1868.
DEATH OF MR. BUCHANAN—HIS CHARACTER AS A STATESMAN, A MAN AND A
CHRISTIAN.
Notwithstanding the prospect of longer life with which the year 1868
began for Mr. Buchanan, the end was drawing near. The world and the
world’s interests faded away, the unknown future opened before him,
and naught earthly remained for the strong old man, bound down by
the infirmities of age, but the tender care of those who had
assembled to soothe and cheer him.
When in health, he was very fond of having bright and cultivated
women about him, and in sickness he was peculiarly dependent on
their ministrations. For him, there had never been wife or child.
But he was specially blest by female kindred, who never failed or
faltered in their devotion to him. There were present at Wheatland,
during his last illness, his brother, the Rev. Dr. Buchanan; Miss
Henrietta Buchanan, daughter of that gentleman; Mr. and Mrs.
Johnston; Mr. Henry, and the ever faithful “Miss Hetty.” Kind
neighbors were at hand, among whom his friend, the Rev. Dr. Nevin,
was one of the most assiduous. Doctor Buchanan was obliged to return
to his home, near Philadelphia, two days before the death occurred,
at which time the event was apparently not very near. Miss Henrietta
Buchanan, whose absence from her uncle’s room, even for a short
time, made him impatient, as well as Mrs. Johnston and Miss Parker,
watched him with the utmost tenderness to the last. So did the
others whom I have named. His death, the immediate cause of which
was rheumatic gout, occurred on the morning of June 1st, 1868, in
his 78th year. His last hours were free from suffering, and his mind
was clear. Miss Annie Buchanan says, in a communication addressed to
me:—
In his last year he began to feel that he was very old, and looked
forward to death, and spoke as if he expected it constantly. Not
that his health was such as to create this expectation, for it was
as good as persons of his age usually enjoy. He had a very severe
illness soon after his return from Washington.
He had, previous to that illness, been unusually strong and well,
but afterwards I do not think he was quite so much so. He had
attacks of gout, more or less severe, at intervals, up to the time
of his death. He had, besides, an illness which came upon him
during a short visit which he paid to Cape May, which prostrated
him so much that it was necessary to take him home as a sick man.
Each one of these illnesses made him realize more clearly that his
hold on life was very weak, that the “silver cord would soon be
loosed,” and he devoted himself to making all necessary
preparations for that great event. His affairs were all arranged
with exactness, so as to cause as little confusion as possible
after his death. He chose the exact spot for his last resting
place, saying, either as expressing a desire or as predicting a
fact, that he would lie alone. Having carefully arranged all his
plans, he waited, with faith and hope, for the final change which
would open to him the real and satisfying life. When the dreaded
messenger came, those who loved him knew that rest had come to him
at last, and that his “faith had changed to glad fruition.”
The funeral obsequies of the late President took place at Lancaster,
on the 4th of June, with every imposing demonstration that was
consistent with a proper respect for his unostentatious character. I
need not describe the scene, or recapitulate the ceremonies by which
the event of his death was marked throughout the country. They may
be read in the public journals of the time. But from the funeral
sermon, preached over his remains by the Rev. John W. Nevin, D.D.,
President of Franklin and Marshall College, an extract must be
permanently recorded in these pages, at the close of the present
chapter.
It is unnecessary for me to undertake a formal and elaborate
portrayal of Mr. Buchanan’s character as an American statesman. It
has been exhibited in the foregoing pages, and the reader does not
need to be farther assisted by me in his estimate of the public
character of the man. But there are some observations which should
be made by the author of this work, before citing the testimony of
those who stood to him in the relations of near kindred, or of
personal friendship.
There may be persons who will be disposed to think that he should
not have allowed himself, in his old age, to be disturbed by the
attacks that were made upon him by the press after his retirement
from public life. But such persons should remember that he had to
administer the Executive Government at a very trying period, and
that many of the charges that were subsequently made against him
involved his integrity as a statesman, and the oath of office which
every President must take to preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States. Moreover, I cannot, for one,
subscribe to the philosophy which assumes that a statesman should be
indifferent to what is said of him by his contemporaries, or to what
is made to pass into the materials of history, if it be not
corrected. It must be admitted that in all free countries there is
prurient appetite for detraction, and our American world is
certainly not free from it. A considerable part of the public, in a
certain sense, enjoys disparagement of the characters of very
eminent public men. If this were not so, the press would at least be
more careful and more conscientious than it often is. The
absolute freedom of the press is of the utmost consequence. Its
licentiousness is best restrained by the moral sense of the
community, in the case of the higher statesmen; and to the extent to
which this restraint does not operate, vast mischief may be done. It
is impossible for posterity to know how to estimate any man who has
filled a conspicuous place in history, if the materials for a sober
judgment are to be looked for only in the criticisms or laudations
of the contemporary press; nor is it generally in the power of
posterity to determine what deduction is to be made from the
assertions or opinions of contemporaries, on account of the rancor
of party or the malice of individuals. If Mr. Buchanan had not taken
the pains, which he did take, to collect and preserve the most ample
proof of his acts, his purposes, and his efforts as President of the
United States, he would have gone down to future ages in a light
utterly false, simply because he happened to be the object of
enormous misrepresentations from motives of party policy or personal
ill-will, without the protection which the community should have
thrown around him at the time. That this protection was to a great
degree wanting, is doubtless due to the existence of public danger,
and to the passions which may find their excuse in the fact that in
many minds they had their origin in patriotism, whilst in many the
origin was of the basest description. That he, who was the object of
all this misconception and misrepresentation, forbore, as long as
there was serious danger to the institutions of the country, to
demand the public attention as he might have demanded it, and calmly
relied on the judgments of the future, is to be accounted to him for
a praise and a public spirit of no ordinary kind. No man was ever
treated with greater injustice than he was during the last seven
years of his life by a large part of the public, and yet he bore it
with dignity and with an unchanged love of country.
In regard to his moral and religious character and his personal
virtues, I should not feel that I had done my duty if I did not here
say what has impressed me in my study of the man.
His strong family affections, his engaging social qualities, his
fidelity to friends, and his forgiving temper towards those who had
injured him, or from whom he had once been estranged, are well
known. To those who stood in the relation of friends, he was ever a
most generous benefactor. Many a man received from him pecuniary aid
which prevented disaster and ruin, and which could not be repaid by
political service, for in many cases the individual never had it in
his power to repay in anything but the simple discharge of the
pecuniary obligation. This had been his habit all his life, as I
learn from a full examination of his private papers, and he did not
cease from it when political service was no longer needed. His
tender of such aid often came without solicitation. He would not
allow a friend whom he valued to incur serious loss, when he knew of
the danger, and could supply the means of averting it. For what was
justly his due, he expected and required performance; but he was
always a forbearing and considerate creditor. For the poor, he ever
had a tender and thoughtful feeling. The city of Lancaster holds in
perpetual trust, under his will, a benefaction of a peculiar kind,
which marks the nature of his charities, and was large for one of
his means.
That he did not enrich himself out of the public, or receive gifts,
or accumulate money by means of the opportunities afforded by his
public positions, or give way to the weakness of nepotism, should,
perhaps, not be mentioned to his praise, if it were not that his
example in these respects has become conspicuous by contrast.
No charge against his moral character or personal virtue has ever
been made to my knowledge. It was doubtless his early Presbyterian
training by religious parents that saved him, amid all the
temptations of a long and varied life and the widest social
experience, from any deviation from the path of virtue. The tongue
of scandal, the prying curiosity of the censorious, or of those who
are always ready to drag down others to their own level, never could
fasten upon his intercourse with the other sex any cause for
suspicion, nor could the wiles of the impure ever ensnare him. It is
believed by those who knew him best that his life was in this
respect absolutely without stain, as his conversation although very
often gay and festive, is known to have always been free from any
taint of impurity. He was a man of too much refinement to be guilty
of indelicacy in anecdote or illustration, or to allow of it in his
presence.
The reader who has perused what I have written and quoted must have
seen that there are scattered all through his life traces of a
strong religious tendency and religious habits, a deep sense of
religious obligation, a belief in the existence and government of
God, and a full faith that this world is not the only sphere of
man’s existence. That he had a habit of daily prayer, according to
the injunction which said, “Enter into thy closet,” is perfectly
well authenticated.
There may be men of the world who will smile when they read of a
statesman, in a grave juncture of public affairs in which he had to
deal with the passions and ambitions of individuals and with the
conflicting feelings and interests of great communities, seeking
guidance from his Maker. Prayer in the midst of party politics and
the business of official life may possibly provoke the cold derision
of some part of mankind. Whether it is or is not efficacious in
human affairs—whether a resort to it is a sign of weakness or of
strength, is just as men think and feel. Be it one way or the other,
I did not dare to withhold this trait of character, which was
revealed in the simplest manner in a confidential letter, in which
he said of himself that he weighed well and prayerfully the course
that he ought to adopt, at a time most critical for his country and
for himself. I leave it for such estimate as the religious or the
irreligious world may form, according to their respective
tendencies, adding, however, that what he said of himself on that
special occasion appears, on the testimony of those who knew him
best, to have been in accordance with the habit of his life.
There was, in truth, no fanaticism in this man’s nature, no cant in
his speech or writing, whatever of either there may have been in
those stern Puritans of an earlier age, in whom policy and valor and
worldly wisdom and statecraft were strangely mixed with a religious
enthusiasm which made them feel that they were the chosen of the
Lord. The blood that he drew from a remote ancestry of pious
Scotchmen had been tempered by the practical sense of our American
life, and yet it had not lost the conviction of man’s relation to
his God.
