, 1868-08-07
THE LATE JAMES BUCHANAN.
BUCHANAN AS A LAWYER.

bUChANAN AS A LAWYER.
The President Judge Of Lancaster told, at
the bar meeting recently, this incident of
MIR. Buchanan's shrewdness in cross-exam-
ination:
A man brought q charge against another
of threatening his life. Buchanan was re-
tanned for the defense. He examined the
plaintiff thus:
well, Mr.. Blank, suppose you were a
man OF more nerve, a man not easily fright.
ened by threat-put yourself in the posi-
zion Of courageous man-would you have
cared for this threat of my client p
Il am a man, said the plaintiff, 'of as
much courage as anybody sir
fThen you were not frightened when my
client threatened you?
No, SIR
fYou are not afraid of him p
fNo am not
'Well, then, what did you bring this
charge forY
The justice dismissed the case.
Buchanan was not man of decision, ex>
cept in cases where he had fully examined
himself Thus, when he gave np the law at
the age of forty, he was never but once temp
ted back to it, and then on the earnest plea
of widow. He was frequently urged to
come forward again, but his mind was made
up.
There are instances of professional charity
on bis part, though very few of pecuniary
charity. He once cleared a man for homi-
eide and refused fee, saying to the man
Do you take this money and move away ;
use it to begin life again Stop drinking
and go to church, and that is the best way
you can pay me-
Tradition relates that the man came back
after period Of gears, repentant and we'll
todo, and thanked the old lawyer.
As lawyer, Buchanan was noticed chiefly
for the perspicuity of his statements. Like
Lincoln, he presented case so that both
sides of it were exposed His voice was of
of fair strength, very deliberately enuuciated,
and pitched in peculiar tone, attended with
blinking of one eye as he drew fine sights
of meaning. He bad no personal collision
with opposite counsel, being too cold of tenn
permanent TO sell his heart with his talents.
Nobody ever saw him cast down; he was
sometimes angry, but put small value upon
vindictiveness; whatever personal despite OF
humiliation he felt was husbanded up in his
secret bachelor heart, and no man shared its
pang. He laughed often, more vehemently
than heartily, and chiefly at his own relation
of things past or persons absent.
BUCHANAN's MODELS AND AvERsIoNs.
Mr.. Swarr, his executor, says that be has
often heard Mr. Buchanan express his admi-
ration of Mr.. Henry Clay. This was of
course, after Mr.. Clay's decease Said he:
OF all the men l ever knew, Mr.. Clay
stood highest in magnanimity, in conscious,
positive superiority He was a splendid
leader, largely endowed with the graces, with
eloquence, genius, heartiness and SOUL
His generic admirations were not cast about
among popular and representative favorites,
however. MIR. Brown, a leading lawyer
here, states that the old gentleman used to
mention, with high respect, Sias Wright as
his chief model. So did he admire Nathaniel
Macon, William Lowndes, of South Carolina,
Mr.. Chestnut, and Mr.. Pinckney. He had
regard for the good that was in President
Taylor's intentions. His favorite author
among statesmen was Thomas Jefferson, and
he used to describe, with a single mixture of
amusement and astonishment, the rough
grained sagacity of Andrew Jackson. From
the combined testimony of bis visitors it ap-
pears that Buchanan's expression of love for
his State favorites was an intellectual meas
urement, rather than reverence or CRATE,
ful reminiscence. He stated to Mr.. Smith,
editor of the famous old democratic sheet,
the Lancaster hpteltigencer that Andrew
johnson had once visited Wheatand, and
impressed him (Buchanan) with an idea Of
Johnson's earnest honesty of purpose. Du-
ring Johnsons disputes with Congress, Bu>
chanan remarked that the President seemed
unduly anxious about his relative rank with
his supporters The ex President said that
President ought to do without such ieal-
ousies. Buchanan believed that johnson
would be convicted. He said so repeatedly
during the trial, once alleging that an ag-
gressive party having committed itself to a
project, was bound to carry it out on the
principle of self preservation. 'There will
not be enough Independent Senators to clear
him, he said, among his last remarks upon
the news. When told that the eleventh
article had failed, Buchanan said: FThe
winds shift. Parties are where left them
when retired
Seward was looked upon by Buchanan as
the founder of the republican party Of him
he dictated these words He was much
more of a politician than statesman. With
out strong convictions, he understood the art
OF preparing in his closet, and uttering be,
fore the public, antithetical sentences, well
calculated both to inAame the ardor of his
anti slavery friends and TO exasperate his
Pro-slayery opponents. He raised storm
which, like Others of whom we read in history,
he wanted both the courage and the power
to quen.'
HAUNTs OF MR. BUCHANAN.
On the corner of the street, opposite the
Court-house, Mr.. Buchanan spent his work,
ing years as lawyer, living in the building
which is now drygoods store.
Two blocks from the Court. house is the
dwelling and Office of Thaddeus Stevens,
who came to Lancaster, like Mr.. Buchanan,
I fnrnWra L