UCSB LIBKAKY 
 
 SKETCHES OF THE LIVES 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE AND WM. R. KING, 
 
 CANDIDATES OP THE 
 
 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 PRESIDENCY AND VICE PRESIDENCY 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 [The Democratic National Convention which assembled at Baltimore on the second day 
 of June, 1852, unanimously nominated General Franklin Pierce as the democratic caudi- 
 -date for the presidency and the Hon. William R. King for the vice presidency of the 
 United States. Whatever pertains to their personal and political history has become a 
 anatter of pervading and peculiar interest. 
 
 To place before the public, without eulogy or ornament, the leading incidents of their 
 lives, the National Democratic Executive Committee present the following brief and authentic 
 sketches. 
 
 Their high honor, unimpeachable integrity, eminent statesmanship, and unsurpassed fidelity 
 in the varied public trusts and duties assigned to them, commend them to the generous 
 confidence and support of all who desire an able and honest administration of the gov- 
 ernment. ] 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE. ' 
 
 General Pierce is the sou of Benjamin Pierce, v/lio Ibught at Banker 
 Hill, served honorably through tlie revolutionary war, was a member of 
 the governor's council, high sheritl' of his county, governor of New 
 HampEhire in 1S27 and 1829, and died April 1, ] 839, aged SI years. 
 He possessed great force of character and knowledge of men, v/as a 
 thorough republican, was highly res]iccted by all parties, and exercised a 
 large iiifluence on public affairs. On the conclusion oi the revolutionary 
 ■war he i^etfJcd in HiUiborough, which then was almost a wildenioss. 
 
 ^
 
 .' riH'rMy^^- 6 J I? 
 
 He married twi<!e, and had by his first wife cne daughter, the widow 
 General John McNeil, and by his second wife five sons and three' 
 daughters. One of the daughters died in infancy, and the other tw 
 died ill 1837, leaving farnilies. Of the sons the oldest, Benjamin K, 
 was a gallant officer of the army, Avho distinguished himself in tlP 
 Florida war ; and the second, also, was connected M'ith the army, ai^' 
 attained the rank of brevet colonel. These are both dead. Anoth 
 died in early manhood. The remaining sons are Col. Henry D. Pierce, 
 of Hillsborough — a flmr.cr of great personal worth and of much wealth, 
 who has represented his town in the legislature — and the subject of this 
 memoir. 
 
 Franklin Pierce was born in Hillsborough, November 23, 1804. He 
 was sent to the neighboring schools of Hancock and F'rancestown — living 
 in the latter place with the mother of the late Levi Woodbury, to whom 
 he pays a grateful tribute for the salutary influence she exercised over Uis 
 early boyhood. His academic studies v/ere pursued at Exeter academy. 
 In 1820, in his sixteenth year, he entered Bowdoin College, from which 
 he graduated, with credit, in 1824. Dr. Calvir. E. Stowe was one of his 
 class. His agreeable manners, manly beaiung, social turn and fine talents, 
 made -him a general favorite ; and among his intimate friends were Hon. 
 James Bell, of Maitchesler, and Dr. Luther V. Eeli, the head of the 
 McLean Asylum, of .Somcrville, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Jonathan Cilley, 
 and James Mason, son of Jeremiah Mason. Three years were subse- 
 quently passed in preparatory studies in the offices of Hon. Edmund 
 Parker, of Amherst, and of Hon. Levi Woodbury, of Portsmouth, IN. H., 
 and in the 'aw school of Judge Samuel He we, of Northampton, Massa- 
 chusetts. The productions of Mr. Pierce bear witness that these early 
 and priceless advantages for thorough culture were avcH improved ; M'hile 
 the admiration and friendship entertained for him by college cotempo- 
 rafies, v.dio subsequently became ornaments of their profession, was Gut 
 the comniencement of that favor which he has since uniformly attracted 
 towards aim. 
 
 Mr. Pierce in 1827 opened a law office in Hillsborough, opposite the 
 residence of Governor Pierce. At this time t'le latter enjoyed a wide and 
 just pofularity in New Hampshire, and lliis year he was elected governor. 
 'Pile succeeding year, in consequence of tlie division in the republican 
 party on the presidential question — a part dc I'tring for General Jackson 
 and apart for Mr. Adams— Governor Pierce, who was a " Jackson man," 
 T»ras defeated. The fruits of this anti-demccratic victory were the election, 
 by a small majority, of Jo'.ni Bell governor, and of Hon. Samuel Bell 
 United Slates senator. The next year, however. Governor Pierce was 
 re-elected. It was in the midst of these stirring scenes that Mr. Pierce 
 commenced the practice of his profession. He bad, to favor his advance- 
 ment in business relations and in political life, it is true, the wide influ- 
 ence of his father ; but the great success that immediately attended him 
 would have been but iransient, had he not manifested ability, industry, 
 energy and fidelity. These won for hirn a reputation as wide as it was 
 solid. , 
 
 Mr. Pierce took a zealous part in politics, and in 1829 he was elected 
 representative from his native town, and again the three successive years. 
 This was an era in the political history of New Hampshire. It was ihe 
 time when the Granite State came boldly to the support of General Jack-
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE.
 
 WILLIAM K. KING.
 
 son's administration. Benjamin Pierce, by over two ihousand majority, 
 was elected (1829) governor, an entire congressional delegation in favor 
 of Jackson's administration was chosen, and a legislature was returned 
 having a handsome democratic majority. The votes for Speaker in the 
 latter indicate the strength of parties — Mr. Thornton, the administration 
 candidate, receiving 123, and Mr. Wilson, opposition, 101. The nest 
 year (1830) the contest became still more animated and severe. Mr. 
 Harvey was the democratic candidate and General Upham the whig can- 
 didate; and such v/as the success of the democracy, at all points, that 
 tlieir candidate received four thousand votes more tlian his opponent. 
 Qne of the fruits of this election was the return, of Hon. Isaac Hill to the 
 United States Senate. 
 
 Mr. Pierce took a prominent part in these contests, both in the field 
 and in the legislature, and here laid the foundation of his political influ- 
 ence and success. The questions in which he engaged were mostly 
 local, but there is one that stands out, of a general and important character. 
 A convention of democratic republican members was held in Concord, 
 June 15, 1S30, and adopted an address .and resolutions that will stand 
 out among the important political documents of the time, for their ability, 
 clearness and soundness. They accurately define the cliaracter of the 
 constitution ; clearly shoAV how the lavish system of appropriations by the 
 general government lead «' to wide-spread, general corruption, tending 
 directly to the consolidation or disunion of the States, the destruction of 
 democratic principles, and the extitiction of liberty ;" and they thus 
 early endorsed the reuomination of General Jackson as the democratic 
 candidate for the next presidential term. This was the convention that 
 resolved that Hon. Samuel Bell, then senator, had ceased to represent the 
 sentiments of a majority of his constituents. 
 
 The New Hampshire democrats the succeeding year (1S3I) nobly 
 maintained their ground —the election resulting in tiie full success of 
 their ticket for governor and Congress, while they retained their majority 
 in tiie legislature. "The American system of Henry Clay," say the 
 journals, "• is dead and buried in the State of New Han)pshire." It was 
 , the year that Mr. Pierce was elected' Spealcer of the House, which cou- . 
 sisted of tt^ro hundred and tv^/enty members; and it shows the estimatioa 
 in which he v/as held, that he received 155 votes against 58 for all othere. 
 He was also elected Speaker in lb'32. lie discharged the duties of this 
 office witii great tact and ability, proving himself to be a firni, courteous, 
 and impartial presiding officer. Thus, in five years he attained an en- 
 viable position among his associates, and won it, not by uvidermining 
 rivals, or by adroiiuess in political intrigue, but by a firm adherence to 
 political principle,^jloquence in debate, unquestioned capacity for public 
 buT;incss, unvaryiisg courtesy, and the exhibition of fenkness and man- 
 liness of character. So honorable was his ambition, that while he 
 was ranking his associates, lie retained iheir love and commanded their 
 respect. 
 
 In 1833 Mr. Pierce was promoted to a wider sphere of action, being 
 elected a member of Congress from his district. He entered on this field 
 oi duty in a period of intense poritical excitement— indeed, in one of the 
 htro ages of the American deflflocracy. The United States Bank was 
 then in the arena, making its most desperate struggle to overcome tire 
 government and to perpotua-'e its monopoly, and this by subsidizing the
 
 4 
 
 pres?, and not uiifrequeutly tampering M'ith tlie integrity of public men. 
 In opposition to sucli corinption, the indomitable Hero of New Orleans 
 was giving fresh proofs of the force of his character and the firmness of 
 his patriotism. In these trying times, when not a few faltered, Mr. 
 Pierce proved himself, in Congress, one of the most able and reliable 
 supporters of the administration. He was not a frequent debater, but 
 rather a most intelligent working member, giving prompt attention to the 
 business in hand; still, wlien occa.sion required it, he was ready and 
 willing to throw himself into tlie breach, repel the attacks that were made 
 by the able men in opposition, and boldly defend the Old Hero in those 
 patriotic and soul-stirring speeches for which he is so celebrated. To go 
 over, for four years, his votes, and recall his speeches, would be only 
 adducing unnecessaiy proof that he gave an unfaltering support to the 
 policy which has met the approving voice of a vast majority of tlie Ameri- 
 can people. So true was he to the democratic cause, and so agreeable 
 was he in his personal address, that the President became warmly 
 attached to him, and often invited him to his fireside and hospitable 
 board. Mr. Pierce also continued to make warm friends among his asso- 
 ciates in Congress, v/liile he steadily advanced in the respect and good 
 will of the citizens bf his native State. He entered with them heart and 
 soul into their local political contests, and the longer they tried him the 
 more confidence did they feel in the purity of his character and the sound- 
 ness of his principles. 
 
 With such a reputation, Mr. Pierce was elected by a large majority of 
 the legislature to the Senate of the United States, and took his seat at tiie 
 extra session summoned to convene on the 4th of March, 1S3T, the day 
 of the inauguration of Martin Van Buren as President. The country was 
 then experiencing the effects of a severe commercial revulsion, the neces- 
 sary consequence of an extraordinary inflation of credit, and a wild and 
 wide speculative mania. To prevent the government, in future, from 
 unwisely stimulating trade by a use of its deposites as a basis of dis- 
 count, and to secure it from again ejqieriencing losses from a failure of 
 banks, the democratic party were boldly taking ground in favor of sepa- 
 rating the moneys of the govermnent from the concerns of the banks. 
 ' 'Thus, the same journal that contains the accounts of the extra session of« 
 the vScnate, contained letters from the ex-President at the Hermitage, re- 
 joicing " that the democracy are uniting upon the plan of separating the 
 government from corjwrations of all kinds;" and the New Hampshire 
 democracy, ever true to the republican cause, ever conservative to pre- 
 serve the good of our polity, and ever progressive to adopt a well-based* 
 •experiment, in democratic convention promptly put fortli a voice in favor 
 of this policy. It was under such auspices that Mr. Pierce, after having 
 given the last administration so constant and eflecUial a support, took his 
 seat in the Senate. During his service in il, the array of brilliant names 
 that graced it, such as had nex'er before been seen and will not soon be 
 seen again, made it indeed an illustrious body. Calhoun and Webster, 
 Buchanan and Clay, Woodbury and Choate, Grundy and Crittenden, 
 Wiiglit and Southard, Walker and Preston, Rives and Benton — to say 
 nothing of others — were of it; and the encounters on questions as deep 
 and solemn as can arise under the constitiuion, were between the intel- 
 lectual giants of (he land. To serve for five years in such a school con- 
 stitutes no.smaU training in civil affairs, an'd was quite enough to render
 
 a mind lilte Mr. Pierce's familiar witli matters of government in all their 
 varied and wide relationship. 
 
 Mr. Pierce served in this body from 1837 to 1S42, always doing his 
 share of its business, and at times bearing a distinguished part in its de- 
 liberations, and during ihe whole period he gave a cordial and unshrink- 
 ing support to democratic measures. It is not necessary to go over his 
 votes in this body, v^s an illustration, however, take the action on the 
 independent treasury bill, one of the test questions of the day. At a time 
 when others faltered as to one of the most important and salutary meas- 
 ures ever adopted, -which daily vindicates its soundness, and which has 
 the approving voice of the country, Mr. Pierce's voice was fearlessly 
 raised in its support, and .his votes were uniformly given with the friends 
 of the bill. He served, among other committees, on the judiciary, on 
 military alfairs, and on pensions; and though he did not occupy the door 
 often, yet when Ire did speaic it -wns to the point, evincing thorough 
 knowledge of his subject, cogent reasoning, and rare powers of debate. 
 
 The year after his election to the Senate, (1838,) Mr. Pierce changed 
 his residence from his native town of Hillsborough to Concord, the place 
 where he now resides. In doing this he sundered many old and endear- 
 ing ties, and his friends and neiglibors could not let the occasion pass 
 without a manilestation of the respect and afl'ection which they entertained 
 for him; hence they invited him to a public dinner. Tiiis, however, Mr. 
 Pierce declined. The correspondence on this occasion speaks for itself. 
 It surely was no unmeaning compliment that could call forth the acknow- 
 ledgment that in the relation of a citizen he had been to them 'as a son 
 and a brother: 
 
 Hillsborough, August 25, 1838. 
 
