The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-08-18
BLACK AND BUCHANAN.


| Portable ana suDstaDtlal brlCK mouse CrOWnlQB q
hill which overOOks q lovely landscape Of hills
| aud valleys, upon which are farms whose neat.
ness aUd perfection are pr0ver0!al This is
Brooke" the house OF jeremiah g. Black, eX'
Attorney General Of the United states, Secretary
| of State under chanan, and one of the best
takers in ChristendOm. Here the old Democratic
war horse lives. leading the life beloved by his
fsVoGite Cicero and Pliny. Here he was found by
a correspondent Of the Philadelphia Press, and
that paper will print TO morrow the following In
terview relative to the fairs OF the Buchanan
administration:
JEFF DAVIS AND THE SOUTHERN PORTS.
Commencing on parts OF Mr., Davs's statement
| Judge Black said tnat he had always regarded
| Mr.. Davis as a sirg1lary truthful ard just man.
II have Uiten in my own mind applied 10 MIN
| what DR., johnson said Of Thur,Ow' In oDtrO'
VeIsial talk he lays his mind fairly up against
| yOuTs-nO evasion, no tRlsehOOd' speak what
know or Il ought Of him twenty four years ago
! for | have not seen him since his retiring from
the Senate in 1861, | do not believe that he
would now make Williul misstatement for any
earthly consideration. But wien he told you
that Mr.. Buchanan was timid because he did not
give up the forts In Charleston HarbOr he said
what was not only inaccurate but absurd. The
AbOitlr nists abuse Buchan n because he did not
reinforce Sumter. They OF course do BIN In.
Justice. But Mr. Davis now charges him with
timidity because he did not eVacuste the forts
and let secession have everything Its own way.
That Is ridiculous. Mr. Davis also makes a sim
ner of his judgement when he expresses the
opinion that II Sumter had been given up no
other State than South Carolina would have gone
out. III truth and in fact, Mr.. Davis and all the
other secessonists desired that evacuation for the
sole purpose Of making their predetermined Ce.
parture easy and safe. Such conspicuous act OF
concession would have been an acknowledge.
meDt of their right to secede, and they would
have tumbled out as fast as they could formulate
their ordinances. II Mr.. Davis will tax his mem.
ory little he will be able to recOect easily
enough that his object In trying to IL duence Mr..
Buchanan in this direction was to remove an UDa
stace from the path on which he and his cor ltu.
ents had made up their minds to travel -oHth
Carolina tried to bully the President ers, In.
cludlLg Mr.. Davis, tried to coax b admit
that he committed an error when h Iailed to re.
infoIce those forts But that isar other part Of q
story which Mr.. Davis does not 4llude to, and of
course he knows nothing Of the causes which led
bit.
iniOIced Immediately after LinCCln's election, or
certainly as soon as 1t became manifest that
South Carolina wanted the posse ssiOn Of them.
Mr.. Buchanan understood as well as anybody
that the forts there must be kept and was thor.
oughly determined not to give them up. Imme.
6iately after the election he directed FLOYD, the
Secretary Of war, to see that the forts were fully
manned and provsioned. IT. said he, address.
ing the Secretary, these forts should be taken by
South Carolina in consequence OF our neglect TO
put them in defen6be condition 1t were better
| for you and me both to be thrown into the PotO-
/
| Floyd replied very sO,emIly-that is, more sol.
| emnly than be usually spOke-that his own con-
victions accorded with those Of the President
and said that duty should be Immediately and
completely performed. He did not believe that
the slightest difficulty could or would be en-.
counteTed in doing It, Not word was said on
| the subject pro or con by any other member.
| Things rested thus until some time after, when
General Cas- told me that the order for the rein'
! fOrCement had not been executed and the South
Carolina authorities were proceeding upon some
kind OF assurance that 1t would not be. He was
kure Of this he said. He declined to give me the
source of his information, ut knew II was Mr.
| TresCOtt, the Assistant Secretary OfState Coming
from him 1t seemed to be authentic, and we both
agreed that the President ought to be informed
| General Csss declined tn do 1t or go along with
me for that purpose, but insisted that alone
should go. l went, and, assuming that the Presi-
dent would be as indignant as I was at the de.
fault OF tine War Department, proposed that II
he would sign short peremptory order which
then and there drew up, aud let me carry II TO
| the Department, would not leave the building
until was executed. He did not acCede to this.
he was much annoyed at what he called my In.
reference with the business OF another Depart.
ment. sOOn found that he himself doubted the
wisdom Of attemp ing TO send T, iniOI cement9,
and that he was bssing his action or insction
upon grounds which he did not explain to me. l
was very much dissatisfied, and 70 lOld General
| Cass, who was even more troubled tnRn l. After
several weeks Of mental suspense and much
urging by his friends and family be General
| Cass) cOnClu ed TO resign.
