THE STAR OF THE NORTH.
B, W. WMVtr, Proprleter.]
VOLUME 8."
THE STAR OF THE NORTH
M PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY HORNING 1Y
R. W. WEAVER,
OFFICE— Up ttairt. in lie n/w brick build
ing, on Ike south eide of Main Street,
third (guars be, W Market.
TERMSTwo Dollars per annum, if
paid within six months from the time of sub
ecribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if not
paid within the year. No subscription re
ceived for a lets period than six months ; no
discontinuance permitted until all arrearages
•re paid, unless at the option of the editor.
ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding one square
will be inserted three times for One Dollar
and twenty-five cents foreaoh additional in
■ertion. A liberal discount will be made to
those who advertise by the year.
MEHOIR or JAMES BUCHANAN, OF
rrAWSYI.VANIA.
Adopted and published by order fftke Democratic
Wots Central Committee of Pennsylvania.
THE reputation of our public men consti
tutes an important element in the history of
our country. I', cannot be too far above re
proach. The example of an upright states
man during his lifetime, is a source of pride
and power to his countrymen, ar.d a conso
ling and purifying remembrance after he has
been gathered to bis father*. In James Bu
chanan we find a character without suspicion
or atain. During forty yean of active and al
moat constant service in high political posi
tion*, he has msintainsd the same tranquil
deportment, the same scrupulous regard for
the truth, the same dignified avoidance of
corrupt compliances and combination*. The
posterity of the friends among whom he spent
his youth, are living around him; and the
propbeoiea of those, who taw the promise of
bis early years, are recalled by their descend
ant*, who rejnice in the maturity of his intel
lect, the sagacity of hia statesmanship,and the
long list of hts public and private virtues, a*
the abundant fulfilment of the predictions of
tbetr father*. Personal malignity haa never
yet inflicted dishonor upon his good name.
Slander, exhausllesa in its resources, and un
sleeping in its vengeance, has failed ir. every
ellexpt against him.
Men contemplate Mr. Buchanan, a: this
day, not as one whom envy end wrong itave
persecuted, but a* a great public character,
who baa passed througli the fiery furnace
without the smell of smoke upon his gar
ments, and who stands out ready to submit
to the test of any scrutiny into bis conduct as
a citizen and a statesman. The day has come
which is to prove that such talents as his,
■gch experience, such integrity, such fixed
habits of wise forecast, are essential to the
great destiny for which he seems to have
been reserved by hia countrymen, who al
ways demand the highest qualities of atales
roanship in the highest position iu their gift.
Where, indeed, is there to be lound a living
public man, who presents so exemplaty and
so consistent a record, running through so
many years? Even among those who have
depatted the scene o! human action, there
were few who could point to a mote unbro
ken serias ol services in defence of great
principles. II we look down the gallery* ol
lLa long gone paat, and take up the portraits
of the great actors of other days, how com
paratively few there are who exhibited in
Ibeir live* and in their works a more consci
entious end high-souled devotion to the doo
trinea of the Federal Constitution and to the
rights of the Sratas of the American Union!
The course of Mr. Buchanan has been nei
ther erratic nor irregular; it has harmonized
With the purest examples ol the past and the
present, and with all those saving doctrines
which he has devotedly practised and de
fended; and whether in the House or in the
Senate of the American Congress, whether
immersed in foreign relations, whether at the
head of the most important department of
the government under the memorable Ad
ministration of Polk, or whether reposing in
the calm seclusion of his own home, his well
balanced intellect and his patriotic devotion
to the Union, have always been displayed at
the right moment, and with the most striking
effect. Progreaaive, not in the spirit of law
leasneas, but in harmony with the steady ad
vance of our institutions on this continent,
and onr example among the nations of the
earth; conservative, not in the veneration for
entiqnaied abuses, but in sacred regard for
right* which cannot be violated without de
stroying the fundamental law; he falls in no
tingle element of public usefulness, political
orthodoxy, or personal character. Such is
the impression made upon those who study
the history, public and private, of James Bn
ebanan; such ia the conclusive answer which
ibe open and spotless volume of his career
makes to all who have conceived it necessa
ry to attack his eminent deserving* and bis
lofty capacities.
