FROM DR. BLAKE.1

HIS EXCELLENCY JAMES BUCHANAN,

WASHINGTON CITY, Decr. 19th, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: A friend has called my attention to a description of the President's Levee on the first page of the New York Herald of yesterday's date, from which I make the following extract: "Next we come to the Red Room. This is properly Mrs. Lincoln's reception room. Everything in it is new except the splendid old painting of Washington. The fine pictures of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and other members of the royal family, presented to the President of the United States for the President's Mansion by the Prince of Wales, that hung upon the walls of this room, are missing. I learn that they were removed to Wheatland with Mr. Buchanan. He also took away from the White House a large number of the Chinese or Japanese curiosities intended, upon presentation, for the mansion. All these are missing." According to my recollection, the Prince of Wales presented to Miss Lane three engravings, one of his mother, another of his father, and the third of himself. They were hung in the Red Room. Whether Miss Lane took them with her to Wheatland I cannot say, but presume she did, as they were her property. There were no Chinese curiosities presented during your administration. The Japanese curiosities presented, I believe, through the late Commodore Perry to Ex-President Pierce remained in the House when I ceased to be Commissioner of Public Buildings. The presents made to you by the Japanese Embassy were by your directions deposited by me in the Patent Office with the original list of the articles. I took a receipt for them from the proper officer, which I delivered to you, and doubt not you still have it in your possession. My first impulse on reading the base insinuation of the Herald's correspondent was to publish immediately a flat and indignant contradiction of it; but on consultation with a friend who seemed to consider it unworthy of notice I concluded I had better write to you and learn from you whether silent contempt, or a publication stamping it with falsehood, would be the most proper method of treating the slanderous imputation.

Very truly yours,

JNO. B. BLAKE.

'Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's

Buchanan, II. 523.

MY DEAR SIR/

TO DR. BLAKE.1

LANCASTER 20 December 1861.

I have this moment received your favor of yesterday. I wrote to you yesterday on the subject of your letter & suggested a mode of contradiction. I now find that you took the precaution of having a list made of the Japanese articles & obtaining a receipt from the Patent Office. The statement may, therefore, be made still stronger.

The friend who advised you not to publish a contradiction committed a great mistake. The charge is mean & contemptible, as well as false, & if it were true, it would make me a mean & contemptible fellow. It is just the thing to circulate freely. I have no doubt Lord Lyons will give you a statement in writing concerning the pictures.

Wishing you many a Merry Christmas & many a Happy New Year, I remain always your friend.

DR. JOHN B. BLAKE.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

MY DEAR SIR/

TO MR. LEIPER."

WHEATLAND 21 December 1861.

I have just received your kind letter of the 19th Instant, & in answer I think I may say that my health is restored. The swelling in my legs & feet has disappeared, & I now walk to Lancaster with great enjoyment.

You advise me to keep quiet, which I shall do for the present. I shall bide my time, under a perfect conviction that my adminis

1 1 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 525.

2

Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 572.

tration can not only be satisfactorily defended but triumphantly vindicated.

I wish with all my heart that I could be with you at the meeting of your children & grandchildren on Christmas; but this is out of the question. The happy faces & innocent gambols of children have always had a charm for me. May you live many days in health & prosperity to enjoy such meeting around the family altar. As I cannot be present at the hospitable Board, I hope you will drink my health in a glass of the old Custom House Madeira.

I am, like you, a passenger in the omnibus; & although nothing could tempt me again to become a driver, yet I cannot avoid feeling deep anxiety for my Country. I trust the danger of a war with England has passed away; but if such a disastrous event should occur it will be a war created by the Newspapers. With my kindest regards to Mrs. Leiper & all your patriarchal family, I remain

Very respectfully your friend

HON: GEORGE G. LEIPER.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

P. S. Your sweetheart Miss Lane has been absent several weeks in New York, & I do not expect her home until after the New Year. I sincerely wish she felt more of a disposition than she does to bind herself in the silken cords which you describe.

MY DEAR HARRIET/

TO MISS LANE.'

WHEATLAND 25 December 1861.

I have received your favor of yesterday & am happy to inform you that Doctor Blake has contradicted the picture & Japanese falsehood in the National Intelligencer of yesterday. You have probably ere this seen it. . . .2

1

1 Buchanan Papers, private collection. Inaccurately printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 572.

A paragraph relating to a matter purely private is here omitted.

VOL. XI-16

I have passed a very sober, quiet, & contented Christmas. I went to hear Mr. Krotel in the morning & came immediately home. It is the first day for many a day that I have had no visitors. Miss Hetty & myself dined together very pleasantly.

Poor Prince Albert! I think in many respects he was to be pitied. His position was very awkward; but he sustained it with becoming dignity. He could not assume the position of William the 3d & say: If I am not to be King, & am to be placed in a subordinate position to the Queen, I shall return to Holland.1

I intend to give Harry Magraw a dinner on Saturday next; but I can not rival the dinner which he gave when last at home. No such dinner has ever been given in Lancaster, at least to my knowledge.

I have not received a line from Judge Black nor seen him since he called here after meeting you in Philadelphia. I am glad he has been appointed reporter to the Supreme Court.

I enclose you an invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Wharton. I have answered my own & informed them that I would send yours to you in New York. You will judge whether you ought

to answer.

I wish you to remain at New York just as long as this may be agreeable to yourself & to Mr. & Mrs. Roosevelt. You would have a dull time here at this season.

Please to remember me in the very kindest terms to the Judge & Mrs. Roosevelt, with my ardent wishes that they may pass many years together in peace, prosperity, & happiness.

Yours affectionately,

MISS LANE.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

MY DEAR JAMES/

TO MR. HENRY.2

WHEATLAND 28 December 1861.

I have received yours of yesterday with the Carriers' Address of the Bulletin. This affords but feeble evidence that public opinion is changing in my favor in Philadelphia, where it

1A sentence is here omitted.

2 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

will be the last to change. I am inclined to think that throughout the Country they now begin to do me justice. At last the vindication will be triumphant.

Very great injustice has been done to Mr. Cobb. There is not a more honest man in the United States than he. I am much indebted to Mr. Thompson & him for having succeeded in reducing the expenses of the Government to a lower figure than any person acquainted with the subject had deemed possible. After Mr. Lincoln's election, when Mr. Cobb took ground in favor of practical as well as theoretical secession, it became evident that we must part. I am glad, however, that we parted in friendship. Mr. Toucey, without the least reason, has been made a sort of scapegoat. The charges against him are about as true as that concerning the "six millions' worth of Indian Bonds."

I am very happy to learn that you are doing "tolerably well" in your business. Energy, industry, & perseverance will enable you finally to succeed.

With the compliments of the season, & earnestly wishing you long life, health, & prosperity,

I remain yours affectionately

JAMES BUCHANAN HENRY, Esq.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

MY DEAR SIR/

TO DR. BLAKE.1

WHEATLAND 30 Dec: 1861.

I have received your favor of the 27th Instant & thank you most kindly for your efficient agency in correcting the slander of the Correspondent of the New York Herald. Lord Lyons' letter is quite satisfactory. . . . 2

Thank Heaven there is now no danger of an immediate war

'Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 573.

2 The passage here omitted relates to a private matter.