" Couvreur's French
transliteration
of the Chinese charac- ters for this sentence goes: "Wei t'ien cheng ts' oung ming cheu j , " Pound changed the Latin verbal regnant to the French noun regent, "ruler.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
.
.
a virtual invasion of the soil of the United States took place.
" On Dec 29, 1837, armed Canadians boarded the American steamer Caroline, set it afire, and headed it blazing for Niagara Falls.
The British government took responsibility and knighted the instiga?
tor.
Congress took to incendiary oratory.
War seemed to 100m.
Knowing we had no naval forces on the Great Lakes, Fillmore pleaded for good sense saying, "The best way to avoid a war with Great Britain is to show that we are prepared to meet her.
" And while other Congressmen "vapored and threatened," he said: "Reasonable prepara- tions for defense are better than gasconad- ing" [Fillmore, 17].
"Not content with words, Mr.
Fillmore on Feb.
25th, 1841, sought .
.
.
to provide for American duplica- tion of British Naval armaments on the lakes" [ibid.
, 18].
Eventually the first iron man?
of?
war, was built, which people ex?
pected to see sink at its launching.
Named the Wolverine, it set forth to engage the British; but the British, daunted by such a unsinkable monster, decided peace would be a better option.
Says Griffis: "The issue of the Caroline affair [guided by MF] was ere?
ditable to both nations.
The treaty .
.
.
created a precedent for the future, when war will be deemed barbarism.
I t dismantled every fort and dismounted every gun, Ameri- can and British, along a frontier of three thousand miles" [ibid.
].
58. Telegraph bill: In the years of struggle to get his invention patented in England and France, Morse came to Congress in 1842 for an appropriation of $30,000 to test his dis? covery on a forty~mile line between Washing- ton and Baltimore. Sneers and ridicule pre-
proved and he lived to undo T. 's work in 1870. (N. B. : Citizen Talleyrand of the 1st Republic, while serving Napoleon I, had helped confer upon Hortense the titles in the lines. )
47. "a sapphire . . . skeleton: Charlemagne [89:201], during the centuries after his death, grew into a mythic figure of enor? mous proportions. His accomplishments both real and imagined were behind the for? mation of the Holy Roman Empire. He was canonized in 1165 by the Antipope Pas? chal III. In 1215 his tomb was opened and his remains, including all the sacred relics, were transferred to a splendid shrine, where they were exhibited once every 6 years. His image and accomplishments were in Napo- leon 1'8 mind when he made himself emperor
in 1804.
48. Mme de Genlis: [Ill :6]. Felicite Duc? rest de Saint-Augin, marquise de SillefY, comtesse de Genlis, 1746? 1830, married Charles Brulart, a captain in the navy, who was guillotined with the Girondists in 1793. The comtesse became an emigre in 1792 but returned in 1800 to be well received by the consular court. She became famous as the author of a number of novels and books on education. "under the Empire, she wrote every other week in different periodicals, at the request of Napoleon himself' [Memoirs, I, 123]. Broglie says much about the com? tesse but mentions no paintings. He does say: "M. de Celles had married the daughter of General Vallence) who had married a daughter o f Mdme. de GenIis. Mdme de Cel1es' sister was married to Marshal Gerard, who had been made War Minister after the revolution of July. Mdme. de Genlis' other daughter, the Marquise de Laevestine, mar~ ried to a Belgian, had left a son, who had distinguished himself as one of the leaders of the Buonapartist party in France. It will be seen what great inflUence this relationship gave M. de Celles, through Mdme. de Genlis, with the Palais Royale, and through Marshal Gerard with the government. It was by these means that he intrigued and plotted, to se? cure the re-union of Belgium with
. . .
credited with the unification of Germany, an
accomplishment that made him believe he could defeat France. He was right at least in the Franco-Prussian War.
49.
Bismarck
: [ef. 25
above].
He is
50. Ivar Kreuger: 1880? 1932,
gineer and financial tycoon who came to the United States and set up construction com- panies and the firm of Kreuger and Toll. In 1913 he formed a match trust that expanded from steel into forests and mines. After WWI his empire became international and special- ized in fraud, which made him a giant of usurocrats. He was discovered and com- mitted suicide. The investigation showed he had bilked his investors of more than $1/2 billion.
