The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1861-04-16
AN OPEN LETTER TO JAMES BU-
CHANAN.

-Four years ago this day you entered the
Presidential chair, the Chief Magistrate o
; the happiest and freest people on the earth
: The contest from which you emerged con.
queror, although distinguished by unexampled
animation and acrimony, was followed by ex
pfessions, on the part of friend and foe, Of
complete confidence in your personal integri'
ty. Those who had opposed your election
were proiu'c in announcing their disposition
] to give your administration the fairost trial.
Q The principles which prevailed in your tri
4 umph, had been anticipated in your speeches
: before your nomination, endorsed in your let.
a ter accepting it, affirmed in your inaugural
. address, and re-affirmed in your letter to
r Governor Walker, under date of July 10,
{ 1927, and were so plain, so self-evident, and
{ so conyincingly right. that the American peo,
pie were ready to hail in you the august sue
; cessor and representative of those great men
who laid the foundation Of tho government.
In the choice of your Cabinet you were sup.
posed to be singularly successful. From the
aged statesman rs the head of your constitu-
} tional advisers down to your Attorney Gener-
, al, there was no name that had not at one or
at another time been associated with high and
honorable positions. These gentlemen, Sc
lected from both sections of the Confederacy,
each type Of his own people, were known
cordially TO sanction and heartily to co oper-
alto with you in the policy to which you had
been committed in the previous campaign.
Every department of the Federal government
was in your hands. Both branches of Con-
gress were controlled by majority of your
. supporters The Supreme Court of tho Uni
tpI us RI 1naih IN
you. Our commerce with all tho world was
in the most ilourishing condition; internal
trade in its manifold ramifications was pros
porous beyond all example; sectional strife
had terminated in Il national victory, thus
giving now guarantees for the preservation of
" MO. Which -. III. .i...~ everncu neid 10.
her by bonds alike sacred aud ndis.olu.
/ ble.
This inspiring prospect should have eleva.
ted you above all unworthy passions and un-
holy ambition. When you mounted the
Presidential chair you were not according TO
your own account, quite sixtyiive years OF
age. Too old to undertake the destruction of
your country, you were young enough to
make it more potent at home and more hon.
ored abroad Your enemies, for more than
forty years, had imputed to you many ques.
tionable qualities of head and heard; but
yout friends relied upon your administrat on
to repel this imputation. The first accused
you Of scltiShness, ingrattude, and aris tocracy;
the second claimed for you the highest attr-
butes of private character. The fret had fire.
quently predicted that if ever clothed with
tho almost imperial power of the Presidency,
you would devote yourself TO the overthrow
o. the party to which, near your for,ieth
year you attached your political fortunes,
the second contended that, by your modera-
tion and consistency, you would not only i'm.
mortalize yourself but so consolidate tho de-
mocracy rs at the close of your administra-
ton TO .eave it without respectable adverse
~. How you fulfilled the prophecies of the
one, and how you disappointed tho hopes of
the Others, the impartial historian will record
on his imperishabe tablets.
1t would be superhuous to recaptulate the
thrice told tale of the downfall of yourself,
your party and your country. Even those
who envied your friends while those friends
were rejoicing over your election, were shock
ed at the manner in which you prosecuted
and hound the men who, during many
years of minority, had carried yoar cause up
on their shoulders, until finally they placed
you in tie Presidential chair. No such spec
tacle has ever been presented in any country.
You struck the most fatal blows at those who
had rendered You the most devoted service.
There was rancor and cruelty in your
treatment Of these mon that no imagination
could have anticipated and no lorcian de-
Tended. Even those who attempted TO main
tain their usual kind relations to your person
were repelled with kaughty and freezing in.
difference, or subjected to your will by being
made the slaves Of your caprices and TIE ech-
oes Of your treacheries In proportion as you
conducted this unprovoked warDara upon
these citizens, You took into your confidence
men who had never treated you save as an
object Of hatred and Of scorn.
Poste.ity takes little note Of the treatment
extended by public man to life long sup.
porers. 1t is not too tolerant, however, /.
when such turpitudc is accompanied and sue.
ceeded by persistent attempts to distract and
demoraIizo happy and united people. Had I
you but served the Republic; had you main
tained your plightel faith to your principles
had you displayed q wise, comprehensive, ,and .
practical craftsmanship; had you insisted up
on economy and integrity in your administra
uon-the judgment of the people would have .
rewarded you, and your recreancv to your
friends would have been forgotten in the stern
impartiality and justice of your policy. The
ruler of a civilized am Christian people may,
in moment of rash impulse inhict incalcula.
bIe injury upon his country. But you have
no impulses. That which at first seemed to
be the madness Of tho moment soon assumed
the shape Of settled maignity. When you
consented to trampe upon holy and an an
dying truth, it is now evident that YOU had
made up your mind TO persevere to the end.
Nc entreaties could move you to change your
course. Even those whom you had wounded
without provocation repeatedly and humbly
exhorted you to pause in your career. In
vain, you seemed to have become the in
carnation Of absolution. The bloody fields Of .
Kansas, the pcrishing industry Ct Penusylva.
mia, the arguments Of the good, the thunder
tones Of the ballot box, produced no moro i'm
preston upon you than upon the walls of the
building in which you sat cold and heartless
as those walls themselves.
Not content with doing wrong yourself
you insisted that all others over whose inter.
ests you exercised the slightest control sho'd .
Il \