of states and kingdoms, family and love of country, are brought in the presence of each other, and in which private and domestic devotion are estimated at the same price as military and political sacrifices. Such sentiments as those which inspire it are not common in the present day, at least in such a form, and Franklin Pierce is undoubtedly indebted for the possession of them to his early education.

active strife. The aged father and mother underwent not less than the son, who would have been the comfort and stay of their declining years, now called to perform a yet higher duty-to follow the standard of his bleeding country. The young mother, with her helpless children, excites not less deeply our sympathies, contending with want, and dragging out years of weary and toilsome days and anxious nights, than the husband in the field, following the for- Old Benjamin Pierce-like all illitertunes of our armies without the common ate men, who exaggerate, in some meahabiliments to protect his person, or the sure, the advantages derivable from requisite sustenance to support his intellectual culture-wished, in spite of strength. Sir, I never think of that his poverty, that his children should patient, enduring, self-sacrificing army, have the fullest benefits of that literary which crossed the Delaware, in 1777, instruction which he himself had never marching barefooted upon frozen ground enjoyed. Accordingly, he sent his son to encounter the foe, and leaving bloody Franklin-for with him alone is it that footprints for miles behind them-I we have now to do-after he had undernever think of their sufferings during gone several years of preparatory study, that terrible winter without involun- to Bowdoin College, in the town of tarily enquiring where were then their families? Who lit up the cheerful fire upon the hearths at home? Who spoke the word of comfort and encouragement? Nay, sir, who furnished protection from the rigours of the winter, and brought them the necessary means of subsistence?

Brunswick, state of Maine. There he was the fellow pupil of the famous Nathaniel Hawthorne, who has since become his biographer. Mr. Hawthorne leaves us to suppose that the future president's progress in his studies was slow and difficult, and that he was only able to keep up with his companions The true and simple answer to these by the force of extra perseverance and questions would disclose an amount of tenacity. He appears still as not to be suffering and anguish, mental and phy-possessing any very brilliant mental sical, such as might not have been qualities, but as more than making up found in the ranks of the armies,-not for all he lacks in this respect, by the even in the severest trial of that forti-patient perseverance with which he entude which never faltered, and that deavours to counteract and make up for power of endurance which seemed to know no limit. All this no man feels more deeply than I do. But they were common sacrifices in a common cause, ultimately crowned with the reward of liberty. They have an everlasting claim upon our gratitude, and are destined, I trust, by their heroic example, to exert an abiding influence upon our latest posterity."

his own deficiencies. He has neither brilliant nor lofty faculties; everything that he has done he has accomplished slowly, by means of his force of character, perseverance, calculation, and exactitude. His qualities are those of an excellent man of business. He departed from College in the state of what the Americans call" an excellent subject;" that is as one to whom it was The argument may appear strange, known that the performance of the most but it is the entertainment of such sen-wearisome duties or the most unintertiments by General Pierce-sentiments by which he attaches himself to the tradition of the founders of the republic-that have caused him to be esteemed worthy, and indeed made him worthy, of being elected to the important office of President of the United States. The virtues which the universal tradition of the human race attributes to republicanism truly animate this fine oration, in which the two grand supports

esting functions, might be confided with assurance. He was at the time the president of an association named the "Athenian Society," and we are told he not only performed the duties of his own office, and performed them well, but he also fulfilled most of those of his colleagues in the bargain. After he left college, Mr. Hawthorne tells us that every time he saw him he was struck with the remarkable progress which his

mind had made since the period of his last meeting him; and this we can very easily account for. This indefinite progression is precisely the quality which distinguishes men of his character, who do everything with slowness, but never cease doing. They appear, too, to the observer, to rise higher than men of genius, because we can always follow them with the eye. If we watch them, we see them marching onward patiently and doggedly, sometimes forcing themselves to run, but not often, at last reaching a summit, but not lingering at it, but setting themselves to work to escalade another without delay. They are always progressing, but they are never lost to view. It is not so with men of genius. They sometimes soar out of the sight of common mortals. Moreover, whenever they make progress it appears but small, in consequence of their having leaped with their earliest effort, to the highest peak.

it may be said indeed created for-the joys of the fireside and of domestic life; that he is of a good and affectionate nature is evidenced by an anecdote which is related of him by Hawthorne, who tells us that one day during his return from the campaign of Mexico, he travelled a distance of some miles out of his road, in order to shake hands with a poor ploughman who had been an old friend of his father's. There are numberless stories of a like nature told of him, and the deeds which they record could not have been with any view to the attainment of popularity is provedby the general tenour of his history and character.