51. Lorrimer's paper: George Horace Lori- mer, 1867? 1937, editor of the Saturday Eve? ning Post, president of Curtis Publishing Co. , and a neighbor of the Pounds at Wyncote. He lived 2 doors away and used to take a shortcut through their backyard. Lorimer would certainly think a crook like Kreuger a titan. Pound said: "Lorimer honestly didn't know that there ever had been a civilization"
[GK,89].
52. Edishu . . . : Pseudonym based on "Ed?
a Swedish
en?
? 670
103/735
103/735
671
vailed in the Congress. Said MF later: "I, however, advocated the bill, and though I could not say that the telegraph would do all its inventor had predicted . . . I thought it waS possible, and even probable that it might . . . and $30,000 was not much for the nation to pay on a contingency of this kind, and the bill was passed and became law on the 3rd of March, 1843" [Griffis, Fillmore, 26J.
59. Griffith: [78/481J.
60. ut delectet: [delectatJ : L, "for amusement. "
61. Mat Quay: Matthew Stanley Q. , 1833- 1904, lawyer, Civil War veteran, Pa. poli- tician; he became chairman of the Republi- can National Committee in 1888. As U. S. senator, 1887-1899, he faced serious charges of financial and political corruption, none of which seemed to go so far as the secret reading of Greek.
62. Mr. Beecher . . . Boston: [40:17J. Be- hind these lines lies the bizarre incident upon which the U. S. approached a state of war with Austria in 1849. Austrian refugees, led by one Louis Kossuth, fled to Turkey because of intolerable oppression. Kossuth mastered English and sent an address to the American people, which created "instant and sympathetic excitement because of its hope for liberty and justice. " In 1849 Presi- dent Taylor sent an envoy "to Austria and Hungary to get the real facts in the case. " An Austrian envoy didn't arrive until after Taylor's death, but as soon as Fillmore was inaugurated, the envoy sent an official pra-
test that accused the U. S. of sending a spy to Austria and, among other things, threatened war. Fillmore's answer was, "the Govern- ment of the United States is willing to take its chances and abide its destiny. " He also said that, if the president's agent of inquiry were treated as a spy, "instant reprisal" would result, "to be waged to the utmost exertion of the Republic military and na- val. " Fillmore sent a ship to Turkey to res- cue the fugitives; but when Kossuth got to the U. S. he turned out to be a flamboyant
can man, rather than one "to touch the m . , d heart of the thinking man . . . [orJ t o ' . e the men worth moving. " That did not include Henry Ward Beecher, for whom rabble-rousing was a favorite sport. He joined in the movement called "Kos- suthism," which Some aspirants to fame and power saw as a way to become the next president. Says Griffis: "When he lectured in Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, Mr. Beecher carried some rusty canon balls, alleged to be from Bunker Hill, into the pulpit. Other ministers went wild" [Fillmore, 77-84J.
63. Nara . . . : First permanant capital of Japan (710-784), Nara is an ancient cultural and religious center with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Says Griffis: "In 1854, the Japanese saw the first formal display of modern industries and inventions, by the seashore of a region which, in Nara days, was in their uncivilized 'far East. ''' And, "This was a thousand years after that first exhibi- tion in Japan of Greek, Persian, Hindoo, Korean and Chinese arts at Nara-and in a building erected A. D. 784 and still standing, the oldest wooden edifice in the world- which placed their island country at the head of all schools of art in Asia" [Fillmore, 85J.
64. Perry: [88:74J. On July 14, 1853 he presented his papers, induding a letter from President Millard Fillmore, to the emperor. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was concluded between Japan and the United States.
65. Sow-face: In 1944 (90 years after Per- ry's treaty) FDR was finishing his war against Japan: he is prob. intended by this epithet.
. . .
color. . . . It is a common superstition, grow- ing out of the colossal conceit of the average American, that Commodore Perry virtually created the New Japan. The scholar knows that the naval officer simply . . . set the in- terior machinery going" [ibid. , 95J.
67. Mr. Griffis: William Elliot Griffis, D. D. , L. H. D. , a pioneer educator in Japan (1870- 1874) and the author of such books as The Mikado's Empire, Brave Little Holland, Chi- na's Story, etc. He dated the preface to
Millard Fillmore January I, 1915.
