The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-09-30
JAMES BUCHANAN
Fifteenth President Was a Much
Malgned Man.
An Able Defense of His Political
Career.

This is the most Indignantly Sian.
dered and the most wantonly misun-
derstood statesman of history, says a
correspondent in the Cincinnati En-
quirer. No more patriotic man ever
held the Office of president of the
United States, and few ADLER have been
chosen to that great station. The pop
ular impression of him is that he was
morally weak and mentally vacillat.
Ing, but that is q very great mistake,
and due to vast deal of ignorance and
prejudice that has held the public
mind captive for nearly half century.
Had Washington, or Jackson, or Lin
coin been president from 1857 to 1861
neither one of them could have done
better than Buchanan did, and it would
! have been a 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 Fl. Sumter was fired on.
Then, it follows that, If Buchanan was
the traitor popular bigotry and po-
litical rancor proclaimed him to be, so
was Lincoln, who continued his ''trea-
con" until actual war came, a traitor
There is good deal of humbug in
politics, a great deal of cant in patri-
otism 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 'his-
torians" who have pretended to relate
the story of that fateful winter, 1860
81, would tell us great many equally
i authentic narratives about "hants" and
things if they thought it would pro-
mote the fortunes Of a certain political
party. 1 have heard Parolles-and his
tribe is innumerable-I have heard
, PAROLES asseverate that had Buchanan
been a patriot he would have ex-
claimed, "By the Eternal" and let slip
the dogs of war, and the thing would
have been done, the Union Saved"
That would have made solid South,
and had the South been solid the Con-
federacy would have triumphed in the
+. war, If, indeed, Their had been war,
1 and that is doubtful. There came very
nearly being a war as it was. Blu
chanan's idea that it was unconstitu-
/ IN bot hut
that the Federal government had au-
thority to enforce the laws in every
state, divided the South, and saved
the Union.
James Buchanan was Pennsylvan-
ian and a Scotch-Irishman, born April
%, 1871. His father was man of
substance, and he received an excel
lent education and became a lawyer of
the Lancaster bar. He was Federal
list, and very much opposed to the
declaration of war against Great Brit
ain in 1912, but instead of giving aid
to the enemy by holding convention
at Hartford and hosting blue lights
to warn the enemy's cruisers, he vol
unteered as soldier in the American
army and marched to Baltimore and
participated in the defense of that
city. Many years later Mr.. Buchanan
was called traitor by those who de-
clared the war with Mexico a wicked
mess, discouraged enlistments in the
armies of their country in time of war,
and voted in congress against approp-
riations to pay and supply our armies
then fighting the battles of their coun-
try on foreign soil. Patriotism is a
local question. Was not Hosea Bige.
low patriot as we'll as a poet?
When very young man Mr.. Buchan.
an was twice returned to the Pennsyl-
vania legislature, and in that body he
very greatly distinguished himself, and
though he was not yet rs, he was con
sidered one of the strongest debaters
in the state. AS lawyer he ranked
very high, and there is no doubt but
that he would have been leader OF
the American bar had he never entered
politics. The profession was congen.
ial, and he had the intellect and the
Temperament for it.
During his early manhood Mr. Blu
chanan became engaged to be married
to an amiable young lady Of Lancas
tier, but some cruel fate sundered the
relation and the story of it is tragic
and pathetic. It wrecked the happi
ness of his whole life, and he turned
to politics to escape bitter memories
Long years afterward he said to his
friend, s. L. NJ. Barlow, Il never in
tended to engage in politics, but meant
to follow my profession strictly. But
my prospects and plans were all
changed by most sad event, which
happened at Lancaster when l was a
young man. AS distraction from my
great grief, and because saw that
through political following could
secure the friends l then needed,
accepted a nomination"
He was 20 years of age when he took
Ibis seat in the seventeenth congress
| M1rroo MOS onI H.