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Having left college, and being face to face with the necessity of making choice of a profession, in spite of many vague inclinations towards a military life he decided to embrace that of the law, and in 1827, after several years of study, he was received as a member of the bar We do not wish these words to be mis- of Hillsborough. His debut was a comunderstood. In putting down Franklin plete failure, but the remark which he Pierce as a mere man of business, we made upon the occasion, is one worthy do not pretend to disparage him. Few of being recorded, and one which gives American statesmen, not even exclud- us the key to his whole character. One ing their most passionate ones, as Henry of his friends expressed to him sentiClay, Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, ments of condolence and encourageare, or have been, any thing more. But ment, thinking, without doubt, that this the qualities of a man of business are by first unsuccess would tend to abate his no means despicable; even among us courage and self-confidence. I have they are of the most useful character, and no need of your encouragement," was with the Americans they almost touch on the reply of the future President; "I genius. American statesmen are pre- have failed this time, but I will succeed eminently practical. They have nothing in the end. I will make the attempt of that unpassioned temperament which nine hundred and ninety-nine times, has characterised the greatest of the and if I fail then, I will make it for the statesmen of the old world. They are sage thousandth." Such is the man. He and calculating-very cold, even under knows how to wait, and has confidence a seeming heat of very high tempera- in time. Such knowledge and confiture. Their eloquence is often only dence are always excellent virtues, more exterior, and their enthusiasm and exal- especially in a statesman; but in the tation are not of the heart but of the case of Franklin Pierce, the chief of head. No American, from the founda- the democrates, and head of a party tion of the Republic to the present hour, which is naturally most unquiet and has ever possessed any of those bril- impatient, this want of feverish imliant and poetic qualities, or any of that patience and inquietude is an invalureal passion which distinguished a Fox, able possession and a guarantee of a Sheridan, a Bolingbroke, or a Mira- peace and conciliation. It was long bebeau. But is this fortunate or other-fore he was successful at the bar. But wise for the Union? Those who know the dangers of politcal life, will be best able to answer.

Besides the distinguishing qualities of an American statesman, General Pierce possesses others which are perhaps more valuable. He is religious and tolerant, and capable of tasting-nay,

he succeeded at last, and when the popular vote called him to fill the post of supreme magistrate of the Union, it found him the most renowned of all the lawyers of New Hampshire. During his life as a simple lawyer the confidence of his compatriots often drew him into the political arena; and at the time of

opinion he has never since varied. Singularly enough, too, Hawthorne himself has praise for him there, notwithstanding his ex-membership of the Association of Brook Farm.

In 1837, Franklin Pierce was elected a member of the Senate, before which assembly he delivered his famous speech respecting revolutionary pensions. In 1840, fortune seemed to have abandoned the democratic party. Power passed into the hands of the Whigs, after the presidency of Van Buren; and their only idea was that of endeavouring to undo everything that had been done by the Democrats during the last ten or twelve years. The Whigs did that which they repeated, very impolitically, in 1848; namely, they deprived of their offices all the functionaries who had been named by the two last Presidents. The subject was brought before the Senate, and Franklin Peirce was inspired to make a noble speech upon it, in which he pro

the candidature for the presidency of General Jackson, he supported his cause with ardour, and was himself elected member of the legislature of New Hampshire, of which he was also for two years the president. At the expiration of his governorship, the confidence which was placed in him rising daily higher, he was elected one of the representatives of that state in Congress. Some of his opinions and votes respecting questions long since solved, have been recorded by Mr. Hawthorne, from whose Life of Pierce," we learn, that he supported the vote of General Jackson relating to the celebrated Mayorville Road Bill." During the presidency of Quincy Adams, the Whigs had attempted to establish the principle, that all great works of public utility ought to be constructed at the expense of the general treasury. It was against this system of centralization that General Jackson protested, and Franklin Pierce, in the Chamber of Re-tested against the deprivations which presentatives, was his constant defender. With regard to public works and commerce, General Pierce has, in general, had little confidence in governmental interference. He doubts the power of legislation in this respect, and the efficacy of any governmental measures, even in instances in which it would seem that good laws and regulations would be of the greatest service. Here we have the secret of the power which the democratic party possesses in America. It cares less than the Whigs for mere poli-example of all the nations of the earth, ⚫tical abstractions and legal formulas, and has more confidence than they have in the free movements and spontaneous instincts of mankind. The Democratic system, however, carried to the extreme, produces as many ill effects as does the opposite one, as Mr. Pierce has had opportunities of learning from experience. Thus he opposed, in Congress, a bill for the creation of a military academy; but afterwards, seeing the services which this academy rendered in the course of the Mexican war, he publicly acknowledged that he saw he had been mistaken in the course which he had pursued in this respect. Shortly afterwards, he declared his belief that he had been hitherto mistaken with regard to another far more important and interesting subject, namely, the great question of slavery. He began to see, he said, that the Union must not be put in peril by a question of philanthropy; and from this

