hundred marauders from Missouri; his little band killing and wounding more than four times their own number, and losing but two men. The same invaders sacked and burned the flourishing village of Lawrence, lately settled by men from Massachusetts. Many families in Kansas were reduced to poverty during this period, or lived by taking horses and cattle belonging to those of the other party; so that men would speak of a proslavery horse or an antislavery cow, according as the owner of these animals belonged to either side. At last the establishment of freedom was secured in Nebraska and Kansas, but at a great cost of suffering and hatred.

A more peaceful event of President Pierce's administration was a purchase of territory called the "Gadsden Purchase," from the name of the minister who negotiated it. When the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was made, at the close of the Mexican War, it was founded on an inaccurate map; and this afterwards led to a dispute about the New Mexican boundary. To settle the dispute, the United States bought of Mexico (Dec. 30, 1853) a part of the Territories now known as Arizona and New Mexico, for ten million dollars. This purchase included about forty-five thousand square miles, and brought the whole territorial extent of the United States (in 1854) up to nearly three million square miles (2,981,701). This was nearly four times the area of the original thirteen States, and far larger than that of the famous Roman empire in its greatest days.

Another important event that occurred in the time of President Pierce was a treaty with Japan, negotiated March 21, 1854, by Commodore Matthew C. Perry,

brother of the hero of Lake Erie. Before this time Japan had rigidly excluded from its ports all foreigners, except about a dozen Dutch traders, and had allowed shipwrecked seamen to be treated with the greatest cruelty. Commodore Perry with an American squadron compelled the Japanese to show more consideration for foreigners in distress; and his treaty secured the removal of almost all restrictions on commerce with Japan.

The new party opposed to the extension of slavery had now reached such strength, that the Whig party had gradually disappeared; and the next presidential election lay mainly between the Republican party, as the new organization styled itself, and the old Democratic party. There was, however, a temporary party, composed of those who called themselves "Know Nothings," and aimed mainly to oppose foreign influence in national legislation. This party carried but one State, Maryland; and the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, was elected president. His administration (1857-1861) will always be remembered as that in which the great civil war, or "War of the Rebellion," arose.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE OPENING OF THE CIVIL WAR. BUCHANAN.

R. BUCHANAN'S inauguration took place on

MR

March 4, 1857; and that very year the Supreme Court pronounced a decision, called the "Dred Scott Decision," declaring the right of slaveholders to take their slaves with them into any part of the country. This made a great excitement throughout the free States; and something else soon happened, which excited the slave States almost as much. This was what is commonly called "John Brown's Raid." Capt. John Brown's name has been already mentioned in describing the resistance of the "Free State settlers of Kansas to the "Border Ruffians" of Missouri. After order was restored in Kansas, John Brown resolved to fulfil a plan he had long formed for resisting slavery in the slave States themselves. In his youth he had been familiar with the mountains of Virginia, and had there visited places, which, as he used to say, had evidently been created to be the stronghold for fugitive slaves. General Washington, long before him, had formed a plan to take the American army into these mountains, should the colonies be defeated; and John Brown proposed to do the same with an army of blacks. So having collected a small body of men near Harper's

Ferry, Va., he entered and took possession of the town, Oct. 16, 1859. He at once seized the United States Arsenal, intending thus to secure arms for the fugitive slaves whom he meant to summon to his side.

He frankly announced his object to be the freedom of the slaves; and he promised safety to all property, except slave-property. He had in all but twenty-two

men; but so great was the alarm produced by these, that several eye-witnesses reported the number to be three hundred; and this estimate was at once telegraphed to all parts of the Union. With this small number he took many of the chief inhabitants of the town as hostages for the safety of those under his command. Wishing to spare all unnecessary alarm to the

families of these hostages, he staid at Harper's Ferry too long for his safety; so that militia companies had time to assemble, and finally a detachment of United States marines appeared upon the scene. Fifteen hundred militiamen were gradually collected in the town; but Brown's little force defended the arsenal until nearly every man was killed or wounded, and they then surrendered to the United States troops. Colonel Washington, one of his prisoners, said that Captain Brown was "the coolest and firmest man he ever saw in defying danger and death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand, and held his rifle with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, encouraging them to be firm." He fell at last with six wounds, and was thought to be dying. Ten of the party were killed, and four wounded.

John Brown himself was put on trial before a Virginia court, where he conducted himself in such a manner as to win the admiration even of his enemies. Governor Wise of Virginia said of him, "They are themselves mistaken who take him for a madman. . . . He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. . . . He inspired me with great confidence in his integrity as a man of truth." He was condemned and executed on the gallows Dec. 2, 1859, at Charlestown, Va.; his last act being to kiss the forehead of a little slave-child, on the way to the place of execution. Six of his comrades were executed at a later day. A few others, who were on duty outside the town, escaped to the mountains, and thence, with great peril and hardship, to the free States. One of John Brown's