68. Heaven made . . . rule: Couvreur gives
the Latin of the Chou King, Pt. III, Chap. II, sec. 2 [Les Annales de la Chine, 104J, thus: " A t coelum procreat acuto auditu acutoque visu (viras) qui regnant. " Couvreur's French is: "Aussi Ie ciel fait naitre des hommes d'une intelligence superieure et les charge de
diriger les autres. " In English we have, "Heaven caused men of superior intelligence to be born and charged them with the lead- ership of others. " Pound's sense is the line in the text.
69. cheu i: C, "intelligent men.
" Couvreur's French transliteration of the Chinese charac- ters for this sentence goes: "Wei t'ien cheng ts' oung ming cheu j , " Pound changed the Latin verbal regnant to the French noun regent, "ruler. "
[June 12, 1861J: "the brother of General Butler has arrived . . . and reports the whole loss of our troops at fourteen killed and forty-four wounded. This is so greatly below the former reports, which set down our loss at over one thousand, that it affords great relief' [Buchanan, II, 554J.
73. Buchanan: [34:84J. Three months ear- lier Buchanan had turned over the presi- dency to Lincoln.
74. Miss Lane: Harriet Lane was Buchanan's niece. He eventually made her an ornament of his household and of Washington society. Says Curtis: "To direct the education of this young girl, to form her religious and moral principles, to guard her against the tempta- tions that beset an impulsive temperament, and to develop her into the character of a true woman, became one of the chief objects of Mr. Buchanan's busy life" [Buchanan, I, 532J. Many letters ended as does the letter
of Stanton: "I beg you to present my com- pliments to Miss Lane"; another formula to end letters was "I hope Miss Lane is well," and sometimes Buchanan would end his let- ters thus: "P. S. Miss Lane desires to be kind- ly remembered" [ibid. , 557J.
75. Biddle for conscription: Nicholas B. [34:70; 37:43-54J. Buchanan described his own entrance ilfto public life in 1814 as a member of the House of Representatives in the state legislature of Pennsylvania. Then he had to face the fight over a conscription bill because an attack upon Philadelphia seemed likely. ? One plan, "reported in the [StateJ Senate by Mr. Nicholas Biddle," proposed a sort of lottery system. Because, as he said, "this law is calculated to be very unjust and very unequal in its effects," Buchanan was
against it [Buchanan, I, 8-9J .
76. A. J. to Buchanan: In 1824 B. was a member of the House of Representatives when the Adams-Jackson election was thrown to it and Adams won [88:91-92J. But the election was followed by charges of deals and corruption on all sides. After- wards, a friendly correspondence took place between B. and the general. One letter,
66. "the
Fillmore, the real and executive author of the Japan Expedition of 1852, liberated a great stored-up force in Asia, for the good of the world. He helped to bring before the American people a social and racial problem, that is destined to shake the world. The 'white man' must now descend from his self-exalted throne to consider the claims of the. intellectual equality of Asian men of
colossal
: Says
Griffis:
"Millard
. . .
71. Chase: Salmon P. C. , 1808-1873, long- time seeker of nomination for president. In 1861 he became Lincoln's secretary of the treasury; against the concerted resistance of southern politicians, who saw him, accu- rately, as an extreme abolitionist.
72. Stanton: Edward M. S. , 1814-1869, sec- retary of war under Lincoln and JoMson (1862-1868). Concerning the losses during the attack on Fort Monroe, he wrate
70. Hia caecra
acted in a manner blind to reason" (This sentence follows the one given from Cou- vreur in 68 above. ) The cluster says, in ef- fect: Because of Hsia's blindness to reason, Heaven, which wanted. hearing and seeing men to rule, caused that dynasty to fall.
agebat:
[53:44J
L, "Hia
? ? ? 672
103/735-736
103/736
673
dated the "Hermitage, April 8, 1826," says, concerning the complicated problem of the U. S. becoming involved in any Panama Treaty: "Let the primary interests of Europe be what they may, or let our situation vary as far as you please from that which we occupied when the immortal Washington re- tired from the councils of his country, I cannot see, for my part, how it follows that the primary interests of the United States will be safer in the hands of others than her own; or, in other words, that it can ever become necessary to form treaties, alliances, or any connections with the governments of South America, which may infringe upon the principles of equality among nations which is the basis of their independence, as well as all their international rights" [Bu- chanan, I, 47]. A vital principle that guided Jackson while he was president.
