.H5S 
 
 Copy 
 
 2 
 
t ffy* THE 
 
 
 OF 
 
 [EN. FRANK. PIERCE 
 
 > THE GRANITE STATESMAN: 
 
 W1TII A 
 
 BOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. WILLIAM KUFTJS KING, 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY HERMITAGE 
 
 TENTH THOUSAXD. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY CORNISH, LAMPORT & CO., 
 
 No. 8 PARK PLACE. 
 
 1852. 
 
 > 
 
Mb 
 
 c 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1S52, by 
 
 CORNISH, LAMPORT & CO., J 
 
 in the Clerk's Office, of the District Court, for the Southern District of 
 
 New- York. 
 
 
 E. 0. Jenkins, Printer, 
 114 Nassau Street. 
 
 i 
 
Among the visitors here, who can 
 m flash m sunlight to break the ir 
 ill, mistJ, in-do/Sr day, was none ot 
 jmocratrc candidate for the Preside 
 
 General Pierce. 
 
 A letter from the Crawford IIouso, White Moun- 
 uns, to the N. Y. Evening Post, says : 
 Among the visitors hero, who came like a sud- 
 
 xnonotony of n 
 ther than the 
 eney, General 
 ierce. His arrival was unexpected — being on hu- 
 ay to visit a distant friend — and he had been 
 )me hours in the house before his presence was 
 nown, except to tho "familiars." When the fact 
 as once bruited, however, everybody became 
 Rger to boo the lion, especially tho ladies, who are 
 lways ready, you know, with bright eyes and 
 weet smile?, to welcome a celebrity. As your cor- 
 espondent was favored with an early and rather 
 nexpected presentation, ho found himself sudden- 
 f elevated from an agreeable obscurity into some 
 onsequence. He was even solicited to parade the 
 next President," as they persisted in calling him, 
 bout tho drawing-room, for the particular admi- 
 ation of a few friends; but neither his own modes- 
 y, nor, he suspects, that of tho distinguished ob- 
 oct of so much solicitude, would ullow of the ar- 
 angement. 
 
 In due time, when the dinner bell had rung, 
 Sen. Pierce made his appearance in public, and a« 
 ie walked, with a most charming married lady from 
 Philadelphia, into the dining hall, the anxiou- 
 ipectators had ample opportunity to gratify their 
 mriosity, as to how he looked. They saw in him 
 i small, unpretending man, dressed plainly, in 
 striped pantaloons, and black coat, with a finely 
 formed, intellectual head, an expressive face, and 
 }f obviously easy manners, lie is a much younger 
 looking man than I had supposed — apparently not 
 vor forty or forty-five years oi age; with strongly 
 marked features, but pleasant and vivacious. The 
 upper part of the head, which is large and with 
 good ''phrenologies," is better than the lower, 
 which, though not wanting force, is not so fine. 
 One would say, not knowing who he was, that be 
 wa3 a clever, companionable man, but capable of 
 strong and intense passions when aroused. 
 
 General Pierce talks with ease and fluency, 
 using racy English, but in a soft, low voice, which 
 gives you that impression of cautiousness and re- 
 serve habitual with almost all politicians. He is 
 exceedingly amiable and courteous, and makes 
 friends of those who come in personal contact 
 with him. He has none of the hauteur or mock- 
 dignity which some men would put on in this po- 
 sition, and, on the other hand none of the embar- 
 -tuent and constraint of one conscious that all 
 eyes are fixed upon his movements. He goes 
 about freely, chatting with those who address him, 
 in a playful and familiar way, and occasionally 
 I laughing heartily at some jest which he himself, or 
 } somebody else has related. In a word, then, he 
 ([seems to be a plait., modest and sensible man, who 
 L.vill wear his honors, if successful, without os 
 jj».:tion, jv bear defe.it, if not, wilh eu!iaaiaai!v 
 
4 
 
 r. 
 
 
 
 *t 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The reader can place implicit confidence in the 
 statements which are made in this book. They have in 
 every instance been derived directly from documentary 
 history, or from other authentic sources. The writer 
 was not only acquainted with General Pierce many 
 years ago, (although they have not met for a long time,) 
 but he has recently conferred with several highly re- 
 spectable citizens who have known the subject of this 
 sketch from his boyhood. Many other sketches, bio- 
 graphies, histories, and lives will doubtless shortly ap- 
 pear, and it is not to be expected that men who did not 
 spare the character of General Jackson, or James K. 
 Polk, will spare, if anything, the still purer character 
 of Gen. Pierce. Slanders, the foulest and the meanest, 
 have already been set afloat — already the sacred pre- 
 cincts of the General's family have been violated by 
 falsehood and calumny. We observe, too, that many of 
 
( 
 
 i:-- traduction. 
 
 the most respectable o id impartial journals have fallen 
 into a considerable number of mistakes in regard to 
 Gen. Pierce's history, but this was to be expected in 
 the excitement and precipitancy with which they were 
 obliged to answer the demands of the public to know 
 something more of the candidate ; — they would have, at 
 the first moment, biographies, and sketches, and editors 
 gave them the best they could. 
 
 This authentic, and, as far as we could make it, im- 
 partial sketch, has been prepared with care, and it is be- 
 lieved to contain as full and minute an account of the 
 life of the New Hampshire statesman as will be neces- 
 sary, to trace his military career, and illustrate his pub- 
 lic and private character. Such as it is, written with 
 a desire to promote the happiness and glory of a great 
 nation, and the integrity, union, and triumph of the 
 only National Party in America, it is respectfully offered 
 to the confidence of his fellow-citizens by their 
 
 Humble servant, 
 
 HERMITAGE. 
 
 New York, 9th June, 1852. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 GENERAL -FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION. 
 
 The announcement that Frank Pierce had received 
 the unanimous vote of the Baltimore Convention, was 
 heard with acclamations of joy by that vast Assembly; 
 and wherever the glad news flew on the wings of the 
 lightning, it was hailed with blood-felt enthusiasm by 
 a great and free people. 
 
 The Convention had been three days assembled, and 
 a nomination seemed to be no nearer than ever. Each 
 delegation had stood faithfully by their favorite ; and 
 however severe the repulse they had after each defeat, 
 returned manfully again to the encounter. Nor was this 
 spectacle one over which every true-hearted American 
 might not rejoice — for it was but the friendly struggle 
 of brothers — all enlisted in the same glorious campaign, 
 but each most closely attached to a beloved Leader. 
 
6 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Like the shining hosts of the Crusaders, each division 
 rallied under the banner of its chief — but all went for- 
 ward under the broad standard of the cross of a common 
 Saviour, to rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the hands 
 of the Infidels. 
 
 II. 
 
 FEELINGS OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
 Finally, when each delegation had done its duty, 
 .and stood by their candidates long enough to prove their 
 attachment and resign their hopes, — Cass, Buchanan, 
 Marcy, Douglass, Butler, Houston, and all — were brave- 
 ly and generously given up. Party triumphed first over 
 faction, and then country triumphed over party ; and 
 that imposing Convention gathered round the ark of the 
 Constitution, and as if in the presence of Washington 
 himself, asked the simple question, to whom of our 
 fellow-citizens can we with most safety and confidence, 
 repose the administration of the Government of our 
 beloved country ? — and under what Leader are we sure 
 of victory in the approaching contest for principle ? 
 
 111. 
 
 MORAL ATTITUDE OF THE CONVENTION. 
 
 And it certainly was a sublime spectacle to see 
 
 hose THREE HUNDRED REPRESENTATIVES of OU1' great 
 
 Confederacy, gathered from the cold Rivers of Maine 
 and the glittering coast of California ; from the glowing 
 savannahs of Florida to the Great Lakes of the North, 
 thus lay aside every sectional feeling and local interest, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 7 
 
 to preserve the liberties and spread* the glory of our Re- 
 public — a Republic which is now bounded only by the 
 two earth-encircling oceans ! On such a scene, even 
 the spirit of Washington must have looked down with 
 delight from a purer world. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF UNION IN THE CONVENTION. 
 
 Such was the feeling with which these Representa- 
 tives of Thirty-one Sovereign but united Republics, 
 went to the 49th and last ballot. But the hour had 
 come when the struggle for men had ceased, to open, 
 as was apprehended, the war of Section ; but the De- 
 mon of Section was not there. If that high Council of 
 Patriots could find a pure, a great, and a modest man 
 — it mattered not from what distant corner of our con- 
 tinent-broad Empire he might come — whether his home 
 was among the Orange Groves of tire Gulf of Mexico, 
 over whose bosom float the perfumed breezes of the 
 gardens of Cuba — or whether he came from the upper 
 waters of the Missouri ; or if his infancy were cradled 
 among the cold hills of the Granite State — individuals, 
 sections, cliques, preferences, animosities — all were 
 merged in the greatness and solemnity of the crisis. 
 For the country and the whole country — the States and 
 all the States — the Union and the entire Union — every 
 heart was beating ; and on the altar of our fatherland, 
 the rich offering of the patriotism of her sons was laid. 
 
8 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Y. 
 
 MAGNANIMITY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Old Virginia ! Often foremost, and always generous. 
 She who has given us the Father of his Country, and 
 half our Presidents, with so many other great men, that 
 she merits the epithet of the Mother of the Gracchi 
 of the Republic. Virginia ! Whose genial soil holds the 
 sacred ashes of Washington, first uttered the name 
 (through her delegation) of the man whom Providence 
 has in a mysterious manner indicated as our next 
 Chief Magistrate. She had illustrious citizens enough 
 among her children. There was Houston, and Steven- 
 son, and Hunter, with many others; but in the wealth 
 of her genius, patriotism, and fame, she felt that she 
 could afford to be magnanimous — and she was. She 
 cast her eyes away from the Blue Ridge to the rock- 
 ribbed hills of New Hampshire, and fixed on a man 
 whose history she knew, whose virtue had been tried, 
 whose devotion to the Constitution had been tested lono- 
 years before. From the centre of the Union to its 
 northernmost verge, she sent the tribute of her venera- 
 tion to an upright man — the very Aristides of our politi- 
 cal world ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 GENEROSITY OF TENNESSEE. 
 
 Side by side with Virginia came Tennessee — a 
 state which holds the ashes of that Patriot and Hero, 
 who bore us so triumphantly through those dark days, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 9 
 
 when we were laying broad and deep the foundations of 
 the Second Period of our National prosperity. Tennessee 
 cast her vote cheerfully and unbidden for the Son of 
 New Hampshire, whom Jackson loved so well, and who 
 had always so manfully and unflinchingly represented 
 and defended his political principles. 
 
 VII. 
 
 NOMINATION OF GENERAL PIERCE. 
 
 And side by side with both came Mississippi, that 
 noble state which our enemies have so many times de- 
 clared to be destitute of patriotism, and anxious to break 
 up the Union — a union achieved by the blood of so 
 many of her fathers, and consolidated by so many of 
 their councils. Then came the other Southern States, — 
 and their generous example was followed, — till Penn- 
 sylvania with her iron and coal, New York with her 
 commerce, and the North, East, "West, and Centre, with 
 their heart and soul joined in a second trial, and with a 
 shout of joy the name of Frank Pierce was declared to 
 be the favorite of the Democrats of America. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 REASONS WHY GENERAL PIERCE WAS NOMINATED. 
 
 There must have been some good and valid rea- 
 sons why this course was taken by the Convention ; and 
 to the reader who is not already familiar with the life of 
 Frank Pierce, we shall endeavor to unfold them 
 briefly. It would be preposterous to suppose that so en- 
 lightened and numerous a body of men, as the Baltimore 
 1# 
 
10 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Convention, representing twenty-five millions of peo- 
 ple, should have with unanimity perpetrated a thought- 
 less or reckless act. Such things are not done with 
 unanimity in deliberative assemblies — such absurdities 
 are perpetrated only by individuals or factions. The 
 members of that convention knew who they were voting 
 for ; and the object of this little work is to glance at the 
 history of the man to whom they gave their confidence. 
 
 IX. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC ANCESTRY OF PIERCE. 
 
 Aristocrats in every part of the world are fond of 
 tracing back their descent from illustrious ancestors. 
 They are proud to entertain the aristocratic principles 
 of their fathers, and hand them down unimpaired to 
 their children. But how much prouder should a true 
 Republican be, to trace his descent from a Democratic 
 ancestry. Frank Pierce sprang from a Democratic fam- 
 ily. He inherited Democracy with his birth — it flows 
 in his blood — it has spoken in every act of his life — it has 
 tinged and shaped his whole character. He was bred 
 in the midst of Democracy, and in a State that never 
 abandoned the great political principles of Thomas Jeffer- 
 son. All the associations of his boyhood, and all the stu- 
 dies of his college days — all his connections in public life 
 have belonged to the old Virginia school of Republican- 
 ism, which has gradually, out of a nation of monar- 
 chists, (as we were before the Revolution,) been edu- 
 cating us in the great principles of free government, 
 until now we are acknowledged by mankind everywhere, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 11 
 
 as not only the model Republic, but the model govern- 
 ment of the earth. 
 
 X. 
 
 ANECDOTE OF PIERCE'S FATHER. 
 
 Gen. Frank Pierce is the son of the late Gen. Benja- 
 min Pierce, who fought so nobly during the Revolu- 
 tionary war, filled so many offices of trust and power, 
 and who was Governor of New Hampshire in 1827 and 
 in 1829. He was a man of more personal popularity 
 than any man that ever lived in the State. An inter- 
 esting anecdote is related of him, on the first day he 
 undertook his duties as Sheriff of the county of Hills- 
 borough. He went to the jail to see for himself the 
 condition of the prisoners, among whom he found a 
 man who had been so long imprisoned for debt, that the 
 costs in the case amounted to a sum which he could 
 never pay. There was a law, even at that time, in 
 New Hampshire, which allowed a citizen to be liberated 
 from imprisonment for debt, by a process in which he 
 demonstrated his inability to pay ; therefore the sheriff 
 asked him why he was still there. The reply was,— 
 " I had not even the means of paying the costs, and 
 I have been here ever since." Gen. Pierce, who was 
 distinguished through life, as his son has been, for the 
 greatest liberality of feeling and of pocket, immediately 
 paid the bill of costs, and set the prisoner free. From 
 that time he began his exertions to procure the aboli- 
 tion of those barbarous laws that seize a laboring man 
 
12 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 
 
 in his workshop, tear him away from his family, and 
 lock him up to rot in idleness in a dungeon. 
 
 XL 
 
 CHARACTER OF OLD GENERAL PIERCE. 
 
 Old Gren. Pierce was a man of sterling integrity, un- 
 flinching courage, practical good sense, plainly edu- 
 cated, like almost every other man in New Hampshire 
 at the time, fervidly devoted to the independence and 
 glory of his country, upright in all his dealings with 
 his fellow-men, and generous in every transaction ; 
 public spirited, and zealous in the promotion of im- 
 provements and education ; nor was there a. man in 
 New Hampshire, friend or foe, that ever dreamed of 
 impeaching his honor. He was a hard-working farmer, 
 and got his living by cultivating his own acres. Hav- 
 ing been one of the fathers of the American Republic, 
 he knew what liberty was worth, for he knew what it 
 had cost ; and, to the last day of his life, he resisted, 
 with all his heart and soul, every encroachment upon 
 the sacred guarantees of the National and State Consti- 
 tutions, and brought up his family with the same senti- 
 ment of veneration for the great Palladium of our 
 Liberty. 
 
 XII. 
 
 CHARACTER OF NEW HAMPSHIRE MEN. 
 
 This veteran patriot, who had been trained in the 
 sehool of Washington, and the perils of the Revolution, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 13 
 
 brought up his children with the same high, moral, poli- 
 tical, and social principles in which he had been trained, 
 and he made his sons such men as himself ; and such 
 men grow in no other part of the world but in New 
 Hampshire — men who cannot be rich, because they are 
 honest, and their cold rocky soil gives back only a 
 meagre sheaf to the husbandman. What a man gets 
 in New Hampshire he works for; what, education, for 
 the most part, the New Hampshire man gets, he gets 
 in the district school-house, to which he beats hrs 
 own snow-path, in the tempests of winter, that howl 
 among the hills. But there arc no poor men in New 
 Hampshire, for her citizens are all industrious. Such 
 is the state to which Virginia went, and such the stock 
 Virginia chose, to gain a guide who could be trusted, a 
 man who could not be bought, and a Magistrate who 
 would execute the laws of the country, come what 
 might. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 HIS BROTHER COL. BENJAMIN PIERCE. 
 
