Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1861-06-22


dency he supported his great measure of
an Independent Treasury. During Mr..
Tyler administration he successfully adj
vocated the veto power of President under
the Constitution against Mr.. Clay's efforts
to abolish it. When Mr.. Polk was elected
to the highest Office in the country, he in.
vited Mr.. Buchanan to the most honorable
seat in his Cabinet, that of Secretary of
State. Occupying this high position, Mr..
Buchanan entered into negotiation with
Mr.. Pakenham, Her British Maicstys
Minister Plenpotentiary to the American
Government, for the settlement of the
claims of the two Governments to the
Northwestern Territory, each claiming the
entirety. Mr. Buchanan proposed u com.
promise line Of 40 deg north, previously
offered by Mr.. Tyler, and it was ultimate
ly adopted. In the prosecution of the
Mexican war Buchanan was the adviser of
the President, and at its conclusion aided
him with his counscls in adjusting the diff.
cult question of boundaries between the
two countries While in Mr.. Folks Cab
met he wrote his Harvest Home letter,
recommending the extension of the Miss
ouri Compromise line of SO deg. 30 min.
north to the Pacific ocean, with view to
quiet the agitation of the slavery question;
but the proposition was voted down when
offered to Congress. The compromise
measures Of 1850 received his approval
and advocacy. When Mr.. Pierce succeed
ed to the Presidency, he appointed Mr..
Buchanan Ambassador to the Court of St.
James, and entrusted him with the settle
ment of the complicated Central American
question. In 1856 he returned home, and
in the month of june of that year, was
unanimously nominated, by the Democratic
convention, for the Presidency of the Uni
ted States, and was subsequently elected.
The recent administration of Mr.. Bu-
chanan has been, and will continue to be
a subject of much comment. His position
amidst the quarrels of parties and the
struggles of sections, has been one of pecu.
liar difficulty. In some quarters his con-
duct Of affairs has provoked censure, in
others it has awakened admiration and
excited applause, and these divcrsities of
| opinion are attributable 10 the different
political stand points from which his acts
have been contemplated. Time and cool
reflection must intervene before men are
prepared to pronounce deliberate and
impartial Judgment upon the conduct of
functlonaries who have occupied public
stations OF great emincnce. In respect to
some measures that have illustrated his
administration, the whole country even
now, is prepared to render an unchanged.
BILE verdict. In the settlement of the Nor.
mon troubles, the Central American em.
broglio, the right of search question, and
other nice problems that have arisen during
the period in which he has held the rcins
of government, bearing particularly on
our commercial relations with foreign coun.
tries, and our troubles with them, he has
manifested degree of craftsmanship un.
surpassed by that of any of his predcccs
sors; and if, all his measures have not
been crowned with success, the reason of
their failure will be found to exist, not in
any want of energy, and sagacity on his
part, but in tho fact tina, some important
recommendations have failed to secure the
concurrence of collateral branch of thC
Government.
History will do justice to his name ant
his administration and to its faithful rec
ords, free from the biascs of inordinat,
friendship, the blights of partisan rance
and of sectional prejudice, he may trium
phantly appeal for the purity of his mo
tives and the energy and benefcence tha
have marked his entire career