga his crown and proclaim his subjects free republicans
sooner than will our American maatera voluntarily give up their
slaves," Nicolay and Hay, Abr. Lincoln, The Centurg Maijuziiit,
May, lf>87, p, 866.

I This, however, does not mean that he even now answered the
question unqualifiedly in the negative. Bather is it certain that in
his case, too, the perception of the fact could not prevail over his
wish. In the presidential campaign of 1656, he said in a speech at
Galena: " All this tallt about the dissolution of the Union is hum-
bug—nothing but folly. We do nut want to dissolve the Union;
you shall not. " Ibid., May, 1887. p. 100.

* In the previous year (1S34) he had aaid in a public speech at Peo-

278 buohanah's eleotioji — ehd of Sotd congresb.

mercy superintend the solution," were intomletl to an.
nouncc ttiat be was resigned to let the inevitable take its
course? The most important thing wns not whether what
was right was recognizoH, but whcthop it was done.
Even some months before Seward had uast the fire-bmnU_
term " irrepressible conQicl " among ihe people, LincollL
had proven that in this respect he would be a much more
reliable leader of the republicans than many of the moat^
notable men in the party, who were not very far from be-
lieving that its whole political judgment and conscience
were porsonitied in themselves, and who saw this boW
assumption generally recognized by a large circle of t
people.

Douglas's attitude towards the Lecomplon questiort"
was, us we have seen, consequent on the great pressure
brought to bear on him. As early as in the senatorial
election of 1S55, It became evident that Illinois no
longer belonged to the absolutely "safe" democratic
states. The democrats, indeed, still had the majority in

ria: "If all earthly puwer were g[vpii me, Isbould not tiiow whatl^
ilo as tn the existing instllutioD." His &r»t idea would be to MOd A
ilavFS to Liliei'ia. Closer reflection nhoM'ed, liowevur, that, if auoh ■
wiuree were renliy posBiblp, tliey would be condtiiincil lo certain d
Htruction. "Whattlicn? Free tliem alt. and keep them umong Oj
as underlioKB'' Is it quite certain timt tliis betters tlieir conditi
I think I would Dot bold one in slavery at any rnte: yet the pointfl
iiut clear enougli to me to denounce peoiile upon. What m-xtf Fr^
them, and niHke tliom politically and sudallyour equals? Mjro
ft-eliiiKS will not admit of this: and if mine wouU. we well knc
that thos« of the gri^at miiss of white people will not. Whether tl
fetilitig accords with justice and soniid judguient ia not llw ai
question, if, indei-d, It is aiiV part of it, A universal feeling, wlielb
well ur iil-tountled. cannot Iw safely disregarded. We c.tnnot, thei|
make tliem equals. It does »eeiii tu ine that aystems of tfrodni
emancipation niiulit be adopted; bnl for their tardiness iothb,^
will not undeilabe to judge our brelbrun of Ihe south."
between Lincoln and Dauglni, p. 74.

LtNCOI^ B DlSINTUBlCBTEnNKBS.

279

Ihe legislature; but the split which the skvery question
had made ia the party had led to the defeat of the can-
didate of the " regulars." This was due, in no small
measure, to Lincoln's willingness to sacrifice himself per-
sonally for the sake of great tangihle interests. He was
the caadidato of the whigs; and the latter demanded of
the democratic opposition that they too should vote for
him, because the struggle against the encroachments of
the slavocracy must take precedence of all other consid-
erations, and because in erery alliance the weaker should
leave the leadership to the stronger. The anti-Nebraska
democrats would, houever, not be convinced by this rea-
soning, and at tirsl none of tlio three candidates received
the conslitulional majority of all the votes cast. But
some of Lincoln's partisans soon became tired of the
struggle, and, in order to prevent the election of a Ne-
braska democrat,' he had, at the last moment, induced
the ndhercnis who had remained faithful to him to fol-
low the minority's flag and to cast their voles for Trumbull.
The assertion of his opponents that a formal contract
was then entered into, according to which the demo-
cratic opposition had bound themselves, in the next elec-
tion, to vote for Lincoln, was entirely baseless;* but the
largest part of the whigs and anti-Kebraska democrats
had since then become fused Into the republican party,
and the stavucracy had uninterruptedly curried on the

•The regulars li ad dropped their own eiiiididQtc. Shields, and made
Oovernor Mattt^soa tlieir HUadai'd-bcnrt^r, becnusu ho ivos such a
tuvurite, on ai'count of the part he had [ilnyed iu the politics ot tbo
■:jtt!<. that a part ot the oppusitiou Bnally ovtriatiie their obJectioD*
in respect to the DBtional question,

1 According to Dou};las'a statetuent, tlio original agreeoient was
the reverse of this; first Lincoln and then Trumbull. See his atate-
luent and Liia^ulii's auswor. Debutes betweun Liucoln and Oouglu,
pp 07, 68, 73. U, OJ.

BirOHANAJf's KLEOnON END OF 35tH CONGRESS.

most effectual propagaiidism for the latter. Notwith-J
standing the extraordinary popularity, therefore, that!
Douglas enjoyed in Illinois, his re-election would not I
have been at all certain, even if the party had been unan- [
niiously in favor of it. Not to alienate the great body I
of it from himself, he imd to fall under the displeasurofl
of the slavocraoy and the administration, and his defealil
was, therefore, among the possibilities. But suddenly hel
saw a prospect that what he bad lost on the one band I
by the battle against the so-called Lecoinpton swindle he f
might gain on the other n hundred and a thousand fold. I
Some of the most influential spokesmen of ihe radical I
wing of the rt^pubiiciins began zealously to argue that I
their party comrades in Illinois should abstain from put- f
ting up a candidate of their own and should support!
Douglas's candidacy. Wilson, who cerlainly was Dot. inJ
other respects, among the pusdianimous who on ercryl
occasion were able to find an excuse for for^i^etting tbRT
maxim principiia obstu-, laid so much stress on the|
strengthening of the alliance with the anti-LooomptotL
democrats, that, for ihe republicans to prevail on thettt-^
selves to march under the flag of the author of the anti-f
Nebraska bill, seemed to him to be only a proof of abilitya
for cool, calculating, practical politics.' Jiurlin^me^l

' He certainly kiiuw at this time that, hs he relates in I
Ri»e and Foil of the Sh.ve Power. li p. 503. DouglsB, «
before ihe vote on tbe English bill, in a consultation at t)ie a
Lecoinpton democrats, " while avowing lmuwi)0|i|Xi«ltion to tlioUU^I
btated it at his opiniou that those who hod Iiiilierto o|iposed tlia^
measure might conaistentl)' go far it. because they could claim thul
it did ' virtually' BUbiiiit the <|ue«tian at issue to the ptfople."
the other hand, it niust be i|iiestionable whether, spite of ihia waver-^
ing attitude of Douglaa, nr rather precisely because of it, that la. In I
order to "strenKthen his kiii^eii," he did not wish to put him uodcrfl
ubligaiions to the republk-tkua. An authentic dei'lnrution
point by hiniBolf hns not yet, na fnc us I know, been acknowledged. I

AND DOUGLAS. 281

who was almost equal in the violence of his declamation
and denunciation to the southern fire-eaters, called u\mn
llie youth of the land, in a speech in congress, to rally
around this brave champion. The hot-headed Greeley
went to Douglas's house to confer with him, and ijrad-
ua!ly tallied liimself and wrote himself into a certain en
thusiitsm for the idea, so that he treated those who would
not bo convinced of its greatness with bitter scorn as
ho|)e]es3ly stupid in matters political.'

Lincoln liad been for a long time the dosignated candi-
date of the republican parly. The history of his last
electoral oampivign was not yet forgotten. Perhaps this
or that now ally of Douglas ho]»ed that ho would do as
he had done before — ^induce his friends to drop him and
go over to his rival for the sake of the good cause. It
may be asserted with certainly that, by doing so now, he
would at most have saoriliaed his own oandidaoy in favor

III the work menticinnl (II, p. 5671, he saya that only lie " aod other
members of both the aenate and Ihe house were led (by the state-
ments made by Douglas in the confeieocea with them) to believe
him to tie in earnest, and that ho would be practically fighting their
bittllea in the coming presidential contest. Hih repented deolarationa
that he was fully committed to fight the thiug to the end, that he
had 'checked his luKgaeie and taken a through ticket' with the be-
lief that he would be re-elected in any event, led eeveral of the
republicnna to look with fdvor upon his return to the senate, in
theconllilent expectatioii that it would lend to divide and disrupt
the democratic party, and aid in the election of their candidate (or the
presidency,"

1 On this whole matter, see Kellogg's speech of BInrch 18, 1800.
Conur. Gliibe, Ut Sess. 3Ctli Congr.. App. pp. 157-164. Compare,
aU^ HolliBtei'B Life of Colfax, pp. 110-132. In Illinois it was be-
heved for a time that even Seward was not unsympathetic toward
the plan. See Lincoln's letter of June. 185B. to Wilson, in Nicolay
aid Hay, Abraham Lincoln, The Cetilurg Magazine July, 1887.
p. 338.

282 Buchanan's election — end of 35th congbess.

of that of some other republican. In Illinois, not only
could people not see that the good cause was best served
in this way, but, even leaving that entirely out of consid-
eration, they were not at all willing that the wise men of
the east should dictate to them what they had to do or
not to do; and the history of the project became an event
of great importance, because this fact found very clear
expression. If the slaver\' question imperiled the Union,
the west — that is, the central region of the continent —
was, because of its geographical position, interested in an
incomparably greater degree than the east in the further
development of the struggle. Of this it became every
year more and more clearly conscious, and therefore more
and more firmly resolved not to allow its position on that
question to be determined either by the east or the south,
but to grasp the balance itself with a firm hand. The
unanimous nomination of Lincoln was the answer given
to the obtrusive counselors of the republican state con-
vention at Springfield.

It was at first hard for Grcele}', in the pride of his in-
fallibility, to look at the wicked game with favor. He
gave vent to all his feelings in a letter in which he re-
buked the republicans of Illinois as if they were bold,
headstrong school-boys.^ The high-flown casligatory lect-

lOn July 24, 1858, to Joseph Medill. of Chicaii;©. ** You have taken
your own course — don't try to tlirow the blame on others. You have
repelled Douglas, who might have been conciliated and attached to our
own side, whatever he may now find necessary to say or do, and,
instead of helping us in other state?, you have thrown a load upon us
that may probably break us down. You know what was almost the
unanimous (!?) desire of the republicans of other states; and you
spurned and insulted them. . . . You have got your elephant —
you would have him — now shoulder him.'' Loc. cit., p. 357. Tlie
authors remark that they had not seen the original but only a coi>y

LINCOLN AND OEEELET. 2815

lire concluded with an exhortation to Lincoln, at least,
not to swerve a hair's breadth ti-om the principles of the
parly. If ho doL-s so, " he is lost and all others sinU down
M-iih him." Itight as this advice was, to receive it now
from Greeley's lips inusl have seemed exceedingly com-
ical to Lincoln. In his speech before the state courenlion
tie had subjected the proposition made hy Greeley and
his associates to a destructive criticism; and he did not
assign reasons of expediency only for its rejection, but
gave his speech the character of a solemn protest, because
the proposition involved a pusillanimous surrender of the
principles of the party, for which no reason could be ad-
vanced, and which must have dangerous consequences,
precisely because the struggle was one of principle, and
because, thercl'ore, lidelity to principle was an absolute
precondition of success.

It was a noteivorthy speech: so gimplo, in the forran-
lation of its ideas, that even a child could nndcrsland
it, and still of a statesman like depth incomparably
greater than that of Seward's Rocliestor speech. The
irrepressibleness of the conflict was the starting-point
of his entire reasoning. He gave this idea such tan-
gible dedniteness that all that remained for Seward,
four months afterwards, was to give the fact proved by
Lincoln the name that most properly described it. Lin-
<oln had not gone backwards since he had written the
l;ttcr to Robertson, referred to; but bis vision became
clearer and clearer with the development of events. In
his introductory sentences, he declared what Seward had
dialed would be certainly avoided, to be an imperative

■if the letter, and therefore could not nssert tlio truth of every word.
Ab Greeley's lianilwriting reaa very illegible, it would be well, per-
Imiifl. to put nu inlerrogation mark after the surprlatog conclUflian:
■■ Ho (jour t'lepbaul) is not very heavy of kr aU."

284 buchanah's election — end of SSth cokqbess.

necessity. Even he could not see, in all its frigbtfal-
Dess, what lay in the womb of the future; but he recog*
nized that an irrepressible conflict must end in a violent
clash between the opposing forces, and could not gradn-
ally die out exce|)t after sucli a clash, as the waves of the
sea of themselves gradually subside with the wind. "The
agitation of the slavery (juestion," he said, " will notoeose
until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A._
house divided against itself cannot stand.' I belien
this government cannot endure permanently half elavfld
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dis-^
solved — I do not expect the house to fall; but I do ex-
pect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one
thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery
will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the
public mind shall rest in the belief that it m in the course
of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it for-|
ward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states
old as well as new — North as well as South." '

Caviling Oreeley still claimed, in 18C0, that the reput>
licans of Illinois " would have done wisely" to givetheiej
assent to Douglas's re-election; for "it would have beenj
an act of magnanimity — a testimonial of admiring re.
gard for his course on the Leeompton bill, which would
have reflected honor alike on giver and receiver, and
could have done harm to neither." The fundamenta
propositions of Lincoln's entire argument had led him b
assert the very reverse on every point. IIow, he askeii
could the republicans be placed under the slightest oblE^
gation of gratitude to Douglas because he quarreled witU
the president on a question on which lie and they hadG
always been of the same opinion ) He had not advanoedfl
a single step towards them — he remained where he ha(^

' Detattia bclween Lincoln and Douglas, p. 1.

LINCOLN AND OEKELT.

285

ahvays been; and that made him an utterly worthless
ally of the republicans, A journal with a leaning to-
wards him bad stated that liis powerfol aid would be
needed to prevent the pe-iniroduction of the African slave
trade. But he had himself desisted from every pertinent
argument against that evil by his attitude on principle
towards slavery — an attitude which made bim a caged
lion so fiir as the aggressions of the slavocracy were con-
cerned. It was plain that he did not now go with the re-
publicans, that bo did not even pretend to do so, and did
not promise that he ever would. " I do not asls," ho said,
" whether slavery be voted up or voted down." Such was
his confession of faith; that is, his "avowed mission " was
to bring the people to look upon it as entirely indifferent
whether slavery should gain or lose ground. " Our ciiust?.
then," said Lincoln, " must be intrusted to and conducted
by its own undoubted friends — those whose hands are
free, whose hearts are in the work — who do care for the
result. . . . We shall not fail — if we atnnd firm,
we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate or mis-
takes delay it. but the victory is sure to come,"

Was Lincoln or Greeley right! Wliich of the two
needed to be reminded that, in this struggle, everything
depended on fidelity to principle 1 The conflict was irre-
pressible, because it was a conflict of opposing principles ;
and the victory of the one principle was to be promoted
by its champion voluntarily making room for the man
who, with boundless cynicism, proclaimed absolute indif-
ference in the struggle of the two principles to be his
supreme political maxim! It was, indeed, quite possible
that the republicans might succeed in the next presiden-
tial election, only provided the democratic party was split
into Douglas and anti-Douglas democrats; but their vic-
tory would have been worse than fruitless if they allowed

280 Buchanan's election — end of 35tii congress.

themselves to be converted to the utilitarian policy now
preached by Greeley and his associates; for the conse-
quence of that victory would necessarily be problems
which never could bo solved by a party which did not
hesitate, for supposed reasons of expediency and with
full consciousness, to play fast and loose with the princi-
ple on which their whole existence depended. If the re-
publican party forgot that its opposition to the slavocracy
was a struggle for a moral principle, it might well be
considered dead; and it would have been guilty of such
forgetfulness if it now favored Douglas. The urgent ad-
vocacy of Douglas's candidacy b}' the republican zealots of
the east was the most dangerous crisis which the repub-
lican party had to meet up to the outbreak of the civil
war.