Mr. Buchanan is in the sixty-fifth year of
hia age, and in the vigor of health, intellect
ually and physically. He was bom in the
connly of Franklin, in the Slate of Pennsyl
vania, of honest and industrious parents, and
may truly be called the architect of his own
fortune*. Having received a good education,
ho studied tha profession of the law, in the
Connly of Lancaster, in the same Btata,which
baa ever since been his home. In 1814 sod
JBl5 he wss elected to the State Legislature,
where he distinguished himself by those ex
hibition* of intellect which gave promise of
fatnre eminence. In bis piofeteion, during
ttsny succeeding years, he torn to the high
est class of legal minds, and at a period when
\Penny|vsnia ooold boast of ber Baldwins,
hitr Gibsons, Iter Rosses, her Dnneans, her
her Tilghraane, her Hopkin
eea, Her Jenkinses, her Dallases, and ber
SempUe. he was prepared for the struggles
of the fatore, and soon became oonapicuous
among thoee who bad faw equals in their
ewn times, tod whose fame it still cbor-
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY. PA., WEDNESDAY. APRIL 16. 1856.
ished among oor rao*t agreeable recollec
lions.
At this day, after more than half a cen
tury's intercourse as a man and boy with the
people of hie own immediate district, and
with the people of Pennsylvania ; after hav
ing figured prominently in the conflicts of
parties; after having shared the confidence
of successive Democratic administrations;
after having contributed his energies to the
overthrow of politics! heresies without num
ber, he might leave his case to thousands
and tens of thousands, who have at various
times antagonized bis opinions, but now,
with the annals of his life before them, stand
ready to pay their tribute to his consistency
and to his integrity as s public man, by uni
ting with his political friends and placing him
in the Presidential chsir I Whet nobler mon
ument could bs raised in commemoration of
any American patriot? What more signifi
cant refutation of all the accusations of heat
ed party combatants 1 What more conclu
sive proof could be given to the nation at
large ol the fitness and merits of a statesman
who, after such a lifetime, finda his tr.dor
aers in the hearts Of the people among whom
he has always lived, and his warmest sup
porters among men who have for more
than forty years stood in opposition to his
opinions I
It is said that the grave covers all, that ma
lignity; halts at the portals of the tomb, and
that from its peaceful bosom spring flowers
of reconciliation and'forgetfuhiess of all evil
passions. Thosa who now mourn over
llie humble yet immortal grave of Jackson,
rarely thf.ik of the calumnies which pursued
him like so many unsleeping furies during
his lifetime, in the universal homage paid
to his memory, which rises forever like in
cense to the skies, how seldom we recall the
bitter epithets with which he was attacked
during his illustrious career! And yet that
he u> d attacked, and that he teas persecuted
almost beyond parallel, is so. But he out
lived detraction, and long before he passed
to his final account, most of his enemies
were translated into friends. We may say
of James Buchanan, that, although still in
the strength nf public usefulness, he too has
outlived detraction, and that the echoei of
slander which sounj up from the deep obliv
ion to which the accusations upon his char
acter have been consigned, fall faintly upon
the ear of the present generation. In the long
catalogue ol his public services and private
virtues, we lose sight of the false charge of
the personal foe, in the luminous and splen
did aggregate of the patriotic character which
he would impugn !
In 1820, James Buchanan was elected to
the House of Representatives, and retained
his position in that body (or ten years, volun
tarily retiring after the first Congress under
the administration of Andrew Jackson. He
was the warm and ardent defender of the
Administration of Mr. Monroe, the active op
ponent of the administration of John Quincy
.Adams, and the consistent and trusted friend
of Andrew Jackson. The proceedings show
that while he retained a seat in the popular
tranch of Congress, he look a prominent
part in all the debates upon great public ques
tions. As early as 1815, he entertained opin
ions hostile to the constitutionality of the
Bank of the United States, and in the fierce
struggles which ensued upon the election
of the hero of New Orleans, he was a dis
lingoished champion of the Democratic par-
Probably the most interesting part of Mr.
Buchanan's history, was his early and effect
ive aupport of General Jackson for the Pres
idency. He was one of the first advocates of
the Hero of New Orleans. More that thirty
year* ago, as a member of the House of Rep
resentatives of the United Stales, he was rec
ognized as among tha most active ar.d devo
ted frieods of Jackson. Distinguished for
his eloquence and his judgment, even in that
period ol his life, he contributed greatly to
produce the state of feeling which afterwards
put General Jackson forward as the Demo
cratic candidate, Pennsylvania taking the
lead. Before the House of Representatives
of the United Slate* proceeded to elect a
President (the people having failed, in 1812,
to make a choice) Mr. Buchanan opposed,
with indignant eloquence, the motion to sit
with closed doors while the duty was being
discharged by the representatives of the
American people. He said, February 2d,
1825:
"He protested against going into a seoret
conclave, when the House should decide this
all-important question.
