§jM ff f* n M BP^ ^^^^7- W (•«d SWT M .''"^f t&S9&F. •■ ^ h*^ mIrv' ti» ■Jf£. : ' ,3P*ft^~^ ■*::J. W- # LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 5 J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, J JAMES BUCHANAN, HIS DOCTRINES AND POLICY ^S EXHIBITED BY HIMSELF AND FIUENDS. MR. BUCHANAN AS A FEDERALIST. AN ORATION, DBLIVERED ON TOE 4TH OF JULY 1815, BEFORE THE WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF LANCASTER. BY JAMES BUCHANAN. History of the Revolution. Thirty-Nine years ago, upon this day, we were declared an independent people. At that time the Continental Congress burst asunder the chains which bound them to Great Britain, and resolved to be free, or to perish in the attempt. Upon that day, they presented to the world a spectacle of wisdom and firmness which has never been excelled. To make a proper estimate of their conduct, we must take into view, the then situation of this coun- try, compared with that of our enemy. On the one side, the armies of Great Britain were numerous and veteran : they were led by commanders who had acquired military reputation in every clime ; they were supported and furnished with every implement of war by a nation whose wealth has, upon differ- ent occasions, purchased the services of all the crowned heads in Europe. On the other side, our armies were small and unacquainted with military discipline : our officers were destitute of experience ; and we were so miserably poor, that our brave soldiers were not more than half clothed, and their winter marches, over the frosty ground which they were defending, could be tracked by the blood that flowed from their naked feet. But even these were not the only disadvantages under which we labored. Whilst our enemy invaded us from without, the torch of discord and of treason was lighted up within, when independence was de- clared, the mother country had a powerful party throughout all the middle States, and many adherents In every other part of the Union. Dreadful, therefore, was the responsibility of that Congress. Had not victory carried their banners, their names would have been cursed by the people of this country, as the promoters of a destructive civil war, whilst their blood would have flowed on the scaffold as a sacrifice to appease the spirit of British vengeance. In this awful situation, whilst the dark cloud of destruction appeared ready to burst upon them, they declared to the world our In- dependence. They thought that, " Oi.e day, one hour of virtuous liberty, Was worth a whole eternity of bondage." Everlasting honor to their names ! The gratitude of a free people will forever hallow their memory. It is not my intention, at this time, to give yon a narrative of those glorious eveuts of the revolution- ary war, which led to the recognition of our Inde- pendence by Great Britain and the world. They have been the subject of so many orations, and of such general interest, that they are familiar to every mind. The present oration shall contain a short his- torical sketch of the most prominent action of the party now in power in this country, and their conse- quences ; aud also an inquiry concerning the course which sound policy dictates that the government of the United States should pursue in future. The impor- tance of those subjects, although not strictly con- nected with the celebration of this day, will, I trust, be their apology to every miud. Mr. Buchanan attacks the Democracy. There was a powerful faction in the United States, opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The individuals of which it was composed were called anti-federalists, and were the founders of the Democratic Party. They gloried in setting them- selves in array against our present admirable form of- government. The authors of this opposition were chiefly Demagogues, who might have risen to the head of a state faction, but who felt conscious that their talents would be eclipsed, wheu the lumi- naries of the United States should be collected around the General Government. To gratify tbeir ambition, they wished that this country should con- tinue divided into a number of petty state sovereign- ties without any efficient government for their con- trol. This they desired, although they had the ex- ample of ancient Greece before their eyes, and well knew the clashing interests of the States and their mu- tual jealousies, kept alive by alliances with different foreign nations, would have made this country a per- petual theatre of contention and c'- ;i war, until it had fled for refuge into the arms of d >tism. They therefore sounded the alarm tbroagL it the Union against the Federal Constitution. They predicted ruin to the State governments and to the liberties of the people, from the powers given to the general government. By these means they succeeded in alarming the fears of many good men, and inducing them to believe that government, which is now the palladium of their safety, would be the instru- ment of their destruction. Notwithstanding their desperate efforts the Constitution was adopted, and Washington was elected President. It might have been Bupposed that these factionariea would have been awed into silence by his wisdom EV^ 2 and virtue. This was not tlie case. The opposition which they had given to the Federal government, was now transferred to its administration. At first, in- deed, the voice of calumny dared only to whisper against Washington and his measures, but ere long it was heard in thunder. When the French Revolution commenced, it was hailed by the people of this country, generally, as the dawn of rational liberty in Europe. But when, in its progress, it had become the destruction of reli- gion and morality — when thousands of citizens were daily sentenced to death, and butchered without trial and without crime — when all the horrors of an- archy were poured out upon that devoted country at home — and when Attila-like it had become "the Bcourge of God to foreign nations, the Washington party began to entertain fears of its result, and thought it necessary to stem the French influence, which was rapidly overflowing our country. To this duty they were imperiously called, as it was not only in theory one of the avowed objects of thatgov- erumeut to spread revolutionary principles over the whole world, but they had actually attempted to sow the seeds of rebellion throughout the United States. True to