Many friends of the project had, as Wilson relates,
been very much startled by the holding of the democratic
state convention of ]llinois;and the course of the campaign
soon opened the eyes of nearly all so wide that they no
longer regretted its failure. If they had been able ini-
mediatelv to rid themselves of the narrow-mindedness
which dictated their original attitude towards the ques-
tion, the holding of that convention and the course of the
campaign would have convinced them that that project
had led them to the verge of an abvss.

The campaign was, at first, conducted in the usual
way; that is, the two opposing candidates spoke before
party meetings. Afterwards (July 24), Douglas was
challen^red bv Lincoln to hold common meetings at dif-
ferent places, in order that the views of the two parties
might be developed and defended by their candidates
immediately after each other and before the same audi-
ence. Douglas accepted the challenge, but stipulated for
an advantage: he was to open and close the debates.

LISOOLS CHALLESOES DOCOLAS.

287

The first of the seven common meetings toolc place on
the 21st of Au^^ust, in Ottawa, and the last on the 15th
of October.

The position Douglas occupied in national politics in-
vesteti everything relating to t!ie senatorial election in
Illinois with so much importance that it was followed
by the whole people with stniined attention. But, be-
fore lon^, tlie oratorical tournament itself e-icited so
much interest that the prize directly striven for seemed
almost a mutter of si^condary importance. Ooughis had
so much at stake that he would certainly have done his
liest^ if ho were concerned only with mnking a perfectly
sure victory as brilliant as possible. lint it sf>on bL-Ciune
evident that he had to employ uU his strength and make
use of all bis art. Lincoln proved himself a foeman
worthy of the ste;-! of even the strongest and most skil-
ful. The republicans were almost as much surprised as
the democrats to discover that his mi^nlal powers were
so well proportioned to the sizo and strens;th of his bod-
ily members. If the magnates of the east had not be-
lieved that not much more than a vote nould be gained
by bis election to the senate, ihey would probably have
given a someahut different and more correct decision to
the question of Douglas's re-election. If the presump-
tive candidate had been culleil William H. Seward in-
stead of Abraham Lincoln, they would never have asked
that he slioukl voluntarily retire in favor of Douglas.
Notwi thsiamling tlie one hundred and ten votes which had
been united on Lincoln as a candidate for the vice-pres-
idency in the Philadelphia convention, he bad, in their
eves, scarcely grown beyond the dimensions of a local
magnale; and only the partiality of those immediately
about him could see iu bim the ability that would enable
him to play a really important part on the theatre of na-

BUOHANAN*a ELECTION — END OF 35tH CONOBESS.

tional politics. And now Douglas, the most dreadd
purliameiitary champion of the democratic party, foati
this intellectual combat with Lincoln harder work thaff
any of his innumerable verbal tights in the senate with
the most distinguished and most eloquent politicians, re-
publican and dcmocralic. His sharpest thrusts and most
perfidious feints were coolly and safely warded off and
answered with powerful blows that beat through hia
best parries. He took refuge in downright untruths -
nay, did not disdain spiteful comments on ibe pusliti
in which the j'oung backwoodsman had once taken <
light, nor coai'se witticisms aimed at bis ungainly appead
ance, in order to get an advantage over him; but, afw
every tilt, Lincoln loomed np higher and firmer, wbi^
additional fragments of Douglas's armor strewed
ground.

Douglas endeavored to stamp Lincoln as an abolitioi
ist. This bit of tactics was not bad. As against t^
radical and the revolution ist. not only could (idelily t
the laws, which was and must remain the fundamenW
principle of American nationality, be appealed to, but I
great many prejudices, so deep rooted that the very b
of arguments were powerless against them, oouM be (
cited against him. Still Lincoln did not fall into 1
snares which his erafly opponent had laid for him; 1
trampled on them. The charges Douglas made ogatoi
him, from out the past, were such as, as Lincoln irrefutt
bly proved, might at most be laid on the shoaldera 4
others, but not on his; and as to the present and futui
he answered him in a manner that made the insiooatid
of radical tendencies absolutely ridtuulous. The convd
tions and views to which he confessed "ere not odIJ
moderate, butso cons^ervative that one might feel onoBul
ited to ask Fate: If that be the slandard-bearer d

DOUGLAS AND LL\C01-N. 2S9

the party of progress, can the child be yet born who will
see the day when the clanking of the chains of slaves will
no longer be heard in the land of liberty? In respect to
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, ho
still occupied precisely the same position he hud assumed
in his bill upon that question. The obligation to give
tlie south iin ellicient fugitive-slave law he recognized ab-
solutely. Concerning the power of congress to prohibit
the slave trade between the states, he declared thut ha
had as yet formed no fixed opinion, but stated that, even
if such a power existed, he would advocate its exercise
only in case it was done, as in the abolition of slavery in
the District. of Columbia, "upon some conservative prin-
ciple." The "right and duty" of congress to prohibit
slavery in all the territories he advocated without reserva-
tion, but was of opinion that, if a territory in which it was
prohibited gave itself a slavery constitution, it mast be
admitted as a stale, much as the increase of slave states
was to be iamfuted,' And lastlj', be emphatically ex-
pressed the conviction that political and social equality
could never be granted the negroes.''

Lincolji Itimself said that these answers would please
his really abolitionist friends least of all. Eat whomso-
ever tliuy might please or displease, they were certainly
not ambiguous, anil hence every voter could lind in tbem

'DetwtM, pp. 88. «0.

»"1 wiltsny. ttiuii, . , , tiiat I am not nor ever have been in
fHvgr of niiiki[Ji; vuli-ra or juroni of uv^iruee, nor of qualifflns tlicin
tu hold olTici.', iiur to intermarry witb wliile people) and I will enj. In
addilioa to tills, that tliero is a pli.vsioiil difference between the while
und black racro, which I bellere will forever forbid the two riicef
living logellier on tiTtna of social nnd political cqualit;. ... 1
give him it>(]u^IaA| the moat Eotpniu pledge that 1 will, to the very
last, stanJ by the l.i>v v( thia etate. which forbida the marrying of
while people with negroes." lUU,, p. 138.
IB

2d0 Buchanan's election — exd op 35th co»ob£ss.

a clear answer to the qaestion, whether niid to what ex-
teat he would find io bim a representative of his own
views. But for whom waa tiiis possible in Douglas's
case? When, in a speech, bo charged BuchaniiD with
inconsistency, Lincoln asked him: "Kas Douglas ih« ^jt-
tilusive riijltt, in this country, of being on all eidus of a/l
qiiegtiotiif' " ' The sneer was a cutting one, but it was de-
served. Lincoln's hardest task was not to prove that
Douglas's views were pemioious and wrong, but to wring
from him unambiguous dcclarutions as to what his opin-
ions really were. When Lincoln asked him whether ho
would submit to u decision of the supreme court of the
United Stales which denied a state the right to abolish
slavery wilhiu ils limits, be answered that Lincoln's in-
tention was to cast suspicion on the suproine court by
representing it as possible that it would violate the con-
stitution. Such a decision was impossible; it would I
an act uf moral higii treason, of whicli no judj^e would
ever be guilty.^ But were not the republicans convinu
that the Drud Scott decision was a gross violation of tbM
constitution, and did not Douglasseverely reproach then
because, notwitlistanding this their conviction, they dM
not unconditionally submit to it, but were endeavorim"
by all legal means to overthrow the principles prtM
olaimed in it? Henoo, Lincoln's ({uestion would ban
been perfectly warninted, even if it had not been alread]!
so often proved that what Douglas curtly declared to tl
an absolute impossibility followed directly from the Dm
Scott decision.* His answer was, therefore, no answerfl
and no one was more fully aware of this fact than bto

I Debutes, p. 23a
■'Ibid,, p. 96.

* In a lator s|>i>ech lie adiJiii.'ui] proof ot ihis in a lew cleat nod o
cUe sentences of trrefulable logic 8ee Ibid., p. 184.

self. He wonlii nut answer, because he could say neither
yes nor no. If lie said yes, he would not receive a single
vote in all Illinois; if be said no, he would blunt the edge
i)f his best weapon against the republicans by putting
himself in contradiction with himself.

As Douglas's extraordinary, dialectical skill was sup-
ported by complete iinscru|iulousiiess, he might really be
compared to the shorn and oilod Reynard; but in Lin-
coln he had found an Isengi-jn with teeth able to hold
hiin 30 fast that all his arts wiiro of no avail. But at
last, on tho most important (juestion, he was compelled
to say so miicli that he said too much.

Doujjias, said Lincoln, can no more be torn away from
the Dred Scott decision than a, stubborn beast from the
stick in wiiich it has locked its teeth. And yet, what did
tho Dred Scott decision make of his squatter sovereignty?
Its existence was decreed away.

This was, indeed, as clear as the noonday sun; but
Douglas dared not admit it, for the person in the free
states who had allowed himself to be won over to the
Kansas-Nebraska bill fonnd his justification before hU
own political and moral conscience in the fact that the
original democratic principle of popular sovereignty was
substituted for the Missouri restriction. As early as the
12tli of June, 1S57, in a speech at Springfield, he claimed
that the Dred Scott decision was a confirmation of his
doctrine.' He did not now, at first, repeat this absurd
claim. lie did not even flatly deny that the decision and
the doctrine contradicted each other, bui was satisfied
with pointing out that the incompetency of the territorial

' "IleocB the great principle of popular BovereiKiit; and s^lf-gov-
eniinent is siistuiiied and flruily establislieil by tlie authority of this
deulslon." Nieolay and Hay, Abr. Liocoln. Tlie Century Magazine,
June, 18S;, p. 21S.

202 bdobakah's ELKcrioN — end op 35tb co:40BsaB.

legislature in relation to slavery was first deduced oaljti
from the incompetency of congress established by thd
decision, and ihen added : Whether the court will extend
lis decision that far is of interest theoretically, but prac-1
tically of no importance; as a matter of fact, the will of
the people alone ia still controlling, for slavery cannot
exist a day where it has not the people and the laws on
it3 side.' This was again the substitution of a bold as-
sertion for the answer asked to the question put. The
question was not what would actually happen, but what
was the law.

Lincoln now formulated his question in such a way thai
every loop-bole of escape in Reynard's constitutionalU
dwelling-place seemed stopped. "Can the people of a
United Stales Territory, in any lawful way, against the
wish of any citizen of ihe United States, exclude slavery
from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitu-
lion)"

To refuse an answer was to admit defeat. But must
not every answer given come in conflict either with the
Dred Scolt decision or with the doctrine of popular sov-
ereignty, since they stood in opposition to one another
like yea and nay ?

The answer which Douglas gave, on the 28th of August
in Freeport, was an unsurpassable masterpiece of sopli-
istry. " It matters not what way the supreme court
may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether
slavery may or may not go into a territory under the
constitution, the people have the lawful means to intro-
duce it or exclude it, as they please, for the reason that
slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless il
is supported by local police regulations. Those police
regulations can only be established by the local legisla-

> Etebatee, p. i9.

ture, and if tho people are opposed to slavery they will
I'lect representatives to that body who will, by unfriendly
legislation, effectually prevent the introduction of it into
their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their
legislation will favor its extension. ITence, no matter
what the decision of the supreme court may be on that
abstract question, still the right of tho people to make a
slave territory or a free territory is perfect and complete
under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my
answer satisfactory on that point."

In one respect, indeed — and in the most essential
one — these stateracnla were entirely "satisfactory" to
Lincoln, as Douglas soon learned to his cost; but they
were not an answer. They seemed lo be an answer only
because of the artful smuggling in of the wor<ls "lawful
means" and "right" in a more ample exposition of the
assertion ho had made previously concerning the devel-
opment which alTaii-s would and must practically take.
Lincoln had not asked what the "right" of the peo|»le
of the territory " under the Nebraska bill " was. nor
whether they could exclude slavery by means in thuiii-
solves "lawful," but whether they could do it "in any
lawful way"— that is, whether, according to theaulhuri-
tative interpretation of the constitution given in the Pred
Scott decision, they had the legal right to do it.

But although Douglas's statements were no answer, one
could be inferred from them; and the inferences to be
drawn from them were the grave of Douglas's presiden-
tial hopes.

Lincoln refuted the assertion that slavery could not
exist an hour among a population averse to it, without
police regulations, by simply calling attention to the facts
that slavery had been introduced into the thirteen colo-
nies, and had taken root there without such police regu-

29J: BtrClTANAN'B BLEOTIOi: — END OF 35tH OONCKESS.

lalions, altliough the majorityof the population did not I
even desire it, and that Dred Scott' had been kept I
in slavery, spite of a law which was held to be valid.'
Our experience, he said, has shown thiit it needs not only J
a hiw, but the enforcoment of that law, to exclude slav- 1
ery. In the newly-invented "do-nothing sovereignty,"
by means of which the territories wished to protect them- 1
selves from alitveiv, the original popular sovereignty
seemed as diluted as tlic homeopathic soup made from j
Ihe shadow of a chicken that had died of starvatic
But even in this form popular sovereignty was irrooon- ]
cihible with the Dred Scott decision: for the latter cov- j
ered the whole ground, and two things cannot occupy I
the same space at the same time. Douglas had, on the I
!lth of June, 185(S, in the senate, in answer to questions |
put to bim by Trumbull, declared, in the most various 1
forms, that it was for the federal supreme court to decide I
whether the population of a territory might exclude slav-
ery before the adoption of a state constitution. Now iio J
gave the claim that the territorial legislature w«W do it in I
the face of the decision of the United States supreme courl.l
such a form, that it seemed the self-evident consequffliool
thereof was, that it inii//u properly do it. But the members-l
of the legislature were obliged to take an oath to support!
the constitution of the United Slates. Do ihey keep thai \
outh if, by their legislation, they make it impossible lo
hold as property what, according lo the constitution of
the United States, is lawful property/ Does that oath
not impose an obligation to pass such laws as a re reqnirwlJ
to make the enjoyment of the rights gninted by tho con-f
stitution possible! Is it not an evident violation of Uiatl

> ADd ruuny tliuiiHHnJH it utIierK. lu all the older nortliirestern ,1
ttrritoriea anil slates slavery had actually esiateJ, noiwIthatftndlD^ J
the ordlnatice of 17ST.

DODGLAS AMD LINCOLN.

295

oath to pass laws the object of which is to prevent the
enjoj-ment of those rights! Will not, and must not, the
courts declare such laws to be unconstitutional, and
therefore null and void? Is not congress boiind to pro-
led and support, bj' its legislation, every right grounded
on the constitution? Is tliHt not the only reason that
(-•ompels the opponents on principle of slavery to recognize
llie provisions of the fugitive-slave law as binding, and
makes obedience to them a iluty?

To ask these questions was to answer them. Notwith-
standing this, Douglas, perhaps, did not need to pay any
special attention lo llifm, so long as they came only
from republican mouths, and so long as he thought only
of his seat in the senate, to the keeping of which tlie only
thing necessary was that those who had hitherto been his
friends in Illinois should remain faithful to him. But
was not the south sutticienlly interested in the answering
of them! And how would he recommend himself to the
sl&vucracy as a presidential candidate by asserting that
they received, in the decisions of the supreme court con-
cerning the powers of the territorial legislatures relating
to slavery only thankworthy material for scientific essays
and forensic debating exercises, because the territorial
legislatures were uncjuestioniibly free lo put them in the
libraries unread, or to throw the paper on which thoy
were written into the waste-basket, and by their actions
cheat the slaveholders out of their recognized constitu-
tional rights? That Douglas did not recognize what im-
portance the proclamation of this doctrine must have in
determining the attitude of the slave states towards his
candidacy, is simply inconceivable; and that he never-
theless proclaimed it is, therefore, in view of his charac-
ter, explicable only on the assumption that be considered
not only his re-election to the senate, but, more thau all,

29(> buchana:

- END OF 35th CONOEESB.

the election of ihe number of democratic ]>rcsiiIeDiial
electors in the five states necessary to insure the victory
of the dcmociutic party, impossible wilhoul its proclumu-
tion.

