Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-10-02
WHOLE NO 947
Gen. jackson, james Buchanan
and Francis 2. Blair.


b We have had before us for three day
: past the card of Mr.. Francis p Blair, in re
: laton TO the completely OF Dir. Buchanan il
t the "bargain and corruption" charge agans
, Dir. Clay in lS24-5. 1t rstappeared in th,
. Nashville Banner, and from that journal ha,
been copied in the New York Evening Pos
and Richmond Wing. These are the only
, three papers in which We have seen it en-
tire. 1t shonld be published at length in
! all the political papers, but its extreme
length renders such publication impractical
T BILE. The expose confirmed in this address
T is complete and irrefutable. Whatever may
be thought of Mr. Blair for his freesoil
opinions, lac is Il man of truth and unin-
peachabe integrity. Ho Was the bosom
friend of Gen. Jackson to the day of his
death-his trusty counsellor and the lega tee
to his private and public papers. The state
ments of man standing in the reiasDn he
did and does to the old Hero, living or dead /,
are not to be assailei.
Mr. Buchanan has placed himself in an
ugly position. He is completely cornered,
and the charge against him, which has So
often been made, of dnpliclty, intrigue and
,reachery,s fixed upon him, and clinched by
the expose of Blair, beyond the least chance
of exlrication or exculpation. Every one is
familiar with the dirty business. which is
discreditahe to Nr. Buchanan as gentle
man and u man of honor. We will briefly
recapituIate the leading facts. In 1925 Dir.
Buchanan attempted to form coalation be-
tween Gen. Jackson and Dir. Clay, which
he undertook to effect 1y inlima,ing to Gen.
Jackson that there was 90 understanding
betweeuaMr. Adams and Mr. Clay ;hat one
should be Pre- sident and tn other Secretary
of Stale, and proposed that the General
should fight them with their own weapons,
and let mis- friends understand that he would
place Mr.. Clay ut head OF the State Depart
ment-a proposal which WAS rejected with
Indignation.
There was at the time no good feeling
| between Jackson and Clay, and the former
seized this occasion for making the charge
of "hargain and corruption" againsI MeSsrs.
Clay ard Adams, and gave MIR. Buchanan
as his authority. This revelation forced
Buchanan out, and while he did not dare to
make the charge direct and explicit, he pub
Iished letter with the following covert and
base insinuHtion 1.-The facts ure before
the world that Mr. Clay and his particular
friends made Mr Adams President, and that
MIR. Adams mme lately thereafter made
Dir. Clay Secretary OF State. The people
will draw their own inferences from such
conduct, and the circumstances connected
| with it. They viii judge OF CAUSES from
effects
Ths was written in 1926. At a dinner
table in Washington city, in lSI5, Mr.
Buchanan said to Senator Maugum, Of North
Carolina, that he did no! believe the charge
ot bargain and corruption ,agdii 81 MIR. Clay,
and never had believed it. This remark
was made in the presence Of Major VIM. b.
Lewis, formerly Se,ond Auditor of the
Treasury, via repeated il in a, letter
to Gen. Jackson. The general replied 10
this letter shortly before his death in 1915.
II has1 recently been published, and con-
Ftains the following ks: :
"Yeur observations with regard to Mr..
Buchanan are correct. He showed want
OF mora courage i'll the affair of the intri-
que of Adams aud Clay-did not do me
justice in the expose he then made, and !
am sure, abuut that time, did believe there
was perfect understanding between Adams
and Clay about the Presidency and the Sc
eretary Of State. This ain sure o!. But
whether he viewed that there was any cor
ruption in the case or not, know not, hut
4 do hat ha mo In
combat them with their own weapons-thai
was let my friends say if was elected ]
would make Mr.. Clay Secretary of State
This, to me, appeared deep corruption. and |
repelled it with that honest indignation as
which, thought il deserved"
This letter, the authenticity of which is
beyond dispute, has created an immense
futtering amuEg the Buchanan men. The
dead lion has many admirers yet, who re-
frain from kicking him; and The idea of vim
dcqting Buchanan at the expense of the
old Hero is not to be though Of. And Yet.
by what eXpedient cah they neutralze the
damninp evidence of Mr. Buchanah's Cor
rup,on, intrigue and dissimulation, as fur
nished by this letter. They must either
do as that renegade Whig journal, the Louis
vile Courier, has done, stigmitize the Hero
Of New OrleanI as infamous. an unmanIy.
vindictve old tyrant, with no touch of JUS
tice or msgnaniRity toward an opponent or
rival, with Ro use for friends only 10 make
tools Of them;" or they must resort to ano-
ther shift by representing the old gentle
man when he wrote the letter as imbeciie
anS irresponsible.
This latter is the course that has been
adopted To blum. the edge OF this cutting
leusr. The wire pullers of Buchanan have
been operating upon prufiisate and weak
minded man, the adopted son of the old
General, and the bearer ofhis honored name,
TO enter his "solemn protest against the
unscrupuuus use of the privSte and Conf
Dental correspondence of his (adupted) ia
,her," etc and he proceeds 20 say thai his
letter "did not cuntain any del bsrate coa-
victicn of his mind, /" that:
"Whilst suffering under painful, wither
ing disease, and earnestly pressed by every
artful suggestion, he would have been more
than human if he hsd not permitted express
sions of momentary irritation 10 creep into
| private letters; and tie fault OF the express
| sion was not in him who wrote, but rather
! in those whom he unwseiy tru>tet."
Mr. Bair in his address, eXcul pa;es him
self iriumphantly from this accusation OF
making all "unccrupulous use OF private
correspondence" aud exhibits in Caring
colors, the, recklesSness Of The character
Of Andrew jackson, Jr. Ike establishes the