 Sir: The democratic republicans of Hillsborough embrace the oppor- 
 tunity your short stay furnishes, to tender to you an invitation to partake 
 with them of a public dinner at sucli time as may be most convenient to 
 you, before you take your leave of Hillsborough. 
 
 In discharging the duty imposed upon them, the committee beg leave 
 to assure you that the tender they make is no unmeaniiHg compliment. 
 
 Your childhood v\^as with them, and so have been your riper years. 
 Educated in their midst, one of themselves, the ties that have so long 
 bound you to them cannot be easily sundered; and it would be doing 
 violence to their feelings to snlTer the present occasion to pass without an 
 opportunity of calling up those recollections that will ever be to them a 
 source of the highest satisfaction. 
 
 You have stood by them at all times. You have been to them even as 
 a son and a brother. Their interests have been your interests, their feel- 
 ings your feelings. And it is with the sincerest pleasure that they offer 
 you this testimonial, however small, of the estimate they place upon your 
 character, public and private. 
 
 The committee cannot but express their regret at the necessity which 
 is about to separate you from the republican citizens of Hillsborough. 
 Long and intimately iiave you been known to them; and wherever you 
 may go, they beg leave to assure you that you will cany with you their 
 kindest wishes for your welfare. 
 
 With esteem and respect, we have the honor to be yours, vfcc, 
 
 TIMOTHY WYMAN, &c. 
 
 Hon. Franklin Fierce. •
 
 6 
 * 
 
 Hillsborough, September 15, 1S38. 
 
 Gentlemen: Your letter in behalf of the democratic republicans of 
 Hillsborough, inviting me to partake of a public dinner at such time as 
 might suit my convenience, was duly received. 
 
 (Sincerely desirous of exchanging salutations with all my friends, before 
 those relations which have so long subsisted between us should be sev- 
 ered, I have delayed giving an answer, with the hope that my other en- 
 gagements would allow me this pleasure. In this expectation I am sorry 
 to say I find myself disappointed. I have received too many substantial 
 evidences of the kind regard and true friendship of the citizens of Hills- 
 borough to need any new assurance of their partiality; and yet I would 
 not disguise the fact that your testimony at parting, as to the manner in 
 which my duties in public and private life have been discharged, is flat- 
 tering to my feelings — especially so, as coming from those who have 
 known me longest and most intimately. 
 
 I shall leave Hillsborough with no ordinary regret. There are a thousand 
 reasons why it cannot be otherwise. I have hitherto known no other home. 
 Here have been passed many of the happiest days and months of my 
 ]ife. With these streams and mountains are associated most of the de- 
 lightful recollections of buoyant and happy boyhood; and in my early in- 
 tercourse with the generous, independent, and intelligent yeomanry of 
 Hillsborough, I became attached to and learned how highly to appreciate 
 that class of the comnumily which constitutes the true nobility of this 
 countiy. I need hardly say that I shall never cease to remember my 
 birth-plsice with pride as well as nffoction, and with still more pride shall 
 I recollect the steady, unqualified, and generous confidence which has 
 been reposed in me by its inhabitants. 
 
 With unfeigned regret, gentlemen, that I am unable to accept the invi- 
 tation you have communicated in such kind and flattering terms, please 
 to accept for yourselves, and to communicate to my fellow-citizens whose 
 organs you are on this occasion, the assurance of my warm thanks and 
 sincerest interest in vv^hatevcr relates to tlieir prosperity and happiness, 
 individually and collectively. 
 
 1 am, gentlemen, with the highest respect, your friend and obedient 
 servant, 
 
 FRANK. PIERGE. 
 
 Timothy Wyman, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Pierce's course in Congress had (1840) elicited much commenda- 
 tion. Of his six-eclies that were widely circulated was one on revolu- 
 tionary claims, Y>rhic]i was pronounced "a masterly analysis," sound in 
 its principle and construction, and thorough in its business details. His 
 speech on the Florida war, also, was commended as a dignified vindica- 
 tion of the administration against the party assaults that had been made 
 on it. " New Hampshire," said the Boston Post, (June 19, ] S40,) " has 
 just cause of pride in her youthful senator. To a grace and modesty of 
 manner which always attract when he addresses the Senate, he has added 
 severe application to business, and a (borough knowledge of his subject 
 in all its relations; and hence it is, though one of the youngest, he is 
 one of the most influeniial in the distinguished body of which he is a 
 member. Without seeking popularity as a debater, Mr. Pierce, in the 
 quiet and untiring pursuit of public duty, ind the conscientious dis-
 
 charge of private responsibility, has acquired a permanent reputation, 
 which places him among the most useful and efficient public men in tlie 
 country. Long may he enjoy it." 
 
 In 1810 the presidential contest occurred that resulted in the election of 
 General Harrison as President. General Pierce engaged in this struggle 
 with his characteristic zeal and energy; and his services were much 
 sought for, and were freely given. Though others of the sons of the 
 Granite State, and its press, were equally zea'oiis, yet it was owing much 
 to his large personal influence that the State remained firm when other 
 democratic States yielded to the storm. Tiiough a change of rulers was 
 effected, 'yet the financial policy upon whicli t!ie democratic party stood 
 remains unchanged, and is now daily vindicating itselt by its quiet, 
 beneficent, and eflicient action. 
 
 It was after such a contest, in wln'ch might tumporarily prevailed over 
 right — in which, so far as platforms were concerned on the whig side, all 
 was loose, indefinite, uncommittal, excepting only the generous promise 
 of better times, and on the democratic side were the frankest declaration 
 of principles and baldest discussion of policy — that Mr. Pierce re-entered 
 the Senate at the extra session called by President Harrison. Then New- 
 Hampshire made herself heard and felt in a way that drew towards 
 her the eyes of the whole country. Mr. Pierce's colleague was Levi 
 "Woodbury, fresli from the Treasury Department, with a large financial 
 experience, ready statistics, and great analytical ability. Mr. Pierce was 
 chagrined at the unfair manner in which his party had been overthrown. 
 Democrats in that body were in a minority, and, it is not unjust to add, 
 in the presence of a dictatorial and overbearing majority, more willing to 
 act tlian to defend their action. 
 
 The debates of this extra session speak for themselves. Levi Wood- 
 bury not merely refuted the electioneering financial statements of whig 
 orators, but most successfully encountered all who attempted to controvert 
 liim; and it is not too much to say that there was no match, on financial 
 points, for him in the Senate, and he absolutely Waterlooed his antago- 
 nists. Franklin Pierce was not behind his colleague, and did not hesitate 
 to encounter even Mr. Webster in the debates. On one occasion he 
 occupied the morning hour of three days (.Tune 30, July 1 and 2, 1S41) 
 in a speech characterized by such a scathing exhibition of facts, such 
 closeness of reasoning, such force of eloquence, as to render it one fit to 
 be made in such a body. This effort on removals from office was warmly 
 commended and widely circulated by democratic journals. And if 
 figures in tlie hands of Woodbury mad<; havoc with the fancy financial 
 statements of whig leaders, professions as to proscribing proscription, com- 
 pared with the facts of the removals from office, in the hands of Pierce 
 they made a most discreditable exhibit of whig partisan tactics. "That 
 removals," he exclaimed, " have occurred, is not the thing of which I 
 complain; I complain of your hypocrisy. I charge that your press and 
 your leading orators made promises to the nation which they did not 
 intend to redeem, and which they now vainly attempt to cover up by 
 cobwebs." 
 
 In IS'12 Mr. Pierce had served nine years in Congress. He was one 
 of the youngest men who have held a seat in either branch, having at- 
 tained but little more than the constitutional age when he took his seat 
 both in the House and the Senate ; and yet his bearing was such as to
 
 8 
 
 have made its mark on the public men of the time. Gestlemen of all 
 parties bear willing testimony to the high sense of honor, the general 
 utility, the unvarying courtesy, that marked his course. He won the 
 reputation — and it is no small one — of being a valuable member of both 
 branches — prompt in attending to the business of his committees, with 
 real work in him, and with great debating talent to present his case 
 clearly and efficiently. This sort of labor makes but little show ; but it 
 is most useful and valuable to a constituency and the country. His rep- 
 utation at that time as a man is thus concisely given in a recent Wash- 
 ington letter, addressed to the editor of the " Puritan," a religipus paper. 
 The writer says : 
 
 " Of Franklin Pierce I cannot do otherwise than speak well ; for it 
 happened to me, during a short term of official service in Bowdoin Col- 
 lege, during the presidency of Dr. Allen, to know him as a scholar there, 
 and, while resident in this region, to know him as a senator. A very 
 frank, gentlemanly, unobtrusive man is he, strongly devoted to his po- 
 litical principles, kind and constant in his friendships, venerating the 
 institutions of religion, and, while living here, attended upon the most 
 evangelical preaching in the city." 
 
 It would be easy to present columns of Mr. Pierce's speeches. These, 
 together with his votes, present him as a politician of the Virginia school,, 
 in favor of an economical administration of the general government, of a. 
 strict construction of the constitution, and as a republican of the Jeffer- 
 sonian cast. They present him as one who has uniibrmly acted accord- 
 ing to fixed principles, swerving neither for sympathy nor friendship nor 
 interest from the constitutional path, but, under the guidance of Ihisy 
 honestly and fearlessly performing his public duties. They show him to 
 be thoroughly identified with the principles and measures of the great 
 party which, for so many years since the adoption of the present frame of 
 government, has successfully, in peace and war, carried the country on- 
 ward and upward. 
 
 Mr. Pierce's various speeches on the abolitioii question, commencing- 
 when fifst a member of the House, and continuing almost to the close of 
 his senatorial term, v.ill serve to give his views on the living questioa 
 now before the country. On this point he has pursued but one course, 
 and it has always been decided and frank. He has declared from the- 
 first that he regarded the schemes of the abolitionists mad and fanatical, 
 and prejudicial in their consequences to all sections of the Union. H& 
 avowed that no valuable end could be gained by an agitation of the sub- 
 ject in Congress ; and when petitions poured in, asking for the abolition 
 of slavery in the District of Columbia, he was frank to oppose the prayer 
 of the petitioners. This object was but their opening door. He declared 
 it to be impossible to read a single number of leading abolition periodicals 
 without perceiving that their object stopped at no point short of emanci- 
 pation in the States. Now, Congress liad no constitutional power to in- 
 terfere with slavery in the States; consequently Mr. Pierce said, in 1838^ 
 
 " The citizen of New Hampshire is no more responsible, morally or 
 politically, for the existence and continuance of this domestic institution 
 in Virginia or Maryland, than he would be for the existence of any 
 similar institution in France or Persia. Why ? Because these are matters 
 over which the States, respectively, when delegating a portion of their
 
 powerSj'to be exercised by the general government, retained tlie whole 
 and exclusive control, and for which they are alone responsible. 
 
 " Now let these doctrines be universally understood and admitted, and 
 you take one great step towards satisfying the consciences of honest but 
 misguided people in one section of the country, and quieting the irrita- 
 tion, for which there has been too much cause, in the other." 
 
 Again, in 1S40, he thus expressed his views on this subject: 
 
 " I do earnestly hope that every honest man who has sincerely at his 
 heart the best interests of the slave and the master, may no longer be 
 governed by a blind zeal and impulse, but be led to examine this subject,, 
 so full of delicacy and danger in all its bearings; and that \yhen called 
 upon to lend their names and influence to the cause of agitation, they 
 may remember that we live under a written constitution, whicli is the 
 panoply and protection of the South as well as the North; that it covers 
 the whole Union, and is equally a guarantee for the unmolested enjoy^ 
 ment of the domestic institution in all its parts; and I trust, further, that 
 they will no longer close their eyes to the fact, that so far as those in 
 whose welfare they express so nmch feeling are concerned, this foreign 
 interference has been, and must inevitably continue to be, evil, and only 
 evil." 
 
 Once more: In 1841 he raised his voice against the policy which,, 
 under the rule of the whig Seward men of the day, rewarded the aboli- 
 tion faction with public confidence and emolument, and thus held out 
 to them not only encouragement, but urgent stimulants to persevere in 
 their incendiary measures. And in eloquent notes of warning he pre- 
 dicted that, although the public mind was not then agitated on this 
 subject, the repose would prove illusory; that there was below the surface 
 a profound movement, receiving new impulses, that would ere long shake 
 the Union to its centre; and lie declared then that it was his pride and 
 pleasure to be associated with such a party as existed in New Hampshire,, 
 which had with one voice and one heart been in favor of putting down 
 this politico-religious fanaticism, and been against any interference with 
 the rights secured to the States by the constitution. 
 
 In 1S42 Mr. Pierce resigned his seat in the Senate, in the following; 
 letter: 
 
 Washington, Feljnianj 2S, 1842. 
 
 Sir: Having informed the governor of New Hampshire that on this day 
 my seat in tlie Senate of the United States would become vacant by resig- 
 nation, I have thought proper to communicate the fact to you and the 
 Senate. 
 