 Frank Pierce — as he signs his own name — was born 
 in 1798, and is consequently fifty-four years old. His 
 elder brother, Col. Benjamin Pierce, joined the army in 
 1812, under circumstances worth relating. He was 
 pursuing his classical studies in Dartmouth College, 
 where Daniel Webster was educated, and he appears to 
 have been making creditable progress. But when the 
 first blast of the war of 1812 was heard, he is said to 
 have become so fractious and insubordinate, that it was 
 
I i LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 considered necessary to expel him from the college. 
 Fired with the spirit of martial heroism— for the Pierce 
 family have all been soldiers — he enlisted in the United 
 States army, and it so happened that he was put in 
 charge of a recruiting station at Dartmouth. Having 
 now a good opportunity and a capital excuse, he took 
 ample revenge upon the faculty. He posted himself 
 at the gates of the college, with his fifer and drummer, 
 and up and down before the terrace he marched his 
 new recruits, from morning till night, with the stripes 
 and stars waving over them, and not a student passed 
 that way, but the young officer harangued him, in the 
 most eloquent terms, and, pointing to the flag of the 
 country, called upon them to die in its defence. Nor 
 did the professors themselves escape those touching ap- 
 peals. They were implored, by all that they loved on 
 earth, or hoped for in heaven, to shoulder the musket 
 and march to the field. This all resulted, however, in 
 something more than a joke. A large number of the 
 students joined the army, and some of them distin- 
 guished themselves afterwards in battle. As for young 
 Pierce himself, ho fought gallantly wherever he had an 
 opportunity through the war, was confided with many 
 commissions and stations of importance, and died at 
 last in the service, in 1847, (we believe,) at Governor's 
 Island, in New York harbor. 
 
 Frank Pierce's eldest sister was the wife of Gen. 
 John McNeil, who commanded at Lundy's Lane and 
 Chippewa, and to whose able generalship and undaunted 
 courage, Gen. Scott himself was so much indebted for 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 15 
 
 the success he has always, we believe, claimed to have 
 been due entirely to his own generalship. "When Gen. 
 McNeil was once a candidate for a public office, he wit- 
 tily remarked, that he supposed the Whigs did not like 
 him very well, because he killed so many of their friends 
 (the British) at Lundy's Lane. The second sister mar- 
 ried Gen. Solomon McNeil, another distinguished mili- 
 tary and political character in New Hampshire. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 OLD GEN. FIERCE's ANXIETY FOR THE EDUCATION OF HIS SONS. 
 
 Old Gen. Pierce was no scholar. He had devoted 
 his life to deeds, and not to books ; and it is said that 
 while he was sitting by the kitchen fire one night, writ- 
 ing his annual Message to the legislature, he came to 
 a full stop on one word he could not possibly spell. Af- 
 ter rallying all his own literary forces, and manceuver- 
 ing them as skilfully as he could, he was obliged to 
 draw off, and ask for quarters. " Frank," said he to 
 his son, sitting near by, "how the devil do you spell 
 but?* Frank had been through college, and he very 
 soon helped the General out of his dilemma. " B-u-t," 
 said Frank. " Be hanged to these little words," replied 
 the veteran, "they bother me dreadfully; but when I 
 come to Constitution, I can spell that without even 
 looking into a book !" 
 
 But the veteran General had as high an appreciation 
 of learning as the most elegant scholar, and although 
 his means were not ample, he determined that his chil- 
 dren should be thoroughly educated, Frank, also, was 
 
16 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 
 
 sent to college, and his subsequent life shows that he 
 must have improved his opportunities ; for on many oc- 
 casions, on the spur of the moment, he has pronounced 
 some of the most effective harangues and speeches we 
 have ever heard, and often in the most refined and cul- 
 tured language. 
 
 XV. 
 
 GEN. FIERCE ENTERS PUBLIC LIFE. 
 
 Soon after his studies were finished he began his 
 career in public life as a deputy sheriff of his native 
 county. At a very early age he was. elected to the 
 legislature of New Hampshire ; and having for several 
 years distinguished himself, both as a member and as 
 the Speaker of the House, he was in 1833 sent to Con- 
 gress as the Democratic Representative from the district 
 in which he was born. At the time ho appeared in 
 Congress, the hostility which had been inflamed against 
 Gen. Jackson, had reached and passed its culminating 
 point. He had had to contend against a large majority 
 in Congress, and this majority was bent upon his ruin 
 as a public man. All the agencies that are called in to 
 crush a great citizen rising into fame had been tried. 
 Calumny had exhausted its venom, and hatred had 
 belched forth all its malignity. But the heroic old man 
 had gone through it all unscathed — the people of the 
 country had rallied around him, and placed the seal of 
 their approbation upon all his public acts. But there 
 was still a very powerful organization against him, and 
 it was a time when there was no half-way policy in 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. TIERCE. 17 
 
 Washington. The very day that a man took his seat, 
 he was expected to make his mark, if he had character 
 enough to make one. Frank Pierce had ; and from the 
 moment he entered the House of Representatives it be- 
 came evident enough what course he would take. He 
 stood by G-en. Jackson from the first to the last hour 
 of his administration. When others deserted him, 
 Pierce only clung to him the closer — when nobody else 
 would rise in his place, Pierce sprang to his feet, and in 
 one of those bold, brave, fearless, patriotic and stirring 
 speeches, in which he so much excels, he hurled back 
 the tide of obloquy and attack upon the political foes of 
 the greatest man who had filled the Presidential chair 
 since the time of Washington. 
 
 His integrity of principle won the respect of General 
 Jackson, and he reciprocated the kindness of his feelings 
 by the most devoted attachment. He was often at the 
 hospitable board, and by the genial fireside of that great 
 patriot, who now sleeps in the quiet shades of the Her- 
 mitage. He loved him with an affection that is seldom 
 felt by one man for another, and the sternness of Jack- 
 son's character was such, that he never was awed into 
 respect for any man, unless he discovered in him sim- 
 plicity, honesty, resolution and patriotism. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 ELECTED A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 
 
 In this brief work we cannot trace his career in Con- 
 gress, nor make any extract from his speeches. While 
 he was still a member of the House of Ptepresentatives, 
 
18 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 he was, by a very large majority of the Legislature of 
 New Hampshire, elected a member of the United States 
 Senate for the term of six years, commencing in 1837. 
 Here he remained till the year 1842, when he resigned 
 his office, entirely on account of the ill health of his wife, 
 who suffered in the climate of Washington. General 
 Pierce has always been distinguished for the simplicity 
 of his habits, and his love for the quiet happiness of the 
 fireside. He did not hesitate a moment to give up his 
 place of honor in the national Senate, when his wife 
 could no longer remain at Washington, and he resigned, 
 and returned home with her to Concord, where he again 
 resumed the duties of his profession. It is most ear- 
 nestly to be hoped that some change may have taken 
 place for the better, either in the climate of Washing- 
 ton, or the health of Mrs. Pierce, for it is very certain 
 that she will be obliged to go back there — at all events, 
 she will be a very strange exception to most of her sex, 
 if the air of the Capitol, on the Fourth of March next, 
 does not agree with her. 
 
 XVII, 
 
 HIS COURSE WHILE IN CONGRESS. 
 
 During his ten years in Congress, in spite of the 
 earnestness of his debate, the unbending sternness of 
 his political intercourse — his uncompromising devotion 
 to the great principles of the Democratic party, his 
 warm and earnest defense of Gen. Jackson, his unwa- 
 vering adherence with regard to the feelings even of his 
 friends to the strictest construction of the Constitution ; 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 19 
 
 yet he could hardly have made or had a personal enemy 
 in Washington. But this can he easily explained. He 
 always displayed a spirit of forbearance and modera- 
 tion towards his political enemies. He showed respect 
 to the feelings and opinions of men whom he could not 
 agree with. He is a man of such integrity that his most 
 hostile antagonist never presumed to doubt it. It is 
 that magnetic integrity, that is written on his face, and 
 speaks from every lineament that has all through life 
 impressed those who saw him. He is one of those men 
 whom you know to be honest the moment you look at 
 them whether you know them or not ; and although he 
 is a man of great firmness of purpose, never wavers, 
 always acts upon his decisions firmly and stably, never 
 backs out of anything, and conservative in his feelings, 
 yet he is always kind and conciliatory, and accords to 
 other men in a spirit of charity that liberty of thought 
 and action which, like a true Democrat, he equally 
 claims for himself. We have heard many a debater 
 whose words were full of acrimony without being half 
 as severe as Pierce's — many whose sarcasm was nothing 
 but calumny, and whose severity was only bitterness. 
 This, however, is not the style of speaking that wins 
 respect for a man in a deliberative body, particulary in 
 the Senate of the United States. Frank Pierce and 
 Silas Wright were in the Senate together, and in many 
 respects they were alike. Harmonizing closely in polit- 
 ical principles, bland and courteous and yet dignified in 
 their manner, severe without acrimony, and satirical 
 without personal attack, clear-headed in their con 
 
20 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 
 
 tions, simple in their delivery, and irresistible in their 
 logic, these two sturdy friends of Jackson sustained 
 with matchless ability and unwavering steadiness, his 
 brilliant administration. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 CAUSES OF GEN. FIERCE 's POPULARITY AT HOME. 
 
 His retirement from the Senate in 1842, was wit- 
 nessed with much regret ; and when he left the Senate 
 Chamber for the last time, every token of respect was 
 shown to him. The Fathers of the Senate, Clay, Ben- 
 ton, King, Calhoun and many others gathered around 
 him with every demonstration of high personal regard, 
 and every assurance that he would long be remembered 
 by them. Little did he then think, when he had re- 
 solved forever to retire to private life, that he would be 
 called by the voice of the people to occupy the highest 
 office in their gift. When he again touched the soil of 
 his native State, the people whom he had served with 
 so much fidelity, assembled to greet him, and express 
 their gratitude for what he had done ; and yet with the 
 joy they mani tested on again meeting him face to face, 
 was mingled an undisguised regret that he had left the 
 public council. In conversing, a day or two ago with 
 a lady from New Hampshire, who has known General 
 Pierce from her infancy, we asked her to explain the 
 secret of his great popularity. " Why," said she, " it 
 is his kuidheartedncss. If he had not been so benevo- 
 lent and generous, he would now be rich in spite of 
 himself. He loves his home and his family very much 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 21 
 
 indeed. He drives round town in his little wagon, and 
 in works of public usefulness, in the erection of public 
 buildings in the State, county, or town, in the election 
 of discreet and faithful public servants, in the expedi- 
 tion of public business through legislative bodies and 
 conventions, in a kind, neighborly and obliging dis- 
 position towards all around him, in unmeasured bene- 
 volence and generosity towards all who require his help, 
 in donations to religious institutions of every descrip- 
 tion, and in an enlightened spirit without regard to the 
 various sects whose pious efforts for the good of man- 
 kind he always sympathizes with, without raising dis- 
 cussions about the peculiarity of their views — in all 
 these things," said this lady, " Mr. Pierce has been so 
 distinguished, that it is no wonder people love him. 
 You cannot help loving a man like him. And then, he 
 is a fme looking man— all the ladies will testify to that, 
 and that goes a great ways." It was pleasing to see 
 with what simplicity and truth this lady spoke the 
 praises of a man she knew so well ; and it is always amus- 
 ing to see how much more philosophically women can 
 generally explain such things, than any man whatever. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 GEN. PIERCE'S VIEWS OF THE DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 He had married Miss Appleton, the daughter of a 
 distinguished New England clergyman, a lady of great 
 refinement of manner and education, — and the union 
 had been blessed with two sons, to whose education the 
 father now looked forward with many pleasing antici- 
 
22 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 pations. But one of them was taken away, which only 
 linked his heart closer to the surviving brother, and 
 now he found leisure to devote himself to his education, 
 feeling, as all the members of his family had, and as 
 New England men so generally do, the sacred responsi- 
 bility of making every child born to them a good 
 citizen of the State, he engaged with greater zeal than 
 ever to this noble object. There is hardly a more 
 touching or inspiring spectacle in the world than suclia 
 sight. "No man," says one of the ancient lawgivers 
 of Greece, " can be a good citizen unless he is the master 
 of a household," and we might add, that nothing can 
 make a man feel so deeply the obligations of citizen- 
 ship, as becoming the father of a family, and having 
 sons and daughters to train up for spheres of usefulness, 
 happiness, and honor. Everybody knows how Napo- 
 leon longed to have a son — not only an heir to his 
 empire, but a child who would look up into his face 
 and call him father. This sentiment of paternity lies 
 at the very foundation of all true ideas of the relations 
 of men, and the duties of citizens. May God long 
 spare the noble boy of Gen. Pierce still living, and 
 whom he is so devotedly educating in the principles and 
 souvenirs of his ancestors and the Constitution. 
 
 XX. 
 
 HIS CAREER AT THE BAR. 
 
 Having, from the time his education commenced, 
 fixed his eye upon the law as the profession to follow 
 for life, young Pierce had given to it the intensest study 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 23 
 
 after he left college, and, although so many public 
 offices were forced upon him, that his studies were 
 somewhat interrupted, he kept the great object of his 
 life in view, and not a day passed away, nor has till 
 the present time, without adding to his legal know- 
 ledge or experience. From the beginning he was suc- 
 cessful as an advocate. He was always clear-headed, 
 straightforward, acute in his perceptions, earnest in his 
 studies, curious in his inquiries, and remembering all 
 that he heard or read, eminently practical in the turn 
 of his mind, he was able, without an effort, to reduce 
 all the theories of the science of law to practical con- 
 clusions. He offers a striking illustration of a kind of 
 intellect that seems to be somewhat peculiar to New 
 England men— we speak of a mind curious enough to 
 be always seeking for light, capacious enough to hold 
 everything, and yet withal, endowed with that rare 
 property which wc will call the chemical power of ar- 
 ranging for itself, without labor to its possessor, all the 
 knowledge he has acquired. Such minds furnish, ready 
 for use, the whole stock of knowledge ever committed 
 them, when called on. The moment such men have to 
 speak, or write, or act, all that they have ever read, or 
 heard, or known, or had a chance to know, springs to 
 their aid in just the order they want to use it. This 
 makes a ready speaker. This quality, possessed in so 
 eminent a degree by Frank Pierce, makes him a great, 
 intelligent, and practical, lawyer, and from one step to 
 another he passed all the grades that lie between the 
 student who opens Blackstone, and the highest prin- 
 ciples of national law. 
 
24 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE, 
 
 XXII. 
 
 THE REAL CHARACTER OF FRANK FIERCE. 
 
 This is the kind of men who are scarce in every 
 country. They are men, however, who never rise to 
 speak before a bench of judges without commanding re- 
 spect — men who only utter words for the purpose of 
 conveying ideas — men who never speak until they have 
 something to say, and always stop when they have 
 done. There is not a man in the United States who 
 answers this description better than Frank Pierce. For 
 this reason, no man is better qualified to grapple with 
 the plain but serious business of the Presidential office. 
 He may not in the flights of his fancy inflame the im- 
 aginations of the poets — he may not gratify the dreams 
 of young aspirants for favor or notoriety, by wringing 
 changes upon laws and constitutions ; but with the deep 
 earnestness of his nature, the strength of his energy, 
 and the untiring resolution of his mind, he will show 
 that he is a man of progress, business and sense. No 
 breath of fanaticism can spread mildew over his intel- 
 lect ; no dreamy or fanciful illusion will ever cloud his 
 mind ; no political tricks and juggleries will ever escape 
 his detection. He is a man of fact and not of fancy, 
 and yet there is a warm, deep-flowing, generous stream 
 of fine feeling and enthusiasm running through his 
 nature, which makes him feel the tenderest sympathy 
 for whatever belongs to the better feelings, and the 
 noblest and quickest appreciation of everything there is 
 in young men, that promises to do some good to the 
 country. He never repelled a young man who came 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 25 
 
 to him for aid. He has aided many a penniless youth 
 of talent in the early struggle to gain education, and 
 under his kind auspices, many an indigent young man has 
 been encouraged to go forward nobly on the battle of 
 life. Men talk about "Young America." It means 
 this or it means nothing. Men talk about the wisdom 
 of age. Tt means this or it means nothing. In Frank 
 Pierce they are both united. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 WHAT KIND OF A PRESIDENT HE WOULD MAKE. ] 
 
 Iii the election of such a man, the country will 
 achieve all that has been promised to us by all the fac- 
 tions and all the parties. "When we come to glance at 
 his military career, as we have at that of his father and 
 relations, we shall see that he knows how to fight, and 
 loves to fight when the country calls, and' unlike some 
 other generals, at no other time. He is an experienced 
 statesman, without being an " Old Fogy." He has all 
 the fire, without the impetuosity or indulgence of youth. 
 Living on the very frontier of the Union, he is a na- 
 tional man, for all his principles grow out of the national 
 constitution. If the flying years have slightly touched 
 his brown hair with the gleam of silver, his blood still 
 leaps joyously through his veins ; and if his judgment 
 has grown calm, his shoulders broad, and his frame 
 sturdy, every movement is still made with that electric 
 quickness which indicates the finest and most active 
 nervous temperament. Said the young lady of whom 
 we spoke a little while ago—" Why, one day he rode 
 2 
 
26 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 fifty miles with the thermometer below zero without 
 feeling it, and then came and passed the whole evening 
 chatting with me. He is not only a true-hearted De- 
 mocrat, whom all the people love, but he is a real gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 HIS REPUTATION AS A LAWYER. 
 
 His eminence at the bar had already designated him 
 for the highest appointment in his native State, and he 
 was chosen by General Jackson as the District Attorney 
 of the United States for New Hampshire. 
 