This it was that gave the electoral campaign oF tlie
year 1S58, in Illinois, its immense import;ince, and hence
Lincoln and the republicans came out of it the real vic>
tors, althuugh the democrats, owing to an inequitablo
division of the flecloral districts,' obtained so many scats
in the legislature that they were able to send Douglas to
Washington again. Tlie struggle reached its highest
pointof intensity in Douglas's speech at FroejMjrt and Lin-
coln's answer at Jonesburough ; the decision uf the main
question was made there, and the opposite decision by
the election on tlie comparatively secondary (juestion did
not alter this iu any resjiect. There Lincoln had given
irrefutable proof that the republican party, by adopting
the project of Greeley and his associates, would have sold
their world-historic mission for loss than a raess of pot-
tage; for that mission was at an end the moment that
party no longer based its right of existence on the strug-
gle for a moral principle. But how could it maintain the
claim that it was doing this, after il had placed itself, in
such a manner, in the service of the man who was now
convicted out of his own mouth of holding it to be allow-
able to degrade constitutional law, so far as It related
to the slavery questioi? to a. mocking phnntasmngory.
after he had long since annoonced with cynical frankness
that, as a statesman true to the constitution, he had noth-
ing to do with a moral principle in tbo political treat-
ment of that question i Theru, too, Douglas was forced
to express himself on the rent that ran through the dem-
ocratic party in such a way that even its apparent closing

'See the ilvlaiU. Dobatea, [i, M.

IIOUGLAS ASn THE SLAVOCRACT.

297

could never bo effected. Bat this was iLe most evident
proof of tlie irrepiesaibloness of the conflict produced
thus far by the history of the slavery question. Doiig-
liia's conipiuisance towards the slavoeracry bnd found no
limit either in expediency or equity or honor or law or
morality, but only in political possibility; and yet it wns
not fortuitous circumstiinccs that led to thi) slavocracy's
bringing on the catastrophe by his political immolation:
it was an inevitable consequence of this his {position,
under tlie circumstances existing, that he compelled the
slavocracy to do it.

The slavocracy did not wait for the presidential cam-
paign to annonnce that, notwithstanding all he had done
for theio, they looked upon hiraonlyas an enemy, whose
political annihilation they would endeavor to accomplish
by all means in tbuir power. There iiad been no lack of
bitter words uttered against him during tlie last session
of congress. Now the favorable ojiportunity whs imme-
(liiitety used to follow them up by corresponding acts.
The influence of the administration was employed openly
and emphatically against his re-election; and the cause was
unquestionably not mainly Buchanan's personal animos-
ity, but the imperative demand of the slavocracy. John
Siidell was, according to his own admission, very active,
as one of their principal agents, against Douglas, and
made extensive use of the convincing power of ringing
arguments.' In the bouse of representatives. Morris, of
Illinois, afterwards read some sentences from the letter
of a member of the cabinet to an oHicial, in which it was
said to be the duty of the well-intentioned to take a de-
cided stand against all democratic politicians who were
affected with the Douglas heresies and did not repent

I H. S. Foots, Cusljtt of Gctnlnisceoces, p, IHQ,

BlJCHANAS'a HI.ECTION-

' SSth conghess.

and do penance; for tbev did much more Iiarm than the
republicans.' On the 4th of November, two days after
the election, the Chicago IJfrald, the principal organ of
the national (i. c, administration) democrats, admitted
that these manoeuvres had not remained without result.
Immediately before the election, it was said, it had been
learned that, notwitlistiinding previous contrary assur-
ances, "the entire Catholic vote" of tlic city woold be
cast for Douglas. Embittered at this. Ibe national dem-
ocrats had voted en laiisne for the lepiibliran candidate,
"as the most eifectual way of defealmg Douglas,"

That, Bpite of those attacks from the rear, Douglas re-
mained the winner, only made the prospects of a demo-
cratic victory in the presidential election worse. It had
now been sliown thai the views represented by Douglas
were in liarmony with those of an overwheimiiig majority
of the democrats in the free stutes. That these states
would agree to the demand of the i?oulh and saoritjce their
convictions together with their leader, in order that the
two wings of the party might beat in unison once more,
was, at least, not very probable. But, on the other hand,
it became mora cerir.in every day that the south would
make the demand and insist upon it, without regard to
any consecjuence, however possible or certain. The radi-
cals there had long since drawn the same inferences as
Lincoln from the Dred Scott decision. Douglas, refer-
ring to the non-intervention principle of the democratic
party, bad euipliatically declared the demand for federal
laws for the protection of slavery in the territories an
absurdity.' But it bad scarcely become known that Kan-
sas bud rejected the proposition of English's bill when this

I CongT. Globe, ai S
1 DebatM, p. ISi.

a. 35tli Congr., App., p, 174.

LINCOLN AND TBE

29:>

demand, too, was made with great deOnlteness by tlie
Eicbmond Enquirer and the Cbarleston Xeioa} And the
soutbern radicals and Lincoln met not only in this con-
crete cjaestion, but their jiKlgmciits on the Dature of the
evil were also entirely alike; and for this reai>oii they
could bare no more in common tlian he with Douglas,
although he had made his infallible remedy of popnlar
sovereignty still more infallible by causing it to evapo-
rate with the Dred Scott tieeision into "do-nothing sover-
eignty." They had, like Lincoln, long before Seward,
recognized and proclaimed the irrepressi bleness of the
conflict. As early as 1850, the Richmond En-fuirer had
gone a great way beyond Lincoln in the drawing of cor-
rect conclusions. The assertion that the struggle would
have to continue until one of the opposite principles had
fully conquered the other and ruled alone, it followed up
by saying that the disruption of the Union could not put
an end to llie struggle, but would only aggravate it.*

Men might dispute about the correctness of this latter
assertion until the decision of facts ended the uonirt>-
verHy, Proof that the former was indisputable accumn-

I The flrBi-nientifmed wrote ; " ll is not Hiiffloient Ihnl Ihe rfectsion
oT tlie supreme court prevents coiiRreRs nnil all iu delegntw from the
prohibition nf slavery in a territory. There muEt be jioaltive legisla-
tive ijiiactuieDt ; a civil and a criminal code for the protuction of slave
properlf In the territories ought to be provided." Tlie Indejiendenl,
Sept. SO. 1(I5S.

'"Social forma so widely differing ns those of domestic slavery aii'l
latLenipted) uoiversal liberty canool long co-exist in the great repub-
lic of Christendom. They cannot be eijunlly adapted to the wants
and interesla of society. The one form or tlie other luuat be very
wrong, very ill suited to promote the quiet, the peace, the happiness,
the morality, the religion, and general well-being of communitiea.
Disunion will not allay excitoment and investigation, much leas beget
luting peace, Tlie war between the two systems rages everywhere,
and will continue to rage till the one conquers and the other is ex-

3LtO

BL'CUANAn's election — ESD OF 3jTl

laled every day. Id the development of ideas and of actual
circunistaDCcs — in every department of life — in the
slave states.

The old bonds were fast wearing away, and spite of
every effort there was no replacing them by now ones.
It was now universally recognized tbat it was very de-
sirable, if not necessary, to establish a closer connec-
tion with the Pacific coast by the building of a railway.
Hut people scumod as far as ever from the realization of
the idea, not because of tcohnio or financial ditlicuUtes,
but because they could not agree on the route to be
choaen. The question was discu3Si3d in eongrcs.^ till all
were sick of it, and every speaker was able to adduce the
most various grounds in favor of the line advocated by
him. But an agreement as to some route would finally
have been reached were it not that iho road would liave
to be built either through slave soil or free soil. That
was the one insurmountubledilRculty; for the idea which
had, indeed, been also expressed, of building two roads
at the same time, could not stand the most superficial
criticism. Not a cent nor an acre of land was to bo got
from the south for a road that ran through free territorv,
because such a road could insure it no direct advantage,
and would, moreover, accelerate the already alarming
growth of the natural prejwnderance of the free states.
But just as little could the north agree to have the road
built through slave territory, since, looked at from an
economic point of view, its construction through slave
territory would have been folly, and would besides — at

t^rmiiiatei]. I', with dJBUuiun, we oould Imvo ' the all atiJ end nil
tiKire,' the iailucement would be strong to ntteiUjil it. But such ■
lueaaurH would but inspire uur European ond American nilverswlea
with adilitioniil wal." Tlio Richmond Enquirer, May 0, 1836. Th«
ttrtide was addremed to South Carolina.

THE PCBLIC LANDS. 301

least after a short time — have directly promoted llie act-
ual tflking possession of new tracts of land by slavery. To
justify tlio immense saciitice ilemandert by tho gignnlio
work only military reasons could be advanced, and tbeso
reasons helped the Boulh to overcome tlin constitutional
objections in ibe way; but, even from a military point of
view.a southern line bad nr> advantage whatever.

In respect lo the public lands, likewise, a marked con-
flict of interests had gradually been developed. So long
as they had been treated on the one hand only as a source
of income for the federal government, and, on the other,
had been ceded to tho states and territories for certain
puhlic pLtrposes, the land policy of the Union had re-
mained uninfluenced by the slavery queslion. But this
ceased to ba the case when the idea began to bo enter-
tained that the financial as well as all the other interests
of the Union would be most effectually promoted if the
direct advantage to be reaped from the sale of the a^nr
juiMicns was looked upon as a matter of secondary mo-
ment, and the prime consideration vcere to accelerate its
settlement as much as possible. This fundamental idea
of the later homestead law was brought befoTO congress
OS early as 1S4(S, At first, however, it met with little
favor. The number of those was not small who thought
a scornful witticism the only answer appropriate to the
absurd proposal — like the host in tho biblical parable, to
invite everybody out of the highways and by-ways to
select for himself from the domain of Uncle Sam a re-
spectable pieco of land to bis own liking, as a free gift.
But during the next succeeding years, steps were taken,
in certain dclinite cases, lo realize the idea. A beginning
was made with Oregon by a law of September 27, 1800,'
and the experience there bad did Dot deter congress

■Stat at L,,IX, p. 407.

302 bl-c;ianan's ki,i:ctioj; — end of 35tu conoeess.

from the further pursuit of this policy; for, in a law
of July 22, I85i, relating to the territories of New Mexico,
Kansas antl Nebraska, it was le-adopled, at least for tho
first iiiimed.' In the house of representatives a majority
had been gained for a general homestead law eren in 1833,
and the bill had warm friends in both parties. Tlio senate,
howev-er,\vas of more conservative mind. At first it agreed
only to a species of payment on account in tho so-called
Graduation Act of August 4, IS'il,' '" which the price of
the public lands was fixed in accirdance wiiU ihe num-
ber of years which they liad been already in the market,
and with a sliding scale, down to twelve and one-half
cents |)er acre. Grow, of Pennsylvania, however, intro-
duced a new homestead law at every session. His oppo-
nents, indeed, subsequently stated that he did this only
that he might bo gratefully remembered by his constitu-
ents; that piiblio opinion looked upon the homestead
idea as disposed of, because enoui^li had been dnnt; by
tho Graduating Act. This was not so. The ideaeteadily
gained ground, but at the same time gradually assumed
the character of a party question. The republicans' ad-
vocacy' of it became more and more empluitieand more
and more united. There were many democrats who did
not allow themselves to be determined on that account
to oppose what they had hitherto defended. But the
attitude of the slavocmcy bL-oame more and more de-
cidedly hostile. The lesson of the vain struggle for
Kansas showed that they lacked the Imiuau material —
slaves as well as freemen — successfully lo stand the
struggle of competition with the north in the makingof
settlements. A homestead law woald necessarily acoel-
eratethegrowlh of the preponderance of the free states

■Stat. BtU.X. p. 806.
nUd., X, p. OTi.

CONDmON OF THE aODTH.

303

much more tban a railway running north of Mdson and
Dixon's line Lo the Pacific ocean.

Another experience of recent years taught the same
lesson miicli more impressively, because it placed before
the eyes of the slavocracy, in a much more glaring light.
the fact that the lack of human material left their posi-
tion weaker every year. We know ihat their leaders
confessed that the conquest of Kansas could not be made,
because conquests for slavery could not be effected with
partisans of slavery only, and because sueh conquests re-
quirerl slaves first and foremost; and because it had not
been possible to procure them. At the same time, an-
other deeply significant illustration of this great truth
was gi%'en. It appeared that the slavocracy- did not have
enough slaves to assert all that was in their undisputed
legal possession.

A census had been taken in Missouri in 1856, Its re-
sults rehuing lo the movement of population accorde<l
with the liigli-flown speeches on the universal superiority
o( slavery over free labor as the basis of social order like
the lolling of a funeral bell with the over-merry songs
of a tippling party. When, in February, 1857, a strong
resolution' was moved in the state legislature against all
efTorts towards emancipation, Gratz Brown said, in the
house of representatives, thai the figures of the census
contained the proof "that this abolishment of slavery,
which you are here seeking to stifle and suppress by paper
niunifestofs, is already in force, and is fast gathering a
strength and inoinentum that must soon crush out all op-
position."' The totiil slave population had, indeed, in-
creased twelve thousand four hundred and ninety-two
since 1851; but of that number ten thousand two hundred

'"Tile census is tlie ni--t of gruduul emancipntion in Missouri."
Speech of Jaiiuarj* 13, 1857, Tlie Nuw York Tribune, Martli It, 1S57.

304 Buchanan's electiok — v.

■ SoTD CONGRKSS.

and thirty fell to the share of twelve counties, nnd only
two thousand two hundred and aixty-two to the remain-
ing ninety-five. In twenty-five counties their numbtii-
had decreased from twentj'-one thoiisund six liundretl
and twenty-six to seventeen thousand and eighty-four.
During the same period the white population hail in-
creased two hundred and live thousand seven hundred
and three. The ratio oi increase, IJiorcfore, of tlie two
classes of population was as one to sixteen. Horeover,
the increase of the white population was least where
slavery was most strongly intrenched,' and vice vitea.
This, indi-eil, undoubtedly showed ihat, as Brown said,
the pupulatiun immigrating from Europe and the other
states did not consider slavery a blessing. And that this
expulsion of slavery by free labor, within a oomparalively
short time, would lind ex|irc8Sion in legislation Was indis-
putable, as the number o! newspapers ivhich advocated
the gradual abolition of slavery steadily increased.'

De Bow's Coiii-mercial litiview drew from these facts
tiie inference that the border status' could bo preserved

■ In tbe twelve counties meiitioneil, " lying chiefly in the cciitrul
belt oC territury tiiiii Uirdetd the Missouri clvur," only twenty-oiie
thouBaud two hunili'pi] aiul four. lu the ten couiitiea boniuring on
Iowa, on the otiier Imnd, the white population increflsed trom twt^uty>
five thousand live hundred oad Bisty-foor to flfiy-Buven thousand (wo
hundred and fifty-tive, and that ot the slaves fruni six hundred nnil
thirty -three to ei^ht hundred iiud seventy-one.

>In genoi'ai. as Brown correctly said, not "as a mere act of hu-
nmnity to the ahive," but "out of regard for the white mnn," '■nsa
labor question." On t ho attitude of the prois, see the Independent.

iaat

. 1038.

» rumored that John U. Clayton entertained the thought,
bv>fore his denlb. of laboring for tbe abolition of slavery i[i Delnvrare.
The MilFord (Del.) AVuui and AdvertUer wrM^ in reference thereto:
"We look at the likened of Clayton now hanging over our table, and
can see un additional rny of honor dowoing Itis brow." The Init-
l)endienl, January 0, 1B5[>.

KOETHEEN J'SOSPKRllT,

305

for slavery only on condition that the slave states left the
Union a:id formed a new confederation,' True, in this
connection, the Kansas troubles were mentioned in ii way
from which it might be concluded thai that very influen-
tial periodical believed itself warranted in tracing the
danger to slavery in the border states solely to their
direct contact with the free states. Whether the alavoc-
racy could have derived any consolation from this did
not need discussion, sincethc same complaints came from
Texas as frura Missouri; and, in the case of Texas, such
an explaniition of the threatening phenomena was out of
the question. The slavocracy had looked upon the pro-
vision, repeatedly suggested, that Texas might be divided
into several states, as a great achievement in their inter-
est; and now the New Orleans Crescent declared that
the opponents of slavery ^ would, in live years, have such
a preponderance in western Texas that they would be
able to dictate the law to the whole state, or to constitute
themselves a state.'