their original principles and their first love, the democratic party of that day became more the friends of the French as they became niofp the enemies of social order. — When "the proclamation of neutrality was issued by Washington — that procla- mation which is now almost universally admitted to have been the salvation of our country — that procla- tion which impartially placed England and France upon the same footing, and laid open the commerce of the world to America, they were enraged that we had not entered inU) an alLiauce with the French Republic, and waged war under their banners, against the human race. But when the treaty of peace with England, commonly called Jay's treaty, was ratified by Washington, torrents of personal abuse icrre poured out by the democratic party Kjwri his head. They openly charged the father of j his country with an intention of destroying his wen beloved offspring. To such a pitch of ingra- titude were they carried by their diabolical passions that they dared publicly, and without the slightest foundation, to accuse him of secretly putting his hand into the treasury like a felon. and appropriating without authority, the money of the nation to his own individual use. That man, the vigor of whose youth had been worn out in those splendid military achievements which made our country independent, and whose age and experience had been devoted to the creation and organization Of thi! federal government — that man who had never received <e time, of the pro- posal of a particular measure. Men there were outside as well as inside the Congress and the administration who approve of the "introduction" of the measure, though the country was not consulted about its introduction; and there were many men sound on slavery who did not ap- prove of its " introduction," and yet, who would have voted for it. and would now fight against its. repeal. It would not have done, he repeated, to have made the Kansas-Nebraska •ill a hobby-horse for a privileged few, to exclude all others from the race for honors; there were other " weightier mat- ters of the law," and other modes of manifesting soundness other than upon that particular measure. As the bill was proposed and passed, as it did repeal the Missouri line and carry out the compromise of 1350, though that compromise cost us so much — as it left us where the constitution found us — the Convention did well on the one haDd to adopt the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska rae*- sure, against the hypocrites who had bitterly opposed the extension of the Missouri line to the Pacific ; and on the other hand, to exclude the conclusion that the office of the Presidency was to be exclusively occupied by those who happened to have the opportunity at a particular time to prepare, present and pass this particular measure, though some of its friends had themselves, previously, gone for the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific, and some had gone very far, if not fully, for the Wiluiot Proviso itself. It did very well to save the Kansas-Nebraska trtB from the odium of being made a monopoly to subserve the aspirations of a special few. It did well not to exclude from the support of the South such friends as Pennsylvania and her representative man. It did well not to allow a great political principle, touching the most delicate and distract- ing of topics, to be made a stalking horse for political cliques: odium might easily have been brought upon the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the South might have been there- by seriously injured. Mr. Buchanan was perfectly sound upon the question, and sufficiently identified with it to sa- tisfy every Southern conservative; and the Convention did wisely and well to nominate one who opposes the restoration of the Missouri compromise, nr»v that it has been repealed; and one, too, who will resist the repeal of the Kansas-No hraska bill, whether he approved of its introduction or not And the nomination of so sound and profound a statesman casts no reflection upon the rivals to whom he was prefer- red. The venerable Cass had been once before preferred te Mr. Buchanan, and had run and been defeated— not for the want of the support of Mr. Buchanan and his friends. The hopes of but very few si ill lingered, at the Cincinnati Con- vention, around his availability in this canvass. Mr. Bu- chanan was an older, if not a better soldier, than Mr. Doug- las, who is young enough to live to run another day. Let him go on, as of late years he has made his rising greatness to shine, and Virginia, al least, in due season, will delight to honor him with her vote, as she does now with her ap- proval. He deserves thanks universally from the democracy for not allowing bis name to distract the party and defeat the nomination of a man who was preferred by an over- whelming majority of democratic States, and whose nomi- nation had on more than one previous occasion been de- feated by the votes ol non-democratic States He did not understand Mr. Douglas by bis telegraphs as yielding to a majority rule, against the well-settled two-thirds rule, hot as yielding to a couviction of preference beyond controversy or dispute, which a two-thirds rule was meant to secure. This was noble, and his withdrawal will gain him as mu«h favor and as much honor as would his nomination, and hie self-sacrifice will be remembered in future. He cordially and Douglas and Pierce love Buchanan. eloquently ratifies the nomination of James Buchanan. And no less so does Franklin Pierce, the worthy and approved President of the United States. Why should he, especially, not endorse the preference of James Buchanan over him- self? Be it remembered that he is now the President of the Union, and that James Buchanan's friends nominated htm to that high office. Pennsylvania and Virginia, North Caro- lina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, in 18S2, after giving James Buchanan 34 successive ballots, withdrew his name, and they, they alone, brought forward the name of Franklin Pierce. Mr. Buchanan and his friends gave way then to him and elected him, and why should not he and bis friends hat given way to Mr. Buchanan now? One good turn deserves another, and the recorded rule of democracy is that every good man should have his turn. We condemned not Mr. Pierce as President; he has our gratitude, and we want no better President