"What are the consequences," said Mr.
8., "which will result from closing the doors
of the galleries? We should impart to the
election an sir of mystery. We should give
exercise to the imaginations of the multitude,
in conjecturing what scenes are enacted with
in this hall. Busy rumor, with her hundred
tongues, will citculate reports of wicked com
bination* and corruptions which have no ex
istence. Let the people see what we are do
ing. Let them know that it ia neither more
nor less than putting our ballot* into the box
es, and tbey will aoon become satisfied with
the spectacle and retire."
When the memorable struggle of 1828 oarr.e
on, Mr. Buchanan was prominent in the con
test. Indeed, be was so conspicuous that Ibe
opponents of Jsckson bestowed s full share
ol the bitterness reserved for the old hero up
on hit affioienl and faithful friend. Mr. Bu
ohtnan came to the Houaeof Representative#
for the last time in 1829. It waa during Ibis
session that he displayed those eminent qual
ities which proved htm to be one of the
, ablest eaiiatitntional lawyers in the country ;
and in a body of which tnoh statesmen as
McDuffie, Wicklifle, and others wera mem
bers, Mr. Buchanan waa selected a* Chair
man of the Committee of the Jndioiary.a du
ty lor which he has been well prepared in
the debates which had taken place in former
sessions, between Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun,
Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Randolph, Mr. Buchanan
himself, and others equally eminent. W hen
the celebrated case of Judge Pack, of Mis
souri, came up before the House, Mr. Buch
anan was the leading spirit in conducting the
impeachment of that functionary. The House
of Representatives, having heard the able ar
guments on both sides, decided to present to
the Senate articles of impeachment against
Judge Peck, and they elected by ballot, May
30, 1830, five managers to conduct the im
peachment on the part of the House. They
were James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, H.
R. Storra, of New York, George McDuffie, of
South Carolina, Ambrose Spencer, of New
Yotk, and Charles Wicklifle, of Kentucky
The display before the Senate on that cele
brated trial, forms a most instructive page in
history. Messrs. Wm. Wirt and Jonathan
Meredith appeared for Judge Peck, and Ml
the part of the managers, Mr. Buchanan clo
sed the argument in a speech of great length
and profound ability and research. It is still
quoted as one of the most masterly expo
sitions of constitutional law on the public rec
orda.
| After retiring from Congress in 1831, he
received from General Jackson, unsolicited,
the tender of Ihe mission to Russia. He ac
cepted that mission. How he discharged its
grave duties, the archives of the legation
and of the Stat? Department will show.-
I Among other acts, he rendered the country
' important and valuable service, by negotia
ting tha first commercial treaty between the
United State* and Russia, wbiob secured to
our commerce the parts of the Baltic and
Black Sea, and insured to us a valuable and
continually increasing trade. What rep
utation be left behind htm, those who suc
ceeded him are willing to attest. The chaste
and manly tribute to his splendid abilities, at
St. Petersburg, paid during the season of Ihe
proceedings of Ihe Convention,which assem
bled on the 4th of March, 1856, by hia im
mediate successor in the American legation
at that court, the Hon. Wm. Wilkina, shows
something of the habits and capacities of
Mr. Buchanan.
Shortly after Mr. Buchanan's return from
the Russian mission, the Democrats in the
Legislature of Pennsylvania made htm their
candidate for the United Slates Senate, and
elected him. He remained in the Senate
from the fith nf December, 1834. until hie
resignation, March 3d, 1845, having been
twice re-elected during that time. It is not
necessary to recapitulate the distinguished
services rendered by our great statesman, in
the highest legislative body on earth, so well
ar.d so widely are they remembered. In the
debate on the admission of Arkansas and
Michigan ; in his opposition to the designs
of the abolitionists ; in his resistance and ex
posure of the schemes of the Bank of the
United States, after it had been transferred
to Pennsylvania, as avast political moneyed
monopoly ; in his opposition to a profuse ex
penditure of the public revenue, for the cre
ation of an unnecessary public debt; a gov
ernment bank of discount, circulation and
deposit, under the British name of Excheq
uer; a substitution of paper money for the
constitutional currency of silver and gold ;
the surrender of M'Leod upon the insulting
demand of England ; the unjust distribution
ol the public revenue, to the States of this
Confederation; io his courageous hostility to
special legislation, no matter how concealed;
he co-operated with Wright, Woodbury, Ben
ton, King, Lynn, and other leading Demo
crats of that day. As Chairman of the Com
mittee on Foreign Relations, during a aerie*
of years, in the Senate of the United Slates,
he sustained the honor of the nation, by his
unanswerable demonstration of the right of
each Stale to punish a foreign murderer, who,
in time ol peace, kills an American citizen
upon its own soil. His masterly expositions
of our unquestionable title to the Nottheast
boundary line, were upheld by the decision*
of Congress, and he won high honor for his
■ opposition to a treaty which gave a large por
tion of the American territory to a foreign
government. He was the advocate of a lib
eral and enlightened policy in regard to the
public lands. During the memorable extra
session of one hundred days, when tha op
ponents of the Democracy, in Ihe Senate of
the United Slates,had resolved to puah through
a aeries of high federal measures, beginning
with Ihe Bank of the United States, and end
ing with lite bankrupt law, Mr. Buchanan
was constantly in bis seat, and was frequent
ly put forward as the leader of bis party, in
certain trying emergencies. An early and a
fervent advocate of the annexation of Texas,
he signalized his caieer in that body by giv
ing his views on that important question to
his countrymen, in a speech of unsurpassed
ability and power.
