The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-30 00:00:00

his tastes. He likewise refused a nomination for
Governor of his State, and took no part in public
affairs from 1842-7. Mr. Pierce had told President
Polk that nothing but the voice of his country in
time of war would draw him from his seclusion, and
when the Mexican war broke out in 1847 he en-
rolled the first volunteer regiment raised in Concord
and received the colonelcy of the 9th regiment. In
March he was commissioned a Brigadier-General,
his brigade consis!ing of regiments in the extreme
North, South, and West. He sailed, May 27, in
the bark Kehler, arriving at Vera Cruz one month
later, joining General Scott at Puebla on the 7th
August. Iu the battle of Contreras he was severely
injured by the falling of his horse, but remained
with his brigade during the day. He was also pre-:
sent at Cherubusco, and after the battle wai
ap-
pointed by General Scott one of the commissioners
to arrange an armistice. He remained in Mexico
throughout thewar, but at its close resigned his com-
mission and returned to the practice of his profes-
sion as a lawyer. In 1850 he was chosen President
of the Convention called to revise the State Con-
stitution, and he has the honour of having pro-
cured the removal of the tests by which Catholics
were excluded from certain offices. In the Balti-
more Convention of 1852, after 35 ballotings for
candidate for the Presidency, in which he had not
received a vote, his name was brought forward by
the Virginia delegation, and he was nominated on
the 49th ballot by a majority of 271. Ile received in
the following November the votes of all the States
except Massachusetts, Vermps4, Kentucky, and
Tennessee, gaining 254 votes of the Electoral Col-
lege, while Gen. Scott got but 42. In his inaugural
address he maintained that slavery was fully re-
cognized in the Constitution, and that the Fugitive
Slave Law was constitutional, and should be strictly
executed. lie appointed as his Cabinet William L.
Marcy, Secretary of State; James Guthrie, Secre-
tary of the Treasury ; Jefferson Davis, Secretary
of War ; Jas. C. Dobbin, Secretary of rho Navy ;
ltobt. M'Clelland, Secretary of the Interior; Jas.
Campbell of Pennsylvania, Postmaster-General,
and Caleb Cushing, Attorney-General. The prin-
cipal events of his Administration were the question
of the boundary of the Mesillo Valley, now Ari-
rona ; exploring routes for the proposed railroad
from the Mississippi to the Pacific ; the affair of
Martin Coszta ; the repeal of the Missouri Com-
promise ; the famous Ostend Conference ; the
treaty of 1854 between the United States and
Great Britain, providing for commercial reci-
procity between the United States and the Bri-
tish Provinces ; the filibuster invasion of Nica-
ragua by William Walker ; the dismissal of the
British Minister and Consuls in 1855 for sanc-
tioning the enlistment of recruits for the Bri-
tish army, and the Kansas troubles. President
Pierce signed bills to reorganise the consular and
diplomatic system of the United States ; to orga-
nise court claims ; to provide a retired list for the
Navy, and to confer the title of Lieutenant-General
on Winfield Scott. He vetoed, in 1856, a bill mak-
ing appropriations for the completion and reform of
certain public works, and a bill appropriating
10,000,000 acres of public lands to the States for
the relief of the indigent insane; in 1855, he vetoed
a bill for the payment of the French spoliation
claims, and a bill increasing the annual appropria-
tion for the Collins' line of steamers. Before the
adjournment of Congress in August, 1856, the
House amended the Army Appropriation Bill so as
to provide that no part of the army should be
em-
ployed to enforce laws passed by the Territorial
Legislature of Kansas until Congress should have
decided it to be a valid legislative body. The Senate
refused to concur in the amendment, and Congress
then adjourned. The President immediately issued
a proclamation, calling an extra session of Congress
to convene on Aug. 21, when the bill was passed
without any proviso. Congress came together again
in December. The President's Message was chiefly
devoted to the Kansas troubles, taking strong
grounds against theFree-State party. Misadministra-
tion ended March 4, 1857. He lived latterly in great
retirement. The death of his last son, killed on a
railroad in 1853, followed by the loss of his wife and
his intimate friend Hawthorne, saddened his last
days. He was seriously ill last summer, and his
recovery was not expected, but he rallied till the
last attack of inflammation of the stomach, attended
with dropsical effusion. The official announcement
of his death was as follows :

"Washington, Oct. 8.
"The painful duty devolves upon the President of an-
nouncing to the people of the United States the death of
one of his honoured predecessors, Franklin Pierce, which
occurred at Concord early this morning. Eminent in the
public councils and universally beloved in private life, his
death will be mourned with a sorrow befitting the loss
which this country sustains by his decease. As a mark of
respect to his memory, it is ordered that the Executive
Mansion and the Departments at Washington be draped in
mourning, and all business suspended on the day of the
funeral. It is further ordered that the War and Navy
Departments cause suitable military and naval honours to
be paid on this occasion to the memory of the illustrious
citizen who has passed from among us.

"U. S. G. itAvr."

Hon. Rufus Dwinel, of Bangor, Maine, who re-
cently died, was one of its wealthiest citizens, and left a
remarkable will. Be gave, among other bequests, SlO,OOO,
divided in different sums, to trustees, to be used " purely
and solely for charitable purposes:" 61,000 each to the
editors of the Bangor Whig, to show his "appreciation of
their valuable services in the good cause in which they
aro engaged, politically and socially," and E;2,000 to a
friend, in proof ,if his appreciation of his friendship, and
not because he needs it."
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Sold only in tin-lined packets, labelled JAMES Errs and
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