than he has made, In the main; but Mr. Buchanan will make no worse a President, and his turn had come at last, though late and long postponed to the claims of other men. That is all in the preference of James Bu- chanan over Mr. Pierce now. On the other hand, as Penn- sylvania had, in 1S52, next to Mr Buchanan preferred Mr. Pierce, I regret only that New Hampshire did not, in 1S56, next to Mr. Pierce, if not over him, prefer Mr. Buchanan. But he had said the nomination was not only due to the man, but to the State of Pennsylvania. She is one of the oldest and largest of the Old Thirteen. From ISnl, in ISna, and the war of lsl2. In the election of Monroe, through that of General Jackson, jown to this day, she has been the keystone of the federal arch and the stay and support of the democratic parly and its principles. Among, the fait hlase ever faithful, she ha« never In any great struggle faltered until her politicians and her people, of late, were surprised 12 by the secrecy of Know-Nothingism, and she has now glo- riously redeemed herself from that ambuscade. And though, bo distinguished in every great battle for the democracy and though democracy has been so often triumphant, and though so strong among the States, she has never been hon- ored until now with a candidate for the Presidency. She has been working for other States, for other men of other States, and not been allowed to name a son of her own. Pennsylvania must be cared for. How long was she to stand the " great rejected " in the Union? Did she not deserve credit for standing rejected so long? Had she ever proposed a son of hers before 1S44? and yet, from 1844 down to this hour, in 1*44, 1848, 1852, she had patieutly submitted and rallied to the democracy, and gave her strength to its cause, though repulsed and rejected, with a majority of democratic States at her back, three times in succession, and she has not thrown down her shield and buckler and retired to her tent. The fourth time now had come. She alone of all the Middle and North- eastern States stood firm for democracy ; she alone of the Northern and non-slaveholding States jtf largest federal strength and size remains true and reliable ; again she of- fered her son, who had been thrice sacrificed by non-demo- cratic States. Was he to be again defeated — she again to be rejected? Ah I we might again have nominated without Pennsylvania; but could we have elected without her united Toice of twenty-eight electoral votes?— without the only certain first class State left to democracy and the South in the North? It was not safe to reject Pennsylvania a fourth time. She is true to principle, but true alike to herself. She holds her State pride and self-respect as high as any other State, and a fourth repulse of her pretensions might have caused disaffection in her and disaster to democracy. The Convention, then, did most wisely in recognizing the claims of a State so large, so strong, so true, so faithful, and yet so long neglected and rejected. But, above all, the nomina- tion of Mr. Buchanan was best in reference to the present condition of the country. By feud and faction, the whole nation Is internally torn— fanaticism and sectionalism are distracting the people and dividing them from each other in moody separation of societies aud States and churches. The nation's genius is acting against itself at a time when we are, by no insignificant menace, threatened with causes of foreign war. Thank God, thai in ev< ry extreme trial, in every perplexity, whenever men know not what to do to save and unite us as one people, there is yet left one moun- tain of refuge I We may yet go to the shrine of George Washington 1 We may yet rely on his precept and on his example as a tower of strength, and feel safe under the shadow of his parental influence ! We may always recur to fundamental principles, and take counsel from that rich legacy of advice he left us in his ever blessed Farewell Ad- dress 1 It is so marked by wisdom, and virtue and patriot- Ism, by disinterested devotion to country, that it has never thus far been violated but in two instances ; and it is the most remarkable proof of its prescience, that the very crop of dragons' teeth we are |ow reaping as a nation, spring from those two violations. The Father of his Country told us " Never to draw a sectional geographical line." The Missouri compromise liue was drawn, and its repeal is causing the civil war in Kansas, the pious contributions for rifles by the preachers of" Christian politics" in the North, and in attempting to set up a law higher than the Constitu- tion, at the imminent risk of peace and Union. And he told us "Never to form entangling alliances with foreign na- tions." And the wretchedly conceived and executed Clay- ton-Bulwer treaty was formed, not only to bind us to forego the dominion of the Isthmus of the two Americas, at the time when the apple was beginning to ripen, and be ready to fall Into our laps, but binding us by an alliance, offensive and defensive, to forbear all intervention by ourselves and others to 6ecure to America her sovereign right of way from one side to the other of her own continent; a treaty which binds us to exclude no nation of all nations from the way, but bound us to full one-half of the risk, responsibility Buchanan will make a Slave State of Kansas. Now, as to the first of these troubles, he (Mr. Wise) under took to say that no man in this country could bring so be- nign an influence to bear as James Buchanan, no State more material aid to restore the Constitution to its reign than the State of Pennsylvania, in the present crisis. Mr Buchanan had done all a wise man could do to run tb Missouri line, by way of guarantee to North and South, b> way of final settlement of sectional controversy, to the Pacific. Against him and his friends of the South it was destroyed, in 1850, by its now professed friends, and, being repealed, he will revert to the Constitution as the only just compromise, allow no more sectional Mnes to be drawn, and fight, if he must, against destroying State equality in the Territories. He has the standard point, the position from which he may surely and safely pursue this policy, and to this policy he and his powerful State of Pennsylvania are committed. Upon this he was nominated, and when he is elected, and another non-slaveholding President, from the great tier of Middle States, shall have