strong and undivided in regard to sustaining the administration in its determination to stand by Major Anderson, to protect the public property, and to enforce the revenue laws. On these points the people of the Northern States are as one man; and I am satisfied the President will have with him the conservative men of all sections of the country. "I have been very busy corresponding with prominent men in and out of Congress. We must preserve the Union. Congress should do what is right, and the rest will be easy. Why cannot enabling acts be passed admitting Kansas and New Mexico, and like enabling acts dividing the residue of our territory by 36° 30', and admitting two more States, at once, with no other restriction than that of 'a republican form of government,' which Congress under the Constitution is bound to guaranty? This will dispose of the whole territorial question; and all may support it without surrender of principle. What if New Mexico has a very small population? This fact should weigh nothing against restoration of harmony and preservation of the Union. "Do not things look better? Let me hear from you. "HON. HORATIO KING." "(PRIVATE.) 66 "P. O. DEPT., Jan. 4, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,—I am obliged for your favor of yesterday. I feel as though there is a slight improvement in the state of things here; but the disunionists-conspirators-are doing their utmost to head off the Government in its present efforts to right itself. Things will not go entirely satisfactory so long as Thompson and Thomas are retained in the Cabinet, and especially the latter, who, I am disappointed to learn, is a rabid secessionist. I am glad to hear that there is a committee here from your city to make a representation to the President in regard to him. For Thompson I have more compassion. He is not willingly a disunionist; and I guess he sustained the President in sending back their insulting communication to the S. C. 'Commissioners.' "Let us press forward till we clear the Government of every disunionist. "Very respectfully and truly, "HORATIO KING. “GEN. DIX, New York." "(PRIVATE.) "NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-Facts that have come to my knowledge give me strong hopes that the Union will be preserved. I look for a speedy movement on the part of the Republicans in Congress, and an effective one. "In the mean time the authority of the Government must be maintained. I have written to several members of Congress, among others Governor Seward, urging the adoption of the plan I suggested to you yesterday, as one involving no sacrifice of principle or surrender of position. We can do nothing unless the Republicans act with us, and I have for the last week been pressing them here and in Congress. "Yours sincerely, "HON. HORATIO KING." "JOHN A. DIX. "P. O. DEPT., Jan'y 7, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-I have yours of the 5th, and am glad to see that you are laboring in the right direction. The Republicans must yield, or all is lost. "But the South must be reasonable. disgusted with their arrogance. ... Many good Union men are "HON. JOHN A. DIX." "Very resp❜ly and truly, "HORATIO KING. "(CONFIDENTIAL.) “New York, Jan. 8, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-Why is money to very large amounts being transferred to Washington? It may be all right, but it is unusual. Nearly a million of dollars has been sent on in specie within the last week. I write you in confidence. Are these transfers made by order of the President? Is he aware of them? These questions have suggested themselves to me. There is a good deal of uneasiness in regard to the Treasury Department. The Secretary and his assistant are known to be secessionists, and our capitalists, who furnish the Government with money, naturally feel a solicitude in regard to the disposition made of it. The transfers in specie have attracted attention and produced a good deal of unpleasant speculation. The Assistant Treasury Office is in Wall Street, and any considerable quantity of gold cannot be moved without being known. I met, a few days ago, a large number of boxes going out, and on inquiry I found $400,000 were going to Washington. "In haste, very truly yours, "HON. HORATIO KING." "JOHN A. Dix. "P. O. DEPART., Jan'y 12, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-Yours of the 8th came duly to hand. I am glad to know that you have been active in your efforts to head off the conspira tors here. We are progressing slowly, but surely, as I trust. The appointment of General Dix to the Treasury, and the discarding of the Constitution (newspaper) in the last two days, are two things most gratifying. What is doing now, however, should have been done two months ago, as you know I have been decided upon from the start. "Who will be nominated for Secretary of War and Secretary of Interior remains to be seen. You will have seen Slidell's attack on Mr. Holt. Nevertheless, I believe if his name is sent in they will not be able to reject him. One thing I hope there will be no mistake about, and that is, that none but Union men will be allowed to go into the Cabinet, even if they have all to be taken from the North. "Matters at Charleston are bad enough; but it is gratifying to know that Major Anderson will not need any assistance, probably, for four months to come. This