It is hardly necessary to go ovet Mr. Bu
chanan's record, to show how true he haa
been on all those great questions 'involving
Iht, rights of the States and the rights of the
citizens of the State*. On those delicate
question* which tried so many Northern men,
and which lost to the Democratio party of
the country some of it* most prominent lead
ers, who would not follow the doctrine of
State right* to it* just and logical conclusion,
Mr. Buohanan was found unwavering and
decided. Io the exciting debate during the
Congress of 1836, on the subject of circula
ting incendiary documents through the mails
of the Uuiled Slates, Mr. Buchanan spoke
repeatedly in support of the Message of Mr.
Van Buren, demanding the interference of
the National Legislature to prevent the dis
semination of appeal* among the ilavea of
fratfe art BlffM-—-• Ceoirj.
she Sonth to rise in servile insurrection against
the people of that quarter ol tha country; and
on the question of the abolition of elavary in
the District ol Columbia, Mr. Buchanan used
the following emphatic language:
"What is now asked by these memorial
ists? That in this District of ten miles square
—a district carved out of two slaveholding
Slates, and surrounded by them on all sides,
slavery shall be abolished I What would be
the effect of granting their request? You
would thus ereot a citadel in the very heans
of these States, npon e territory which they
have ceded to you for a far different pur
pose, from which Abolitionists and incendia
ries could securely attack the peace and safe
ly of their citizens. You establish a spot
within the slaveholding States which would
.be a city of refuge forslaves. You
c/eate By taw oWfal peiiw (•am whirh
trains of gunpowder may be securely laid,
extending into the surrounding States, which
may at any moment produce a fearful and
destructive explosion. By passing such a
law, you introduce the enemy into the very
bosom of those two Staler, end afford him
every opportunity to produce a servile insur
rection. Is there any reasonable man who
can for one moment suppose thst Virginia
and Maryland would have ceded the District
of Columbia to ibe United Stales, if they had
entertained the slightest idea that Congress
would ever use it for any such purpose?—
They ceded for your use, for your conveni
ence, and not forftheir own destruction.—
When slavery ceaaes to exist under the
laws of Virginia and Maryland, then, and not
till then, ooght it :o be abolished in the Dis
trict of Columbia."
When, at the seme senion'of ;Congress,
the two bill* were reported, admitting the ter
ritores of Michigan and Arkansas as States
into|the Amerioan Union, Mr. Buchanan was
selected as the Northern'Senaior who should
present the bill admitting Arkansas, aod ad
vocate it before the Senate, which he did
with signal ability, and Mr. Benton was cho
sen as the Southern Senator who was to pre
sent and advocate the bill admitting Michi
gan into the Union. During the exciting de
bates on these issues, Mr. Buchanan spoke
repeatedly. He look the broad ground that
the people of the territory, having formed a
Republican Constitution, after the model of
the be and should be ad
mitted into the Union irrespective of slavery,
and that Congress could not and should not
interfere to prevent tteir admission for any
such reasons as is now iuaMi^2*inst.the ad
mimiun of Kansas. It war during the de
bate on the admission of Michigan that he
used the memorable words, on the first of
April, 1836, in his place as a Sonator from"
Pennsylvania :
" The older 1 grow, the more I am inclined to
be what is called a State rights man." The
peace and security of this Union depend up
on giving to the Constitution a literal and fair
construction, such as would be placed upon
i it by a plain, intelligent man, and not by iu
geniotis constructions, to increase the pow
ers of this government, and thereby dimin
ish those ot the States. The rights of the
: States, reserved to them by that instrument,
ought ever to be held sacred. If, then, the
Constitution leaves them to decide according
Jo their own discretion, unrestricted and un
limited, who shall be electors, it follows as a
necessary conseqaence that they may, if they
think proper, confer upon resident aliens the
right of voting." &0., &c.