As the material preponderance of the north became
ever greater and more apparent, and began to make itself
felt more strongly and directly, the thinking minds of
the south naturally turned their attention more and more
to the cause of the difference in the rapltlity of that de-
velopment. In Calhoun's day it was sought for in the
economic policy of the federal government; and those
who looked for it there were certainly the victims, to a

' XXin. pp. nai. 023. '■ Under the prcscnl Union, tUe border aUt^s
must all in a aliorl time be lost to u«. W^re thnt Union at an end
tlie suutli would at once tiecome a unit, and continue auch for per-
liapa a century. The ternia ut a new confedttHtioa would secure
Ihie."

iTbe alavocratjc press often poitiI«d out that here, as well as in
Missouri, the Oerniuns stood in the foremost ranka of them.

> See the Independent of Ociohei* 23, 1M7.
20

306 Buchanan's klection — knd of 35th oonobe88.

greater or lesser degree, of honest self-delusion. Nor had
this self-delusion entirely ceased even now. Wherever
the sins of the federal government were told, this chapter
was not forgotten, and most extensive use was made in it
of italics. But the complaints which, in this respect, were
still deemed well grounded were no longer accompanied
l)V the claim that those sins needed onlvto be avoided in
order that the two halves of the Union might henceforth
advance with equal strides in the path of progress. Men
no longer concealed from themselves or from others that
the ultimate cause of the difference lay in the opposition
between slavery and universal freedom. But, on the
other hand, they were much further than in the days of
Calhoun from inferring from this that, in the second half
of the nineteenth centur\% slavery was a terrible chain
about the members cf a civilized people. The permanent
existence of slavery had become the starting-point and
object-point of thought. Facts could, therefore, no Luger
be allowed to speak, but had to be talked down more
systematically than ever, and with increasing violence.
Because people in the south far more than in the north
were conscious ho'v actual circumstances conformed
themselves more and more to the logical postulate that
contraries must mutually exclude each other, they de-
clared, in an increasingly confident tone, according as
their own weakness became more evident, the society
based on freedom to be irrevocably doomed to decay.
As, in the entire aggressive policy of the south, weakness
had always been the sharpest spur to action, so now
weakness made systematic self-deception, carried to the
extent of pure madness, an inevitable necessity. On the
other hand, the intentional self-deception springing from
this root was now, as the south's aggressive policy had
been from the beginning, the best proof that the slavoc-

BLAVEBY AND FREEOOU.

307

racy wcro really not deficient either in tha power of
feeling the import of hard facta or of understanding

them. We here meet not with anything; new, but only
with the old interisiBed and bearing a more distinct
stamp. It is the old method in the madness of the gluri-
Bcation of their peculiur institution and in the condemna-
tion and aspersion of free society; and the method leads
to the adoption and execution of a consistent, practical,
brutal, realistic policy, destitute of every feeling of con-
sideration or regard — one whose cold calculations were
made with the most remarkalile certainty.

The idea is still widely prevalent on both sides of the
Atlantic that the spokesmen of tho sla\'ocracy, in the
press and on the stage, knew very well how monstrous
an absurdity it was to laud slavery as an inestimable
source of blessings, and to declare universal freedom tho
quagmire in which all that was bad and worthless grew
luxuriantly, and all that was good became stunted or died.
But if this were true, we would have to assume that they
wished consciously and deliberately to lead the slave states
to rum ; for, absurd as were their words, their actions
were in complete harmony with them. Although they
continued to hanker after a trade of their own, tho de-
velopment of ihe power of capital, and to some extent
of independent industries, and to lake counsel amonjf
themselves how these wishes were to bo fulfitled; still the
recognition of the increasing ascendency of the north over
the south did not strengthen tho endeavor to make as
much room as possible for the vigorous action, side by
side with slavery, of llie life-awakening spirit found
where freedom prevails and servitude is denied a foothold.
Oa the contrary, their study was directed, more ener-
getically and more consciously than ever, towards giving
the thought, will and feeling of the people a more and

Buchanan's kleotion — end of 35th conobkbs.

more exclusively skvocratic basis, towards consolidating
the views and (alleged) interests of all classes of the peo-
ple raore and more strictly on this basis, and thus sep-
ai'atin^ the slave stales more and more from tbecomman-
iiy of the occidental civilized world as a whole completu
in itself.

It was not only the newspaper writers and other pro-
fessional politicians with a more radical tendenoy who
wero intensely active in the advocacy of this policy.
They, of course, made tlie most noise, and spoke most
frequently in a wild, agitalive tone. Fart of the most
effective work, however, was done where politics should
have been excluded on principle, and where moral con-
siderations would have demanded al least the greatest dis-
cretion. Prominent southerners liiul already declared un-
reservedly that the whole struggle, in the end, amounted
to the question, whether slavery was morally wrong. It
was highly signiScant, therefore, that this question was
now more and more loudly and more and more abso-
lutely answered in the negative by the different churches.
This bad, in 1857, led to a further rupture among the
Presbyterians of the New School. When the General
Assembly that met in Cleveland very mildly expressed its
disapproval of the course of certain Presbyterians of the
south in calling slavery "an ordinance of God," the
southern members protested against it;' and, when their
protest was rejected, they resolved to call a convention
at Washington, in order to organize a new General
Assembly, with the guaranty that it would not concern
itself with the slavery question.' The Methodist Church

iTIie protest says: " We protest that such action is, under pr«aent
candiiiona, the virru.il exscinding of the south, whatever be the mo-
tires of those who do the deed."

> See the acts in the IndepetuUnl of June, 11, 1837.

POSITION OF 'I

South took a still more significant step in 1858. Their
"general rules" forbade "the buyingand selling of men,
women and children with an intention to enslave them."
This provision was now repealed, for the reason that its
wording was ambiguous, and might be considered "an-
tagonistic" to ihe institution of slavery, with which the
church bad nothing to do.' At the same time great
stress was laid on this, that "a strong desire for the ex-
punclion of said rule has been expressed in nearly all
parts of our ecclesiastical connection."

These demonstrations of the churches did more to
shake the Union than the most intemperate speeches of
the politicians. Not until people, on both sides, who
wished to live simply and rightly in peace with God and
their fellow-men, engaged in the struggle with the utmost
firmness, did the day of the decision dawn. And to these
people came, in the resolutions of church meetings, the
voice of admonition, with terrible impressiveness, saying:
Hb that is not for me is against me, and he that is not
against me is for me. We have already seen that, dec-
ades before, the charge was rightly lodged against the
churches, that they were the strongest bulwark of slavery.
But, in the north, one after another of them had oeased
to be such, more or less; and in the south, even when
they did not say so directly, their teachings were un-
derstood to mean that it was the duty of a good citi-
zen and true Christian not only not to oppose slavery
one's self, but to protect it now and in the future against
every attack, no matter from what quarter it came or in
what form it was made. In neither section did these
people want to lay hands on the work of the fathers

1 " Except in enforcing the iJuties ot tnasters and sprvants, as net
forth in the Holy Scriptures." It was added that this alimild not be
looked upon as an expression of opinion od the Atricon elave trade.

310 bdcdasam'b

-END OF SStH CO^fCKESS.

of the republic. In the south itself the great majority
of lliem would have rande personal sacrlDces in order
that they might be able to transmit that n-ork stronger,
grander and mightier than ever to their children and
iheir children's children. What would liavo furnished
the strongest i)roi)s to the tottering structure, if iJie con-
flict had not been an irrepressibla one, now served, on
the opposing sides, as the most powerful lover of destruo-
tion under its foundation. It fell, and could not hut fall,
because, out of the clash of diametrically opposed in-
terests, views of cthico-religious duly arose among the
core of the people.

To make use directly of agitation, aa some of the clergy
had done for yeara, liie churches as such still considered
to be impro]>er. That the evil effects of the position
thi>y hud taken ^- a position which may bo most properly
described as the rejection and condemnation on {)rinciple
of all criticism — reached these proportions so soon, might,
therefore, be a matter of surprise, were it not that the
tichools became more and more preparatory institutions
to the churches.

Up to this time even the moat ultra radicals had asked
nothing more than that the school-books imported from
the north should contain no word condemnatory of slav-
ery. Now, there were a great many who did not deem this
sufficient. Mora and more frequently and more and more
emphatically was the demand made that southerners
should prepare their own school-books, because nothing
could be had from the north that the south needed. An
author and a publisher had, indeed, been found here and
there who endeavored to meet this demand. The paper
and typography bore sorry witness to the industrial de-
velopment of the south; but the good intentions of the
publisher made up for ibo mechanical defects of the books.

BOUrnERN SCHOOL-BOOKS.

311

The most ardent patriots did not rest satisfied to care for
the development of a " sound " s'avocratic spirit in the ris-
ing generation; titey clothed venumous calumnies of the
north and of society in which slavery did not exist in the
garb of graninmlical and aritliiiietical examples.' The
gospel of hatred began to be jireached to the youth. We
need scarcely say that tliese wild e.xcessos did not yet
Dicet with general approval. But the admonition that it
was a political ni^cessity to saturate the entire school sys-
tem with the unadulterated slavoeratic spirit found an
attentive and willing ear among an ever-widening circle
of people. A gentleman in Georgia published in IS5T a
series of articles in De Bow's Commercial lieoicw, intended
to show that the estublishinent of a "Cetitial Southern
University " was necessary, and why it was necessary.'
A peaceable seiileiiient of the difficulty with the north
was, he said, impossible; and, in order to insure victory
to the south in the approaching conllict, there should be
only one way of thinking in the south on the question at
issue.*

1 this iioiiil, see L^ Slantun. Tlip Clmrch and

to be aFtum'aj'ds condensed, i
jur niuDJcipal aod eta

1 Por furthci- data o
Slavery, pp. 1U5, 1U(I.

>"Towai'da H'liich should ladia
tensified anil rtfli^elfd, tlm
Bchoola, scndetuies nnd mlkgeti."

' "That there dueH exist a [loliticnl necessity tor tbeiwtnblislimcntal
an iiiBtituticju uf Icaiuingol the ebarucler nituilud to — au instilutiun
around winch shoU duBlor tbe hopes aud the pride ol the south, the
teachiiJgB ut wliidi shall Lie thorouglily Mjutliern ; one pledged to the
defense and perpetuation of that forui of civilizHtion peculiar to the
slaveholding stales — will nut, perhaps, bequestioned, ultlioughBome
may enterluin duubla us to tbe preasuro of tliat ueeessily. . , .
The difficulty between the south mid the north can never arrive at b
peaceable settleinenl. . . . The first step, then, which tbe south
should take in preparing for the great cuulest ahead ot her ia to se-
care harmony at home. . , , Tbe University of Virginia is not
sufficiently southern, sufficiently central, sufficiently cottonised, to

BUCHANASa

- END OF 35tU COKORES8.

The Stiuthern Literary Messenger adrooated, so far as
ilie last point is concerned, the same view; and in doing
so told, with frighlful plainness, what it understood by
an unadu Iterated stavouniiic spirit, "An abolitionist is
any man who does not love slavery for- its own sake as
a divine institution; who does not worship it as the cor-
ner-stone of civil liberty; who does not adore it as tho
only possible social condition on which a permanent re-
publican government can be erected; and who does not,
in his inmost soul, desire to see it extended and perpet-
uated over the whole earth as a means of human reforma-
tion, second in dignity, importance and sacredness alone
to the Christian religion. He who does not jovo African
slavery with this lova is an abolitionist."

If this was so, the south swarmed with abolitionists.
But even if the majority of the people had not yet sunk
to this inconceivable depth, where were the men to be
found who still had the nitelleclniil, moral and even phys-
ical courage to come manfully before the peu[)Ie and say
to them: Hearken not to ibo false, ntnling preachers;
their blessings are a mockery and a oursel The entire
population had become loo much the slaves of slavery to
be aroused, by such terroristic blasphemies, to a conscious-
iioss of the abyss towards which they were staggering.
The iron law of self-preservation continued gradually to
force the slaveholdei-s to lake measures which could bo
adopted without shuddering only provided people had
li;arned to love slavery with the insane love of tUoso
Iwcotiie the great uilucaiinnal oenltT ot tlie suiitti. , , , The «s-
talilUhtuent of the uiiivtrsliy hns \xvn pro|taEuil as u iiiiiiisure c«rt&in
to produce, by its working, unity nn-i concord of uption on the part
ot tho alitveholding Btatra. The youn^ men of the south witl then tu-
aetuble and drink pun; aiid iovigurntiug drau){hta from anpolluti-d
fouiitaios. Tboy will met't together sa brotlircn, and be oducattxl in
Q potitioal faith, at one cuminou aliua muter."

EE-OPENJSO TilE SLATE TKADE.

313

fanatics, and the masses bad grown in every respect un-
able to emancipate themselves from ibeir leadership in
proportion as the unfre^dom of the slavocracy itself had
becoitnJ greater.

The fire eaters had so long rondo the people accustomed
lo tiie most monstrous assertions and demands that the
agitation for the re-opening of the stave trade attracted
litilo ultentiOQ in the north so long as it was carried un
only by a few newspapei-s. Their utterances were so far
from being taken seriously, even in the slave slates, that
Hunter of Virginia called the message of Governor
Adams of South Carolina (_IS56), in relation to this ques-
tion,' a clap of thunder from a clear sky.' The impres-
sion they made ia the froe sttttes was not, in<leed, cor-
rectly described by this rhetorical figure; but here, too,
people hei!;an to look upon the matter with dilferent eyes
m eonsequence of them. Even in the editorial rooms of
the republican newspapers in which the articles of the
Charleston .Stamiard, liiehmond Enquii-ei; Charleston
Mei'citri/, etc., were cut out to be reprinted, scarcely
more that a symptomatic importance had hitherto been
ascribed lo them. But after such an otBcial announce-
ment of a governor — and of the governor of the state
which had always manifested the greatest energy and the

1 The principal pnrta read : " Irrespective, bowever, of interest, the
act of coiiRi-eaa declaring Ilie slave traite piracy ia b brand upon ua,
which I think it important to remove. It the trade be pii'at'y tin-
slave mu»t be [iluaUer, and ao ingenuity can avoid the logical neces-
sity at suub uoitclusiun. ... 1 feel that I would be wanting in
duty if I would not urge you to withdraw your oaaent lo an act which
ia itself a direct condi-tn nation of your inalitutiona. , . . It ia per-
haps of the most sacred obt]»,'ntiuD that we eliould give JI (slavery)
the means of expausion, and that we should press it forward to a
perpetuit]' of progress." Cluskey. Political Text-book, p, 084.

^Oe Bow'a Cummer. Rev., XXII, p. 338.

814 Buchanan's election — end of SSth conqbess.

greatest skill in the propagandist agitation in the inter-
ests of slavery — it could no longer be doubted that the
eflForts to move the slavocracy to take this question into
their programme would bo suflBciently successful to pos-
sibly become in time a real danger. How soon it would
come to this, however, not even the most pessimistic
dreamed.

Henceforth the question occupied a very ])rominent
j)lace in the deliberations of the '' commercial conven-
tions" of the south, which were not, indeed, official rep-
resentative bodies, but which bore a representative char-
acter because of the position of their individual members;
and the radicals got a great deal nearer to their object
every 3'ear. In Savannah (December, 185G) W. B. Goul-
den, of Georgia, made a motion that the members of
congress should be requested energetically to bestir them-
selves to have all the laws which forbade the African
slave trade repealed.* The motion to bring the resolu-
tion up for debate was lost, after a long discussion, by
sixty -seven against eighteen votes ;2 but finally a com-
mittee was appointed to report at the next session on all
the facts relating to the re-opening of this trade.' The
scornful complaint made by Scott, of Virginia, that
Goulden's motion filled the convention with as " pious
horror" as if it were a Faneuil Hall meeting,* was there-
fore certainly not warranted. Cochran, of Alabama,
stated that his opposition was based exclusively on polit-
ical grounds; if he were convinced of the expediency of
the re-opening of the slave trade, neither the world in
arms nor "sickly sentimentality" would keep him from

1 De Bow's Commer. Eev., XXII, p. 91.

2 Ibid., p. 91.
Ubid.. p. 102.
* Ibid., p. 217.

^.j*

EHYAN S reKSOLDTION.

