CHAP. VI. December 29th, therefore (it is scarcely too strong to say), terminated the real Administration of James Buchanan, and began what may be appropriately called the régime of the Cabinet.

1861.

It is true that he still continued to affix his official signature and draw his official salary; but the most that can be claimed for his rulership is that he performed the function defined by the French historian Thiers in his famous constitutional maxim of European monarchies: "The king reigns; he does not govern." We look in vain through the remainder of Mr. Buchanan's term for positive affirmative Executive acts. He simply assents to or refuses what is proposed by his ministers, and every strong manifestation of national authority seems to have been one which they did not permit him to prevent. The temper of his mind and purpose is accurately outlined in his own language in a special message which he transmitted to Congress on the 8th of January, and which was in its entirety little else than a lamentation over the woes and dangers of the country, and a despairing cry, exhorting Congress to call upon the people to preserve the Union, apparently forgetting that that was the precise duty for which the people had elected him President, and which duty he had specifically sworn to perform:

The dangerous and hostile attitude of the States towards each other has already far transcended and cast in the shade the ordinary Executive duties already provided for by law, and has assumed such vast and alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely above and beyond Executive control. The fact cannot be disguised that we are in the midst of a great revolution. In all its various bearings, therefore, I commend the question

to Congress, as the only human tribunal, under Providence, CHAP. VI. possessing the power to meet the existing emergency. To them, exclusively, belongs the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution; and they alone possess the power to remove grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union to this distracted country. On them, and on them alone, rests the responsibility. . . I therefore appeal through you to the people of the country to declare in their might that the Union must and shall be preserved by all constitutional means. . . In conclusion it may be permitted to me to remark that I have often warned my countrymen of the dangers which now surround us. This may be the last time I shall refer to the subject officially.

This is no longer the potential voice of a President of the United States administering government, but the cry of a bewildered functionary who has lost command, confidence, courage, and is even almost deserted by hope.

Buchanan, Message, Jan. 8, 1861. "Globe,"

Jan. 9, 1861, p. 295.

"Opinions of the Attorneys

Most radical of all the changes effected by these developments was that wrought in Jeremiah S. Black, Secretary of State. No one can read his famous opinion on coercion, given to sustain the President's annual message, without realizing the profound influence under which the conspirators controlled his legal reasoning and his official utterance at the date of November 20, 1860. But General" on the retirement of Mr. Cass, his elevation to the Secretaryship of State appears to have given him wider and truer views. Growing with his increasing national responsibilities he now, in the Sumter crisis, seems to have risen to genuine leadership.

On Sunday morning, December 30, convinced of the President's intention to adhere to his submitted

Vol. IX., pp. 517 et

seq.

CHAP. VI. reply to the commissioners, Mr. Black convened the Black, "Es- Union section of the Cabinet, and announcing to Speeches," them his inability to sustain further the President's

says and

p. 14.

contemplated action, declared his intention to resign, in which resolve he was also joined by Mr. Stanton. After due discussion and reflection, Mr. Toucey carried the information of this threatened defection to the President. Mr. Buchanan's courage utterly broke down before the prospect of finding himself alone in face of the political complications which came crowding upon him. He at once sent for Mr. Black; and after a confidential interview, the details of which have never been revealed, he gave the objectionable draft of his reply to the Secretary of State, with liberty to make all changes and amendments which in his 14 and 17. opinion might be necessary. It was the President's virtual abdication.

Ibid., pp.

Mr. Black hurried to the office of the AttorneyGeneral, and there in the presence of Mr. Stanton, and doubtless with his advice and suggestion, wrote out a detailed and methodical memorandum, covering the points at variance. It is a strong and patriotic paper, and had it been adopted by the Executive as the key-note of his annual message, and enforced promptly by the army and navy, the rebellion might never have reached its final proportions.

It not only deprecated any expression of regret that the commissioners should suspend negotiations, but roundly denied the right of South Carolina to send any such officials or agents. stated that the Charleston forts belonged to the Government, and could not be made the subject

It