When he was about to embark on the mission to Russia a female friend
of his in Lancaster, Mrs. E. J. Reigart, presented him with a copy
of the book called “Jay’s Exercises.” This was a book of short
sermons, or lessons, for every day in the year, each on some
appropriate text of Scripture, and was much in use among
Presbyterians. The style was quaint, and the comments on the various
texts were marked by a good deal of excellent sense and much
religious feeling. Mr. Buchanan made daily use of it through the
remainder of his life, wherever he was. On its margin he noted the
dates of his embarkation for Liverpool, of his arrival there, and at
London, Hamburg and Lubeck. The text and lesson for the day on which
he arrived at Lubeck, on his way to St. Petersburg, read somewhat
oddly:
“May 26th. _Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession._ Psalm ii. 8.—The heathen—the uttermost parts of the
earth—viewed in the representations of Scripture and the reports of
historians, travellers and missionaries, seem a very unenviable
acquisition. If it is true that the whole world lieth in wickedness,
it seems fitter to be the inheritance and possession of Satan than
the Son of God. But two things are to be taken into the account.
Notwithstanding the present condition of the estate it contains very
_valuable_ and _convertible_ materials.”
That he did not make what is called a public profession of religion
until a late period of his life is accounted for in an interesting
paper which I have received from the Rev. William M. Paxton, D.D.,
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, in the City of New York.
Dr. Paxton, in answer to my inquiry, kindly wrote to me on the 11th
of April, 1883, as follows:
In the month of August, in the year 1860, Mr. Buchanan, then
President of the United States, visited the Bedford Springs, in
the State of Pennsylvania. I happened to be present when the stage
arrived, and having had a previous personal acquaintance with him,
was one of the first to bid him welcome.
A day or two afterwards, as he passed me in the hall, he stopped
and said, “May I take the liberty of sending for you to come to my
room, when I can find leisure for a conversation?” To this I
replied that it would give me great pleasure to obey such a call.
The next day the invitation came, through his private secretary,
and when we were seated alone, he turned to me and said, “I sent
for you to request that you will favor me with a conversation upon
the subject of religion. I knew your father and mother in early
life, and, as you have some knowledge of my family, you are aware
that I was religiously educated. But for some years I have been
much more thoughtful than formerly upon religious subjects. I
think I may say that for twelve years I have been in the habit of
reading the Bible and praying daily. I have never had any one with
whom I have felt disposed to converse, but now that I find you
here, I have thought that you would understand my feelings, and
that I would venture to open my mind to you upon this important
subject, and ask for an explanation of some things that I do not
clearly understand.” When I had assured him that I would be
gratified to have such a conversation, he began immediately by
asking, “Will you be good enough to explain to me what an
experience of religion is?” In answer, I opened to him the Bible
account of our sinful estate, and of the necessity of regeneration
by the Spirit of God, and of atonement through the sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He then began to question me, as closely as
a lawyer would question a witness, upon all the points connected
with regeneration, atonement, repentance and faith. What surprised
me was that his questions were not so much of a doctrinal as of an
experimental character. He seemed anxious to understand how a man
might know that he was a Christian, and what conscious experiences
entered into the exercises of repentance and faith. It is needless
for me to detail the particulars of the conversation. It gave me
an opportunity of speaking to him in the most simple and familiar
way. When I related the experience of some eminent Christian, or
used a simple illustration, such as I have employed in Sabbath
school addresses, he seemed much gratified, and proceeded to put
his questions to draw out still more definite explanations. He
particularly was anxious to understand how faith receives and
appropriates the Lord Jesus Christ, and how a man may know that he
believes. He put himself in the position of a little child, and
asked questions in the simplest manner. Sometimes he asked me to
go over an explanation a second time, as if he wished to fix it
upon his memory. His manner was so earnest, and his mind was
evidently so deeply engaged, that I was strongly impressed with
the conviction of his entire sincerity.
After the more experimental points had been disposed of, he asked
a few purely doctrinal questions, the answers to which he received
without any disposition to enter upon a discussion. At the close
of the conversation, he asked particularly what were the
conditions of membership in the Presbyterian Church, and what were
the points upon which an applicant for admission would be
examined. The conversation lasted, probably, from two to three
hours. After sitting quiet for a few minutes, he said, “Well, sir,
I thank you. My mind is now made up. I hope that I am a Christian.
I think I have much of the experience which you describe, and, as
soon as I retire from my office as President, I will unite with
the Presbyterian Church.” To this, I replied, “Why not _now_, Mr.
President? God’s invitation is _now_, and you should not say
_to-morrow_.” To this he answered, with deep feeling, and with a
strong gesture, “I must delay, for the _honor of religion_. If I
were to unite with the Church _now_, they would say hypocrite from
Maine to Georgia.” I felt the truth of his answer, and did not
continue my urgency.
This closed our conversation, but, as Mr. Buchanan remained at the
Springs for some time, he seemed to seize every opportunity, when
he met me in the hall or in the parlor, to ask some question which
he had been pondering, or to repeat some passage of Scripture upon
which his mind had been dwelling, and ask how I understood it. For
example, meeting me in the passage, he asked me the meaning of the
verse, “The bruised reed he will not break: the smoking flax he
will not quench;” and when I explained the figures, and showed how
beautifully they expressed the tenderness of our Lord, he seemed
to exhibit the most simple-hearted gratification.
I take pleasure in giving these recollections for record, because
I have never entertained a doubt of the entire honesty of Mr.
Buchanan’s religious impressions. I did not agree with him in
politics, or feel any sympathy with his public career; but I think
that he is entitled to this testimony from one who was placed in
circumstances to judge fairly of the reality of his religious
convictions. The purpose which President Buchanan expressed to me
of uniting with the Church was fulfilled. He connected himself
with the Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Pa., immediately after
his retirement from the Presidential chair.
Mr. J. Buchanan Henry concludes his communication to me, from which
I have already quoted, as follows:
In personal appearance Mr. Buchanan was tall—over six feet, broad
shouldered, and had a portly and dignified bearing. He wore no
beard; his complexion was clear and very fair; his forehead was
massive, white and smooth; his features strong and well marked,
and his white hair was abundant and silky in texture; his eyes
were blue, intelligent and kindly, with the peculiarity that one
was far and the other near sighted, which resulted in a slight
habitual inclination of the head to one side—a peculiarity that
will be remembered by those who knew him well. He dressed with
great care, in black, wearing always a full white cravat, which
did not, however, impart to him anything of a clerical aspect. He
was, on the whole, a distinguished looking and handsome man, and
his size and fine proportions gave a dignity and commanding air to
his personal presence. His manner and bearing had much of the
old-fashioned courtly school about it.[187]
Footnote 187:
The frontispiece of the first volume of this work is from a
portrait painted by Eicholtz for Mr. Buchanan’s sister, Mrs.
Lane, just before he went to Russia. It was engraved for this
work by Sartain, of Philadelphia. The frontispiece of the second
volume is a full length, by J. C. Buttre, of New York, engraved
for this work, in a reduced size, from a larger plate by the
same artist.
I do not think he was a very easy or fluent public speaker, but
what he had to say always commanded attention, even among his
great compeers in the Senate.
Mr. Buchanan’s parents were Presbyterians, and he always evinced a
preference for that form of worship. He was a regular attendant
upon church services, both at Washington and in Lancaster, being a
pew holder and an always generous contributor to both the building
and maintenance of Christian worship. I have known him to give a
thousand dollars at a time in aid of building funds for churches
of all denominations, and many of his most faithful friends were
members of the Roman Catholic communion. He was, to my knowledge,
always a sincere believer in all the cardinal doctrines of
Christianity, had no eccentricities of religious belief, but
accepted Christianity as a divine revelation and a simple rule for
the conduct of human life, and relied upon it for the guidance of
his own life. He certainly always pressed their force upon my
cousin and myself, in our family intercourse under his roof, as
his wards. I remember that she and I always hid away our secular
newspaper or novel on Sunday if we heard him approaching, as we
were otherwise pretty sure to get a mild rebuke for not better
employing our time on Sunday, either in good works, or at least in
better reading.
The candid student of history, intent only on getting at the very
truth without fear, favor or prejudice, after the perusal of
President Buchanan’s plain exposition of the threatenings of the
impending rebellion, as set forth in his message of December,
1860, and the message of January 8, 1861, must ask the question,
why did not the Congress, sole constitutional depositary of the
power to raise armies or to call out the militia, then and there,
by proper legislation, authorize the President to stamp out the
incipient revolt by voting the money for and the authority to
employ any necessary military force to accomplish the legitimate
end? I have reason to know that the President would not have
hesitated to faithfully execute any law which Congress might then
have enacted. Why, then, did Congress, from December to March,
with the plain facts fully brought to their attention by President
Buchanan, and in the face of such imminent public peril, neglect
to perform its constitutional function, or to vote either supplies
or men? What more could President Buchanan have legally done?
Should he have become an usurper, and declared himself Dictator,
after the fashion of South America? The conclusion must be, that
Congress, from some inexplicable reason, saw fit to abdicate its
functions, leaving its powers dormant at the most critical period.