315

promoting it.' The speech of John A. Calhoun, of Soutli
Carolina, showed that Cochran did not stand alone- To
win their game tbe radicals only needed to produce the
proof of Scott's assertion that there was no otlier means
"to retain certain portions of tho south in tlieir alle-
giance to tlio great principle upon which our social sys-
tem reposes;" and in this tliey must be successful,
Goulden himself was, notwithstanding tho fniitlessnoss
of bis motion, so sure of his case that ho declared him-
self conrinced he would see the African slave trade re-
opened before five years had elapsed.'

At a meeting at Knoxville in August, 1S5T, the radicals
won a brilliant victory on an important question. A
resolution of Bryan, of South Carolina, demandud the
repeal of the well-known eighth article of tho Washing-
ton treaty of November 10, 18i3, in which the United
States had bound itself to maintain a squadron on the
coast of Africa for the suppression of tho slave trade.
The motion was adopted by a vote of sixty-si-x against
twenty-si-x, after a resolution of Sneed, of Tennessee, bad
been rejected by a vote of (ifty-two to forty, which had
prefaced the same demand with tho declaration that the
abolition of the slave trade was "ine.\pedient and con-
trary to the settled policy of this country." On motion
of Spratt, of Charleston, ii was further resolved, by a
majority of twelve votes, to appoint another committee
to report to the next convention on the question in all its
relations.'

The report which the majority of the committee laid
before the convention in Montgomery in May, 1S58,
reached the conclusion that, from every point of view, it
was " right and expedient " to urge tbe resumption of the

I Ds Bow'b Cktmrner. Rev., XXII, p. 331.

»IbiU.,p. 323.

*De Bow, Commer, ReT„ XXin, pp. 80&-310.

316 bcchan&k'b election -

) OF 35th 00K0BEB8.

importation of slaves.' Yancey, in a report of bis own,
branded the prohibition of the slave trade as a sbamefat
violation of the spirit of the constitution, as an injury to
the slave states, and as a fruit of tliat spirit of iiijiisticd
which, by legisiatioti, artificially built up the economic
greatness of the north and kept the south down. Hence,
he demanded the absolute repeal uf the prohibition, bat
wanted it left undecided for the present whether it was^
advisable for the south to make use of the legal posa
bility of slave im]>ortation.' The debate lusted long an
was a very excited one.' No party was strong enough t
have an entirely unambiguous declaration |>assed; and
both sides resolved to lay the matter on the table, and to
order the reports printed, as a species of compromise.

In two years, therefore, the radicals had gainoJ so
much ground that the more moderate could avert a com-
plete defeat only with difficulty. And even this the\
were no longer sucoessful in doing everywhere. In |
commercial convention held the same year in Vicksbui^
the radicals were able by their clamor to drive a number"
of their opponents out of the hall.* I)e Bow's triumphant
statement that in some of the southwestern states " almost

ilbid., XXIV, pp. 473-491. ThebaaiB on which the whole a
mont was raised with the Btricteet consiatency was tbe propoeitiof
" Afflrmance of slavery is, tn principle and effect, an affirmance dl
the foreign slave trade."

nbid.,XXV, p. 121.

'Ibid., XXIV. pp. G7P-803.

* H, 8. Foots write* : " A brilliant speech on the resumption of tl
importation of slaves was listened to with breathless altentioo, (
applauded vociferously. Those of us who rose in oppowtion *
looked upon by the excited assemblage pre«eiit na trniti
intereels of the south, and onlj' worth]'' of expulsion from the bi
The excitement at last grew so bigh that personal violence was mei
at^ed, and somo dozen of tbe more conservative oiembera of the 01
vention withdrew froni the hall in which it was holding its si
The Bench and Bar of tbe South and Southwest, p. W.

A DEMAND FOB MOBS t

317

a controlling portion of the population" liad been won
over to his views on this question ' might, tiiereiore, not
be very far from the truth ; and it is certain that the propa-
gating of them made rapid progress, although it was not
exactly true that, as the influential publicist said, tha
attitude of "most of our southern legislatures" proved
that "certainly no cause has ever grown with greater
rapidity." ' It would, indeed, have been unnatural if new
proselytes had not been daily made, since the agitators
were the "young, ambitious and unscrupulous" represent-
ati vesof " iho Young American spirit of the south " — " de-
termined and ]iersevering men ; " ' and every southerner,
among the different arguments which these agitators
advanced for their demands, found at least one which he
could not, although perhaps unwillingly, deny to be pos-
sessed of great weight.

A. Morse, of Louisiana, showed in De Bow's J^cvieie,^
with an imposing array of figures, that the world's re-
quirement of cotton could no longer be met with the
existing amount of labor; tho slave-raising border states
were no longer able to satisfy the demand of the planter
states for field-hands. "Slave prices are even now too
high, and must finally become exorbitant " — such was
the commentary on these utterances made by an ever-
swelling chorus. This argument could not, of course,
find favor in the slave-raising states; and the sale of free
negroes, which, according to the Richmond Examiner,
had become more and more a necessary protective meas-
ure against the agitation of abolitionists, bad afforded

■Oommer. Rev., XXV, p. 166.
»Ibid,. XXVI, p. IM.

' Lett«r of April 37, 1650. from Savannfth to the Independent.
The Independent, Jane S, 16S9.
'XSUI, pp. 149 3.

318 Buchanan's election — end of 35tu co.^oeess.

no suflBcient compensation for a great and permanent de-
cline of the price of slaves, even if Virginia alone, as the
Examiner calculated, had earned twenty millions in the
business, and spent the money productively in "internal
improvements.* " It was certain from the first that only
an evanescent minority would have no objections to make.
But, so far as the agitators endeavored to prove the worth-
lessness of the objection growing out of material interests,
political opinions or ethico-religious convictions, their
trouble was doomed to be fruitless. Still their success or
want of success did not depend on this. The person to
whom weightier reasons could be given for a return to
the state of things that existed before 1808 became a
convert, notwitlistanding his scruples. But even in the
border states only a small part of the population was
interested so directly and to such an extent in not letting
the price of slaves fall permanentl}'' that it was to be ex-
pected all else would have to be subordinated to this con-
sideration. Deloney, of Louisiana, rightl}^ pointed out
that it was precisely the small land-owners who were not
able to afford the money to buy the slaves necessary for
their husbandry;' and the majority report, the printing
of which the commercial convention in Montgomery
had ordered, baited the white plebs with the assertion:
" Every slave that comes may be said to bring his master
with him, and to add more than twice his political value
to the fortunes of the south."'

Joined to the alleged material interest was the ques-
tion of law. Deloney's bold assertion that every state
might settle that question to its own sovereign liking
must have been very acceptable to every genuine advo-

iThe Richmond Examiner, Jan. 6, 1857.
»De Bow, CJommer. Rev., XXV, p. 493.
aibid., XXIV, p. 4':<2.

A DEU&MD FOB MORE SLATES.

319

I'lilc of states' rights, for it was the logical consequence
of his other claim that "the federal government has no
right to interfere with slavery for any other purpose than
to protect the rights of the owners in such shive prop-
erty ; " ' unii this propostion was, for yeara pnst, the basis
i)f all the constitutional deductions of the slavocracy.

Gut the generul, political consideration still remained
the most effectual. Tiie number of ihose steadily in-
creased whom facts convinced of the irrefutableness of
1 his proposition: the ruling position of the south is lost
heyond recovery, unless wo are able, in the competition
with the north in the sottlenient of the land, to procure
more slaves than tbo natunil incrcnsu of the slave pop-
ulation would provide. But if this one condition were
fulBllcil, not only could the possibility of a successful re-
sistance to any further outHanlting of the south by the
north be insured as certain, but an unendingera of grow-
ing triunijihs was prophesied with a contidence which con-
sidered It a matter of course. With ten thousand slaves
each, said tho New Orleans Delta, Kansas, a now state
in Texas, a stale in Kew Mexico and one in Lower Cali-
fornia might bo guined; and from one thousand to two
thousand would suffice to make sure completely of the
lideliiy of Delaware, Maryland. West Virginia and Mis-
souri; "tho foreign slave trade is the certain road to
l>ower tor the south, and tho only road to power within
the Union." And from this decisive proposition in tho
reasoning of the radicals, the KIchmond W/iig now in-
ferred for tho conservatives that, in the re-opening of the
African slave trade, an infallible means had been found
not only lo preserve tho Union, but to permanently re-
gain internal peace for it. This would deprive abolition-
ism of its sling immediately and forever, for the powerful

I De Bow, Comuoer. Ro»., XXV, p. 003.

320 bkchanah's sleotion — end of 35th conores8.

sbipping interest would he welded wilb golden clamps to
" tbe peculiar insLilution;" the Fugitive Slave Law would
cause no more trouble, because the abolitionists would
have ail ibey could do to defend their own soil; but the
negro was superior to the Irishman, and bonce " wemight
forthwith take up the line of march, recapture Kansas,
perhaps Indiana, Illinois and even Ohio, and colonize all
the remaining territories of the confederacy;" the people
will be again united among themselves, and lienco ive
shall never again hear of a disruption of the Union.'

If, as the Richmond Enquirer had stated as early as
at the beginning of 185C, "policy, humanity and Chris-
tianity alike forbid the extension of the evils of free
society to new peoples and coming generations;"' and if,
as G. Filzhugh, of Virginia, had said the follow. ng year,
the occidental civilized world would be ruined economic-
ally, intellectually and morally unless the soiiihern states
of the Union showed it the way to rcgencnition' by re-

' Copied in Do Bow'a Commer. Rev., XXV, p. 80.

'The Richmond Enquirer, Jan. 22, 1856.

■"Twenty yearB ago the south had aa thought — no opinions of
hcrowu. Then she atoud behind all Christendom; adinitled her social
structure, her habits, her econotny and her industrial purauita to be
wronR, deplored them as a neceBaity, and begged pardon for their
existence. Now she ia about to lead the thought and direct the prac-
tices or Christendom : for Chrigteudom eees and admits (I) that she
has acted a silly and suicidal part in abolish i ng Arrican ulavery —
the south a wise and prudent one in retaining it. . . . Southern
practices nlone (can) save Western Europe from universal famine;
for cotton, sugar, rice, molasses and other slave products are intol-
erably dear and intolerably scarce, an>] France and England must
have slaves to increase their production or starve. ... In an j
view of the subject eouthern thought and southcrc eioniple must
rule the world.

■■The south has acted wisely and prudently, acted Rccordinjc to the
almost nniversal usage of civilised mankind, and the injun<!tloiis of
the Bible, and she is about to gather her reward for so doing. Sba

EE-OFKNIXO OF THE aLAVB 1

321

opening tho African slave trade and by the principle ihat
Iho world is loo little governed, and tbat not merely
iiL-gro slavery is jiistilied, — the day on which the prophe^
cies of the Eicbniord WAiff were fulfilled would be the
happiest and most glorious ihe republic could see. As
ttie existing laws could not be allcred without the co-oper-
ation of the north, and as the north was closed against
the importation of slaves, this grand future would have
to remain a bri^'ht vision unless the slave states could
open wide tbu door to the African blessing in spile of
the existing laws. Cut the radicals not only claimed that
this was possible, but had long ago told bow it could be
done. The immigration of African nejiroes, said the
Cliarlcston Mercunj, is no more prohibited than immigra-
tion from Europe; an<l southerners might make contracts
with these negroes beforehand concerning worlt and
wages, as did the Now England manufacturers with their
European ivorknien. The federal courts would have no
jurisdiction in respect to ibe enforcement of these con-
tracts; it would depend entirely on the interested states
whether the negroes should bo really slaves.' Edw, A,

flnurisbea like tViu ba; tree, wliiJst Europe starves; sni) she is as
retuarkable fur tier exemption of crime an lier frtidom from pov-
rrty. . . . We iiiuat defcDd tlie principle of slavery as port of tlie
cuiiBlitutiuD ct luao'a niiLure. The (li'teiitie uf man- negro slaver;
will, Day, haa invulved us in a thousand attsurdities and contradio-
tionf. . . . Tlie south leads opinion; ehe virtually proposes a re-
newal of the old sKve trade. . . . The south hIko must originate
a new political science, whose leading and distinclive principle will
be, 'the world is tuo little governed.' . . . Slaver
IM an etlucational institution, and is worth ten times all the a
Rchouls of the north. Such common schools teach only nnoommonly
bad morals, and prepare their inmates to graduate in the peniten-
tiary." De Bow, Commer. Kev,, XXIII, p^. !J3T, 83S, 343. 140, 453.
4M.
' What liecoQies of the ne^rocB after they are imported into a state

323 Buchanan's election — end of SSth congbess.

Pollard, of Virginia, repeated this proposition in a book
entitled Black Diamonds^ and refuted the objection that
that would be an evasion of the law with the remark that
"it very often becomes necessary to evade the letter of
the law in some of the greatest measures of social happi-
ness and patriotism." ^

These counsels did not fall on deaf ears. The house of
representatives of the Louisiana legislature passed a bill
in 1858 which authorized a company to import two thou-
sand five hundred African negroes, who had to be in-
dentured for at least fifteen years. The senate, indeed,
rejected the bill, but only by a majority of two votes.*
In Mississippi, on the other hand, if the newspapers were
not incorrectly informed, people did not wait for the leg-
islature to build a safe road around the gallows erected
by the federal law. There some enterprising people had
already made a successful beginning in importing slaves.
In the house of representatives in Washington, Covode
added, to the mention of this fact, the remark that the
gentlemen would have nothing to fear from the presi-
dent.^ Even were this opinion not considered warranted,
it had been only too certain for a long time that great
zeal was not to be everywhere expected from the federal
officials in the execution of the laws on this subject. That

win be an affair of the state. The general government can have
nothing to do witli it. Tlie enforcement of any contract for wages
win bo entirely within the jurisdiction of the states. And if public
opinion or the real understanding of the emigrants establishes practi-
cally that they shall bo slaves, there is no redress by any other au-
thority than that of the states in which tliey are located." Reprinted
In the New York Tribune, June 29, 1857.

*Sce the entire citation in Oongr. Globe, Ist Sdss. 80th Congr.,
p. 225.

'See the Independent of March 11 and April 1, 1853,

» Oongr, Globe, 1st Sess. «5th Congr., p. 1302.

couurrrEE3 of bafett. 323

the cquipincnt of slave-ships in the harbors of the Union
ivas incrciising i-ear after year was not a malicious inven-
tion of tile republicans and abolitionists, English otHciaU
compbinctl very bitterly of it, and the southern press
was fai- from denying the fact,'

Tlio people who bad given the first impulse to the mat-
ter had tliemselves scarcely dared to bopo that they
would bo able to point to such results after so short a
time. Bnt if, by their agitation, they had, as the Rich-
mond li'/cV/ and otbei's now said of them, intended to
Blrongthcn the position of the south in the Union, they
dealt tbomsclves a frightful blow with every success; for
every pmsclyte whom they had won in the south was op-
posed by at least two iu the north on whom iboy had
forced iho recognition of the irrciiressil)lencs3 ot the con-
flict. Only those reaped any real advnntiige from the
triumphs of the propagandism for the re-opening of the

I J. 3. Crawford, the English consul-general of Cuba, xrtitea on tlie
lUIi of October. 1854: " Almost all tiie slnvo oxpwlitions for Bomp
time piipt linvo been fitted out in the United Slates chiefly nt New
York, n'hci-e tlicre must be some rslnblishment, ship or outfiltinK
builderd' or carpcnlci-s' ward speciull; iinilertnking such business for
tho Blftver*." Exec. Doc.. 80th Congr.. 3d Sesa., vol. IV, No. 7, p. 115.
Sefi, nlso, Ibid., pp. 07, 70, 103, 200, 201. The New York Journal 0/
Comjneree, which was far from lioving to foor tho reproach ot being
an enemy of the south, writes nt the end of 13jG: " We learn, upon
JDQiiiry of tlio ITnited Statex ileputy-uinrshals, that tbe fitting out
of Klavere from this port continues. In fact, this business was never
proseciitod with greater energy thun at present. The occasional in-
terposition of the legal nuthorltieii exercises no apparent inRoence
for its fiiipprcssion. It is seldom that ono or more resscls cannot tw
desjgnat(.il otthe wharves respecting which tliere is evidence that
she citlier is or lijis been concerned in tlie IrnfRci" Copied in tlie In-
dependent of DfC. 4. 1800. De Bow's Review (XXII. pp. <30, 431)
calculnted in 1837 that about forty slavers were annually fitted out in
the eastern linrbors of the Union, imd mode a net piollt of about
eeventccu millions.

