The news & observer., 1905-09-17


and few ADLER have been chosen to
that great station. The popular inn
preston of him is that he was morally
weak and mentally vacillating, but
that is a very great mistake, and due
to a vast deal of ignorance and pre-
judice that has held the public mind
captive for nearly half a century. Had
Washington, or Jackson, or Lincoln
been President from 1857 to 1861.
not one of them could have done
better than Buchanan did, and it
would have been q very easy matter
for any one of them to have done
worse. The policy of Buchanan saved
the Union, and Lincoln never changed
that policy until Fort Sumter was fired
on Then, it followed, that if Buchan-
an was the traitor popular bigotry and
political rancor proclaimed him to be.
so was Lincoln, who continued his
treason" until actual war came, a
traitor
There is a good deal of humbug in
politics, a great deal of cant in pa
triotism-that is, the stuff that passes
Tor patriotism in some quarters-and
a great deal of mendacity in history
that is, the fiction that is written for
history by some scholars. Some of
the historians who have pretended
to relate the story of that fateful VIM
ter, 1S60-61, would tell us a great
many equally authentic narratives
about "hands" and things ii they
thought it would promote the fortunes
of a certain political party. L have
heard ParOlles-and his tribe is in
numerable-I have heard PAROLES as
severate that had Buchanan been pa
triot he would have exclaimed, "Bv the
Eternal, and let slip the dogs of war,
and the thing would have been done,
the Union saved" and lot of absurdi"
ties like that. That would have made
a solid South. and had the South been
solid the Confederacy would have tri-
umphed in the war, if, indeed, there
had been q war, and that is doubtful.
There came very nearly being no war
as it was Buchanan's idea that it
was unconstitutional to coerce a SOW
ereign State, but that the Federal gov
eminent had authority TO enforce the
laws in every State, divided the South,
and saved the Union.
James Buchanan was a Pe1nSyl-
vanian and a Scotch -Irishman, born
April 23, 1871. His father was man
of substance, and he received an ex-
cellent education and became a law
yer of the Lancaster bar. He was a
Federalist, and very much opposed TO
the declaration of war against Great
Britain in 1912, but instead of living
aid to the enemy by holding a con-
vention at Hartford and hoisting blue
lights to warn the enemy'S cruisers,
he volunteered as a soldier of the
American army and marched to Bal
timore and participated in the defense
Of that city. Many years later Mr..
Buchanan was called traitor by those
who declared the war with Mexico a
WickednesS, discouraged enlistments in
the armies of their country in time
of war, and voted in Congress against
appropria tions to pay and supply our
armies then fighting the battles of
their country on foreign soil. Patriot
ism is a local question. Was not Hosea
Biglow patriot as we'll as poet?
Wen a very young man Mr.. Buch-
anan was twice returned to the Penn
sylVania legislature, and in that body
he very greatly distinguished himself,
and though he was not yet twenty
five, he was considered one of the
strongest debaters i'm the State. AS a
lawyer he ranked very high. and there
is no doubt that he would have
been a leader of the American bar
had he never entered politics.\ The
profession was congenial, and he had
The intellect and the temperament for
It.
During his early manhood Mr..
red to an amiable young lady, of Ian
caster, but some cruel fate sundoted
the relation and the story of it is
tragic and pathetic. 1t wrecked the
happiness of mis- whole life, ard he
turned to politics to escape bitter
memories. Long years afterward he
said to his friends, S. l.. M. Barlow,
Il never intended to engage = rclitics,
but meant to follow my profession
cfrio Qut 111N
were all changed by most sad event.
which happened at Lancaster when /
was a young man. AS a distraction
from my great grief, and because l
saw that through a political following
/ could secure the friends | then need
ed. / accepted nomination."
He was twenty-nine years of age
when he took his seat in the Seven
teenth Congress. Monroe was Presi-
dent, and it was the EZRA of good feel
ing" William Lowndes was mem
ber of that Congress, and if we can
believe tradition, he was the equal OF
Clay, or Webster, or Calhoun. He
died in 1922. a young man. and 1T was
the unanimous verdict OF the pubic
men of that generation, of all shades
of public opinion, that he was the fore
most man in public life. There is
very little doubt that he would nave
been chosen President in 1924 had he
lived and had his health admitted. Ills
fame rests almost entirely on tradi-
tion, Though the first debater in con-
gress, he was so modest and retiring
that he never wrote his speeches Tor
publication. and the reports OF them
are the merest fragments. He follow
ed the method of Charles James Fox
and stated the adversary'S case, and
SO fair was he that he stated it strong
er than the adversary had done, and
so earnest was he in this belief that
John Randolph on one occasion ex-
claimed, He will never be able to an
swer himself" but when he turned to
his own side he made short work,
even of his own mastery statement.
His knowledge was equal to his ca
pacities, and he was 'the fairest man
in Congress" He resigned his seat to
take sea voyage in search of health.
1t was all in vain, and he died at
sea and was buried in the ocean
Had Lowndes lived, what a different
history might have been ours! He
did not believe in the Virginia resolu-
tions of 1898, and his influence over
Calhoun and over South Carolina
might have changed the issues of
American politics during the entire