 In severing the relations that have so long subsisted between the gen- 
 tlemen with v/hom I have been associated, my feeling of pain and regret 
 will readily be appreciated by those who know that, in all my intercourse 
 during the time I have been a member of the body, no unpleasant occur- 
 rence has ever taken place to disturb for a ihoment my agreeable relations 
 with any individual senator. 
 
 With a desire for the peace and happiness of you all, for which noW;, 
 in the fullness of my heart, I find no forms of expression, I have the 
 honor to be, with the highest consideration, your obedient servant, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Pre^idoit of tlie Senate.
 
 10 
 
 The following is General Pierce's letter of resignation addressed to the 
 governor, referred to: 
 
 Washington, February 16, 1842. 
 
 Sir: Circumstances interesting chiefly to myself, and with which, of 
 ■course, I shall not trouble my constiuienfs, have induced me to resign 
 my seat in the United States Senate. My resignation is herewith tendered^ 
 to take effect from and after the 2Sth instant. 
 
 I may be permitted barely to remark, that having been called to public 
 iife by a constituency to whom 1 shall nevei- cease to feel profoundly 
 grateful, soon after I became of age, and having been continuously in 
 their service from that period to the present, I feel the need of the quiet 
 which can only be enjoyed by the private citizen, and the necessity of 
 attending to my pergonal aftairs and piofessional pursuits. Those who 
 have extended to me a friendship always warm, and a confidence that 
 has never faltered, will clieerfuUy excuse ine, especially as they have 
 better and abler men to take my place. 1 should, however, be mortified 
 to believe that he who shall succeed me, either by ^-our appointment or 
 by the voice of the representative body of the people, will bring to the 
 public service a more anxious desire to maintain the honor of our beloved 
 State, or a more determined purpose truly to represent not only the inter- 
 ests but the spirit of her intelligent and gallant people. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your excellency's obe- 
 dient servant, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 His Excellency John P.-vcje, 
 
 Haverhill, N. II. 
 
 Thus did a young man only thirty-seven years of age voluntarily resign 
 one of the higliest and the most honorable offices in the gift of the Ameri- 
 can nation, and with the fixed purpose of not entering public life, so as 
 to be separated from his family, unless his country in a time of war should 
 call for his services. And this was a period of life when ambition, the 
 iove of power, the desire of preferment, is apt to be the strongest. His 
 future promised all this. Such had l)ecn the exhibition of talent that 
 eonmiands respect and the qualities that attract regard, that he might 
 without presumption have aspired to any place in the gift of his country- 
 nion. But these considerations did not move him. He laid aside his 
 senatorial robe without regret, and sought that retirement which an ele- 
 vated patriotism and cultivated taste so ardently covet. Such a course 
 as this is at best uncommon, so rarely is it that office seeks the man — 
 so common has it been for ambition to prostitute much that marks public 
 virtue, to grasp at place. 
 
 For the next five years Mr. Pierci closely applied himself to tlie prac- 
 tice of his profession. It is doing him no more than justice to say that 
 here he was eminently succe.«sful, and won his way to the first rank 
 among the eminent lawyers of his native State. To those who are ac- 
 quainted with the legal character of the State, this is not small praise. 
 The men who fixed the standard of talent at the New Hampshire bar 
 were Jeremiah Mason, Daniel Webster, Levi Woodbury, Smith, Sulli- 
 van, Barllett, Fletcher, and Bell; no one of whom would have held a 
 secondary position at any bar in this country, and any one of whom 
 would have been a man of rank in Westminster Hall: forming, together,
 
 li 
 
 an array of legal ability, which, if equalled, has never been surpassed in 
 this country. And while we do not claim for Genera! Pierce the all but 
 legal intuition of Mason, who, as a mere la\\^'er, was the leader of them 
 all, nor tlie colossal strength of Webster, and wiiile some of the others 
 may possibly have surpassed him in some individual traits of intellect, 
 yet for skill and ability in presenting a case to the jury, and for success 
 in obtaining verdicts, he was surpassed by none of thcni — not even by 
 the tact and artistic skill of Ichabod Bartlett, who has been so felicitously 
 called the " Randolph of the North," nor by Sullivan, the silver tones of 
 whose voice fell upon the jury like a spell. 
 
 General Pierce is truly a most eloquent advocate. His style is chaste; , 
 his dictJbn rich and classic; his reasoning vigorous and strong; while by 
 his brief but grand and fervid <ippeals to the loftier sentiments of our 
 nature, he enforces the lesson that his argument had previously taught. 
 His easy and continuous llow of speech pours onward in full volume, as 
 if fed from an exhaustless fountain. His efibrts are marked no less by 
 insight into character, and uniform good sense, than by close reasoning 
 :md eloquent appeal. Hence he attained a practice in an extraordinary 
 degree lucrative and respectable. While his associates bear testimony to 
 his honorable manner of conducting his cases;, his clients found him able, 
 prompt, and faithful. 
 
 In IS45 Mr. Pierce was appointed by the governor of New Hampshire 
 a senator in Congress to fill the unexpired term of Levi Woodbury, but 
 this he declined. The following is tlie correspondence that took place 
 between Governor Steele and Mr. Pierce on tliis occasion: 
 
 State of New Hampshire, 
 
 Concord, Octoher 9, 1845. 
 
 Dear Sir: It has become my duty to appoint a senator to the Senate 
 of the United States to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of 
 Hon. Levi Woodbury. And as I know of no one whose appointment 
 will give more general satisfaction to the citizens of this State than that 
 of yourself, I tlierefore tender to you, sir, the office of senator to the Sen- 
 ate of tlie United States from the date of these presents until the pleasure 
 of the legislature of this State shall be made known at their next session, 
 • Truly yours, 
 
 JOHN H. STEELE, 
 Governor of the State of New Hampshire. 
 Hon. Franklin Pierce. 
 
 CoxcoRD, Oc'.obcr 11, 1845. 
 
 Sir: On luy return to town laf t night I found your official letter of the 
 9th inst. I acknowledge, with unfeigned gratitude, this evidence of j'our 
 confidence, and regret, on many accounts, that I cannot accept the ap- 
 pointment. 
 
 It would be pleasant again to meet many with whom I was for years 
 associated — pleasant to accede to your wishes and the wishes of other 
 true and long-tried friends— pleasant to maintain, as well as I might be 
 able, the interests and honor of our State in the exalted station you have 
 been pleased to assign me. But with all these considerations urging to
 
 ]2 
 
 acceptance, I find others, which, fairly Aveiglied, constrain me to decline-. 
 My personal wishes and purposes in 1842, when I resigned a seat in tlie 
 Senate, were, as I supposed, so perfectly understood, that I have not for 
 a moment contemplated a return to public life. Without adverting to 
 other grounds, which would have much influence in forming my deci- 
 sion, the situation of my business, professional and otherwise, is such 
 that it would be impossible for me to leave the State suddenly, as I should 
 be called upon to do, and be absent for months, without sacrificing to a 
 certain extent the interests and disregarding the reasonable expectations 
 of those who rely upon my services. 
 
 That my interest in the honor of New Hampshire, and my devotion to 
 the great principles, the firm maintenance of which has sccurcd'to her a 
 proud position and an enviable name in ail parts of the Union, suffer no 
 diminution in retirement, I trust may be made sufhciently apparent ia 
 every contest through which we maybe called to pass in support of those 
 principles, and in vindication of that honor. 
 
 I am, Yv^ith the highest consideration, your excellency's obliged friend 
 and servant, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 His Excellency John H. Steele. 
 
 At the State convention of the democratic party, subsequently holden 
 October 19, 1848, he was tendered the nomination of governor, but he 
 luihesitatingly declined the high honor. He was engaged in the trial of 
 an important cause in court, during the sitting of the convention; but 
 when lie learned that the delegates were about to put him in nomination, 
 he obtained permission to be absent from the court-house a few moments, 
 and proceeding to the hall of die convention, he tendered the democ- 
 racy there assembled his thanks for the honor they had done him, and 
 congratulated them upon the prospects befiu-e them, in a speech 
 which the newspapers of that date speak of as surpassingly eloquent and 
 forcible. 
 
 We extract the following from the speech as reported at the time : 
 
 " What he had learned before he came into the convention, as well as 
 what had just been stated by his friend, (Mr. Swasey,) in relation to the 
 sentiments of an assembly of delegates so numerous, so respeiftable, so 
 directly fronr the people, could not but awaken in his bosom deep emo- 
 tion ; indeed, he must confess a degree of sensibility wliich almost un- 
 fitted him for the utterance of the few remarks which his engagements 
 would permit him to make. Could it be otherwise ? It was now twenty 
 years since he had first had participation in the politics of the State and 
 nation, of greater or less extent ; and in all that time he had received 
 from the party witli which it had been his pride and pleasure to act, 
 nothing but manifestations of the same partiality and kindness to him 
 personally which was exhibited here to-day. 
 
 "Bound, then, to the democracy, not only by ties of common principles, 
 and extensive relations ol long personal friendship, but by every obliga- 
 tion of gratitude, he could not, of course, feel otherwise than deeply in- 
 terested in all that related to the maintenance of those principles and the 
 success of that party. Although when he resigned his seat in the United 
 States Senate it was with the purpose of disconnecting himself entirely 
 from public office, and from any active participation in politics, his attach-
 
 13 
 
 riieiit to Iiis parly had never grown cold, iior his confidence in the sound- 
 ness of it#leading principles ever been shalzen." 
 
 When Hon. John P. Hale came out in opposition to the democratic 
 party, and the democrats put a now candidate in nomination, Mr. Pierce 
 sustained this movement with his accustomed frankness and zeal, although 
 Mr. Hale, from his college days, had been his warm personal friend. He 
 accepted the office of district attorney of New Hampshire, as the duties 
 of this were in the hne of his profession. This office he held until 1847. 
 
 In 1S4G, President Polk, who had served in Congress with him, and 
 appreciated his brilliant genius, sound principles, and administrative 
 talent, invited him to a seat in his cabinet. The letter of Col. Polk is 
 ahke honorable to both. The President says : 
 
 "It gives me sincere pleasure to invi^ you to accept a place in my cab- 
 inet, by tendering to you the office of Attorney General of the United 
 Slates.' I have selected you for this important office from my personal 
 knov.'ledge of you, and without the solicitation or suggestion of any one. 
 I iiave done so because I have no doubt your personal association with 
 me would be pleasant, and from the consideration that in the discharge of 
 the duties of the office you could render me important aid in conducting 
 my administration. In this instance, at least, the office has sougirt the 
 man, and not the man the office, and 1 hope you may accept it." 
 
 Mr. Pierce declined this flattering offer in the following terms: 
 
 CoxcoRD, N. H., Sf'ptcmber 6, 1846. 
 
 My Dear Sin: Your letter of the 27th was received a week since. 
 Nothing could have been more unexpected; and, considering the im- 
 portance of the proposition in a great variety of aspects, I trust you will 
 not think there has been an unreasonable delay in arriving at a decision. 
 With my pursuits for the last few years, and my present tastes, no posi- 
 tion, if 1 were in a situation, on the whole, to desire public emjiloyment, 
 could be so acceptable as the one wliich your partiality has proffered. 
 
 I oiight not, perhaps, in justice to the high motives by which I know 
 you aie governed, to attribute your selection to personal friendship; but 
 I cannot doubt that your judgment in the matter has been somev/hat 
 warped by your feelings. When I saw the manner in which you had 
 cast your cabinet I was struck by the fact, that from the eiuire range of 
 my acquaintance formed at Washington, you could not have called around 
 you men witli whom it was my ibrtune to be better acquainted, or of 
 whom I entertained a more delightful recollection, than Mr. Buchanan, 
 Mr. Walker, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Johnson. A place in your cabinet, 
 therefore, so far as personal association is concerned, could not be more 
 agreeable h.ad the whole been the subject of my own choice. 
 
 W^hen I add, your important measures in the f)reign and home admin- 
 istration of the government have commanded not merely the approbation 
 of my judgment, but my grateful acknowledgments as an American citi- 
 zen, you will see how dcsirablej on every ground connected with your 
 administration, the office tendered would be to me ; and yet, after mature 
 coiisideration, I am constrained to decline. Although the eaily years of 
 my manhood were devoted to public life, it was never really suited to my 
 taite. I longed, as I am sure you must ofien have done, for the quiet 
 
 «
 
 14 
 
 t 
 
 and independence mat belong only to the piirate citizen; ai^ now, at 
 forty, I feel that desire stronger tlinn ever. ' 
 
 Coming unexpectedly as this offer does, it would be difficult, if not im- 
 possible, to arrange the business of an extensive practice between this 
 and tlie first of November in a manner at all satisfactory to myself or to 
 those who have xommitted their interests to my care, and who rely ori 
 my services. Besides, you know that Mrs. Pierce's health while at 
 Washington was very delicate — it is, 1 fear, even more so now — and the 
 responsibihlies which the proposed ch&Yic^e would necessarily hnpose upon 
 her, ought probably in themselves to constitute an insurmountable objec- 
 tion to leaving our quiet home for a public station at Washington. 
 
