The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-08-01

and the wealth or poverty as may be convenient,
of his Mariposa purchase; and while some Of the
antiquares Of the republican school are inquiring
into the Irish Catholic antecedents Of the late
Mrs. Fillmore and the Catholic education of her
amiable and accomplished daughter-now also in
the grave--a new question: and question more
apropos to the Presidential issue, has been
started up among the party journals at Lancas-
ter, near Wheatland, in Pennsylvania. This
question, as described by our Lancaster cores
pondent in Tuesdays HERALD, is the great
Wheatland grog question, and the specifications
of the anti-Buchanan journals are SO very plau-
sible, and sustained by such credible testimony,
concerning the administration of the domestic
government Of the old bachelors hall at Wheat
land. that we cannot dismiss the subject without
few passing remarks.
The Laneasterian and Latdiigencey, now the home
organ of Mr. Buchanan, declared in 1852, that
for months past it is VIGOROUSLY known Mr.. Blu
chanan converted bis residence into an unlimited
tavern stand, where all were invited to call and
partake Of his liquors the qualities of which he
was by no means modest in extolling, free from
an In this manner it adds night after
night has he sought, by making men drunk, to
secure from them in their drunken moments
pledges to support him." This is positively
frightful and gives US a shuddering recollection
of Forney's letter to Roberts, touching the For
rest divorce case but the same Lancaster autho-
rity further declares that ''these things have
repeatedly been transacted, Sabbath after Sab
bath, and defes an honest denial. Who could
have believed it? and yet the very fact that
Mr. Buchanan has lived all his life respectable
old bachelor, affords at once a substantial ground
of belief
The philosophy Of the case very simple. An old
bachelor, living in aretred country house, cannot
flourish upon books and newspapers and his three
meals a day. He needs something more. Man is
q social animal. and cannot exist as rational or
useful man without society. Put him in house
rs the master and mistress, and the administration
Of its affairs will inevitably run into disorder
and he must necessarily fall into outside social
substitutes to supply the absence Of wife and
children. lie will gather about him a circle Of
jolly good fellows, vagabondizers, wild young
chaps, and free and easy old dodgers. Of the par
ty to which he belongs, who will drink his wines,
fatter him, humbug him, and manage him, just
for example, as Col. Forney and his set have
managed and are managing Mr.. Buchanan. A
wife in the house admits Of no such family ar
rangements. But how could we expect genial.
well-to-do old bachelor, for twenty years. more
or less a candidate for the Presidency, to escape
such associations and amusements?
1t is said that Mr.. Buchanan, in the flower OF
his manhood was crossed in his first love, and
never had the courage TO look after another. II
is said that the young lady, driven to despair by
the despotic course of a hard-hearted mother.
took laudanum and died. II il also stated that,
with this lamentable result Mr.. Buchanan, in his
desperation, attempted his own life, and that the
consequence was a contraction of the muscles
on one side Of his throat which gave him
that kink or twist in his neck which he
carries TO this day. At all events according
to the reports Of his own friends, his love affair
was badly managed, and a case Of criminal
folly On all sides. The young lady, failing
with one beau. should have resolved to succeed
with another; or the young gentleman, to cave
her from the cruelty Of her mamma shoulJ have
plucked up the courage Of q cavalier and carried
her off and got married, even by Catholic
priest. rather than fail. That's the way Ere
mont did, and he had odd Tom Benton" to bat
tie with, a more terrible enemy than legion Of
old women. Had Mr.. Buchanan done so, he
might have been President twenty years ago.
but having failed, he may be defeated in the
only possible opportunity that can ever be offered
him for winning the White House.
The position d Mr. Fillmore, as widower, is
better than that Of a bachelor; but not 20 good
a. that Of man with wife and children around
him. Mr.. Fillmore, however, if rumors be true,
is casting about him for lady to do the honors
Of the White House by authority, should he BE-
elected. While at the st. Nicholas Hotel In this
city, he presented, in very suggestive way, a
splendid bouquet, Of the largest size and adorn-
ed with ribbons, red, white and blue, TO a most
charming little widow, the very person for the
Office TO which he aspires. This lady, too, like
the late Mrs. Fillmore, Is of Catholic descent,
and hence there may have been something in that
bouquet besides the roses. Who knows?
But Fremont, as a married man--married TO the
woman Of his choice, too, in spite Of her father,
and that father the terrible Benton-holds from
this great established fact, mighty advantage
with the people over both the bachelor candidate
and the widower. Jessie has been woven into
the poetry Of the campaign-men, women and
children sing the praises Of Jessie, and her popu
larity gives warm and romantic freshness 10 the
popularity Of Fremont How much better all
this than the solitude Of an old bachelors hail. or
those demoralizing scenes so graphically described
by Mr.. Buchanan's home organ, as having trans
pred at Wbeatland. In fact, man qualified for
matrimony, worthy Of a wife, and able to sustain
a family in failing to make the contribution Of a
family to the State as an example to his fellow
citizens. has failed in most important duty 10