77. Foreign . . . '32: While minister to Rus- sia, B. wrote: "J have not yet learned to submit patiently to the drudgery of eti? quette. It is the most formal court in Europe and one must conform to its rules. Foreign ministers must drive a carriage and four with a postilion, and have a servant behind decked out in a more queer dress than our militia generals. This servant is called a 'chas- seur' and has in his chapeau a plume of feathers. To this plume, as it passes, the detachment of soldiers present arms, and individual soldiers take off their hats. How absurd all this appears to a republican! "
[Buchanan, 1,147].
78. "I cannot . . . : In a letter from st. Petersburg dated October 31, 1832, B. wrote: "I fear 1 cannot with truth defend the chastity of the Empress Catherine [the Great]. She was a disciple of the school of the French philosophers, and was therefore wholly destitute of religion-the surest safe? guard of female virtue" [Buchanan, J, 154].
79. Emperor . . . : To the secretary of state, B. wrote, August 7, 1833: "On Monday last. . . I had my audience of leave of the emperor [Nicholas I] . . . . The conduct and conversation of his majesty throughout the interview were highiy gratifying to myself. "
There follows a long account of what was said, in the middle of which we read: "The emperor afterwards observed that the En- glish nation had, in his opinion, been acting very unwisely. They had got tired of a con- stitution under which they had risen to a high degree of greatness, and which had se? cured them many blessings, and he feared they were now about to prostrate their most valuable institutions" [Buchanan, I, 214]. The talk was about the Reform Bill of 1832.
80. The French . . . : In the same letter, B. said he would return to the U. S. via Paris: "I said 1 had no particular desire to visit Paris . . . but it would be considered strange for an American to return from Europe without. . . . He said I was quite right in my intention to visit Paris. The French were a singular people. They were so fickle in their character, and had such a restless desire to disturb the peace of the world that they were always dangerous" [ibid. ].
81. Napoleon's taxe? . . . : On his way home B. stopped at various places in Prussia where the people yearned for the good old days of Napoleon: "The old maitre d' hotel at Ber- gheim, who has kept a public house for years . . . told me that the taxes were not half so heavy under Napoleon as they were at present" [ibid. , 219].
438]. B. was speaking in favor of a bill that would prevent the new Bank of the U. S. in Pa. from circulating notes of the old Bank of the United States, which no longer existed.
84. . English income tax: In 1844 B. wrote about a proposed new income tax: "The income tax of England has never been re- sorted to except in? cases of extreme necessi- ty. That tax at present . . . imposes seven pence per pound upon the annual rent of land and houses, upon the income from ti- tles. " There follows a detailed list. Then: "The income tax has always been odious in England; and it will prove to be so, if carried to anything like the same extent in this country" [ibid. , 527].
85. Vic's character: In 1853 (not 1852), as minister for Pierce to Great Britain, B. wrote a letter to his niece, Miss Lane, in which he described his presentation to the queen: "She has not many personal charms, but is gracious and dignified in her manners, and her character is without blemish" [Bucha-
tion, which since the recent legislation of Congress, is without any legitimate object. It is the evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union" [Buchanan, II, 190].
88. A grant from States: Later in his ad? dress, B. took a firm stand on another ques- tion of great controversy: "The Federal Con- stitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers; and the question whether this grant should be liber? ally or strictly construed, has, more or less, divided political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, 1 desire to state, at the commencement of my admi- nistration, that long experience and observa- tion have convinced me that a strict con- struction of the powers of the Government is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution" [Buchanan, II, 192]. Ironically, the emphasis of states rights became one of the specific causes of the Civil War, which loomed darkly ahead.
82. Buchanan . . . hRooshuns:
a series of frustrating negotiations, with ups and downs, to conclude a commercial treaty. On June 22, 1832 he wrote: "I am not with? out hope of succeeding in the negotiation"
[ibid. , 164]. On Dec. 20, 1832 he wrote: "I have now the pleasure of transmitting to you a treaty of commerce and navigation, which was signed on Tuedsay last . . . between the United States and Russia" [ibid. , 171].
83. bank system: In 1838, now a U. S. sena- tor, B. made a lengthy speech on the bank system, in which he referred to an earlier speech he had made: "It is true that at the special session I did endeavor to prove that the present banking system, under its exis~ ting regulations, was one of the very worst which the art of man could devise" [ibid. ,
86. Daily Telegraph: Problems about Cen? tral America, including Panama and the islands of the Caribbean, continued to raise hostile reactions in the British press. In 1856 B. wrote: "The Times is a mighty power in the state; and I have adopted means, through the agency of a friend, to prevent that jour? nal from committing itself. . . . The tone of the other journals has not been satisfactory; and the Daily Telegraph has been evidently bought over, and become hostile to the United States" [Buchanan, II, 119].