 When I resigned my seat in'the Senate in 1S42, i did it with the fixed 
 purpose never again to be voluntarily separated from my family for any 
 considerable length of tim.e, except at the call of my country in time of 
 war; and yet this consequence, lor the reason before stated and on account 
 of climate, would be very likely to result from my acceptance. 
 
 These are some of the considerations which have influenced my deci- 
 sion. You will, I am fjure, appreciate my motives. You will not believe 
 that I have weighed my personal convenience and ease against the public 
 interest, especially as the office is one which, if not sought, would be 
 readily accepted by gen.tlemen who could bring to your aid attainments 
 and qualifications vastly superior to mine. 
 
 Accept my grateful acknowledgments, and believe me truly and faith- 
 fully your friend, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 The good taste, beauty, and modesty of this letter need no v/ords of 
 coniuiendation. 
 
 When Mr. Pierce thus declined tiie appointment so honorably tendered 
 to huu by President Pollc, he stated that he did it v/ith the fixed purposB 
 to await the call of his country in a time of war ere he again separated 
 from hi^ family. The breaking out of the Mexican war was a summons- 
 to him to engage again in public service. When the requisition was 
 made upon the State of New Hampshire for a battalion of volunteers, he- 
 was one of the fii-st to put his name upon the roll as a priva+e in the com- 
 pany raised in Concord, and in this capacity he drilled in its ranks. 
 When the ten-regiment bill was pa-^.-ed by Congress, the President, who 
 had served with Mr. Fierce and appreciated his sterling qualities of head 
 and heart, tendered to him the appointment of colonel of the ninth, wliich 
 was promptly accepted. When the law for the organization of the n.e.w 
 ten regiments Avas passed, the President tendered Mr. Pierce the appoint- 
 ment of brigadier general. Tins selection was hailed in all pans of the 
 country as a happy one. "From his earliest manhood," says the Nash- 
 ville Union, September, 1847, "General Pierce has been the boast of the 
 yew Hampshire democracy. From his father, a distinguished officer in 
 the Revolution, he inherited all those qualities of courage, coolness, and 
 energy which qualify a man f()r command. And he also possesses quali- 
 ties as a statesman of the highest order. That he Aviil distinguish hijnself 
 wherever distinction is to be won, his multitude of acquaintances, in all 
 the States of the Union, of all parties, will vouch." 
 
 The brave Ransom was of this regiment, and Colonel Pierce wrote to 
 President Polk and urged him to appoint Ransom to the command. The
 
 15 
 
 President, however, thought fit to do otherwise. Kis commission as 
 brigadier-general is dated March 3, 1847. At this point General Loav, a 
 patriotic citizen of Concord, New Hampshire — as he stated in 1847, on 
 the occasion of General Pierce's return — asked him if it were true that he 
 had decided to sunder the tender ties of husband and father, and yield 
 the enjoyments and comforts of home, to maintain the cause of his coun- 
 try. General Pierce's reply was : 
 
 " I have accepted of the commission. I could not do otherwise. I was 
 pledged to do it. When I left the Senate, it was witli a fixed purpose of 
 devoting myself exclusively to my profession, with the single reservation 
 that if my country 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 riglits. War has come, and my p'.ig'ited word 
 must and shall be redeemsd." 
 
 General Pierce's headquarters, for a short tim.e, were at the Tremont 
 House, Boston, where, with his noble and gallant friend, the lamented 
 Ransom, he engaged diligently and energetically in the work of prepara- 
 tion. Tliere, as he departed for tiie post of duty and danger, he took 
 leave of many friends. One of them expresF^d a ho'pe that he would 
 return in safety and in honor. "I will come back with honor, or I will 
 not come back," was his reply. 
 
 General Pierce sailed from Newport in the barque Kepler. Many of the 
 troops on board being sick, suifered from the v^ant of water, having been 
 placed on short allowance. General Pierce, on receiving his allowance, 
 mingled with the suifv-'ring soldiers and made them share his part. It was 
 but the comniencument of that universal care for the brave men under 
 him, and uniform kindness and attention to them that was cliaracteristic 
 of his nature and marked his v.'hole course through the campaign. He 
 arrived at Vera Cruz June 28. Here he encountered a pestilenlial camp, 
 and was himself taken sick. Still he was ever mindful of his companions 
 ia arms. He lent funds .'reely to the needy, and was often seen among 
 the wearied soldiers cheering them, on. In spite of disease his loss liere 
 was but trifling; and, after delays to procure matej^als which the iuture 
 comfort, safety, and health of liis command rendered absolutely neces- 
 sary, he left Vera Cruz in the middle of the hot month of July, with one 
 of the largest reinforcements and most extensive trains that had started for 
 the interior since General Scott's departure. His brigade consisted of the 
 ninth seginieni. New England men; the twelfth, men from Texas, Mis- 
 souri, Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and Louisiana; and the fifteenth, 
 raised m Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, the eastern part of Missouri^ 
 and tlie western part of Indianii — in all about twenty-five hundred men. 
 Hit. Hue of march was beset by Mexicans and guerilla bands, determined 
 
 • intercept all reinforcemefits on then' way to the American commander, 
 
 ' :'n ih.e work of [.'hinder and massacre; and the object of General 
 
 was, not to seek encounters with the enemy, but to present to his 
 
 ■ '": the greatest number of troops in the best condition that it was 
 
 !.' (or him to do. 
 
 ■Jn iiie fiisi of August General Pierce, at Perote, advised General Scott 
 
 u! lUe siate cf Ills command. It consisted, to a great extent, of northern 
 
 ^■•.■raiu;, able and willing men, and in fine condition, so far as health was 
 
 V liCenicd. He h.a*l lost but one man by the vomito at Vera Cruz, and
 
 16 
 
 none by that disease on tlie march; and tliough the bridge at San Juan 
 had been partiallj^ destroyed, the main arcli at Plan del Rio had been 
 blown up, and he had been five times attacked, yet he says he had really 
 encountered nothing that coiilfl be construed into serious resistance. "I 
 shall bring to yotir command," the General informs his chief, "about 
 twenty-four hundred of all arms. To-morrow morning, at four o'clock, I 
 shall leave here for Puebla, and shall make the march in five days." 
 
 General Pierce joined General Scott at Puebla, August 6, witir his com- 
 mand in fine condition. On the next day, August 7, the American army 
 moved forward to fight the gr-eat battles of the valley of Mexico, winch 
 resulted in the waving of the American l!ag over the halls of the Monte- 
 zumas. It is not necessary to describe events so honorable to the officers 
 who directed them, and to the country that sent them forth. It will be 
 sufficient to state, in a concise and summary way, such persona! service 
 as fell to the lot of General Pierce. His whole career in Mexico, from the 
 ■time he landed in Vera Cruz until he left the conquered city, was of such 
 a character as to have won the admiration of the olficers of the regular 
 army, and the love of the men. He exhibited gallantry bef.^re the enemy, 
 and proved himself, in the words of one of the old officers who saw him 
 act, " etnuiently the friend and father of his command.''^ 
 
 ■General Pierce was at Vera Cruz with twenty-five hundred men in 
 June, 1847, when, contrary to his expectations, he was obliged to remain 
 anore than three weeks, in consequence of the want of requisite provisions, 
 while he was for more than four weeks in the ticrra caliente, the vomito 
 region. At length he marched from Vera Cruz with a train, which, when 
 ■closed up, extended two miles. He went through a country and over a 
 road strong in natural defences, swarming with guerillas, dogged at every 
 .step by a wily enemy, with constant alarms and reports of attacks, and 
 was assaulted six times on his march ; and yet he reached Puebla without 
 the loss of a single Avagon, and with his command in fine order. The 
 conduct of the general in tliis march — his energy, his sleepless vigilance, 
 coolness in difficulty, good judgment and skill in availing himself of the 
 services of his static — won the highest encomiums from military men 
 of the old line, and elicited the warm commendations of General Scott. 
 This march alone proved him to possess the qualities of an able and suc- 
 cessful commander. 
 
 General Pierce was in action at the National Bridge. Here the Mexi- 
 cans were strongly posted. The place furnished strong natural advantages. 
 Across the main bridge they had thrown a barricade, and on a high biufT 
 which commanded it they had added breastworks. There was no way 
 ,in which this position could be turned, and the General's artillery would 
 have been inetfective for the most commanding point in which it could 
 be placed. He determined to cross under the fire of the enemy's esco- 
 pettes. His order to storm these works was admirably executed. Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Bonham's battalion rushed forward with a shout, under a 
 heavy fire from the enemy that struck down many of his men. But they 
 pressed forward and leaped tlie barricade, followed by Captain Duperu's 
 company of cavalry. In ton minutes the enemy were in flight in every 
 direction. General Pierce was by the side of Colonel Bonhani in this 
 attack. Both had narrow escapes. The Colonel's horse was shot, and a 
 ball passed througli the rim of the General's hat. This was a v.^ell-devised 
 ■and gallant aflair, and the fame of it vrcnt before General Pierce, and he
 
 17 
 
 was handsomely spoken of in the army. This was the first action of 
 nnich account in wliich he was engaged. 
 
 General Pierce was again in action at Contreras on the lOtli of August. 
 His brigade was ordered to attack the enemy in front. He came in- sight 
 of the Mexicans at two o'clock in the afternoon, and led his men in the 
 attack. He was under a galling fire of the enemy three hours. 
 
 General Scott's official account of General Pierce is that of being "more 
 than three hours under a heavy fire of artillery and muskets along the 
 almost impassable ravine in front and to the left of the entrenched camp. 
 Besides twenty-two pieces of artillery, the camp and ravine were defended 
 closely by masses of infantry, and these again supported by clouds of 
 cavalry at hand and hovering in view." This was the front of the ene- 
 my's works at Uontrcras. The gallant ninth and twelfth regiments of 
 infantry — General Pierce's command — moved with great alacrity and 
 coolness, and to the admiration of the army, for three-fourths of a mile, 
 under a heavy fire of round shot and shells, to a position wliich they 
 nobly maintained from two till nine o'clock p. m. As lie was lead- 
 ing his brigade through a perfect shower of round shot and shells from 
 the strong entrenchnients in front and the musketry of the infantry, his 
 horse, being at full speed, fell under him upon a ledge of rocks. He 
 sustained severe injury by the shock and bruises, but especially by a 
 severe sprain in his left knee, which came under him. At first he was 
 not conscious of being much hurt, but soon became exceedingly faint. 
 Dr. Ritchie, a surgeon in his command, assisted him and administered 
 to him. In a few moments he was able with difficulty to walk, when he 
 pressed forward to Captain Magruder's battery. Here he found the horse 
 of Lieutenant Johnson, who had just received a mortal wound. He was 
 permitted to take this horse, was assisted into the saddle, and contiiuied 
 in it until eleven o'clock that night. At nine o'clock he was the senior 
 officer on the field, when he ordered his command to a new position. 
 The night was dark, the rain poured in torrents, and the ground was 
 dilfii-ult, yet the General kept still on duty. At one o'clock, in his bi- 
 vouac, he received orders tioin General tScott by General Twiggs and 
 Captain Lee, when, at the head of his command, he moved to take 
 another position, to he in readiness to aid in the operations of the next 
 morning. Sucli was General Pierce's service in the afternoon and night 
 of August 19. 
 
 At daylight on the morning of the 20th his command assailed the ene- 
 my with great intrepidity, and contributed nuicli to the consummation of 
 the work begun on the previous day. That morning Valencia, with 
 seven thousand troops, was defeated. General Pierce still kept the sad- 
 dle, and was at the head of his brigade. He was ordered to pursue the 
 flying enemy, and as he passed the enemy's works the scene was awful: 
 the road, he says, and adjacent fields, everywhere strewed with the man- 
 gled bodies of the dead and the dying. " We continued the pursuit," 
 he says, "until one o'clock, when our front came up with the enemy's 
 strong works at Churubusco and San Antonio." Then, af^er one o'clock, 
 this great conflict coumienced. 
 
 At San Angel dispositions had been made to attack in reverse the 
 
 enemy's works on the San Augustine road. Gen. Scott ordered him to 
 
 march his brigade, in concert with that of the intrepid General Shields, 
 
 across the open country between Santa Catarina and the above road, in 
 
 2
 
 18 
 
 order to cut off the retreat of the enemy. This position was promptly 
 reached. Tlie enemy's hne was found in perfect order, extending as far 
 ill either direction as the eye could reach, and presenting a splendid 
 show. He was vigorously and successfully attacked. At the head of 
 his command, General Pierce arrived at a ditch which it was impossible 
 for his horse to leap. He dismounted, and, without thinking of his in- 
 jury, he hurried forward at the head of his brigade, for aboHt three 
 hundred yards, into the midst of the enemy's fire. Turning suddenly 
 upon his knee — the cartilage of which had been badly injured — he fainted, 
 and fell upon a bank in direct range and within pt^vfect reach of the 
 Mexican shot. The route of the Mexican force was soon complete. 
 Colonel O'Hara, who saw him and served with him in this battle, says 
 " he was found in the foremost rank of battle, and through most of that 
 bloody day he was the spirit of the wing in wiiich he was placed." 
 
