Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-09-01
Mr.. Buchauan's Fidelity to slavery.

If there is anything political settled beyond all
possible chance for doubt or misconstruction, tits
the position of James Buchanan on the slavery
question, judged by his antecedents Of quartet
of century's standing, in the various positions
he has held under the government For a exam
pie, let us go back twenty years. and see how
he stood on the matter of rlfing the public mails
to exclude therefrom all publications deemed by
the ultra slavery propagandists to be of an incen
diary nature On the bill for that object, intro
duced into the United States by Mr.. Calhoun, the
name of James Buchanan stands recorded in the
affirmative, while in the negative were the names
of such leading southern statesmen as Henry
Clay Thomas H. Benton, B Watkins Leigh of
Pa, Goldsborough and Kent of Md, and Critten-
den of KY. Mr.. Buchanan was almost the only
senator from the free States who voted on that
bill, with the extreme pro-slavery southern mem
bers. But their schemes were ultimately thwart-
ed, for its passage to a third reading, it lead
only nineteen votes, (including Mr. Buchanan
and two others from the North,) to twenty five in
the negative, Gncluding eight southern senators).
Ii any capital can be made out of Such a vote,
by James Buchanan, his supporters are welcome
to all the aid it can procure him in his present
position, as the embodiment of the Cincinnati
platform. HIS southern supporters make great
capital out Of such antecedents as this for their
candidate
1t is perfectly consistent that party which
sR HSStHtp RSSfaf lis fftseRtisf candidate an
advocate Of a United States statute booming to be
burned or destroyed any speech or writing passing
through the mails which questioned the morality
or lawfulness of slavery, without consulting the
person to whom it was addressed The bogus
Kanzas laws, copied from the slave laws of Mis-
souri,, punish with heavy fine and imprisonment
for not less than two years, any person who shall
be instrumental in the circulation of any docu-
ment or writing questioning the right to hold
slaves in the territory. So the consistency be-.
tween Mr.. Buchanan's vote 10 rife the mails OF
all anti slavery matter in 1886, and his candidacy
of party in 1856 which backs up and supports
the Border Rufian edic,s of Kanzas is COM
pletely established. But the Kanzas edicts SUI
peradd fine and penalty to the destruction of
all such "incendiaryl" matter, printed or writ
ten, whether circulated in the mail or not, and
Furthermore prohibit By the same penalty, even
a whisper of question of the validity and sa.
credness of the relation of master and slave in the
territory.
Mr.. Buchauan's fidelity to slavery was most
remarkably illustrated in his efforts while minis.
ter to England for the annexation Of Cuba to save
the institution of American Slavery from the
" assassin blow" aimed at it by the advancing
civilization of the age. His agency in the famous
"ostend circular is what particularly, at this
time, pleases old Bucks supporters at the South,
and gives them assurance doubly sure' of his
unswerving adherence to Southern interests in
whatever position he may be placed. The Rich
mond Va. Enquirer, his leading organ at the
South, speaks as follows on this point
" If there be any one passage in Mr.. Blu.
chanans history which the Southern people
may contemplate with more satisfaction than
another, it is thar which records his endeavors
to annex Cuba to the United Statas and vet
II is this very passage which his opponents
choose to parade before the public, and to make
tie text OF constant and clamorous denun-
citation.
Mr.. buchanan has been constant and zeal.
Gus advocate Of The acquisition of Ctba: lint
from no lust OF territorial agrandizement. and
with no purpose Of rapiue and violence. His
motives sprung from the highest impulses Of
patriotism his aims were all worthy Of the
ShifSuah spAeSstnhn. lie saw that the Island
upon which nature had lavished its most in
vitlng beauty was the victim Of pisrple and
plumber. He saw a gallant and cultivated
people wrthing under the yoke of feudal tyr
amy; and he was not of so hard and selfish
a nature that he did not pray that Cuba might
escape from the vulture grasp of Spain, and
that its people might be redeemed from igno.
rance and oppression. Was there anything
criminal in that aspiration Anticipating the
possible developments of the future, and anx-
ious to make provision against a distant dam
ger; he proposed the purchase Of Cuba, as the
surest precaution against the insiduous
schemes of hostile power, and as the best &C.
pedient for maintaining the independence and
equality Of the South in The c0efederacy. The
Southern patriot can lind nothing to condemn
but everything to applaud, in these motives
and in this policy.
We indulge in no conjectural appreciation
OF Mr.. Buchanan's sentiments aud position
an respect to the acquisition of Cuba. His
famous dspetch to Mr.. r. M. Saunders, the
American Minister to Madrid, not only shows
that he made the honorable purchase Of Cuba
leading object of the Polk Administration,
but also propes that he adopted the golicy out
efregayd 70 Mspeeulfar interests oftAe South"
The Enquirer has the following, to the point
IN special reference to the rumor OF movement
being on foot for the emancipation Of the slaves
on the island, and the efforts Of Mr.. Buchanan
10 avert so dire calamity as such a result would
De 10 the interests Of The slavebolding oligarcbs