334 bdchawan's electioit — ekd of 35te cosoeess.

slave trade who, Tvith the Disuniontst, woulil henceforth
have a platform with only one plank — Secession ! ' Their
day was now approaching with equal rapidity and cer-
tainty; for, although they were still only tho minority,
and a very small minority in several states, tlioy had al-
ready found tho right answer to the question how they
could bend the majority to their will.

In a letter of June 15, 1853, to James S. Slaughter,
Yancey proposed the formation of committees of safety
in all the cotton states. With these "we shall fire the
southern heart, instruct the southern mind, give courage
to each other, and at tho proper moment, by one organ-
ized, concerted action, we can precipitate the cotton states
into a revolution." As lato as May, ISGO, Jefferson Davis
endeavored, by the statement that this southern Icaguo
planned by Yancey had been really formed only in Ala-
bama, and even therfl numbered scarcely one hundred
members, to malte those people ridiculous who wished to
attach great political significance to that letter.' A few
weeks later he proved by his action that ho was only
shamming. The question was not whether a sontbem
league had been formed, but only whether the radicals
were resolved to act when a favorable opportunity of-
fered. If they did this and were strong enough in only
one cotton state, in Yancey's words, to precipitate it into
a revolution, the disentangleable knot was cut.

1 " We Hhould never participate in the election of a president or
congress; but build u platform of one plank, and let that be seceseioi):
and Eland upon it, few or many, weak or strong. Id \it» and In
death "(p. 71).

'Congr. Globe, lat Sesa. SSth CoDgr., p. 21SC

MESSAQS or 0£CEUB£B C, IS5S.

CHAPTER VIL

THE SECOND SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS

If tho president's annual message of December 6, 1858,
sent to the thirty-fiftli congress at tho beginning of its
second session, judged the situation correctly, it wus to
be expected that questions of foreign policy would, in
the near future, engross the attention of the republic. At
least tho ship of state bad, according to bis utterances, so
far as home affaii-s were concerned — tho financial ques-
tion to a certain extent excepted — owing, in the first
place, to bis strong and wise policy, and, in the second,
to the support which that policy had received from con-
gress, an unusually calm sea before it. The description
of tbo events in Utah already discussed was summa-
rized in tho sentence : " The authority of the conslitntion
and the laws has been fully restored, and peace prevails
throughout the territory." Just as satisfactory results
were said to have been obtained by the legislative meas-
ures by which it was sought to deprive the Kansasques-
tion of its threatening character, inasmuch as the violent
struggle over the slavery question was confined to its le;j;il-
iraato domain, the territory. Tho exhaustive deioonstra-
tion of this assertion did not add a single new argument
to the reasoning that bad been heard so often. As new
protests against tho most recent acts of violence and out-
rage bad been added to the old oiics, made in the name
of right and justice, he only sung the old tune in a. sliU
higher key: "In the course of my long public life, I have
never performed any official net which, in the retro-
spect, has afforded me more heartfelt satisfaction." Thus,
Buchanan now pretended to pass judgment on his course

ECCUANAN's ELECTIOS — END OF 35Tn CONGRESS.

in the Lccoinpton question, although lie wns obliged im-
mediately thereafter to make the admission, \vli;ch was
far beliind the dociimentarily proven fact, lliat he, "as
an individual," was in favor of a voto of llio peojtlo on
the entire constitution. From the man wlio could write
that, even tho most decided opponent needed to ask no
further argnment in justiticatiun of what aflei'vvards haj>-
pened. Buchanan, therefore, spared himself the trouble
of making such further argument; for iho more literal
copying of the most imiwrtnnt sentences of English's bill
cunuot well be considered such. Uis jndgment on the
hill was given without any assignment of reiisons for iL
The statesman-like authority of the "Sage of Wheatland"
was the solo proof that it was " sorely not unreasonable"
to forbid the third attem])t of Kansas to constitute itself
a slate until it had the population necessary for tho elec-
tion of a representative. To o.\tend " this csccllcut pro-
vision" in future to all territories niiglit, indeed, ba
commendable. Why "of course it would bo unjust" to
extend it to Oregon also was, however, a riddio hard to
solve. In support of this claim all that wns said was
that, "acting upon the past practice of the government,"
it hud already given itself a state constitution, and had
I'tecled a legislature and otiior officers. But every just
claim growing out of the fact that the population of the
territory, acting upon the previous pnictice of llto gov-
Mrnraent, had already tried to constitute themselves a
state, might undoulitedly bo made with at least the
same right by Kansas as by Oregon. Po!itlc!illy, how-
ever, that was of no importance, it, as tho president said,
Kansas was now, because congress had guuranleed it
complete freedom in respect to its own affairs, "tranquil
and pro3|K!rous;" and after the sad experience it bad had
with resistance to territorial laws, it was not to bo n»-

tVEKSOH'S sriTccn.

Eumed tliat it would try to givo itself a constitution in
opposition to tlio cx|n-css provisions of a federal law.
Then Englisli's bill htiJ not only put an end to the ex-
citement in tlie states over tiio Kansas question, but it
miglit and oven must bo assumed ibat tbe population of
Kansas likowiso lad at last come to recognize liow *'in-
Bjgniticant" ilie question over which it had become so
excited, "viewed in its piilitical effects," was. Now, as
the message — leaving out of consideration the economio
condition of the couniry — touched on no internal ques-
tion, except tlioso of Utah. Kansas and Oregon, to which
a political character could be attributed, thoso people,
evidently, whoso wishes wore not suited to a tiino of
political calm must havo thanked thu president for his
endeavor to put the dead waters in mutioii by the request
for extensive powers ayainst certain American states, and
for the appropriation of a sum for tho purpose of negoti-
ating fu.' tho purchase of Cuba.

The best criticism of the message was furnished by a
speech of Iverson of January' 9, 1859, although it did not
even mention it. The speech of the senator from Georgia
showed only how the country's situation was reflected in
his own mind. If he so judged the situation, bis esti-
mate of it, considering the position ho held among south-
ern politicians, of itself showed Buchanan's description
of it to be absurd. That a question not necessarily a
jiolitical one — ^ the construction of a railway to tho Pacific
ocean — gave Iverson occasion to describe the situation
generally, served only to place the contrast between tho
president's assertions and the facts in a still mora glaring

light.

In all the northern states east of the Rocky Mountains,
said Iverson, "in which elections have been held, our ene-
mies have been victorious. Even Illinois is no exception,

828 Buchanan's election — end of 35Tn conobess.

for Douglas's doctrines oppose just as insurmountable a
• barrier to the extension of slavery as those of the repub-
licans. The slave states must, therefore, either surrender
their peculiar institutions or separate from the north, and
t!ie time could not be distant when thev would form a
confederation of their own. '' Step by step, it [the repub-
lican party] will bo driven onward in its mad career until
slavery is abolished or the Union dissolved. One of these
two things is as inevitable as death." The south, there-
fore, will not wait for an aggressive act: the election of a
republican president in an electoral campaign carried on
on a sectional basis will suffice. That a general con-
vention of all the slave states would resolve upon seces-
sion is very improbable. But if only one slave state
secedes, everv slave state will be soon forced to follow it.
The attempt to bring back by force into the Union a
seceded state would be the greatest folly of which a weak
and corrupt government ever became guilty. If the
Union is once sundered, it can be restored again only
by concessions from the north guarantying full securitv
to the south.^

The value of the pacification which, according to the
assurance given by Buchanan, had been- brought about
by the wise laws of the last session, had to be measured
in accordance with this ec'no which his congratulations
awakened among the radical slavocrats. Of coui'se that
echo was not unexpected bv him, and hence he would cer-
tainly have now written the parts of his message in
question word for word as he had written them a month
airo. At the time he was. indeed, less inclined than
usual to take such speeches very tragically, because of the
successful erection of a new barrier against the eventualitv

»Congr. Globe. 2d Sesa. 85th CoDgr., pp. 242-214.

OKEOOK ADMITTED AS A £

329

whicb, according to Ivej-son, would be followed by seces-
sion.

On the 14lh of February, 1S59, Bucbanan signed the
l)ill lliai iidmitted Oregon into ibo Uuion. Two days be-
fore, il had been pjissed by tbc bouse of representatives
by a vote of one liundrutl and fourteen against one hun-
dred and throe. No jmrly liad voted as a unit. The-
republican minority of tha committee on territories had,
in tlieir report,' furnished the tigures proving that Kan-
sas, so far as one was warranted to draw a conclusion
from the number of votes ciist at the elections, had a
larger papulation than Oregon, and had therefore asked
that the census provision of EngHsh's bill should be re-
pealed. So long as what was recognized to be just for
Oregon was not allowed to be right in the case of Kan-
sas, they would oppose the admission of the former. All
their piirty associates, of course, agreed with them that
the two territories should not be measured with different
measures; but a part of ihcm considered it neither wise
nor just that Oregon should be punished because others
were unjust to Kansas. In addition to this another
reason w'ns advanced from Origon itself and from a
friendly source, to which consideraljle weight had to be
attncbed, if tlie actual condition of affairs were really
what it was alleged to be. Its constitution had taken such
a (losiLion against free persons of color that its provisions
must not only have aroused the indignation of every man
who thouglit uright, but that their accordance with the
federal constitution might bu very seriously questioned.
But a letter from Owen Wade' to a member of the house
of representatives urgently argued that this should be
overlooked if something incomparably worse were to be

' Ctingr. Gbbe, ad Sum. 33th Cjagr,, p. 010.

330 bcodanan's election — esd of Sotd conceebs.

avoided. Nearly three tliousnnd votore, Iig said, wora very
angry, because, on the Otiiof November, 1857, a free state
constitulioii had been adopted, and tbcso now claimed
that, in sjiite oE tbat constitution, they might, by virtue ot
the Dred Scolt decision, hold slaves; but if slavery wag
nnoo introduced it would be very dillicult to get rid of it
ugnin, and hence the admission of the territory as a state
under the present coustitntion would be disagreeable not
to the friends of freedom, but, in a hiirh degree, to the
slavocrals. Op[iosed to this eoiisidoration was tho otber
that tho democrats in Oregon had a great preponder-
ance, and tho Buchanan democrats besides. lis aditiission
as a stale, therefore, meant giving the democrals ihreo
sure votes for the next ])i'esidenlial election. But if tbe
election, as the politicians of all parties considered very
possible, devolved on tho honso of representatives, Ore-
gon's vote would count as much as New York's; and the
vote of tine state for one party or the other might easily
decide the issue.' It could not, therefore, bo easy for
any republican to vote for its admission; and ihe advan-
tage Buchanan reaped from this was certainly not to be
lightly estimated.

As so ranch might depend on this question, it could not
be a matter of surprise if its settlement had been waited
for before the negotiations on IJuchanan's project of par-
chasing from Spain " ihe Poarl of tiie Antilles " bo^an.
Kotwiilislanding the glaring liglii which this discussion
would cast on tho danger involved in any strengthening
of ihe Buchanan democracy, lb was not done. Whether
they believed themselves, under all circumstances, sure
of a majority for Oregon, or whether the slavocracy
looked upon their interests us no longer so intimaloly
connected with those of the democratic parly, ont of con-

1 Sm the nriicle of tlie N. Y, Times of Douembar 17, I3J8L

Tiin I'UBcnASt: of cuba, 331

sidcration of it, to be patient a few weeks longer, must
reiTiaiii ur:tleci<lc(l licre. It is not easy to soo vvliiit it
couM fear to loso by such delay; for it lianlly deceived
itself on tlio point that in no casa couUl it liupo to be
able to move bolb houses of congress to adopt its pro
posiils ut tills session.

The message had not informed congress thai now iiogo-
tuitions with Spiiin tor the purchase of Cuba, had been
openad ; but, that it might first give esprossion to its will,
the whole question was laid before it, with the statement
thai it was absuhitely necessary to success to givo tbo
[iresiJont the means to make a payment on account to
the Spanish government, iiniuediately after iho signing of
the treaty and before its ratiGcation by the senate. Al-
though attention was called to the fact that the same
power had been granted to Jefferson and Polli, it was un-
questionable that, by reason of tliis statement, the proj-
ect would fail in the present liousri of rejiresentatives.
What was granted to Jefferson for the pLireliaso of Loui-
siana, and to Polk for a settlement with Mexico after its
defeat by arms, could be only a trifle compared with the
sura of which there must be question here; and among
the democrats themselves ihero were people enough who,
even if they in general considered the purchase desirable,
would never have confided such a sum to the discretion
of James Buchanan.

Tbo manner in which Buchanan took bold of the mat-
ter seemed to surprise even the senate. On iho ISth of
January, it requested the president, by a resolution, to
send it the correspondence on the purchase, not yet made
pnblic, between ibo two governments. A message of
the 21st of January * answered very briefly that no such
corre3|)omlcnco existed, and that tbo president must ro-

■ CoQgr. Gtutw. 3d Seas. 85tU Congr., p. 000.

BCCnANAN 8 ELECTIOS — ESD OF ,iJTn C0X0&ES3.

peat the opinion expressed in bis aanual message that tlie
previous consent of congress seemed to him " highly im-
portant if not indispensable to sncccss."

In respect to this point, however, the annual message
bad not been misnnderstood by tlie senate. Whether
that body nonld busy itself more particularly with the
suggestion made in the message, it did not by any means
ivish to make dependent on the answer it would receive
to its request. As early as tho lOlh of January, Slidell
had introduced a bill which placed at the disposal of the
president $30,00O,00U for the purpose mentioned, and the
senate had referred it to the committee on foreign affairs.
On tho 15th of January, a caucus of tho democratic sen-
atore was held, in which the majority declared in favor of
supporting tho views of the president; but no formal reso-
lution was passed as to how they should proceed iu the
matter.' Three days after the message was received tho
oommittec made its report through Slidell, recommend-
ing tho adoption of the senator's bill with certain imma-
terial changes. Slidell, too, was tho author of the lengthy
argument by which the motion was introduced.'

The review of the history of the question, and the dis-
cussion of the reaMtns in favor of tho acquisition of the
island, brought nothing new. "The ultimate acquisition
of Cuba may be considered a fixed purpose of the United
Slates." If this projKisition were madothe starting-point
of the argument, it was, in truth, almost a mailer of in-
difference what was said as to the reasons why tho pur-
chase was to bii made. Even if every word of Slidell was
acquiesced in absolutely and by alt, it still remained to
be proved that it was advisable to try to execute this

I The N. y. Ti-ibune. Jan. 17, 1859.

*Tlie ri-port is printed in full in Congr. Qtobe, 2d Sesa. BSth Ccmgr.,

Append., pp, 90-95.

TIIE FINANCIAL BITDATIOS.

fixed pnrposo now and in the manner proposed by the bill.
If this were made the test, both bill and report seemed,
from every point of view, the greatest nbsurditiea in the
entire legislative history of the Union,

The picture which the annual message had drawn of
the financial condition of the country was by no means
a brilliant one, although the figures wore presented in a
manner which marie it appear to (ho reader hot trained
in such matters much more favorable than it was in
reality. Seward gave the sum total of the complicated
account in two figures: the receipts had fallen off fifty
millions, and the admitted deficit for the year amounted
to thirty millions.' Under these circumstances thirty
millions was so large a sum, even for a rich country like
the United Slates, that the granting of it must meet
with serious objection, although the object for which
it was asked were in itself to be approved. But, in the
matter proposed, there was question of an incompar-
ably greater but wholly undetermined amount. The bill
H,Nod no limit beyond which the offer of the president
might not go. Slidcll had, indeed, made an exhaustive
calculation of returns based upon a purchase price o£ one
hundred and twenty-five millions, stating that ten years
ago one hundred millions had been olTered, and that the
increase in value in the meantime might he assumed to
be twenty-five millions. This estimate was not only en-
tirely arbitrary, but even if correct it did not possess
the least importance, as it was not binding on the presi-
dent. If Spain could only be induced to sell Cuba for
twice or thrice this amount, and if Buchanan thought
that, considering the resulting political advantages, that
sum was not too much to pay for the island, there was
nothing to prevent his giving it in his treaty. There was

■ Congr. Qlotie. SJ Sesa. 83ch Cungr., p. CSS.