 Again, on the accession of Mr. Polk, the same office 
 was offered to him ; but not feeling it his duty to accept, 
 when another good man could be found, and wishing to 
 have leisure to attend to his own affairs, which he had 
 so long neglected for the public service, and desiring to 
 devote himself to the charities and felicities of home, 
 he declined the nomination. In the meantime, and sub- 
 sequently, his eminence in his profession compelled him 
 to appear in many of the most important causes that 
 were tried before the Circuit Courts of the United States 
 and the supreme tribunals of New Hampshire. Public 
 institutions and corporations retained him as their coun- 
 sel, and he has always managed such causes, like all 
 others, with so much ability, that he is justly re- 
 garded as standing at the very head of his profession. 
 Something more, however, than this might be said with 
 simple verity ; for one of the characteristics of his pro- 
 fessional life has been, that, after laying deep the foun- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 27 
 
 dations of his argument, with the taste of a scholar and 
 the emotions of an orator, he always gave some freedom 
 to the activity and energy of his fancy, in graceful em- 
 bellishments, striking appeals, and electric attacks — 
 qualities which alone can give the finishing stroke to 
 the fame of the barrister. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 GENEROSITY AND JUSTICE OF GEN. PIERCE'S CHARACTER. 
 
 This may be an appropriate place to record a fact of 
 which many similar ones might be stated, in illustra- 
 tion of the character of the man. On a certain occa- 
 sion, two men had been arrested on suspicion of murder. 
 He heard of it, and at once looked after their interests. 
 "I do not know," said the person of whom he asked 
 information about the character of the men, " whether 
 they will be able to reward you for your services." 
 " That is not the point," he replied. " Who are the 
 men?" He learned their names, and he said " This 
 must be looked into. I hardly think they can have 
 done it." The justice had ordered them to be com- 
 mitted ; but Mr. Pierce, believing there was no good 
 ground for the commitment, brought them before 
 another magistrate on a writ of habeas corpus — and 
 when the grand jury met, nothing could be found 
 against them, and they were discharged. This kind 
 act any humane lawyer may have done, but Pierce's 
 life has been filled with them. 
 
28 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 XXYI. 
 
 ENLISTS AS A COMMON SOLDIER. 
 
 But his professional engagements and domestic repose 
 were to be again disturbed by an unforseen but mo- 
 mentous event. The soil of the United States was 
 invaded, and the lives and property of our citizens sac- 
 rificed to the barbarous assaults of the stranger. The 
 nation flew to arms. The States were called on to 
 furnish volunteers for the war, and nobly was the call 
 responded to. From the land of Marion and Sumpter, 
 from the fields of the Old Dominion, from the extreme 
 South, the far "West, and the forests of Maine, brave 
 young men came rushing from their homes to enlist 
 under the national banner. Descended from a martial 
 race, Frank Pierce could not resist the temptation, and 
 breaking away from the ties of his family, he enlisted as 
 a common soldier, to fight the battles of his country 
 under the Union Ea^le. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 APPOINTED A GENERAL IN THE ARMY OF MEXICO. 
 
 But that such a man, so capable of leading an army, 
 should serve in the ranks as a common soldier was not 
 allowed. His country needed the aid of his mind 'as 
 well as his arm, and he at once received a commission 
 as Brigadier General of the Volunteers of New Eng- 
 land. The people of Concord lost no time in offering 
 to the General a fresh testimonial of their affection, and 
 they raised the sum of $400, and purchased for him a 
 splendid horse to ride in battle. When they heard that 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRAJVK. PIERCE. 29 
 
 the noble steed was dead they sent him another. These 
 sums were not raised by a few personal friends. They 
 were made up by small but numerous contributions 
 from the great body of his fellow citizens — men who 
 had known him from childhood — who loved him for his 
 virtues — who respected him for his life-long honesty, 
 and who knew he would reflect honor upon the arms of 
 the country. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 HIS DESIRE TO HAVE COL. RANSOM APPOINTED. 
 
 Bat before Mr. Pierce had been appointed to the com- 
 mand of the New England troops, he had written a let- 
 ter to President Polk, recommending the appointment of 
 Col. Ransom. But the reply was that this could not be 
 done since the Cabinet had already determined to en- 
 trust the command to Mr. Pierce himself. "But," said 
 Col. Ransom, " Mr. Pierce will not take it." "But 
 he must take it," said the Cabinet. " We must have 
 the influence of his name and his example. He cer- 
 tainly will not refuse to serve his country in any ca- 
 pacity." The command, therefore, of the New England 
 Regiment was accepted by Mr. Pierce, and Ransom 
 received the appointment of Major under him. 
 
 Before the regiment was raised a vacancy occurred in 
 the office of Brigadier General of the Third Brigade, 
 consisting of the Ninth, (New England regiment,) the 
 Twelfth, raised in Texas, Arkansas, and other Southern 
 States, and the Fifteenth, raised in Ohio and Wisconsin. 
 He was appointed to this office ; and the other brigadier 
 
30 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 generals appointed at the same time were Thomas Mar- 
 shall, Joseph Lane, James Shields, George Cadwallader, 
 Enos D. Hopping, Caleb Cushing, and Sterling Price. 
 He was superintendent of the recruiting service, and 
 took an active part in raising the troops. Previous to 
 his leaving Concord, an incident occurred that is worthy 
 of mention, as showing the character of the man. Cap- 
 tain Kimball marched, with eighty men, into the town, 
 on Sunday evening, with fife and drum, and colors fly- 
 ing. This gave mortal offence to some of the Puritans, 
 and Gfen. Pierce, hearing of it, ordered the music to 
 stop, and the company to halt and dismiss to their quar- 
 ters ; remarking that it was his desire to respect the 
 feelings of all. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 EMBARKATION FOR THE MEXICAN CAMPAIGN. 
 
 But General Pierce saw in the approaching Mexican 
 struggle something more than a field for brilliant acieve- 
 ment in battle — something more than a succession of. 
 victories against the invaders of cur soil, and the mo- 
 desty with which he had enlisted as a common soldier, 
 and the effort he had made to get command of the New 
 England troops conferred upon Colonel Ransom, fully 
 demonstrates this. From the most authentic sources, 
 we know that at the time, General Pierce attached 
 more importance to the Mexican War than almost any 
 other man. Descended from the old Pilgrim stock, like 
 Stark and "Warren, he believed that it was the destiny 
 of the American people to extend the empire of repub- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 31 
 
 lican principles throughout the western world ; foreseeing 
 what must be the inevitable result 'of the annexation of 
 Texas, he had favored that great measure even when 
 vast numbers of the Democratic Tarty itself opposed it. 
 He felt that the accession of that rich territory, which- 
 had been colonized by American citizens, would bring 
 prosperity and strength to the American Union, and 
 whatever might be in the future, of difficulty for the 
 Republic, he had faith in the permanence of our politi- 
 cal institutions, and he felt the pride of an American 
 citizen in seeing her eagle of liberty winging his way 
 towards the Pacific. 
 
 HOW GENERAL PIERCE TREATED HIS SOLDIERS. 
 
 Colonel Pierce received his commission in the beofin- 
 ning of March, 1847, and took command of 2,500 men. 
 He reached Yera Cruz on the 28th of June, — a period 
 so short as to indicate his unceasing activity and des- 
 patch. We ought here to record some anecdotes in con- 
 nection with the march to the sea-coast, the assembling 
 and embarkation of the troops, with the incidents of the 
 voyage, and the circumstances under which they 
 landed ; but we must oat the relation short. Many of 
 the troops on board the bark Kepler became sick, and, 
 owing to an accident, there was a scarcity of water, and 
 they all had to be put upon short allowance. Here 
 Colonel Pierce's character shone out in all its excellence. 
 When he received his allowance of water, he would take 
 the pitcher, go around the ship, and distribute it in half 
 
S2 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 tumblers to the soldiers ; and so, from the beginning to 
 the end of the campaign, from the time that his fellow- 
 citizens left their homes in New Hampshire, all through 
 the burning plains of Mexico, in the heat of battle, and 
 in the fatigne and sufferings which followed even our 
 victories, he never lost an opportunity of doing an act 
 of kindness, and never uttered a word to his men which 
 did not show that he respected them because they icere 
 moi, and loved them because they were his fellow-coun- 
 trymen. When they got to Vera Cruz, he gave those 
 who needed it every dollar that he had ; and on the 
 march, like Napoleon when he was crossing the desert, 
 he gave his horse to aid in carrying the sick, and often 
 relieved wearied and exhausted soldiers, by taking a 
 musket and marching miles with it himself. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 GALLANT CONDUCT OF GEN. PIERCE. 
 
 As soon as he arrived in Mexico, he found that the 
 climate did not agree with him, and his health imme- 
 diately began to suffer. But his resolution never flag- 
 ged, and only a few of his intimate friends knew that 
 he was suffering at all. His column sustained a fero- 
 cious attack from a guerrilla party at il the National 
 Bridge," some fifteen miles from Yera Cruz, and in 
 this first crisis, their commander displayed so much 
 firmness, coolness, and intrepidity, that Col. Ransom 
 himself remarked that he behaved like an old General. 
 He gave an order for his troops to charge the chap- 
 paral, behind which the enemy were supposed to be. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 33 
 
 Col. Ransom, with superior military experience, ven- 
 tured to say that he could not approve of the move- 
 ment. " I have given the order," said the General, 
 firmly — and the order was obeyed. The enemy were 
 repulsed, and the column resumed its march towards 
 Mexico. They had not gone far, however, before they 
 were attacked by another party, still more numerous, 
 and more completely barricaded. A deadly fire was 
 poured in upon them, and two bullets passed through 
 Gen. Pierce's chapeau. He led his men to a fierce en- 
 counter, and again the enemy were routed. A subal- 
 tern under his command at that time, assures us that 
 he did not believe there was a man in Pierce's column 
 after these two affairs, who did not feel unbounded 
 confidence in his military abilities, and who would not 
 have fought under him better than under any other 
 man in the world. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 ASSAULTS OF THE WHIGS ON FRIENDS AND FOES. 
 
 Although we believe his political enemies had not 
 
 covered him with the usual amount of calumny before 
 
 his nomination which they have always been ready to 
 
 heap upon their opponents ; yet the very moment his 
 
 name was announced from the Convention, it was the 
 
 signal for falsehood, slander, and lies. Within the last 
 
 twenty-four hours, the statement has gone' forth from 
 
 presses in this city, that he never was in a battle during 
 
 the whole campaign. It has been stated that on one 
 
 ocoasion, after the heat of the engagement was over, 
 2* 
 
26 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 fifty miles with the thermometer below zero without 
 feeling it, and then came and passed the whole evening 
 chatting with me. He is not only a true-hearted De- 
 mocrat, whom all the people love, but he is a real gen- 
 tleman." 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 HIS REPUTATION AS A LAWYER. 
 
 His eminence at the bar had already designated him 
 for the highest appointment in his native State, and he 
 was chosen by General Jackson as the District Attorney 
 of the United States for New Hampshire. 
 
 Again, on the accession of Mr. Polk, the same office 
 was offered to him ; but not feeling it his duty to accept, 
 when another good man could be found, and wishing to 
 have leisure to attend to his own affairs, which he had 
 so long neglected for the public service, and desiring to 
 devote himself to the charities and felicities of home, 
 he declined the nomination. In the meantime, and sub- 
 sequently, his eminence in his profession compelled him 
 to appear in many of the most important causes that 
 were tried before the Circuit Courts of the United States 
 and the supreme tribunals of New Hampshire. Public 
 institutions and corporations retained him as their coun- 
 sel, and he has always managed such causes, like all 
 others, with so much ability, that he is justly re- 
 garded as standing at the very head of his profession. 
 Something more, however, than this might be said with 
 simple verity ; for one of the characteristics of his pro- 
 fessional life has been, that, after laying deep the foun- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 27 
 
 dations of his argument, with the taste of a scholar and 
 the emotions of an orator, he always gave some freedom 
 to the activity and energy of his fancy, in graceful em- 
 bellishments, striking appeals, and electric attacks — 
 qualities which alone can give the finishing stroke to 
 the fame of the barrister. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 GENEROSITY AND JUSTICE OF GEN. PIERCE'S CHARACTER. 
 
 This may be an appropriate place to record a fact of 
 which many similar ones might be stated, in illustra- 
 tion of the character of the man. On a certain occa- 
 sion, two men had been arrested on suspicion of murder. 
 He heard of it, and at once looked after their interests. 
 " I do not know," said the person of whom he asked 
 information about the character of the men, " whether 
 they will be able to reward you for your services." 
 11 That is not the point," he replied. " Who are the 
 men?" He learned their names, and he said "This 
 must be looked into. I hardly think they can have 
 done it." The justice had ordered them to be com- 
 mitted ; but Mr. Pierce, believing there was no good 
 ground for the commitment, brought them before 
 another magistrate on a writ of habeas corpus — and 
 when the grand jury met, nothing could be found 
 against them, and they were discharged. This kind 
 act any humane lawyer may have done, but Pierce's 
 life has been filled with them. 
 
36 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT FROM GEN. SCOTT. 
 
 Having participated in the victory of Cherubusco, in 
 such a manner as to win the applause of Gen. Scott, 
 who often took occasion to speak in the highest, most 
 respectful, and even affectionate terms of the brave sol- 
 dier and true man, he was appointed one of the Com- 
 missioners to treat for an armistice. Genl. Pierce was 
 strongly opposed to any armistice whatever, unless the 
 castle of Chepultapec was given up as a security, and 
 he said that he could see no use in treating with the 
 Mexicans at all, unless they xoere prepared to surrender 
 California. Gen. Scott did not agree with Gen. 
 Pierce, but he gave him a chance to try, and the result 
 proved that he was right. Indeed on this occasion, as 
 on all others, Gen. Pierce conducted himself in such 
 a manner, as to win the personal esteem and military 
 respect of Gen. Scott, and he was often invited to be 
 a guest at his table, and received many marks of his 
 regard. It should, however, be remembered, that this 
 was long before any body knew that it would do any 
 harm. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 SCENES IN THE CAMPAIGN. 
 
 At the battle of Molino del Rey, he rode over the 
 field, and so near the enemy, to conduct the charge of 
 his column, that he was called off by Gen. "Worth, who 
 told him that he must not risk himself in that manner. 
 A little incident of interest occurred in the battle of 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 37 
 
 Chepultapeo. When the victory had been won, the 
 South Carolinians of the Palmetto Regiment, which 
 had left its full share of dead men on the field, met Gren. 
 Pierce's brigade, when Pierce said to them, " Here 
 come the heroes of the Palmetto State, from one end of 
 the Union, and the Yankees from another, are ready to 
 embrace them. Thus fought the men of Carolina and 
 of New England in the battles of the Revolution, and 
 together as they did then, we now send up our mingled 
 shouts of victory over our foes, and cry Union forever." 
 This fraternal meeting between the brave and free 
 men, who had assembled in a distant country, under 
 one common standard, to light for the land which gave 
 them birth, might, if the result could have been fore- 
 seen, have appeared to be the forerunner of the nomi- 
 nation of General Pierce for the Presidency ; for it was 
 by the noble conduct of the Southern States which first 
 led the way, and were then followed by the whole Union, 
 that General Pierce received the unanimous nomination 
 of the Baltimore Convention. It is the spirit of union 
 and nationality — this attachment to the whole country, 
 that has always distinguished the policy, and will here- 
 after mark the administration of the man we are now 
 speaking of. 
 
 XXXYI. 
 
 PIERCE RETIRES TO PRIVATE LIFE. 
 
 When Mexico had been conquered, the honor of the 
 American arms vindicated, and the gates of our golden 
 empire had been thrown open on the shores of the Pa- 
 
38 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. TIERCE. 
 
 cific Ocean, Gen. Pierce with the brave men who had 
 fought under his command, returned once more to the 
 shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and embarked again for 
 New England. They were greeted at their homes with 
 every expression of admiration, gratitude and love ; and 
 although as their thin ranks defiled through the New 
 England villages, many a tear fell at the absence of 
 these who left their bones whitening on the plains of 
 Mexico, those who returned were covered with lau- 
 rels and hailed with enthusiasm. The citizens of Con- 
 cord, and the whole state of New Hampshire, wished to 
 offer some testimonial to General Pierce, but he mod- 
 estly declined every honor that was proffered to him, 
 and as he had always done through life, was more ready 
 to aid in conferring honors upon his comrades than he 
 was to receive them himself. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 HIS EVERY-DAY LIFE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 Once more he had retired from public life, and in the 
 domestic circle, with the charms and attractions of home, 
 he resumed the education of his son, and the practice 
 of his profession. He could again have gone to the 
 United States Senate, but this he resolutely declined, 
 and greatly to the regret of his friends ; for he could 
 doubtless again have defeated the demagoguedlale as he 
 had done it before, and thereby the Senate and the coun- 
 try would have been saved all the trouble that fanati- 
 cal leader of the New England abolitionists has made. 
 