Can it have been from any unworthy partisan motive? It could not
have been from doubt of its possessing the authority. Whilst
President Buchanan held, and rightly held, that he could find no
authority in the Constitution to coerce the States, _as States_,
or mere legal entities, he clearly enunciated the true doctrine of
the constitutional power of the National Government to fully
enforce its laws, by acting coercively upon the persons of all
citizens when in revolt or resistance to its authority, wherever
they might be, and whether as individuals or massed together in
armies. That doctrine then set forth by Mr. Buchanan was
unpopular, but it stands to-day confessed to be the only true
construction of the Constitution. After the flames of a four
years’ civil conflagration had beaten against the text, no
important writer on the organic law held any other construction to
be tenable. Its present universal acceptance proves the sagacity
and correctness of Mr. Buchanan’s views at that early date.
If there was any more marked political bias of Mr. Buchanan’s
mind than any other it was that of an almost idolatrous respect
and reverence for the Constitution. He had been educated and
lived in the old constitutional school of statesmanship, and
wholly believed in the wisdom and perfection of that great
organic law devised by the founders and builders of our
Government. He fully and ardently believed in its sufficiency
for all purposes, whether of peace or war. Perhaps such a faith
as was entertained by that race of statesmen would be considered
by the present lax school as savoring of political fetichism.
Certainly there were many who so regarded it, and who rather
contemptuously avowed in Congress that their views and measures
were, in many instances, extra-constitutional. To me, at least,
this knowledge of Mr. Buchanan’s political religion, so to
speak, explains why he did not for an instant contemplate the
usurpation—for usurpation it would have been, pure and simple—of
the constitutional prerogatives of Congress to declare war, or,
at least, to precipitate war: or by seizing the persons of the
Southern members of Congress and of the State authorities who
were working to secure the secession of their several States.
Congress was in session, and it was, that being the case, only
for the President to lay the facts before that body and obey
their behest, whether for peace or war. No belief that the
American people would have condoned his usurpation, if made, or
have upheld his extra-constitutional act, such as calling for
volunteers, or declaring war, or making an aggressive war, would
have justified him in assuming the prerogatives of Congress,
then actually in session. Although such an act might have made
him the most popular idol in American history, I do not think he
could have been tempted to break his solemn oath to support the
Constitution, by ignoring its plainest provisions. “Nothing
succeeds like success.” I am sometimes asked why Mr. Buchanan
did not “take the responsibility?” Such a course would have
remained impossible to him, with his views of his duty, and I
think that in time he will be applauded, not blamed, for his
self-sacrificing devotion to what he regarded as the right,
rather than seeking his own personal popularity by illegal
means.
I cannot close without a few words upon my uncle’s views upon
slavery. He simply tolerated it as a legal fact under our
Constitution. He had no admiration for it whatever. I know of a
number of instances in which he purchased the freedom of slaves in
Washington, and brought them to Pennsylvania with him, leaving it
to them to repay him if they could out of their wages. His
constant recognition of the legal existence of slavery in the
South, and its right to protection so long as it legally existed
there, rendered him liable to misrepresentation at the North and
to misconception at the South; the one regarding him as an
apologist of slavery, and the other as its open friend, whereas he
was neither. He was only desirous to see the Constitution and laws
obeyed, and did, emphatically, not believe in the so-called
“Higher Law.” In fact I cannot but regard Mr. Buchanan as having
been cruelly misrepresented at the North and betrayed by the
South, which began its unjustifiable secession when quite safe
from any invasion of its Constitutional rights. The Southern
leaders did not hesitate to precipitate what they knew would be
disastrous to his benign administration, if it did not actually
terminate it in blood. It was, too, the grossest ingratitude to
the Democratic party, which had always stood like a wall of fire
between the South and its assailants in the North.
Mr. Buchanan, to the day of his death, expressed to me his abiding
conviction that the American people would, in due time, come to
regard his course as the only one which at that time promised any
hope of saving the nation from a bloody and devastating war, and
would recognize the integrity and wisdom of his course in
administering the Government for the good of the whole people,
whether North or South. His conviction on this point was so
genuine that he looked forward serenely to the future, and never
seemed to entertain a misgiving or a doubt.
The day is now not very far off when the American people will
appreciate his faithful services to the Republic, his stainless
character and his exalted patriotism.
The remainder of Miss Annie Buchanan’s very interesting paper is as
follows:
The society in Lancaster, at the time of my uncle’s early
residence there, must have been quite above the average in
intellectual culture and in social qualities. He was very fond, in
the latter part of his life, of conversing about those times, and
told a great many anecdotes of them and of the people who
flourished in them. Unfortunately, they have gone from our memory,
only leaving behind faint outlines of their former interest.
My uncle had the most delightful way of throwing himself back into
the past scenes of his life, and, as it were, living them over
again. He would tell you the whole position of affairs, make you
understand the point of the story thoroughly, and then laugh in a
most infectious way. When he was in a vein of conversation, and
felt in the humor for going back into the past, a whole room full
of people would sit all the evening, listening with delight, no
one daring to interrupt, except in order, by some leading question
or remark, to draw him out to talk more freely.
After his return from Washington, it was his constant habit to
come into the parlor after tea, and there to spend the evening,
with whatever members of the family might be staying with him.
After listening, as he often did, to reading for an hour, he would
begin to converse, and it was a rare treat to be a sharer in these
conversations. I knew it to be a great privilege, thoroughly
appreciated it at the time, but now that those evenings are
forever gone, with what mingled feelings of delight and regret I
look back upon them! They always ended at ten o’clock, and he very
seldom sat up much after that hour, even when he had guests in the
house who did not care to retire so early. “The time for all good
Christians to be in bed,” he would say, and, bidding good-night,
would leave us to remain as long as we saw fit.
Of course my uncle was not always in the vein of talking in the
way I have described, and sometimes much preferred having others
to talk to him. I have often been struck with the easy grace with
which he, who had been so much a man of the world, and had
associated with men and women of the highest culture, could take
and show the greatest interest in the rather uninteresting details
given by some humble neighbor about the sayings and doings of his
family and establishment. My uncle was a Democrat, not only in
political principle, but in the large and true democratic sense.
He looked upon his neighbors, even those who were plain and
uneducated, as his fellow-men, and treated them accordingly.
I remember his talking to me very earnestly about visiting and
relieving the sick and the poor, and trying to make me realize
that Christianity which could lack this fruit must be worthless.
On one occasion, when I was quite a child and on a visit to
Wheatland, I saw him go anxiously to the window and look upon the
night, which was cold and stormy, with sleet and snow, and I heard
him say, “God help the poor to-night!” I mention this because very
soon after, I think the next day, he sent some money, quite a
large sum, to the mayor of Lancaster, to buy fuel for the poor.
The same idea he carried out, when he made a provision in his last
will for this very purpose.
My uncle was very generous to those who were in need, and very
many were the persons whom he helped by gifts and loans, who would
otherwise have been in great straits. He was not lavish in his
expenditures. He knew exactly what he was spending, spent nothing
foolishly, was careful of what money he had, and was anxious to
invest what he had in such a way as that it should be
remunerative, so that when he gave, he did it from principle,
because he wished to do a kindness, or because he thought it was
right to do it. His heart made him always anxious to ameliorate
the miseries of those around him.
He was very much interested in his family and their welfare, and
to him it was that each and all looked for advice or assistance.
While he did not hesitate to speak sternly when he thought duty
required it—sometimes even more so than was necessary—he was
always ready, even at the same time, to lend a helping hand. He
was the oldest child of my grandfather who lived to grow up, and
this fact, together with his eminent uprightness and wisdom, made
him to be looked upon by all the different branches of the family
as their head. Our particular family have great reason to remember
his kindness, and we look back with great pleasure to the many
visits of months at a time which we paid him, at his request, both
at Wheatland and in Washington. After his death, we felt that we
had lost the friend who, next to our own father, cared most for
us, and one on whose sympathy and kindness we could most depend.
The accompanying qualities in my uncle’s character to his kindness
were his justice and integrity. No debt of his was ever knowingly
left unpaid. Even the return he made for his taxes was often
larger than that of most of his neighbors, because he scrupulously
returned an accurate account of his possessions to the assessors.
He would not have retained in his possession the smallest sum
which he thought to justly belong to another.
And this honesty showed itself quite as much in relation to public
affairs as to his own. He was honest even about his time. While he
was President, his time was given most scrupulously to his work.
He entered his office at nine o’clock in the morning and remained
there until four o’clock, when he would take a walk before dinner,
which was at five o’clock. After dinner he generally spent a large
part of the evening attending to business; and this was the case
not for some months of the year only, but for the _whole_ year.
Except while he was making a short trip into North Carolina and
during a visit of about two weeks each year at Bedford Springs,
which was necessary to his health, he remained at his post for the
four entire years. I remember hearing some members of his cabinet
say that he loved work for work’s sake. I do not know whether this
was the case or not, but certain it is that he did a great deal of
work. He always went over carefully, himself, every matter
presented to him by his cabinet officers, and tried to possess
himself with all the ins and outs of what was going on under his
administration.
It surprises me very much to read insinuations to the effect that
he was not _the_ President. I knew quite intimately nearly all the
members of his cabinet, and heard a good deal of their
conversation, and I know with what respect they spoke of him, and
that the whole tone of their conversation was that he was the
master.
There was a peculiarity of his mind which may possibly account to
some extent for this mistaken impression. It very often happened
that when some new idea or proposition was suggested to him, he
would, at the first blush, entirely disapprove of it, so that any
one not well acquainted with him, might think the case was
hopeless. When he had time, however, to think about it, and if
some one would quietly give him the points of the case, and draw
his attention more particularly to it, he would sometimes make up
his mind in quite an opposite way from that which he had at first
intended. After, however, he had once definitely and positively
come to a decision, he was unchangeable. What he considered to be
right he did, and no fear of consequences could alter his purpose.
