The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-01-22
S I A n T 0 n q.
SECRETARY STATIONS POLTTI-
CAL.POSITION IN 1869.
OF THE CLOSE OF
ByCEEANAN'S ADMINISTRATORS
TIE HON. JEREMIAH BLACKS CARD
TO TIE PUBLIC.

To the Editor Of the Ne1o York Herald:
| Since the death Of Mr. Stanton some
newspaper writer's have revived the scan1a-
lous accounts which began to be propagatcd,
| think in 1862, concerning his conduct while
n member Of Mr.. Buchanan's Cabinet. 1t
| s asserted that he came into that Admins
tration with views entirely opposed to those
Of the President and the men who were to
hc his colleagues, al Of whom, except
McSsrs Holt and Dix, were in favor Of the
Southern Confcdcracy, and ready to sacri-
fee the Union; that supported by these
two he bullicd the rest that he terrified
tie President by threats Of resignation into
measures which otherwise would not have
been thought Of; that he urged immediate
war upon tie seeding States, to crush out
the rebellion that though defeated in this
by thc treason Of his associates, he carried
with high hand other po:nto Of sound po-
| licv; that by these hardy displays OF hos
tilty to Tic Administration which trusted
| limhc promoted the interests and Won the
gratitude Of its enemies.
This is Tie substance expressed in my
own plain English of many statements,
coming from various sources, extensively
circulated and so generally believed that if
not soou contra0ictcd they are likely 10 be
| received as authentic history. They arc
not only false, but they must be injurious
to Mr.. Stanton's reputation and they are
| grossly unjust to others, dead as well as
| living.
| am not the special defender Of Mr.
Stanton, and certainly would not assail
him. Before he fell away from the Demo-
cratic faith our friendship was intimate
and close. There was no separation after
wards except the separation which is ineyi-
table between two persons who differ widely
on public subjects believed by both to be
vitality important. Our correspondence of
last summer and autumn (bcgan by himself)
shows that | was allie to forgive him my
particular share of the injury he had done
to the liberties Of the country, and he had
my sincere good wishes for his future health
and welfare. His political attitude towards
the Buchanan Administration previous to
his appointment as Attorney General is
wholly misunderstood or else wilfully mis-
represented. He was fully with us at every
stage of the Kansas question, and no man
| felt more loathing contempt than he did
for the knayery Of the aboitonists in re-
fusing to vote upon the Lecompton Consti-
tuition, when nothing but 4 vote was needed
to exrcl slavery from the new State, and
thus terminate the dispute by deciding it in
| the way which they themselves pretended
to wish. He wholly denied Mr.. Douglas S
notions, and blamed him severely for the
unreasonable and mischievous schsm which
he had created in the party. The KnowNo-
tllingism OF Bell and Everett found no favor
| -, his I,rAln pf 1884 hn rn-
garded the salvation OF the country as hang
ing upon the forloln hope Of Breckinridge's
election. We knew the Abolitionists to be
the arOwed enemies Of the Constitution and
the Union, and we thought the Republicans
would necessarily be corrupted by their
| alliance with them. As we saw the march
of these combined forces upon the capital
We felt that the constitutional liberties of
the country were in as much peril as Rome
| was when the Gauls were pouring over the
broken dcfenccs CT the city. Whether we
were right or wrong is not the question
now. Ii is enough to say that Mr.. Stanton
shared these apprehensions fully. lie
more than shared them; to some extent he
inspired them, for he knew Mr.. Lincoln
lpersonally, and the account he gave Of
l:him was anything but favorable.
/ The 9th Of November came and Mr.. Lin
coin was legally chosen President by the
electoral machinery Of the Constitution,
though the majority of the popular vote
was against him by more than u million.
The question was now to be tested by actual
experiment whether a party which existed
| only in one section, and which was orga-
nized on the sole principle Of hostility to
the rights, Interests, and feelings, of the
other, could or would administer the Fede-
raj Government in righteous spirit of
| Justice, or whctherthe predictions of all our
great statesmen for thirty years must be
| verified that the Abolitionists, when they
cot into power, would disregard their sworn
duty to the Constitution, break down the
| judicial authorities, and claim obedience to
their own mere will as higher law"
than the law of the land. The danger was
greatly aggravated by the criminal mlscon-
duct of large bodies in the South, and par
ticularly in South Carolina, where prepa-
rations were openly made for resistance.
What was the Federal Executive to do
under these circumstances Make war
lie had neither authority nor means to
do that, and Congress would not give him
the one Or the other. Should he compIo-
mise the dispute He could offer no terms
and make no pledges which would not be
ysppaiated by the new Administration,