The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-04
Death of E1-Prcsfdcnt Buchanan.

Death of E1-Prcsfdcnt Buchanan.
1t was announced by telegraph,
yesterday, that ex-President James
Buchanan died yesterday morning, ut
his residence, near Lancaster, Penn
sylvania. He was in his seventy
seventh yenr, having been born in
April %, 1871. He had been for
some time in declining health, but
had improved SO much that his life
was not considered in immediate
danger.
Mr.. Buchanan was the son of Irish
parents, and was born in Franklin
County, Pennsylvania-the wilder
ness. He rapidly passed through the
limited course of education of his
times, and graduated at Dickinson
College, Carlisle. He studied law
under James Hopkins, of Lancaster,
and went to the bar at the age of
twenty one, in 1872. He soon took
front rank among lawyers, was elected
to the State Senate, and ut the age
Of thirty, WAS elected delegate to
Congress. He served as private in
the war of 1912, and afterwards again
went to the Legislature. In 1920,
he was returned to Congress, when
his distinguished career as q national
statesman began.
Mr.. Buchanan was O member of
the House of Representatives until
March, 1881, when he retired, de-
clining O reelection. Gen. Jackson
appointed him to the Russian mission
in May following, which post he
filed until 1884; and upon his retnrn
home, was elected by the Legislature
of Pennsylvania to the United States
Senate, in which body he remained
until March 1845, when he was ap-
pointed Secretary of State, by Presi-
dent Polk, which position he filed
until the close of Mr.. Polk's admins
tration. President Pierce, in 1853,
appointed Mr.. buchanan Minister
to England, which position he re-
signed in 1856. He arrived at home
in April, and was in the following
spring nominated for the Presidency.
He was elected in the fall over Mr..
Fillmore, the nominee of the Wings
and Know-Nothings. His admins
tration covered stormy period in
the history of the nation, aud closed
almost amidst the thunders of the
revolution through which we have
just passed. Who can imagine the
deep grief Of this venerable man,
while occupying the Presidential
chair, at beholding the destruction
Of that Constitution and Union which
he and his compeers had idolized?
To hardly another man in the Union
could there como the exact same
mental agitation and agony; and his
parting moments must have been
deeply embittered by thinking of his
unhappy country. From the close
of his administration he has remained
quietly at his private residence,
Wheatlhnd, hear Lancaster, Pa.,
where he breathed his last
Mr.. Buchanan, although not
brilliant man, was amongst the first
at time when there were giants.
His chief foible was, perhaps, want
OF boldness and decision. 1t was
manifest. possibly most clearly in his
relation to the Jackson and Clay
lmbroglio Of 1924. with which he was
connected, and in what he had to
say there was too much of the
diplomat to please Gen. Jackson or
satisfy Mr.. Clay. His chief fault
sorely embarrassed him in the stormy
period OF his administration. He
did not come up fairly to the South
ern view OF his State rights doctrines;
while his sense Of justice, and horror
OF the ferocity of the radicals, re.
strained him from conforming to
their views of his duty or sympathiz-
ing with their feelings. He was,
therefore, unfortunately situated.
While the Southerners did not feel
any great obligation to him, he was
the object of radical vituperation
nnequalled for its malignity at any
preceding period in the history Of
the nation.