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1 James Buchanan, His Doctrines and Policy as Exhibited by Himself and Friends 1815

handle is hein.trials/addn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: JAMES BUCHANAN HIS DOCTRINES AND POLICY &S EXHIBITED BY HIMSELF AND FRIENDS. MR. BUCHANAN AS A FEDEIALIST. AN ORATION, DICLIVERED ON TUEz 4TH OF JULY 1815, BEFORE TUE WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF LANCASTER. BY JAMES BUCHANAN. History of ie Revobtion. ThIRTY-NWE years ago, upon this day, we were declared an independent people. At that time the Continental Congress burst asunder the chains which bound them to Great Britain, and resolved to be free. or to perish in the attempt. Upon that day, they presented to the world a spectacle of wisdom and nrmules which has never been excelled. To make a proper estimate of their conduct, we must take into view, the then situation of this coun- ry, compared with that of our enemy. On the one tide, the armies of Great Britain were numerous and veteran: they were led by commanders who had acquired military reputation in every clime; they were supported and furnished with every implement of war by a nation whose wealth has, upon differ- eat occasions, purchased the services of all the crowned heads in Europe. On the other side, our armies were small and unacquainted with military discipline : our officers were destitute of experience; and we were so miserably poor, that our brave soldiers were not more than half clothed, and their winter marches, over the frosty ground which they were defending, could be tracked by the blood that flowed from their naked feet. But even these were not the only disadvantages under which we labored, Whilst our enemy invaded us from without, the torch of discord and of treasou was lighted up within, when independence was de- clared, the mother country had a powerful party throughout all the middle States, and many adherents in every other part of the Union. Dreadful, therefore, was the responsibility of that Congress. Had not victory carried their banners, their names would have been cursed by the people of this country, as the promoters of a destructive civil war, whilst their blood would have flowed on the scaffold as a sacrifice to appease the spirit of British vengeance. In this awful situation, whilst the dark cloud of destruction appeared ready to burst upon them, they declared to the world our In- dependence. They thought that, One day, one hour of virtuous liberty, Was worth a whole eternity of bondage. Everlastinglbonor to their names! The gratitude of a free people will forever hallow their memo-y. It is not my intention, at this time, to give you a narrative of those glorious events of the revolution- ary war, which led to the recogniion of our Inde- endence by Great Britain and the world. They have been the subject of so miny orations, and of such general interest, thtt they are familiar to every mind. The present oratiou shall contain a short hl- torical sketch of the most prominent action of the party now in power in this country, and their conse- quences ; and also an inquiry concerning the course which sound policy dictates that the government of the United States should pursue in future. The impor- tance of those subjects, although not strictly con. nected with the celebration of this day, will, I trust, be their apology to efery mind. Mfr. Buchan?i attacks the )einocracq. There was a powerful f,,tia in the United States, opposed to the adoptloa of the Federal Constitutior. The individuals of which it was composed were called anti federalists, and were the founders of the Democratic Party. They gloried in setting them- selves in array against our present admirable form of, government. The authors of this opposition were chiefly )Demagogue, who might have risen to the head of a state laction, but who If±lt consci()u6 that their talents would he e.lipsed, when the mii. naries of the United States should be collected around the Generl Governmont. To gratifv tbeir ambition, tliey wished that th country should con- tinue divided into a number of retty state sovereign- ties without any efficient govcrunnort for their con- trol. This they desired, although they had the ev- ample of ancient Greece before their eyes. and w4-11 knew the clashing interests of the States and their niti- tual jealousies, kept alive by alliances with differeut foreign nations, would have inade this country a per- petual theatre of contention and c'-,) war, until it had fled for refuge into the arms of d ltisnm. They therefore sounded the alarm through. it the Union against the Federal Constitution. They predicled ruin to the State governments and to the liberties of the people, from the powers given to the general government. By these means they succeeded in alarming the fears of many good men, and Inducing them to believe that goverument, which is now the palladium of their safety, would be the instru- ment of their destruction. Notwithstanding their desperate efforts the Constitution was ad opted, and Washington was elected President. It might have been sup posed that these factionaries would have been awed into silence by his wisdom

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