334: Buchanan's election — end op SSth congress.

a great difTcrcnco between the opinion that Cuba should
be acqiiirecl if it could bo had for a suitable price, and
that it must bo purchased at any prico which James
Buchanan would not consider too high. Yet this is what
the bill practically amounted to, for the senate would
have had no choice but to approve the treaty or allow the
country to bear the loss of the thirty millions the presi-
dent would have already paid on account. But if it was,
on the one hand, self-evident that congress would never
consent to the alternative of abstaining from co-operating
in the determination of the purchase price, or running
the risk that the president would throw away thirty mill-
ions, it was, on the other, for obvious reasons, not advis-
able to llx a definite sum beyond which the president
shoukl not go, as Taylor, of Louisiana, moved in the
house of reprosentatives.* This shut out all real negotia-
tions on this point from the start. If a sufficiently large
amount was not bid, a curt answer in the negative would
have been received ; and if the result showed that enough
had been ollercd, perhaps too high a bid would have been
uselessly miulc; for it was clear that Spain would not be
satisfied with less than congress had already declared it-
self ready to pay.

The dan;^cr that the island would have to bo paid for
at a price far beyond its value, unless Spain was made a
present of thirty million dollars, was by no means the
only one to which the country would have been exposed
by the pas5age of the bill. That the contract would not
only fix the price, but would contain other stipulations,
was a matter of course; and, with respect to the latter,
congress would have exempted the i)resident from the
constitutional control of the senate, inasmuch as it would

I He proposed $120,000,000. Cougr. Globe, 2d Seas. 83th Confi^r..
p. 747.

TDE TnnjTy-inLuos bill.

be obligcil to approve tlicm also, if tho thirty milliona
were not to be lost. Notwithstanding the precedents
adduced by Buchanan, more tlian one strong argument
could bo made to show liiat this was an unwarranted
stretching of the power wliich tho president should, ac-
cording to tho intentions of Uic framers of the constitu-
tion, have in tho conclusion of treaties. Bat, however
this might bo, con^Tess was certainly not bound to, in
this way and to this extent, leave it enlirely to the judg-
ment of tho president to say what tlie interests of the
Union demanded and allowed. If It did so, notwithstand-
ing, without imperative reasons, it assumed a frightful
responsibility to the country. Even under ordinary cir-
cnrastances sueli a request should not have been made
unless grciit unanimity prevailed among the people in
respect to tho question under discussion, and unless the
president enjoyed their conlidence to an extraordinary
degree. To properly characterize the fact that such
powers were now asked for James Buchanan in this
question is not easy. "AVe," said Seward, "who have
disputed so earnestly, often so vehemently, year after
year, j-oar in and year out, over the question whether
the institution of slavery shall be introduced into the
territory of Kjinsas, are e.\|)ected by the president, in his
simplicity, to allow him to determine for tbo north and
for the souUi. for the free slates and for tho slave states,
at his own absolute pleasure, the terms and conditions
upon whicli Culm sliall be annexed to tho United Slates
and incorporatod into tho Union, I say nothing of the
present incumlwal of the executive office. I say that
men never chose, nor did God ever send on earth, a mag-
istrate to whom I n-ould L-ouiide this great question, hav-
ing a coastitutional right to decide it myself."
If tho bill were to be seriously interpreted to mean

BDCn&NAN'» EtEOnOS — Him OF 35th CONQBESa.

wbut it pretonded, there were, indeed, only two poB-
fiibilities: either ita advocates and the president wore
themselves possessed, or they thought thoy might assume
the republicans and the free-soil democrats possessed, of
an excess of simplicity. Even ihose northorn democrats
who, nith Douglas, looked upon slavery with absolute
indifference could not vote for the bill without giving
proof such as this of their poverty of thought in political
matters, nnless they looked upon speeches like Iverson's
as the ravings of madmen. If only the very least pos-
sibility had to be conceded that the Union would be dis-
rupted by the slavery question, the purchase, so far as
the north was concertied, was an act of Uii[iaralleled folly ;
and not only an act of unparalleled folly, hat of frenxy,
if the secession of the slave states, as Ivcrson had as-
serted, were unavoidable and must take place in the near
future. Cuba must then naturally fall to the share of
the southern confederacy, and the federal fjovernment
would have thrust its hand thus deeply into the pockctis
of the tax-payers of the free states in order lo put a pre-
mium of perhaps one hundred millions and even more
on the secession of the south. As early as April 10.
ISJS, Francis Liebcr, who had lived so luny in the heart
of the slave territory, had written to G. S, Hiliiard that
the moment the north had paid fur Cuba the south
would declare itself independent.'

Buchanan's superior political wisdom, however, had
enabled him to discover reasons which must make the ao-
quisition of the island seem to even the fanatical oppo-
nents of slavery a great achievement for their cause. So
long as the African slave trade continues, said the annual
message, civilization cannot penetrate into benighted
Africa; but that trade will como to an end as soon nH

' Perrf. The Life nod Letter* of Francis Llober, p. 800.

THE PCRCaASE OF CUBA.

337

Ciibn, by Ijelngtranstorped to the possession of the United
States, ceases to be a market for wicked man-huntei-s.
SUdell developed this idea still further in bis report; and
if he did not, iit the same time, call attention to Uuchaii'
an's murul indignation at the accursed trade, be nmdu up
for his neglect by hi ying all the more stress on the tinan-
cial as[«JOD of the question: the saving that would bo el'-
fecled by tbo faci ibut it would no longer be neci'ssary to
maintain a squadron on the African const, was a very
material factor in his calculation of the reniuneralivenesa
of the investment. But as the im|iortution of such slaves
was already prohibited by law, the question might prop-
erly be asked by what right both president and senator
believed themselves exempt from the necessity of assign-
ing any ground whatever for the assertion that by the
mere change of owner a complete revolution in this re-
spect in tbc actual condition of afTairs would immediately
take place. In his annual messafie of tbe 3d of Decem-
ber. 1?60, Buchanan recalled the fact that "a restoration
of the African slave trade had numerous and powerful
advocates in the United States." If he had forgotten tliis
when he was writing his message of the Cth of December.
1S5S, it, must have been vividly enough recalled to hia
memory by many a word spoken in tho debates of con-
gress during this session. On the 2*»th of January Keitt,
in the house of representatives, declared himself opposed
to the agitation of the question, because it was a cause of
excitement, and yet could "now result in no practical ac-
tion.'' But the day would come when it would conquer
a place in the politics of the south, nnd independently of
parties fix itself in the consciousness of the public with
books of steel. Yet as the free states prevented the fed-
eral government from intervening in favor of slavery, it
must also be deprived of the possibility of intervening
S3

338 Buchanan's election — end of 35th congress.

against it; that is, the law which declared the African
slave trade to be piracy must be repealed and the squad-
ron on the coast of Africa recalled.^ Seward, of Georgia,
followed Keitt with the formal motion that all laws which
forbade the slave trade should be repealed, and the sep-
arate states allowed to act on the matter as they thought
fit.- And on the 21st of Februarv, before the decision on
the thirty-million bill in the senate was reached, Slidell
himself confessed that propagandism for the restoration
of the slave trade would make great progress, if the south
continued to be obliged to compete with the cheaper slave
laborof other states, which were continually receivingnew
importations from Africa.^ The best commentary, how-
ever, on the president's statement and Slidell's report was
furnished by an actual occurrence m Georgia, the dis-
cussion of which was now in every mouth. In December,
1858, the yacht Wanderer had landed some hundred Af-
rican negroes in the vicinity of Brunswick. The ship was
confiscated and sold. But public opinion revolted so
little against the trade that people willingly acceded to
the bold demand of the owner not to outbid him, and
the ship was sold to him at about one-quarter of its real
value. Judge Wayne endeavored fruitlessly to get a jury
together who would do their duty; and while the guilty
man found protection against the law in public opinion,
nothincr could be ascertained as to the whereabouts of the
negroes.* When the case w^as finally decided judicially
in 1860, morality and the supremacy of the law received
only a new slap in the face. District Judge A. G. Ma-
grath enriched the annals of forensic sophistry with the

1 Congr. Globe, 2d Sess. 85th Congr., Append., p. 4.

2Loc. cit.

5 Ibid., p. 1184.

« Ibid., p. 1386.

THE PRICE OF SLAVES.

33!)

proof that the stave trade bad not been declared piracy
by the law of May 13, 1820,'

Even if people in the southern states without exception
xvere still of ihe same way of thinking on the African
slave trade as they had been forty years before, the as-
serlion made by Buchanan and Slidell would have been
entirely baseless, Collaraer called attention to the fact
that slaves in the United States cost about twice as much
as in Cuba, and that this difference of price must im-
mediately disappear after annexation, as slaves then could
be brought uuhindered from the island to the continent
at a nominal cost to be sold. From these facts he drew
the correct conclusion that if the prospect of a so much
sm:iller profit had been a sufficient inducement to the
slaveholders, spite of all the penalties imposed by the law,
to sinuiigle ten thousand" African negroes into the coun-
try, such an enormous increase of the profit would give the
business the necessary impetus. This was all the more cer-
tainly to be expected, as the annexation would probably
cause England to withdraw its African squadron. But as
it waa universally conceded that the united efforts of Eng-
land and the United States for the suppression of the
African slave trade had hitherto been attended by very
unsatisfactory results, it was impossible to foresee what
sums the Uniteil States would then have to spend if it
were only to keep that trade within its present limits. =■

That all these reasons made it impossible for any re-
publican to vote for Slidell's bill is self-evident. Some
of them, however, must have seemed so weighty to the
Douglas democrats that a part of them likewise would

iSom@ further detnlls nuj be (onml in Lieber. Mi»o. Writings, II,
pp 170. 176.
'' Benjamin corrected him — Iwenty-flvo thousand.
< Congr. Globe, 2d Seas. 85th Congr., pp. 1183, 1183.

340 buoqanan's ELEcnos — esd of 35tb ooxoress.

join the opposition, altljough their leader had for a long
time advocated the acquisition of the island in a mati^
ner such that it was now to bo expected be would 1
seen inarching under Buchanan's flag. Even in the slavd
states tliemselves, there was no lack of people who nofl
only took umbrage at the fact that the president was to b
given practically unlimited power in a question of thiffl
importance, but who had serious objections to the annexa^
tion project itself, or at least to its prosecution at thid
time; and if these dissenting voices had not a weight
worthy of consideration, Slidell would certainly not ha'
referred to tliein in his report. He could not, of course, j
pass over in silence the assertion thai "perils" to the j
United States were to be apprehended from "the diffep-fl
ent elements composing the population and the suppose
mixture of races;" and to be forced to admit that these
fears were entertained by "some southern statesmen"
also must have been very disagreeable to him. The op-J
position in the south, however, was not confined to a fev-l
statesmen; nor was this tha only objection they raised.!
G-roups of certain interests, as, for instance, the sugurl
planters, would have to be actuated by the most wonder^fl
fnl unselfishness, if they had given no consideration \vhat>|
ever to the menacing competition they would have to n
in consequence of the annexation of Cuba. But, abovQS
all, thinking conservatives could not ignore the heavyM
responsibility they assumed, if now, without the weight-
iest reason, another apple of discord were thrown betwee^fl
the north and the sonth, while they felt themselves forcedl
daily more and more to face the momentous questloill
how much longer the bonds of the Union would be abloF
to bear the frightful weight of the slavery question withJ
out breaking. And was it not the utmost wickedness t
stir up this new quarrel, when the preliminary qaestlM

Sl'AlX AND THE Cl'BAN QUESTION. Oil

whether Spain would agree to the sale, under any circum-
stances, could not be answered in the affirmative with any
degi-ee of confidence! Even if there were absolute una-
nimity in congress and among the entire people, both on
the question of purchase itself and on the mode of pro-
cedure provided for in the bill, the legislative branch of
the Union would have been guilty at least of an entirely
purposeless waste of lime, it' an absolute negative was to
be expected.

At least, we say; for, considering the previous history
of the question, one could not but perceive that Spain's
answer wouM be a categorical Not and that' it would look
upon the proposal as insulting bare- faced ness. Slidell's
report could adduce nothing to weaken this argument,
except that revolutions bad become a chrunic disease In
Spain: new men might bo placed at the helm of the
ship of state there any day, and the American ambassa-
dors would not make any proposition until they hud rea-
son to believe that it wouhl be favoi-ably accepted. lie
admitted, however, that if it were true that a proposition
would '■ offend the Spanish pride, be regarded as an in-
sult and rejected with contempt,"' that '■ would bo a con-
clusive argument against the bill." But accident would
have it thai on the very morning on which Slidell, In the
name of the committee, laid his bill before the senate
again, newspapers reached Washington which contained
exhaustive reports of the reception given in Spain to the
part of Buchanan's message with which we are con-
cerned. To a question of Ulloa's, O'Donnell had an-
swered that Spain " was disposed to liemand due satis-
faction for such an insult." The exposition in detail of
the reasons for this declaration had been interrupted by
loud and frequent applause; and a resolution moved by
AUozaga, which expressed gratification at the answer

3i2 BCCQAMi^'s ELEOTIOK -

) OF -^'iTII COKORKBS.

and atldcd that the Cortes would always co-operate withi
the government in the defence oF the integrity of tlitf
territory subject to Spain, ivns unanimously adopted.' Ifl
Seward beliered that, by reading tbis report, he would]
disconcert Slidell, he did not know the man. ITe non'-i
declared to be of no importance what he hud five min-fl
utes before alleged to be a conclusive ar-i^nnient againsti
the bill, since iho message had already produced tlie ef- J
feet tiiat Seward feared from the bill; and the l&tter,l
therefore, could do no further harm.

All criticism of such logic was superfluous; for this an- ]
swer to Buchanan's suggestion of the purchase of Cuba I
settled the whole question. No matter what powers I
were given to the president, all negotiations about a pur- j
chase were entirely meaningless unless it were desired f
to excite Spain still more, iis Kennedy, of Maryland, said» ■
to force a solution of the question in harmony with thai
wishes of the president and the slavocracy, by lead and ]
steel instead of gold.'

The suspicion that this was kept in view as an eventu- .
ality could not be dismissed without any more ado as an
absurd slander. The assurance nf the message that the J
United States would continue to make territorial acquisi-J
tions by honorable purchase, as it had done hitherto, was<I
accompanied by a reminder of the supreme law of statM,^
the duty of self-preservation,; and in the mouth of one oEl
the authors of the Ostend manifesto this was no raeail--r
ingless commonplace. Nor was the idea itself by any 1
means new. It had for a long time a great many ad?n> J
cates even in the free states. Thus it was definitelvJ

• See tlie worJIng of the newspaper report read by Seward. Ibid..,!
p. 540.

'"If i;entteiiiei) liavc biH^ii in earneat on litis question, tbny n
violence or (liey mean nothing.'' Ibid., p. 1347.

SLID ELL 021

343

stated that, in Doiifjlas's (jjiinion, tlie I'niteil Slates slioulil
wait until the Cuban authorities had become guilty
of some new gross impropriety, like that of the Black
Warrior affair, to create accomplislietl facts which would
overcome Spain's unwiltingoess to enter into negotia-
tions.' And if ho did not now, in the debate on the
tliirty-million bill, confess that lie was unreservedly of this
opinion, more than one of the sjiolcesmen of the slavoc-
racy did. They did not even think it necessary to wait
for Spain lo furnish a pretext fortheeinployuiontof force.
Mallory's advice was that if Spain continued stubborn it
should be given "openly and frankly to understand that
the United States would do as Frederick the Great had
done with Silesia — that is, tirst take Cuba and then talk
about it.' .\nd Brown blurted out that the bill should
announce to all the world that the United Stales was re-
solved to acquire Cuba— "peaceably if we can, forcibly if
we must." '

If the bill was lo announce this, much more could be
discovered in it with the assistance of the message and
Slidell's report.

