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,