87. (his "Inaugural"): In his inaugural ad? dress in March 1857, B. devoted much of his text to hopes that the slavery question for new territories seeking to become states had finally been resolved and that, on the ques- tion, the passions of the nation could be quieted. The recently adopted Kansas? Nebraska Act provided that the question would be decided by the people of a state itself. B. appealed to all to let the issue be: "Let every Union-loving man, therefore, ex- ert his best influence to suppress this agita-
B. undertook
? -
nan, II,
lOa].
89. nec Templum
rem: L, "he
neither
. .
58. Telegraph bill: In the years of struggle to get his invention patented in England and France, Morse came to Congress in 1842 for an appropriation of $30,000 to test his dis? covery on a forty~mile line between Washing- ton and Baltimore. Sneers and ridicule pre-
proved and he lived to undo T. 's work in 1870. (N. B. : Citizen Talleyrand of the 1st Republic, while serving Napoleon I, had helped confer upon Hortense the titles in the lines. )
47. "a sapphire . . . skeleton: Charlemagne [89:201], during the centuries after his death, grew into a mythic figure of enor? mous proportions. His accomplishments both real and imagined were behind the for? mation of the Holy Roman Empire. He was canonized in 1165 by the Antipope Pas? chal III. In 1215 his tomb was opened and his remains, including all the sacred relics, were transferred to a splendid shrine, where they were exhibited once every 6 years. His image and accomplishments were in Napo- leon 1'8 mind when he made himself emperor
in 1804.
48. Mme de Genlis: [Ill :6]. Felicite Duc? rest de Saint-Augin, marquise de SillefY, comtesse de Genlis, 1746? 1830, married Charles Brulart, a captain in the navy, who was guillotined with the Girondists in 1793. The comtesse became an emigre in 1792 but returned in 1800 to be well received by the consular court. She became famous as the author of a number of novels and books on education. "under the Empire, she wrote every other week in different periodicals, at the request of Napoleon himself' [Memoirs, I, 123]. Broglie says much about the com? tesse but mentions no paintings. He does say: "M. de Celles had married the daughter of General Vallence) who had married a daughter o f Mdme. de GenIis. Mdme de Cel1es' sister was married to Marshal Gerard, who had been made War Minister after the revolution of July. Mdme. de Genlis' other daughter, the Marquise de Laevestine, mar~ ried to a Belgian, had left a son, who had distinguished himself as one of the leaders of the Buonapartist party in France. It will be seen what great inflUence this relationship gave M. de Celles, through Mdme. de Genlis, with the Palais Royale, and through Marshal Gerard with the government. It was by these means that he intrigued and plotted, to se? cure the re-union of Belgium with
. . .
credited with the unification of Germany, an
accomplishment that made him believe he could defeat France. He was right at least in the Franco-Prussian War.
49.
Bismarck
: [ef. 25
above].
He is
50. Ivar Kreuger: 1880? 1932,
gineer and financial tycoon who came to the United States and set up construction com- panies and the firm of Kreuger and Toll. In 1913 he formed a match trust that expanded from steel into forests and mines. After WWI his empire became international and special- ized in fraud, which made him a giant of usurocrats. He was discovered and com- mitted suicide. The investigation showed he had bilked his investors of more than $1/2 billion.
51. Lorrimer's paper: George Horace Lori- mer, 1867? 1937, editor of the Saturday Eve? ning Post, president of Curtis Publishing Co. , and a neighbor of the Pounds at Wyncote. He lived 2 doors away and used to take a shortcut through their backyard. Lorimer would certainly think a crook like Kreuger a titan. Pound said: "Lorimer honestly didn't know that there ever had been a civilization"
[GK,89].
52. Edishu . . . : Pseudonym based on "Ed?
a Swedish
en?
? 670
103/735
103/735
671
vailed in the Congress. Said MF later: "I, however, advocated the bill, and though I could not say that the telegraph would do all its inventor had predicted . . . I thought it waS possible, and even probable that it might . . . and $30,000 was not much for the nation to pay on a contingency of this kind, and the bill was passed and became law on the 3rd of March, 1843" [Griffis, Fillmore, 26J.
