Buchanan From Russia: Czar "Nicholas mingles freely with his people.. slaves wholly unfit to self government" - Also Andrew Jackson
James Buchanan
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, March 3, 1833
Buchanan From Russia: Czar "Nicholas mingles freely with his people.. slaves wholly unfit to self government" - Also Andrew Jackson
ALS
A 3pp autograph letter signed by James Buchanan (1791-1868), then U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and future 15th U.S. President, as "James Buchanan" near the bottom of the third page. March 3, 1833. St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. Inscribed on both sides of bifold paper, and including a docketed integral address leaf also engrossed by Buchanan. With a handful of contemporaneous textual edits by Buchanan. The first page has one word, "although," that has likely been overwritten, and there is at least one instance of ink erosion. Expected wear includes flattened transmittal folds, isolated closed tears, and expert restoration to fragile areas. Overall toning, with isolated ink run, discoloration, and water stains mostly affecting central vertical folds. The integral address leaf has the remnants of a red wax seal and a philatelic hand-stamp, and shows evidence of possible previous mounting and isolated seal loss. Else very good. 7.625" x 9.75".
James Buchanan had been living in Russia for two years when he wrote this thoughtful, rather homesick letter to his friend Henry Buehler (1804-1859), a prominent Pennsylvania railroad executive and investor who was also a fellow state Democrat. Buchanan, who had served as U.S. Minister to Russia since mid-June 1832, expressed an urgent desire to return to the United States, citing not only the successful conclusion of his diplomatic assignment, but also his nostalgia for all things American. For, as Buchanan abundantly makes clear, there is nothing like travel abroad to put one's homeland into perspective. In this letter, Buchanan juxtaposes Russia with America: in the former place, an iron-gripped Czar Nicholas I imposed absolute monarchy on his abject subjects; in the Jacksonian United States, in contrast, republicanism, equality, and political freedoms flourished.
In part:
"I feel grateful to you for your kind wishes for my political promotion; though I am not disposed to have much faith in your felicitations, which were evidently dictated by the feelings of friendship. Thank God! my happiness does not consist in the pursuits of ambition. The public favors which I have enjoyed have been unsolicited by myself, and I accepted the station I now occupy only after the re-iterated solicitations of General Jackson. If opportunities of serving my country in office should present themselves I shall not decline them; if not I shall never seek them.
I shall not attempt to explain to you the causes, but I feel sensible I enjoy less popularity in my native state than in many others throughout the Union. I shall never hold any office which depends upon a warm, decided & general movement in my favor of the party in Pennsylvania to which I belong. Still I beg you to believe that this is not the language of disappointment or chagrin. Far from it. I thank Heaven I was born a Pennsylvanian, it is the only land on earth where I should choose to live, - where I hope to die. But enough of this.
No American can travel through Europe without becoming still more attached to his native land + those Institutions under which it has flourished. It is only with us that man can feel from his birth that he is equal to his fellow man. It is perhaps true that no people in Europe are yet prepared for Republican Institutions. This is what their statesmen contend. But what a compliment to us does this admission imply!
In Russia the great mass of the people are semi-barbarians & slaves wholly unfit to self government [sic]. It is fortunate for them that they have such an Emperor as their present sovereign; but the curse of despotism is that his son may be as great a tyrant as his father has been. Nicholas mingles freely with his people, is plain & yet dignified in his manners, possesses much energy & ab
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
James Buchanan
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, March 3, 1833
Buchanan From Russia: Czar "Nicholas mingles freely with his people.. slaves wholly unfit to self government" - Also Andrew Jackson
ALS
A 3pp autograph letter signed by James Buchanan (1791-1868), then U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and future 15th U.S. President, as "James Buchanan" near the bottom of the third page. March 3, 1833. St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. Inscribed on both sides of bifold paper, and including a docketed integral address leaf also engrossed by Buchanan. With a handful of contemporaneous textual edits by Buchanan. The first page has one word, "although," that has likely been overwritten, and there is at least one instance of ink erosion. Expected wear includes flattened transmittal folds, isolated closed tears, and expert restoration to fragile areas. Overall toning, with isolated ink run, discoloration, and water stains mostly affecting central vertical folds. The integral address leaf has the remnants of a red wax seal and a philatelic hand-stamp, and shows evidence of possible previous mounting and isolated seal loss. Else very good. 7.625" x 9.75".
James Buchanan had been living in Russia for two years when he wrote this thoughtful, rather homesick letter to his friend Henry Buehler (1804-1859), a prominent Pennsylvania railroad executive and investor who was also a fellow state Democrat. Buchanan, who had served as U.S. Minister to Russia since mid-June 1832, expressed an urgent desire to return to the United States, citing not only the successful conclusion of his diplomatic assignment, but also his nostalgia for all things American. For, as Buchanan abundantly makes clear, there is nothing like travel abroad to put one's homeland into perspective. In this letter, Buchanan juxtaposes Russia with America: in the former place, an iron-gripped Czar Nicholas I imposed absolute monarchy on his abject subjects; in the Jacksonian United States, in contrast, republicanism, equality, and political freedoms flourished.
In part:
"I feel grateful to you for your kind wishes for my political promotion; though I am not disposed to have much faith in your felicitations, which were evidently dictated by the feelings of friendship. Thank God! my happiness does not consist in the pursuits of ambition. The public favors which I have enjoyed have been unsolicited by myself, and I accepted the station I now occupy only after the re-iterated solicitations of General Jackson. If opportunities of serving my country in office should present themselves I shall not decline them; if not I shall never seek them.
I shall not attempt to explain to you the causes, but I feel sensible I enjoy less popularity in my native state than in many others throughout the Union. I shall never hold any office which depends upon a warm, decided & general movement in my favor of the party in Pennsylvania to which I belong. Still I beg you to believe that this is not the language of disappointment or chagrin. Far from it. I thank Heaven I was born a Pennsylvanian, it is the only land on earth where I should choose to live, - where I hope to die. But enough of this.
No American can travel through Europe without becoming still more attached to his native land + those Institutions under which it has flourished. It is only with us that man can feel from his birth that he is equal to his fellow man. It is perhaps true that no people in Europe are yet prepared for Republican Institutions. This is what their statesmen contend. But what a compliment to us does this admission imply!
In Russia the great mass of the people are semi-barbarians & slaves wholly unfit to self government [sic]. It is fortunate for them that they have such an Emperor as their present sovereign; but the curse of despotism is that his son may be as great a tyrant as his father has been. Nicholas mingles freely with his people, is plain & yet dignified in his manners, possesses much energy & ab
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
