BUCHANAN, JAMES, President. Autograph letter signed in full to O. Vincent Coffin, Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 13 February 1863. One page, 4to, integral blank, the former President, blamed by many for having contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, declines to speak on the subject of the war: "I have received your kind note as President of the Young Men's Christian Association of Brooklyn, inquiring whether I could be induced to deliver an address in your City 'on the affairs on our weary & war worn country.' Were I convinced that such an address could at the present moment, be productive of good, I should more willingly return you an affirmative answer. I cannot, however, indulge such a hope. With my sincerest wishes for the success & usefulness of your excellent Institution...."

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BUCHANAN, JAMES, President. Autograph letter signed in full to O. Vincent Coffin, Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 13 February 1863. One page, 4to, integral blank, the former President, blamed by many for having contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, declines to speak on the subject of the war: "I have received your kind note as President of the Young Men's Christian Association of Brooklyn, inquiring whether I could be induced to deliver an address in your City 'on the affairs on our weary & war worn country.' Were I convinced that such an address could at the present moment, be productive of good, I should more willingly return you an affirmative answer. I cannot, however, indulge such a hope. With my sincerest wishes for the success & usefulness of your excellent Institution...."