59. Griffith: [78/481J.
60. ut delectet: [delectatJ : L, "for amusement. "
61. Mat Quay: Matthew Stanley Q. , 1833- 1904, lawyer, Civil War veteran, Pa. poli- tician; he became chairman of the Republi- can National Committee in 1888. As U. S. senator, 1887-1899, he faced serious charges of financial and political corruption, none of which seemed to go so far as the secret reading of Greek.
62. Mr. Beecher . . . Boston: [40:17J. Be- hind these lines lies the bizarre incident upon which the U. S. approached a state of war with Austria in 1849. Austrian refugees, led by one Louis Kossuth, fled to Turkey because of intolerable oppression. Kossuth mastered English and sent an address to the American people, which created "instant and sympathetic excitement because of its hope for liberty and justice. " In 1849 Presi- dent Taylor sent an envoy "to Austria and Hungary to get the real facts in the case. " An Austrian envoy didn't arrive until after Taylor's death, but as soon as Fillmore was inaugurated, the envoy sent an official pra-
test that accused the U. S. of sending a spy to Austria and, among other things, threatened war. Fillmore's answer was, "the Govern- ment of the United States is willing to take its chances and abide its destiny. " He also said that, if the president's agent of inquiry were treated as a spy, "instant reprisal" would result, "to be waged to the utmost exertion of the Republic military and na- val. " Fillmore sent a ship to Turkey to res- cue the fugitives; but when Kossuth got to the U. S. he turned out to be a flamboyant
can man, rather than one "to touch the m . , d heart of the thinking man . . . [orJ t o ' . e the men worth moving. " That did not include Henry Ward Beecher, for whom rabble-rousing was a favorite sport. He joined in the movement called "Kos- suthism," which Some aspirants to fame and power saw as a way to become the next president. Says Griffis: "When he lectured in Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, Mr. Beecher carried some rusty canon balls, alleged to be from Bunker Hill, into the pulpit. Other ministers went wild" [Fillmore, 77-84J.
63. Nara . . . : First permanant capital of Japan (710-784), Nara is an ancient cultural and religious center with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Says Griffis: "In 1854, the Japanese saw the first formal display of modern industries and inventions, by the seashore of a region which, in Nara days, was in their uncivilized 'far East. ''' And, "This was a thousand years after that first exhibi- tion in Japan of Greek, Persian, Hindoo, Korean and Chinese arts at Nara-and in a building erected A. D. 784 and still standing, the oldest wooden edifice in the world- which placed their island country at the head of all schools of art in Asia" [Fillmore, 85J.
64. Perry: [88:74J. On July 14, 1853 he presented his papers, induding a letter from President Millard Fillmore, to the emperor. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was concluded between Japan and the United States.
65. Sow-face: In 1944 (90 years after Per- ry's treaty) FDR was finishing his war against Japan: he is prob. intended by this epithet.
. . .
color. . . . It is a common superstition, grow- ing out of the colossal conceit of the average American, that Commodore Perry virtually created the New Japan. The scholar knows that the naval officer simply . . . set the in- terior machinery going" [ibid. , 95J.
67. Mr. Griffis: William Elliot Griffis, D. D. , L. H. D. , a pioneer educator in Japan (1870- 1874) and the author of such books as The Mikado's Empire, Brave Little Holland, Chi- na's Story, etc. He dated the preface to
Millard Fillmore January I, 1915.
68. Heaven made . . . rule: Couvreur gives
the Latin of the Chou King, Pt. III, Chap. II, sec. 2 [Les Annales de la Chine, 104J, thus: " A t coelum procreat acuto auditu acutoque visu (viras) qui regnant. " Couvreur's French is: "Aussi Ie ciel fait naitre des hommes d'une intelligence superieure et les charge de
diriger les autres. " In English we have, "Heaven caused men of superior intelligence to be born and charged them with the lead- ership of others. " Pound's sense is the line in the text.
69. cheu i: C, "intelligent men.
" Couvreur's French transliteration of the Chinese charac- ters for this sentence goes: "Wei t'ien cheng ts' oung ming cheu j , " Pound changed the Latin verbal regnant to the French noun regent, "ruler. "
[June 12, 1861J: "the brother of General Butler has arrived . . . and reports the whole loss of our troops at fourteen killed and forty-four wounded. This is so greatly below the former reports, which set down our loss at over one thousand, that it affords great relief' [Buchanan, II, 554J.