And at the same time, in the very same
speech Irom which the above is copied, he
made the followingleloquent allusion to the
adopted citizens:
"The territory ceded by Virginia to the
United States, was sufficiently extensive for
an immense empire. The patties to ibis
compact of cession contemplated that it
would form five sovereign Stales of this Un
ion. At that early period, we had just emerg
ed from our revolutionary struggle, end none
of the jealousy was then felt against foreign
ers, and particularly against Irish foreigners,
which now appears to haunt some gentle
men. There bad then been no attempts
made to get up a Native American party in
this country. The blood of the gallant Irish
had flowed freely upon every battle-field in
defence of the libertiefwnieb we now enjoy.
Besides, the Senate wilt well recollect that,
the ordinance was passed before the adop
tion of our present Constitution, and whilst
the power of naturalization remained with
the several States. In some, and perhaps in
all of them, it required so ahert a residenoe,
and so little trouble to be changed from an
alien to a citizen, that the process could be
performed without the least difficulty. I re
peat that no jealousy whatever then existed
against foreigners."
Afterlhe splendid campaign of 1844, which
resulted in the election of Mr. Polk, to which
result Pennsylvania, led by James Buchan
an, contributed her electoral vote, the Presi
dent elect, casting his eye over the long roll
of Democratic Statesmen then living, weigh
ing the claims and the qualifications of each
and all, profoundly sensible of the exciting
questions which must come up for adjustment
during hi*administration, and after consult
ing the venerable sage then in the sunset of
life in the shades of the Hermitage, invited
Mr. Buchanan to accept the portfolio of the
State department, the head of his cabinet;
and in 1845, Mr. Buchanan resigned hie seat
in the Senate (to which be had only lately
been re-elected), and became Secretary of
State, under President Polk. Nor is it nec
essary that we should recapitulate his servi
ces in that department. They are fresh and
familiar in all miods. His argument in fa
vor of the dear and unquestionable title of
the American people, to all Oregon, won for
j, ( ,w the applause of the whole liberal world,
and we.* published in several languages in
Enrope. Jh® State papers on other great
question*, proceeding from his pen during
the four year* he .'eroaioed ">•' d ®P ,r| -
ment of Stale, wera so man* contributions
to the column which celebrates i/'*
fitne&p, and his unsullied integrity. 0D
the Wilmol Proviso was introduced into c on "
gresa, it wss James Buchanan who at one.*
denounced, and expoaed and rallied tha Da
mocrsoy against it.
It waa during the administration of Mr.
Polk, that Mr. Buohanan, in bit letter to the
Democracy of Berks County, Pa., first recom
mended to the North and the South, that the
Missouri line should be extended to the Pa
cific, and that this should be made the baeis
of a final settlement of the slavery question
■n tho-territories. The war with Mexioo,
consequent on tho annexation ol Texas,gave
us a vast empire'tn addition to the area which
constitutes our beloved Uoion, and in tha ar
guments growing out of the acquisition of
California, Mr. Buchanan labored earnestly
and effectively on the side of progress. • Mr.
Buchanan's letter on this subject is of record,
and speaks for itself. It is easy to recall the
vituperation which his proposition to extsnd
the Missouri line called forth from Iba lenit
ies of the North, from those who now clam
or for its restoration, and who in inaane for
get fulness of their hostility to it a few years
ago, set themselves up as its peculiar cham
pion*.
Mr. Buohanan'* recommendation nf an
extension of the Missouri line was far in ad
vance of public sentiment. I' was hailed in
the South by all parties as an exhibition of
firmness only too rare, in those days among
Northern men, and it was appreciated by
the truly national men of the 'he free State*.
Would it not be strangely unjust, if this pro
posal of Mr. Buchanan should now be cited
to prove him unsoor.d upon existing issues?