And the value of this quality to him will be understood when we
remember that after his return home from Washington he did not
seem to regret his course while there. I never heard him say that
he wished he had acted differently in the troublous times through
which he had passed. He knew that the steps he had taken had been
with the single earnest aim and desire of preserving the country
from disunion and war; and that being the case, his having failed
in his endeavor did not trouble his conscience at all. “I acted
for some time as a breakwater,” he said, “between the North and
the South, both surging with all their force against me.”
I say did not touch his _conscience_. His _heart_ was greatly
distressed. I remember the morning on which the news came of the
ships being sent to the relief of Fort Sumter. “I fear Governor
Chase is bringing war upon his country,” was his sad exclamation,
and from that time until peace was declared, his true and loyal
heart grieved over the distress and misery of his country.
I remember an incident early in his administration, which shows
his integrity in the matter of his duty. A young man was sentenced
to be hung in Washington for murder, who had, for some reason,
enlisted great interest for himself among members of his church
(Roman Catholic), and not only the mother of the condemned man,
but several clergymen and Sisters of Charity, also, waited upon my
uncle to importune him for a pardon. My uncle’s feelings were
greatly enlisted, and I heard him say that he had gone over the
case three times, in order that, if possible, he might find some
reason that would make it right to grant a pardon. But finding, as
he did at last, that there absolutely was no such reason, he said
the law must have its way, and the young man was executed.
Another great characteristic of my uncle was his independence of
spirit. He would not be under obligation, for gifts, to any one
while he was in office, and in fact he did not like to be so at
any time. I remember the ——’s were very anxious to present a grand
piano to my cousin, soon after she went to Washington, but my
uncle positively declined allowing her to accept it. When the
Japanese commissioners came, bringing with them curious and costly
gifts, some of which were intended for the President, he sent them
all to the Patent Office, as the property of the country. He even
went so far as to insist, at all times, upon paying his fare
whenever he travelled, never receiving a pass, even when he was
out of office. He would have been horrified at the idea of
travelling free while he was President. I have often heard him
say, “I will pay my way while I can afford it. When I cannot
afford to pay I will stay at home.” The salary of the President
during my uncle’s administration was $25,000. So far from being
made any richer by his office, he was obliged to supplement some
of his own private means each year, in order that the becoming
hospitality and mode of living might be kept up at the White
House.
As long as I can remember my uncle, he was a religious man,
becoming more and more so as his life drew near its close. His
knowledge of the scriptures was very thorough, and whatever doubts
he may have had in his earlier life, had been dissipated by the
rays of the Sun of Righteousness. He was, certainly, during the
latter years of his life, a strong and firm believer in Jesus
Christ as his Saviour. It was his constant habit, after his return
from Washington, to read daily in the New Testament, and a large
part of Sunday he spent in studying that and books founded upon
its teachings. A devotional book, Jay’s Morning and Evening
Exercises, was his constant companion, and he read a great deal in
the sermons of the great French preacher, Massillon, a French copy
of which he had and often quoted. He conversed much about the
Gospel and its teachings, and one could easily tell that he was
deeply interested in the subject.
It was his practice, during all his life, to attend church on
Sunday morning, and some effect of his early teaching, which very
strongly inculcated the hallowing of the Lord’s day, was shown
when he was in St. Petersburg. It was the custom there for even
the most devout, after they had attended service through the day,
to go to balls and festivities in the evening of Sunday. My uncle
thought that he could not be excused from attending the Emperor’s
balls, but made it a rule never to dance on Sunday evening, and so
caused great surprise to some of his friends there, especially
when he explained to them that in America the manner prevalent in
Russia of spending Sunday evening would be thought quite shocking.
To show how my uncle respected the religious sense of the
community, I will mention, that when the Prince of Wales was
visiting him in Washington, and when a large company had been
invited to do the Prince honor, my uncle would not consent to
having any dancing at it. He took this position, not that he
disapproved himself of dancing, but he thought that it would cause
scandal to the religious people of the country if there were to be
a dance there in the White House. “I am the servant of the
people,” was his motto, and with this feeling in his mind he
toiled, he lived and acted, always trying to prevent anything from
being done which would give offence to that people.
I remember dining with him, in company with a lady who seemed to
be a thoroughly worldly woman, one whose life had been spent in
public and among worldly people. I do not remember the whole
conversation, or how my uncle came to say it, but I remember his
remark, “I say my prayers every day of my life.” The lady looked
up at him in surprise, and questioned, thinking he was jesting.
“No,” said my uncle, “I am not jesting, I have always said my
prayers.” I will only add, while on this subject, that not only
did my uncle attend church constantly on Sundays, but he was very
particular to omit his ordinary avocations, and to make it a day
of rest, through all his life.
There was one thing very noticeable in my uncle’s conversation
during those years which he spent at Wheatland, after his return
from Washington. He conversed very little on the political matters
of the day, and, particularly, he showed remarkably little
bitterness towards those whose indifference and even hatred
towards himself showed themselves so strongly when power and
influence had passed out of his hands. Occasionally, certainly, he
could not help speaking his mind about one or two particularly
flagrant cases, but as a general thing he passed over their
conduct in silence. He was not fond of picking people to pieces,
and his inclination was rather to speak and think kindly of his
neighbors.
My uncle was quite stout, although not at all overgrown, and you
could not see him without observing that he was a person of
distinction. Although he was of so stout a build his foot was
rather small, and I often noticed how lightly and quickly he
walked. He was very quick of apprehension, and there was very
little going on around that he did not know and understand. He has
told me that when he was in his prime his hearing was so acute
that he could often hear whispering in the adjoining room, and he
very often heard things not intended for him to hear.
Owing to a difference which there was between his eyes, one being
near and the other far-sighted, he held his head to one side,
particularly when looking at any person or thing. When listening
to any one he would hold his head in this way, close one eye and
gaze very steadily, and so conveyed the impression that he was
looking the speaker through and through. I have heard him say that
he did not know until he was forty or fifty years of age the cause
of this habit. Some friend walking with him suggested to him to
try his eyes and see if he could not see better, at a distance,
with one than with the other, when, to his surprise, he discovered
that with one eye he could not distinguish the landscape at all,
while with the other he could see very far. Whether this
peculiarity was the cause of his long continued sight I do not
know, but the fact is that up to the time of his death he was able
to read everything without the aid of glasses. He found, however,
during the last year of his life, or perhaps a little longer, that
when he read fine print at night, which he often wished to do, it
strained his eyes, and for these occasions he procured a pair of
spectacles, but he never used them at any other time.
He had a very peculiar way of reading at night. No matter how many
lights might be in the room he always had a candlestick and
candle, which he held before his eyes, and by that means read his
paper or book. As he grew older we often felt quite anxious for
fear his paper might take fire, and, occasionally, on the next
morning a hole would be found burnt in it, but, as far as I can
recollect, nothing more serious ever came of his reading in this
way.
My uncle was an extensive reader and had a good memory for what he
had read. His reading embraced all classes of literature, and he
conversed intelligently on all subjects. He continued to read a
great deal after his return to Wheatland, and enjoyed being read
to. Near the end of his life, however, he remarked to me one day,
“I am tired of reading; I don’t seem to care about it any more,”
and, as if that were the case, he might at that time be often seen
sitting without either book or paper, whereas formerly, when not
conversing, he was almost always reading.
My uncle’s political life had been an unusually long one, and, in
consequence, his remembrance of the sayings and doings of the
great people of his time was very interesting. I have heard him
say that the first President whom he had met was President Monroe,
“a gentlemanly man, wearing a blue coat and metal buttons,” and
after him he had more or less acquaintance with all the
Presidents. It was, in great part, on account of this wonderful
fund of personal knowledge which he possessed, that his friends
urged him to have a book written which should contain, not only
the facts of his own life, but also the reminiscences which he was
fond of narrating.
He was very fond of ladies’ society, and was all his life in the
habit of entertaining them at his house. During his different
residences in Washington, while in London and St. Petersburg, as
well as in Lancaster, he was very hospitable, and greatly enjoyed
the society of his friends in his own house. When he finally
returned to Wheatland, he saw much less of society than he had
ever done before, and, I have no doubt, his life must have seemed
very monotonous to him, but he never complained at all, and was
remarkably cheerful and happy.
I have written these pages at the request of my father, hoping
that some things in them may be of service to Mr. Curtis, in
forming an estimate of the character of my uncle. They have no
claim whatever to any literary merit, and are only an effort to do
some honor to one so truly loved and so deeply mourned. To me,
though it would be a great joy to know that men recognized the
wisdom and greatness of his actions, it would be of far greater
account to have them realize his goodness, nobility, honor,
self-sacrifice, courage and honesty. There may, and must, always
be a difference of opinion about questions of polity and
administration, but the true elements of greatness lie in the soul
of man, and are of far higher value than praise and popular
estimation, often attained through a turn of Fortune’s wheel.
I close this memorial chapter with some extracts from the sermon
preached by Dr. Nevin at the funeral of Mr. Buchanan. Dr. Nevin
chose for his text the words: “I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even
as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring
with Him.”
...... In connection with this momentous subject, the occasion on
which we are now met together is full of more than ordinary
interest and significance, such as may well invest it with the
most profound solemnity for all who are here present.
We have before us, and will be called soon to follow to the grave,
the mortal remains of James Buchanan, the fifteenth President of
the United States; who, after taking an active part in the
politics of this great nation for half a century, having filled
the highest places of honor and trust in the gift of his country,
and having represented her for a long time with prominent
distinction in the diplomacy of the civilized world, has now, at
the advanced age of almost four score years, been gathered to his
fathers, and enrolled on the catalogue of the great and
illustrious dead. His name has been famous, not simply through his
own merits, but through association, also, with the leading
political characters and the leading political interests of the
times in which he lived.