confirmed the doc- trines of the late messages cf Franklin Pierce, a President from the extreme North — from the Granite State of noble New Hampshire — then we may regard the doctrine and the practice as settled and sanctioned, and the South may feel safe, and the North be content to abide by the Constitution as it is. To settle this sectional strife, no man could bring so much of Northern and slave-holding strength to unite with the South in defence of the Constitution and the Union as .lames Buchanan lias brought and can bring. His name has held Pennsylvania to Virginia; his name has united the hard and the soft factions of New York, and made them make the welkin ring with one voice of ratification, shouting together at the Park of their city, the other night, in favor of his nomination. What other name has the magic of harmony in it, so to nnite factions like these ? He was iden- tified with no feud, and had healing in his wings at once to compose these strifes. Soft, winning, gentle, forbearing, he is the man to turn away wrath, and to bear ftie olive branch of peace and reconciliation wherever his brethren dissent and differ at home. And, above all men, he is the man of men to keep the peace with Great Britain, at home and abroad. Just returned from the Court of St. James, no man has had the personal contact, no man has had the per- sonal impress with a Clarendon or a British cabinet which James Buchanan has. He is, I hope, utterly opposed to a War dangerous to the Slave-breeding States. war with England. Nothing could be more disastrous to our whole country, and especially to our Southern section of it, than a war with England at this crisis. He (Mr. Wise) did not fear England. If he was to have a war, if war must come, it was more honorable to have it with a power wor- thy of our steel. No foeman was as worthy of a war with America as Great Britain. Every laurel gained in a war with her would be an honor well won, if any were won. He wished to be distinctly understood. He was no war man in peace, and no peace man in war. He loved the English nation better than any other, except his own. He loved the Anglo-Saxon race best, because it was his own race, and ho believed it was the best race of men on earth. He knew, after all that had passed between John Bull and Brother Jonathan, notwithstanding all the hard knocks given and received between them, they at heart loved each other and respected each other. He had felt this once abroad. When the Mexican war began, he had opportunities in South Am- erica to see and to feel, and he would never forget that, whilst Spaniards and Portuguese and Frenchmen were sym- pathizing with and bantering for the Mexican, and hoping and prophesying his victory over us, John Bull rammed h:a fists in his breeches pockets and gruffly stood up for Brother Jonathan. He swore, and he offered to bet, with no little bullying in his tone, that he could whip his kinsman, but nobody else could whip his brother Jonathan. If there is bad blood between John Bull and Brother Jonathan, it is all in the family— they will settle their quarrels in their own way and nobody else must interfere. Whilst he (Mr. W ise) would rather whip an Englishman than anybody else, only and expense of the guarantee of the way without a consl ion of the , . treaty between us and our ally, which we are now incurring, Great Britain virtoric-W »|**f .£"" Jowers than our before, its selves, and he desired anything else tban a war wmi tug deration, and at the hazard of the true interpretation of the | because there was more honor in H, yet tabid rattai SW treaty between us and our ally, which we are now and which may drive us all around Cape Horn solution is arrived at. This extraordinary wanton conces gion, so much in violation of the Farewell Address, was land, unless there was necessity for it, and honor requires And he undertook to say this was the feeling of our peo- made by the famous administratis of Fillmore, which pie generally > and almost "'"ve.sally an. hi here _»»'»*** claimed to be so « Washington-like throughout." It Is the with Great Britain, It would be an act Of f oily or cnm£ ^r Lain difficulty which we have to encounter in a Mttlement of a blunder worse than cr»nej«' irMcr .there >s no* xc use With Great Britain. 1 »n d can be no pardon. He meant to cas, not We lea.t e- 13 proach upon the course of the present administration. Mr. Pierce had acted prudently, cautiously, and firmly. His policy is doubtless peace, and to preserve peace he has acted firmly and decisively. But the question of peace or war ia complicated, and the issues are somewhat involved. He meant no alarm, not even to the nerves of old women, when he said that mismanagement or bad motives might bring on a war; and to prevent war, to preserve peace, nothing could have had a more pacific effect in Great Britain, at this hour, than the selection of James Buchanan, of Penn- sylvania, late Minister of the United States at. the Court of Victoria. There he was known, there his personal confer- ences had been felt, and his correspondence weighed. He is known there to be pacific and conciliatory. It is claimed there that he was already committed to an acknowledgment of satisfaction on the enlistment issue. But a question of peace or war is to be settled. The United States say to Eng- land : " You violated our territory, you forced our neu- trality, you in veded our sovereign rights by enlistment ; we complained of your agents and requested their recall. You pretended not to justify, but apologized for their acts, and yet refused to recall them. We dismiss them and send them home to you discredited. By this we mean no discourtesy to you, but to say that your servants are not tolerahle or acceptable to us. Again, on the subject of our treaty we say your interpretation is wrong, and we will not submit to it; and we recognize as a power de facto, to be treated as a sovereign, a force, the Walker-Rivas govern- ment, which has, in the face of the treaty to guarantee non- intervention, interposed on the Isthmus and assumes its jurisdiction and control." This notice is given whilst the servants of the British government are sent home — contem- poraneously — Great Britain replies: " We regret it and re- call the act, if your jurisdiction, your neutrality, or your sovereignty has been invaded by our servants. Nothing was further from our intentions, and we issued