A DISPASSIONATE SURVEY OF

PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION,

FROM 1860 TO ITS CLOSE.

INCLUDING

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, EIGHT LETTERS

FROM MR. BUCHANAN NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED, AND

NUMEROUS MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

COPYRIGHT, 1895,

BY

HORATIO C. KING.

ROVINU
AMBOTLIAD

E436
.K5

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

CONTENTS.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

The Tide of Secession on the Election of Abraham Lincoln; Pointed

Correspondence; Fearful Forebodings

CHAPTER II.

Letter of President Buchanan to Royal Phelps, Esq., of New York.

CHAPTER III.

Answer to Hon. J. D. Ashmore, M. C., of South Carolina, asking if he

could frank Public Documents, now that his State had "seceded". .

CHAPTER IV.

A Frank Answer to Hon. A. G. Jenkins, Member of Congress from

Virginia, asking why a Route Agent in his District was removed. .

CHAPTER V.

The Peace Convention in 1861

CHAPTER VI.

Beauregard's removal from West Point; Senator Slidell's Anger . . 55

CHAPTER VII.

The Governor's Grievance; an Amusing Anecdote

CHAPTER VIII.

Letter to Nathaniel Mitchell, on the Wickedness of the Rebellion, etc.

CHAPTER IX.

Address in Oxford and Paris, Maine, in August, 1862, on the Folly of

Secession; Denunciation of Rebel Sympathizers, etc.

CHAPTER X.

Reminiscences of the Early Stages of the Rebellion

58

60

72

85

3

323229

CHAPTER XI.

Why was not the Rebellion crushed at the Start?

CHAPTER XII.

President Buchanan's Views on the Right of Secession and of Coercion

as applied to a State; his Forbearance; his Letter on the Assassina-

tion of Lincoln, etc.

PAGE

104

130

CHAPTER XIII.

Letter to Rev. G. M. P. King, on the Progress of the War; the Hand

of God plainly visible in it. General Holt's Comments

CHAPTER XIV.

143

President Buchanan's Record; Testimony of Judge Black and General

Holt; General Dix's Famous Despatch, "Shoot him on the Spot" . 151

CHAPTER XV.

Genesis of the Civil War; Action of the Government in relation to

Fort Sumter; full History

CHAPTER XVI.

How General John A. Dix came to be Secretary of the Treasury

CHAPTER XVII.

154

The Stolen Arms Investigation; Letter of Ex-President Buchanan

192

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

Letters from ex-President Buchanan never before published

CHAPTER II.

202

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop and the Washington National Monument . 209

PART III.

CHAPTER I.

The Trent Affair; Capture of Confederate States Commissioners, Mason

and Slidell; their Imprisonment and subsequent Release; Friendly

Intercession of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert . .

216