had doubtless been of great service to us, and their appeals for aid almost goaded the people to frenzy, but it was entirely due to the calm judgment and splendid executive ability of George Washington that we did not rush in against the English nation, who were "cordially hated" on this side of the ocean after our struggles with them.

It is difficult sometimes to avoid the shoals that foreign representatives may plant in the way. At the time Kossuth was here with his retinue he called upon Mr. Webster at the State Department, and requested an interview or an introduction. Mr. Webster came to me and said:

"Kossuth has called at the Department and desires an introduction."

I knew Kossuth was not a statesman; he depended entirely upon his oratory. "If he desires simply an introduction," I said to Webster, "I will see him, but if he wants to make a speech to me, I must most respectfully decline to see him."

"He has promised me not to make a speech," replied Webster.

"Very well, then," I said, "I will see him."

The next day Kossuth appeared with a brilliant retinue, and, on being introduced, instantly commenced a lengthy speech. When he had finished I briefly stated that I had misunderstood the object of his interview at first; but I most decidedly could not and would not interfere in the affairs of a foreign nation.1

From this point of view, I think our dealings with Spain in reference to Cuba have been the safest that could be adopted. It may take a few years, but in the end, with the encouragement derived from the free institutions of the United States, Cuba will either be free from Spanish rule or be annexed to America.

[Mr. Fillmore's views were sought on the desirable length of the Presidential term, and related topics:]

I. See President Fillmore's remarks to Kossuth, December 31, 1851, Fillmore papers, vol. I, p. 426.

It was degrading [he said] that high officials should use their official positions as a kind of commercial business, out of which to extract large incomes. He charged most of the corruption that now exists to the elective system. If a man attended a convention and was nominated for an elector, he was pledged beforehand to give his vote for a certain man only, and he could not do otherwise.

Now, I remember [said Mr. Fillmore] when it was proposed to abolish the present electoral system altogether and leave the election of President to the senior members of the United States Senate. Of course, no one would have known beforehand who was to be elected, and his political color would not be known until afterwards, thus saving the country endless excitement and preventing that interruption to business and commercial interests that sometimes occurs. Although the citizens repelled the idea, because every man believed to have in himself the right by birth of an expression of opinion on this subject, there was considerably more wisdom in the proposition than was generally seen.

I would, however, prefer that the spirit of the Constitution be adhered to. Washington and Lincoln lived in exceptional times, and I would rather see a precedent of only one term established. That term I would make six years instead of four, as now, which would enable the successful candidate to entirely master the duties of the office, and would extend by one-half the periods between which these interruptions occur to the country.

But I would go further in the way of revising the Constitution. With the view of preventing this trafficing while in office, in order to provide for the days that are to follow an exit from the White House, I would pension the outgoing President by permitting him to draw an annual amount equal to the half of his salary while in office, this to continue as long as he lives.

It is a national disgrace that our Presidents, after having occupied the highest position in the country, should be cast adrift, and, perhaps, be compelled to keep a corner grocery

for subsistence. We make a bargain with our Supreme Court Judges, and agree that after the expiration of twenty years' service in the Appellate Court, if they shall be seventy years of age, we will give them a pension. The Lord High Chancellor of England, when he goes out of office, receives a handsome pension to compensate him for the loss of his profession, which he cannot follow afterwards. But we elect a man to the Presidency, expect him to be honest, to give up a lucrative profession, perhaps, and after we have done with him we let him go into seclusion and perhaps poverty. See the case of the late Mrs. Lincoln.

I liked my profession and should have been glad to continue it after my retirement from the Presidency, but I couldn't do so because my colleagues at the bar would say, and quite naturally, "Here, you have been to the pinnacle and ought to be content." In that way I entirely agree with the increase of $25,000 a year, to General Grant's income, because his $50,000, considering the constantly increasing expenses of entertainment, are not worth more now than the $25,000 a year paid to Washington and others.

[Mr. Fillmore was asked to suggest a desirable candidate for Chief Justice of the United States:]

Conkling has been prominently spoken of, but it has come to be considered a political appointment, and he who has the most friends may get it. It is easy to see, however, that this is a position but few are competent to fill. He who has it should be a lawyer, who should have no business outside of that pertaining to his office; he should abandon all his private practice, so as to be perfectly free and untrammelled, and all political considerations must be excluded, before a consistent, upright and impartial performance of the duties can be expected. His reputation must be pure or he cannot command the respect of the Bar, and of the Associate Judges.

So far as I have any choice I would nominate Judge

Curtiss of Massachusetts. His legal and forensic abilities are equal to those of any lawyer in the land; he is brilliant in argument and a jurist whom every one respects. The trouble with him is, I think, that he has so large and remunerative a practice, and would decline to lose it for the sake of the honor of the Chief Justiceship. I appointed him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, but he resigned for that reason.

1. Benjamin Robbins Curtiss; in 1851 he was a member of the Lower House of the Massachusetts Legislature when President Fillmore appointed him one of the associate justices of the United States Supreme Court. He continued on the Supreme Court bench till 1857. In the famous Dred Scott case Justice Curtiss dissented from his associates, and in a powerful argument upheld the right of Congress to prohibit slavery, and disagreed with the majority of the judges in their dictum that "a person of African descent cannot be a citizen of the United States." His dissenting opinion found strong approval in the Northern States.

ADDRESS AT THE

THIRD INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION IN BUFFALO

At the third "International Industrial Exhibition" held in Buffalo, October 1, 1873, the opening address was made by Mr. Fillmore. It was his last appearance in any public capacity. His address follows:

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: We have met to dedicate this temple to the Goddess of Industry and especially to the patron of the mechanic arts, and I congratulate you most sincerely upon the fine display of your exhibition. I have wandered through the mazes of beautiful articles which are displayed to the admiring gaze of the multitudes congregated here tonight, and I am happy to see that your exhibition is truly international. Here I see commingling in friendly competition the subjects of the Canadian Dominion with the citizens of the United States. And why should not this be so? A noble river and magnificent lakes separate our territories, and different governments rule over our respective countries; nevertheless we are substantially one people; speaking the same language, having the same laws, and professing the same religion: and if we are not in fact, we should be commercially, one.

But I make no predictions on this subject, and indeed I have no solicitude, but I must say if new territory is to be annexed, I greatly prefer the Anglo-Saxon races who have

1. Here printed from the original manuscript in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society.