orders im- mediately to our servants to desist. Thinking them guilty yourselves, you did not, as you might have done, adjudge them so far as to sentence them to dismissal from your limits and to send them home. Had you done so without an appeal to us, we could have taken no offence. But. you ap- pealed to us to ailjudge your complaints against them and to punish them. We could not punish without trying them, and at your request we examined your complaint and their defence, and upon trial, according to the best of our judg- ment and conscience, we were compelled to find them ' not. guilty,' anil we could not punish without convicting them. You have indignantly sent them home, reversed our judg- ment, and punished them by a dismissal from your court. You say this is not meaning to be discourteous to her Ma- jesty's government, and yet, after calling on her Majesty's government to judge her servants, how could you dismiss them without contemptuously reflecting upon and acting against the judgment of her Majesty's government which yourselves called for? The disclaimer is not reconcilable with the fact of the case, nor with the respect which is claimed for a solemn decision demanded on your part to be made upon our part. Sending these servants home, dis- missing them contrary to our judgment which you called for and which we conscientiously gave, you at the same time notify us of a contention about our treaty in respect to Nicaragua. We cannot and will not yield our interpreta- tion of that treaty; but whether that interpretation be right or wrong, you bound, whether we can claim or retain pos- session or not of any part of the Isthmus or its islands, yourselves in alliance with us to guarantee against inter- vention or occupation by any other p'^er; and yet, you have recognized a power de facto, whi!;h is notoriously a filibustering power, looking to ultimate annexation to you. In view of these plain facts, we end diplomatic relations, we send Mr. Dallas home to you, and we notify you that we will carry out our interpretation of thi treaty by taking open possession immediately of the parts we claim, and that we will drive from the country the invading and filibuster- ing forces of what you have recognized as a de facto sove- reign power, called a Walker-Rivas government." Now, if messages like these should be sent and received, there would be some danger of collision. The two issues come together in conjunction, and most inopportunely do they conplicate the adjustment and double the danger. And for us, he repeated, a war with Great Britain will be most destructive and disas- trous. We have fearful issues ou the slavery question uow, and there would be a worse one then. Fifteen years ago, when he (Mr. Wise) offered a resolution in the House of Represen- tatives declaring that Congress had no power whatever over slavery in the States of the Union, that " old man eloquent," as he was called, John Quincy Adams, said: "Sir, the pro- position of the gentleman from Accomac is not true. If Congress can.it legislate, less than Congress in the Federal government may interfere with slavery in the States. Ii\g« land was compelled to treat with Cudjo in the cockpits of Jamaica, and if he could compel England to make emanci- pation a condition of peace, much more could a President and Senate, under your treaty-making power, unlimited as it is, make emancipation a condition of peace, in case of a war, to be settled with any foreign power." This warning, horrible, revolting as it is to every sense of safety and con- stitutional and national obligation, he took to his remem- brance forever. The thought, of a war with Old England at this crisis of black republicanism in New England, made him remember it with a vengeance. If we go to war we will not have the power of privateering we had in the last war. We are without the nucleus of a navy, save in merchant marine, whose bottomry and tonnage exceeds that of Great Britain. With more commerce and shipping than England to be destroyed, we have not a hundredth part of her navy, and especially of her steam navy. It is not as in the last war, when canvas, when sails were the motors on the high seas. Now steam is the substitute, and in thirty days our shipping and sailors would be shut In and shut out at every port; and sails could not cruise against steam. One steamer could protect a fleet of argosies, which no privateer could touch. The war would have to last more than one, two or three years for us to come out of it with honor. He knew that, in the long run, if war would only continue long enough, we could fight under until the nation had time to rise up and shake off its want of preparation, and exhaust its adversary and make honor- able terms. But would we have time? Would time be al- lowed us? No, he feared. New England commerce and Southern cotton and tobacco would suffer so much they would cry out for peace like frogs for rain. And this agony for peace would aid black republicanism to propose term* alike dishonorable and destructive to our property and our independence. Aye, if such a man as that pious politician, Johu McLean, of Ohio, who is the first of the bench of the Supreme Court to stain the ermine of the Judiciary by ap- peals to fanatical prejudice to make him President, shall succeed in his mad ambition, and if a Senate shall have a majority of such men as Seward and Wilson, and Wade, anil Sumner, — with a house composed of black republicans or mulattoes or Know Nothings, headed by a Banks— can we expect anything else, if there should be a war with England, than black republicanism combining with foreign English influence to make emancipation a condition of peace? Would not such arch-fiends of national distur- bance, dishonor and disgrace with a war with Old England, in order that, the abolitionists of New England might have the chance of proposing such conditions of peace? For James Buchanan he was not authorized to speak ; but he spoke his own well-assured convict. ons, when he expressed the confidence that peace would be his policy ; and if war should come, he would repel such terms and conditions of peace as he would repel the worst invaders of peace. He trusted 30 such opportunity of mischief would be afforded to internal or external foes. He trusted that James Bu- chanan would speedily restore diplomatic intercourse with Great Britain, and guard the nation from war by abrogat- ing