EARLY MANHOOD-1851-1S57 77 



dent and of Douglas was so bitter that I did a thing for 

 which the only excuse was my youth: I held my right 

 hand by my side, walked by and refused to be presented. 



Next morning I was in the crowd at the east front of the 

 Capitol, and, at the time appointed, Mr. Buchanan came 

 forth and took the oath administered to him by the Chief 

 Justice, Roger Brooke Taney of Maryland. Though 

 Taney was very decrepit and feeble, I looked at him much 

 as a Spanish Protestant in the sixteenth century would 

 have looked at Torquemada; for, as Chief Justice, he 

 was understood to be in the forefront of those who would 

 fasten African slavery on the whole country; and this 

 yiew of him seemed justified when, two days after the 

 inauguration, he gave forth the Dred Scott decision, 

 which interpreted the Constitution in accordance with 

 the ultra pro-slavery theory of Calhoun. 



Having taken the oath, Mr. Buchanan delivered the in- 

 augural address, and it made a deep impression upon me. 

 I began to suspect then, and I fully believe now, that 

 he was sincere, as, indeed, were most of those whom 

 men of my way of thinking in those days attacked as 

 pro-slavery tools and ridiculed as " doughfaces. ' ' We 

 who had lived remote from the scene of action, and apart 

 from pressing responsibility, had not realized the dan- 

 ger of civil war and disunion. Mr. Buchanan, and men 

 like him, in Congress, constantly associating with South- 

 ern men, realized both these dangers. They honestly and 

 patriotically shrank from this horrible prospect; and so, 

 had we realized what was to come, would most of us have 

 done. I did not see this then, but looking back across 

 the abyss of years I distinctly see it now. The leaders 

 on both sides were honest and patriotic, and, as I firmly 

 believe, instruments of that "Power in the universe, not 

 ourselves, which makes for righteousness. " 



There was in Mr. Buchanan's inaugural address a tone 

 of deep earnestness. He declared that all his efforts 

 should be given to restore the Union, and to reestablish 

 it upon permanent foundations; besought his fellow-citi- 



