The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-05-24
PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Friday Morning, May "a. 1857
Tim, Old Public Fume,ionary.

Tint Old Public FumetionaTy.
"The slavery question, Ike every thing hu-
man, win have its day. firmly believe that 1T
has already reached and passed the culminat-
ing point!" Thus thought, wrote and publish
cd TO the American people ard to the world
that odd Public Functionary" James Buchan-
AN. These remarkable thoughts were concev-
ed In the year of grace 1860 and published in
his December message of that memorable year.
No wonder that such prophet has no honor
in his own country. already reached and
passed its eliminating pointr' When he pen
ned these lines it seems to us he mnst have
been under dark cloud and almost without
God and without hope in the world. As well
might he have said that the doctrines thai
Christ taught eighteen centuries ago had al
ready reached and passed their eliminating
point! What dry, withered soul he must
have possessed What cold stony heart must
have beat in his old bosom in the year 1861
and if a warmer, more human one, does not
pulsate now within his aged breast, may God
have mercy ON his miserable soul.
How strangely such sentiments now fall on
the public ear and how coldly they strike the
public heart! If these words should be incor-
porated into history and handed down to COM
ing generations, what sorry figure their au-
thor will make on its pages! He was then the
head of great nation whose flag fioated over
every sea and whose power was acknowledged
by all the governments of earth. There was
but one dark spot upon our national emblem
and that was the enslavement of four millions
of human beings who were created for Liberty
here and Immortality hereafter. The people Of
this country had resolved in their hearts that
our land should not much longer bear the foot
prints of the Save. 1t was the divinity that
stirred within them-an impulse from the open
ing heavens that moved their heartsl And yet
this old Public Functionary declared to the
world and before high heaven that this damn
ed spot" on our eseutcheon would never grow
less, but spread until every star was eclipsed
and a black pail drawn ever every stripe. Poor
old man. whose trembling limbs had borne him
to such conclusion
How entirely blind to the impulses of our
better nature was this dried up old man. The
spirit of Liberty which was then and is now.
waking up the people of all nationaities, had
no abiding place i'll his cold heart. He firmly
believed that the South, with the help of the
Democracy of the North, could press down this
spirit and keep it from rising. He might just
as well have attempted to put out earths GEN.
| trail fires, and strange that he didn't see it,
| But JEFF. Davis and his coadjutors drew a veil
| over his eyes and led him blindiod to his ev-
| erlasting shame and disgrace. Better for him
| if he had never reached the Presidential chair.
az ha1 haa \
| flied, he would have died more honcred and re-
| spected than he can now, however anxiously
| he may sit ON the stool of repentance during
the brief period of life still allotted him. True
| it has been said that while the lamp holds out
to burn, the viest sinner may return" But we
heard minister once in Washington preach
| from those words as his text, and he absolute
| ly denied their truth, and with as much en-
phasis too, as Sterne did the words, at is bet
| ter to go TO the house OF mourning than to the
| house of feasting."
| But we have no dispoaition to limit the pow
| er of Divine Grace, and yet we feel quite sure
| that if the old Public Functionary is saved at
| all it will be $50 as by fire" No doubt he wish
ed the Democratic party well, but his coward
| ly acts have plunged it into the gulf of deep
| Black lines have been drawn about it and it is
forever "expunged." Tie war has educated
our people up TO high standard, and the re-
| cord that party has made during the last seven
| years can never be blotted out from the mem
| ory of American patriots. There it stands on
| the page of history, and until the world again
| sinks into the dark ages and darkness covers
| the earth and gross darkness the people, never
| will that record be forgotten. 1t will stand
as a warning to all politicians who love party
aud 4---14i----~.- Iiurc uuaH tney
| love their country.
| We have thus briefly alluded to James Bu-
| chanan because he Once occupied high posi-
| ton in our country, and not only that but also
had an opportunity of doing a vast amount OF
good. In December 1860 there was tide in
his affairs which he did not take at its flood.
Had he written bold message then, one full
of the spirit OF liberty such as the times de-
| manded, instead of cringing to the slave power
| OF the south, what a glorious fame he would
have acquired and how much blood and trea
| son he would have saved to his countryl
But slavery was terrible disease fastened
upon the body polite, and required powerful
| remedy for its removal, and James Buchanan
was made an unwilling instrument of its de-
| struction. All great reforms must be bapti zed
| in blood. Had there been less cringing to- the
slave power in his message of 1860, the cursed
institution might have continued few years
longer, and some compromises with this enor-
nous evil might have been made, but the time
of it's death had come, and Copperhead mourn
ers went about our streets.