acting!" Let this, however, suffice. Mr. Buchanan's career came to its end; and his countrymen have virtually pronounced judgment upon him and his acts. It is evident, we think, to say the least, that he was not equal to the emergency in which he was placed, and, after making all due allowances, we are convinced, that upon him will ever rest the reproach of vacillation, weak high and responsible office of President of the United States.† * General Dix, in a speech made in New York, April 20th, tried to defend Mr. Buchanan, and said, among other things, that "if South Carolina had tendered war to the late administration as she has to this-I mean by a hostile and deadly assault-it would have in such wise as to prepare the way for rebellion; he virtually placed a premium on rebellion; and in fact, he did more than any other one man could have done to give it the ways and means of entering with any hope of success upon its suicidal, wicked career of blood and outrage. In words, Mr. Buchanan was not deficient on various occasions; he could and he did beg, and entreat, and implore his country-ness, inefficiency, and unfitness for the men not to dispute, not to contend, not to strive one with another; he could set forth the folly and impudence of secession as clearly as was possible for language to do it; yet he could, at the same time, stultify himself by declaring that, though it was plainly a violation of the Constitution for a state to take upon itself to secede, though secession was revolution, still he had no power to take steps to prevent it; he did not see that he could use any force to hinder men from destroying the Union and involving the whole country in war and bloodshed. A most singular state of things indeed! A most astonishing view of the duties and responsibilities of one who had solemnly sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States," which is "the supreme law of the land"! A strange exemplification of words in place of deeds; of talking instead of been unanimously accepted." No doubt this was so; were in the cabinet. It was only possible when such men as Gen. Dix and Secretary Holt were Mr. Buchan but not while Cobb, Floyd, Thompson, et id omne genus, dues. + In November, 1865, the predecessor of Mr. Lincoln published a book entitled, " Mr. Buchanan's Admin sized volume of about 300 pages, and undertakes to defend, and exonerate from all reproach, one of whom istration on the Eve of the Rebellion." It is a moderate charges hostility against him on the part of Congress; their refusal to strengthen the hands of, or aid in any way, the Executive; the rancorous enmity of individ we have spoken very freely above. Mr. Buchanan ual politicians; the unjust and false charges of Gen Scott against him, etc. He also undertakes to set forth. his policy as being the only wise and safe policy in the existing crisis, and altogether to make it appear that he, at least, is not to blame for what was done, or what has resulted from his course during the latter part of his public career. In Appendix I. at the end of the present chapter, we give a few extracts from Mr. Buchanan's book: valeant quantum, etc. CH. XI] BUCHANAN'S ATTEMPT AT DEFENCE. 567 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. L-BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION ON THE EVE OF THE REBELLION. THE narrative will prove that the original and conspiring causes of all our future troubles are to be found in the long, active, and persistent hostility of the northern abolitionists, both in and out of Congress, against southern slavery, until the final triumph of their cause in the election of President Lincoln; and on the other hand, the corresponding antagonism and violence with which the advocates of slavery resisted these efforts, and vindicated its preservation and extension up to the period of secession. Many grievous errors were committed by both parties from the beginning, but the most fatal of them all was the secession of the cotton states. . Even after Mr. B. had, in his messages, exposed the dangerous condition of public affairs, and when it had become morally certain that all his efforts to avoid the civil war would be frustrated by agencies far beyond his control, they persistently refused to pass any measures enabling him or his successor to execute the laws against armed resistance, or to defend the country against approaching rebellion. American people disobeyed and resisted the Consti tution of their country as expounded by the tribunal which they themselves bad created for the express purpose. The great democratic party might have maintained its ascendancy and saved the Union, had it not been thus hopelessly divided at this critical period. Encouraged and emboldened by its irreconcilable divisions, the abolition, or republican party, no longer confined itself to an opposition to slavery in the Territories. It soon extended its agitation to the suppression of slavery within the States. At the first it sought to save appearances, but the veil was too transparent to conceal its purposes. Speaking of the threats of South Carolina and others that they would secede, if Mr. Lincoln were elected, and of papers like the N. Y. Tribune, crying out, "Let them go," "we can do better without them;" and the like; Mr. B. goes on to say :— In addition to all these considerations, the persistent refusal of Congress, from the first until the last hour of the session of 1860, '61, to take a single step in preparing for armed resistance to the execution of the laws, served to confirm the cotton states in the opinion that they might "depart in peace." President Buchanan, ever since the commencement The people of the cotton states, unfortunately for of his administration has been persistently de- themselves, were also infatuated with the belief, until nounced, especially by the Douglas democracy, for the very last moment, that in case they should secede sustaining the law as pronounced by the highest ju- they would be sustained by a large portion, if not dicial authority of the country. . Sad the whole democratic party of the North. They vainly imagined that this party, which had maintained their constitutional rights whilst they remained in the Union, would sustain them in rebellion after they