73. Buchanan: [34:84J. Three months ear- lier Buchanan had turned over the presi- dency to Lincoln.
74. Miss Lane: Harriet Lane was Buchanan's niece. He eventually made her an ornament of his household and of Washington society. Says Curtis: "To direct the education of this young girl, to form her religious and moral principles, to guard her against the tempta- tions that beset an impulsive temperament, and to develop her into the character of a true woman, became one of the chief objects of Mr. Buchanan's busy life" [Buchanan, I, 532J. Many letters ended as does the letter
of Stanton: "I beg you to present my com- pliments to Miss Lane"; another formula to end letters was "I hope Miss Lane is well," and sometimes Buchanan would end his let- ters thus: "P. S. Miss Lane desires to be kind- ly remembered" [ibid. , 557J.
75. Biddle for conscription: Nicholas B. [34:70; 37:43-54J. Buchanan described his own entrance ilfto public life in 1814 as a member of the House of Representatives in the state legislature of Pennsylvania. Then he had to face the fight over a conscription bill because an attack upon Philadelphia seemed likely. ? One plan, "reported in the [StateJ Senate by Mr. Nicholas Biddle," proposed a sort of lottery system. Because, as he said, "this law is calculated to be very unjust and very unequal in its effects," Buchanan was
against it [Buchanan, I, 8-9J .
76. A. J. to Buchanan: In 1824 B. was a member of the House of Representatives when the Adams-Jackson election was thrown to it and Adams won [88:91-92J. But the election was followed by charges of deals and corruption on all sides. After- wards, a friendly correspondence took place between B. and the general. One letter,
66. "the
Fillmore, the real and executive author of the Japan Expedition of 1852, liberated a great stored-up force in Asia, for the good of the world. He helped to bring before the American people a social and racial problem, that is destined to shake the world. The 'white man' must now descend from his self-exalted throne to consider the claims of the. intellectual equality of Asian men of
colossal
: Says
Griffis:
"Millard
. . .
71. Chase: Salmon P. C. , 1808-1873, long- time seeker of nomination for president. In 1861 he became Lincoln's secretary of the treasury; against the concerted resistance of southern politicians, who saw him, accu- rately, as an extreme abolitionist.
72. Stanton: Edward M. S. , 1814-1869, sec- retary of war under Lincoln and JoMson (1862-1868). Concerning the losses during the attack on Fort Monroe, he wrate
70. Hia caecra
acted in a manner blind to reason" (This sentence follows the one given from Cou- vreur in 68 above. ) The cluster says, in ef- fect: Because of Hsia's blindness to reason, Heaven, which wanted. hearing and seeing men to rule, caused that dynasty to fall.
agebat:
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L, "Hia
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103/735-736
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dated the "Hermitage, April 8, 1826," says, concerning the complicated problem of the U. S. becoming involved in any Panama Treaty: "Let the primary interests of Europe be what they may, or let our situation vary as far as you please from that which we occupied when the immortal Washington re- tired from the councils of his country, I cannot see, for my part, how it follows that the primary interests of the United States will be safer in the hands of others than her own; or, in other words, that it can ever become necessary to form treaties, alliances, or any connections with the governments of South America, which may infringe upon the principles of equality among nations which is the basis of their independence, as well as all their international rights" [Bu- chanan, I, 47]. A vital principle that guided Jackson while he was president.
77. Foreign . . . '32: While minister to Rus- sia, B. wrote: "J have not yet learned to submit patiently to the drudgery of eti? quette. It is the most formal court in Europe and one must conform to its rules. Foreign ministers must drive a carriage and four with a postilion, and have a servant behind decked out in a more queer dress than our militia generals. This servant is called a 'chas- seur' and has in his chapeau a plume of feathers. To this plume, as it passes, the detachment of soldiers present arms, and individual soldiers take off their hats. How absurd all this appears to a republican! "
[Buchanan, 1,147].
78. "I cannot . . . : In a letter from st. Petersburg dated October 31, 1832, B. wrote: "I fear 1 cannot with truth defend the chastity of the Empress Catherine [the Great]. She was a disciple of the school of the French philosophers, and was therefore wholly destitute of religion-the surest safe? guard of female virtue" [Buchanan, J, 154].
