Writes Doug Ritter:
10:23 am on July 14, 2010Not to pile on over the Buchanan thing, but I’m rethinking my admiration for him, however slight it was (after all, he was a President) after reading his proclamation at the end of the Utah War:
PROCLAMATION ON THE REBELLION IN UTAH
“…Now, therefore I, James Buchanan, President of the United States of America, have thought proper to issue this, my Proclamation, enjoining upon all public officers in the Territory of Utah to be diligent and faithful, to the full extent of the power, in the execution of the laws; commanding all citizens of the United States in the said Territory to aid and assist the officers in the performance of their duties; offering the inhabitants of Utah, who shall submit to the laws, a free pardon for seditions and treasons heretofore by them committed; warning those who shall persist, after notice of this proclamation, in the present rebellion against the United States, that they must expect no further leniency, but look to be rigorously dealt with according to their desserts; and declaring that the military forces now in Utah, and hereafter to be sent there, will not be withdrawn until the inhabitants of that Territory shall manifest a proper sense of the duty which they owe to this government.”
James Buchanan April 6, 1858
Yikes! “proper sense of the duty which they owe to this government”? Thanks, btw, as always, for making me think!