the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. He trusted that he would guard our neutrality laws, but would never yield our inter- pretation of the treaty anil the Monroe doctrine as long as there is " a shot in the kicker " The country will gladly accept any settlement made within these limits of peace and self-protection. He is now called upon at the right time, for his conservatisms, and because especially he is safe upon our foreign relations, his nomination for the Presi- dency is most opportune, and will be most heartily ratified and sustained by the American people. The danger of foreign war and of domestic strife alike call the peaceful sage to preside over the nation. He went for the nomina- tion lastly, because it was the emphatic voice of Virginia. Buchanan the choice of the Virginia Slave-breeders. It was not the movement of him, Mr. Wise, but It was the movement of Virginia. She made it ; without her it would not have been made; and she had the right to make it. If any State could in justice claim the right to have her wishes preferred, it was Virginia, in this nomination. Just one year ago — no, not one year ago, for that wouldn't bring us to the 24th of May, lS5ft—fourteen months ago, how stood the hopes of democracy? Overwhelmed in every Northern State, many of the leaders began to cower, shuddering in the gloom of the dark lantern in the South. The "dagger and the cord," as in Germany in the time of the Vehiue Gerichte, were stealthily in the night stuck upon men's tables, as upon that of Charles the Bold; and the boldest 14 In the South bef.-an to waver — to hash and be still. Flesh wan made to creep upon one's bones — political assassina- tions near froie the blood of men, and many turned pale and skulked to the culvert for safety — some went for suc- cor Many who are amongst those now foremost in de- nouncing 9am, since Sam is down, and none so poor as to do hira reverence, were whispering eagerly the inquiry whether it was not best to yield to the Great Unknown — the Invisible Invincible! But Sam met here in Virginia the visible invincible — the Indomitable democracy of the Old Dominion. If there is anything on earth which is Invincible, it is thai glorious democracy — ever un- moved, unshaken, un terrified ! It was not him, he was but a trumpet, a horn, to wake ibe knights and steeds of Hur- Bebloun. lie but made the rotate tour to tell the men of the lowland and the mountains the danger which lurked in the citadel of their faith, and they awoke in their might. Sam was not smart — he hallooed before he was out of the woods — he boasted of his numbers — said he had seventy-three thousand enrolled— and he had : it was about the only truth he told during the canvass. That was all that was wanting. It was like a strong athletic man seeing how far the antagonist jumped; the democracy only wanted to know the required effort to be made to secure victory. The full strength of Virginia democracy is never put wholly forth — it is never required. Her majority is no test of her power. She only wants to kuow the mark of the adversary just cleanly to leap over it. Sam told us his— he didn't keep thai secret, and its telling was fatal to him. He said 73,0110, and it was beaten more than 10,000. The Legisla- ture did not count and correct the poll. It was more than 10,000. If he had said 83,000, it would have been all the •ame — 93,000 would have been beaten. Never, until he touched the mark of 103,000 voters, would he have brought Virginia democracy to a tie. Why? Because there are 2o6,00d voters in Virginia, and therefore he said 103,000. It is the half of 206,000, and anywhere within that margin, anything known to be opposed to democracy, will be beateB in Virginia. If Sam hadn't been known to be beaten on the 24th of May, 1S65, from 5,000 to 15,OtiO— it mattered not which here — the Tenth Legion would not have been done voting until the election was sure by some certain majority. So indomitable, so sure, so true to them- selves and their country are our Virginia democracy. It is here no political pastime, it is a principle and a passion wim the people. The leaders may wander off, but the mass here are their own leaders. It is not so much, so gloriously so anywhere else on earth. This Indomitable democracy of Virginia, here and nowhere else, turned back the tide of revolution — rolled defeated back upon victory, and plucked our drowning hopes up by the locks. Dope was sunk. There was no hope before the Virginia election. Sara'8 secrecy had surprised even old Pennsylvania — and there is no hope now. Hope is made up of " desire and ex- pectation." Before the Virginia election, there was the desire, but no expectation of Buccess for democracy. Now, since the Vir- ginia election and this glorious nomination, there is still the desire, but still no "expectation "—for expectation, doubt, uncertainty, is turned into a certainty, anil is swallowed up In a glorious democratic victory and triumph. Virginia re- vived hope, restored strength and certainty of success ; and she had the right to say who should be her standard-bearer — who should wear the honors and wield the power she had won. Gratefully she turned to her sister State of Pennsyl- vania. The " sour krout " democracy of Simon Snyder had always stood true to the "red waistcoat" democracy of Thomas JeflVrson — as North Carolina with ber Macon In- tegrity had always tieen the " left bower," eo Pennsylvania had always been the "right bower" of Virginia, and neither sf ber sisters had ever had a son promoted to the Presiden- cy. Pennsylvania now had the representative man, ami North Carcdina and Virginia both needed strength In the North. New York was still divided — Ohio was hopeless — the only State left to us was Pennsylvania. In '44 Virginia had voted In her delegation'in convention for James Bu- chanan; in '48 she had voted for hira; In '52 she had voted thirty-four times in succession for him, and since then there was no change in him, and no change in events, except that the reasons for his nomination multiplied — factions In his own State had died out — Cass was no longer his competitor — the South still more than ever needed to preserve all her strength of union In the Northern and non-slaveholdlivj, democracy. Pennsylvania was our fortress and triend : he< son was the man. And here, therefore, he (Mr. Wise) grate- fully thanked the delegation