He belonged to a generation of eminent statesmen, giants in their
day, whose names were once household words in the land, but who,
in him as their representative, we can all feel have passed away
forever from the drama of our national life. There is something
peculiarly affecting in this thought. He was the last link that
held us in communication with that buried age; and in parting with
Mr. Buchanan, it is as though we were called to part again with
Clay, and Webster, and Benton, and Calhoun, and Jackson, and Cass,
and the whole political world to which they belonged. Now, more
than ever, their age has become to us, in view especially of the
late war, like the years before the flood. Then the occasions with
which he has been intimately connected, especially in the latter
part of his public life, have been of the most momentous, as well
as the most difficult and trying character, involving in the end a
crisis which amounted to a full revolution for our own country,
while it made itself felt, also, as of truly world-historical
importance for the age at large.
This is not the place nor the time, of course, to enter into any
consideration of Mr. Buchanan’s public career, or to pronounce any
judgment in particular on the policy of his administration as
President of the United States. The time, indeed, has not yet come
for a fair and competent historical verdict on this subject, in
any quarter. We stand too near the vast and mighty struggle
through which we have just passed, and from whose surging billows
we have not yet fully escaped, to understand it properly, or to
estimate fairly its moral and political merits.
Only this much, in justice to the dead, I may be permitted to say,
in the form of two general observations:
In the first place, we have no right to judge Mr. Buchanan’s
conduct at the beginning of our late civil troubles by the course
of events subsequently, when the contingent became actual, and the
problematical certain, in many ways, which only the eye of
Omniscience could previously foresee. How far this ex post facto
judgment (cruel and wrongful in history, full as much as ex post
facto statutes in legislation), has been carried in the case
before us, all who care to look into the matter can easily see and
know. Every man, every public man especially, has a right to
demand that his opinions and actions should be measured by the
circumstances and conditions of his own time, and not by the
circumstances and conditions of another and, it may be, a wholly
different time. Any other mode of judgment is at once grossly
unhistorical, grossly unphilosophical, and I will also add,
grossly unchristian.
My other observation is, that whatever may be thought by others,
now or hereafter, of Mr. Buchanan’s Presidential administration on
the eve of the rebellion, he himself never changed his mind in
regard to the righteousness or wisdom of the course which he saw
proper to pursue. That his own policy was thwarted and overwhelmed
by another policy, altogether different, never led him to believe
that, in the circumstances of the country, as they then were, his
own policy was not right. “Had I to pass through the same state of
things again,” he would say, calmly but firmly, “I do not see,
before God, how I could act otherwise than as I did act.”
This, of course, does not prove that his course was the wisest and
best for the exigencies of that fearfully volcanic time, as they
came to view afterwards in the lava flames of our civil war; but
no one who was intimately familiar, as I have been, with the last
years of Mr. Buchanan’s life, could doubt, at all events, the
sincerity of his own convictions, thus expressed in regard to the
closing portions of his political career.[188] Whether absolutely
wise or not in all his counsels, he was, in this time that tried
men’s souls, honest, at least, conscientious and patriotically
true to what he conceived to be the highest interests of his
country.
Footnote 188:
Only a few days before his death, in a conversation with
Mr. Swarr, when the hope was expressed that he might still
live to see his public life vindicated, he spoke on this
subject as follows: “My dear friend, I have no fear of the
future. Posterity will do me justice. I have always felt,
and still feel, that I discharged every duty imposed on me
conscientiously. I have no regret for any public act of my
life; and history will vindicate my memory from every
unjust aspersion.”
But these political surroundings of the present solemnity, however
they must unavoidably crowd upon our thoughts while we are engaged
in it, form not, by any means, what we should all feel to be, for
us now, its main interest. The relations of time, however
otherwise vast and momentous, are here to-day, swallowed up and
made small by the relations of eternity. Mr. Buchanan has passed
away, not simply as a politician and a statesman, but as a
Christian; and this it is we now feel, standing by his coffin and
his grave, to be a distinction of infinitely higher account than
all the honors and dignities of his life, under any other form.
These, at best, are but of ephemeral significance and worth. One
generation of politicians passeth away and another generation
cometh. Where are the voices that, thirty or forty years ago,
filled our Congressional halls and electrified the land with their
eloquent words? Kings and Presidents, the princes of the
earth—terrestrial gods, as they are sometimes called—die like
other men. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof
falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” And
where do we find this enduring word of the Lord in full presence
and power, save in the Logos Incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the Alpha and Omega of the whole creation, the same yesterday,
to-day and forever?
Happily, the venerable sage of Wheatland, as he has sometimes been
called, sought and found here what he himself was ready to
acknowledge as something better than all the greatness of the
world; an humble but strong trust in the atoning righteousness of
Christ, which brightened the whole evening of his life, which
proved to be the strength of his spirit, when heart and flesh
began to fail, and which now makes his death but the quiet sleep
that precedes the morning of the resurrection. He died in the
Lord; this is our great comfort in following him to the grave. We
sorrow not as those who have no hope. “For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him.”
In some sense, Mr. Buchanan was a religious man, we may say, all
his life. Brought into the Presbyterian church by baptism in his
infancy, he enjoyed at the same time the unspeakable advantage of
an early Christian training, which made itself felt more or less
sensibly on all his character and conduct in later years. In
serious conversation with me on this subject less than a year ago,
he referred, with moistened eyes and faltering voice, to the
lessons that had been instilled into him as a boy, especially by
his pious mother. She had taught him to pray; and her presence, as
an invisible ministering spirit, seemed to hold him to the duty,
as it were in spite of himself, through the whole of his
subsequent public life. Whatever of worldliness there might be in
his thoughts and ways otherwise, his conscience would not allow
him to give up the outward exercise, at least, of some private as
well as public, forms of devotion. He made it a point to read the
bible, honored the Sabbath, and observed more or less faithfully
stated times for secret prayer.
His general character, at the same time, was always good. Those
who stood nearest to him in his public life, and who knew him
best, have ever united in bearing the most favorable testimony to
what he was in this view. He has been known and spoken of on all
sides as a true gentleman of the old school, distinguished for his
personal integrity, a man of honorable spirit, upright in his
deportment, and beyond the common measure virtuous in his manners.
He was unquestionably one of the purest in mind, and most
exemplary in life, belonging to the generation of public men,
which has now come to a close in his death. It is, indeed,
something wonderful, that in his peculiar circumstances he should
have been able to pass through such a long life of exposure to all
forms of corruption and sin, so generally unscathed as he seems to
have been by the fiery ordeal. In this respect, he is worthy of
lasting admiration, and may well be held up as an example for the
study and imitation of younger candidates for political
distinction coming after his day. When will all our public men lay
to heart, as they ought, that true oracle of the olden time: “The
memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall
rot?”
All this, however, Mr. Buchanan himself very well knew, fell short
of what was required to make him a Christian in the full sense of
the term; and as he advanced in life accordingly, he seems to have
turned his mind more and more seriously to the necessity of
becoming a follower of the Saviour in a more inward and strict
way. This practical discipleship he believed himself to have
reached in some measure years before he withdrew from political
life. Yet, he made then no open profession of his faith, in the
way of what is commonly called joining the church, under the idea
that there was some reason for postponing it in the peculiar
circumstances in which he stood as a public man. That idea, of
course, was a serious mistake, as he himself acknowledged it to be
afterwards, when earnestly spoken with on the subject. He ought to
have joined the church sooner, he said, and especially before he
left Washington. As it was, he took this important step in due
course of time, subsequently, after full serious consideration, by
connecting himself in form with the Presbyterian church of
Lancaster, which had been his regular place of worship previously,
where he continued to worship afterwards, and in communion with
which he has now departed this life, “looking for the general
resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world to come.”
It was my privilege to converse with him frequently on religious
subjects, during these his last years, and I can say his mind
seemed to be always clear and remarkably firm, as well as
consistent, in the apprehension of Christianity, under its
simplest and most commonly acknowledged evangelical form. He had
studied carefully, I may be allowed to state, the Heidelberg
Catechism (that most œcumenical, and in some respects most
genial of all the Reformed Protestant Confessions), and he was
accustomed to speak highly of it at all times, as being a summary
of religious truth, to which he could cordially subscribe as the
full expression of his theological faith.[189]
Footnote 189:
Conversing with his executor and friend, Mr. Swarr, in regard to
his decease, a short time before it took place, he took occasion
to say, in the way of dying testimony: “The principles of the
Christian religion were instilled into my mind in my youth; and
from all I have observed and experienced in the long life
Providence has vouchsafed to me, I have only become more
strengthened in the conviction of the Divine character of the
Saviour, and the power of atonement through His redeeming grace
and mercy.”