 It is pleasant to see how a plain American citizen, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 39 
 
 who has occupied positions of high honor descends at 
 once to the humble station of a common citizen. Gen. k* 
 Pierce again resumed all the duties and engagements 
 of private life. He was again seen in his place in the 
 village church on Sunday, where he had for many years 
 taught his Sabbath School. This eminent citizen had, 
 as we have remarked, thus gone farther than many 
 good and pure men feel it to be their duty, for they 
 often had rather give large sums of money to benevo- 
 lent objects than to put their own hand actively to the 
 work. Once more his house became, as it had been 
 since the day he entered it, the seat of hospitality, and 
 there was nothing which concerned the good of the 
 community where he dwelt, in which he did not warm- 
 ly interest himself. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 RISE AND FALL OF FANATICISM. 
 
 Like all other enlightened and patriotic men, Gen. 
 Pierce contemplated with alarm the progress of that 
 spirit of fanaticism which created so just and well- 
 founded an apprehension for the perpetuity of the Union, 
 in the winter of 1849 and '50. It is a fact so notorious 
 that it will hardly be denied now by any man who has 
 the reputation of a statesman to lose, that a condition 
 of things had been generating in the United States for 
 upwards of fifteen years, which twenty-four months 
 ago not only perilled the Republic, but nearly split 
 it asunder. From the first dawning of the aboli- 
 tion excitement, till it reached its acme in 1850, a train 
 
40 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 of causes was in operation, which, if they had continued 
 without interruption or opposition, must inevitably have 
 worked the ruin of this commonwealth. 
 
 Multitudes of individuals, and, in fact, entire com- 
 munities, were drawn into the current, unconscious of 
 the drift it was taking, or the momentous consequences 
 that were sure to follow. Abolitionism at the North 
 begat a spirit of secession at the South, and, ignited at 
 both extremities by the spirit of fanaticism, the hardy 
 cords' that once bound the distant sections of the re- 
 public together began to give way, and a year ago the 
 confederation was bound only with a rope of sand. It 
 is true that on a trial of the strength of the federal 
 government in a particular locality, as in Boston, 
 for instance, in that excitement, there would have 
 been no apprehension of defeat. A local outbreak 
 against the power of Congress might have been treated 
 as an insurrection, and suppressed without difficulty. 
 This was the state of things at the time of the nullifi- 
 cation affair some twenty years ago ; but it is exceed- 
 ingly doubtful if even so long ago as that, when the idea 
 of disunion was an unhallowed augury which shocked 
 without alarming the nation, the republic would have 
 lasted till now if a drop of fraternal blood had been 
 spilled in South Carolina. The beginnings of such 
 difficulties create convulsions which do not soon end. 
 If, therefore, while the Adjustment Measures of the last 
 Congress were balancing in doubt and suspense, and it 
 was the declared policy of the Taylor cabinet to inter- 
 fere to suppress the power of Texas, in asserting her 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 41 
 
 right to the territory of New Mexico, the federal go- 
 vernment had interposed and sent an army to the scene 
 of discord, there is every reason to adopt the opinion of 
 Mr. Webster, pronounced in his speech at Buffalo, that 
 the first shedding of fraternal blood would have dis- 
 solved the ligaments of the Republic for ever. The 
 fact is, the Republic of the United States was on the 
 verge of ruin. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 THE SACREDNESS OF OUR FEDERAL UNION. 
 
 The very thought that such a Republic as this was 
 in danger — a Republic whose independence was achiev- 
 ed by the heroism, and. suffering of the bravest, the 
 purest, and the noblest generation of men ; that such 
 a Republic should be wrecked by the agitations of dem- 
 agogues, filled every true American with indignation ; 
 and the thought of what might be the final result, 
 curdled the blood with horror. The republic of France 
 was looked upon by Americans from the beginning, as 
 at best, but a doubtful experiment. The all but mirac- 
 ulous birth, for the hour, of a Republic in the crumbling 
 city of the Caesars, was an unlooked-for vision, from 
 which no satisfactory auguries could be read ; and the 
 shout of freedom from the mountain fastnesses of Hun- 
 gary soon died away. But the going down of the sun 
 of liberty in Europe while it was yet day, left no dark- 
 ness so appalling as would have shut down on the world, 
 if the bond, which united our thirty Commonwealths 
 had been broken. Intriguing demagogues, who had 
 
42 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 long looked for some specious pretext to make use of 
 for their own selfish purposes, caught up the cry of ab- 
 olition philanthropists, and boldly proclaimed in all 
 quarters that unless American slavery could be abolished 
 immediately, the Union ous:ht to be dismembered. 
 
 XL. 
 
 FRUITLESSNESS OF FANATICISM. 
 
 And yet, after all, what has been accomplished by all 
 this fanaticism ? It has done no good, it is confessed 
 on all hands, and much harm. The negro is left where 
 the agitation found him, with this difference, that if his 
 day of emancipation was approaching it has been re- 
 tarded indefinitely. Every blow of the abolitionist 
 leveled against the slaveholder has fallen, however un- 
 wittingly, on the unshielded head of the slave. He has 
 thus far been the only victim in this fraternal crusade. 
 God send that the next and last victim be not the re- 
 public of Washington itself ! 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Webster's invitation to pierce. 
 In the fall of 1850, Mr. Webster, whose course in 
 reference to this terrible agitation had not only com- 
 manded the respect of the nation, but given to his fame 
 as an orator and a statesman a still greater brilliancy, 
 left his public duties at Washington for a visit, which 
 he makes every year, to his birth-place in New Hamp- 
 shire. Feeling, as he did, a desire to hold some friendly 
 and fraternal congratulations with his old friends and 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 43 
 
 acquaintances in his native State, he invited a large 
 number of distinguished men to meet him at his house, 
 to partake of a banquet, which he spread in honor of 
 the triumph of the Compromise Measures. Among 
 others, he had invited the subject of this sketch, in the 
 most cordial terms, because he knew that there was 
 one seat at his hospitable board that no other man but 
 Frank Pierce could fill. " Your heart," said he, " is 
 with the perpetual union of these States, and you have 
 devoted your public life to this great object. Come, 
 therefore, and let us hold our friendly congratulations, 
 now that the country has triumphed over fanaticism." 
 Gen. Pierce could not resist this appeal, and approving, 
 as he did most heartily, the course Mr. Webster had 
 taken in that great speech of the 7th of March, he ac- 
 cepted the invitation. He remained silent until the 
 Union was toasted, and looking the proposer of the sen- 
 timent full in the face as he rose to his feet, he poured 
 forth an effusion of eloquence such as those who were 
 gathered around that table had seldom listened to. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 TELEGRAPHIC FLASHES. 
 
 Every reader will remember how anxiously we used 
 to wait, years ago, for the arrival of the news of a 
 nomination, when it could be transmitted only by the 
 tardy progress of the steam engine. Even four years 
 ago, but a small portion of the inhabitants of the United 
 States could depend upon this means for expediting the 
 progress of public intelligence. But during the last 
 
44 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Convention at Baltimore, a few minutes after a ballot 
 was declared, the news went in flashes of lightning from 
 Halifax to the Grulf of Mexico. A friend of Gren. 
 Pierce in the Convention knew that he was stopping at 
 the Tremont House in Boston, whither he had gone 
 on a visit with his wife, who was in delicate health. 
 "Within five minutes from the announcement in the 
 Convention of his unanimous nomination, a messenger 
 from the telegraph office in Boston, flew to the hotel 
 with the result written on a single scrap of paper. A 
 friend seized it, sprang into a carriage, and drove out 
 to Mount Auburn, where the General and his family 
 had gone for a ride. As the carriages met on the road, 
 the General heard the astounding intelligence, which 
 probably he could not have expected, that he had been 
 nominated unanimously for the Presidency, by the great 
 Democratic Convention at Baltimore. He is reported 
 to have said — " No man has heard it with more surprise 
 than myself." 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 ELECTION OF CINCINNATUS BY THE ROMANS. 
 
 Those who have felt since they heard the news, that 
 they must become the enemies of Frank Pierce, unable 
 to find anything, or think of anything else to say against 
 him, have tried to make something out of this fact. 
 They have said that the Democrats nominated a man 
 who did not even expect the office ; leaving their readers 
 to infer, that therefore he was incompetent to fill it. 
 We do not see much force in this objection, and the 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 45 
 
 conclusion is entirely a non sequitur. We find, rather, 
 in all this, matter for rejoicing. "When the Roman 
 Senate laid aside their quarrels, and buried their fac- 
 tions, which were tearing the state to pieces, and they 
 could not unite upon any of the prominent statesmen, 
 or great generals or demagogues of the day, somebody 
 proposed the name of a plain old farmer, and he was 
 unanimously called to the helm of state. A messenger 
 was sent from Rome, and not finding Cincinnatus in 
 the house, he went into his fields, where he was follow- 
 ing the plough ; and we presume that Cincinnatus was 
 as much astonished when he heard of his nomination as 
 Frank Pierce was. The fact is, that the time had come 
 in this country, when we had been surfeited with states- 
 manship, and demagoguism had nearly proved the ruin 
 of the Republic. The struggles and the strifes of cliques 
 and intriguers, the tricks of political jugglers, and the 
 corruption of factions, had gone so far — prominent pub- 
 lic men were either suspected or disliked in various 
 sections of the country, or, pure and noble as many of 
 them may have been, they had been so long before the 
 nation, that it is not strange that the Baltimore Con- 
 vention should have left the immediate circle of active 
 and prominent politicians, and looked away to a dis- 
 tance, to see what man Heaven had trained up and 
 been leading by its mysterious hand to the summit of 
 power. We have no fear that the future historians of 
 this country will not regard this act as one of politioal 
 wisdom ; nor do we feel any alarm that our Cincinnatus 
 beoause he happened to be even obscure, if you will 
 
46 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 was not quite as well qualified for the post of honor as 
 those men who had spent their whole lives in trying to 
 get it. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 PIERCE NOT AN AMBITIOUS MAN. 
 
 Frank Pierce never put forth an exertion for his 
 own elevation in his life. He never asked for an office ; 
 and when he felt it his duty to run for one, no man ever 
 outstripped him. He has frequently resigned places of 
 emolument and honor, the very moment he felt that his 
 chief duties were done He never evaded a responsibil- 
 ity, and never accepted an honor without extreme re- 
 luctance. Even in the midst of the last Olympic race, 
 when the civic crown was held full in view, and thir- 
 teen candidates — the number of the old states — started 
 off post speed with their letters, promising everything 
 to everybody, Mr. Pierce did not take the trouble to 
 write any letter at all, as he did not consider himself 
 one of the candidates—did not expect the nomination, 
 he didn't want it, and had never tried to get it — but, 
 on the contrary, when he was nominated for the Presi- 
 dency by the people of his own State, last winter, out 
 of respect to his fellow-citizens, in a very frank and 
 manly spirit, he simply replied in the following words : 
 
 XLV. 
 frank pierce's letter to the people of new Hamp- 
 shire. 
 
 Concord, January 12, 1852. 
 My Dear Sir : — I take the liberty to address you, be- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 47 
 
 cause no channel more appropriate occurs to me through 
 which to express my thanks to the Convention over 
 which you presided on the 8th instant, and to the 
 masses there represented. 
 
 I am far from being insensible to the steady and 
 generous confidence so often manifested toward me by 
 the people of this State ; and although the object indi- 
 cated in the resolution, having particular reference to 
 myself, be not one of desire on my part, the expression 
 is not, on that account, the less gratifying. 
 
 Doubtless the spontaneous and just appreciation of an 
 intelligent people is the best earthly reward for earnest 
 and cheerful services rendered to one's State and country; 
 and while it is a matter of unfeigned regret that my life 
 has been so barren of usefulness, I shall ever hold this 
 and similar tributes among my* most cherished recollec- 
 tions. 
 
 To these, my sincere and grateful acknowledgments, 
 I desire to add, that the same motive which induced me 
 several years ago to retire from public life, and which 
 since that time have controlled my judgment in this re- 
 spect, now impel me to say, that the use of my name, 
 in any event, before the Democratic National Convention 
 at Baltimore, to which you are a delegate, would be 
 utterly repugnant to my tastes and wishes. I am, with 
 the highest respect and esteem, your friend, 
 
 FRANK PIERCE. 
 
 Hon. Chas. G-. Atherton, Nashville, N. H. 
 
 He also declined since the Democratic Convention 
 met ; but it seems they will make him President, in 
 spite of himself, 
 
48 LIFE OP GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 XLYI. 
 
 UNIVERSAL ACCLAMATIONS AT THE NOMINATION. 
 
 Although, in almost every section of the country, 
 wherever the telegraphic news of the nomination flew, 
 individuals who knew Frank Pierce, and communities 
 whose sympathies were not enlisted for factions, rejoiced 
 in the result; and the boom of cannon was heard along 
 the whole coast of the Atlantic, and up the valleys of the 
 great western rivers ; yet the nomination was so unex- 
 pected, that the vast majority of the American people re- 
 ceived the intelligence with silence and reflection. The 
 motives of the Convention were not at once understood : 
 and the announcement could hardly be believed. The 
 Whigs had looked forward exultingly to a division, a 
 quarrel and an explosion which would have destroyed 
 the unity of the Democratic party — while the Demo- 
 crats themselves, who knew that little could be expect- 
 ed by the nomination of any prominent candidate, anti- 
 cipated only a heartless campaign ending in defeat. It 
 has now become apparent, that the sagacity of the Vir- 
 ginia delegation discovered a man who would unite 
 and blend in one solid and irresistible phalanx, all the 
 separate columns and divisions of the American Demo- 
 cratic Party, and therefore they had, as Virginia states- 
 men so often had done before them, discovered the 
 means of bringing about a grand and glorious'consumma- 
 tion. When one southern State after another was seen 
 wheeling in with enthusiasm to support the nomination 
 of Prank Pierce, the accession of every State was 
 greeted with cheers ; and around every delegation, when 
 
CIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 49 
 
 they rose to give their vote, boquets were thrown in a 
 shower from the ladies in the galleries. 
 
 The New York Herald finely says, that a knowledge 
 of these facts has already brought tears into the eyes 
 of many of the old Democrats, who had well nigh de- 
 spaired of ever seeing another Democratic candidate in 
 the field capable of being elected. It was an interest- 
 ing scene — like some scenes in the days of Jefferson and 
 Jackson. The report of the last day's proceedings, is 
 one of those features which is more calculated to pro- 
 duce an impression on the country, than anything else 
 of the kind which has been seen or heard of for a lono- 
 time. 
 
 XL VII. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS ON THE NOMINATION. 
 
 But when a day of calm reflection had passed, and 
 the millions who make up this vast and happy confed- 
 eracy had heard the news, and thought upon it, the 
 impression was wide, and we may say universal and 
 profound, that the nomination was a wise one, and that 
 it had been brought about by the arrangement of the 
 divine and never mistaken Providence that governs the 
 world. The next sign that was seen in the political 
 heavens, was the terror that was excited throughout the 
 ranks of the enemy, from one end of the nation to the 
 other. A universal alarm became manifest among the 
 Whigs. Horace Greeley — that arch agitator — the Me- 
 phistophiles of his party ; and his paper, which is re- 
 garded as the semi-official organ of Gren. Scott, opened 
 
50 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. FIERCE. 
 
 their feeble batteries of mud. and poured slime and insult 
 upon the fame and character of Frank Pierce. We 
 will not soil these fair pages by even quoting Horace 
 Greeley's words. 
 
 The New York Daily Times, however, in far more 
 decent language, thus indicates its alarm : 
 
 " But the 'Whigs must not suppose that this lack of 
 conspicuous merit on the part of the Democratic candi- 
 date is to make the contest easy or the victory secure. 
 The mistake they made in the case of Mr. Polk should 
 warn them against such an error. There is much in 
 the position of Mr. Pierce to make him, under the cir- 
 cumstances, the most formidable candidate who could 
 have been selected. 
 
 " In the first place, the Democratic party, North and 
 South, is united in his support. Not a whisper will be 
 heard against him from any quarter of the Democratic 
 ranks. He will receive their united, harmonious, and 
 energetic support. This fact alone is quite enough to 
 show the Whigs that they have no easy game to play — 
 no holiday fight, to be waged simply for their own 
 amusement. They will find it essential to select their 
 strongest candidate, put him in the strongest possible 
 position, and secure for him the largest possible vote. 
 And they may learn something from the special object 
 which the nomination of Pierce is expected to accom- 
 plish." 
 
 The Editor then inquires what the Whigs can do to 
 save themselves, and goes on to say : — 
 
 il They are to select the candidate who will stand the 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 51 
 
 best chance of carrying at least two, out of the three 
 great Middle Stales, New York, Pennsylvania, and 
 Ohio. Unless they do this, and make the selection 
 wisely, they would save much needless trouble by sur- 
 rendering in advance." 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 UNANIMITY IN ALL QUARTERS. 
 