The spirit which acluated k Mr."Buchanan in
>847, when he wrote his letter recommend
ing the extension of the Missouri line, was
to promote harmony among the States of this
Union, by recognizing the principle of equal
ity among the Slates, in regard to the com
mon territories of the people ; and now, when
the Missouri line has beerT superseded by
another plan of settlement, the Nebraska-
Kansas Act, based upon the same sentiment
of State equality, all patriotio men will cheer
fully abide by and vigilantly maintain it a
gainst the inroads of that abolition fusion
which occq more threetenvJo assail tffff con
stitutional rights of the Sonth. The country
will find, among its public men, no truer or
firmer advocate and defender of that great
princi| le of popular sovereignly, as embodied
to the Nebraska bill, than James Buchanan.
Mr. Buchanan remained in connection
with Mr. Polk's adminialralion until March
4th, 1849, when he once more returned to
Pennsylvania, and from that period up to the
election of the present enlightened Chief
Magistrate, he engaged himself in pursuits
congenial to a statesman of large and ex
tended experience. The conflict between
the enemies of the Constitution and the De
mocracy, did not find him an idle spectator.
He was in the fore front of the Democratic
party, demanding for the South no hollow
and hypocritical platform, but a broad radi
cal, distinct recognition of those rights, which
cannot be equal, Runlets Ibey are shared hon
estly and fairly between the people of all
the sections of the Union. Everywhere,
the Democracy of his Slate fell and followed
his wise and patriotic counsels. When he
emerged Irom bis quiet home, it was to de
mand the recognition of all the guarantee*
of the Constitution to all the States. His
letters and speeches in favor of the enforce
ment of the fugitive slave law—in favor of
the repeal of the laws of Pennsylvania, en
acted foi the purpose of depriving the South
ern citizen of the use of our jails for the
sale-keeping of his fugitives, and bis appeals
to the Democracy of the State never to yield
to sectionalism, conclusively show that he
had not lorgotten his duty to great principles,
and that his attention was constantly fixed
upon the importance of dischsrg tig that ob
ligation. He was as vigilant in his duties as j
a private in the ranks ol the people, as he '
was prominent as a counsellor in the Cabi
net and as a Representative and Senator in
Congress.
During the Presidential contest in 1852,
Mr. Buchanan stood in the van of ibe Dem
ocratic ranks. The following remarkable
passages from his speech delivered to a mses
meeting of the Democracy of Western Penn
sylvania, on the 7th of October, 1852, al
Greentburg, Westmoreland county, are so
characteristic of the man and his opinions,
that we do not hesitate to copy Ihetit. Re
member that, at no lime did he ever yield a
jot or a]iittle to sectionalism He was against
it instinctively, and Irom the Hart. He said
"From my eoul, I abhor the practice of
mingling np religion with politics. The doc
trine of all our Constitutions, both Federal
and State, ia, that every man has an inde
feasible right to worship his God aocording
to the dictates of hia own conscience. He
is both a bigot and a tyrant, who would in
terfere with that sacred right. When a can
didate is before the people for office, the in
quiry ought never even to be made, what
form of religious faith he possesses; but on
ly in the language of Mr. Jefferson, "Is ha
honest, ia he oapable?"
".'Democratic Americans!' What a name
for a Native American party! When all the
recorda of our paat history prove that Amer
ican Democrat* have ever opened wide their
arms to receive foreigners flying from op
pression in their native land, and have always
beaiowed upon them ibe right* of American
citizens, after a brief period of residence in
this country. The Democratic party have
always gloried in this policy, and its frnits
have been to increase our population and
our power, with unexampled rapidity, and to
furnish ottr country with vast numbers of in
dustrious. patriotio and useful citizens. Surely
the name of 'Democratic Americans' was an
unfortunate designation for the Native Amer
icsn parly.
i "The Native American party, an 'Ameri-
I og[J - excellence,' end the glory of ita founder
ship to George Washington I No,
fellow cit. tens, the American people will rise
up with one .*f cord 10 *indioate the memory
of that illuatriou.* m,n frorainch n mp®*
tion. AMong a. i* r ® ce "< m " mor y °' our
revolutionary struggle '®matned vividly im
pressed on the hearts of countrymen no
such' party could have eve." ex '" e
•ooniUn.inn nf Montgomery, La . *y® u ®' f a
Kalb, Kosciusco, and a long list of . °™'R n ~
era, both officers and soldiers, who i.' 6 ®'?
shed their blood to secure our liberties, WOL'' J
have rendered euch ingratitude impossible'/
Our revolutionary army was filled with the
brave and patriotic natives of their hinds ;
and George Washington waa their command
er-in-chief. Would be have ever closed the
door agatnat the admission of foreigner* to
Ihe right# of American citizens?^,Let hia
acts speak for themselves. So airly as the
261h of March, 1790. General*.Washington
as President of the United States, approved
the first law which ever passed Congress on !