More particularly, however, it was during the last summer, that I
had the opportunity of coming to the most intimate knowledge of
his Christian views and hopes, on the occasion of his returning
home from Cape May, under an attack of a strange sickness which
threatened at the time to carry him to the grave. The sickness was
attended with but little bodily pain, and it left his mind
perfectly clear and free, while yet it was of such a character as
to produce in his own mind the strong impression that it would end
in his death. In these solemn circumstances, I had interviews with
him day after day for some time, in which I talked with him, and
prayed with him, as a dying man; and in which he talked also most
freely himself with regard to his own condition, giving utterance
to his views and feelings in a way which furnished the most
satisfactory and pleasing evidence that religion had become with
him, indeed, a deeply-settled principle in the soul, and such a
conviction of faith as could not be shaken by the powers either of
earth or hell. Let it be sufficient here to say, that he was able
to resign himself with full filial confidence and trust into the
hands of God as a faithful Creator and Saviour, and that he found
Him an all sufficient help in his time of need. At the same time,
his faith was far more than a vague trust merely in God’s general
goodness and mercy. It was most explicitly the humble, penitent
reliance of one who knew himself to be a sinner, on the mercy of
God secured to men through His Son Jesus Christ. At this time,
especially, more than before, he was brought to see and feel the
importance of simply looking to Jesus (in the spirit of St. John’s
gospel and of the Apostle’s Creed), as being Himself the sum and
substance of the whole Christian salvation. His mind fastened with
peculiar interest on the text: “Lord to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
Thou art that Christ the Son of the living God.”[190]
Footnote 190:
These pastoral conferences—_horæ vespertinæ_ they might be
called, held as they were mostly in the autumnal twilight, on
what seemed to be for us the utmost verge of time—were
peculiarly interesting and solemn to myself, as they were always
most cordially welcomed also by Mr. Buchanan. There was no
reserve or hesitation in his manner. His habitual diplomatic
caution was gone. At the same time there was no excitement or
agitation in his mind. He was perfectly calm, and had no fear of
death whatever. Still it was full before him, and he had no
disposition to hide from himself its awful presence. He wished
to be talked with as a man who felt himself to be on the borders
of the eternal world, and who was fully awake to the dread
issues of the life to come. But with all this, his spirit abode
in quiet confidence and peace, and the ground of his trust
throughout was the mercy of God through the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. There was nothing like enthusiasm, of course, in
his experience; the general nature of the man made that
impossible. His religion showed itself rather in the form of
fixed trust in God, thankfulness for His past mercy, and general
resignation to His holy will. In these twilight hours, thus
circumstanced, it could not be but that central regard was had
continually to the person of Jesus Christ, and the significance
of the Christian redemption as comprehended in the idea of His
coming in the flesh. This Christological way of looking at the
gospel was in some measure new to Mr. Buchanan, or at least it
had not taken hold of his mind, as he confessed, in the same
manner before. Now, however, it gave him great satisfaction, and
he considered it one special benefit of his sickness, that it
had taught him to see in the simple exercise of “looking to
Jesus” what he found to be, for himself, at least, the most
consoling and the most strengthening practice of Christian
faith.
Altogether it was a death-bed experience, full of tranquil light
and peace, the calm evening sunset of a long life, which seemed to
be itself but the brightening promise of a new and far better life
beyond the grave.
His late sickness, which has now terminated in his death, was more
prostrating for him throughout, both in body and in mind, than
that of which I have just spoken. Through it all, however, his
views and feelings in regard to religion he declared to be, in the
prospect of quitting the world, just what he had over and over
again witnessed them to be before. He bowed with entire submission
to his Heavenly Father’s will. His last intelligible word, indeed,
whispered in the ear of anxious affection bending over him, as he
was turned somewhat painfully upon his bed, and felt, no doubt,
that the end had come—after which he fell away into the gentle
sleep that some hours later closed the scene—was the short
Christian prayer: “O Lord, God Almighty, as Thou wilt!” Thus he
passed away. His trust was in Christ crucified and risen from the
dead, and in Christ alone. He died in the full faith of the
gospel, and in the joyful hope of having part at last in the
resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
He sleeps in Jesus. Be this his epitaph; the last and crowning
honor of his long, illustrious life; the richest ornament of his
public, no less than of his private memory and name. Be this also
the consolation of his sorrowful friends as they look upon that
venerable majestic form here lying in state before us, and are
called now to follow it in slow melancholy procession to the
grave. We sorrow not as others, which have no hope; for if Jesus
died and rose again, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring
with Him. The aged statesman has been gathered to his fathers full
of years, like a shock of corn fully ripe and laden with fruit; he
has served his country well, and enjoyed its honors largely, in
his generation; he has left behind him a fair example of justice,
benevolence, integrity and truth, a bright record indeed, of
honorable and virtuous character in all respects. In all this we
find matter for thankful satisfaction, and occasion for bowing in
meek submission to the Divine will, which has now at last removed
him from our sight. But, through all this, at the same time, we
triumph and rejoice most of all, as Christians, in what we know to
have been his Christian death, and in the assurance that we have,
therefore, of his being still with us, and near to us, in Christ.
To Whom, now let us offer our united and unfeigned thanks for that
victory over death and the grave, which he has obtained for us and
for all who sleep in Him; while we pray also for power to follow
the faith of those who have gone before us, “that we may enter at
death into their joy, and so abide with them in rest and peace,
till both they and we shall reach our common consummation of
redemption and bliss in the glorious resurrection of the last
day.” _Amen._
The remains of James Buchanan lie in a beautiful rural cemetery near
the city of Lancaster, beneath a simple monument, which records only
the date of his birth and of his death, and the fact that he was the
fifteenth President of the United States. It is well that the soil
of Pennsylvania holds his ashes, for he was the most eminent
statesman yet given by that great commonwealth to the service of the
country since the Constitution of the United States was established.
INDEX.
ABERDEEN, LORD, Course of, on Oregon question, i., 568;
Is informed by Mr. McLane of Mr. Buchanan’s despatch on Oregon
Question, 558;
Gives information that Oregon treaty is approved, 604.
ABERDEEN LORD, Premier, ii., 104;
Ministry of, ii., 105, 107.
ADAMS, CHAS. F., Nomination of, ii., 9.
ADAMS, JAMES H., Commissioner from South Carolina, ii., 370.
ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, Candidate at popular election of 1824, i.,
38;
Received unanimous votes of what States, 39;
Election of, by House of Representatives, 44;
Opposition to, who composed, 57;
Administration, who were friends of, 58;
Minority of friends in Congress, 70;
Reference to election of, in 1825, 506;
Reference to administration of, 511, 394;
Referred to by Mr. R. P. Letcher, 514;
On secession, ii., 603.
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, i., #219#.
ALABAMA, Secession of, ii., 42.
ALBERT, PRINCE, of Prussia, i., 207.
ALBERT, PRINCE, ii., 112.
ALEXANDER, EMPEROR, of Russia, i., 155, 221.
ALFONSKOI, Russian physician, i., 195, 196, 198.
ALLEN, WILLIAM, U. S. Senator, reference to, on Texas question, i.,
519; ii., 195, note.
AMERICA, CENTRAL, Negotiations with Lord Clarendon concerning, ii.,
126 et seq.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE, i., 201.
AMERICAN SYSTEM, Mr. Buchanan’s views of, i., 76.
ANDERSON, MAJOR, Removal of, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter,
ii., 365, 370;
Temporary truce of, 449 et seq.;
Extraordinary despatches from, 497;
Letter of, to General Dix, 496, 518.
ANNE, EMPRESS, of Russia, i., 204.
ANNEXATION. (See Texas.)
ANNUNCIATION, Cathedral of, i., 199.
ANTI-MASONS, who were called, i., 231.
ANTOINE, REV. FATHER, Abbot of monastery, i., 202.
APPLETON, JOHN, of Maine, Mr. Buchanan’s Secretary of Legation in
London, ii., 179.
APPROPRIATION, ANNUAL, Motion to strike out salary of minister to
Russia, i., 129.
ARGYLE, DUKE of, Lord Privy Seal, ii., 105.
ASHBURTON, LORD, i., 504.
ASSUMPTION, Cathedral of, i., 199.
ATHERTON, CHAS. G., i., 519.
ARTHUR, PRINCE, Son of Princess Lieven, i., 217.
AUTHOR, Refutation a duty of the, ii., 511, 517.
BAKER, J. B., Letter to, ii., 622.
BAKER, MRS. GEO. W., Niece of Mr. Buchanan, i., 531, note;
Death of, ii., 159.
BALDWIN, MR. JUSTICE, Death of, i., 561, 26.
BALTIMORE LADIES, Spirit of, in 1863, ii., 612.
BANCROFT, GEO., Letter of, to Mr. Buchanan, i., 590;
Mission to England, 574, 575.
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES, i., 184;
Mr. Buchanan an early opponent of, 15.
BANK QUESTION, Retrospective view of, i., 411, 416.
BANKRUPT ACT of 1841, Mr. Buchanan’s speech on, i., 461.
BANKRUPTCY, Meaning of, under the constitution, i., 30.
BANKRUPTCY BILL, Discussion on, in 1821-22, i., 31.
BARBOUR, GOV. JAMES, of Virginia, i., 606.
BARBOUR, PHILIP P., i., 26.
BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION, i., 41, 56;
Unfounded charges of, 43;
Mr. Buchanan’s course in regard to, 41, 56;
Revival of, i., 506.
BARLOW, S. L. M., MR. (of New York), quoted, i., 22, note;
Account by, of proceedings of Cincinnati Convention, ii., 170 et
seq.
BARNWELL, ROBERT W., Commissioner from South Carolina, ii., 370.
BASHNIA, SOUCHAREVA, i., 196.
BATES, JOSHUA, Partner of Baring Bros. & Co., i., 226, and
note.
BEALE WILLIAM, State Senator, i., 10.
BELL, MR., Senator from Tennessee, ii., 195, note.
