private
virtues may have adorned his character, I imagine the unanimous voice of
his countrymen would unhesitatingly declare, that so utterly inefficient
a man never filled the presidential chair. He has been succeeded by Mr.
Buchanan, who was well known as the accredited Minister to the Court of
St. James's, and who also made himself ludicrously conspicuous as one of
the famous Ostend manifesto party. However, his talents are undoubted,
and his public career renders it probable that, warned by the failure of
his predecessor, his presidency will reflect more credit upon the
Republic than that of Mr. Pierce. Mr. B.'s inaugural address has been
published in this country, and is, in its way, a contradictory
curiosity. He urges, in diplomacy, "frankness and clearness;" while, to
his fellow-citizens, he offers some very wily diplomatic sentences.
Munroe doctrine and manifest destiny are not named; but they are
shadowed forth in language worthy of a Talleyrand. First, he glories in
his country having never extended its territory by the sword(?); he then
proceeds to say--what everybody says in anticipation of conquest,
annexation, or absorption--"Our past history forbids that, in future, we
should acquire territory, unless this be sanctioned by the laws of
justice and honour" (two very elastic laws among nations). "Acting on
this principle, no nation will have a right to interfere, or to
complain if, in the progress of events, we shall still further extend
our possessions." Leaving these frank and clear sentences to the
consideration of the reader, we return from the digression.

The crowd outside was very orderly, but by no means so numerous as I had
expected; I estimated them at 8000; but a friend who was with me, and
well versed in such matters, calculated the numbers at nearly 10,000,
but certainly, he said, not more. The penny Press, by way of doing
honour to their new ruler, boldly fixed the numbers at 40,000--that was
their bit of Buncombe. One cause, probably, of the crowd not being
greater, was the drizzling snow, which doubtlessly induced many to be
satisfied with seeing the procession pass along Pennsylvania Avenue.

I cannot help remarking here, how little some of their eminent men know
of England. A senator, of great and just reputation, came to me during
the ceremony, and said, "There is one thing which must strike you as
very remarkable, and that is, that we have no soldiers here to keep
order upon an occasion