 This was the first time that he fought under Scott's eye, who, in his 
 despatch, terms him "the gallant Gen. Pierce." That noble soldier. 
 Gen. Worth, too, in his official report, acknowledges his obligations and 
 expresses his admiration of his gallant bearing. Gen. Pillow, also, says 
 in his official report, (August 24, 1847,) "Brig. Gen. Pierce, though 
 badly injured by the fall of his horse while gallantly leading his brigade 
 into the thickest of the battle on the 19th, did not quit the field, but con- 
 tinued in command of his brigade, two regiments of which— the 9ih and 
 l'2th infantry, under the immediate command of the gallant C^olonel Ran- 
 soin and Lieut. Colonel Bonham on the 19th, and Captain Woods on the 
 20th — assailed the enemy's work in front, at daylight, with great intre- 
 piditj?^, and contributed much to the glorious consummation of the work 
 so handsomely commenced on the preceding day." While the official 
 reports of Gen. Pierce's superior officers are thus ample as to his bearing, 
 those of inferior grade are not less so. An officer of the ninth regiment, 
 writing from Mexico in 1S47, of Gen. Pierce says ; " I imagine 1 can 
 see him now upon that black horse at Contreras. He gave us a word or 
 two as we filed past, in a shower of shot and shells, in return for which 
 we gave him a cheer. I saw him, too, at Churubusco, notwithstanding 
 he was hardly able to sit on his horse, with the bullets flying around him." 
 
 General Pierce's next service waa his connexion with the armistice, 
 which the enemy asked, it was supposed, with a view to peace. He had 
 not taken off his spurs nor slept an hour for two nights, in consequence 
 of the pain of his knee and his engagements in the field. It was after he 
 had been borne insensible from tiie battle, and had just recovered from 
 his faintness, that he received notice of the honorable distinction that had 
 been conferrfid upon him, in being appointed one of the commissioners to 
 arrange the terms of an armistice. He obeyed the summons, was helped 
 into his saddle, rode two and a half miles to Tacubaya,and met the com- 
 missioners at the house of Mr. Mcintosh, the British consul general. 
 The conference commenced late in the afternoon, and at four the next 
 morning the articles were signed. The result is well known. American 
 liberality and humanity were repaid by Mexican treachery and falsehood. 
 On the 7th of iSeptember hostilities were renewed. The American army, 
 after another series of brilliant feats of arms, hoisted, on the morning of 
 the 14th of September, the American flag on the National Palace. Among 
 them were the battles of Molino del Rey on the 8th, and of Chepultepec 
 on the 12th, 13th, and 14th.
 
 19 
 
 General Pierce's next service was in connexion with the battle of Mo- 
 lino del Key, September 8th. His brigade was ordered into action by 
 Gen Scoit, who commended the zeaf and rapidily of its moven;ent. 
 Though the battle had been decided before it reached the field, yet Gen. 
 Pierce bmugin his command under fire in such fine order as to win praise 
 from the old oliicers. Here he was for some time engaged in the Iionor- 
 abie service of covering the removal of killed and wcnnidcd, and tlie cap- 
 tured anmiunition, from the field. While so occupied — Col. Riley in his 
 official report writes — " the 2d infantry — temporarily under the orders of 
 Brigadier General Pierce — became engaged with tiie enemy's skirmishers 
 at the foot of Cliepultepec." In this battle J. H. Warlan'd, an officer of 
 the army, writes, (1S47,) that the New England regiment was ordered to 
 take off the dead and wouiided and cover tiie withdrawal of the troops 
 from the field. Tlie duty assigned was an honorable one and was wor- 
 thily performed. Geueral Pierce led a portion of his brigade before the 
 blazing fire of iho enemy's cannoii wiih a degree of courage and daring 
 which has been spoken' ot with admiration. He narrowly escaped M'ith 
 his life ; several limes the six-poimders ranging within a few inches of 
 him. and ploughitig the ground by the side of his horse. He contiiuied 
 waving his sword and encouraging his troops till the duty assigned was 
 performed. The cry was — •" Uome on, brave New England boys !" 
 
 The same gentleman wrote the lines containing notices of the New 
 England officers in the army. Of General Pierce he writes — 
 
 " Break New England's lion spirit! 
 No — not while t'terce can plunge- his steed 
 
 Aniiii the e.innon blazing nenr it, 
 Wave his bright sword and onward lead." 
 
 General Pierce's next service was in connexion with the battle of Ohe- 
 pultepec. His brigade was assigned an important position on the 12th — ■ 
 the evening previous to the battle — which it was prompt to take. But 
 the General had been for thirty-six hours previous confined to his bed and 
 was not with his brigade. And it was owing to this illness that he was 
 not, on the 1.3ih, by tlie side of the brave Ransom and Seymour, storming 
 the heights of Chepnltepec. Ill as he was, however, to the surprise of 
 his brother officers, he left his bed on the night of the 13th, for the pur- 
 pose of sharing in the contemplated storming of the Mexican capital on 
 the following morning. It was a most evenUul night. The brave Gen- 
 eral Quitman had literally fought his way by the gate Belen to a jjoint 
 within Mexico, where, under cover of darkness, he was raising deiences 
 in the position he had won to shelter his corps. At this time he was 
 under the guns of a most formidable citadel, which had yet to- be con- 
 quered. It was such times that called forth tlie indefatigable energy of 
 the accomplished engineers. Sand-bags were procured ; parapets were 
 completed ; formidable batteries were constrncted ; a 24-pounder, an IS- 
 inch pounder and an 8-inch howilzer, were placed in position— such 
 heavy labor being cheerfully done by the men under the very guns of 
 the great Mexican citadel. Now, one of the gallant regiments hx this post 
 of real danger and glory was the New England ninth— part of Pierce's 
 command; and dniing the night, while the vigilant Qnitman v/as over, 
 seeing these trenches, General Pierce reported to him in persoH,. received 
 orders to protect Steptoe's light battery, and received General Quitman's 
 thanks for his prompt execution of the orders. At that time there was
 
 not an officer in the army who did not expect an assault at daylight. 
 But in the morning a white flag came from this very citadel, and gave the 
 first joyful news that Santa Ana had evacuated Mexico ! 
 
 While such was the specific service of General Pierce, his general bear- 
 ing, as to his relations with his command, from the time he landed in 
 Mexico to tlie hour of his departure, was such as to win golden opinions 
 from all. From the time he left Vera Cruz unlit he reached the valley of 
 Mexico, he was every rod either in the saddle or on foot. This could be 
 said of but few officers; for, in consequence of change of climate, or of the 
 ■water, or of exposure, many were obliged to take an ambulance. Thus 
 did he share the fatigues of his troops. He attended to their wants in 
 sickness; he was by their side when wounded or dying; he received their 
 last rf quests. Hence, because he had a heart to sympathize Avith them 
 was he idolized by his men. His gentlemanly bearing and republican 
 manners made him a great favorite with all. Hence tlie universal testi- 
 mony was, that he had conducted as a general officer with great honor 
 and eminent usefulness. " Old Anny," written by one who was an eye- 
 witness of the career of General Pierce, and who says " he has reason to 
 believe that every nflrer of the old army would sustnin him in what he 
 writes,'' says, " that in his service in Mexico he did his duty as a son of 
 the republic; that he was eminently patriotic, disinterested, and gallant; 
 and that it has added a laiuel to his beautiful civic wreath. As a citizen, 
 he has been ready to make sacrifice for his country. As a soldier and 
 commander, he has shown gallantry before the enemy, and was emi- 
 nently the friend and father of his command." 
 
 In December, after it was ascertained that there would be no more 
 fighting. General Pierce left Mexico for home. He left with the respect, 
 regret, and admiration of all. " I am sorry he is going," writes an offi- 
 cer, " as I don't know of a man who would do better for the men under 
 his command, or one that the soldiers would like so well." Another 
 writes: " To my great surprise, 1 find that General Pierce will leave to- 
 morrow, with the train for Vera Cruz. He has borne himself with great 
 honor and usefulness as a general officer. It is said of him here, that 
 after the terrible battles of the valley of Mexico he visited the wotuided 
 and dying soldier, and with an untiring vigilance and open hand admin- 
 istered without stint or measure to the alleviation of their sufferings. VVe 
 all regiet, especially those of us from IN'ew England, his purpose to retire 
 from the service." 
 
 The American Star, published in tlie city of Mexico, contained the fol- 
 lowing notice of him on the occasion of his departure: 
 
 " Brig. General Pierce — Among the distinguished officers of the 
 American army who return to the United Slates with the train which 
 leaves the city to-day, is Brig. General Franklin Pierce, of New Hamp- 
 shire. The Americans in the city will greatly regret the departure of this 
 accomplished gentleman and officer, and certain we are tliat tlieir best 
 wishes for his future happiness will go with him. It is Gen. Pierce's 
 gentlemanly bearing, his urbane and republican manners, which have 
 made him so great a favorite with both officers and men. It is his pur- 
 pose, we believe, to resign the place which he now occupies in the army 
 immediately upon his return to his residence. Like others of different 
 grades attached to the army, he left the endearments of home, at the call 
 of the government; to participate iu the battles of his country. He left,
 
 21 
 
 also, a lucrative profession, which none other than a patriotic motive 
 could have induced him to relinquish. The sacrifice, however, was most 
 cheerfully met. Gen. Pierce has won a high reputation in the United 
 States for his courage and bravery, as every paper that reaches us bears 
 evidence. He left Vera Cruz in the middle of July, with one of the 
 largest reinforcements for General Scott, and the most extensive Uains 
 that have left that city since its bombardment. 
 
 " In the several battles before the city General Pierce's brigade behaved 
 most nobly, as all our readers are well aware, and the General conducted 
 himself most gallantly at Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino del Rey, 
 though in the first-named action he sustained a severe injury by a plunge 
 and fall of his horse among the rocks of Padierna. During the storming 
 of Chepultepec he was confined to his room by indisposition, or he would 
 have been charging with his men over the precipitous heights where his 
 gallant friend, tlie lamented Ransom, fell. But, though Gen. Pierce has 
 thus honorably distinguished himself, he is not ambitious of retaining his 
 high position in the service, and thus acquiring distinetion in the army. 
 He prefers the quieter and gentler pursuits of professional life, and we 
 know that he will be welcomed to liis pleasant home in New England 
 with hearts as warm as ever beat in the human bosom. He will return 
 to his native hills with new laurels, and with the prayers of all that he 
 may long live to enjoy the company and society of those who are dear to 
 him. Many fears, since his departure from New England, have been 
 expressed in the public papers and private letters that General Pierce had 
 either fallen a victim to the climate of the tierra caliente, or under the guns 
 of the enemy. His friends and relatives, however, are now assured of 
 his safety and health, and they will greet him with as warm a welcome 
 as an honored son of New England ever received. Happiness go with 
 him." 
 
 General Pierce arrived in Washington about the middle of January. 
 A Washington correspondent of the Baltimore Sun thus noticed his career 
 and character: 
 
 "General Franklin Pierce arrived here on Saturday from Mexico. This 
 gallant officer is on his way to New Hampshire, on a visit to his family. 
 The General is a young man, and forcibly reminds me of the generals of 
 the Revolution — full of talent without pretension, and full of military ca- 
 pacity without military bombast. Once a senator in the Congress of the 
 United States; once tendered the Attorney Generalship— the first he re- 
 signed before the expiration of his term, and the last he declined when 
 offered. To his credit be it said, that when the country called to arms 
 he was among the first who accepted the service offered him. The high 
 opinion held of him by men and officers evinces the propriety of the selec- 
 tion and the capacity of the man." 
 
 General Pierce, though he left Mexico in December, when negotiations 
 were in progress, did not leave the service until after it was well ascer-^ 
 tained that the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (of February 2, 1S4S) would 
 be ratified. This was in March. There was no more work for him in 
 the field, and he then resigned his connnission. This was an appropri- 
 ate close of a high, patriotic, and perilous duty. At the call of the law 
 he promptly rallied to the standard of the law, and freely exposed his life 
 in its behalf. He did this gallantly. But war is not his profession. He
 
 becomes a soldier only when his country has battles to fight; and when 
 these are over, he throws by his sword and mingles in the cjniet dnties of 
 private life. Such was the spirit and principle of the men of the Revolu- 
 tion; and General Pierce went on to the battle-fields of Mexico with the 
 same idea with which his father before him went to Bunker Hill. 
 
 General Pierce, on resigning his commission, returned to Concord. 
 His reception was most honorable to the patriotic citizens of that town. 
 They assembled in large numbers, and Gen. Low acted as the president 
 of the day. General Pierce was accompanied by Lieutenant Thomas P. 
 Pierce, of the ninth regiment, his acting aid, and Lieutenant Gove, of 
 the same regiment. General l,ow, on addressing the citizens, alluded to 
 the object of the meeting, paid a tribute to the high motives and profound 
 sense of lionor from which General Pierce acted, described the triumphs 
 of the American army as it planted the American flag on the Mexican 
 capital, and concluded as follows : 
 
 " 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 
 fidd him unattended passing through the long line of tents, in which 
 were to be seen the palhd 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 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 
 General 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 likewise, 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." 
 