Of what immense importance Cuba is to us, Slidcll had
said, no more needs a proof than the simplest mathemal-
ical proposition. " The purchase and annexation of Louisi-
ana led, as a necessary corollary, to that of Florida; and
both point with unerring certainty lo the acquisition of
Cuba." This simple argument might be continued at any

'Seethe N. Y. Tribune. Jun. 17. 1859.

iCoQgr. Globe, !W Sess. 35lli Congr. p. 1332.

■ " t am tor ttie ac(|uis[tiun ur Cuba, an<l I want to aiiv^rtiae to all
the world that we ineaii lo liave it — jvencenblv i( we csn. forcibly if
we muat. I am willing to pay tor it, or I am willing to tight for it. I
would ddverlise to the world that we tiienn to have it: and I look
Upon tliix bill as nothing more than a mere advt^rtiecmenl that tl>e
United States desire Cuba, and mean lo have it." Ibiil., p. 13(13.

344 Buchanan's klicition — end of 35th congress.

raonient, iind curried lo the point to which the cupidild
of the United States Oesii-ed to go. And that its cupidT
ity would not sto)) itt Cuba, if tbe wishes of the radical
wing of the slavocraey were to control tUe policy of tlld
Union, had been alreaily frequently stated with the grcutf
est frankness. But ni)»',one did not need to call to mingj
ihe old truth that appetite conies with eating. Xo c&
traoi'dinary amount of suspicion was needed to bo led bj
the message to inquire whether preparatory atejis wuM
not already taking for a further advance in the near futj
ure. On the very first day of the debate, Sowaiil hut|
said: We have not to do with an isolated propositioi
but the executive has proposed a whole series of measure
of the same kind; the president wants to be authorizam
to send the armed force of the United Stiitcs to Mexicx
to establish a protectorate over a part of that rcpubli<^
and "to make war in his own discretion and at his owij
pleasure against all or nearly all the Spanish- American
states on Ibis continent." Evoii if Buchanan's characlei
and political past had excluded all suspicion that he i
tended to favor territorial acquisition, the fear would]
have been not entirely unfonnded that the facts create
by himself, through the instrumentality of these es
traordinary and entirely unrepubllcan powers, might I
made use of by tlie slavocraey as a foundation for tha
realization of their desires for annexation. That, undeg
their influential leaders, there would be no lack of mei
who would try to do this, was certain. When CoUatneig
on the 21st of February, repeated the objections c
Seward, above mentioned, and at the same time called ttt]
tcntion to tbe faotthat Toombs had onou expressed thfl
wish to see the annexation of tropical America declare
the policy of the United States, the latter replied: "II fi
true — the whole of it."

345

Even if those who thought that, they could dismiss all
such idenB with a shrug of the sliouldors as ridiculous
chimeras were in the right, the reiiublicans ooiild not be
reproaclied with endeavoring to prejudice ]niblic opinion
agaiDSt the bill by uwaking exaj-gurated notions of tlie
evil consequences which must l)e expecteil from it. The
eonlrary objection that thoy undert-stiinatod its impor-
tance might seem to be much better founded; lor even if
they pointed to the uUimato aims of a partof the slavoc-
racy, they at the same time declared over and over again
that they could not believe the pi'oject ivas seriously in-
tended. From the undoubted cerLiiinly tbalSpniu would
reject every proposition, they drew the conclusion that
tliey had to do with a political manceuvre the motives
and objects of which were to be looked for in llie tki-
mestic uffaira of the Union. Bucbaniin, said Seward,
"expects, by ap]>oaling to the cupidity of the American
|}eople, that he will escape an investigation upon the do-
mestic policy of the admin istralion, which has been a
total failure,'" There was question of acquiring not Cuba,
but this country, in ibe next prasidentialeloct ion, said Hale;
and he added that the question menaced to demoralize
the republican party if it were not met in the right wur.-
Doolittle agreed to both opinions, as he called the bill an
effort " to change the pleadings " for the electoral cam-
paign of 1800.' And Hale was not the only one who did
justice to the tactic skill of his opponents. Once tbey
have awakened the greediness of the masses for more
hind, said the New York Tribune of January 17, "their
battle for 1860 is half won."

A few days later the Tribune was indeed vvrillea to

1 1biJ.. p. 1»53.
-• Ihid.. p. flU5.
) Ibid., p. eoQ.

3i0 bucuanan's election -

r.ND OF 30TU CO.S(

from Washington that to Buchanan and his cabinet tbs
bill was certainly not merely a means to reach othen
ends, and that the president might really hope for sua-
cess if only a suliicient sum trei-e [ilaced at bis dis|)osa1.l|
Even if this view were the correct one — and it is not im"!
possible that it was — it was indisputable that the proj^
ect had its origin to a great extent and probably chioflyl
m considerations as to its assumed effects on the presi>J
dential election of ISfiO. The Wasliinglon correspondent
of the Charleston Mi^reury asserted this with as muohl
positivenesa as the republicans;- and bis testimony in the j
case of this question could not be found fault with. And ,
scarcely less heavily than the direct admissions of this J
kind, weighed the indirect confirmation this view received,
by the apparently contradictory course pursued by th^
majority of the senate, under Slidell's leadership, in re-J
spect to the parliamentary management of the bill.

On the 9th of February the senate had, by a vote otl
twenty-eight against seventeen, resolved that the biUf
s'lould be bronght up for discussion, notwithstanding th*
fact that the most important questions, like the apprf
priations and the financial question generally, in (
quence, ran the risk of remaining undecided. HunterJ
who had charge of the appropriation bills, was always

> Tho N. y. Tribum, Jan. So, 1850.

'"It H evident Mr. Buchnnnii liaa purpoa^ly reserved Ibia questioill
fur political i^apitAl, and intt-mls tu make it thu If vt>r by wliicb I
raise the democratic pnrt;^ out of ' tlie stough of dospond ' into whicn]
tlie ab-)litionisiB had tliiuBt it. It is a subjeut peculiarly attraolive Iffi
ilie people uf the Donli, who. wbjle tliej ata foiiiily devoted to frod
negroeH, ore still moi-e anient in tlieir love of ' Tree eugar,' and will
Ko for Cuba without slnverv. ir anything in the future iha;
dieted from the present complexion of ullairs, 'Cuba' is \a
dt^mocrultc wnr-cry in the presideiitiul (.'anipaign of ISQO, antt b tllj
only tliinic virhlcli is likely to givt> u» a deiiKiuralic priMidunt." Congrfl
Olobe, 2d Sess. 3Sth Congi., Apjiend., p. 103.

TUB THIRTY-MILLION BILL IN THE SENATE.

347

ready to defer the latter in favor of the thirty-million bill ;
but whenever a request was made that any other important
bill — -as, for instance, the homestead bill — -should betaken
up, he ininiediiilely objected that such a thing could not
bo permitted ou account of the appropriation bills. The
session of the 25tL of February lasted into the following
day. The majority wished a<^in to force the opposition
to malie their speeclies to a sloe ping audience or to prom-
ise that they would allow the vole to be taken on the fol-
lowing day at a definite hour. The minority remained
firm; and Slidell himself at last moved an adjournment,
after the motion to lay the bill on the table had been re-
jected by a vote of thirty against eighteen, which he
called a "test vote." A large majority liad, therefore,
been secured for the bill ; and, in the course of the debate,
Slidell annouuced again wiih emphasis that a vote would
be taken at any risk. Uc, therefore, had no reason to
complain when the explanation he had given a few hours
later (February 26) was doubted, viz. : that it was consider-
ation for the appropriation bills which had determined
him and the other friends of the bill to defer the de-
cision of the question until next session, and for the pres-
ent to rest satisfied with the fact that the majority in
lhis"test vote" had expressed themselves in favor of
■' the principle of the bill."

Even the democratic press inferred from this contrii-
dictorv course that the passage of the bill had never
been desired by Buchanan, because the purchase project
could fulfill its real purpose of holding the party together
in the presidential campaign only so long as it remained
a means of agitation.' But if it could he considered cor-

■ The Rochester Union nnd Advrrtiaer, one of the olileat and ini at
respected deiuocrntic journals of wosIbtii New York, lets its aiiipli-
flcntioii of this proposition culminate in the charge that Buchaiinirs

348 Buchanan's

> Ob' 35ra cnxoREas.

tain that, even with tliirty millions at his disposal,
president would not be atjle to induce Spain to sell tli|
island, it was now incomparably more curtain that tfaj
apectdation on this unifying power of the project was G
tirely wrong, and that it tliereforo had served only l
intensify tho strain by increasing still further the dai
gerous excitement of men's mindti. On the S3d of Fe^
ruary a debate had taken place in the senate which i
such a glaring light on the yawning gap between the tvf
wings of the democratic party that it was more thai
folly to cling to the hope that by energetically caterin,
to the appetite for more territory it could be closed agoi
at last during the next presidential campaign.

The repeal moved by Hale of the provision of English^
bill, according to which Kansas could adopt a stale com
stitulion only after it had been shown by tho taking of ■
census that it had the population required for the electitq
of a representative, was under discussion. Brown's speocl
which, to use Eroderick's expression, cast a bombshel
into the senate, was, however, not provoked by that mA
tion. Its connection with that motion was so remote tbu
it might, with equal truth, have been connected withj
hundred other questions. Its dechired object was lo makj
it perfectly clear what was the position respectively 43
the two wings of the democratic party on the questit^
of slavery in the territories. Its text, pregnant win
meaning, was; "I neither want to cheat nor be oheatt
in the great contest that is lo come off in ISW.' " Asf
presidential candidate, Douglas should give an explaiU
tion of the doctrine he had announced in Freeport;
certainty should be obtained fts to whcthur the demooi

uttiniatc object was his re-election. This iuttrt^ling artiols 1b 01
in tho N. Y. Tribune of March IS, 18S9.
' Congr. Globe. 34 Seaa. 35lh CoDgr., p. 1212.

3i9

of the nortbern states took the same ground. Those who
had hitherto deceived themselves on the matter had now
to recognize that the re-election of Douglas to the senate
was nut the end of the play of the Lin coin- Douglas cam-
paign, hut only of ils first act.

If the Dred Sccilt decision has any sense at all, said
Brown, it means that it is the duty of the government to
protect our slave property in the territories. If the word
protection is not to lie a deception and a fraud, it mnst
mean an "adequate" and "sufficient" protection. The
constitution has not given us rights, and refused us the
means to protect and defend them. If the territorial leg-
islature refuses ine pr-otecuoii tomy slavepropert}', I shall
demand thitt protection of congress; and congress must
grant it to me, for the territorial legislature is its creature.
Will you grant that demand? Will you annul the laws
of the territorial legislature that violate that right of pro-
tection, and pass laws that will grant it! Tlie declaration
th.it you do not, with Douglas, consider the territorial
legislature authorized, by non-action or by unfriendly ac-
tion, to exclude mo and ray slaves from tlio territory is
worth nothing. It is a matter of indifference how you
think; wc shall demand that you act, If you refuse to
answer the question, Will you do this! in the affirniatire,
there is to rae no difference between you and Douglas.
But if we cannot get the rights which belong to us under
the constitution according to the sujireiue court of the
country, we shall remain in it no longer — for it is a despot-
ism. There must, therefore, be a clear understanding be-
tween us and the democrats of the northern states. If
we do not agree, let us, like honest men, separate.

Douglas accepted the challenge with the declaration
that he too did not want to cheat or to bo cheated, and
that he would, therefore, define his position so clearly
that no doubt coDcerning it would be possible. In

350 BtrCBiNAN's

) OF 35Tn

doing so be said nothing ne\r. As Brown had onfl
clothed Lincoln's reasoning in different words, Doagla
simply repealed the sophisms with which he had endeai
tirod to meet the latter. The legal nature of slave profl
erty and other property, he aaid, is exactly the i
and hence the territorial legislature has precisely t
same power over tlie one as over the oilier. If the raj
nature of slave property is such as to require greater prj
tection than other pro|jerty, that is the misfortune of t!
slave-holders. What the territorial legislature should i
in consequence of this is a matter of indifference. If t
population do not want slavery, the legislature will nej
lect to lake the measures which, considering the i
value of slave property, are the absolute preconditions Q
the possibility of the continuance of slavery ; but it c
not be forced to do what it does not want to do. And i
is very doubtful whether, in all the free stales, a slnj^
man can be found who is ready to agree to the demaUl
through congress to force upon the population, again
their will, such a "slave code " as ts indispensable to tfl
continuance of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska biU li
settled that help against the unconstitutional action oQ^
territorial legislature is to be suiiglit for, not from OOa
gress, but from the courts; and Brown himself expresa
approved this in his speech of July 2, 1S5G.' But it,f
right that we must come to a clear understanding as 1
whether we shall agree. " We live under a common c
stitution. No political creed is sound or safe which c
not be proclaimed in the siinie sense wherever the Am«
ican Hag waives over American soil. If the north an
the south cannot come to a common ground on I
slavery question, the sooner we know it the better.
If you repudiate the doctrine of non-interventioa a
form a slave code by act of congress, when the people d
' Comiiare Cangr. Qlobe, 1st Sess. S4th Congr., Append., p. 801.

the tei'ritory refuse it, you must step off the democratic
platform. We will let you depart in peaco, as you no
longer belong to us. . . . I do not l>clie\'e a demo-
cratic candidate can even carry any one democratic state
of the north on the platform that it is llie duty of the
federal government to force the people of a territory to
have slavery when tlicy do not want it."'

Brown absolutely denied that he had changed his
views. The provision of the Kansas-Nebraska bill quoted
by Douglas did not provide for the case of slave-holders
deprived of their rights by the failure of the territ<irial
legislature to act; for such a case could not be brought
before the federal supreme court-
Undeniable as ibis was, it was not at all pertinent to
the political question. If Douglas could not convince
Brown, nor Brown Douglas, or if neither could induce the
other actually to surrender his point of view, it was. so
far as the practical consequences of the controversy were
concerned, entirely indilTerenl who was right or wrong
on the constitutional question. But Douglas and Brown
did not speak in their own names alone. On the onoside
Pugh, with great emphasis, supported Douglas's assertion
that no free state would ever agree to Brown's " mon-
strous dem;ind;" and, on the other. Mason and Jefferson
Davis adhered just as strongly to Brown's declaration
that the slave states would never accept a presidential
candidate who took Douglas's point of view. Was it now
conceivable that the electoral battle of 18G0 would after
all be fought under ii loader of the alavocracy and of tlio
democrats of the northern states?

Green declared it not only possible but even bad the
boldness to promise to bring about the reunion of the
struggling parties on the main question by his speech,

1 Cungr, Globe, 24 Seaa. 80tb Cungr., pp. 1240, 1317.
llUd.p, laei.

352 Buchanan's election — end of 35th congress.

although on the legal question he stood .precisely where
Brown did. As at the time there was no practical ques-
tion before them, he thought;, no proper ground could be
found on either side for a separation in this difference of
opinion. But an accident now swept the ground from un-
der his feet as one had swept it from under Slidell's in
the discussion of the Cuban question. During the debate
the news came that tlio Kansas legislature had passed a
law which declared slavery abolisbed. Douglas's reply
was, therefore, irrefutable: '*Ifow is the time and hero
the cause if you ever intend to intervene." *

If the questiou'could ever become a practical one, it
had, indeed, become one by this step taken by the legisla-
ture of Kansas. Its settlement might, notwithstanding,
be deferred. But it had become impossible to hold the
])arty together, for the presidential campaign of ISGO,
under the pretense that an irreconcilable difference of
opinion prevailed only on a theoretical question which
probably would never assume the character of a prac-
tical probltiin. Even Bigler, of Pennsylvania, who with
Gwin, of California, opposed Douglas's doctrine, therefore,
acknowledged that the discussion provoked by Brown
couid evidently 'Mead to no other result than disaster to
the democratic party." - The t/iema prohantluin of the bit-
ter, leading article of the Washington Statcft^ of January
2^), 1S50, had been made an undoubted and irrevocable
fact by the deb:itc of February 23, viz.: ''There is no
such entity as a democratic party." The 35th Congress
ended while tlie funeral bells of the democratic party
were tolling; and hence the history of the 30th Congress
could not but become the knell of the Union.

iCongr. Globe, 2d Sees. 35tb Congr., p. 1255.

2 Ibid., p. 1623.

3 The organ of the radical slavocrocy at the national capitoL

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