Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/292

234 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS tained the territorial government and obtained con trol of its legislature. The anti-slavery party re pudiated this legislature and held a convention at Topeka to institute an opposition government. Congress had recognized the authority of the terri torial government, and Mr. Buchanan, as president, had no alternative but to recognize and uphold it also. The fact that the legislature of that govern ment was in the hands of the pro-slavery party made the course he adopted seem as if he favored their pro-slavery designs, while, in truth, he had no object to subserve but to sustain, as he was officially obliged to sustain, the government that congress had recognized as the lawful government of the territory. Now, throughout the north, the press and the public began to teem with denunciation of the new president, who had not allowed revolu tionary violence to prevail over the law of the land, and this was kept up throughout his administration. The anti-slavery party gained ground, and the election of 1860 resulted in the triumph of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan was a conservative and far-seeing man, who, though opposed to slavery, believed that the blind and fanatical interference of the northern abolitionists in the domestic affairs of the southern states would excite the latter in a manner danger ous to the peace and prosperity of the union. His messages constantly recommended conciliatory leg-