with England. That Mason & Slidell would be surrendered to John Bull I had expected for some time, from the Editorials & correspondence of the New York Herald, which is evidently in the confidence of the administration or some members of it. I know nothing of what is going on in Washington except from the papers. From them I perceive that Judge Black has been appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court & that General Cameron has conferred upon Mr. Holt the appointment of auditor of General Fremont's accounts. I believe that Stanton & Horatio King have not yet been provided for.

I have not seen an account of your marriage; but this I expect will come along some day. How happy I should be to see you here! I now soon expect Miss Lane.

From your friend very respectfully

I have received your favor of the 31 ultimo directed to me as the Hon: James Buchanan, & not ex-President Buchanan, which I was glad to observe. In compliance with its request, I enclose you a check. . . . 2

There are things in Mr. Seward's letter to Lord Lyons which will furnish the British Government with a pretext to take offence if they so desire. When we determined to swallow the bitter pill,3 which I think was right, we ought to have done it gracefully & without pettifogging.

No notice seems to have been taken of the publication of

'Buchanan Papers, private collection. Inaccurately printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 576.

The omission here relates to a purely personal matter.

The surrender of Mason and Slidell.

Mr. Seward's letter to Mr. Adams of the 30th November. It may have been well to write this letter; but to publish it under the authority of the Government was unwise. It states: "I have never for a moment believed that such a recognition [of the Confederate States] could take place without producing immediately a war between the United States & all the recognizing powers. I have not supposed it possible that the British government could fail to see this,' etc., etc. This will be treated as an impotent threat by that malignant anti-American Journal the Times & possibly by a portion of the British people.

You may tell Judge Roosevelt that I have been no little astonished to find in the excellent Journal of Commerce articles to prove that the Federal Government possess under the Constitution the power to issue a paper currency & to make it a legal tender; and this upon the principle that it has not been expressly prohibited. They seem to have lost sight of the great principle that Congress have no power except what is expressly granted or necessarily implied.1 Mr. Webster did once darkly intimate on the floor of the Senate that Congress might authorize the issue of a paper currency, & whilst it was opposed by the entire Democratic, it met no favor with the Whig party. Mr. Clay's most strongly urged argument against the Independent Treasury was that it might lead to a Government paper currency. I do not recollect that in my day it was ever claimed even by the most violent consolidationist that a creditor could be forced to take either the paper of the Bank of the U. S. or the Government in payment of a debt. If the Judge has it convenient, I wish he would look at my speech in favor of the Independent Treasury delivered in the Senate on 29 Sep. 1837.

I am sorry that there was nobody to give you a Christmas. present except good Mrs. Roosevelt. This as a token of her esteem was worth far more than a hundred presents from idle fashionable coxcombs. You will always have her as a friend, should you continue to deserve her friendship, which I trust you

ever may.

Yours affectionately,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

'Curtis, in a note to this sentence, Life of Buchanan, II. 577, says: "Mr. Buchanan must have referred to communications, not to editorial opinions. The editorial views of the Journal of Commerce have always been opposed to the views which he controverted."

MY DEAR SIR/

TO MR. LEIPER.1

WHEATLAND II Jan: 1862.

I have received yours of the 9th Instant & can assure you I do not entertain the least idea of making any publication at present, but shall remain where you have placed me, on the rock of St. Helena. I am content to bide my time & not even give to the world the official documents which I have collected & arranged, although they would place me above reproach.

I think, under all the circumstances, the administration acted wisely in surrendering Mason & Slidell. I say nothing of the accompanying Despatch of Seward or of the publication of his letter to Mr. Adams.

Miss Lane has not yet returned from New York, & I know not when to expect her.

I have received yours of the 11th Instant; & now enclose you a letter just received under the frank of Mr. Blair.

The invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Ward surprises me. Please to tell Judge Roosevelt that I have no loose copy of my speech in favor of the Independent Treasury, or it would afford me much pleasure to send it to him.

Do you know why our friend Schell is so much in Washington? Is he a witness or a party to any investigation there? I have not & have not had any intention of writing a history

'Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 578.

2 Buchanan Papers, private collection. The paragraph relating to Stanton is imperfectly printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 522.

of my administration. What I have done has been to collect & prepare for publication, should this become necessary, a reference to such public & other authentic documents as would fully justify me in all I did & all I did not do since the election of Mr. Lincoln in November last. For the present I have not the least idea of publishing it.

To tell me that a Paper like the Herald, which is read by every body, has no influence is vain. It has a most malign influence both at home & abroad. Its influence was evil in encouraging the secessionists to believe they might depart in peace, & then after its editor had been pursued by a mob, its influence in exasperating the people of England against us has been most unfortunate. It is considered there as a reflex of public opinion in this Country, & especially of that of the great city of New York.

Well, our friend Stanton has been appointed Secretary of War. I presume, without knowing, that this has been done by the influence of General M'Clellan. I have reason to believe they are very intimate. What are Mr. Stanton's qualifications for that, the greatest & most responsible office in the world, I cannot judge. I appointed him Attorney General when Judge Black was raised to the State Department, because his professional business & that of the Judge, especially in California cases, were so intimately connected that he could proceed in the Supreme Court without delay. He is a sound, clear-headed, persevering, & practical lawyer, & is quite eminent especially in Patent cases. He is not well versed in public, commercial, or constitutional law; because his professional duties as a County Lawyer never led him to make these his study. I believe he is a perfectly honest man & in that respect differs from his immediate predecessor. He never took much part in Cabinet Counsels, because his office did not require it. He was always on my side & flattered me ad nauseam.

1

Remember me in great kindness to the Judge & Mrs.

Roosevelt.

Yours affectionately

JAMES BUCHANAN.

MISS HARRIET R. LANE.

1

1A paragraph relating to an entirely different and personal matter is here omitted.

MY DEAR SIR/

TO MR. KING.'

WHEATLAND, January 28th, 1862.

I have received your favor of the 23d instant, and had heard from Miss Lane on the subject of the slippers. She has not yet returned from New York. I desire to repeat my warm thanks to Miss King for her valued token of regard.

I have just read the rhapsody of Mr. Holt over the appointment of Mr. Stanton, and confess I am utterly at a loss to conjecture what he means by "the intensely tragic struggles that marked the closing days of the late administration." If any such existed, I am ignorant of them. Mr. Holt himself certainly had a tragical face when he announced to the Cabinet at the Capital on the 4th March the receipt of the Despatches from Major Anderson, and the publication of his letter communicating them to Mr. Lincoln will doubtless excite disagreeable, I will not say tragical, feelings in the mind of the Major. I am very sorry I have never been able to obtain a copy of the strictures of General Scott on Mr. Holt's letter.

So in

You mistake:-Mr. Lincoln has begun at the foot. You do not recollect that you ranked the Attorney General. the ascending scale you will come next. Good luck to you!

I do most earnestly hope that our army may be able to do something effective before the 1st of April. If not, there is great danger not merely of British but of European interference. There will then be such a clamor for cotton among the millions of operatives dependent upon it for bread, both in England and on the Continent, that I fear for the blockade.

From my heart I wish Stanton success, not only for his own sake but that of the country. He is a great improvement on his immediate predecessor. I believe him to be a truly honest man, who will never sanction corruption, though he may not be quite able to grapple with treason as the lion grapples with his prey. I would rather he had not retained the assistant of the late Secretary and appointed another of the same; but they are both keen. and energetic.

1

Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Partly printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 579.