be justified. Free public discussion and open action on all public affairs, are essential to the health, nay, to the very existence of popular liberty; and the day which finds the public mind reconciled to the secret movements of political parties, will find us far on our way to the slavery of despotism. If good men may meet in secret for good purposes, we can have no assurance that bad men, under the same plausible exterior, will not secretly sap the foundations of public virtue.

Whether I am in favor of their platform upon the question of domestic slavery, must depend upon what it is; or rather, whether they are in favor of mine. If their platform is to be regarded as including, upholding, or justifying such monstrosities as the "personal liberty bill," recently passed into a law by the Massachusetts Legislature over the veto of Governor Gardner, then I pronounce it treason-rank, unblushing, and brazen-deserving of public reprehension and condign punishment. If upon this subject their platform conforms to resolutions recently published, purporting to be the voice of the majority of the Convention assembled at Philadelphia, it is in substance the same upon which I have stood for years-upon which I did not enter without counting the consequences, and which I intend to relinquish only with life. I have not now these resolutions before me, but as I recollect them, I approve them in substance as sound national doctrine. I ignore no part of the federal Constitution, either in theory or in practice, to court the popular caprices of the moment, to gain public station, or to minister to the necessities or infirmities of those in power. Nor can I distrust the soundness of principles approved upon full consideration under a high sense of duty, because others may choose to adopt and embrace them.

I cannot believe that any good can be accomplished by making the birthplace a test of fidelity or merit. It does not accord, but is at war, with the genius of cur institutions. That abuses have been practised by the appointment of foreigners to places of trust, before sufficiently familiar with our Constitution, laws, and social system, or to which, from circumstances, they were unsuited, is probable. This, however, is in some respects common to native as well as naturalized citizens, and arises not from a defective system, but from its erroneous administration. It is in both respects the natural result of plac

ing in the hands of the incompetent the distribution of public patronage.

Upon the subject of naturalized citizens I have been governed by considerations of justice and duty, and have designed to observe the spirit of my country's Constitution. When members engaged in a steeple-chase, to see who should propose earliest, give most, and vote loudest, to feed suffering Ireland from the federal treasury a few years since, not finding any warrant for such proceedings, I voted against it, and let public clamor exhaust itself upon my head in denunciations. When I learned that the foreigner who had in good faith declared his intentions of citizenship, by setting his foot upon a foreign shore in case of shipwreck, without any intention of remaining abroad, lost the benefit of his proceedings, I introduced and procured the passage of a bill to redress the grievance. These principles have governed my public conduct and now guide my opinions. The Constitution, administered in its true spirit, is, in my judgment, sufficient for the protection of all, whether native or naturalized, and for the redress of all political evils which can be reached by human government.

I have the honor to be,

Your friend and servant,

D. S. DICKINSON.

CHARLES E. DYKE, Esq., editor Floridian and Journal, Tallahassee.

MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. DICKINSON.

*

*

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
LONDON, August 9, 1855.

*

*

*

*

*

MY DEAR SIR-I have received your note of the 15th ultimo, and have caused a very careful examination to be made of all the files in the time of Mr. Lawrence, and no such lease or paper as that mentioned in the order of Mr. Clark can be found. I look forward with peculiar pleasure to my return to the United States, which I trust may take place in the month of October. Although I cannot complain of the manner in which I have been treated here, yet I am tired of my position, which

has proved to be far more laborious and confining than I had anticipated.

With my kindest remembrance to Mrs. Dickinson, and the agreeable anticipation of meeting you both after my return, I remain, yours, sincerely,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

MR. DICKINSON TO MARY S. DICKINSON.

BINGHAMTON, September 30, 1855.

