ted that year with enthusiastic demonstrations in
honor of the memory of Andrew Jackson, who had, on a memorable
occasion not unlike the present, sworn an emphatic oath that "the
Federal Union must and shall be preserved." There was also marked
satisfaction throughout the loyal States with Mr. Buchanan's
assurance of the peace of the District of Columbia on the ensuing
4th of March, on the occasion of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. He
did not himself "share in the serious apprehensions that were
entertained of disturbance" on that occasion, but he made this
declaration, which was received in the North with hearty applause:
"In any event, it will be my duty to preserve the peace, and this
duty shall be performed."

The change of sentiment towards Mr. Buchanan after the delivery of
the special message, was as marked in the North as it was in the
South, though in the opposite direction. It would not be true to
say that any thing like popularity attended the President in his
new position; but the change of feeling was so great that the
Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 23d of January, 1861, adopted
resolutions in which they declared that they regarded "with unmingled
satisfaction the determination evinced in the recent firm and
patriotic special message of the President of the United States to
amply and faithfully discharge his constitutional duty of enforcing
the laws, and preserving the integrity of the Union." The Legislature
"proffered to the President, through the Governor of the Commonwealth,
such aid in men and money as he may require to maintain the authority
of the National Government." These resolutions were forwarded to
Mr. Buchanan by Governor Andrew. They were only one of many
manifestations which the President received of approval of his
course.

The Massachusetts Legislature was radically Republican in both
branches, and even in making a reference to "men and money" as
requisite to maintain the Union, they had gone farther than the
public sentiment at that time approved. Coercive measures were
generally condemned. A few days after the action of the Legislature,
a large meeting of the people of Boston, held in Faneuil Hall,
declared that they "depended for the return of the seceding States,
and the permanent preservation of the Union, on conciliatory
counsels, and a sense of the benefits which the Constitution confers
on all the States, and not on military coercion." They declared
that they shrunk