"The object Of the policy which the President
thought proper to pursue and that which urged
| upon him as q better one were the same; namely,
| to preserve the peace and hand over the Govern
ment In as good order as possible TO the succeed
ing administration and give Lincoln chance to
do that which seemed good In his own eyeg.
| BuChanhn's conviction was that Lii coin would
| try his best TO avoid q fatal rupture, and he
would be able TO satisfy the Southern meu OF that
Il only they would be quiet until The lth o.
March. But IL previous TO that time & war should
| open the Union must utterly peEiBhi for II was
very plain that the Congress then In session would
| not vote man or dollar to aid him in saving
it. II Fort Sumter should be taken the conflict
would Immediately begin with the certainly OF
hideous ruin to the cause Of the UniC u, The i'm
peTious necessity OF holding the forts Ia Charles
| ton HaIb0r wBB point Acknowledged oy the
| whole Of the Administration except those SOUTH
| eIn members who thought they ought to be
peaceably handed over to the SecessiOnists. But
| we divided on the practical question Of the best
| mode to keep them. The President was con-
vlnCe0 that II no movement were made looking
tC the increase Of ouI force at that point the rev
| OlutionRry States would await the advent OF the
new Administration. did not believe in this at
all. Neither did General Csss nor Holt so far as
| / could understand, mol Stanton after he came
in. Supported by them, continually urged MI
Bucf anan to put Fort Sumter, which command
ed the harbor, into state OF nelfe(t defense.
Then there would certainly be no attack whereas
II he left It undeiended that would be sort Of
invitation to take II, and It would certainly DC
taken. l often begged him moi 10 listen 70 any
assurances offered by the Southern men, and ai
ali events to make no assurances TO them. Some
gel t'eme ofthe South have o. sertt that he made
q compact agreement with them that II they
would abstain from aggTetsions he would MAKE
no preparation for defenRe and so leave al
things 10 statu quo until Lincoln should ccme IN
II he had done this his conduct would have been
indefensible, But know Of no satisfactory eVi
dence TO Justify the accusation. tits, however
probable that be listened 10 solicitation and haC
consultations with outside friends which he die
not communicate to his constitutional advisers
and perhaps formed the plans Of proceeding
which he knew that they would not approve
The failure to reinforce Sumter, which though
and still think was the cardinal error OF the Ao
ministTaiioD, was caused mainly by the misrep
TekentatiODs Of General Scott concerning I'M
military situation. He continually declared ina
1t could not be done with any force at bis com
mand, for certain reasons which hrmly oeney
to be true, and which / tIied my best, but tried II
vain, to get from him In writing, so as to holt
him responsible TO the country, But he eVade'
me all through, Exception his perniciouB coun
sells am satisfied thar no war would have beel
inAuguIaied at Fort Sumter. i might have comC
but not there OK BY that cause.
"You see you have drawn me along until
have Eaid much more than intended. TheS
are not subjects on which like to talk in th
loose folm OF newspaper interview. tuppos
character Of the living 10 ray my whole tay
some time or another. But Il 10 such an AWkWAf
bCbiretB 10 eIeek Of myself that an likely
Iotpore Il Indefinitely or 70 jerk 1t out In pitc
Oh the slightest pIovOcahon."
TIE MEMoRA BILE LKITRR TO eREERAL SCOTT.
rs your letter to General Scott In existencer'
"Yts, sir. / kept no copy OF the letter a. n
time, and Aiter General Scott died 1t could not
found smoDg bis private Iapers. lsupposed
bad teen lost, but while / was IN Europe la
year o iIiend continued the search had man
years teen making for Il and finally secured IT,
AT ny solicitation Judge Black showed me u
letter and permitted me TO copy It, Here tie!
"DIPAB1MENT CT STATE, January l6, 1851
"DFAR GENERAL The hsbitUal iIHnknets