country. Among other valuable services which he performed for his country while on that mission, was the negotiation with Count Nesselrode on the part of the Czar, of the first commercial treaty between Russia and the United States, by which valuable advantages were secured for our commerce in the Baltic and Black Seas. In this connection it may not be improper to refer to the testimony of the venerable Judge Wilkins, his successor at St. Petersburg, formerly Secretary of War, senator in Congress, &c., as to the effect that Mr. Bu chanan produced in Russia in favor of his country. On a recent occasion the judge remarked: "He had been associated with him, and had always had the highest respect for him as a citizen-as a professional man-and as a statesman. It had been his honor to follow in his footsteps. He had traced him through Europe. He had been at a foreign court, after Mr. Buchanan had represented the government of the United States there, with such unsullied and pre-eminent honor. Walking in his footsteps, many thousand miles from here, he could see, and plainly trace, the high respect which followed every official act of his, and the whole deportment of his private conduct. St. Petersburg was full of admiration for the American statesman; and so effectually did he perform his duties there, and so effectually did he endear this government to Russia, and so effectually did he arrange the commercial and diplomatic concerns of the two countries, that he left nothing in the world for him (Mr. Wilkins) to do but to state that he was his humble successor. He had preoccupied the ground and filled the demands of his government."

After the return of Mr. Buchanan from Russia in 1833, he was elected to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate, caused by the resignation of the very Judge Wilkins who bears such a noble and voluntary testimony to his fidelity to duty. He had left Congress just as the storm, which the rigid principles Gen. Jackson inaugurated, had been raised. He was des

tined to return to the theatre of his duties in time to come, to the rescue of his early friend, and bear a part in the memorable struggles that the democracy encountered during his administration. Mr. Buchanan left Congress just at the breaking out of the rupture between Mr. Calhoun and Gen. Jackson which finally produced a dissolution of the Cabinet and much in feeling which it is now painful to contemplate. The great battle on the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank had been fought and won during the session of 1831-32. Mr. Buchanan had not participated in the struggle, but he returned in time to bear an honorable part in maintaining possession of the field, and in fortifying it against further assaults.

CHAPTER IX.

French Reprisals-Executive Patronage-Mr. Clay and Mr. Buchanan-Conclusion of Twenty-third Congress.

On the 15th of December, 1834, Mr. Buchanan took his seat in the Senate of the United States. We may well say that "in those days there were giants in the land." Among the distinguished individuals, now numbered with the dead, whom Mr. Buchanan there met, were Daniel Webster, Silas Wright, John C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay. He had encountered all of these before, however, in the popular branch of the national legislature, and it was therefore but the reunion of old companions among whom, although they had often measured their strength in manly debate, nothing but the most kindly personal feelings existed. The era of malignant speeches, of crimination and recrimination, had not yet commenced. Massachusetts in those days delivered eulogiums upon South Carolina, and South Carolina, with the natural grace of her chivalric sons, did not hesitate to return the compliment. The intercourse which should distinguish gentlemen was not only strictly observed, but each one seemed to instinctively feel that a difference in education, habits and domestic institutions demanded a mutual respect for one another's feelings which no excitement should allow them to disregard. Unfortunately, a wretched delusion and the heat of party strife has now nearly destroyed the era of good fellowship, and has placed those in antagonistic positions who have no good reason to be anything but brothers. It is to be hoped, however, that the storm which for thirty years has been

gathering, will pass away without injury to our institutions, leaving the political atmosphere all the more clear and transparent on account of the temporary clouds that have enveloped

us.

Almost the first thing of national importance which came before Congress, was a resolution reported by Mr. Clay from the committee on Foreign Relations, to the effect that it was inexpedient to pass a law authorizing the President to make reprisals upon French property, to force that government to pay the indemnity stipulated by the treaty of 1831. We had waited for three years the tardy action of the French government until the claims began to be with us a question of honor. The President had repeatedly urged our demands upon the attention of France, but had only received promises which had never been fulfilled. At the risk, therefore, of the charge of desiring to involve the two countries in a war, he believed we ought to assert our rights and maintain them, as the very safest method even to avoid a conflict. Mr. Buchanan ably supported this decidedly American view of the subject. In the course of some remarks upon the resolution, he paid a handsome compliment to France, declaring "that she was a brave and chivalrous nation, whose whole history proves that she is not to be intimidated even by Europe in arms." But said he, "France is wise as well warlike; and to inform her that our rights must be asserted, is to place her in the serious and solemn position of deciding whether she will, for the sake of a few millions of francs, resist the payment of a just debt by force." The matter, however, was postponed until the next Session of Congress, on account of the meeting of the French Chamber of Deputies.

Among the subjects of debate before the Senate at this session, was "Executive Patronage.". Charges of the most indiscriminate and wholesale removals from office had been brought against General Jackson, and Mr. Clay opened upon his ancient enemy with all the force and power which the batteries of his eloquence could furnish. Mr. Buchanan delivered his speech

upon the subject on the 17th of February, showing the power of removal from office was an indispensable requisite of the executive department of the government, without which it could not perform the duties imposed upon it by the Constitution.. After stating the plain import and meaning of the Constitution, Mr. uchanan observed:

"But, sir, if doubts could arise on the language of the Constitution itself, then it would become proper, for the purpose of ascertaining the true meaning of the instrument, to retort to arguments ab inconvenienti. The framers of the Constitution never intended it to mean what would be absurd, or what would defeat the very purposes which it was intended to accomplish. I think I can prove that to deprive the President of the power of removal would be fatal to the best interests of the country.

"And, first, the Senate cannot always be in session. I thank Heaven for that. We must separate and attend to our ordinary business. It is necessary for a healthy political Constitution that we should breathe the fresh and pure air of the country. The political excitement would rise too high if it were not cooled off in this manner. The American people never will consent and never ought to consent, that our sessions shall become perpetual. The framers of the Constitution never intended that this should be the case. But once establish the principle that the Senate must consent to removals, as well as to appointments, and this consequence is inevitable. A foreign minister in a remote part of the world is pursuing a course dangerous to the best interests, and ruinous to the character, of the country. He is disgracing us abroad and endangering the public peace. He has been intrusted with an important negotiation, and is betraying his trust. He has become corrupt, or is entirely incompetent. The information arrives at Washington, three or four days after the adjournment of Congress on the 3d of March. What is to be done? is the President entirely powerless until the succeeding December, when the Senate may meet again!