BENTON, THOMAS H., Opposed to administration of John Q. Adams, i.,
58;
Politics of, 232;
Resolutions of, on surplus money, 243;
Resolutions of, in relation to defence of U. S., in case of war
with France, 268;
Expunging resolution of, 291, 293, 294, 305,
306;
Antipathy of, to paper currency, 496;
Subject of vituperation by his party, 510;
Hue and cry against, 512;
Pretensions of, to Presidency, 517;
References to, 519, 528;
Conduct and speech of, on Oregon question, 559;
Course of, on Oregon question, 570;
Reference to, 612.
BERNARD, GENERAL, Reference to, as favoring General Jackson’s
election, i., 55.
BERNSDOFF, COUNTESS, ii., 159.
BERRIEN, J. MACPHERSON, Reference to, i., 545.
BEVERLY, CARTER, Conversation of, with General Jackson on incidents
preceding the election of Mr. Adams, i., 49;
Visit of, to General Jackson, 49.
BIGLER, MR., U. S. Senator, Note of, to President, ii., 465.
BILLS IN CONGRESS, Conscription, 1815, i., 9;
Bill for relief of surviving officers of revolution, 58;
Panama appropriation, 67;
Alteration of tariff, 75;
Cumberland Road, 81;
To amend and extend judicial system, 95;
To repeal 25th section of judiciary act, 110;
Fortification Bill, 240;
Removal of executive officers, 281;
Removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United
States, 291;
To restrain use of mails for the circulation of incendiary
publications, 338;
To accept services of volunteers for defence of frontiers,
368;
To prevent interference of Federal officers with elections,
378;
For the renewal of the charter of United States Bank, 413;
To rescind the Specie Circular, 417;
To authorize issue of Treasury notes, 422;
To prevent Pennsylvania Bank from reissuing and circulating notes
of old bank, 423;
For a bank with power to establish offices of discount, 459;
To create a Fiscal Corporation of the United States, 459;
Bankrupt Act, 461.
BIRNEY, JAMES G., Anti-slavery candidate for Presidency, i.,
543.
BLACK, JEREMIAH S., ATTORNEY GENERAL, ii., 194;
Letter of, 309;
Opinion of, 319;
Objects to the answer of President Buchanan to commissioners,
379;
Fears of, in regard to inauguration of Lincoln, 491, 514;
Letter of, to Mr. Schell, 519;
Letter of, to Mr. Buchanan, 562.
BLAKE, DR., Letters to, ii., 601, 614.
BLAKE, JOHN B., Letters of, to Mr. Buchanan, ii., 524, 525.
BLIGH, MR., British Minister at Russian court, i., 150;
Accompanies Mr. Buchanan as far as Cronstadt, 217.
BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON, References to, i., 198, 222.
BORGO, COUNT POZZO DI, Conversation with Mr. Buchanan, i.,
175;
Called on by Mr. Buchanan, 220;
Mr. Buchanan dines with, 222;
Reference to conversations with, by Mr. Buchanan, 234.
BRANCH, MR., ii., 491.
BRECKINRIDGE, MR., Candidate for Vice Presidency, ii., 177;
Nominated by Southern Democratic Convention, 288.
BRIGHT, JESSE D., Senator from Indiana, ii., 360.
BROGLIE, DUC DE, Visited by Mr. Buchanan, i., 221;
Conversation of, with Mr. Buchanan in 1833, 234;
Reference to his note to Mr. Barton, 239;
His assurance to Mr. Livingston, 252;
Conduct of, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, 271;
Letter to, by Mr. Livingston, 273;
Famous letter of, to Chargé at Washington, 274;
Letter of, to M. Pageot, 279.
BROWN, AARON V., Postmaster General, ii., 194.
BROWN, JAMES, Senator in Congress from Louisiana when Mr. Buchanan
entered that body, i., 25.
BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, Mr. Buchanan dines with, at his country house,
i., 137, 138 and note.
BRUNNOW, BARON DE, Reference to request of, i., 167.
BUCHANAN, Family of, Scotch-Irish, i., 1, 3.
BUCHANAN, MISS ANNIE, On Mr. Buchanan’s character and last days,
ii., 674 et seq.
BUCHANAN, GEO. W., Brother of the President, i., 3;
Letter of, to his brother James, 109.
BUCHANAN, JOHN, Grandfather of the President, i., 3.
BUCHANAN, MRS., Mother of the President, Letter of, to her son
James, i., 134;
Death of, 209, note.
BUCHANAN, JAMES, Father of the President, i., 1;
Letters of, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13,
14.
BUCHANAN, JAMES, the President, His autobiographical sketch, i.,
1 et seq.;
Birth of, 4;
Education, 4;
College career, 4, 6;
Admitted to the bar, 7;
A Federalist in politics, 8;
Volunteers in the War of 1812, 8;
On defence of the country, 8, 10;
Oration of, on July 4th, 1815, 12;
Elected to the legislature, 8;
Re-elected to the legislature, 14;
Counsel for an impeached Judge, 16;
Rising to eminence as a lawyer, 17;
Suffers a great disappointment in love, 17 et seq.;
Elected to Congress, 23;
First debate of, relative to military establishment, 30;
Speech on tariff of, 1823-4, 36;
Professional income, 37;
Scandals as to supposed agency of, for Mr. Clay, 40;
Action of, in regard to, 41;
First acquaintance with General Jackson and Mr. Clay, 41;
Interview with General Jackson at Seven Buildings, 42;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 44;
Integrity of, 51;
Letters of, to Mr. Ingham, 51, 54;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 55;
Opposition of, to administration of John Q. Adams, 58;
Speech of, in support of bill for relief of officers of
Revolution, 59;
Speech of, on Panama Mission, 65;
Remarks on slavery, 68;
Opposes Mr. Chilton’s resolution on abolition of offices,
71;
Replies to Mr. Everett, 72;
Powers as a debater, 74;
Views of, on tariff, 74;
Speech on tariff, 74;
Replies to Mr. Sprague on tariff, 75;
Views on subject of navy, 78;
Opposition of, to administration, how carried on, 80;
Speech of, on appropriation for surveys, 80;
Course of, on Cumberland Road, 81;
Speech on Cumberland Road, 82;
Speech of, against second election to Presidency, 92;
Action of, in election of General Jackson, 94;
Report of, on judicial system, 95;
Chairman of judiciary committee, 95;
Re-election of, to Congress in 1828, 95;
Speech of, on judiciary act, 95;
Supports bill on judiciary system, 99, 100;
Favors increase of Supreme Court Judges, 104;
Views on judicial appointments, 105;
Report of, on recommendation of judiciary committee, 107;
Trial of Judge Peck, 108;
Speech as a manager of the impeachment, 108;
Letter from his brother George, 109;
Remarks on twenty-fifth section of judiciary act, 113;
Spoken of as candidate for Vice Presidency, 122;
Letter of, to George Plitt, 122;
Qualifications of, for great success at bar, 123;
Letters from his brother George, 124, 125, 126;
Letters of, to Mr. Eaton, 130, 131;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 134;
Letter of, to his brother Edward, 138;
Diary of, on journey from Lancaster to Europe, 136;
From London to St. Petersburg, 140;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 142;
Letter of, to his brother Edward, 144;
Letter of, to John B. Sterigere, 146;
Letter of, to his brother Edward, 147;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 149;
Letter of, to his brother Edward, 152;
Letter of, to Mrs. Slaymaker, 154;
Letter from his mother, 158, note;
Letter of, to his brother Edward, 159;
Letter of, to General Jackson, 164;
Interview with Count Nesselrode, on commercial treaty, 165;
Despatch of, to Secretary of State at Washington, 167;
Commercial treaty, summary of, by, 168;
Letter of, to General Jackson, on maritime treaty, 174;
Failure of the latter, 174;
Despatch of, to Secretary of State, 176;
Letter of, to Secretary of State at Washington, 181;
Letter of, to Mr. Sterigere, 189;
Journey of, to Moscow, 192;
Arrives at home, 227;
Elected to the Senate, 228;
Senator’s duties, 230, note;
Remarks of, on relations with France, 236;
Reply of, to Mr. Clay, in relation to France, 238;
Remarks of, on President’s message in regard to France, 238;
Position of, in relation to France, 236;
Vindicates an amendment to fortification bill, 241;
Surplus revenue, remarks on resolution of Mr. Benton concerning,
243;
Speech of, on power of removal by the President, 282;
Speech of, on expunging resolution, 293;
Views of, on censure of President by Senate, 292;
Course of, as to slavery, 315;
Remarks on slavery, 316;
Remarks on reception of Quaker memorial, 319 et seq.;
Presents a petition from Society of Friends, 337;
Remarks of, on bill to restrain circulation of incendiary
publications, 340 et seq.;
Remarks of, in favor of admission of Michigan, 358;
Remarks of, on bill for services of volunteers for defence of
frontiers, 368;
Speech of, on interference of Federal officers with elections,
378 et seq.;
Speech of, in support of bill against Pennsylvania Bank,