 Another journal holds the following unexpected 
 language : 
 
 " The nomination of Franklin Pierce and William B,. 
 King, by the national Democratic convention, gives sat- 
 isfaction to the Democratic members of Congress, so far 
 as we have learned, and it is likely to take well with the 
 party, North and South. To the Whigs it is less excep- 
 tionable than would have been the nomination of Cass, 
 Douglas, Houston, or indeed any of the candidates that 
 were run. Mr. Pierce was generally esteemed, while in 
 Congress, by his political opponents. There are no sharp 
 or disagreeable points about him. 
 
 " He has been out cf political strife for some time, and 
 nothing can be said against him personally by his polit- 
 ical opponents. He will hardly get abuse enough to 
 give him an assurance of success, and must rely solely 
 on his political principles for his election, instead of the 
 sympathy that detraction might excite for him. He is 
 of the strictest sect of the Woodbury school of Demo- 
 cracy — a school that is akin to the Virginia dogmas of 
 1798- ; 99. If the Democratic party will go in for all 
 that, and cast their undivided strength upon the ticket, 
 
52 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. TIERCE. 
 
 they will make it a question of numbers with the Whigs, 
 who will maintain different and more liberal national 
 principles. In fact, the ticket will probably unite the 
 Democratic party ; and the Whigs, in order to bear it, 
 must also unite, and put up a strong man as their 
 standard bearer, in the contest. They must adopt, too, 
 the policy which the present Administration has main- 
 tained, in regard to the compromise, in order to stand 
 on an equal footing with the Democrats." 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE INDEPENDENT PRESS. 
 
 In order to show how the Baltimore nominations are 
 likely to be regarded by independent and honest citizens, 
 we extract the following paragraph from a very able and 
 clear-headed article in the New York Herald : — 
 
 " A great many of the supporters and partisans of 
 Gen. Scott have put him forward under the mistaken 
 view that the contest of the present year is to be a con- 
 test based on military humbug and military glory, 
 without reference to principles affecting the future his- 
 tory of the country. In this view of the matter, there 
 is a deep, palpable, unquestionable mistake. The great 
 bulk of the intelligence forming the Whig party, have 
 been disgusted and betrayed by military humbug and 
 military heroes in former contests. During the exist- 
 ence of this republic, four military Presidents have 
 been elected — Washington and Jackson, Harrison and 
 Taylor. Two of these men — Washington and Jackson 
 — acquired their popularity and sustained their influence 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 53 
 
 more by intellectual and civic qualities than martial 
 renown — more on popular measures and enlightened 
 statesmanship, than on the humbug and delusion of 
 military glory. The two other Presidents — Generals 
 Harrison and Taylor — were sad blunders and incon- 
 ceivable mistakes — examples of the error of taking 
 military popularity on trust, without its subject possess- 
 ing the slightest qualifications for statesmanship or 
 governmental talents. With these experiences before 
 the Whig and Democratic parties, the availability of 
 military glory has passed away like an unsubstantial 
 sh dow ; and the mere hero of the battle-field, devoid of 
 the intellect, sense, and talent necessary in an occupant 
 of the presidential chair, is looked upon as a sort of Tom 
 Hyer in a high station, or a successful Yankee Sullivan 
 in white kids — all muscle and animal courage, without 
 brains or mind capable of conducting the affairs of a 
 great nation. But yet, in point of military renown, 
 General Pierce, of New Hampshire, without claiming 
 any merit for that vulgar quality of fighting — for those 
 Tom Hyer accomplishments, or Yankee Sullivan genius, 
 has shown himself in the campaign of Mexico as brave 
 as his competitor, Gen. Scott; and far more modest, 
 discreet, wise and patriotic, after the victory had been 
 won and the conquest of Mexico completed. Now, with 
 the exception of a few miserable demagogues, who have 
 other and desperate objects to carry out — such dema- 
 gogues as Clayton and Seward, and their associates — all 
 the intelligence, and patriotism, and good sense, of both 
 parties, in this country — Whig and Democratic — are 
 
54 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 alike determined that the coming contest shall not be 
 one between bull-dog and bull-dog — between a higher- 
 priced order of Tom Hyer and Yankee Sullivan — but 
 that it shall be a contest for elevation to the White 
 House, and to the place once occupied by Washington 
 and Jackson, men who have intelligence and sense, and 
 courage and patriotism, and common honesty and dis- 
 cretion, and all those qualities requisite for a high and 
 dignified administration of the public affairs in this 
 country." 
 
 L. 
 
 THE TWO PLATFORMS. 
 
 " The contest, therefore, now commencing, from this 
 day forward, between General Pierce of New Hamp- 
 shire, and General Scott of New Jersey, is a contest 
 between the great principles promulgated by the two 
 parties who make these distinguished men their repre- 
 sentatives ; it is a contest between those principles 
 which, on one hand, will lead this country secure and 
 undisturbed to the highest pinnacle that ever nation 
 attained, or will, on the other hand, alienate the two 
 sections of the country from each other, dissolve the 
 constituent parts of this glorious republic, and produce 
 hereafter a series of convulsion following convulsion, 
 caused by the anti-slavery agitation of such men as 
 Seward and his compeers. The platform of principles 
 and measures put forward by the convention at Balti- 
 more, is the platform of General Pierce, and that on 
 which they will support, and intend to elect him. The 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 55 
 
 platform and principles of Gen. Scott and for his party, 
 are those which he has himself promulgated in advance, 
 through his four famous political letters, which we have 
 recently placed before the world. They are principles 
 which are directly in the teeth of, and opposed to, those 
 of the democratic party. Gen. Scott avows himself in 
 favor of a "United States Bank — a measure which has 
 been decided against by ihe people of this country, as 
 fraught with danger and injury to their independence, 
 and to the purity of the government and its institu- 
 tions. Gen. Scott has also avowed himself in favor of 
 modifying or abolishing' the naturalization laws ; and 
 therefore he means to be in favor of restoring the old 
 alien laws of John Adams, which created the first great 
 breach between the two great classes of the population 
 of this country, and originated those differences which 
 have agitated its councils ever since. Gen. Scott has 
 avowed himself against any exercise of the veto power, 
 thus declaring that he will be entirely in the hands of 
 any clique that may choose to regulate and manage 
 Congress, without reference to general principles, the 
 provisions of the constitution, or the duties imposed on 
 him by his office. Gen. Scott, among other princi- 
 ples — -which we have not time to enumerate to-day — 
 has, above all, declared his unalterable hostility to the 
 continuance of slavery at the South ; and although he 
 points out no practicable mode, within the limits of the 
 constitution, for abolishing the institutions of the South, 
 he yet looks forward to a solution of the question at 
 some future day, and leaves the inference that that so- 
 
56 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 lution — for it can be nothing else — will be either insur- 
 rection or civil war, produced by the alienation of the 
 North and South on these delicate relations. The prin- 
 ciples and measures, therefore, of tli3 whig party, as 
 promulgated by the leading and only candidate they 
 have any chance of electing, are such principles and 
 such measures as, if carried into practice by his suc- 
 cess, will alienate still more the South from the "North — 
 will produce bickerings of the most dangerous charac- 
 ter, and ultimately lead to insurrection, civil war, and 
 entire and final separation/' 
 
 LI. 
 
 THE REAL ISSUE IN THE APPROACHING STRUGGLE. 
 
 " On the contrary, what are the principles associated 
 with the name of Gen. Pierce, in the contest now ap- 
 proaching ? They have been enunciated by the Balti- 
 more Convention, and they are of exactly an opposite 
 character, and antagonistic to those which have been put 
 forward by Gen. Scott, under his own signature, and 
 which, no doubt, will be adopted by the Convention 
 that will nominate him next week — opposition to any 
 construction of financial power in the government, by 
 the creation of a national bank — opposition to any 
 change in the naturalization laws, or any hostility to 
 the increase of the population of this country by emi- 
 gration from Europe or elsewhere — a due regard for the 
 recent compromise acts, and particularly for the Fugi- 
 tive Slave law. All these measures, with many others 
 which have been already published in our columns, are 
 
LIFE OF GENEBAL FRANK. PIERCE. 57 
 
 identified with the success and name of G-en. Pierce. 
 They are principles and measures which will now — as 
 they have heretofore done — bind these States in closer 
 union, and lead this country into harmony, more con- 
 centrated action, more power, and more glory as a re- 
 publican nation, than was ever yet seen in all past 
 time. 
 
 " Such are the first views which we can take of this 
 contest, now approaching, between the two great candi- 
 dates — of the principles linked with their several names, 
 and of the results to the future history of the country 
 growing out of these principles. Cren. Scott is a gallant 
 military leader — a man of high honor in private life 
 — a soldier of unquestioned courage ; but he is vain, 
 empty, proud, and silly. He conceives that this coun- 
 try is his property, and that no other man has a right 
 to be a candidate for the Presidency but himself. He 
 is, moreover, entirely in the hands of a coterie of the 
 most dangerous demagogues that every controlled any 
 party, or afflicted any country. His election would 
 lead to evils of the most dreadful kind, paralyze indus- 
 try, and strike with alarm both North and South at the 
 progress of those principles which only tend to the alien- 
 ation of the two great sections. General Pierce, on the 
 contrary, is the true compromise candidate — the modest 
 man — the man of sound, good sense — the man of cour- 
 age in the day of battle, and of wisdom in the day of 
 peace — the man to propose nothing that is not sensible, 
 and to act nothing that will not redound to the pros- 
 perity and glory of his country. He is certainly the 
 
58 LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 man for the occasion ; and there is every appearance, 
 from the delight with which the announcement of his 
 name has thus far been received throughout the coun- 
 try, by all parties, that he is the ' man that is coming.' " 
 
 LII. 
 
 MODE OF LIFE. FAMILY CHARACTER. 
 
 Frank Pierce lacks two inches of six feet. He has 
 a robust and vigorous frame, inured to fatigue, and ca- 
 pable of great endurance. He lives (just as a man 
 ought to live, before he is nominated for the Presidency 
 of a great Republic,) in a small white house, near Main 
 street, in Concord. In front of it is a yard of beautiful 
 green trees and little flowers-beds, purifying and re- 
 freshing the air, and loading it with fragrance. He is 
 a man of moderate means, as that expression is gener- 
 ally understood by the American people. He has been 
 so generous through life, that he has never laid up much 
 money. The Pierces generally, as a family character- 
 istic, never have amassed or regarded money for their 
 own purposes. They have always been politicians, but 
 they have never used the public money except for public 
 purposes. None of them have ever been rich ; none of 
 them have ever been poor. Frank Pierce will spend 
 every dollar of his salary in keeping a hospitable house, 
 when he goes to Washington. There will be no show, 
 or parade, or sham ; but there will be hearty cheer and 
 cordial greeting to all, as far as his time and means en- 
 able him to go. 
 
 Such is his personal character, and such are his per- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL FRANK. PIERCE. 59 
 
 sonal habits. If these, with his eminent qualities as a 
 public man, and a statesman, do not qualify him to ad- 
 minister the government at Washington with ability and 
 acceptance, we honestly confess that we do not know of 
 a man who could. In every State of the Union, the 
 democrats, and the lovers of their country, will rally to 
 his support. He will not only bring out the entire 
 democratic strength of the Nation, but tens of thousands 
 who stand aloof from partisan warfare, will come for- 
 ward to elevate so pure, upright, and noble a man to 
 the Chief Magistracy. Frank Pierce will be our 
 citizen President. 
 
HON, WILLIAM RUFUS KING, 
 i. 
 
 THE OBJECT AND SPIRIT OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 After "Washington, and the men who had gone 
 shoulder to shoulder with him through the Revolution- 
 ary struggle, had achieved the independence of the old 
 Thirteen Colonies, it required seven years more to unite 
 them in the bonds of the Federal Union. All those con- 
 flicting interests were discussed and arranged, which 
 have since agitated the country. Patriotic, wise, and 
 good men, from every one of the thirteen states, under- 
 stood these questions quite as well as men ever have 
 since ; and on the whole, they decided that it was wise 
 and best to enter into a great and solemn compact, by 
 which, upon the Tables of the Constitution, the rights, 
 the privileges, and the sovereignty of every state should 
 be clearly, intelligibly, and eternally written. The 
 Compromise Measures of 1850 were only a re-enactment 
 of the original provisions of the Constitution. There- 
 fore, every good and intelligent man rejoiced in that 
 Great Adjustment which gave repose to the Confed- 
 eracy, and drew the cordon of union closer than ever 
 around the Republic of "Washington. 
 

 HON. WILLIAM RUFUS KING. 61 
 
 II. 
 
 WHO IS SENATOR KING ? 
 
 William Rufus King was Vice-President of the United 
 States, and presiding officer of the Senate, when these 
 great statutes were inscribed upon the Records of the 
 American Republic ; his name was written at the bot- 
 tom of these laws. He had given to them his sympa- 
 thies and his support. As an extreme Southern man, 
 he was willing to compromise, to yield, to give up every 
 thing except cardinal principles, to preserve unimpaired 
 for our latest posterity the priceless heritage we had 
 received from our fathers. 
 
 Long in public life, devoted from his youth to the 
 good of his fellow citizens, and the public interests of 
 his own state, incorruptible during a long life of public 
 honor, patriotic, and generous, compromising, but firm, 
 he had become distinguished for his great services to 
 his own and to the whole nation, and he is so well 
 known to the body of the American people, that it is 
 but a formality we yield to, in saying anything about 
 him at all. Almost every intelligent man in America 
 knows his history, as well as we do ourselves. 
 
 HI. 
 
 HIS POLITICAL HISTORV. 
 
 William Rufus King was born in North Carolina, and 
 is now we believe about sixty-five years of age. Hav- 
 ing at an early period of life taken up his residence in 
 that part of the country which was afterwards known 
 
62 SKETCH OF 
 
 as the state of Alabama, he was elected one of the first 
 Senators of that state, when she was admitted into the 
 Union, and he took his seat in the body over which he 
 now presides, thirty- three years ago. He is therefore, 
 since Colonel Benton and Henry Clay are no longer 
 there, the father of the American Senate. For a period 
 of a quarter of a century without interruption (1819 
 to 1844) he Represented Alabama in the highest 
 legislative seat on the continent. During the mean- 
 time, he had inspired such universal confidence in his 
 ability — in his zeal for the good of the nation, and in 
 his clear conceptions of international law, that he was 
 appointed in 1844 to represent this country as Ambassa- 
 dor at the Court of Louis Phillippe. The very moment 
 he was presented to the King of the French, that mon- 
 arch greeted him with great favor, and is reported upon 
 authority we do not doubt to have said, in addition to 
 the commonplace greeting extended to every new am- 
 bassador ! " Mr. King, I am not unacquainted with your 
 eminence in the American Republic — I know with how 
 much ability you have filled many posts of honor ; and 
 I am now really glad that a man of so much experi- 
 ence and so much fame as a statesman, represents that 
 great Republic of yours at this Court. Be assured that 
 I shall lose no opportunity of extending to you my con- 
 fidence and demonstrating to you my respect. Happily 
 there are no causes of difference between our two 
 governments, and I give you my honest assurance if 
 a question of embarrassment should arise during your 
 residence here, that I will endeavor the very moment 
 
HON. WILLIAM RUFUS KING. 63 
 
 it comes up to remove every occasion of difficulty. I 
 have lived in the United States, I know your people, 
 and I am glad to greet you here." 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE CATO OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 Very many of our readers have seen this long-tried, 
 upright, and noble man in his official chair. The great 
 simplicity of his character, his learning, his patriotism, 
 the candor and frankness of his manner, the openness 
 and generosity of his disposition, his strenuous efforts 
 to calm the excited passions of the nation during a pe- 
 riod of turmoil and peril, the respect and attachment 
 felt for him by all who have enjoyed the honor of his 
 acquaintance, the blandness and interest of his conver- 
 sation, and the classic simplicity of his republican cha- 
 racter, stamp him the very Cato of the American Re- 
 public. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF THE NEXT CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Our political enemies, who have never been able to 
 establish any political platform, upon which they could 
 all stand, or which commended itself to the judgment, 
 good sense, and confidence of the nation, for a long 
 time ridiculed the idea of establishing any platform 
 whatever. They know that their party never have; and 
 never can unite upon any great political principles, 
 which command the confidence and respect of the Ame- 
 rican people. At one period, indeed, they staked every- 
 
64 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 
 
 thing upon a Mammoth National Bank, and fought, 
 election after election, and made issue after issue, till 
 they had been so often defeated, they pretended no 
 longer to desire_the Bank themselves. At another time, 
 under the able championship of Henry Clay, and with 
 all the power of the old United States Bank to back 
 them, they tried to saddle upon the country the odious 
 policy of a Protective Tariff — which simply meant a 
 law that compelled you and me to pay thirty, or fifty, 
 or five hundred per cent, more for every article we con- 
 sumed, than was necessary — interposed every possible 
 barrier to the friendly intercourse of nations — over- 
 stocked our markets with home productions to such an 
 extent, that on every revulsion, even the manufacturers 
 themselves, with all their protection, went to ruin every 
 few years. And so, from time to time, they have got 
 up various cries, and alarms, and monopolies — but they 
 never have and never can settle on a national policy. 
 Whiggery does not admit of it. Even now, there is a 
 terrible alarm everywhere for fear that they will be 
 obliged to proclaim their principles. They know that 
 General Scott is, at heart, an Abolitionist — they know 
 that he is a Native American of the most odious type — 
 that he is determined, if he can, to break up the balance 
 of power between North and South, and commit the gov- 
 ernment to the Free-Soilers — they know that, at all 
 events, he has held these opinions, and that they are 
 now held and proclaimed by his confidential advisers 
 and friends. The Whigs know that neither Mr. Fill- 
 moro nor Mr. Webster entertain any such views, and 
 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 65 
 
 yet they have not probably the honesty or courage to 
 come out in their Convention, and lay down a platform 
 of political principles which either can command or de- 
 serve the support and confidence of the country, 
 
 YI. 
 
