Wyoming democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., Pa.) 1867-1940, 1868-06-10
TUNKEANNOCK, WYOMING CO., PA. WEDNESDAY JUNE 10,

attempted, unsuccessfully, to enact the
Tenure-of Office bill of that day to pre-.
vent removals by the President unless bv
the consent of the Senate. Mr.. Buchan.
an came bravely to the defence of the
President, and declared that personal
hostility to General Jackson was the real
reason for the attempt to restrict his con
stitutional powers, claiming the President s
right TO appoint all officials during the re-
cess Of Congress. At this time, in 1885
the slavery agitation, heretofore confined
to small class of people, was beginning to
be matter which excited some public atten-
ton. Mr.. Buchanan foresaw the dangers
this agitation threatened. He desired that
Congress should officially declare that it
had no power to legislate on this subject.
He believed that the suppression Of this
agitation was as necessary for the happi-
ness of the slave as it was for the security
of the master. The aboIitionists were re
sponsble for rigors which the very qucs-
tion seemed to compel, and humane re
gard for the slaves as well as for their mas
ters demanded that the question should
rest where the Constitution left it, IN the
hands of the slavc-holding States. Daniel
Webster was brought to this precise view,
as is evidenced in his speech of March I,
1850 10 every important question that
came before Congress and the country Mr..
Buchanan was prominent. He was an en-
thusiastic sympathizer in the struggle of
Texas to achieve its independence from
Mexico, and subsequently he warmly urg
ed the admission of Texas to the Union
When the French indemnity question be
came important, and even threatening, he
supported General Jackson's demand for an
appropriation of 100000 to Increase
the navy and to strengthen the frontier de-
fences, in view OF possible war. On the
question Of the admission Of Michigan and
Arkansas to the Union there arose diff
Guilty as to the right of resident aliens to
vote, and Mr., Buchanan claimed that such
aliens, resident in the Northwestern terri
tory, had the right to the elective fran
chise. The long and bitter hostility of
the Senate to President Jackson was bro't
to a close with the end of Jacks0n's second
term by Mr.. Benton's celebrated expung-
Iu8 lcSulullbISg NUiCl NCIC duOpitu Dk a
decisive vote, and which Buchauan strong
Iy advocated. The Senate thus wiped
from is record,the history of its animosity
to a man whom Mr.. Buchanan had con
sistently sustained from the beginning of
his Presidency to its close. During Mr..
Van Buren's administration, Mr. Buchan-
an, still in the Senate, was the leader on
the Democratic side against such men as
Clay and Webster. AIc was the champion
on the side of an Independent treasury the
leading measure Of Van Buren's admins
tration. He defended the prc-emption
rights of settlers on the public lands. With
the election of General Harrison, in 1910,
Mr.. Buchanan found himself in minority
in Congress and in the country. The in
dependent treasury was repealed the
United States Bank would have been re-
chartered, only President Harrison died
before he could sign the bill, and John Ty-
Ter vetoed it. The subsequent vetoes of
Mr.. Tyler were so frequent that Mr.. Clay
introduced a resolution to abolish the veto
power, which was opposed by Mr.. Buchan-
an, who justly claimed that this power was
the real protection of the people. He OPP
posed the ratification of the Ashburton
treaty, not on account of the Northeastern
boundary line, as specified, but because he
did not think it settled other questions in
dispute between Great Britain and this
country. The leading feature of Mr. Ty-|
ler's administration was the preliminary
movement which finally led to the admis-
sion of Texas, step which Mr.. Buchanan
early advocated, and on which he urged
immediate action. In one of his speeches
he cited the fact, that if Mr.. Jefferson had
DELAYED single month in the acquisition
of Louisiana, that Territory would have
been lost, or would have cost the country
a war, With the subsequent administra-
ton of President Polk, Texas was admit
ted by joint resolution, though Mr.. Bu-
chanan was the only member of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations who re
ported favorably on the admission-and
this, by the way, was the last act of his
Senatorial life. From the Senate Mr. Bu
chauan proceeded to the Cabinet of Presi-
dent Polk as Secretary of State, and he
then had full opportunity to manage for
eign affairs according to the views he had
sustained in the Senate. To him more
than to any other man is due the avoid
ance of a war with Great Britain on the
Oregon boundary question. Both coun-
tries claimed the whole of the Northwest
ern territory. Mr.. Tyler had offered
compromise line OF latitude 40 degrees
north, and Mr.. Buchanan felt obliged to
make the same offer but 1t was rejected.
Mr.. Buchanan, in an elaborate and able
state paper, claimed for this Government
the entire territory, and withdrew his of
fer of compromise. The nation rung with
the alluriug ALTERATION, "Fifty four forty,
or fight ;" Mr.. Packenham was Withdrawn
as a negotiator; the British Government
offered to settle on the terms first proposed
by Mr.. Polk, and the Senate advised its
acceptance. Th, came the Mexican war,
which in its wonderful series of successes,
unbroken by single reverse, succession
of victories won with small loss of life over
always outnmbering forces, and crowned
with victorious and lasting peace, bro't
a renown to the American arms which no
subsequent period Of history can efface.--.