The visit of the Prince to the tomb of Washington and the simple but solemn ceremonies at this consecrated spot will become a historical event and cannot fail to exert a happy influence on the kindred people of the two countries. With my respectful regards for the Prince Consort, I remain your Majesty's friend and obedient servant, JAMES BUCHANAN. TO MISS MACALESTER.' MY DEAR LILY: WASHINGTON, October 10, 1860. I have received your favor of the 8th, announcing your ergagement, and most sincerely and ardently do I hope that your marriage may prove auspicious and secure your future happiness and prosperity. I need not assure you that I feel all the interest which devoted friendship can inspire in your permanent welfare. everywhere greeted in your country, and the friendly manner in which you received him; and whilst, as a mother, I am grateful for the kindness shown him, I feel impelled to express, at the same time, how deeply I have been touched by the many demonstrations of affection personally toward myself which his presence has called forth. I fully reciprocate towards your nation the feelings thus made apparent, and look upon them as forming an important link to cement two nations of kindred origin and character, whose mutual esteem and friendship must always have so material an influence upon their respective development and prosperity. The interesting and touching scene at the grave of General Washington, to which you allude, may be fitly taken as the type of our present feeling, and I trust of our future relations. The Prince Consort, who heartily joins in the expressions contained in this letter, wishes to be kindly remembered to you, as we both wish to be to Miss Lane. Believe me always your good friend, VICTORIA R. 'Curtis's Buchanan, II. 245. Miss Lily L. Macalester, daughter of Charles Macalester, Esq., of Philadelphia. Her engagement was to Mr. Berghmans, secretary of the Belgian legation in Washington. The letter of Miss Macalester is given in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 244. I had thought that "the prospect of a dreary spinsterhood" would not have impelled you into an engagement, without saying a word to your superannuated bachelor friend, but when young ladies have determined to marry they will go ahead. May you enjoy all the blessings in your matrimonial state which I ardently desire, and you so richly deserve. Always your friend, JAMES BUCHANAN. FROM MR. RHETT.1 (Private and Confidential.) MY DEAR SIR: CHARLESTON, Nov. 24, 1860. You know that for many years I have been a personal and political friend of yours. I have truly sympathised with you in the difficulties which have surrounded your administration of a Government tottering amidst the contending sections of the Union. Pardon me, therefore, if I now take the liberty to say a very few words to you, on the condition of things in this State. South Carolina, I have not a doubt, will go out of the Union-and it is in your power to make this event peaceful or bloody. If you send any more troops into Charleston Bay, it will be bloody. Now, in giving you this information and opinion, I trust you will not suppose that I intend to direct your judgment as to your course of duty, but simply to inform it. If you have any hopes of reconstructing the Union, after South Carolina shall have seceded, they will, in my judgment, be utterly defeated by any demonstration of coercion in the Bay of Charleston. Believe me, Dear Sir, Yours most sincerely, R. B. RHETT. JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States. 'Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. TO MR. HOLT.' 30 Nov. '60. MY DEAR SIR I send you the enclosed. As I do not intend to make any but a general reference to the reports of the other Departments on account of the length of my message, it might seem invidious to make yours an exception. I have no doubt it will speak ably for itself. Should you approve the enclosed, please to fill up the date left in blank. I fear from some rumors I have seen in the papers that Gov. Cobb has determined to retire from the Cabinet. The withdrawal of any one or more of the members of your Cabinet in the present condition of affairs would produce serious and alarming results. Let nothing of this kind occur, if it be possible to prevent it. In haste, I am truly FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE, FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Throughout the year since our last meeting, the country has been eminently prosperous in all its material interests. The general health has been excellent, our harvests have been abundant, and plenty smiles throughout the land. Our commerce and manufactures have been prosecuted with energy and industry, and have yielded fair and ample returns. In short, no nation in the tide of time has ever presented a spectacle of greater material prosperity than we have done, until within a very recent period. Why is it, then, that discontent now so extensively prevails, and the union of the States, which is the source of all these blessings is threatened with destruction? The long continued and intemperate interference of the northern people with the question of slavery in the southern States has at length produced its natural effects. The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other, and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed. I have long foreseen, and often forewarned my countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not proceed solely from the claim on the part of Congress or the territorial legislatures to exclude slavery from the Territories, nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the execution of the fugitive slave law. All or any of these evils might have been endured by the South, without danger to the Union, (as others have. been,) in the hope that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The immediate peril arises, not so much from these causes, as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions 1S. Ex. Doc. 1, 36 Cong. 2 Sess. I. 3-28. of servile insurrections. Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend, and intensify itself, until it shall pervade the masses of the southern people, then disunion will become inevitable. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and has been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator, for the wisest purpose; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long continue, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later the bonds of such a Union must be severed. It is my conviction that this fatal period has not yet arrived; and my prayer to God is, that he would preserve the Constitution and the Union throughout all generations. But let us take warning in time, and remove the cause of danger. It cannot be denied that for five and twenty years the agitation at the North against slavery has been incessant. In 1835, pictorial hand-bills and inflammatory appeals were circulated extensively throughout the South of a character to excite the passions of the slaves, and, in the language of General Jackson, "to stimulate them to insurrection and produce all the horrors of a servile war." This agitation has ever since been continued by the public press, by the proceedings of State and county conventions, and by abolition sermons and lectures. The time of Congress has been occupied in violent speeches on this never-ending subject; and appeals, in pamphlet and other forms, indorsed by distinguished names, have been sent forth from this central point and spread broadcast over the Union. How easy would it be for the American people to settle the slavery question forever, and to restore peace and harmony to this distracted country! They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they and they alone are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible, and have no more right to interfere, than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil. |