had gone out of it. In this delusion they were also greatly encouraged by sympathy and support from influential and widely circulated antirepublican journals in the North, and especially in the city of New York. It was in vain, therefore, that the late President warned them, as he often did, against this delusion. It was in vain he assured them that the first cannon fired against either Fort Moultrie or Fort Sumter would arouse the indignant spirit of the North, would heal all political divisions amongst the northern people, and would unite them as one man in support of a war rendered inevitable by such an act of rebellion must be the condition of any country where an appeal can be taken from judicial decisions to excited popular elections! Under our free government all citizens are equal before the law. The law and the law alone is their master. When this is disregarded and defied by excited and exasperated popular majorities, anarchy and confusion must be the inevitable consequence. Public and private rights are sacrificed to the madness of the hour. The Government itself becomes helpless for their protection, and to avoid such evils history has taught us that the people will at last seek refuge in the arms of despotism. Let all free governments in future times profit by our example. Let them take warning that the late disastrous civil war, unjustifiable as it was, would most probably never have existed, had not the In this perilous condition of the country it would scarcely be believed, were it not demonstrated by the record, that Congress deliberately refused, throughout the entire session, to pass any act or resolution cither to preserve the Union by peaceful measures, or furnish the President or his successor with a military force to repel any attack which might be made by the cotton states. It neither did the one thing nor the other. It neither presented the olive branch nor the sword. All history proves that inaction in such an emergency is the worst possible policy, and can never stay the tide of revolution. On the contrary, it affords the strongest encouragement to rebellion. The sequel will prove the correctness of these opinions. All we demand of other peoples is to be let alone to work out our own high destinies. United together, and we must be the most independent, as we are among the most important of the nations of the world. United together, and we require no other instrument to conquer peace than our beneficent productions. United together and we must be a great, free, and prosperous people, whose renown must spread throughout the civilized world, and pass down, we trust, to the remotest ages. We ask you to join us in forming a Confederacy of Slave-holding States. III.-DECLARATION AS TO SECESSION. THE people of the State of South Carolina, in II.-SOUTH CAROLINA'S ADDRESS TO THE convention assembled, on the 26th of April, a.d. SLAVE-HOLDING STATES. Citizens of the Slave-holding States of the United States! Circumstances beyond our control have placed us in the van of the great controversy between the northern and southern states. We 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States by the Federal ed rights of the states, fully justified this state in government, and its encroachments upon the reservthen withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in slave-holding states, she forebore at that time to ex deference to the opinions and wishes of the other ercise this right. Since that time these encroach ments have continued to increase, and further for would have preferred that other states should have assumed the position we now occupy. Independent ourselves, we disclaim any design or desire to lead the counsels of the other southern states. Provid-bearance ceases to be a virtue. And now the State ence has cast our lot together, by extending over us an identity of pursuits, interests and institutions, South Carolina desires no destiny separate from yours. To be one of a great slave-holding confederacy, stretching its arms over a territory larger than any power in Europe possesses-with a population four times greater than that of the whole United States when they achieved their independence of the British Empire--with productions, which make our existence more important to the world than any other people inhabiting it—with common institutions to defend, and common dangers to encounter-we ask your sympathy and confederation. Whilst constituting a portion of the United States it has been your statesmanship which has guided it in its mighty strides to power and expansion. In the field and in the cabinet, you have led the way to its renown and grandeur. You have loved the Union, in whose service your great statesmen have labored, and your great soldiers have fought and conquered-not for the material benefits it conferred, but with the faith of a generous and devoted chivalry. You have long lingered in hope over the shattered remains of a broken Constitution. Compromise after compromise formed by your concessions, has been tramp.ed under foot by your northern confederates. All fraternity of feeling between the North and the South is lost, or has been converted into hate, and we of the South are at last driven together, to the stern destiny which controls the existence ( f nations. of South Carolina having resumed her separate and equal place among nations, deems it due to herself, to the remaining United States of America, and to the nations of the world, that she should declare the immediate causes which have led to this act. . . We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligations of the other; and where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure with all its consequences. In the present case the fact is established with certainty. We assert that fourteen of the United States have deliberately refused for years past to fulfil their constitutional obligations, and we refer to their own statutes for the proof. . . We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our delegates in convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this state and the other states of North America is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent state, with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. END OF VOL. III. |