423;
Relations of, to political warfare on the currency question,
449 et seq.;
Letters of, 452-457;
On the administration of President Tyler, 459;
Reply of, to Mr. Clay on veto power, 460, 472 et seq.;
Opposes bankrupt law of 1841, 461 et seq.;
Describes the Exchequer Board, 471;
Opposes ratification of treaty with England, 504;
Reference to conversation of, in 1825, 507;
Letters of, 509, 511;
Third election of, to the Senate, 515;
Proposed nomination of, for Presidency, 516;
Withdraws from canvass, 517;
Letters of, 518, 519, 523, 524 et seq.;
Domestic and social life of, 531;
Letters of, to Miss Lane, 533;
Domestic circle of, 534;
Private fortune of, 535, note;
Letters of, to Miss Lane, 536 et seq.;
Remarks of, on annexation of Texas, 545;
Becomes Secretary of State, 547;
Interviews with Mr. Pakenham at State Departments, 555;
Despatch of, to Mr. McLane, 558;
Letters of, 559, 574;
Despatch of, to Mr. King, on Texas question, 584;
Action of, in regard to Texas, 585, 586;
Despatch to Mr. Slidell on Mexican question, 595;
Further instructs Mr. Slidell, 596;
Position of, as to Presidency, ii., 8;
Reference to, 9;
Letters of, to his niece, 11 et seq.;
Supports compromise measures, 11;
Letter of, to Central Southern Rights Association of Virginia,
23;
Letter of, to Shelton F. Leake and others, 24;
Letter of, to John Nelson, William F. Giles, etc., 26;
Address of, to citizens of Philadelphia, 28;
Candidate for nomination, 34;
Letters of, 39, 40, 41, 42;
Speech of, at Greensburgh, Penn., in 1852, 43 et seq.;
Offered mission to England by President Pierce, 76;
Conversation of, with Mr. Pierce on English mission, 76 et seq.;
Letters of, to President Pierce, 69, 83 et seq.;
Declines a farewell dinner in Lancaster, 93;
Letters to Miss Lane, 94 et seq.;
Arrives in Liverpool, 99;
Visits Lord Clarendon, 100;
Conversation of, with Sir Edward Cust, on court etiquette, 107 et
seq.;
Letters of, to Miss Lane, 109, 112 et seq.;
Attends the Queen’s first levee of the season, 112;
Dines with the Queen, 113;
Letters of, to Mr. Marcy, 117 et seq., 119, 121;
Letter of, to Mr. Capen, 120;
Letters of, to Gov. Bigler and Mr. Marcy, 122, 123;
Letter of, to his housekeeper, Miss Hetty Parker, 124;
Letter of, to his niece, Mrs. Baker, 124;
Social position of, in England, 142;
Letters of, to Mrs. Baker and Miss Lane, 148 et seq.;
Returns to United States, 169;
Nomination of, for the Presidency, 170;
Letters of, to Messrs. Wm. B. Reed, James C. Dobbin, Nahum Capen,
178-181;
Letter of, on Pacific Railroad, 183;
Letter of, on Presidential election, 183;
Letter of, on subject of mission, 185;
Inauguration of, as President, 187;
Inaugural address of, 188 et seq.;
Cabinet of, 193;
Upholds the Territorial government in Kansas, 197;
Results of this action, 198;
Position of, as President, in regard to slavery, 202 et seq.;
Administration of, 211;
Foreign relations of United States during this period, 211 et
seq.;
Policy of, in regard to Mexico, 219;
Messages of, to Congress, Dec., 1859, 220, Dec., 1860, 221;
Complimentary gift to, from Prince Albert, 228;
Letters of, to Queen Victoria, 229, 231;
Letters of, to Miss Lane, 240 et seq.;
Protest against action of House of Representatives, 249 et seq.;
Letter of, to Mr. J. G. Bennett, 261;
Letter of, to Arnold Plumer on election, 286;
Letter of, to C. Comstock, 289;
Speech of, from White House, 290;
Soundness of views of, on anti-slavery, 295, 296;
Course of, in 1860, after Mr. Lincoln’s election, 304 et seq.;
Letter of, to editors of Lancaster _Intelligencer_, Oct., 1862,
307;
Refuses to garrison Southern forts, 307;
Reasons of, for not acting upon General Scott’s views, 309 et
seq.;
Letter of, to Attorney General Black, 319;
History of annual message of Dec., 1860, 330 et seq.;
Message of Dec., 1860, 337 et seq.;
Reception of message in cabinet, Congress and country, 352;
Account by, of General Scott’s second recommendation, 367;
Letter of, to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, 368;
Interview of, with South Carolina commissioners, 372, 377;
Result of the interview, 374;
Orders of, to Major Anderson, respecting the forts, 375;
Reference to conversation of, with General Jackson, 381;
Draft of proposed answer to commissioners, 384;
Modified by Judge Black, 386;
Letter of, to General Cass, 398;
Memorandum of, on resignation of General Cass, 399;
Action of Congress on annual message, 418 et seq.;
Letter of, to James Gordon Bennett, 431;
Special message of, to Congress, 433 et seq.;
Course of, reviewed, 444 et seq.;
Attacked by Jefferson Davis, 444;
Interview of, with Senator Clay, of Alabama, 452 et seq.;
Letters of, to Mr. Tyler, 466, 467;
His account of an interview with, 468;
Message of, of Jan. 28th, 1861, quoted, 473;
His action in regard to Fort Sumter 474;
Note of, to Mr. Holt, 474;
Conference of, with General Scott and Mr. Holt, 475;
His account of the neglects of Congress, 478;
No suggestion made by, to Mr. Davis, of Confederate
commissioners, 485 et seq.;
Special message of, 494;
Note of, to Mr. Tyler, 495;
Knowledge of, and reverence for, Constitution, 502;
His interview with Mr. Lincoln, 505;
Departure of, for Wheatland, 506;
Letter of, to Mr. Toucey, 514;
Letter of, to Miss Lane, 522;
Letter of, to Judge Black, 523;
Letter of, to John B. Blake, 524;
Noble conduct of, 526;
Letters of, to Messrs. Holt and Bennett, 530;
Letters of, to General Dix, 535;
Letters of, to Mr. J. B. Henry, 541, 548;
Letter of, to Mr. J. C. G. Kennedy, 546;
Letter of, to General Dix, 542, 544;
Letter of, to Mr. Stanton, 545;
Letter of, to Mr. Baker, 545;
Letter of, to Dr. John B. Blake, 562;
Letter of, to Mr. Hallock, 555;
Letter of, to Mr. King, 557;
Letters of, to Mr. Leiper, 559, 561;
Letters of, to Mr. King, 563, 567, 569, 579, 582, 636;
Letters of, to Mr. Bates, 565;
Letter of, to a committee of the citizens of Lancaster County,
etc., 565;
Letters of, to J. B. Henry, 566, 578, 598, 601, 657;
Letters of, to Miss Lane, 569, 571, 572, 576, 597, 605, 609, 612,
623, 631, 632;
Letter of, to Mr. Cobden, 570;
Letters of, to Mr. Leiper, 572, 578, 588, 593, 604, 613, 615,
622, 624, 627, 633, 641;
Letter of, to Charles Graffin, 651;
Letter of, to J. W. Wall, 635;
Letter of, to Messrs. Osborne and Baldwin, 652;
Letter of, to Rev. P. Coombe, 636;
Letter of, to Miss Jane Buchanan, 650;
Letters of, to Dr. Blake, 573, 580, 584, 587, 588, 591, 594, 595,
598, 601, 605, 606, 609, 614, 615, 629, 646, 661;
Letter of, to Judge Woodward, 577;
Letters of, to J. Buchanan Henry, 578, 598, 625;
Letter of, to John A. Parker, 579;
Letter of, to Mrs. Boyd, 583;
Letter of, to Mr. Stanton, 583;
Letter of, to Judge Black, 585;
Letters of, to Isaac Toucey, 586, 599, 620, 641;
Letters of, to Wm. Flinn, 591, 634, 645;
Letter of, to Mr. Hughes, 595;
Letter of, to C. E. Bennett, 596;
Letters of, to Mr. Capen, 596, 599, 604, 607, 608, 609, 616, 617,
618, 624, 626, 630, 639, 644, 649, 651, 654, 655, 657, 658,
663;
Letters of, to Mr. Schell, 610, 617;
Letters of, to Mr. Hassard, 627;
Letter of, to Mrs. Viele, 619;
Letters of, to Mr. J. B. Baker, 611, 622, 633, 644, 655, 658;
Letter of, to James Buchanan, 623;
Letter of, to Mr. Johnston, 633, 659;
Letter of, to editor of _Evening Post_, 637;
Letter of, to Horace Greeley, 639;
Letter of, to a friend, 641, 645;
Letter of, to C. J. Faulkner, 643;
Letter of, to Manton Marble, 643;
Letters of, to Mrs. Johnston, 645, 648, 649, 653, 656, 660, 662;
Letter of, to Miss Henrietta Buchanan, 647;
Letter of, to Rev. Ed. Y. Buchanan, 652;
Letter of, to Mrs. Shunk, 654, 656;
Letter of, to Mr. Schell, 659;
Letter of, to Miss Baker, 662;
Death of, 664;
His character as a statesman, a man and a Christian, 664 et seq.
BUCHANAN, WM. SPEER, Brother of the President, i., 3;
Death of, 158.
BULOW, BARON, Dines at Prince Lieven’s, i., 224;
Dines at Lord Palmerston’s, 225.
BURKE, EDMUND, Quoted, i., 302;
His use of word “expunge,” 310.
BURNETT, MR., From Kentucky, ii., 491.
BURR, AARON, Visits Talleyrand, i., 225.
BUTLER, W. O., Nomination for Vice Presidency, ii., 8.
BUTTRE, JOHN C., Engraver, Referred to, ii., 240.
CABINET, CRISIS, ii., 383, 385;
Reconstruction of, 400;
Scene in, 518, 521;
Letter of Mr. Schell to Judge Black concerning, 518 et seq.;
Judge Black’s reply, 519, 520;
John B. Floyd, 518;
Pretended remarks of Messrs. Black, Holt, Stanton, Dix, etc., in
the cabinet, 519.
CALDERON, MADAME, Wife of Spanish minister, letter to Mr. Buchanan,
i., 618.