Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/40

 BUCHANAN.

BUCHANAN.

all his official influence was used through the territorial government to induce the people of Kansas to act in the questions of slavery at the proper time, and in the only practical way, by voting for delegates to the constitution called under the authority of the territorial laws, and then voting on the constitution which that con- vention should frame. In 1857 he appointed Alfred Cmnming, of Georgia, governor of Utah, and filled the judicial and other vacancies which existed. This roused the opposition of Brigham Young and his followers. The President and liis secretary of war petitioned the existing Congress for necessary troops to quell the incipient rebel- lion, but the Lecompton controversy was raging, and the use of Federal troops to put down the free-state movement in Kansas had caused such mistrust and irritation that none but the Presi- dent's stanchest supporters were inclined to place more troops at his disposal. The bill for an army increase was lost, though both houses passed a measure authorizing the President to accept for the Utah disturbance two regiments of volunteers; these were not called out, but the President mustered a military force out of the regulars strong enough to overawe and over- power Utah's rebellious inhabitants. Two peace commissioners also bore to Utah a i^roclamation from the President, dated April 6, which offered free pardon except to those who still persisted in disloyal resistance. These conciliatory ef- forts, backed by an irresistible show of military strength, brouglit the Mormons to a speedy acknowledgment of their allegiance. The ques- tion of British dominion in Central America, which Mr. Buchanan had advanced when minis- ter to England, was settled dviring his admin- istration under his advice and approval. A settlement with the Central American states was effected in accordance with the American construction of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. He also succeeded in compelling the English govern- ment to recognize international law in favor of the freedom of the seas. He recommended to Congress sending aid to the constitutional party of Mexico, then forcibly suspended from exercis- ing the functions of government by military rule, and to redress with force the T\Tongs of our citizens who were resident there, and whose claims against Mexico aggregated ten million dollars. He also instructed the United States minister to Mexico, Mr. McLane, to make a treaty of " Transit and Commerce," and a " con- vention to enforce treaty stipidations and to maintain order and seciirity in the territory of the republics of Mexico and the United States." Congress did not uphold him in his efforts; Louis Napoleon interfered; in 1864 an empire under Maximillian was established, and the

claims of the American citizens were for the time ignored. In 1858 the President concluded a treaty with China which established satis- factory commercial relations between the two countries. On June 22, 1860, he vetoed a biU ' ' to secure homesteads to actual settlers in the public domain, and for other purposes " ; the other purposes pertained to donations to the states, his objections being that the United States had no right to donate her public land to the states for domestic purposes. In 1860 the President was authorized by Congress to settle the claims against the government of Paraguay, by sending a commissioner to that country, accomijanied by a naval force sufficient to exact justice should negotiations fail. This expedition was started on a considerable scale, was entirely success- ful and i-esulted in a permanent peace with that country, at no cost to the government beyond the usual small annual appropriation for the navy. The election of Mr. Lincoln in 1860 was the signal for South Carolina to renew her old doc- trine, and she seceded Dec. 20, 1860. Mr. Bu- chanan refused to receive the commissioners sent by the state to treat with him as with a foreign power. He emphatically denied the right of any state to secede from the Union, and held that the only remedy for a dissatisfied state was open revolution. In the October preceding the election, he received communication from General Scott, commanding-general of the army, which subsequently became known as ' ' General Scott's Views," in which paper the general said in view of Mr. Lincoln's probable election he anticipated the secession of one or more southern states, and warned the President against leaving the forts in the south without additional garrison. As Mr. Buchanan had publicly denied the right of seces- sion, he could not consistently re-inforce the forts as if he anticipated revolution ; besides the entire United States troops available for garrison- ing the nine forts in the six excited sovtthern states was four hundred men, and the recommen- dation was plainly impracticable. He adhered to his ijolicy of non-action, for which he has been censured, but Avhich was identical with that adopted by President Lincoln until the overt act of firing upon Fort Sumter. After the actual secession of South Carolina, the President's chief aim was to confine the area of secession and induce Congress to prepare for war. But again he was not seconded by the legislative body, and when his term of office expired, March 3, 1861, seven states had already seceded, and President Lincoln found himself sadly embarrassed by the apathy of Congress in not preparing for the con- flict, which could no longer be averted. Except- ing the short drive from the White House to the Capitol in the same carriage with Mr. Lincoln,