 General Pierce now advanced to the front of the platform to reply. He 
 labored under deep emotions, the nature of which could be well gathered 
 from the tone and topics of his remarks. Although one of the most 
 forcible and fluent speakers in the country, on this occasion he avoided 
 everything in the shape of speaking for efl'ect. He spoke of 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 tiie reception he 
 had met, setting aside the consciousness of duty performed. He felt an 
 embarrassment in addressing the meeting that 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 welfare of the humblest individual. He 
 did not take to himself the honor of attracting such a numerous and ex- 
 cited assembly as stood befiire 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 de\-otioa
 
 23 
 
 to llieif country, now ropose on a foreign soil. A set speech to an audi- 
 ence actuated by the feehngs which he perceived, would be aUogetheroiit 
 of place. It would be a sort of desecration to attempt any display on 
 such occasions. Upon tlie 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 assem- 
 bled 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 feir 
 promises of youth and its enjoyments, and suffering the partings Which 
 press the life-blood from our young hearts, they responded to their coun- 
 try's call, with a high moral purpose that could not be exceeded. 
 
 "During the three weeks at Vera Cruz, caused by the want of mules 
 and wagons for transportation^a delay aggravated by wide spread sick- 
 ness — 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 happy firesides. Their subsequent 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 whicli corps should 
 be allowed to go forward first against the enemy. At night they were 
 cheerful in their tents, and longing for the morning, which should bring 
 with it the order to move forward to battle New Hampshire had no 
 occasion for any other feeling than that of pride in regard to her sons 
 who belonged to the command. They had proved themselves brave, 
 devoted, selfsacrificing spirits. And Concord, too, was well represented 
 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. As his last breath flowed 
 he whispered to me, ' Do the boys say I beha\'ed well? If I have, write 
 home to my people.' Then there was Sergeant Pike, who had his leg 
 shot otr in advancing along on a causeway swept by three batteries. Two 
 amputations which did not answer the purpose were performed, and a 
 third was deemed hopeless. 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 amputa- 
 tion was performed, and he 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 vocations; 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 Concord, as particu- 
 larly distinguished; and Captain Cady and Lieutenants Potter and Dana, 
 of the old line. Nor did he forget Sergeant West, of Manchester, who 
 fell at the head of liis column, and was always there when there was any 
 fighting to be done. But in mentioning the men of New Hamjishire, 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 ot the Union; and it was not in the 
 p.iwer of man to say which had done the best service. To many it had 
 been matter of great surprise that the new levies had fought as they had 
 done. But it is in the race. He would take from the audience before 
 hira a regiment who woftld do the same, la executing manoeuvres and
 
 in forming combinations 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 n anceuvring; 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 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 pro- 
 tection 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, 
 deliberately placed his cap upon his breast, and died. Colonel Graham, 
 after receiving six severe wounds, continued 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/o7W'w</.'' And so saying, he died. 
 
 " Having referred to Lieutenants Foster and Daniels and to several 
 officers of the old army. General Pierce proceeded to say he had to retract 
 opinions he had formerly entertained and expressed in relation to th*- Mil- 
 itary 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 
 topographical engineers and ordnance which could not have been rendered 
 but by men who had received the most complete military education. 
 The force of the Americans had been overrated. Only seven thousand 
 five hundred etfeciive men left Puebla to attack a city of two hundred 
 and fifty thousand inhabitants, defended by thirty-five thousand of the 
 best troops ever raised in Mexico, one hundred pieces of cannon, and the 
 finest fortifications ever raised, in addition to the natural defences of 
 marshes and lakes. » 
 
 " In conclusion, he said he was not here to discuss any matters of con- 
 troversy, but to meet his friends. Yet the subject of war was necessarily 
 presented to their consideration by the occasion. Before entering in it, it 
 was his belief that the war had been irresistibly pressed upon ns. If he had 
 doubted before, conversations he had had with the most intelligent Mexi- 
 cans would have confirmed him in the opinion that the war was unavoid- 
 able on our part. Four of the Mexican conanissioners were in favor of 
 the propositions submitted by Mr. Trist, but they were overawed by 
 threats and demonstrations of the mob in Mexico, stinuilated by oppo- 
 nents to the then existing government. Even now the people will go 
 to the last extremity against a peace. They say it is the first time within 
 the last twenty years that they have been under any protection. They 
 are in favor of merging the naiionaliiy of Mexico in that of the United 
 Stales. They say they care nothing for a nationality which has afforded 
 them no protection in either civil or political rights. Their rights are 
 protected by American arms. . •
 
 25 
 
 "Again: the course a very large number of the public presses in the 
 United States have pursued has created obstacles to peace. Mexican 
 papers are filled with articles and speeches from the United States, de- 
 nouncing the war on our part and justifying Mexico. The Mexican 
 editors publish tliem, with the remark that nothing remains to be added 
 by them to make out the justice of their course towards the United States. 
 On the same day that he saw in a Jalapa paper a whole page of extracts 
 from American papers, he saw stuck up on the trees the proclamation of 
 Salas to the guerillas, ending with the watchword, ' Death to the Yankees, 
 without mercy!' Thus was furnished from our own country the food 
 which fed the ferocity that pursued tlie army at every turn, and caused 
 the butchering of every soldier who fell into their hands. In the office 
 of the secretary in Mexico, extracts from American papers were found 
 filed away in their pigeon-holes. They had been used in framing their 
 proclamations. 
 
 " Should the Mexicans find the Americans standing together on the 
 question of the war, peace would follow alniosSt instantaneously. An oppor- 
 tunity is now presented to make peace by "strengthening the hands of 
 President Herrera, and the peace party, who have obtained a majority in 
 Congress. 
 
 " General Pierce continued to renew his expressions of gratitude for 
 his reception." 
 
 This year the legislature voted General Pierce a splendid sword as a 
 token of their approbation of his gallantry in the field and their esteem 
 for him as a man. This vTas pres»nt»tl to him, in behalf of the State, 
 by the governor. Genwal Fierce made an eloqaent and beautiful reply. 
 After alluding to the fact that out of the six hundred and forty men who 
 went with him to Mexico, less than one hundred and fifty lived to return, 
 he said: 
 
 '' 1 accept this splendid weapon from the people of New Hampshire 
 with an abiding sense of the personal regard which has never seemed to 
 grow cold. May I not be permitted to say, without reference to my politi- 
 cal associations, that I receive it as one among multiplied evidences, so 
 far as the men of my own time of life are concerned, of something like a 
 fraternal esteem and confidence, which it has been my highest pur|xise to 
 merit, and is my firmest never to lose. In the mean lime, I am not 
 unmindful of another and higher consideration which actuated the legis- 
 lature. The sword, though given to me, was designed and received as 
 a token of the estimation in which you hold the services and sacrifices of 
 the officers and soldiers of the brigade which it was my good fortune to 
 command; and to them I would have the grateful thoughts of my friends 
 turned to-day — to the noble dead; to the mea who wiih their life-blood 
 sealed their devotion to the rights and honor of the republic; to the gal- 
 lant living, who, having fulfilled their mission amid the untried scones of 
 an eventful campaign on a foreign soil, arc now unobtrusively and use- 
 fully pursuing tlie avocations of civil life at home. 
 
 " Your thoughts and purposes in this matter are not circumscribed by 
 the limits of JNew Hampshire or New England. You embrace the 12th 
 and loth regiments no less warmly tiian the 9th. It will ever be a matter 
 of gratification to me tliat the three regiments of my brigade were com- _ 
 posed of men from the extreme south, north, and west of the UnioUj
 
 26 
 
 because it illustrated, in an hour of trial and danger, that unity which is 
 our strength. The question never arose, during the varied scenes of 
 that summer, on what side of a geographical line a man was born or 
 reared; he stood upon the field by your side, an American officer or an 
 American soldier, with an American heart; and that was enough for any 
 of us to know. It was a glorious brotherhood. The highest hope of 
 patriotism looks to the permanence and all-pervading power of that feel- 
 ing. It is the panoply under which whatever is dear and precious in our 
 institutions will repose in security. Over it may the stars and stripes 
 float forever!" 
 
 The constitution of New Hampshire contains provisions at war with 
 the spirit of the age and discreditable to the intelligence of the State, and 
 her able and liberal statesmen have long warred against them. One of 
 them is the religious test, in theory excluding Catholics from office, 
 though practically it is a dead letter. In 1S50 a convention was called to 
 revise the constitution, and/5eneral Pierce allowed himself to be elected 
 a menibpr from Concord. .This convention met at the New Hampshire 
 State-house on the sixth of November. It consisted of two hundred and 
 ninety members, comprising a fine representation of the intelligence, the 
 political and judicial service and moral worth of the Granite State. A 
 more respectable assembly never assembled in its borders. Gen. Pierce 
 was elected its president, and it afforded a most gratifying proof of the 
 estimation in which he was held by his native State. No man in it was 
 more competent to discharge this service; and the prompt, impartial, and 
 dignified manner in which he performed the duties of a presiding officer 
 won him new laurels. Nor was this all. When some of the obn.Dxious 
 features of the constitution were under discussion he left the chair, min- 
 gled in the debate, and gave his influence to have them expunged. Such, 
 for instance, was his course as to the proposition to strike out the test re- 
 quirement of the constitution, which provides that some of the principal 
 offices shall not be filled except by persons of the protestant religion. 
 General Pierce, in his speech on this occasion, declared that undoubtedly 
 this test had been a stigma on the State at home and abroad; that he had 
 felt keenly the reproach; tliat it was unworthy of the intelligence and 
 liberal spirit of his countrymen. Indeed, he said, such were his views 
 that with iiim it was no longer an open question, and rejoiced that the 
 occasion had arrived when the obnoxious form would be dispensed with. 
 "The great question of religious toleration," he said, " was practically 
 settled, and settled in a manner never to be reversed, while we retained 
 our present form of government, more than thirty years ago." The test, 
 at least, had been a dead letter, a blank, on the statute-book. These 
 were views that had been ever entertained by General Pierce, and no 
 man in the State had taken a more decided stand on this question. Its 
 abolition was triutnphantly carried in the convention. And when the 
 people of Concord assembled in town meeting to rote on the amendments 
 to the constitution submitted by this convention, General Pierce attended, 
 and made another eloquent speech in favor of the great principle of reli- 
 gious freedom. 
 
 General Pierce from this time continued in the assiduous pursuit of his 
 profession. But he also kept n-armly iiUerested in the politics of the time; 
 and in the critical period that elicited the Compromise measures, he once 
 more became an active politician. His views as to these measures, which
 
 27 
 
 were then pending, were expressed in a private letter dated May 9, 1S50, 
 and addressed to a distinguished democratic senator: 
 
 " I have been so constantly occnpied in court that no leisure moment 
 has presented itself for the acknowledgment of your noble speech upon 
 Mr. Bell's proposition for a compromise of the question which has so 
 deeply agitated Congress and the country during the last few months. I 
 appreciate your kind remembrance of me personally. As a Aew Hamp- 
 shire man, I hear your name pronounced only with pride; as an Ameri- 
 can citizen, I acknowledge with gratitude the eminent public services 
 that have signalized your course along the whole line of your useful life. 
 
 " It grieves me to observe that the spirit of concession and honorable 
 compromise is not stronger and more pervading at Washington. I have 
 no apprehension that the disruption of this Union is at hand; but 1 foresee 
 consequences appalling in this daily use of the terms 'North and South,'- 
 as terms of antagonism. What are the North and South but component 
 parts of our common country — parts which should be regarded as abso- 
 lutely inseparable; not united merely by reciprocal rights and obligations 
 arising under the constitution, but bound together by ties of atl'eclion, 
 common interest, and reciprocal respect; recognising at all times, and 
 above all, that noble band of brotherhood which concentrated the genius, 
 and courage, and patriotism that achieved our independence — that has 
 sustained the country in all its trials; that bond to which tlie republic is 
 indebted for a career more rapid and wonderful than any that has hitherto 
 marked the march of civilization and civil liberty? 
 
 " You have doubtless observed that a great ellbrt is being made to give 
 currency to the impression that the opinions and sentimonts advanced by 
 yourself find nothing like a general response in New England. I do not 
 believe the fact to be so in this State. Our people set a value ujx)n the 
 Union which language cannot express; they look for a compromise — ex- 
 pect a compromise — conceived in a spirit of justice and patriotism, firmly 
 and manfully." 
 
