The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-03-15

derance of population and wealth 1t was
hardly less than audacious that the four de-
partments assigned to the South should bA
those which dealt most intimately and most
extensively with the finances, the manufsc-
tnres, and the commerce of the country The
quiet manner in which the Nor'h accepted
this inequitable distribution of political power
added only another proof Of the complete as
cendancy whcih The South had acquired in the
councils OF the Democratic party.
MIR. Buchanan had always looked 10 the
s. esmen OF the South as a superior class; and
after o. litcal life wholly spent In close asso-
citation aud constant service with them, it
could not be expec' ed that even in crisis
threatening destruction to the Union, he would
break away from Them in day. They had
{ ast hold of bim, and against the influences Of
the hetter men in his Cabinet, they used him
Ter time 10 carrv o0t their own ends Seces-
sonists and abolitionists Mr. Buchanan no
doubt regarded as equally the enemies of the
Union. But the Secessionists all came from
the party that elected him President, and the
AholitioniStsshad all voted against him. The
Alb, Int ionists, in which phrase Mr.. Buchanan
included all men OF ant-slavery conviction,
had 10 opportunity. even il they had desired,
to confer with the President, while the Seces-
sonists, from Old and friendly association,
were in daily and intimate relations with him.
They undoubtedly persuaded the President by
the most plausible arguments that they we're
not in fault; that the whole responsibility Law
at the door OF Northern anti-savery men; and
that, il these disturbers of the peace could be
suppressed, all would be well. 1t was under
these influences, artfully insnusted and per-
sstently piled, that Mr.. Buchanan was induc-
ed to write his mischievous and deplorable
mess age of the first Monday of December,
1864 message whose evil effect can never
be estimated, aud whose evil character can
hardly De exaggerated.
THE CHARACTER OF JUDGE BLACK.
Judge Black, who had from the beginning
OF the administration been Mr.. Buchanan's
chief adviser, now became so by rank, as the
successor of General Cass in the State Depart
ment He was man Of remarkable character.
He was endowed by nature with strong un-
derstanding and a strong will. In the profess
ion of the law he had attained great eminence
His learning had been illustrated by a pro-
longed service ON the bench before the age at
which men, even of exceptional success at the
bar, usually attract public observation. He
had added to his professional studies, which
were laborious nd conscientious, wide ac-
quaintaDce with our literature, and had found
in Its walks delight which is yielded to few.
In history, biography, criticism, romance, he
had absorbed keverythng in our language
worthy of attention. Shakespeare, Milton, in.
deed all the English poets were his familiar
companions. There was lot q disputed pas
sage or an obscure reading in any one of the
great plays upon which he could not off-hand
quote the best renderngs, and throw original
light from his own illumined mind. Upon
theology he bad apparently bestowed years of
investigation and reflection. sincere Chris
tian, he had been a devout and constant stu
dent of the Bible, and could quote its passages
and apply its teachings with sing ular readi-
ness and fidelity. To this generous store of
knowledge he added f1uency of Speech both in
public address and private conversation, and a
style of writing which was at once unique.
powerful, and attractive. He had attained
unto every excellence of mental discipline de-
scribed by Lord Bacon. Reading had made
him full man, talking ready man, writing
an exact man. The judicial literature of the
English tongue may be sought in vain for
finer models than are found in the opinions of
Judge Black when he sat, and was worthy to
sit, as the associate of John Bannister Gibson,
on the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania. In
political opinion he was a Democrat, self-in-
spired and self-taught, for his father was a
Wbig who had served his State in Congress.
He idoliZed jefferson and revered jackson as
embodying in their respective characters all
the elements OF the soHndest political philoso-
ply, and all the requisites of the highest po-
litical leadership. He believed in the priDci-
pies of Democracy as he did in a demonstra-
tion of Euclid,--all that might be said on the
other side was necessarily absurd, He applied
to his own political creed the literal teachings
OF the Bible. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
had held slaves without condemnation or re-
bnke from tie Lord of hosts, be believed that
Virginia, Carolina and Georgia might
do the same. He found in the case
Of Onesimus, st. Paul's explicit approval
OF the Fugitive-slave law OF 1850, and in the
cruel case of Passmore Williamson he believ-
I'd himself to be enforcing the doctrines of the
New Testament. Personally unwilling to hold
even beast of burden in oppressive bondage,
nothing could induce him TO condem slave
holding in those whose conscience permitted
them 10 practice it, In the Abolitionists be
found the chief disturbers OF the Republic and
he held New England answerable to poeterity
and to God for all the hereses which afflicted
either Church or State. He had an uncom-
nr 'mising hostility to what are termed New
England ideas, though the tenderest ties OF his
life were OF New England origin. "The New
Englander individually 1 gieaily affect" he
often said, "but, in The mass, judge them To
be stark mad" II think. toe" he would add,
that If you are going to make much of New
Eng gander, he should like DR., Johnson's
ocotchman, be caught young"
To his native State Judge Black was de-
votedly attached. He inherited the blood OF
two strong elements of its populatiou,-the
German and the Scotch-Irish, and he united
the best characteristics of both in his own per
son. He had always looked upon Pennsy lvania
as the guardian of the Federal Union, almost
as the guarantor of its safety and its perpetu-
ty. He spoke of her as the break-water that
protected the slave States from the waves of
radicalism which were threatening to ingulf
publican party in 1860 he regarded as portent
of direst evil,-indeed, as a present disaster,
immeasurably sorIowful. The excitement in
the Southern States over the prob bility of Mr..
Lincoln's election he consid red natural,
their serious protest altogether justi6able. He
desired the free States TO be awakened to the
gravity of the situation, to be thoroughly
alarmed, and to repent of their sins against the
South. He wished it understood from ocean
to ocean that the position of the Republican
party was inconsistent with loyalty to the
Union, and that its permanent success would
lead to the destruction of the government. 1t
was not natural that with these extreme views
he should be carried beyond the bounds of pru-
dence, and that, in his headlong desire to re-
buke the Republican party as enemies of the
Union, he should aid in precipitating disso-
luton of the government before the Republi-
cans could enter upon its administration. He
thus became in large degree responsible for the
unsound position aud dangerous teachings of
Mr.. Buchanan. In truth some of the worst
doctrines embodied in the Presidents evil
message came directly from an opinion given
by Judge Black as Attorney General, and
made by Mr.. Buchanun still more odious al d
more dangerous by the quotation of part and
not tha 70 uhnla