 But the Democracy always has held a clear, well de- 
 fined, substantial, and well-settled policy. They have 
 always proclaimed it from the very foundation of the 
 Government, and they always will. 
 
 Below, we give the platform on which they stand for 
 the next struggle — so plain that every man can under- 
 stand it. 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE UNANIMOUSLY NOMINATED. 
 
 Franklin Pierce was then declared the unanimous 
 choice of the Convention, as the candidate for the Presi- 
 dency. 
 
 Repeated cheers went up, together with other demon- 
 strations of joy. 
 
 The committee on the platform then submitted their 
 report, through Mr. Brown of Tennessee, the Chairman. 
 It was read by Major French. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 The Committee on Resolutions then submitted their 
 report, through Mr. Brown, of Tennessee, the Chairman. 
 It was read by Mr. French, as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the American Democracy place their 
 
66 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 
 
 trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the discrim- 
 inating justice of the American people. 
 
 Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive fea- 
 ture of our political creed, which we are proud to main- 
 tain before the world, as a great moral element in a 
 form of government springing from and upheld by the 
 popular will ; and we contrast it with the creed and 
 practice of federalism, under whatever name or form, 
 which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and 
 which conceives no imposture too monstrous for the 
 popular credulity. 
 
 Resolved, Therefore, that, entertaining these views, 
 the Democratic party of this Union, through their dele- 
 gates assembled in a general Convention of the States, 
 coming together in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the 
 doctrines and faith of a free representative government, 
 and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude 
 of their intentions, renew and reassert, before the Amer- 
 ican people, the declaration of principles avowed by 
 them when, on former occasions, in general convention, 
 they presented their candidates for the popular suffrages. 
 
 1. That the Federal Government is one of limited 
 powers, derived solely from the Constitution, and the 
 grants of power made therein ought to be strictly con- 
 strued by all the departments and agents of the govern- 
 ment ; and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to ex- 
 ercise doubtful constitutional powers. 
 
 2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the 
 general Government the power to commence and carry 
 on a general system of internal improvements. 
 
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 67 
 
 3. That the Constitution does not confer authority up- 
 on the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to as- 
 sume debts of the several States, contracted for local 
 internal improvements, or other State purposes, nor 
 would such assumption be just or expedient. 
 
 4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal 
 Government to foster one branch of industry to the det- 
 riment of any other, or to cherish the interests of one 
 portion to the injury of another portion of our common 
 country ; that every citizen and every section of the 
 country has a right to demand and insist upon an equal- 
 ity of rights and privileges, and to complete anl am- 
 ple protection of persons and property from domestic vio- 
 lence or foreign aggression. 
 
 5. That it is the duty of every branch of the govern- 
 ment to enforce and practise the most rigid economy in 
 conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue 
 ought to be raised than is required to defray the neces- 
 sary expenses of the government, aud for the gradual 
 but certain extinction of the public debt. 
 
 6. That Congress has no power to charter a National 
 Bank ; that we believe such an institution one of deadly 
 hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous 
 to our republican institutions and the liberty of the peo- 
 ple, and calculated to place the interests of the country 
 within the control of a concentrated money power, and 
 above the laws and the will of the people ; and that 
 the results of democratic legislation, in this and all 
 other financial measures upon which issues have been 
 made between the two political parties of the coun- 
 
68 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 
 
 try, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of 
 all parties, their soundness, safety, and utility, in all 
 business pursuits. 
 
 7. That the separation of the moneys of the govern- 
 ment from banking institutions, is indispensable for the 
 safety of the funds of the government, and the rights of 
 the people. 
 
 8. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson 
 in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in 
 the constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty 
 and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have 
 ever been cardinal principles in the democratic faith ; 
 and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming 
 citizens, and the owners of soil among us, ought to be 
 resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and 
 sedition laws from our statute-book. 
 
 9. That Congress has no power under the Constiution 
 to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of 
 the several states, and that such states are the sole and 
 proper judges of everything appertaining to their own 
 affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution ; that all 
 efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce 
 Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to 
 take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated 
 to lead to the most alarming and dangerous conse- 
 quences ; and that all such efforts have an inevitable 
 tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and 
 endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, 
 and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our 
 political institutions. 
 
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM: 69 
 
 Resolved, That the foregoing proposition covers, and 
 was intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery 
 agitation in Congress ; and therefore the democratic 
 party of the Union, standing on this national platform, 
 will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the 
 acts known as the Compromise measures settled by the 
 last Congress — the act for reclaiming fugitives from 
 service or labor included — which act being designed to 
 carry out an express provision of the Constitution, can- 
 not with fidelity thereto be repealed, or so changed as 
 to destroy or impair its elliciency. 
 
 Resolved, That the democratic party will resist all 
 attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agi- 
 tation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or 
 color the attempts may be made. 
 
 Resolved. That the proceeds of the public lands ought 
 to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified 
 in the Constitution ; and that we are opposed to any 
 law for the distribution of such proceeds among the 
 States, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to 
 the Constitution. 
 
 Resolved^ That we are decidedly opposed to taking 
 from the President the qualified veto power, by which 
 he is enabled, under restrictions and /responsibilities, 
 amply sufficient to guard the public interest, to suspend 
 the passage of a bill whose merits cannot secure the 
 approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Re- 
 presentatives, until the judgment of the people can be 
 obtained thereon, and which has saved the American 
 people from the corrupt and tyrannical domination of 
 
70 DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 
 
 the Bank of the United States, and form a corrupting 
 system of general internal improvements. 
 
 Resolved, That the Democratic party will faithfully 
 abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the 
 Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1792 and 1793, 
 and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legis- 
 lature in 1799 ; that it adopts those principles as con- 
 structing one of the main foundations of its political 
 creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious 
 meaning and import. 
 
 Resolved, That the war with Mexico, upon [all the 
 principles of patriotism and the laws of nations, was a 
 just and necessary war on our part, in which no 
 American citizen should have shown himself opposed to 
 his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word 
 or deed, given aid and comfort to the enemy. 
 
 Resolved, That we rejoice at the restoration of friend- 
 ly relations with our sister republic of Mexico, and 
 earnestly desire for her all the blessings and prosperity 
 which we enjoy under republican institutions, and we 
 congratulate the American people upon the results of 
 that war, which have so manifestly justified the policy 
 and conduct of the democratic party, and insured to 
 the United States indemnity for the past and security 
 for the future. 
 
 Resolved, That in view of the condition of the popu- 
 lar institutions in the Old World, a high and sacred 
 duty is devolved with increased responsibility upon the 
 democracy of this country, as the party of the people, to 
 uphold and maintain the rights of every state, and 
 
RATIFICATION OF THE REPORT. 71 
 
 thereby the union of the states, and to sustain and ad- 
 vance among them constitutional liberty by continuing 
 to resist all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the 
 benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a 
 vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and 
 compromises of the constitution which are broad enough 
 and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as 
 it is, and the Union as it should be, in the full expan- 
 sion of the energies and cagacity of this great and pro- 
 gressive people. 
 
 RATIFICATION OF THE REPORT. 
 
 Directly after the reading was completed, Mr. Saun- 
 ders, of North Carolina, moved the adoption of the 
 platform, and demanded the previous question. 
 
 A similar motion was made by Mr. Wilder, of Louis- 
 iana. 
 
 A division of the question on the resolution was 
 called for by one of the New- York delegation. 
 
 Mr. Saunders said, " There's no use in a division — 
 we're all united. Go ahead — take the question." 
 
 The demand for the previous question was seconded, 
 and there were loud and impatient cries of " Take the 
 vote." 
 
 The vote was accordingly taken, and the platform 
 was adopted. 
 
 Terrific applause again burst forth, and continued 
 several minutes. 
 
 The Committee on Resolutions made the following 
 report, namely : 
 
72 NATIONAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 Voted, That the next Democratic National Conven- 
 tion be held at Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio. 
 
 Voted, That in constituting the future National Con- 
 vention, the Democratic Committee, in order to secure 
 the respective rights of the States, each State shall be 
 entitled to twice the number of delegates it has in the 
 electoral college, and no more ; and the Democratic 
 committee, in making arrangements for the next Demo- 
 cratic Convention, provide such number of seats, and 
 secure the same to the delegates elected. 
 
 It was resolved that the time of holding the said Con- 
 vention be designated by the Democratic National Com- 
 mittee, and that in their call the above be inserted as 
 the rule to be observed in choosing delegates. 
 
 The report was adopted by yeas 167 to nays 97. 
 
 The Committee appointed to inform Mr. Pierce and 
 Mr. Xing of their nomination was announced as follows : 
 Erastus Corning, of New York ; J. S. Barbour, of 
 Virginia ; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi ; Governor 
 McClellan, of Michigan; and Pierce Soule, of Louisiana. 
 
 NATIONAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 The National Democratic Committee was elected as 
 follows : 
 
 Hastings Strickland, Maine. 
 Charles Cr. Atherton, New Hampshire, 
 David A. Smalley, Vermont, 
 B. F. Hallett, Massachusetts, 
 
LAST FRATERNAL APPEAL. 73 
 
 Welcome B. Sayles, Rhode Island, 
 James T. Pratt, Connecticut, 
 John P. Beekman, New York, 
 Joseph C. Potts, New Jersey, 
 James Campbell, Pennsylvania, 
 George R. Riddle, Delaware, 
 Robert M. McLane, Maryland, 
 William H. Clarke, Ya., 
 Warren Winslow, North Carolina, 
 S. T. Bayley, Ga., 
 Edward C. Betts. Alabama, 
 T. R. Adams, Mississippi, 
 A. G. Penn, Louisiana, 
 Alfred P. Edgerton, Ohio, 
 Travais P. Stone, Kentucky, 
 George W. Jones, Tennessee, 
 Alexander F. Morrison, Indiana, 
 Isaac Cook, Illinois, 
 Ferdinand Kennett, Missouri, 
 N. B. Barlow, Arkansas, 
 Thompson C. Brodhead, Michigan, 
 Thomas Bothell, Florida, 
 James W. Scott, Texas, 
 Joseph C. Knapp, Iowa, 
 Benjamin L. Henning, Wisconsin, 
 William N. Gwin, California. 
 
 VII. 
 
 LAST FRATERNAL APPEAL. 
 
 Such, Democrats of the American Union, is our plat- 
 form ; and under the standard we have so many tiuies 
 
74 LAST FRATERNAL APPEAL. 
 
 unfurled in triumph, let us go into the next crusade, 
 and, with united hearts, rescue the ark of the Constitu- 
 tion from the hands of our enemies. 
 
 It is not a time for disunion. Let, therefore, every 
 good citizen continue to frown down everything which 
 bears even the appearance of a revival of that accursed 
 agitation which proved so fatal to us in the last strug- 
 gle. Let the states and the whole nation combine 
 their energies on one common point ; and let that point 
 be an undying adhesion to the cardinal principles of the 
 Democratic party, which are the principles of the con- 
 federation. Let us act worthy of the members of a 
 great fraternity, whose interests are as boundless as the 
 continent is wide, and whose prejudices and passions 
 are generated by a land which begins on the north in 
 sight of eternal snows, and extends to the south, whero 
 we see the flappings of the wing of our eagle over the 
 heated line of the equator, and from the Atlantic coast, 
 with its teeming cities and freighted argosies of the 
 world's commerce, over the Hocky Mountains and 
 through the vast solitudes of the prairies of the west to 
 the tranquil waters of the Pacific Ocean. With such a 
 country, with so many interests to subserve, with so 
 vast a hope for mankind freighting the ship of state as 
 she moves down the century, let us, in God's name, all 
 be brothers ! Let us forget, overlook, embrace, forgive, 
 and love. And so we shall last ; and amid the wrecks 
 of other nations, and the desolations of republics which 
 have strewn themselves along the shores of ancient em- 
 pires, we will erect to mankind an example that will 
 
LAST FRATERNAL APPEAL. 75 
 
 encourage the millions of the Old World who. amid the 
 chaos of despotism, are struggling for a brighter and a 
 better age. 
 
76 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 i. 
 
 We now furnish our readers with some valuable His- 
 toric Sketches, for which we are mainly indebted to the 
 New York Herald, which has with so much zeal and 
 ability investigated the whole subject. 
 
 Biographical Sketch of Governor Benjamin Pierce, 
 the father of General Franklin Pierce. 
 
 His Early Life — He enters the Army of the Revolution 
 ■ — He becomes a Captain — Removes to New Hamp- 
 shire — Is appointed Brigade Major — Sheriff of 
 Hillsborough County — Elected Representative — 
 Councillor — Governor — Retires from Public Life- 
 Dies at Hillsborough — His Character — His Monu- 
 ment. 
 
 Benjamin Pierce, the father of General Franklin 
 Pierce, the democratic candidate for President of the 
 United States, was born at Chelmsford, a town near 
 LoweM, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in 
 1757 ; and, as he was the son of a farmer, his early 
 life was devoted to agriculture. He was descended 
 from a respectable Irish family, who originally emi- 
 grated, along with many other Irish emigrants, from 
 Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, and settled in 
 New Londonderry, in New Hampshire. On the memo- 
 rable 19th of April, 1775, the revolutionary committee 
 of Boston sent out couriers in every direction, and one 
 of these messengers came up to the door of the farm- 
 house, while young Pierce, then only eighteen years of 
 age, was plowing in his father's field ; and having de- 
 livered a brief message, hastened on to arouse the 
 country to action. It was the news of the battle of 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 77 
 
 Lexington which the stranger was commissioned to pro- 
 claim, and which, like a trumpet's voice, roused all the 
 inhabitants of the land. Young Pierce left the plough, 
 and, shouldering his musket, proceeded on foot towards 
 Lexington, where he found, on his arrival, that the 
 troops had fallen back upon Boston ; and he proceeded 
 to Boston, and enlisting as a private soldier in the Army 
 of the Revolution, was assigned to the regiment com- 
 manded by Col. Brooks. In the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 which occurred on the 17th of June following, Pierce 
 took a part, and from that time to the close of the Re- 
 volution, he continued in the service of the country, 
 and followed the fortune of his regiment, fighting when 
 it was called into action, and attracting the notice and 
 winning the commendation of his superior officers for 
 his gallantry and good conduct, by which means he rose 
 gradually to the command of a company, so that at the 
 disbanding of the Revolutionary Army, in 1784, he 
 held the rank of captain. The leaders of the revolu- 
 tion had been driven, by necessity, to the issuing of 
 paper money ; and in that currency, already depreciat- 
 ing, the troops were paid off. Pierce was amongst the 
 sufferers ; and when he set out to return to his native 
 village, he found the continental monev which he had 
 received from Congress so far depreciated, that the 
 
 O J. ' 
 
 whole amount in his possession, the arrears of his pay 
 for eight years of service, would not suffice for the pur- 
 chase of a farm. He was obliged, like many other 
 officers of the Revolution, to go into the wilderness, 
 where lands were cheap, and begin the cultivation of 
 wild land. He removed to the State of New Hamp- 
 shire, into the town and county of Hillsborough, and 
 having made a clearing, erected a rude habitation, fell- 
 ing the trees with his axe, and procuring food for sus- 
 tenance with his gun. In that town his son, Franklin 
 Pierce, was born, and there lived until he removed to 
 Concord, the capital of the State, where he now resides. 
 In the autumn of 17S6, General John Sullivan, who 
 
78 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 was then a resident of New Hampshire, and whose 
 grandson, John Sullivan, is now Attorney General of 
 that State, determined to form the militia of the county 
 of Hillsborough into a brigade, and having sought out 
 Benjamin Pierce, commissioned him as a brigade major ; 
 and he being a veteran soldier, immediately took the 
 necessary steps for the perfect organization and disci- 
 pline of the several regiments. He had already served 
 eight years in the regular army, and he continued for 
 twenty-one years in the militia, leaving it finally in the 
 station of brigadier general. General Miller and General 
 John McNiel (who was a son-in-law of Benjamin Pierce), 
 both of whom served with so much distinction in the 
 war of 1812, and the latter of whom recently deceased 
 at the city of Washington, both belonged, when they 
 were young men, to the militia regiment commanded by 
 the father of the democratic nominee ; and it is said that 
 several other valuable officers who have distinguished 
 themselves, have been proud to declare that they received 
 their first lessons in military discipline from Gen. Ben- 
 jamin Pierce, in the militia of Hillsborough. 
 