from Virginia at Cincinnati, for their continuous, persistent votes for sixteen ballots more. Virginia, in the two last Conventions, has given him fifty ballots combined, until he is now the nominee of the demo- cracy, with a certainty of election. If it be asked, as it wag in Raleigh, "Why did Virginia separate herself from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Missis- sippi?" the reply is that they beparated themselves from Virginia. Virginia stood where she was in 1852. She re- membered that in 1S52 Pennsylvania then separated herself from the North to join with Virginia, North Carolina, Geor- gia, Alabama and Mississippi, to make a nomination, and they — these six States— did make it, and did well to make it. Virginia did well to stand still by Pennsylvania, and she will not atop to ask why did not the Southern States remain with her in the nomination, for they will all be with her in the election. She will prove to the South how wise and how well it was, and ever will be for the whole country that Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania shall forever be united in democra- tic and patriotic triumphs. What is to prevent his election? Mr. Fillmore has accepted— accepted without reference to the chances of success or defeat. But he wanted one thing marked— he accepts expressly, not the platform of June, 1855, with a 12lh section, but the platform of February, 1S56, which expunged and ignored the 12th section, and in a letter which goes expressly for restoring the Missouri compromise. The Mulengeons of Richmond endorsed the " late Convention " at Philadelphia, too ; but will any South- ern man — a Stuart or an Imbodin even — endorse this letter fur the restoration of the Missouri Compromise? They may re-endorse returning to the purity of the times of the Gal- phins and the Gardners, and to the wisdom of a Ctayton- Bulwer treaty by a Washington-like administration through- out; but will they go for restoring the odious Missouri compromise? There was but one excuse now made for Fillmore used only to defeat the Fremoiiters. supporting a Fillmore ticket. It had been whispered to Mr. Wise that it was politic and patriotic to let Southern men in minorities, and Northern men in majorities in some Slates, if they could be got to go for it, as it would tend to divide the black republican forces. This was a monstrous patriot- ism, and more monstrous admission. Not hoping for suc- cess, just to run to hoodwink parties. They are to allow their names to be used to prevent their partisans in the North from voting the black republican ticket. Then their partisans there have, it is admitted, black republican affini- ties. If so, how came their partisans in our midst to have affinities with their partisans in the North having black re- publican affinities? This is a juggle no more respectable than that of Know-Nothingism. No 1 — The effect of run- ning a Fillmore ticket is to keep the Souib from being united to a man — that ticket will get but few men North. This proves that the ticket is a mongrel ticket — that the offspring of it is, as he had said, a mulatto, or, as he had better said, a Mulungeon ! But the South will unite on the Cincinnati nomination. It addresses itself too strongly to the respect- able old line whigs for good men not to combine for good, when bad men are combined for evil — it is too conservative for them not to rally with us to conserve the moral princi- ples which preserve suciety — the fundamental political prin- ciples which conserve the State— the hallowed rights of reli- gion which protect the purity of churches, our altars and religion themselves against the infidelity and the anti- Christ of fanaticism — our Constitution and Union, the pal- ladium of our liberty and strength, against the higher law and lower morals of sectionalism. He said that when a boy, shooting " geese, ducks and plover," along the Atlan- tic coast, he had always found " double B's " — B. B. shot — to be most effective. This is a B. B. ticket 1 Let it be called the "double B" ticket. It has not only B. for Buchanan, but B. for a son of the chief State 'of Virginia— Kentucky j'oined to Pennsylvania — Virginia's nephew and grand- child I Now, with these double B's we had only to load the democratic big gun, take aim at the butts of the wings of the leaders or watch-geese, let fly Into the flock, and at every fire we would bring down more game than we could 15 PRESTON S. BROOKS FOR BUCHANAN. Ft-om his Letter to the Buchanan Ratification Meeting at Charleston, S. C. "Mr. Buchanan was neither ray first nor second I supplemental resolutions adopted at Cincinnati, and choice for the Presidency; but, as the represents tive of a type of principles, and standing ooldlv as he does upon the Baltimore platform, upon which General Pierce was carried into power — enlarged, improved, and strengthened as it has been by the by which resolutions our principles, as practically ap- plied to the Territory of Kansas, have been re-indorsed by the American Democracy, and by their nominee — I could not be unfaithful to the man withpat treachery to the principles he representa." MR BUCHANAN APOLOGIZES FOR BROOKS. Lancaster, Thursday, July 24, 1S5C. Correspondence of the N. T. Tribune. I retnrned.here again yesterday, to attend the An- nual Commencement of Franklin and Marshal Col- legs. The Hon. James Buchanan i9 President of the Board of Trustees, and graced the occasion with his presence upon the stage. Notking occurred to mar the pleasure of any one, unless it was the oration of W. W. Davis of Sterling, Illinois, which really troubled the Bace of Wheatland. The subject was " Decline of Political Integrity." The sentiments were noble and manly, delivered in a pleasant and forcible style, worthy of maturer years. He commended the patriotism of the fathers of the Republic, and denounced the degenerate poli- tical huxters of the present day, who make all kinds of sycophantic promises to all parties and portions of the country for even a nomination by a Conven- tion, no matter how corrupt or regardless of politi- cal integrity. "So truckling in their character and destitute of moral courage and political integrity that men are found who applaud the attack of Canine Brooks upon the noble Sumner for defending Freedom." During the delivery of this sentence the whole house was still as death, and at its close it was heartily applauded. Mr. Davis