had been made in the name of the public good and the necessities of the country. This hateful practice, which, under the pretence of being only made use for the furtherance of the public prosperity, is, in reality, merely a weapon in the hands of a triumphant party, and the instrument of political vengeance and reprisals, was attacked by him with very extraordinary force and vigour. In the course of his speech he resumed the history of the whole world, and showed by the

that the doctrine he condemned, the doctrine by which the Whigs justified their actions, had never resulted in anything but oppression and violence, and that it was only the doctrine of hypocrisy and deception. To prove this, he adduced such examples as those which he conceived to be afforded by the Romish Inquisition, the massacre of the Indians by the English, the silent executions of the Venetians, the beheading of Strafford, the reign of terror in France, etc. His speech,though remarkably powerful, was not entirely hors de propos. The "doctrine" it protested against has produced in all countries incalculable evils; but what have the excesses committed by the Inquisition, or during the French Reign of Terror, in common with the expulsion from office of a few American functionaries? The fault which Franklin Pierce committed in this speech, is one which few Americans are free from.

He embarked with his detachment

This speech constituted almost the lunteer, but he soon rose to the rank of last act in the drama of the first period colonel, and soon after to that of brigadierof the political life of Franklin Pierce, general. He set out for the seat of the for soon after its delivery, in 1842, he war, at the head of his brigade, which resigned his post of senator, and retired consisted of regiments from all parts of into private life. His object in so doing the union. Nothing could bear less was evident. His life as a politician resemblance to a body of regular troops had made him poor, and he was now a than this brigade, all the soldiers who married man, and the father of a family. constituted it being, like their comHe took this step, therefore, in order to mander, simple citizens, merchants, create for it resources for the future. lawyers, agricuturists, and men of all He renewed his attempts to gain suc-professions. cess at the bar, resolutely determined to overcome all difficulties, and he did in May, 1846, at Newport, in the ship overcome them. Then commenced his Kepler, and landed at Vera Cruz, about successful career as an advocate. As a month after setting sail, without such he possessed the quality most essen- knowing to anything like a certainty in tial to success, namely, sound common what part of the country the main body sense. He had also, in a high degree, of the United States army was situated, the sentiment of the ridiculous, and the or in which direction he must proceed art of skilfully interrogating witnesses. to join it. We have the journal which he He carried into the exercise of his func- kept during his march from Vera Cruz to tions as a barrister a strict sense of Peubla, where was stationed the army of equity; and he showed himself always General Scott. This march, through ready, even at the expense of his pecu- a burning desert, with here and there a niary interest, to take the part of the few little villages scattered over it, bears oppressed and spoilated. The conse- a singular resemblance to some of Welquence was that every one regarded him lington's marches in India, and to the with the highest possible respect. "The marches of some of the French troops feelings of respect and affection which the in Africa. At each instant General citizens here entertain toward General Pierce was placed upon the qui-vive. Pierce," wrote once one of his colleagues, He would hear a pistol shot, and, turnto a mutual friend, “are exactly such ing the corner of a mountain, find a deas the poor Scotchman must have been tachment of the enemy placed to oppose inspired with towards Henry Erskine his passage. His progress was rendered when he said, 'Not a poor man in all wearisome and difficult by all manner Scotland will want a friend, or have need of little obstacles, and was in reality a to fear an enemy, so long as Henry kind of rolling battle; it being very selErskine shall remain alive.' dom that a couple of miles were gone over, without a body of the enemy having to be encountered and put to flight. The guerilla harassed the men under his command unceasingly, small bodies of them appearing always when the least expected, taking aim at whatever officers where within their reach, and when they could shoot none of them, resting content with a few privates, securing as many prisoners and as much booty as they could, and then gallopping away with the ut most possible fleetness. Add to all this, the inconveniences caused by the climate, the excessive heats or torrential rains which often interrupted the march, and the maladies of the country which put hors de service a large number of both officers and privates, and we shall have some faint idea of the difficulties which beset the transport of General Pierce and his soldiers from Vere Cruz

Franklin Pierce cannot be reproached with ambition, for he has several times refused the most important and lucrative posts. A democratic convention once nominated him for the governorship of New Hampshire, but he decidedly refused to let the matter proceed. In 1846, Mr. Polk offered him a post in his cabinet, namely, that of attorneygeneral, but he declined the offer in a note in which he said, "when I resigned my seat in the senate, in 1842, it was with the determination not again to separate myself for any lengthened period from my family, unless my country should need my military services." His country did need them almost immediately after, for this was just before the period of the breaking out of the Mexi

can war.

