Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-05-19
[From The New York Evening P'stl
A Letter From MIR. Buchanan
His Nomination at the Cincin-
natl Convention.

lFrOm The New YORK Evening r'stJ
A Letter From MIR. BuchanRn-
His Nomination at the Cincin..
natl Convention.
WHEATLAND, NEAR LANCAsTERl
May IL, 1865.
To the Editors Of The Even,ng Post:
In The New York Tribune of yesterday l
read, with no little surprise, an extract
stating in substance that the Cincinnati
Democratic Convention of June, 1856 (not
"May"), had come to "dead lock" on the
evening before Mr.. Buchanan's nomination,
and had adjourned until the next morning,
with fair prospect that IL would meet
only to adjourn sine de-" but that, in the
meantime, arrangements were made to Sc
cure his nomination as soon as the Conven-
ton should reassemble, in consequence of
pledges given by his friends. The nature
of these pledges, according to the article in
The Euening Post, was openly avowed by
Judge Black, on the floor of the Conven-
tion, Immediately after the nomination had
been made. According to it "a silence en-
sued for few moments, as If the Conven-
ton was anticipating something prepared,
when Judge Black, of Pennsylvania (after-
wards Attorney General under Buchanan),
rose in his place and made set speech, in
which he proceeded to denounce Adolf
tionism' and Black Republicanism' very
freely, and argue that the States possessed
under the Constitution the right of seces-
sion. He went further, and told the Con-
vention that if the nominee was elected,
and Black Republican should be elected
as his successor, he (Mr. Buchanan) would
| do nothing to interfere with the exercise of
| it. This pledge was ample, and was. ac-
cantpd nv the Southern leaders,
You will doubtless be astOnished to learn
| that Judge Black, afterwards Mr.. Buchan-
ans Attorney General, by whom this pledge
Is said to have been made, and through
whom the evident purpose now is to fasten
| 1t upon Mr.. Buchanan, was not delegate
| to the Cincinnati Convention. nor was he
within five hundred miles of Cincinnati
during its session. Instead of this, he was
| at the very time performing his high Of
fetal duties as ajudge of the Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania. ..-.
1t may be added. that from the date of
General Jackson's message of January,
1888, against South Carolina notification
and secession, until that of his own message
of December, 1860, and indeed ever since,
no public man has more steadfastly and uni
formly opposed these dangerous and sui
cidal heresies than Mr.. Buchanan. Had
any person, In or out of the convention,
dared to make pledge in his behalf on this
or any other subject, such an act would
have been condemned afew days thereafter
by the terms of his letter accepting the
nomination. In this, after expressing his
thanks for the honor conferred, he says that,
deeply sensible Of the vast and varied re-
sponsibilities attached to the station,
especially at the present crisis in our affairs,
| have carefully refrained from seeking the
nomination, either by word or deed y and
this statement is emphatically true.
A few words in regard to the alleged
deadlock" in the Cincinnati Convention,
at the time of the adjournment on the even
ing of the 9TH June, after fourteen bal"
lots had been taken for candidate. 1t ap-
pears from its proceedings, as officially pub
lished, that on each of these ballots Mr..
Buchanan received plurality, and on the
sixth attained n majority of all the votes of
the convention, but not the required two
thirds. On the fourteenth and last ballot
of that evening the vote stood 1921 for
BuchanBn. rs for General Pierce, 63 for
Judge Douglas, and 5L for General Cass.
This being the case, when the convention
| assembled on the next mornings the New
Hampshire delegation withdrew the name
of General Pierce, and the Illinois delega-
ton withdrew that of Judge Douglas, in
obedience to instructions received from him
by telegraph on the day before the ballot
ting had commenced. After this, the nom
ination of Mr.. Buchanan seemed to be a
matter of course. He had never heard of a
deadlock" in the convention until he read
the article in The EveniRg Post. rs
1t may be proper to state that Colonel
Samuel A. Black, OF Pittsburg, was dele
gate to the Cincinnati Convention; and be-
ing well known as a ready and eloquent
speaker, shouts were raised" in the con-
vention for speech from him Immediately
after the nomination was announced. 10
these he briefly responded in an able and
enthusiastic manner. From the identity of
these surnames, had this response, re-
ported with the proceedings of the
Convention, contained the infamous pledge
attributed to Judge Black, or anything
like it, we might in charity have
inferred that the author Of the article
had merely mistaken the one maine for the
other. But there is nothing in what Col
onel Black said which affords the least color
for any suchmistake. u.r~5ni U
Colonel Black afterwards sealed his hos
tility to secession with his blood. AT an
early stage of the war he fell, mOrtally
wounded, on the field of battle, whilst gal
lantly leading on his regiment against the
rebel forces.
/ doubt not you will cheerfully do me
justice by publishing this letter, and l
would thank yOu for copy OF the paper.
Yours, very respectfully,