finished his oration and retired from the front of the sta^e amid thunders of applause, and showers of bouquets from his lady friends. For him it was truly a triumph. But o» retiring to his seat, next to that of Mr. Buchanan, did he receive the congratulation of the sage of Wheatland? No, no. Mr. Buchanan said to him, loud enough that the whole class could hear ; "My young friend, you look upon the dark side of the picture. Mr. Sumner's speech was the most vulgar tirade of abuse ever delivered in a deliberative body." To which the young orator replied that he "hoped Mr. Buchanan did not approve of the attacks upon Mr. Sumner by Brooks aud others." To which Mr. Buchanan rejoined that " Mr. Erooks was inconsiderate, but that Senator Butler was a very mild man." Mr. Davis expressed his regret at the moderation of Mr. Buchanan's views, and dropped the conversation. After the close of the exercises, the friends of Mr. Davis related what 1 have written. Mr. Davis himself said he " did not think for a mo- ment that he was not in conversation with James Buchanan," but now learns that it was the Repre- sentative of the Cincinnati Platform he was ad- dressed by. The whole matter has caused no little gossip here in quiet old Lancaster. LETTER FROM THE HON. A. G. BROWN TO THE HON. S. R. ADAMS. The Hon. Albert G. Brown, United States Sena- tor from Mississippi, was one of the committee chosen by the Cincinnati Convention to wait on Mr. Buchanan and apprise him of his nomination. Having done so, he reports progress to his prede- cessor in the following letter : Washington Citt, Wednesday, June 18, 1S56. Mr dear Sir : I congratulate you on the nomina- tion of your favorite candidate for the Presidency. It the nomination of Mr. Buchanan was acceptable to me at first, it is still more so now, since I have seen Mm aud heard him speak. The committee of which Was one, waited on him at his residence to give him t -mal an ? official notice of his nomination, and, in the name of the National Democracy, to request his acceptance of it. We found him open, frank, and wholly undisguised in the expression of his sentiment*. Mr. Buchanan said, in the presence of all who had as- sembled, and they were from the North and the South, the East and the West, that he stood upon the Cin- cinnati Platform and indorsed every part of it. Ha was explicit in his remarks on its Slavei-yfcatwes, sott- ing, that the Slavery issue was the absorbing element m the canvass. He recognized to its fullest extent the overshadowing importance of thatissue, and if elected, he would make it the great aim of his Administration to settle the question upon such terms as should giv» peace and safety to the Union, and security to the South. He spoke in terms of decided commendation tf the Kansas Bill, and as pointedly deprecated the un- worthy sfforte of sectional agitation to get up a na» 16 tional conflagration on that question. After the pas- sage of the Compromise measures of 1850. the Kan- sas bill was, he said, necessary to harmonize our legislation in reference to the Territories, and he ex- pressed his surprise that there should appear any- where an organized opposition to the Kansas bill, after the general acquiescence which the whole country had expressed in the measures of 1850. After thus speaking of Kansas and the Slavery issues, Mr. Buchanan passed to our foreign policy. He approved in general terms of the Ciyicinnati reso- lutions on this subject. But said that while enforcing our own policy, we must at all times scrupulously re- gard the just rights and proper policy of other na- tions. He was not opposed to Territorial extension. All our acquisitions had been fairly and honorably made. Our necessities might require us to make other acquisitions. He regarded the acquisition of Cuba as very desirable now, and it was likely to become a na- tional necessity. Whenever we could obtain the Is- land on fair, honorable terms, he was for taking it. But, he added, it will be a terrible necessity that would induce me to sanction any movement that would bring reproach upon us, or tarnish the honor and glory of our beloved country. After the formal interview was over, Mr. Buchanan said playfully, but in the presence of the whole audi- ence, " If I can be instrumental in scttliyig the Slavery question upon the terms I have mentioned, and then add Cuba to the Union, I shall, if President, be milling to give up the ghost, and let Breckenridge take the Govern- ment." Could there be a more noble ambition? You may well be proud of your early choice of a candidate, and congratulate yourself that no adverse influences ever moved you an inch from your stern purpose of giving the great Pennsylvanian a steady, earnest and cordial support. In my judgment he is as worthy of Southern confidence and Southern votes as Mr. Calhoun ever was ; and in saying this I do not mean to intimate that Mr. Buchanan has any sec- tional prejudices in onr favor. I only mean to say that he has none against us, and that we may rely with absolute certainty on receiving full justice, ac- cording to the Constitution, at his hands. Knowing your long, laborious and faithful adher- ence to the fortunes of Mr. Buchanan, I have thought it proper to address you this letter to give you assur- ance that you had not mistaken your man, nor failed in the performance of a sacred and filial duty to the South. In doing so I violate no confidence. Very truly, Your friend, A. G. Browm. To the Hon. S. R. Adams. REPUBLICAN DOCUMENTS NOW READY. LIFE OF COLONEL FREMONT. An original and authentic Biography of the People's Candidate for President, prepared ex- pressly and with great care for The Tribune Office, is now ready. It is condensed into a pamphlet of 32 large octavo pages, on good type, with spirited illustrations. Price per dozen, $ 40 Price per huudred, . . • • 2 60 Price per thousand, . . . . 20 00 A German Edition of the above is now ready, tame price. HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S SPEECH in the Senate, on Kansas Affairs— 32 pages. Price per dozen, $ 40 Price per hundred, . • • 2 50 Price per thousand, . . . .20 00 THE REPORT OF THE KANSAS INVESTIGAT- ING COMMITTEE; Submitted on Tuesday, the 1st Inst., by the Hon. Messrs Howard of Mich, and Sherman of Ohio, with 2,500 pages of evidence, the fruit of three months' faithful labor in Kansas. 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