Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-06-02
Death of Ex-President james Blu.
chanan.


month and eight days. His father, JAMES
BUCHANAN, had emigrased from the county
of Done gal, Ireland, to the United States,
in 1888; his mother was ELIZABETH SPEAR,
the daughter of reputable farmer of
Adams county, Pennsylvania.
In 1909, Mr.. BUCHANAN graduated, with
high honor, at Dickinson College, Carlisle.
In the December of that year he became
! the law student of JAMES HOPKINS, at Lam
caster City, then one of the leading law
yers of Pennsylvania, and on the 18th
of November, 1912, he was ad-
mitted to the bar. He at once
begun to take rank as a lawyer, and at the
years standing in the profession, alone,
without the assistance of senior counsel,
he successfully defended distinguished
Judge who was arraigned before the Penn
sylvania Senate on articles of Impeach-
ment. Thenceforward his reputation and
business increased, 80 that at the age of
forty he quit the profession on a competen-
cy, and only once after his retirement was
he prevailed upon to take charge of case,
which was an ejectment case in behalf of a
widow, whose case was surrounded with
technical difficulties. He succeeded in es-
tablishing the widows title.
At the early age of 90, Mr.. BUCHANAN
| became member of the Pennsylvania
4 Legislature. Although Federalist in
1872, at the breaking out of the war be-
4 tween this country and Great Britain, he
was an earnest advocate of the vigorous
prosecution of the war, and testified to the
sincerity of his advocacy by enrolling him.
self and marching as a private to the de-
tense of Baltimore in the company COM
manded by Judge HENRY SHIpPEN, of Lam
caster. In 1916, Mr.. BUCHANAN was re-
elected to the Legislature. In 1920, he
was elected to Congress, in which capacity
he served five terms, when he voluntarily
withdrew from that body. From his en-
trance into Congress until his withdrawal
from it, he occupied commanding posi-
tion. In 1928, Mr.. BUCHANAN took
an active part in behalf of the
election of ANDREW JACKSON, in
General $4,000 majority. Soon after
his voluntary retirement from Congress,
President JACKSON appointed him minis
ter Plenipotentiary at st. Petersburg, in
which capacity Mr.. BUCHANAN concluded
the first commercial treaty between the
United States and Russia, by which import
ant privileges were secured to our mer-
chants and navigators in the Baltic and
Black seas. He returned thence in 1888,
when he was elected to the United States
Senate, to which position he was subse-
quently reelected. AS in the House, so in
the Senate, he was recognized as one of the
leading Statesmen of the Democratic par
ty.
On the accession of JAMES K. Polk to
the Presidency, Mr.. BUCHANAN was chosen
Secretary of State. At the close of Mr..
PoLK's administration, Mr.. BUCHANAN re-
tired to private life; but four years later
he was called out of his retiracy by Pres
ident PIERCE appointing him Minister to
England, whence he returned in April,
1856, and in June of that year he was NOM
mated to the Presidency by the Democrat
ic National Convention, and elected in No
vember following. He retired from the
Presidency the 4th of March, 1861.
Excepting few briet intervals, Mr..
BUCHANAN almost continuously for thirty
eight years filled important public stations;
and he filled them well. In personal char
acter, he was without blemish, and in his
dispensations to the poor, he was liberal.
By religious faith and practice, he was an
Old School Presbyterian. The son of an
Irish Emigrant, he acquired reputation
anil competence as lawyer, and was great
ly honored as politician. He was twice
elected to the Legislature of his native
State and five times to represent his
Congressional District in Congress, and
twice to represent his State in the Senate of
the United States. He represented the
United States at two foreign Governments;
as Secretary of State, under President
Polk, he served four years, and by election
he filled the Presidential Office one term.
! The measure of his ambition was filled,
and at the advanced age of seventy-seven
years, silently and calmly and resignedly
he bade adieu to all things earthly.
Thinks Congress Ought 10 Ad-
1Ourn.
The New York Journal of Commerce,
which takes no interest in politics, has
grown so.wearied over the doings of Con-
gress-over its disregard of everything
that is useful for the country-that IL is eX-