James Buchanan: “Had I refused to adopt this precautionary measure, and evil consequences, which many good men at the time apprehended…”

The peace and order of the city itself and the security of the inauguration of the President elect, were objects of such vast importance to the whole country that I could not hesitate to adopt precautionary defensive measures.

The dispatch of Mr. Dallas being in the original, its return to the Department of State is requested.

The safety of the immense amount of public property in this city and that of the archives of the Government, in which all the States, and especially the new States in which the public lands are situated, have a deep interest.

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.