MY DEAR MARY-I was much pleased to receive your beautiful letter of the 22d of this month. I am glad your school pleases you, and that you are contented. I hope all your wishes and expectations may be realized. It cost me many painful emotions to consent to your going, and I never could have done so but that I was unwilling to deny you anything which you and your mother thought would be so beneficial to you. Now that you have entered upon it, I wish you to go forward, and I will do all in my power to make it both pleasing and profitable; but your success in school, like your success and happiness in all the affairs of life, must depend mainly upon yourself. Letters and ornamental branches are desirable; the first are necessary to the ordinary business and common respectability of life; but these are of little service without teachings in a school of your own. I mean a thorough self-discipline. All need it; some find it a more difficult task to accomplish than others, but it must be attained, and early youth is the only propitious period for its accomplishment. Deep, thorough reflection upon all moral duties is highly profitable, as it enables you to practise self-denial, a virtue which you will find necessary to call into requisition every day, in every department of life. It includes self-government and enables the judg ment to predominate over the will. It gives you a ready obedience and willing acquiescence to your parents and teachers, and others standing in such relation to you. It gives you a quiet firmness to resist the importunities of others, when your judgment tells you their requests should not be granted. In short, it will teach you that enjoyment consists more in the

frame of mind which accompanies you, than it does either in place, occupation, or association. Learn to enjoy yourself with yourself; to cultivate elevated tastes, domestic feelings and virtues, and to subdue all mental conflict with calm reflection. This will afford you hours, days and even years of pleasure, when a neglect of it must occasion many seasons of pain.

I shall have great and anxious solicitude for you, our last dear cherished child left under the parental care, and shall feel deeply the time you are separated from us.

Your mother, to the surprise of every one, except perhaps herself, came home in the night train about three o'clock this morning, quite well.

All desire much love to you and dear Lydia L.
Your affectionate father,

D. S. DICKINSON.

MR. DICKINSON TO MR CHASE.

BINGHAMTON, October 28, 1855.

MY DEAR GOVERNOR-I am such a political heretic in the estimation of many of your friends, that if I were to congratulate you upon your election they would question your orthodoxy, and I therefore think it more safe to omit it. In the Senate we were so far separated upon the leading questions that we had not ing to disturb our private friendship; and I recur with pleasure to the recollections of our official and social intercourse.

The immediate object of this note, is to introduce to your acquaintance, and crave your kind offices in behalf of my friend, J. Hunt, jr., of your State. His present political associations I do not know, but I commend him as a gentleman of character and attainments, and evidently worthy of your confidence and regard. Yours truly,

D. S. DICKINSON.

MR. DICKINSON TO MRS. COURTNEY.

BINGHAMTON, January 27, 1856.

MY DEAR LYDIA L.-I write for your mother and myself

too, as she is not quite as well as usual. She has "sleighed " the cold weather with good success, but is subject to attacks of industry in the hands, and this sometimes renders her sleepless, as it did last night. She has endured the coid unusually well, owing to much comfortable preparation for it, and going daily into the open air. I hope, as the weather moderates, she will improve still more.

We hope, my dear child, that you may be able before long to visit us. It seems a long and dreary time since you were bere. We are reconciled because you are gaining health; but this cold winter, like all else, will yield to the action and influences of time, and you can come home in the spring. In the mean time, let us all be patient. It is so long since I have seen Sam, that I presume (as your uncle John, when a little boy, said of his calf which had been out to pasture a few weeks) "he is twenty years old by this time."

Your mother has just told me that you were about to do what Job wished his enemy would. She desires you to lay the

scenery" in the Susquehanna and Chenango vallies, that you may describe our magnificent landscapes. I would suggest the commencement as follows: "It was in one of those beautifully clear, cold days, so peculiar to the northern climate, in the month of January, 18—, that a single person, in a sleigh, might have been seen passing down the valley of the Chenango, where it is lost in the classic vale of the Susquehanna, near the beautiful village of B. The air was filled with glittering particles, and the mass of snow which covered the earth, in reflecting the light, seemed like a carpet of silver inlaid with gold and diamonds. The horses might have been of a dark chestnut color, vying with each other in spirit and symmetry, and the clouds of vapor which issued from their distended nostrils floated gracefully away in the surrounding atmosphere. The vehicle might have been of a deep blue, with a box of fawn color, closely curtained and finished with an air of comfort approaching elegance and taste. The driver might have been nearly middle-aged, with a good-natured, rosy countenance, bespeaking a familiarity with the elements so peculiar to the laboring classes of the Northern states. The single occupant within might have been a lady between the ages of eighteen and fifty-three, enveloped in furs, and almost buried under a