past sixty-two) and my inclinations. But whilst these are
the genuine sentiments of my heart, I do not think I ought to say
that in no imaginable state of circumstances would I consent to be
nominated as a candidate."

Mr. Buchanan was greatly exercised over the court costume which he
was to wear, and finally compromised by adopting a black evening
dress suit, with the addition of a small sword, which distinguished
him from the servants at the royal palace. He had always been
jealous of Governor Marcy, then Secretary of State, and instead of
addressing his despatches to the Department of State, as is customary
for foreign Ministers, he used to send them directly to the President.
It is said that General Pierce rather enjoyed seeing his chief
Cabinet officer thus snubbed, and that he used to answer Mr.
Buchanan's communications himself.

The proposition to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and to
admit Kansas and Nebraska as States, with or without slavery, as
their citizens might respectively elect, gave rise to exciting
debates. The North was antagonistic to the South, and the champions
of freedom looked defiantly at the defenders of slavery. One of
the most exciting scenes in the House of Representatives was between
Mr. John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Mr. Francis B. Cutting,
a New York lawyer, who had defeated Mr. James Brooks, who then was
editor of the _Express_.

Mr. Cutting was advocating the passage of the Senate bill, and
complaining that the friends of the Administration not only wanted
to consign it to the Committee of the Whole--that tomb of the
Capulets--but they had encouraged attacks in their organs upon him
and those who stood with him. Mr. Breckinridge interrupted him
while he was speaking, to ask if a remark made was personal to
himself, but Mr. Cutting said that it was not. Mr. Breckinridge,
interrupting Mr. Cutting a second time, said that while he did not
want to charge the gentleman from New York with having intentionally
played the part of an assassin, he had said, and he could not now
take it back, that the act, to all intents, was like throwing one
arm around it in friendship, and stabbing it with the other--to
kill the bill. As to a statement by the gentleman that in the hour
of his greatest need the "Hards" of New York had come to his
assistance, he could not understand it, and asked for an
explanation.

"I will give it," replied Mr. Cutting. "When, during the last