was not known to the Government when the Star of the West was sent for his relief. "Very truly, "HORATIO KING. "NAHUM CAPEN, ESQ., P. M., Boston, Mass." "P. O. DEPT., Jan'y 21, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-Yours of the 19th inst. is received. "I presume I shall continue to act as P. M. G., as I have been doing since the 1st inst. I do not anticipate that any appointment will be sent to the Senate at least for the present. "I cannot see that there is much if any improvement in the state of things. Yet if the Republicans would only present some reasonable proposition, and vote upon it with anything like unanimity to show that they were willing to do something, it would at once take the wind out of the sails of secession in all the border States, and this would dampen the ardor of the rebels . . . further South. "Very resp'ly and truly yours, "NAHUM CAPEN, ESQ., P. M., Boston, Mass." 66 'HORATIO KING. “P. O. DEPT., March 5, 1861. "MY DEAR SIR,-I have only time in this, doubtless my last communication from the 'P. O. Department,' to thank you for your kind letter of the 2d inst., and, in reply to your question, to say that I fear the proceedings of the Peace Convention will result in little, if any, good; yet it is quite possible that they may be of use at an early day before a called session of Congress. The aspect of affairs is gloomy, and it will not surprise me if we are engaged in a civil war before the end of this month, unless all the forts in the seceding States are peaceably given to the revolutionists. "Very sincerely your friend, "NAHUM CAPEN, ESQ., P. M., Boston, Mass." "HORATIO KING. As On the appointment of General Dix to the Treasury, January 11, 1861, our correspondence, of course, ceased. the more important of his letters were read by PostmasterGeneral Holt, who in turn showed them to the President, I have always thought they led the way to that appointment. Eminent as a patriotic statesman, his selection for the position was hailed with marked satisfaction, and he filled it with distinguished ability. With none but kindly sentiments towards the South, he at the same time held it to be the imperative duty of the Government to "quietly and firmly maintain the central authority." This, it may as well be said here, is what President Buchanan endeavored to the utmost of his power to do, while at the same time he deemed it prudent, in the cause of peace and to avoid bloodshed, to pursue a conciliatory policy towards the South. It was this forbearance that for a time led even some of his best friends to harbor slight misgivings in respect to him as well as Secretary Toucey; and to this day we sometimes hear him censured because he did not at once come down on the secessionists as General Jackson did on the nullifiers of South Carolina in 1832. These critics seem to forget that, whereas President Jackson had but a solitary little State to deal with, in President Buchanan's case all the Cotton States were united in the rebellion, and only anxious for the Government to strike the first blow, as in their view the surest and most speedy means of inducing all the border States to join them. Mr. Buchanan fully understood this; hence his extreme caution, with which it must, however, be admitted, some of his nearest friends did not always sympathize, although it is now far from certain that his was not the wiser course. Said Joseph Holt, in 1865: Looking at the glorious results of the war, and remembering how wondrously Providence has dealt with us in its progress, and how sublimely the firing upon instead of from Fort Sumter seemed to arouse, instruct, and unite the nation, and to inflame its martial and patriotic spirit, we stand awe-struck and mute; and that man would be bold, indeed, who, in the presence of all that has occurred, should now venture to maintain that the policy of forbearance was not at the moment the true policy." It is well known, and should be borne in mind when Mr. Buchanan's policy of forbearance is assailed, that, for several weeks after his inauguration, President Lincoln still "hoping [we have the testimony of Gideon Welles, his Secretary of the Navy] for a peaceful solution of the pending questions," the greatest forbearance was observed, and "a calm and conciliatory policy" pursued toward the South. President Buchanan stood on the defensive, and, true to his oath, strove by every means in his power.to protect the rights and property of the Government. He held it to be his duty to see that the laws were obeyed; but this was impossible where the local authorities were all in rebellion, and officers could not be found to enforce the execution of the laws. For instance, there was no collector of customs at Charleston, and he sent to the Senate the name of a gentleman to fill the place; but his nomination was not confirmed. In a letter to me of September 18, 1861, Mr. Buchanan said, "Had the Senate confirmed my nomination of the 2d of January of a collector for the port of Charleston, the war would probably have commenced in January instead of May." As a further indication of his true sentiments, and as due to his memory, I venture to infringe the salutary rule (which has been so often violated since Mr. Buchanan's time in revealing what takes place in Cabinet session) by relating a little incident that happened in Cabinet on the |