79. Emperor . . . : To the secretary of state, B. wrote, August 7, 1833: "On Monday last. . . I had my audience of leave of the emperor [Nicholas I] . . . . The conduct and conversation of his majesty throughout the interview were highiy gratifying to myself. "
There follows a long account of what was said, in the middle of which we read: "The emperor afterwards observed that the En- glish nation had, in his opinion, been acting very unwisely. They had got tired of a con- stitution under which they had risen to a high degree of greatness, and which had se? cured them many blessings, and he feared they were now about to prostrate their most valuable institutions" [Buchanan, I, 214]. The talk was about the Reform Bill of 1832.
80. The French . . . : In the same letter, B. said he would return to the U. S. via Paris: "I said 1 had no particular desire to visit Paris . . . but it would be considered strange for an American to return from Europe without. . . . He said I was quite right in my intention to visit Paris. The French were a singular people. They were so fickle in their character, and had such a restless desire to disturb the peace of the world that they were always dangerous" [ibid. ].
81. Napoleon's taxe? . . . : On his way home B. stopped at various places in Prussia where the people yearned for the good old days of Napoleon: "The old maitre d' hotel at Ber- gheim, who has kept a public house for years . . . told me that the taxes were not half so heavy under Napoleon as they were at present" [ibid. , 219].
438]. B. was speaking in favor of a bill that would prevent the new Bank of the U. S. in Pa. from circulating notes of the old Bank of the United States, which no longer existed.
84. . English income tax: In 1844 B. wrote about a proposed new income tax: "The income tax of England has never been re- sorted to except in? cases of extreme necessi- ty. That tax at present . . . imposes seven pence per pound upon the annual rent of land and houses, upon the income from ti- tles. " There follows a detailed list. Then: "The income tax has always been odious in England; and it will prove to be so, if carried to anything like the same extent in this country" [ibid. , 527].
85. Vic's character: In 1853 (not 1852), as minister for Pierce to Great Britain, B. wrote a letter to his niece, Miss Lane, in which he described his presentation to the queen: "She has not many personal charms, but is gracious and dignified in her manners, and her character is without blemish" [Bucha-
tion, which since the recent legislation of Congress, is without any legitimate object. It is the evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union" [Buchanan, II, 190].
88. A grant from States: Later in his ad? dress, B. took a firm stand on another ques- tion of great controversy: "The Federal Con- stitution is a grant from the States to Congress of certain specific powers; and the question whether this grant should be liber? ally or strictly construed, has, more or less, divided political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, 1 desire to state, at the commencement of my admi- nistration, that long experience and observa- tion have convinced me that a strict con- struction of the powers of the Government is the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution" [Buchanan, II, 192]. Ironically, the emphasis of states rights became one of the specific causes of the Civil War, which loomed darkly ahead.
82. Buchanan . . . hRooshuns:
a series of frustrating negotiations, with ups and downs, to conclude a commercial treaty. On June 22, 1832 he wrote: "I am not with? out hope of succeeding in the negotiation"
[ibid. , 164]. On Dec. 20, 1832 he wrote: "I have now the pleasure of transmitting to you a treaty of commerce and navigation, which was signed on Tuedsay last . . . between the United States and Russia" [ibid. , 171].
83. bank system: In 1838, now a U. S. sena- tor, B. made a lengthy speech on the bank system, in which he referred to an earlier speech he had made: "It is true that at the special session I did endeavor to prove that the present banking system, under its exis~ ting regulations, was one of the very worst which the art of man could devise" [ibid. ,
86. Daily Telegraph: Problems about Cen? tral America, including Panama and the islands of the Caribbean, continued to raise hostile reactions in the British press. In 1856 B. wrote: "The Times is a mighty power in the state; and I have adopted means, through the agency of a friend, to prevent that jour? nal from committing itself. . . . The tone of the other journals has not been satisfactory; and the Daily Telegraph has been evidently bought over, and become hostile to the United States" [Buchanan, II, 119].
87. (his "Inaugural"): In his inaugural ad? dress in March 1857, B. devoted much of his text to hopes that the slavery question for new territories seeking to become states had finally been resolved and that, on the ques- tion, the passions of the nation could be quieted. The recently adopted Kansas? Nebraska Act provided that the question would be decided by the people of a state itself. B. appealed to all to let the issue be: "Let every Union-loving man, therefore, ex- ert his best influence to suppress this agita-
B. undertook
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nan, II,
lOa].
89. nec Templum
rem: L, "he
neither
. .