 On the 20th of November, at Manchester, he took part in one of the 
 most interesting and impiirtant political meetings ever held in New Hamp- 
 shire. It was one of the Union meetings which were called at that period 
 in order to give a pledge of fidelity to the Union, the constittition, and the 
 laws. A delegation of five hundred wont from Concord to attend this 
 gathering. On being introduced by the president. General Pierce was 
 received with the most enthusiastic cheers. Though he disclaimed any 
 purpose of making a regular address, yet he made an eloquent appeal in 
 behalf of a performance of constitutional duties. In the course of it the 
 following scene occurred: 
 
 " He was in the United States Senate when tliat word was heard for 
 the first time on that floor, and never should he forget the thrill of horror 
 it sent through that body. A deep and solemn pause ensued, and sena- 
 tors shuddered as they slowly turned their eyes upon the bold author of 
 the appalling suggestion. But he had now lived to hear hisses while one 
 of the secretaries of the meeting was reading a resolution in favor of 
 union. [Tliis remark drew hisses, and General Pierce proceeded:] They 
 hiss again. L-et them be met by argument; let the discussion come, and 
 he that is defeated must go to the wall and yield the question. That is 
 the way to manage such matters in a free country. ^Phere must be no 
 breaking up of the government in case of defeat. If we are precipitated
 
 28 
 
 into a war by fanaticism, we cannot conquer. Both sections of the coun- 
 try may be immolated. Neither could come out of the contest short of 
 ruin. It was said that we of the North could bring two men into the field 
 for every one that the South could muster; but it would be found, when 
 the trial should come, that the man who now makes that boast would not 
 be one of the two men, who was to go forth to meet even the one man 
 from the South. [Great cheering.] 
 
 " General Pierce said the men then in the hall who had abandoned them- 
 selves to the infatuation of disunion sentiments would probably live to 
 regret and repent of their present course. In the comnig days of decrepi- 
 tude, when the infirmities of age shall have crept upon them, they would 
 gather their children around them, and confess how they were once be- 
 trayed into moral treason, and as a legacy say to them, ' Stand by your 
 Union, and stand by your country.' He said he deemed it unnecessary 
 •to go into a formal argument in support of the Union. The resolutions 
 embraced all that could be said on that subject. When the Compromise 
 ■was first proposed in Congress, he had no doubt that the Union would go 
 down unless the measures recommended were carried. The defeat of 
 the first attempt overwhelmed him wiih apprehension, understanding that 
 the Compromise was hitended to give to the South a sense of greater 
 security for one of their rights than they felt they had for some time past 
 possessed. Who did not deplore slavery? But wliat sotuid-thinking 
 mind regarded that as the only evil which could rest upon the land? The 
 men who would dissolve the Union did not hate or deplore slavery more 
 than he did; but even with it, we had lived in peace, prosperity, and 
 security, from the foundation of our institutions to the present time. If 
 the constitution provided for the return of fugitive slaves, it should be 
 done. That was what he wanted to do; that was what our fathers agreed 
 we should do; and that was what the friends of the Union established by 
 them wanted to do. [Hisses.] There, said General P., are the argu- 
 ments of the 'higher law,' I suppose." 
 
 It was in connexion with these measures that the New Hampshire de- 
 mocracy made a bold movement as to their candidate for governor, Mr. 
 Atwood. After he had been long in nomination, and within three weeks 
 of the election, it was ascertained that he had written letters in favor of a 
 repeal of one of these measures which were acceptable to the free soil 
 party. Prompt action was taken; the same convention that put Mr. At- 
 wood in nomination was reassembled; a new candidate was elected; and 
 though the democratic party did not succeed in electing him by the 
 people, yet he was elected by the legislature. General Pierce had an 
 important agency in this movement. Though Jlr. Atwood had long been 
 his fellow-townsman and always a personal fiiend, yet the General prose- 
 cuted an active canvass against him, and contributed more than any other 
 man to effect his overthrow. This year (1S.52) the democracy have been 
 again victorious — the bold movement of the succeeding year having been 
 sustained. A jubilee was held by the Manchester democracy on the oc- 
 casion of this renewed triumph, to which General Pierce was invited. 
 His reply was as follows: 
 
 Concord, March 16, 1852. 
 
 My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 12th instant was duly received. I 
 yield with extreme reluctance to circumstances, which deny me the 
 pleasure of participating in your jubilee. The victory seems to lack no
 
 2d 
 
 element of completeness. It is the triumph of riglit over wrong — of the 
 (lemociacy single-handed overall factions and all combinations — of fidelity 
 to the constilntion and the Union over virtual treason to both. Present 
 my thanks to the Uommittec of Arrangements, my congratulations to the 
 meeting, and with them, if you please, the subjoined sentimeni. In 
 haste, your friend, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 Hon. Samuel H. Ayer. 
 
 " Tlie Compromise Measures of 1850 and the New Hampshire Democra- 
 cy: Upon the former, the latter have fixed the seal of their emphatic ajipro- 
 bation. No North, no South, no East, no West, under the constituiion; 
 but a sacred maintenance of the common bond and true devotion to the 
 common brotherhood." 
 
 In January, IS52, the democracy of New Hampshire in convention 
 presented General Pierce as the democratic candidate for the presidency. 
 This elicited the following loiter of declination: 
 
 Concord, January 12, 1852. 
 
 My Dear Sir: I take the liberty to address you, because no channel 
 more appropriate occurs to me through wliich to express my thanks to the 
 convention over which you presided on the Sth instant, and to the masses 
 there represented. 
 
 I am far from being insensible to the steady and generous confidence 
 so often manifested towards me by the people of this State; and although 
 the object indicated in the resolution, having particular reference to my- 
 self, be not one of desire on my part, the expression is not on that account 
 less gratifying. 
 
 Diiubtless 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 tliis and similar 
 tributes among my most cherished recollections. 
 
 To these my sincere and gratet'ul acknowledgments 1 desire to add, 
 that tlie same motives whicli induced me several years ago to retire 
 from public life, and which since that time have controlled my judgment 
 in this respect, 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. 
 
 The last letter of General Pierce before the meeting of the National 
 Convention was the following, addressed to Colonel Lally, of New 
 Hampshire : 
 
 Teemont House, Boston, May 27, 1852. 
 
 w W W W W * iff W 
 
 I intended to speak to you more fully upon the subject of the Coinpro- 
 mise measures than I had an opportunity to do. The importance of the 
 action of the convention upon this question cannot be over-estimated. I 
 believe there will be no disposition on the part of the South to piess reso-
 
 30 
 
 lutiotis xinnecessarily offensive to the sentiments of the North. But can 
 we say as much on our side? Will the North come cheerfully up to the 
 mark of constitutional right? If not, a breach in our party is inevitable. 
 The matter should be met at the threshold, because it rises above party, 
 and looks at the very existence of the coufederacy. 
 
 The sentiment of no one State is to be regarded upon this subject; but 
 having fought the battle in New Hampshire upon the fugitive-slave law, 
 and upon what we believed to be the ground of constitutional right, we 
 should, of course, desire the approval of the democracy of the counliy. 
 What I wish to say to you is this : If the Compromise measures ate not to 
 be substantially and firmly maintained, the plain rights secured by the 
 Constitution will be trampled in the dust. What difference can it make 
 to you or me, whether the outrage shall seem to fall on South Carolina, 
 or Maine, or New Hampshire? Are not the rights of each eqiially dear to 
 us all? I will never yield to a craven spirit, that, from considerations of 
 policy, would endanger the Union. Entertaining these views, the action 
 of the convention must, in my judgment, be vital. If we of the North, 
 who have stood by the constitutional rights of the South, are to be aban- 
 doned to any time-serving policy, the hopes of democracy and of the 
 Union must sink together. As 1 told you, my name will not be before 
 the convention ; but I cannot help feeling that what there is to be done 
 will be important beyond men and parties — transecndently important to 
 the hopes of democratic progress and civil liberty. Your friend, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 
 Notwithstanding General Pierce's repeated declinations of the great 
 honor of a nomination for the presidency, yet this was destined to fall to 
 liis lot. His name had been presented not only by New Hampshire, but 
 by presses and statesmen in other parts of the Union, previous to the BA- 
 timore Democratic National Convention. This body was one of the most 
 able and patriotic representations of the party that evtr assembled in 
 council. When it was found that neither of the distinguished statesmen 
 whose names had been brought into the convention could receive the 
 nomination, and that the coumion sacrifice of preferences would be re- 
 quired by the friends of all, then the high character, distinguished ser- 
 vices, and acknowledged qualifications of General Pierce pointed him out 
 as a tit candidate for the great American office which ought neither to be 
 sought nor declined. Virginia, the mother of States and the birthplace 
 of the Father of Democracy, first gave her vote for General I'ierce. Other 
 States followed. And the nomination was made amidst an enthusiasm 
 which has been rarely equalled and which could not be surpassed. It 
 was made not only in a spirit of wise statesmanship but of compromise, 
 conciliation and union. It was thus that this true and modest son of the 
 Granite State was made the standard-bearer of the national democratic 
 party. 
 
 The convention appointed a committee consisting of Colonel Barbour, 
 of Virginia, Hon J. Thompson, of Mississippi, Hon. Alplieus Felch, of 
 Michigan, and Hon. P. Sonle, of Louisiana, to acquaint General Pierce 
 of his nomination. This ccmimittee waited on the General at his resi- 
 dence in Concord, New Hampshire, and deUvered to him the following 
 letter:
 
 31 
 
 Concord, June 17, 1832, 
 
 Sir: A National Coiu'ention of the democratic republican party, which 
 met in Baltimore the first Tuesday in June, unanimously noniiuated you 
 as a candidate for the high trust of President of the United States. We 
 have been delegated to acquaint jrou with Vhe nomination, and earnestly 
 to request that you will accept it. Persuaded as we are that this office 
 should not he pursued by an unchastened ambition, it can never be 
 refused by a dutiful patriotism. 
 
 The circumstances under which you Avill be presented for the canvass 
 of ycur countrymen are pinjiitious to the interests which the constitu- 
 tion intrusts to our federal Union, and must be auspicious to your own 
 fame. You come before the people without the impulse of personal wishes, 
 and free from all selfisli expectations. You are identified with none 
 of the distractions which haye recently disturbed onr country, whilst you 
 are known to be faithful to the constitution, to all its guarantees and com- 
 promises. You will be free to exert your tried abilities within the path 
 of duty in protecting that repose we happily enjoy, and in giving efficacy 
 and control to those cardinal priuciples that have already illustrated the 
 party which has selected you as its leader — principles that regard the 
 security and prosperity of the whole country and the paramouut power 
 of its laws as iudissolubly asscciated with the perpetuity of our civil and 
 religious liberties. 
 
 The convention did not pretermit the duty of reiterating those princi- 
 pies, and yon will find them prominently set forth in the resolutioiis it 
 adopted. To these we respectfully invite your attention. 
 
 It is firmly believed that to your talents and patriotism the secu- 
 rity of our holy Union, with its expanded and expanding interests, may 
 be wisely trusted, and that, amid all the perils which may assail the cou- 
 stiiution, you will have the heart to love and the arm to defend it. 
 
 With congratulations to you and the country upon this demonstration 
 of its exalted regard, and the patriot hopes that cluster over it, we have 
 the honor to be, with all respect, your fellow-citizens, 
 
 J. S. BARBOUR, 
 J. THOMPSON, 
 ALPHEUS FELCH, 
 PIERRE SOULE. 
 
 Hon. Franiclin Pierci;, of New Hampshire. 
 
 To this beautiful and appropriate letter, Cieneral Pierce made the fol- 
 lowing admirable reply: 
 
 Concord, N. H., June 17, 1S.52. 
 
 Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge your personal kinduess 
 in presenting to me this day your letter officially informing me of my 
 nomination by the Democratic National Convenlion as a candidate Ibr 
 the presidency of the United States. 
 
 The surprise with which I received the intelligence of the nomination 
 was not uumingled with painful solicitude, and yet it is proper for me to 
 say that the manner in wliich it was conferred was peculiarly gratifying. 
 The delegation from New Hampshire, with all the glow of State pride 
 and all the warmth of personal regard, would not have submitted niy 
 name to the convention, nor would they have cast a vote for me, under 
 circumstances other than those which occurred.
 
 I shall always cherish with pride and gratitude the recollection of the 
 fact that the voice which first pronounced for me, and pronounced alone, 
 came from the mother of States — a pride and gratitude rising far above 
 an}'' consequences that can betide me personally. 
 
 May I not regard it as a fact pointing to the overthrow of sectional 
 jealousies, and looking to the perennial life and vigor of a Union cemented 
 by the blood of tliose wiio have passed to their reward — a Union wonder- 
 ful in its formation, boundless in its hopes, amazing in its destiny ! I 
 accept the nomination, relying upon an abiding devotion to the interests, 
 the honor, and the glory of our whole country, but, beyond and above 
 all, upon a Power superior to ail human might^ — a Power which, from 
 the first gun of the Revolution, in every crisis through which we have 
 passed, in every hour of our acknowledged peril, when the dark clouds 
 have shut down around us, has interposed as if to baffle human wisdom, 
 outniarch human forecast, and bring out of darkness the rainbow of 
 promise. Weak myself, faith and hope repose there in security. I ac- 
 cept the nomination upon the platform adopted by the convention, not 
 because this is expected of me as a candidate, but because the principles 
 it embraces command the approbation of my judgment; and with them 1 
 believe I can safely say there has been no word nor act of my life in 
 contiict. . 
 
 I have only to tender my grateful ackHowledgments to you, gentlemen, 
 to the convention of which you were members, and to the people of our 
 common country. 
 
