The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-08

"
authorizing appropriation for the military aca-
deny at West Point to which institution he was long
opposed, though during the Mexican he was reason
to change his opinion that subject ON the ques-
ton of slavery he sided with the South and opposed
anti-siavery measures In every shape.
He remained member Of the House OF heple-
sentatives untn 1881, when he was elected 70 the
United States Senate, I'm which he took MS seat as
the youngest member, having barely reached tne
legal age for the position. In the Senate az tnat
time were Clay Webster, Calhoun, Benton, Buch-
anan, Woodbury., and Silas Wright He made in
1910 speech upon Revolutionary pensions, and in
1s41 another on the removal OF persons from office
by the new Wing administration and in 1912 re-
signed his seat and returned to the practice of his
profession at Concord, N H., to which place he re-
moved from Hillsborough In 1888.
He soon became distinguished as an advocate, and
in 1916 President Polk offered him the post of United
States Attorney General, which he declined. lie
also declined to be a candidate for Governor. lie
STILL however, continued to manifest an interest In
politics, and vigorously supported the annexation OF
Texas in opposition to o considerable portion OF the
Democracy of New England.
In1S47, when the State Of New Hampshire was
called upon to furnish troops for the Mexican war,
ne enrolled himself member OF one OF the 1rSt
volunteer companies OF Concord, but did not long re-
main in the ranks for on the passage by Congress
the appointment of colonel of the 9th regiment and
shortly after was commissioned brlgadiergenera of
the army. On May 27 he embarked at Newport with
his command, and after passage of thirty days
rived at Vera Cruz. Three weeks later he led his
| raj Scott at Puebla, which he reached August I,
aIter several sharp engagements with guerllas on
In the battle of Contreras he was severely hurt by
| the falling OF his horse but continued during the
day at the head of his brigade. In the battle of
| Cherubusco, while leading his men against the
enemy, he fell fanng from the pain Of his injuries,
but refused to quit the field After the battle, the
| Mexican commander having opened negotiations Tor
peace, General Scott appointed General Pierce one
| of the commissioners to arrange the terms of an
armistice. The truce OF short DURATION and the
| battles of Molno del Rey and Chepultepec followed,
and soon afterwards the city of Mexico captulated
General Pierce remained In that city till December,
| when, the war being ended, he returned home and,
resigning his commission, applied himself again to
on June 12 1852, the Democratic National Con-
| vention assembled at Baltimore, and after thirty
five baotings for candidate for President of the
| United States during which not vote had been
| given for General Pierce, the Virginia delegation
brought forward his name, and on the forty-nlnth
ballot he nominated by 2S2 votes to II for all
| other candidates. His principal competitors were
James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, William |. Marcy,
| tial election IN November he received the votes of
all the States except Massachusetts, Vermont, Ken
| lucky, and Tennessee, whose suffrages were given
to General Winfield Scott OF the votes Of the Elec-
| toral College Pierce received 254 and Scott A.
In the midst of this sudden and astonishing politi-
cal success the President elect was smtten with a
terrible domestic calamity. On January 6, 1853,
while making with his family railroad Journey from
of the track and dashed against rocks, and his only
child, BENJAMIN Pierce, a fine boy Of thirteen, was
| In his inaugural address, March 4, 1885, President
Pierce maintained that slavery is recognized by the
Constitution, and that the Fugitive Slave law is con-
stitutiona and should be strictly executed He de-
nounced in strong terms the agitation of the slavery
question, which he thought had been settled by the
| compromises of 1850, and hoped that mo sectional
| or ambitious or fanatical excitement might again
the light of our prosperity Three DAYS after his
inauguration he appointed his Cabinet, as folows-
Secretary " Of the Treasury: Jefferson Davis, Secre
tary of War; James G. Dobbln, Secretary OF the
Navy Robert McCelland, Secretary of the Interior;
| hell p
raj and Caleb Gushing, Attorney-General.
The first Congress which met during the admins
| tration of President Pierce assembled in December,
| 1853. In the following January Mr. Douglas, then
| chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories,
introduced bill for the organization OF two terri
tories to be called Kansas and Nebraska, in the
gon of Missouri and north OF the parallel of 30
deg. 80 min. BY the Missouri compromise OF 1920 2l
slavery had been formally and forever excluded
from this region BY the bill of MIR. Douglas which
was warmly supported by the administration, the
Missouri compromise act was repealed and SLAYER!
permitted to entor these territories In spite or th
strenuous opposition of the anti-slavery members
Congress- the bill became law ana received tn'
| signature OF the President on the last day OF May
Great excitement and indignation were aroused il
the free States by this measure. 1t was denounced
fiagrant breach Of faith, and as the violation
a compromise as sacred as the compromises OF thu
On January "a, 1856, the President sent messag,
to Congress, in which he represented the formation
of q free State Government in Kansas as an act O
rebellion, and justified the principles OF the Kansas
and Nebraska act.
On June Q or the same year the National Demo-
! cratic Convention met at Cincinnati to nominate
candidate for President. The first ballot stood:-
I For James Buchanan, 1885, for Franklin Pierce, 1872
for Stephen A. Douglas 33 for Lewis Cass, @. Oh
subsequent ballots the vote for Pierce gradually dl
minished and the seventeenth ballot all the vote
were given for Mr. Buchanan.
Before the adjournment OF Congress in the follow
ing August, the House OF Representatives made al
amendment to the army appropriation bill providing
that no part OF the army should be employed to en-
force the laws made by the Territorial Legislature
. Kansas, until Congress should have decided that 4
was a valid legislative assembly. The Senate re
fused to concur in this proyso, and Congress al
iourned without making any provision for the sup
port Of the army. The President Immediately issued
proclamation calling an extra session to convene
on August 21, when the army bill was passed with
1t came together again on December l, and the
Presidents aanIa message nG was 1 ts caoS
| events and expressions OF praise II TOOK strong
| grounds against the Free State party OF the coun
| try The session closed on March B, 1851, and Oh
| the following day the administration OF president
| Pierce terminated, and that OF james Buchanal
| commenced Mr. Pierce soon after visited Madeira
and travelled extensively in Europe, from Which h'
on the outbreak of the war, Mr.. Pierce, in speecf
delivered April o. 1861, at Concord, N. H. his place
of residence nominally arrayed himself on the side
of the Union. But from that day to the close or tht
war he was regarded with almost a. mucn M n dsspns
ton had been dictated by the slavery propagandlsts
| tended to foster and strengthen the power of 'the
peculiar institution" Whatever may nave
been his own personal inclination, his
weak and vaciating to withstand the demands
| of the Southern oligarchists, and consequently
| they found in Franklin Pierce on all occasions
| a plant tool ready and even anxious to forward
| their dlsorganzing schemes That man with sucl
| a record could impress upon the nation belief IL
| his sincerity, when he counseled hearty supper
| of the Government in its struggle against rebellion
was scarcely possible. His few utterances since the
close OF the war have stamped hlm as being at th'
best, but lukewaTm advocate OF the integrity OF thu
national Government, the abolition OF human slavery