James Buchanan: “No nation in the tide of time has ever presented a spectacle of greater material prosperity than we have done until…”

There is but one mode left of settling the dispute, and that is by submitting it to the arbitration of some friendly and impartial power.

Before accepting this proposition I have thought it right to take the advice of the Senate.

I submit, therefore, the expediency of the passage of a resolution authorizing the exchange of ratifications at such time as may be convenient, the limitations of the ninth article to the contrary notwithstanding.

Had I refused to adopt this precautionary measure, and evil consequences, which many good men at the time apprehended, had followed, I should never have forgiven myself.