the subject of naturalization ; and this only j
required a residence of two years, previous ;
to the adoption of a foreigner as an Ameri
can citizen. On tl.e 29 h Juutiaty, 1795. the
term of residence was extended by Congress
to fire yeara,|and thus it remained through
out General Washington's administration,
and until after the accession of John Adams
to the Presidency. In his edminirtration,
which will ever be known in history as the
reign of terror, as the era of alien and sedi
tion laws, an Act was passed on the lßlh of
June, 1798, which prohibited any foreigner
from becoming a citizen until after a resi
dence of fourteen years, and this is the law,
or else, perpetual exclusion, which General
Scott preferred, and which the Native Amer
ican party now desire to restore.
''The Presidential election of 1800 secured
the ascendency ol the Democratic party, and
under the administration of Thomas Jeffer
son, its great apostle, on the 14th of April,
1802, the term of residence previous to nat
uralization, was reetoredjo five years, what
I' had been under General Washington, and
where it lias ever since remained. No, fel
low-citizens, the Father of his Country was
never a Native American. This 'American
excellence' never belonged to him."
"The Fugitive Slave Law is all the South
haaobiained in this compromise of 1850. It
ia q|aw founded both upou tha letter and the
spirit of the Constitution, and a siinilarjlaw
has existed on our statute books ever since
'he administration of George Washington.—
History teaches us that but for'.the provision
in favor of fugi:ive slaves, our present Con
stitution never would have existed. Think
ye that the South will ever tamely surrender
the fugitive slave law to Northern /malic*
and Abolitionists.
"And now, fellow-citizens, whet a glorious
parly the Democratic party has ever been !
Man is but the being of a summer's day,
whilst principles are eternal. The genera
tions of mortals, one after the other, rise and
sink, and are forgotten, but the principles of
Democracy, which we hare inherited from
our revolutionary fathers, will endure to bless
mankind throughout all generations. Is there
any Democrat within the sound of my voice
is there any Democrat throughout the broad
limits of good and great old Democratic
Pennsylvania, who will abandon these sacred
principles for the sake of following in the
train of a military conqueror, and shouting
for the hero of Lundy'e Lane, Cerro Gordo,
and Chapultepeo?"
And when the campaign resolted in tri
umph, President Pierce tendered to Mr. Bu
chanan the leading foreign mission, which
was accepted. Circumstances have trans
pired, within the last lew years, to make the
American mission to St. James singularly
important, and it has happened that during
Mr. Buchanan's stay in London, several
great questions of a vexatious and compli
cated character have disturbed the intercourse
between the two nations. However im
portant is both the oollivetion o f fraternal fee
ling and good will,ibe fact that Great Britain
•eea our growing progress with jealousy and
alarm, and the fact that we behold her piag
matical interference upon this Continent wher
ever an opportunity is presented to her, with
indignation, render our relations with Great
Britain of the most del'cate character. The
very intimacy of our business connections,
constituting as it does, the real cord which
binds us together, is apt, moreover, to corr.e
in conflict with political considerations, and
the commercial attraction, so tospeafc, th-.ows
into dangerous neighborhood English ambi
tion on the one hand and American progress
on the other. It has become proverbial that
the seleotion of a wise, able and experienced
man to represent the United States at the
British Court, it one of the first duties of an
executive, hardly secondary to the selection
of its own chief cabinet ministers, because
the English mission ia always intensely im
portant to the immediate interests of our
people. During the trying time of Mr. Bu
chanan's mission, the whole nation seen, to
have become impressed with the importance
and justice of these observations, they felt
that in the American minister they bad a
man upon whose safe character and wise
counsels tbey oould confidently lean. Their
[Two Dollars par Inn.
NUMBER 13.
eyes werejeonßtanvly fixed upon him. Ev
ery steamer brought newe occasioning the
greatest snxiety to tbe commercial and|other
classes. On more tban one occasionjcotli
•ion seemed to be inevitable, but every pan
ic passed off. Toe correspondence of Mr.
Buchanan, such of it as bas'beeo published,
exhibits on bis'part a vigilance, a discretion,
an industry, aad at tbe same time a dignity
of character, that have made his'nanse'a fa
vorite name in every aeotion of onr.balovod
Union. Iu the later troubles which bare
given rise to'so much exoitement and dis*
cussion in Congress and tbe country, Mr.
