Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/37

 BUCHANAN.

BL CHAN AN.

tional validity, in. waj's and on occasions which may lead to an absorption of state jurisdictions. In the next Congress Mr. Buchanan spoke twice on the tariff — March 23 and April 9, 1834. His views on protection were conservative. He held that in imposing duties necessary to defray the ex- penses of the government, care should be taken, while extending protection to infant industries, not to injure at the same time the interests of the producers of wealth. In his speech m the house he said: "The American system consists in affording equal and just legislative protection to all the great interests of the country. It is no respecter of persons. It does not distinguish between the farmer who ploiighs the soil in Pennsjdvania and the manufacturer of wool in New England. Being impartial it embraces all."' He uttered grave warnings against forming alliances with Mexico and the South American republics, and insisted on the great importance of Cuba, both commercially and strategically to the United States. On questions of internal policy Mr. Buchanan had voted for the imposing of tolls for the svipport of the Cumberland road. When he first had occasion to act on this subject as a member of Congre.ss, he ^vas inclined to accept the doctrine that Congress had power to establish and support this road. Mr. Monroe's veto affected him deeply, as it was the first time he had been brought to distinguish between federal and state powers. At a subsequent ses- sion of Congi-ess he endeavored unsuccessfully to have the road retroceded to the states through which it passed, on condition that they would support it by levying tolls. During the canvass of 1828, in which the supporters of the adminis- tration had taken the name of national Rejjubli- can, and the opposition that of Democrat, Mr. Buchanan was one of the most able and ardent supporters of General Jackson, and it was mainly through his influence that the twenty-eight electoral votes of Pennsylvania were secured. In 1839 he succeeded Daniel Webster as head of the judiciary committee, and in tliis capacity con- ducted the trial on impeachment of Judge Peck. In March, 1831, Mr. Buchanan retired from Con- gress, with the avowed intention of resuming his law practice, but President Jackson, in 1832, appointed him envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg, and urged his acceptance of the mission so strongly that he could not weU decline. He sailed from New York, April 8, 1832, on board the Silas Richards, a sailing vessel, and reached St. Petersburg the June follo\ving. His mission was to negotiate the first treaty of commerce between Russia and the United States, to establish a tariff system and to provide for consuls. He was thirty-eight j^ears old when he undertook this important commis-

sion, and although without official experience in diplomacy, he had been a close student of the diplomatic history of his own country and of pu))lic law, and what he did not know about trade between Russia and the United States he mastered soon after reaching St. Petersburg. He also perfected himself in the French language, which proved of invaluable assistance to him in conducting the negotiations. He referred to hiuLself in a letter home, " As a tyro in dip- lomacy, with no weapons but a little common sense, knowledge and downright honesty — with which to encounter the most adroit and skilful politicians in the world." The encounter was by no means a sinecure, but his fair mind, even manners, and unfailing tact served him well, and Iiy adhering tenaciously to his purpose and exer- cising astute diplomacy in his dealings with the diplomats, he was eventually successful in arranging a commercial treaty by which impor- tant privileges in the Baltic and the Black sea were secured for the United States. He made a warm friend of Count Nesselrode, and when the treaty was at length accepted bj^ the cabinet, against the strenuous opposition of some of the members, it was, by the dexterous management of the count, seconded by Mr. Buchanan's skilful course and ample knowledge of the ^joints in question. He began his journey homeward, Aug. 8, 1833. On Dec. 6, 1834, he was elected United States senator by the Democratic members of the Penn.sylvania legislature, to fill the unexpired term of Senator Wilkins, resigned. In his letter of acceptance he wrote: " I want language to express my feelings on the i:»erusal of your kind letter. Elevated by your free and unsolicited suffrages to the only public station I desire to occupy, it shall be my constant endeavor to justify by my conduct the generous confidence which you have thus reposed." When he took his seat in the .senate, Dec. 15, 1834, General Jackson was in the second term of his office, Mr. Van Buren presided over the senate, the opposi- tion had become con.s'olidated and classified under the name of the Whig party as substituted for that of national Rejiublicans ; there was a third party known as the anti-masons, and the Whigs controlled the senate by a two-thirds majority. In the great struggle between President Jackson and the Whigs, headed by Mr. Calhoun. Bu- chanan at all times warmly defended the Presi- dent and his claims. In the course of a speech in defence of the President in his exercise of tlie right to remove Presidential appointees from office without the consent of the senate, Mr. Buclianan said: "Washington, the elder Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and the younger Adams removed whom they pleased from office ; but after the accession of Jackson to office the