With my kindest regards to Mrs. King and Annie Augusta, I remain, very respectfully, Your friend, JAMES BUCHANAN. HON: HORATIO KING. TO MR. PARKER.1 WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, 3 February 1862. MY DEAR SIR/ I have received your favor of the 28 ultimo & was gratified to learn that you had arrived safely in New York. 1 am sorry to believe that a letter from me would do you no good at Washington. Nevertheless, it is proper I should state that when South Carolina, in 1850 or 1851, invited Virginia to co-operate with her in the adoption of secession measures, you were active & efficient in procuring the passage of Resolutions by the General Assembly of your State, refusing to comply with the invitation. I know that you went to Richmond for this purpose, on the advice of the late Col: King & myself, & I learned at the time, from reliable sources, that you contributed much in producing this happy result. I do not recollect the precise terms of the Resolutions either of South Carolina or Virginia. Would that Virginia had persisted in this wise & patriotic course! Had she done so, she might have become the happy instrument of bringing back the Cotton States & restoring the Union. Her rash conduct in rushing out of the Union after these States had, by assaulting & capturing Fort Sumter, commenced the civil war, has done herself irreparable injury, as well as inflicted a great calamity upon the whole country. What have been your opinions concerning secession after 1851 & until you left the United States I cannot state, though I have no reason to doubt their loyalty. You certainly never ex 1 1 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 579. pressed any different sentiment to me in all our intercourse. I need not say that I am wholly ignorant of your present opinions or purposes on this subject. I need not assure you that it would afford me sincere satisfaction to serve you. In case of need, I would advise you to appeal to Mr. Lincoln himself. He is, I believe, an honest & patriotic man, with a heart in the right place. The bad health of Mrs. Parker will be a prevailing argument with him in favor of permitting you to return to your family after more than a year's absence in the public service, unless powerful reasons should exist against such a permission. From your friend very respectfully JOHN A. PARker, Esq. JAMES BUCHANAN. (Private.) MY DEAR SIR/ TO SENATOR SAULSBURY.1 WHEATLAND 8 February 1862. Many thanks for your able speech on the expulsion of Mr. Bright! I have read it with much interest. The question was purely judicial, & ought to have been so considered. Still, even in this point of view, there was room for honest differences of opinion. Whilst I had reason to believe, at the time, that Mr. Bright sympathised with the ultras of the Cotton States in condemning my absolute refusal in December, 1860, on the demand of the self-styled Commissioners from South Carolina, to withdraw the Troops from Charleston, yet I had no idea, until I read his letter & late speech, that he remained in the same state of feeling after the inauguration of the hostile Confederacy. I had always entertained the warmest friendship for Mr. Bright, & manifested this on every proper occasion whilst I was President; & therefore felt deep sorrow when I saw this letter to the President of that Confederacy, recommending a gentleman 1 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. whose business it was to dispose of a great improvement in fire arms. And this, it now appears, was so much a matter of course that he has forgotten he had ever written such a letter. But I intended only to thank you for a copy of your speech & to request that you would send me copies in pamphlet of any other speeches which you may make. From your friend very respectfully HON: WILLARD SAULSBURY. JAMES BUCHANAN. TO DR. BLAKE.1 WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, 10 February 1862. MY DEAR SIR/ I have received your favor of the 5th Instant. Glad as I would have been to see Mr. Carlisle & yourself during the last week, I was almost satisfied you did not come. The weather was very unfavorable; & besides, mirabile dictu! I had a sharp onset from the gout. Your visit, I hope, will not be long delayed. The birds already begin to sing at early morn & the willows are assuming the livery of Spring. And so Mr. Pearce thinks it is a matter of no importance that I should go down to history as having put my hand into the Treasury & drawn out $8000 more than was appropriated, to gratify my personal vanity in furnishing the White House! Thus the fact stands recorded in the proceedings of Congress, & in the debate in the House it is made by Mr. Stevens a precedent for allowing Mr. Lincoln to draw from the Treasury $11,000 more than was appropriated. This is the staple of Mr. Stevens's argument, the Representative from my own district. And does Mr. Pearce suppose, in opposition to these uncontradicted statements before the Senate & the House, that any man will ever 'Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Curtis's Buchanan, II. 580. pore over the appropriation Bills to correct the error? craven fear! Alas for Although I shall never again become an active politician, I intend to take care of Mr. Bright, should there be any necessity for it, as I think there never will be. His day in Indiana was passed before his last election to the Senate, if election it could be fairly called. He can no longer block the way against the elevation of such able, eloquent, & rising men as Mr. Voorhees. In any other state of public affairs than the present, the gentlemen of the Cabinet referred to by Thurlow Weed would have immediately contradicted his charge. Had it even been true, their own honor required this. Since the origin of the Government there has been no case of violating cabinet confidence except one, & the great man who was betrayed into it by violent political prejudice was destroyed. It is moral perjury; & no cabinet could exist if the consultations were not held sacred. The charge of Thurlow Weed is, therefore, in effect, that some one member of the Cabinet has disclosed to him a cabinet secret & authorized him to publish it to the world. General Dix, now at the head of the Police in Baltimore though worthy of a better place, is one of the dramatis personæ, though he was not in the Cabinet until a considerable time after Floyd had resigned. The very day after the explosion in regard to the Indian Bonds, I informed Mr. Floyd, through his relative, Mr. Breckinridge, that I would expect him to resign. He did so, & informed me that Floyd appeared to be very much struck with the information. Up until that time Floyd had been uniformly opposed to the secession party. The escape of Major Anderson, two or three days thereafter, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter at midnight, first spiking his cannon & burning his gun carriages, afforded Floyd an opportunity, as he supposed, to expire in a blaze of glory. I am at a loss to know what to do in this matter. I know the enemy wish to draw my fire in a straggling manner. I wish it at once to embrace & refute the whole line of charges; & I know that when the entire truth is told, my enemies will be confounded & by the blessing of God I shall be safe at every point. I shall decide nothing for two or three days. I may hear from some member of the Cabinet implicated. It would be strange if General Dix should patiently submit to the charge, though not a member of the Cabinet at all at the time. You may read this letter to our friend Carlisle & converse with him on the subject, of course confidentially. Miss Lane desires to be very kindly remembered to you. DR. JOHN B. BLAKE.. JAMES BUCHANAN. P. S. I forgot to observe that the escape of Major Anderson from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter took place on Christmas night, 1860; but Weed has it in February, 1861. Floyd left the Cabinet in December. TO MR. KING.' WHEATLAND, near LANCASTER, February 10th, 1862. MY DEAR SIR/ I have received your favor of the 6th, and am rejoiced to learn that Annie Augusta is about to be married, with your approbation. I need not say how heartily I wish that she may be happy. It is strange that you have not seen Mr. Holt's letter to Lieutenant Governor Stanton, dated at St. Louis, January 16th, on the appointment of Mr. Stanton. The following extract from it was published in the Harrisburg Patriot and Union of the 27th of January: The selection of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War has occasioned me unalloyed satisfaction. It is an immense stride in the direction of the suppression of the rebellion. So far as I can gather the popular sentiment, there is everywhere rejoicing over the appointment; but that rejoicing would be far greater did the people know, as I do, the courage, the loyalty, and the genius of the new Secretary, as displayed in the intensely tragic struggles that marked the closing days of the last administration. He 1 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Partly printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 582. |