Buchanan has towered in all the dignity of
his higb character and intellectual superior
ity. He will leave his post to give way to
his successor, having established renewed
kind relations between the two countries,
and having fixed upon tbo hearts of the
Englishjpeople the impress of a republican
chareetar, whioh has never,'for a single mo
ment, yielded its simplicity and its truth to
Courted and flat
•ered during bis stay, he studiously abstained
i,-onl paying tribute to English vanity. In
all ciicles, and on all occasions, be displayed
his American dignit," and his American pa
triotism. Nev'pr gratuitously obtruding bis
country and 1 her advjntapes, bo never besi
tated to apeak of her as a act) speaking of
bis parent; nor was be ever .vjtuated by sny
spirit of offensive partisanship. As he oama
so ht goes, the same plain, untitled, unpre
tending American citizen. The highest ciaii
es vied with each oilier to do htm h.onat;
and on a recent occasion, when the newt pf
a threatened collision between the two coun
tries alarmed the people of both, hia pres
ence among the populace of London was
greeted with cheers, iu evidence that, how
ever parties may intrigue,one bonaat,straight
forward patriot is snre to bold a high place
in the affeotiona ot tha masses.
One great reuon why Mr. Buchanan'*
name is at this moment so acceptable to hit
countrymen, i y because he staids before
them, not merely aa an eminently capable,
but as an eminently enfe man. In the grow
ing grealneaa of our republic, ila increasing
imporUnoe, commercially and politically, it*
extended and expending relations with olber
power#, not to apeak of the effort# of reck
le*s agitatora against the Constitution, and
all llio security and guaranteea of our do
mestic safety and tranquility, wo aa* the er
idences that tueh a man would bo abio to
confer signal benefit upon Ibe American
people in the Presidential Qhair. For lb*
first time in many years we behold in tbo
person of James Buchanan, a statesman who
combines the rare quality of having been
among the very first, in every emergency,
In take the most progressive view of every
great question, and yet of being able to pre
serve, in the midst of such emergencies, the
bearing, and to exercise the influence of a
sagacious and well-poised Democratic states
man. It is this combination of elements
which has awakened in hi* behalf the favor
able sentiment of those classes of citizens
who look for a wise and judicious Admini*-
Iration ol the Federal Government, and which
has also gathered around him the warm and
generous sympathies of the constituents who
confide in bis progressive instincts at illus
trated through all his long and illustrious ca
reer.
There is not now lo be fonod a reasonable
man in any part of the Union, who doe a not
believe that Mr. Buohauan'a nomination
would be succeeded by his certain and tri
umphant election. To the South he presents
no record inconsistent, even in tn
degree, with that which induced the.'soutbern
delegates to vote for]him so long and so
steadily as in the Democratic Convention of
1852. Now, as lhen,,h stands forth the un
compromising enemy of their enemies; the
devoted advocate of their cooetilutiooal
rights. To the Northwestern States he pre
sents the unsullied reeord of one who bae
co operated with their own pioneer repre
sentative in Congrese, in opening up set
new territories to commerce and to oiviliza
lion. The Northern or Eastern Slates know
him as the champion of their rights, when,
these se' sacrificed to British rapacity. __
While In the Middle States it may be 'proud
ly said ol Mr. Buchanan, with no diarespeot
to other candidates, that ha ia thta day re
garded as the very strongest man whom the
Democratic parly could nominate for the
Presidency. The divided household, of our
political friends in New York would we
believe, find in hie name, the olive branch
of harmony and peace ; th J# Democrats et
Ohio would, under bis banner, advance le
thal victory which I.bett pan, Olio effort, to
well deserve; ai'd Pennsylvania, .landing
between these two gigantic Stales, would
pronounce, for such a candidate, with such e
majo-uy at would recall ike these,
'breg Commonwealths constituted the very
fortress of the Democratic party in the free
States.
During Mi- Buchanan's absence of nearly
three yeare > while politic# raged at borne, he
proudly abstained from interfering with the
struggle for tbe Presidential succession.—
From the time be set foot on English soil,
he wrote back to bis frieods, that in no con
tingency would be place bimaelf in the
field as aoandidate for the Presidency. There
was nothing of grief in.this resolve, nothing
of distppoiuied ambition. It was the oalm
and deliberate judgment of e mind, which,
having looked carefully over the political past
and future, had made the eonotasion that the
day for tbe scramble for Presidential honors
had paased.away, at least for him, and that
ha was detertninod.to apply himsalf to other
pnranito. We aasert, that, if evary private
letter, written from London rinoe btsabsouee