Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1856-07-19
Mr.. Buchanan and his Antecedents.

When Mr.: BuCnANAN's name was first
announced in connection with the Presidency.
and up to the meeting Of the Cincinnati Con-
v~ention, the entire South, with the exception
OF one or two States, expressed its decided
and undisguised opposition to his nomination.
at the same time boldly asserted the claims
of Mr.. DOUGLAS as its first and Mr.. PIERCE
as its second choice, on the grounds OF the
their attested fidelity to her and her %institu-
tons. The preliminary voting. IN the Con-
~vention correspond ed with their expression OF
! public sentiment, as is evinced by the fact
that the Southern delegation almost unani-
mously gave their preference for DOUGLAS or
PIERCE. But Mr.. BucuASAN's Northern
friends were ~inflexible, and the Southern
Democracy regarding their obligations to
their own section Of the country, secondary
to the obligations of party, yielded to the
| plea Of availability, and accepted a man
whom they had looked upon with distrust,
if not openly repudiated, as unsound upon
! the question of slavery. Not only was Mr..
BrcnANAN's orthodoxy, in reference to this
all important question, arraigned by a large
and respectable portion o: the Southern Dem
~ocratic press, but there were not wanting
those, among the leading journalists of that
party, who did not hesitate to proclaim him
as the most ANTICIPATED specimen Of all old TO-
sydom-"ft only for the Presidency of Some
literary institution'-but wholly unqualified
for the great wants and responsibilities Of the
times. Yet when the telegraph announced
the nominees of the Convention, what did
we behold Why these very same journals
with a few signal exceptions, that neither
the promises Of reward nor the threats of
power could allure or intimmidate, wheeling
into line, and crying at the topoi their voices
"hurrah for old Buck" as though he were
their flst love and only hope of salvation.
Thus, he who was a few months ago char
ged with being IN "old f~ogy,""a twenty
years aspirant for Presidential honors;;" IN
opponent of slavery extension and God
knows what, all at once becomes, under the
transforming influences Of a Democratic Con-
v~ention, "a very proper man."-indeed the
very pink Of perfection"
But are these late professions of confidence
in Mr.. BucHASAS's fitness for the high sta
ton to which he aspires, %sincere' No one
believes a syllable Of it, who took the trouble
to observe the direction Of public sentiment
previous to his nomination. But admitting
them to be sincere, we would ask upon what
basis does this confidence rest, or rather from
what source is it derived? Is there anything
in Mr.. BucHANAN's antecedents to inspire
the confidence of the South in his sound ness
upon that question, which, of all others, she
is most interested in-the slavery question:
Let US examine his record and see what al
fnity exists between him and the so-called
Southern Democracy, not only il reference
to the important question Of slavery, but ether
leading articles in their political creed and
that We may do full ~justicet to Mr.. BUCHANAN,
we shall be under the necessity Of beginning
with the commencement Of his political Ca
reer, though by so doing WI shall probably
be charged with unfairness and iIliberality
by our opponents, who would bar by a statute
of limitation created especialy.for his BEN
eft, all inquiry into his early political history.
To the record We are about to produce, we
invite the careful attention of our readers.
It contains upon the single subject OF slavery
alone, enough to damn him forever in the es-
timation of all true Southerners-all who re-
gard the interests Of the South paramount to
mere party success. 1t has been asserted by
the friends Of MI. BUCHANAN that it is neces-
sary to 60 back thirty years in order to find
any plausible charges against him, and even
he, himself, in a letter to G. W. JONES, of
Tennessee, under date of April 23d, 1s47,
makes the same assertion in the following
extract:
''In one respect I have been fortunate as a public
man. Ny political enemies are obliged to 60 back for
more than thirty years to find plausible charges
against me.'
But we will show before We shall have
done with his political history, that this as
sertion has no foundation, whatever, in truth
-on the contrary, his btest utterances in
reference to slavery, prove clearly that his
earlier prejudices against this institution, have
only been strengthened by age and expe-
rience. Now to the record:
Mr.. BUCHANAN commenced his political
career as a member of the State Legislature
in 1914, just previous to the close of the war
with England. At that time, the fact of his
being an incorporating Federalist, we
believe, has never been disputed, at lesst not
until his nomination for the Presidency
Should any one doubt this fact, we would re.
fer them to an Grafton Of his, delivered on the
9TH day Of July, at Lancaster, shortly after