 From 17S9 to 1802, he was a representative of the 
 people in the Legislature of the State ; and, in 1803, 
 was first elected a member of the Governor's council, 
 where he continued six years, five of which were passed 
 in the council of the celebrated Governor John Langdon. 
 This brings us to the year 1809. Soon after that time, 
 he was appointed Sheriff of the county of Hillsborough, 
 which office he held till 1813. In that year, at the June 
 session of the Legislature, a change was made in the 
 judiciary system of the State, which resulted in abolish- 
 ing the offices of the existing judges, and gave to the 
 dominant party an opportunity to appoint their succes- 
 sors upon the bench. The name of the highest court of 
 the State, which had been styled the Superior Court of 
 Judicature, was, by the new law, changed to the Su- 
 preme Judicial Court. Arthur Livermore, Chief Justice 
 of the former court was retained as an Associate Justice 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 79 
 
 in the new one. Jeremiah Smith, of Exeter, who had 
 resigned his seat on the bench to accept the office of 
 Governor, was again appointed chief justice. The re- 
 maining seat was filled by Caleb Ellis, of Claremont, a 
 young but distinguished member of the bar. This no- 
 mial change in the courts was made, as the republican 
 party contended, for the sole purpose of getting rid of 
 the old court, and was unconstitutional. A warm con- 
 troversy ensued, and both courts sat and claimed a right 
 to administer the law; during which time the public 
 business was thrown into confusion, by the jurors and 
 witnesses sometimes obeying the summons to attend one 
 court and sometimes the other. In consequence of the 
 confusion resulting from this unsettled state of things, 
 Governor John Grilman, then chief magistrate of the 
 State, convened the Legislature on the 27th day of Oc-, 
 tober, several weeks earlier than the day to which it had 
 been adjourned. At an early period of this session, Jo- 
 siah Butler, sheriff of the county of Rockingham, and 
 Benjamin Pierce, sheriff of Hillsborough, were remov- 
 ed by address. Pierce, however, was elected four 
 years successively to the Governor's council, and ul- 
 timately again appointed sheriff of Hillsborough coun- 
 ty. While holding that office an event occurred, which 
 strongly marked his character, and erected for him an 
 enduring monument in the hearts of the people. 
 
 It was in the year ISIS, at the time when the enor- 
 mous abuses of the creditor over the debtor were ex- 
 citing the attention of the people, and calling forth ex- 
 ecrations from the philanthropic and liberal everywhere. 
 In some instances, the father of a poor family was for 
 years immured in a dungeon for the amount of the 
 prison charges, and his family, meanwhile, were re- 
 duced to pauperism and beggary. No age, no condition, 
 was exempt. The poor and decayed veteran, whose 
 best years had been spent in the service of his country, 
 was often confined with felons, and year rolled on after 
 year, leaving him in hopeless imprisonment. In Am- 
 
80 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 herst jail there were three aged prisoners, one of whom 
 had groaned in confinement almost four years. When 
 Pierce was appointed sheriff, he gave these prisoners 
 notice that they were to be released, and appointed a 
 day for their deliverance, the 20th of November, 1818, 
 the more grateful to the prisoners that it was to occur 
 just at the coming on of winter. The inhabitants 
 thought the occasion worthy of public demonstrations ; 
 and when they had assembled together at the prison to 
 witness the release, the sheriff, Benjamin Pierce, having 
 opened the prison door, thus addressed the three pris- 
 oners : — 
 
 " Moses Brewer, Isaac Lawrence, and George Lancy 
 — By the return made me by Israel W. Kelly, Esq., my 
 predecessor in the office of sheriff for the county of Hills- 
 borough, it appears that you, Moses Brewer, was com- 
 mitted, December 13, 1814 ; and you, Isaac Lawrence, 
 was committed, December 27, 1815 ; and you, George 
 Lancy, July 2, 1817. 
 
 " My unfortunate fellow citizens: — The feelings ex- 
 cited by a view of your situation are inexpressible. 
 That those heads, silvered by age and hardship, and 
 those hearts throbbing with kindly emotions, should be 
 held for this long period of time by their fellow citizens, 
 without the imputation of a crime, in a captivity un- 
 paralleled even in the annals of the French Bastile, or 
 Algerine slavery, always viewed by us with sentiments 
 of inexpressible horror, is more than my nature is able 
 to endure. To be immured in a dungeon, standing on 
 the very soil of liberty and in the midst of men boast- 
 ing its high privileges, is, in my mind, with which the 
 ideas and the value of freedom are closely interwoven, 
 infinitely worse than to be enslaved in a foreign land by 
 enemies and barbarians, from whom nothing better could 
 be expected. But as an officer of the county, I have 
 a duty to perform. I must either be governed by the 
 law and suffer you still to remain, the devoted victims 
 of unavoidable misfortune and honest poverty, shut out 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 81 
 
 from the genial light of heaven and the vital air, God's 
 equal to gift all ; to endure, perhaps perish under the 
 privations incident to our situation and the stern rava- 
 ges of approaching winter ; forlorn and destitute, with 
 no friend to comfort, no society to cheer, no companion 
 to console you — or, I must be directed by the powerful 
 impulse of humanity, pay the debt myself, and bid you 
 leave this dreary and gloomy abode. 
 
 " My unfortunate fellow citizens : — My duty to my- 
 self will not suffer longer to remain here an old compa- 
 nion in arms, who fought for the liberty of which he 
 is deprived, for no crime but that of being poor. My 
 duty to my country, whose honor is deeply implicated 
 by your sufferings — and it is one of my first wishes that 
 it should be untarnished — and my duty to my God, who 
 has put into my power to relieve, irresistibly urge me 
 to the latter course. This, I am sensible, takes from 
 me a large sum of money ; however the liberal and 
 generous people, among whom it is my happy lot to re- 
 side, may participate ; if not, none but my children 
 will have any right to reproach me ; and I am confi- 
 dent they will do no more than say their father was ge- 
 nerous to a fault. In this view, go ; receive the uncon- 
 t animated air which is diffused abroad for the comfort 
 of man ; go to your families and friends, if you have 
 any. Be correct in your habits. Be industrious — and 
 if your totterinsr and emaciated frames are so far ex- 
 hausted as to prevent your getting a comfortable sup- 
 port, apply to the good people for relief — and may the 
 best of heaven's blessings accompany you the remain- 
 der of your days." 
 
 In 1827, Benjamin Pierce was elected Governor of 
 the State of New Hampshire; but in 1828, when the 
 republican party in the North became divided between 
 the partisans of General Jackson and John Quincy 
 Adams, the larger part sustaining Mr. Adams, Pierce, 
 who declared for General Jackson, was defeated, but 
 was re-elected in 1829, when the star of the hero of the 
 
 4* 
 
82 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 hermitage rose into the ascendant in New Hampshire. 
 After this he lived in comparative retirement, on his 
 farm, in Hillsborough. At the commencement of the 
 last war with Great Britain, his spirit entered into the 
 contest, but the infirmities of age admonished him that 
 he could hasten no more to the battle-field. Two of 
 !iis sons, with his consent and advice, entered the pub- 
 lic service. 
 
 Endowed by nature with a strong mind, Governor 
 Pierce had overcome the obstacles springing from a 
 want of education, and, by practice and perseverance, 
 had acquired a knowledge of business, and a skill in 
 the conduct of public affairs. It was not from his high 
 public station that he acquired a commanding influ- 
 ence, but from his integrity of character, his benevo- 
 lence, hospitality, and love of justice. Cheerful in his 
 disposition, and delighting to contribute to the happi- 
 ness of all around him, youthful vivacity found in him 
 a congenial spirit, while sedate manhood and sober age 
 discovered in his conduct nothing to reproach. When 
 he was removed by death, the public felt the loss of a 
 man who had sincerely loved and faithfully served his 
 fellow-men, and his country. He died in the town of 
 Hillsborough, where his remains are deposited, and over 
 them a monument of plain hewn granite has been 
 erected, which stands in a prominent position, in the 
 burying ground of the town, which is on the brow of a 
 hill, and in full view of the traveler, when passing on 
 the stage route from Amherst to Hillsborough. 
 
 Such is a faithful outline of the life and public career 
 of Gov. Benjamin Pierce, the father of Gen. Franklin 
 Pierce, the nominee of the Baltimore Democratic Na- 
 tional Convention, which assembled at Baltimore on the 
 2d day of June, 1852, and selected its candidate on the 
 forty-ninth ballot. 
 
 ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS. 
 
 After completing his academical studies, Frank 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 83 
 
 Pierce entered college, and graduated at Bowdoin Col- 
 lege, in Maine, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 
 Immediately on leaving college, he entered the office of 
 Judge Gould, a jurist of distinction at Litchfield, Con- 
 necticut ; but subsequently returned to his native State, 
 and finished his studies at Amherst, the residence of 
 Hon. Charles H. Atherton, father of Hon. Charles Gr. 
 Atherton, late Senator, and is the shire town of the 
 county of Hillsborough. He was admitted to the bar, 
 and commenced the practice of law in his native town, 
 Hillsborough. But he had not been in practice two years, 
 when he was elected a representative in the Legislature 
 of the State, and during hi? second year of service in 
 that body, was elected Speaker of Vao House, in both of 
 which positions he manifested so much talent and so 
 admirable a capacity for legislative business, and so 
 thoroughly won the confidence of the democratic party, 
 that in the year 1833, while yet hardly more than a 
 youth, he was elected to a seat in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the United States. As a member of the 
 House, he was not of that number who appear to de- 
 sire to distinguish themselves by much speaking. He 
 was rather quick to hear and slow to speak ; modest and 
 unassuming, but attentive to business, and strongly 
 marked even then by what he has displayed so much of 
 in his later life — that is, good common sense. 
 
 He was an unwavering supporter of democratic mea- 
 sures—was a ready though not a frequent debater ; and 
 during his four years continuance in that body, steadily 
 advanced himself in the warm friendship of almost all 
 with whom he came in contact, and rose rapidly in the 
 general confidence and good will of the people of New 
 Hampshire. In 1837 he was elected, by the Legislature, 
 a Senator from that State. In all these various and re- 
 sponsible stations, and during the succeeding five years 
 on the floor of the Senate, good sense, caution, prudence, 
 modesty, attention to business, and a certain chivalrous 
 and lofty tone of manners, with kindness and good tern- 
 
81 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 per, rather than frequent speech-making, enabled Gen. 
 Pierce to quit the Senate in 1842, with an amount of 
 popularity which few men have ever possessed on leav- 
 ing the Senate of the United States. He had now been 
 more than ten years in public life, and having entered 
 it very young, felt the necessity of devoting himself to 
 his private affairs, which had suffered while he was ab- 
 sent. He resigned his seat in 1842, one year before his 
 term expired, with the frankly avowed purpose of devo- 
 ting himself to his profession, in order to earn a compe- 
 tence for his family ; and with this view, removed his 
 office to Concord, the capital of the State. In the Senate 
 Gen. Pierce ranked amongst the hish-minded and hon- 
 orable men of that body. In private life, seldom has a 
 political man been more beloved, even by his opponents ; 
 and very seldom, if ever, has a retired Senator been able 
 to look back with more satisfaction on his career. In- 
 tegrity, business habits, industry and magnanimity, 
 were the great secrets of his success in all the various 
 and high stations which he had occupied. His speeches 
 were generally short and to the point — he never rising 
 unless he had something to say, and leaving off when 
 he had done, "When he resumed his practice at the bar, 
 it was with a firm resolution to be withdrawn from pub- 
 lic life, and the offices of Governor of the State and Se- 
 nator, which were more than once offered to him, he 
 declined. President Polk urged upon him the accept- 
 ance of the office of Attorney General of the United 
 States, and afterwards that of Secretary of War, both 
 of wdffch he declined, with a declaration that he had no 
 desire for public office, and would not consent to leave 
 his home again, unless, in case of war, his country 
 should demand his services. If it be asked, " What is 
 he as a speaker?" it must be replied, General Pierce is 
 an Orator. 
 
 Reasoning power and pathos are the characteristics 
 of his addresses to juries, in which he is known to have 
 had, during his practice, such remarkable success, 
 
\ 
 
 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 85 
 
 Those brilliant nights of imagination, for which Mr. 
 Choatc, the great orator of the Massachusetts bar, is so 
 much distinguished, do not belong at all to Gren. Pierce. 
 He goes at once to convince the reason, or to move the 
 heart ; and where the case admits of combining the 
 two, he wields a masterly power. His clear, good com- 
 mon sense and knowledge of the human heart, must 
 have struck every one who has had frequent opportuni- 
 ties to see him in the management of trials before a jury. 
 These marked features in his forensic efforts have made 
 him sought after, and his professional services to be in 
 demand, in all the counties of the State of New Hamp- 
 shire. 
 
 The breaking out of the Mexican war brought about 
 the contingency for which he made a reservation when 
 he rejected the overtures of President Polk, so honorable 
 to him, and so flattering to his professional pride ; and 
 he at once enrolled himself as a volunteer, in the capa- 
 city of a private soldier. As soon as the New England 
 regiment was raised, he was elected colonel, and his 
 military services from that time till the American army 
 entered the Halls of the Montezumas in triumph, have 
 already been given in detail in the columns of the New 
 York Herald. His treatment of the brave and lamented 
 Ransom was magnanimous in the extreme. Ransom 
 was a military man by profession. He was educated at 
 Norwich, Yt., under Capt. Alden Partridge, who for 
 many years kept a military school there, for the educa- 
 tion of young men. Ransom was one of his pupils ; and 
 after Captain Partridge retired, continued to form 
 classes and give instruction in military tactics. He was 
 every inch a soldier. Brave, and knowing himself com- 
 petent, he naturally desired a position in which he might 
 show his military talents. Pierce felt this, and gene- 
 rously urged upon President Polk the appointment of 
 Ransom to the command of the New England regiment, 
 But President Polk, having been associated with Pierce 
 in Congress, knew his man, sent him a commission as 
 
86 HISTORIC SKETCHES* 
 
 colonel, accompanied by one for Ransom as major of 
 the same regiment. Ransom was shot through the head 
 while rushing on upon the enemy in one of the most 
 bloody fights in the whole war. Poor, gallant Ransom ! 
 — the very soul of honor and valor — even now we seem 
 to see his erect and elegant, but slender form, driven on 
 by a spirit seemingly too mighty for the flesh in which 
 it was encased, leading up, up the fatal hill, in the face 
 of that deadly fire to which, in the very pride and exul- 
 tation of his daring, he fell a victim. 
 
 General Pierce was made a brigadier-general by a 
 commission dated March 3, 1847, and his brigade con- 
 sisted of the Ninth regiment, New England men, the 
 Twelfth, men from Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, northern 
 Mississippi, and Louisana, and the Fifteenth, raised in 
 Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and eastern part of 
 Missouri, and the western part of Indiana. Thus (xen. 
 Pierce saw ranged under his banner 2,500 men, assem- 
 bled from all sections of the Union ; and at the head of 
 this command, he landed at Vera Cruz, from the bark 
 Kepler, on the 28th of June, 1847. His career from 
 that time till the American army entered the city of 
 Mexico in triumph, has all become matter of history. 
 In general, it may be remarked that he was lavish of 
 personal sacrifices, and magnanimous towards others, 
 when laurels were to be bestowed. As soon as the res- 
 toration of peace between the two republics became a 
 thing settled, Pierce resigned his commission, left the 
 city°of Mexico, and returned home, leaving others to 
 settle preliminaries, and quarrel over the distribution of 
 honors. His personal courage and his ability to com- 
 mand had both been repeatedly displayed. He had ren- 
 dered all the service required of him by the exigencies 
 of the country ; he had won the good will, nay, the en- 
 thusiastic love, of the troops under his command. The 
 men looked upon him as a friend and a father. There 
 was no hardship he was not willing to share with them ; 
 no allowance of food or water in his possession, how- 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 87 
 
 ever small, which he was not willing to divide with a 
 sick and wounded soldier, although few suffered more 
 than himself from the diseases of that deadly climate. 
 He now stands before the world, with health and strength 
 renewed, and honors thick upon him, a candidate for 
 President of the United States ; and should he be elected, 
 there is one immense advantage which he possesses over 
 G-en. Scott, viz: experience in public affairs. As repre- 
 sentative to the Legislature, Speaker of the House in 
 New Hampshire, representative to Congress, Senator, 
 and, lastly, Commissioner in Mexico, he has seen, and 
 been through, the whole routine of public business. He 
 has passed nine years at least at Washington as a legis- 
 lator, and has, therefore, thoroughly seen the working 
 of the machinery of our government. 
 