 I anij with the highest respect, your most obedient servant, 
 
 FRANK. PIERCE. 
 Hon. J. S. Barbour, 
 
 J. Thompson, 
 
 Alpheus Felch, 
 
 Pierre Soule. 
 
 The above imperfect sketch will serve to recall the principal points of 
 the career of Franklin Pierce. Since the death of Levi Woodbury, he 
 has stood foremost in the ranks of the democracy of New England. He 
 attained this position by an able, open, steadfast adherence to principle; 
 by proving himself more than equal to every station he has occupied; by 
 serving his native State with reputation in the halls of legislation, and his 
 country with gallantry and a spirit of self-sacrifice on the fields of battle; 
 by proving himself to be a thorough and consistent republican, a judicious 
 legislator, and a true friend to the constitution of his country. He now 
 stands before the nation as the embodiment of the nationality of the great 
 party by whom he is supported. He bears about him in his own past 
 brilliant career, in the antecedents of the democratic party, and in the 
 enthusiastic action of its representatives in convention, a pledge, if elected, 
 to uphold unfalteringly the great American cause of the Union, the CoN- 
 STiTUTUiN, and the Laws; and on this grand basis to speed on the couu- 
 try in its destined career of freedom and progress.
 
 WILLIAM R. KING. 
 
 William Rufus Kin'g is a native of North Carolina. He vas born on 
 the 7th of April, 17S6. His father, William King, was oie of three 
 brothers, whose ancestor on the paternal side, coming from tie north of 
 Ireland, settled at, an early day on James river, in the colony (f Virginia. 
 Their mother was descended from a Hngnenot family whici had been 
 driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. 
 
 At the time of the Revolniion the grandtaiher was too agec and infirm 
 to participate in that ardnous struggle; bnt he and his three sons were 
 zealons and devoted whigs, (when that term meant something,) and the 
 latter did good nnd effective service in the glorious cause, 'i'he eldest 
 brother commanded a company of State troops, the youngest held a cap- 
 tain's commission in the continental army, and William, the father of 
 Colonel King, took his position in the State line as a common soldier, by 
 the side of some of the best and most patriotic men in the State. During 
 the whole revolutionary war North Carolina was figluing-gronnd; and 
 whether grappling with the tories or engaged with the myrmidons of 
 Britain, none made greater sacrifices or met more dangers than did the 
 gallant family of Kings. 
 
 The war over and independence secured, the father of the subject of 
 our sketch, a planter in independent circumstances, devo.ted himself to 
 the rearing and education of his children. At the early age of twelve 
 years William R. King was sent to the University of North Carolina, at 
 Chapel Hill. On leaving that institution, where his attention to his 
 studies, and uniformly correct and gentlemanly deportment, had com- 
 manded the respect and regard of his fellows and the approbation of the 
 professors, he entered the law office of William Duffy, a distinguished 
 lawyer, residing in the town of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in the 
 aiuumn of 1805 obtained a license to practise in the superior courts of the 
 State. In 1806 he was elected aiiiember of the legislature of the State 
 from the county of Sampson, in which he was born. He was again 
 elected the year following; but, on the meeting of the legislature, he was 
 chosen solicitor by that body, and resigned his seat. Colonel King con- 
 tinued in the practice of his profession until he was elected a member of 
 Congress from the Wilmington district, in August, 1810, when he was 
 but liitlc more than twenty-four years of age; but, as his predecessor's 
 term did not expire before the 4th of March, 181 1 , Colonel King did not 
 take his scat in the Congress of the United States until the autumn of 
 that year, being the first session of the twelfth Congress. This was a 
 most imporiant period in the history of the country. The governments 
 of England and France had for years rivalled each other in acts destructive 
 of the neutral rights, and ruinous to the commerce of the United States. 
 Every effort had been made — but in vain — to procure an abandonment of 
 orders in council on the one hand, and decrees on the other, which had 
 nearly cut up the commerce of the country by the roots, and a large ma- 
 jority of the people felt that to submit longer to such gross violations of 
 3
 
 34 
 
 their rigl^s as a neutral nation would be degrading, and they called upon 
 the goveijiment to protect those rights, eveu at the hazard of a war. In 
 this statelof things Colonel King took his seat in the House of Repre- 
 sentative^ and unhesitatingly ranged himself on the side of the bold and 
 patriotic ^irits in that body who had determined to repel aggression, 
 come froniwhat quarter it might, and to maintain the rights and the honor 
 of the cointry. Tlie withdrawal of the Berlin and Milan decrees by 
 Prance, wiiile England refused to abandon her orders in council, put an 
 end to all iesitation as to which of those powers should be met in deadly 
 strife. InJune, 1812, war was declared against England, Mr. King ad- 
 vocating md voting for the declaration. He continued to represent his 
 district in Congress during the continuance of the war, sustaining with 
 all his power every measure deemed necessary to enable the government 
 to prosecute it to a successful termination; and not until the rights of the 
 country ws'e vindicated and secured, and peace restored to the land, did 
 he feel at liberty to relinquish the highly responsible position in which 
 his confidiig constituents had placed him. In the spring of 1816 Colonel 
 King resigned his seat in the House of Representatives, and accompanied 
 William Pinckney. of Maryland, as secretary of legation, first to Naples, 
 and then to St. Petersburg, to which courts Mr. Pinckney had been ap- 
 pointed minister plenipotentiary. Colonel King remained abroad not 
 quite two years, having in that time visited the greater portion of Europe, 
 making himself acquainted with the institutions of various governments, 
 and the condition of their people. On his return to the United States he 
 determined to move to the Territory of Alabama, which determination he 
 carried into effect in the winter of 1818-'19, and fi.xed his residence in 
 the county of Dallas, where he still resides. A few months after Colonel 
 King arrived in the Territory — Congress having authorized the people to 
 form a constitution and establish a State government — he was elected a 
 member of the convention. Colonel King was an active, talented, and 
 influential member of that body, was placed on the connnittee ajipointed 
 to draught a constitution, and was also selected by tiie general committee, 
 together with Judge Taylor, now of the State of Mississippi, and Judge 
 Henry Hitchcock — now no more — to reduce it to form, in accordance 
 with the principles and provisions previously agreed on. This duty they 
 performed in a manner satisfactory to' the committee. The constitution 
 thus prepared was submitted to the convention, and adopted with but 
 slight alterations. 
 
 On the adjournment of the convention Colonel King returned to his 
 former residence in North Carolina, where most of his property still was, 
 and, having made his arrangements for its removal, set out on his return 
 for Alabama. On reaching Milledgeville, in the State of Georgia, he re- 
 ceived a letter from Governor Bibb, of Alabama, informing him that he 
 had been elected a senator in the Congress of the United States, and that 
 the certificate of his election had been transmitted to the city of Washing- 
 ton. This was the first intimation which Colonel King had that his 
 name even had been presented to the legislature for tiiat high position; 
 and injuriously as it would atl'ect his private interests — in the then condi- 
 tion of bis affairs — he did not liesilate to accept the honor so unexpectedly 
 conferred upon him, and, leavit]g his people to pursue their way to Ala- 
 bama, he retraced his steps, and reached the city of Washington a few 
 days before the meeting of Congress. His colleague, the Hon. John W. 
 Walker, had arrived before him.
 
 .; : : i C' c. J u 
 
 35 
 
 Alabama was admitted as a State, and her senators, after taking tiie 
 oath to support the constitution of the United Spates, were required to 
 draw for their term of service, when Major Wallcer drew six years and 
 Colonel King four. At the time that Alahama became a State of the 
 Union tlie indebtedness of her citizens fur lands sold by the United 
 States, under what was known as the credit system, was nearly twelve 
 millions of dollars. It Avas perfectly apparent that this enormous sum 
 could not be paid, and that an attempt to enforce the payment could only 
 result in ruin to her people. Congress became satisfied that the mode 
 heretofore adopted for the disposal of the public domain was wrong, and 
 a law was passed reducing the minimum price from two to one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents the acre, with cash payments. This change was 
 warmly advocated by senators Walker and King 
 
 At the next session a law was passed authorizing the purchasers of 
 public laiuls, under the credit system, to relinquish to the government a 
 portion of their purchase, and to transfer the amount paid on the part re- 
 lintiuished, so as to make complete payment on the part retained. At a 
 subsequent session another law was passed, authorizing the original pur- 
 chasers of the lands so relinquished to enter them at a fixed rate, much 
 below the price at which they had been originally sold. To the exertions 
 of senators King and Walker, Alabama is mainly indebted for the passage 
 of these laws, which freed her citizens from the heavy debt which threat- 
 ened to overwhelm them with ruin, and also enabled them to secure their 
 possessions upon reasonable terms. 
 
 Colonel King was elected a senator in 182.3, in 1828, in 1834, and in 
 1840. His firm but conciliatory course insured for him the respect and 
 confidence of the Senate, and he was repeatedly chosen to preside over 
 that body as President pro tc?n., the duties of which posilion he dis- 
 charged in a manner so satisfactory, that at the close of each session a 
 resolution was adopted, without a dissenting voice, tendering him the 
 thanks of the body for the ability and impartiality with which he had 
 • discharged those duties. In the spring of 1844 Colonel King was offered 
 the situation of minister to France, which he declined, as he had, on 
 previous occasions, refused to accept other diplomatic situations which 
 liad been tendered to him, preferring, as he declared, to be a senator from 
 Alabama to any office which could be conferred on him by the general 
 government. At this time the proposition for the annexatiun of Texas 
 was pen ling, and there was but too much reason to believe that the 
 British government was urging that of France to unite with her in a 
 protest against such annexation. It was, therefore, of the highest im- 
 portance to prevent, if possible, such joint protest as, should it be made, 
 must have inevitably resulted in producing hostilities with one or both of 
 tliese powers ; for no one for a moment believed tliat the government of 
 the United States would be deterred from carrying out a measure which 
 she considered essential to her interests, from any apprehension of conse- 
 quences wiiich might result from any combination of the powers of 
 Europe. Colonel King was a decided advocate of the annexation of 
 'JVxas ; and when urged by the President and many of his friends in 
 Congress to accept the mission, he consented, under th^e circumstances, 
 to give up his seat in the Senate. Colonel King, feeling the import- 
 ance of prompt action, did not even return to his home to arrange his pri- 
 vate afl'airs, but repaired at once to New York and took passage for
 
 UCSB LIBKAHY. y-^^Q^^^ 
 
 36 
 
 Havre. Arriving in Paris, he obtained an audience of the King, pre- 
 sented his credentials^nd at once entered upon the object of his mission. 
 After frequent conferences with the King of the French, who had l<indly 
 consented that he migtit discuss the subject v/iXh. hiin, without going 
 through the usual routine of communicating throngh the Foreign OtRce, 
 Colonel King succeeded in convincing his Majesty that the contemplated 
 protest, while it would not arrest the proposed annexation, would en- 
 gender on the minds of the American people a feeling of hostility towards, 
 France, which would operate most injuriously to t!ie interests of both 
 countries, now united by the closest bonds of friendship ; and his Majesty 
 ultimately declared that " he would do notliing hostile to the United 
 St-.tes, or which could give to her just cause of offence." The desired 
 object was' accomplished. England was not in a condition to act alone, 
 and all idea of a protest was abandoned. Colonel King remained in- 
 France until the autumn of 1846, dispensing a liberal hospitality to his 
 countrymen and others, and receiving from those connected with the 
 government, and a large circle of the most distinguished individuals in 
 Paris, the kindest attention. He returned to the United States in No- 
 vember, 1846, having requested and obtained the permission of the Presi- 
 dent to resign his office. ' • 
 Jj^.In 1848 the Hon. Arthur P. Bagby was appointed minister plenipoten- 
 tiary to Russia, and resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. 
 Colonel King was appointed by the governor of Alabatna to fill the va- 
 cancy thus created; and in 1849 — the term for which he was appointed 
 having expired — he was elected by the legislature for a full term of six 
 years. In 1850, on the death of General Taylor, the President of the 
 United States, Mr. Fillmore, the Vice President, succeeded to that high 
 otllcc, and Colonel King was chosen by the unanimous vote of the Senate 
 President of that body, which places him in the second higliest office in 
 the govornment. Colonel King has ever been a decided republican of 
 the Jefi'ersonian school. He has, during his whole political life, opposed 
 the exercise of implied powers on the part of the general govermnent," 
 unless palpably and plainly necessary to carry into efl'ect an expressly 
 granted power — firmly impressed with the belief, as he has often declared, 
 that the security and harmony, if notthe very existence, of the federal 
 govenmient, was involved in adhering to a strict construction of the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 In all the relations of life Colonel King has maintained a spotless repu- 
 tation. His frank and confiding disposition, his uniform courtesy and 
 kindness, have endeared him to numerous friends, and commanded for 
 him the respect and confidence of all who have had the pleasure of his 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Colonel King is about six feet high, remarkably erect in figure, and 
 is well proportioned. Brave and chivalrous in character, his whole 
 bearing impresses even strangers with the conviction that they are in the 
 presence of a finished gentleman. His fine colloquial powers, and the 
 varied and extensive information which he possesses, render him a most 
 interesting companion.