When that war broke out Franklin Pierce enrolled himself as a simple vo

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to Peubla. More interesting to us than Scott himself endeavoured to persuade all the accidents which are recorded him to retire, but all in vain. Mr. Hawin the General's journal put together, thorne thus relates the conversation are the evidences which are always which passed between the two generals. peeping out of the superiority of the General Scott, having ridden from one race of the Anglo-Americans over that end of the line to the other, on hearing of the Spanish-Americans. This su- the news of Pierce's wound, on purperiority reveals itself in all manner of pose to try to persuade him to leave his ways, and in numberless instances; in post. Dear fellow," was his exclamabon mots, in acts of energy, and in reso- tion, in coming up to him; and that lutions made and executed without fear epithet of familiar kindness and friendor hesitation. Thus the Mexicans had ship, upon the battle-field, was the destroyed a magnificent bridge, the highest military commendation from work of their more energetic ancestors, such a man; you are badly injured; and the army of General Pierce is com- you are not fit to be in your saddle." pelled to stop. "These people have" Yes, general, I am," replied Pierce, destroyed," an officer remarks, "that"in a case like this!"-"You cannot which they will never be able to recon- touch your foot to the stirrup," said struct." However, it is necessary for the Scott; One of them I can," answered brigade to pass. A Captain Bodfish Pierce. The general looked again at demands five hundred men, and pro- Pierce's almost disabled figure, and mises to construct within four hours a seemed on the point of taking his irrebridge over the river which shall be vocable resolution. You are rash, sufficient for the passage alike of men, General Pierce," said he; we shall lose stores, guns, and the heavy baggage of you, and we cannot spare you. It is the detachment. The promise is ful- my duty to order you back to St. Aufilled, and the troops pass over, railing gustine."-"For God's sake, general," at the Mexicans, who thought they had exclaimed Pierce," don't say that! This placed an invincible barrier in their is the last great battle and I must lead way. "Bodfish's road," writes their my brigade." The commander-in-chief general in his journal, "unless the made no further remonstrance, but gave Mexican nation shall be unexpectedly the order for Pierce to advance with his regenerated, will be the road, at this brigade. place, for Mexican diligences for half a century."

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Some days after the battle, General Scott gave another proof of the high At last, after more than a month's esteem in which he held the man who march, General Pierce came up with the became soon after his competitor and principal body of the army, on the 7th rival. Santa-Anna, after the defeat of of August. Twelve days afterwards, the Mexicans, at Contreras, proposed namely, on the 19th, took place the bat- an armistice, and Franklin Pierce was tle of Contreras. The American army named by the American commander as was commanded by General Scott, one of the commissioners charged with and that of the Mexicans by General drawing-up of the treaty of peace. The Valentia. The former had taken all treaty was soon broken, however, and possible precautions to prevent the the contest recommenced with renewed junction of the troops of Valentia with vigour, and General Pierce distinguished those of Santa Anna. The result was himself remarkably in all the ensuing equal to his hopes, for the battle was de- actions, particularly in the battles of cidedly gained. General Pierce, during Chepultepec and Molinodel-Rey. Inthe course of it, was wounded by a fall deed, throughout the whole war his from his horse, but, in. spite of the en- conduct was unimpeachable, couragetreaties of the officers who surrounded ous, and honourable. He was not a him, he obstinately refused to abandon professed soldier, and did not possess his command. His leg was severely any scientific military knowledge; but he bruised and his thigh-bone broken, and knew how to do his duty, and to execute they told him that it would be impossi- with promptitude and courage the comble for him to hold himself on horse-mands of superiors. Upon the field of back. "Ah! well, then," was the reply, "you must tie me in my saddle;" and he did not retire from his post till the completion of the victory. General

battle he exhibited no more presumption than in his own house; he remained there, as everywhere, a modest, simple citizen and a patriot.

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