Year: 1859

lOO IluCH LuCh.


However much it may be claimed
that man is the arbiter Of his own desti-
nv. it is, nevertheless, true that luck has
much to do with human happiness and
success in life: Man can no more Gre
ate the circumstances which surround
him than ship can create. the wind and
waves of the ocean; and of course the
degree of convenience and advant-
age with which he can accommodate
himself to those circumstances, depends
in great measure upon the nature and
character of the circumstances them-
selves. And although life is game of
mingled chance and skill, yet luck some
times runs SO greatly and continuously
in a mans favor that he wins in spite of
skill.


But-although it is paradoxical-a
man may have too much good luck; and
the truth of the proposition is exempli-
fed in the life, character, and adven-
lures of James Buchanan, President of
the United States, ard late temporary
conqueror of Kansas. This individual
from the day he had the good luck to be
born in a good democratic state, up Tor
down, which is it?) to the year A. d.
1856, was the very pet of fortune. Dur-
ing all that period prosperous gales
were continually waiting him into sunny
harbors, although it was all the time ev-
ident that he was badly constructed.
il! shapen, leaky, weak, warped and
rickety vessel liable to break to pieces
at the first jerk of squally sea. He
was always in high official position, all
though Judging from his own character
and actions, no one could ever tell how
in the world he got there. He never
had a single great mental quality, and
the proof Of this consists in the fact that
he has had every opportunity for the
display of ability, and has never exhib-
tied any preeminence in any department
of human exertiou. In the humber
virtues of our nature he is as deficient
as in the more exalted ones. Socially
he was a lizard. He never was loved
bv men-or women. He never had
warm personal friend, and his character
istics were such that he never deserved
one. The best that can be said of him
is that he filed some of his official posi-
,ions without positive disgrace. And
vet this caricature of man and states
man was kept by the mere force OF IA
yorable circumstances on a nominal
level with the noblest spirits of the ma
ton.


But when Buchanan was nominated
by the Cincinnati convention his luck
became too good. His position become
so high that his weakness could not be
concealed. nor the world humbugged
longer. Before that, ne was enabled to
move quietly along as one of many,
without attracting attention particular
" to himself, and to merge his individu-
ality into his party. After that he be-
came one ADORE the many, and was COM
pelled to stand out alone as the foremost
man of his party, and the first officer of
the nation, and he at once showed his
ascent to eminence to be the result, not
of climbing, but of being shOred mp.
When he was nominated by the Gin
cinnati convention the breeze of good
luck which had been carrying him gent
ly along, increased to hurricane and
blowed him past all stopping places of
kind fortune. During the preliminary
gale of the campaign. he shut his eyes
and clung frightfully to the platform OF
his party. and though he was much buff
feted, he held on manfully until the elec-
tion was over, At that time, however,
his'strength failed, he let go, and imme-
diately drifted into an eddy, in which
he has ever since been bobbing up and
down the laughing stock of his enemies,
an object of pity to his friends and of
disgust to himself. Poets talk of the
Unknown Great" here is an example
of the Known Little.


The pretender to a crown.-a lady's
bonnet.