powers which it confers on the Federal Government, notwithstanding the experience of the last dreary years, are sufficient for almost every possible emergency, whether in peace or in war. He, therefore, claims the merit-if merit it be simply to do one's duty-that whilst in the exercise of Executive functions, he never violated any of its provisions. It may be observed that no extensive and formidable rebellion of an intelligent people against an established Government has ever arisen without a long train of previous and subsidiary causes. A principal object of the author, therefore, is to present to the reader a historical sketch of the antecedents ending in the late rebellion. In performing this task, the eye naturally fixes itself, as the starting point, upon the existence of domestic slavery in the South, recognized and protected as this was by the Constitution of the United States. We shall not inquire whether its patriotic and enlightened framers acted with wise foresight in yielding their sanction to an institution which is in itself a great social evil, though they considered this was necessary to avoid the still greater calamity of dissolving the Convention without the formation of our Federal Union. The narrative will prove that the original and conspiring causes of all our future troubles are to be found in the long, active, and persistent hostility of the Northern Abolitionists, both in and out of Congress, against Southern slavery, until the final triumph of their cause in the election of President Lincoln; and on the other hand, the corresponding antagonism and violence with which the advocates of slavery resisted these efforts, and vindicated its preservation and extension up till the period of secession. So excited were the parties, that had they intended to furnish material to inflame the passions of the one against the other, they could not have more effectually succeeded than they did by their mutual criminations and recriminations. The struggle continued without intermission for more than the quarter of a century, except within the brief interval between the passage of the Compromise measures of 1850 and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, during which the hostile feelings of the parties were greatly allayed, and hopes were entertained that the strife might finally subside. These peaceful prospects, it will appear, were soon blasted by the repeal of this Compromise, and the struggle was then renewed with more bitterness than ever until the final catastrophe. Many grievous errors were committed by both parties from the beginning, but the most fatal of them all was the seIcession of the cotton States. The authorities cited in the work will show that Mr. Buchanan never failed, upon all suitable occasions, to warn his countrymen of the approaching danger, and to advise them of the proper means to avert it. Both before and after he became President he was an earnest advocate of compromise between the parties to save the Union, but Congress disregarded his recommendations. Even after he had, in his messages, exposed the dangerous condition of public affairs, and when it had become morally certain that all his efforts to avoid the civil war would be frustrated by agencies far beyond his control, they persistently refused to pass any measures enabling him or his successor to execute the laws against armed resistance, or to defend the country against approaching rebellion. The book concludes by a notice of the successful domestic and foreign policy of the administration. In the portion of it concerning our relations with the Mexican Republic, a history of the origin and nature of "the Monroe doctrine" is appropriately included. It has been the author's intention, in the following pages, to verify every statement of fact by a documentary or other authentic reference, and thus save the reader, as far as may be possible, from reliance on individual memory. From the use of private correspondence he has resolutely abstained. WHEATLAND, September, 1865. CONTENTS. The rise and progress of Anti-Slavery agitation-The Higher Law-Anti-Sla- very Societies-Their formation and proceedings-Their effect destructive ' of State Emancipation-The case in Virginia-Employment of the Post Office to circulate incendiary publications and pictures among the slaves-Message of General Jackson to prohibit this by law-His recommendation defeated- The Pulpit, the Press, and other agencies-Abolition Petitions-The rise of an extreme Southern Pro-Slavery party-The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, and the case of Prigg vs. Pennsylvania, and its pernicious effects-The South threaten Secession-The course of Mr. Buchanan as Senator-The Wilmot Proviso and its consequences-The Union in serious danger at the meeting PAGE Meeting of Congress in December, 1849—The five Acts constituting the Com- promise of September, 1850-Effect of the Compromise in allaying excitement -Whig and Democratic Platforms indorse it-President Pierce's happy ref- erence to it in his Message of December, 1853-The repeal of the Missouri Compromise reopens the slavery agitation-Its passage in March, 1820, and character-Its recognition by Congress in 1845, on the Annexation of Texas- The history of its repeal-This repeal gives rise to the Kansas troubles- Their nature and history-The Lecompton Constitution and proceedings of Congress upon it-The Republican party greatly strengthened-Decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case-Repudiated by the Republican party and by the Douglas Democracy-Sustained by the old Democracy-The Kansas and Nebraska Act-The policy and practice of Congress toward the Territories-Abuse of President Buchanan for not adhering to the Cincinnati Senator Seward-The "Irrepressible Conflict "-Helper's "Impending Crisis". The John Brown Raid-The nature of Fanaticism-The Democratic National Convention at Charleston-Its proceedings and adjournment to Baltimore- Reassembling at Baltimore and proceedings there-Its breaking up and di- vision into the Douglas and the Breckinridge Conventions-Proceedings of The heresy of Secession-Originated in New England-Maintained by Josiah Quincy and the Hartford Convention, by Mr. Rawle and Mr. John Quincy Adams, but opposed by the South-Southern Secession dates from South Car- olina Nullification-Its character and history-The Compromise Tariff of 1833 -The Nullifiers agitate for Secession-Mr. Calhoun-Mr. Cobb against it- Warnings of the Democratic party-They are treated with contempt-Seces- sion encouraged by the Republicans—The Cotton States led to believe they would be allowed to depart in peace-President Buchanan warned them General Scott's "Views," and the encouragement they afforded to the cotton States to secede-Their publication by him in the "National Intelligencer"— His recommendation in favor of four distinct Confederacies-His recommen- dation to reenforce nine of the Southern forts, and the inadequacy of the troops-The reason of this inadequacy-The whole army required on the fron- tiers-The refusal of Congress to increase it-Our fortifications necessarily left without sufficient garrisons for want of troops-The President's duty to refrain from any hostile act against the cotton States, and smooth the way to a compromise-The rights of those States in no danger from Mr. Lincoln's Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency-Its danger to the Union-Warnings of the President and his trying position-His policy in the emergency, and the reasons for it—His supreme object the preservation of the Union-Meeting of Congress, and the hostility of the two parties toward each other-The wrongs of the South-How rash and causeless would be rebellion in the cotton States -The right of secession discussed and denied in the Message-The President's position defined-Question of the power to coerce a State-Distinction be- tween the power to wage war against a State, and the power to execute the laws against individuals-Views of Senator (now President) Johnson, of Ten- nessee-President Buchanan's solemn appeal in favor of the Union-His es- trangement from the secession leaders-Cessation of all friendly intercourse |