 He has also seen the working of that other machinery 
 — the distribution of patronage — and this will be of im- 
 mense service to him in the bestowing of appointments 
 and the distribution of government patronage — points 
 in which some of our best Presidents have signally 
 failed, and have involved themselves thereby in inextri- 
 cable difficulties with their personal friends and their 
 party. At the time when the offer of a seat in the 
 cabinet was tendered to General Pierce, by President 
 Polk, an occurrence took place characteristic of Pierce, 
 and to which we have not seen any allusion made in 
 any of the attempted sketches of him with which the 
 press has teemed for the last four days. That was the 
 acceptance of the comparatively trifling and unimport- 
 ant office of District Attorney for the district of New 
 Hampshire, which office he actually held, and the duties 
 of which he was discharging when he received his mili- 
 tary commission, and was called upon to set out for 
 Mexico. That office, at the departure of Gen. Pierce, 
 fell to his law partner, Mr. Minot. Very seldoni do hu- 
 man annals afford an instance of a man declining a 
 high, honorable, and lucrative station, like that of At- 
 torney General of the United States, for one like that 
 
88 HISTOEIC SKETCHES. 
 
 (though a very honorable one certainly.) which General 
 Pierce accepted ; but the one would not interfere with 
 his plan, fully determined upon — to pursue the practice 
 of his profession at home ; the other would ; and there- 
 fore it was declined. It was then that the eloquent and 
 almost unequalled Ichabod Bartlett, for many years the 
 acknowledged head of the bar in New Hampshire, be- 
 gan to withdraw gradually from the harder duties of 
 the profession, and General Pierce, by common consent, 
 took his place at the bar, though Mr. Bartlett still oc- 
 casionally bursts forth in all the intellectual glory, and 
 light, and beauty, of other days, and no one witnesses 
 with more delight than himself the professional triumphs 
 of General Pierce. If there be one thing more than an- 
 other redeeming in poor and infirm human nature, it is 
 the mutual regard held towards each other by men like 
 these. 
 
 General Pierce, at the bar, is one of those, who, 
 though they do not hold with Lord Brougham that 
 " though the world should come to an end my client 
 must be acquitted," yet make the case of a client their 
 own, and enter with the whole energies of their nature 
 into the contest which the rights of a client are involved. 
 Yet so uniform in his courtesy at the bar that his de- 
 portment might be cited as an instance to show how 
 much is uniformly gained, and how little is ever lost, 
 by observing on all occasions a generous, kind, and 
 courteous demeanor to others. 
 
 Such is General Franklin Pierce, the candidate of 
 the democracy — in private life a gentleman — in his 
 legislative career distinguished for ability, possessing 
 the highest characteristics of an efficient and powerful 
 advocate and popular orator, crowned with laurels won 
 by fighting the enemy rather than by wrenching them 
 from the brows of other men ; and lastly, crowned, 
 at the age of forty-eight years, with a unanimous nomi- 
 nation, which has been hailed by the democracy with 
 one spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm throughout the 
 ntire length and breadth of the Union. 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 89 
 
 THE RETURN OF GEN. PIERCE FROM THE MEXICAN WAB 
 — HIS RECEPTION AND SPEECH. 
 
 The following account of the reception of General 
 Pierce on his return from the Mexican war, is taken 
 from a New Hampshire paper : 
 
 Concord, (N. H.) Jan. 27, 1848. 
 
 A committee was appointed to conduct General Pierce 
 into the hall. He was accompanied by Lieut. Thomas 
 P. Pierce of the ninth infantry, his acting aid, and Lieut. 
 Gove, of the same regiment. After the ceremony of in 
 traduction, General Low, the president of the day, ad- 
 dressed the assembly, in an off-hand manner, substan- 
 tially as follows : 
 
 Fellow-Citizens — You have not come here to-day to 
 hear me speak, but to listen to the tones of him whom 
 you have so often heard with pleasure and delight. You 
 have come to unite in a patriotic and grateful service ; 
 not to discuss tiny of the great political subjects of the 
 day, or the fitness of this or that man for public office. 
 Ours is the more agreeable duty of paying the tribute of 
 respect and gratitude to the gallant soldier who has 
 fought the battles of our country upon the blood-stained 
 fields of Mexico, and to tender to him our thanks for his 
 services, and also to express our thanks for the services 
 of the brave men whom he has led in those actions. Of 
 the high motives, of the profound sense of honor from 
 which he acted, I can bear witness. After I had been 
 informed that he had accepted a commission as colonel 
 of the New England regiment, I took the liberty of ask- 
 ing him if it was true that he had decided to sunder the 
 tender ties of husband, father, and give up the peaceful 
 enjoyments and comforts of home, which he possessed in 
 such an eminent degree. He replied — " I have accepted 
 of the commission. I could do no otherwise. I was 
 pledged to do it. When I left the Senate, it was with 
 a fixed purpose of devoting myself exclusively to my 
 profession, with the single reservation, that if my coun- 
 
90 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 try should become engaged in war, I would ever hold 
 myself in readiness to serve her in the field, if called 
 upon to defend her honor and maintain her rights. War has 
 come, and my plighted word must and shall be redeem- 
 ed." He did redeem his pledge. His commission of 
 colonel was superseded by that of brigadier-general, and 
 he went forth with the sons of New England. Well we 
 remember how we followed him and his command in 
 our minds, through the pestilential camp at Vera Cruz, 
 then step by step to the National Bridge and Jalapa, 
 where a curtain, as it were, was shut down upon him 
 and his brave band, and cut them off* from our view. 
 
 Every breeze, every whisper, every report which the 
 power of lightning could waft to us, was sought with 
 avidity. Great was the anxiety from the uncertainty 
 that rested on the fate of our friends. But the curtain 
 was lifted. The black cloud rolled away, and the bat- 
 tle-field lay revealed to us. Then what admiration and 
 astonishment did we feel ! There we beheld nine thou- 
 sand troops driving before them thirty thousand of the 
 best appointed army ever raised in Mexico. They are 
 pursued over ravines and artificial trenches, cut by the 
 labor of a hundred thousand peons, by one small but 
 gallant army, rushing on line upon line, hill upon hill, 
 overwhelming redoubts, storming fortifications, captur- 
 ing the capital of the enemy, and planting the flag of our 
 country upon the principal palace. Here we see our 
 friend triumphantly leading on his command. But this 
 is not all we see of him. We behold the camp after the 
 hour of battle has passed away. We behold it wrapped 
 in the silence of night. We see the killed and the 
 wounded, and we look for our friend. We find him 
 passing unattended through the long line of tents, in 
 which were to be seen the palid cheek and exhausted 
 frame of the dying soldier. To minister to them is the 
 business of his lonely rounds. He visits the tents ; he 
 hears their last words, and receives their last mortal 
 requests, and expends upon them his last shilling to 
 
HISTOEIC SKETCHES. 91 
 
 procure for them necessaries which they could not, in 
 such a place, otherwise obtain. Is not such a son 
 worthy of the State that gave him birth? (Cheers.) 
 Turning to Gren. Pierce, he continued : I can say no 
 more, sir. Your services are understood here; and now, 
 in the name of this meeting, and in my own behalf like- 
 wise, I bid you a hearty welcome home to your adopted 
 town. And in the name of all the people in every town 
 in this State, I congratulate you upon your safe return 
 to the capital of your native State. 
 
 G-enerai Pierce now advanced to the front of the plat- 
 form to reply. He was evidently laboring with deep 
 emotions, the nature of which could well be gathered 
 from the tone and topics of his remarks. Although one 
 of the most forcible and fluent speakers in the country, 
 he on this occasion avoided every thing in the shape of 
 speaking for effect. He talked right oat on matters 
 which intensely interested his audience. 
 
 He^said, whatever had been his portion of the danger 
 encountered, or exposure endured, or the long, sad days 
 and sleepless nights of those he had left behind, none of 
 which would have occurred to him but for the remarks 
 of the President, he had been more than compensated 
 by the reception he had met, setting aside the conscious- 
 ness of duty performed. He felt an embarrassment in 
 addressing the meeting he could hardly account for. He 
 felt profoundly grateful to that Being, who not only 
 watches over the nations of the earth, but over the wel- 
 fare of the humblest individual. He did not take to 
 himself the honor of attracting such a numerous and 
 excited assembly as stood before and around him. The 
 gathering was on account of the great number of their 
 gallant sons, brothers, and friends, that had formed a 
 part of his command. They had come to hear not only 
 of those who live, but of those who, having displayed 
 their devotion to their country, now repose on a foreign 
 soil. A set speech to an audience actuated by the feel- 
 ings which he perceived, would be altogether out of 
 
92 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 place. It would, be a sort of desecration to attempt 
 any display on such occasions. Upon the main topic 
 which they must be anxious to hear about, he could not 
 frame a set speech. They wanted to hear of the Ninth 
 regiment, the glorious New England regiment, which 
 was assembled in such hot haste, and in such hot haste 
 met the enemy. There was not a generous or just man 
 in the State who had not pronounced in favor of their 
 motives. Laying aside all the ties of home, and the 
 fair promises of youth and its enjoyments, and suffer- 
 ing the partings which press the life-blood from out 
 young hearts, they responded to their country's call, 
 with a high moral purpose that could not be exceeded. 
 
 During the three weeks at Vera Cruz, caused by a 
 want of mules and wagons for transportation — a deiay 
 aggravated by wide-spread sickness — he never heard a 
 murmur from a soldier under his command. A more 
 cheerful set of lads they could not have been if they 
 had been at home by their own firesides. Their subse- 
 quent exploits had been read in the official reports. He 
 would not detail them. On the march, in the fight, 
 everywhere, one predominant feeling animated them. 
 The question was not, who should be ordered forward ; 
 but which corps should be allowed to go forward first. 
 The only dispute was upon claims to be first led against 
 the enemy. At night they were cheerful in their tents, 
 and lon<nn£ for the morning, which should brins: with 
 it the order to move forward to battle. New Hamp- 
 shire had no occasion for any other feeling than that of 
 pride in regard to her sons who belonged to the com- 
 mand. They had proved themselves brave, devoted, 
 self-sacrificing spirits. And Concord, too, was well re- 
 presented among them. There was Henry Caldwell, 
 one of the bravest and most determined soldiers in the 
 army. There was Sergeant Stowell, who was shot, 
 plump through the heart, at Churubusco. x\s his last 
 breath flowed, he whispered to me — " Do the boys say 
 I behaved well? if I have, write home to my people." 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 93 
 
 Then there was Sergeant Pike, who had his leg shot off 
 in advancing along on a causeway swept by three bat- 
 teries. Two amputations, which did not answer the 
 purpose, were performed, and a third was deemed hope- 
 less. Die he must, it was thought. " I know better than 
 they do," he said. " I'll try another; and when they 
 cut it again I hope they will cut it so that it will stay 
 cut." A third amputation was performed, and ho lived 
 through it. He and the others named were printers. 
 In the new levies, the printers exceed by twenty per 
 cent, those of any other vocation ; and on account of 
 their intelligence and high spirit they have proved the 
 most efficient soldiers in the field. 
 
 General Pierce also named Brown and Swett, of Con- 
 cord, as particularly distinguished ; and Captain Cady 
 and Lieuts. Potter and Dana, of the old line. Nor did 
 he forget sergeant West, of Manchester, who fell at the 
 head of his column ; and was always there when there 
 was any fighting to be done. But in mentioning the 
 men of New Hampshire, or of New England, he would 
 claim for them no superiority over others. The present 
 army was made up of artillery, cavalry, the old army, 
 and the new levies, representing every State of the 
 Union, and it was not in the power of man to say which 
 had done the best service. To many it had been mat- 
 ter of great surpise that the new levies had fought as 
 they had done. But it is in the race. He would take 
 from the audience before him a regiment who would do 
 the same. In executing manoeuvres and in forming com- 
 binations in front of an enemy, by wheeling, counter- 
 marching, &c, old soldiers are undoubtedly better ; 
 but when it came to close fighting, as in storming or 
 charging, it was the man that did the work, and not 
 the mancsuvering ; and in such work, the men who had 
 never before been under fire or handled a bayonet, stood 
 well side by side with the long trained soldier. Another 
 cause of the success of our troops, new and old, was 
 the conduct of the officers, who, from the highest to the 
 
94 HISTORIC SKETCHES. 
 
 lowest, led and cheered on their columns. Hence the 
 disproportion in the loss of officers and men. Hence 
 the loss of that most brave and accomplished of officers 
 of the ten new regiments — Colonel Ransom. He kept 
 pressing up — pressing up — till he was shot dead at the 
 head of his column. The same was true of Colonel 
 Martin Scott, the first shot in the army — a son of New 
 Hampshire. He raised himself above the protection of 
 a wall. A brother officer begged him not to expose 
 himself unnecessarily. He replied — "Martin Scott 
 has never yet stooped." The next moment a shot 
 passed through his heart. He fell upon his back, deli- 
 berately placed his cap upon his breast and died. Colo- 
 nel Graham, after receiving six severe wounds, continu- 
 ed at the head of his men, and upon receiving a seventh 
 through the heart, slowly dropped from his horse, and 
 as he fell upon the ground, said — " Forward, my men ! 
 — my word is always — forward !" And so saying he 
 died. 
 
 Having referred to Lieuts. Foster and Daniels, and 
 to several officers of the old army, General Pierce pro- 
 ceeded to say he had to retract opinions he had former- 
 ly entertained and expressed in relation to the military 
 academy at West Point. He was now of the opinion 
 that the city of Mexico could not have been entered in 
 the way it was but for the intelligence and science in 
 military affairs of the officers of the old army, mostly 
 from "West Point. Services were rendered by the 
 officers of the topographic engineers and ordnance which 
 could not have been rendered but by men who had re- 
 ceived the most complete military education. 
 
 Having renewed his expressions of gratitude for his 
 reception, Greneral Pierce now sat down. 
 
HISTORIC SKETCHES. 95 
 
 THE RECEPTION OR GEN. PIERCE'S NOMINATION AT HOME, 
 
 ENTHUSIASTIC DEMONSTRATIONS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 From the Concord {N. H.) Patriot, June 1th. 
 
 As soon as it was announced in Concord that Gen, 
 Pierce was the nominee of the Baltimore Convention, 
 the citizens called a meeting to express their gratifica- 
 tion. Speeches were made, and a general rejoicing took 
 place. One of the speakers was a Mr. Peabody, a resi- 
 dent of Hillsborough, Gen. Pierce's native town. He 
 said : — 
 
 He had but the moment before arrived in town from 
 Hillsborough. It was not two hours since when the 
 joyous news of Gen. Pierce's nomination to the chief 
 magistracy of the United States, first greeted the ears 
 of his delighted fellow-townsmen — the yeomanry of old 
 Hillsborough. The announcement thrilled like an elec- 
 tric touch through the hearts of the sterling democracy 
 of that fine old town, the birth-place of Franklin Pierce. 
 The school-mates of his boyhood, the companions of his 
 youth, and the friends of his maturer years, grasped 
 each others' hands in an ecstacy of delight, and called 
 down blessings upon the head of him in whose honors 
 they shared as in the honors of a brother. 
 
 They had watched his growing fame with unmeasured 
 delight They had seen wave after wave of popular 
 applause, bear him onward towards the proud position 
 which he now occupies in the face of the whole world. 
 As a statesman and a soldier, his praises had been re- 
 corded on every heart in the land ; and at every step of 
 his course, his townsmen had exclaimed, " His wisdom 
 and his virtues have merited it all — his blushing honors 
 rest upon a noble and deserving brow, and in his tri- 
 umphs we rejoice !" 
 
 Not only his native town, but the whole State, rejoiced 
 in this nomination. The warm heart and splendid tal- 
 ents of Gen. Pierce had long been recognized and admired 
 throughout our whole borders ; and every son of the old 
 
80 IIISTOKIC \ LIBRARY OF C 
 
 s«as ipni i 
 
 shire. New Hampshire, 011 897 79g i ^ lie 
 
 Cilleys, and the Pierces — New Hampshire, mo pw . :ic 
 
 defender of our nation's liberties, the foremost in her 
 love of our glorious Union — had at last received the re- 
 ward that was her due. 
 
 During all this time, the town bells had been ringing 
 incessantly — their chimes being now and then, at close 
 intervals, partially broken to the ear by the booming of 
 cannon from the hill in rear of the State House. There 
 were 282 guns fired — one in honor of each member of 
 the Convention who voted for General Pierce, and one 
 for that remarkably persevering friend of Mr. Dickin- 
 son, whose vote was cast for his favorite candidate up 
 to the last ballotting, solitary and alone, with one or 
 two exceptions. 
 
 The assemblage in the State House yard was large, 
 and the greatest enthusiasm characterized its proceed- 
 ings to the end. Joy beamed from every countenance ; 
 all seemed to feel and appreciate the distinguished 
 honor conferred upon our State, through her most emi- 
 nent son ; all regarded his nomination as the certain 
 prelude to his triumphant election. And such will be 
 found to be the case throughout the State ; and the gal- 
 lant and true-hearted democracy of New Hampshire, 
 in their heartfelt joy at this event, return their grateful 
 thanks to their brethren throughout the Union, for the 
 honor thus done them, the confidence thus reposed in 
 them ; and the country needs no guarantee that that 
 confidence is worthily bestowed. 
 
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