^Q. ' O » X V % ^ • /^ ^ ?>. ^. ^ ,. :-- -^ C. :^^ : ""^A 0^ N^^ 3^ Q, %/-^V ' A^^ °- ^ «:^' 6 <^^ \\^ ^:- :\^ :^? P •^^0^ ..t- v^*^ . - c?" ^^ V>% ==n^o^ c° • / < '/ \p 1 z i - .1 _ z "J. o^ <>/>j'- "<^<«^ * C^ 1> v> \ i^ o,. .^^°- * 1^^ ^ Li^ 5" .^: 0^ .-i:^!'''' <^ =^^0^ \ ^ o^. f 4> ^ ./ '■■■•'■ <'':'•■■\o'^^■•.„,V••^o^^■■•.,V••co^ % ^^^ °- . ^\<^' ^^ -^ • >■ , ^ V ^ ^1 _ z s. , f' z z * ^ "^ %^- ^ ,# k*^ "5^ \ ' # C^ 0^ .^'o,\^o,.-^ ^^' ^ -.-Mites..- ^ ^ •^\-MT«*.'- V '% 'i -«^ ° i// C<>i \K.>- * - S^ £^ Q. -i^ .r- Ir?^^ ^^e^..^^^^:^--' THE STAR OF THE WEST; OK, l^'attoiml Htfit m\)i l^ational liltasnrts. BT ANNA ELLA CARROLL, AUTHOR OF TEE "GREAT AWKfUCAN BATTLE," ETC. " Our Country's glory is our chief concern : For this we struggle, and for this we burn ; For this we smile, for this alone we sigh ; For this we live, for this would freely die." BOSTON: JAMES FRENCH AND COMPANY, NEW YORK : MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN. 1856. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by W. S. TISDALE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. In another edition of the present volume ■will appear these addi- tional Chapters, viz : "The American Navy, with the Navt Board Unmasked." To which is appended a Biography of Capt. Levy, of the U. S. Navy. " The CnuRcn of Rome a Political Corporation." " Convents and the Confessional." " The Necessity of a Practical Protesvant Education for Amer ICAN Citizens," &c. &c. ^ . ^ / ^., , , .^^ . . x-t-* L Stereotyped hy nOBART 4 Ronuiss, N«w EDglaud Tjpe md Sttrtolyp* FoundciT, ^^ gfJi'itatioii;. When the principles of the government are at stake, true patriotism, which rises above party, above selfish aspirations, or a thought of personal aggrandizement, is invested with peculiar value, and becomes an object of increased respect. And when we find one whose past life and present action furnish a clear record of devotion to principle for principle's sake ; one who has always stood in the van of the great American battle, and freely encoun- tered the adversary, giving his means with his energies ; and who will adhere tenaciously to the cause he knows to be just, and to men he believes to be true, without regard to the labor or sacrifice which may inure to himself, wc cannot but offer him as an example to others to pursue a course alike honorable and patriotic. Such a man is CHESTER DRIGGS, OF NEW YORK CITY; and when to this strong patriotic feeling is added his high moral excellence and worth, his public spirit, energy, and enterprise, as a citizen of the great commercial mart of the western world, we feel pride and pleasure in dedicating, as we now do, this national volume to the true American, Chester Driggs, i CONTENTS. PAGE THE UNION OF THE STATES, 3 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD, 65 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES, . . . .119 CENTRAL AMERICA, ICD REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIONS, 21G BioGKAPmcAL Sketch of Hon. Erastus Brooks, .... IGl " " " Hon. Edwix 0. Perrix, .... 349 " " Col. Gardner B. Locke, . . , 351 " " Alfred B. Ely, 352 " " Mr. Sidney Kossman, .... 355 " " Thos. H. Clay, Esq., . . .358 " " Gen. Nathan Ranney, .... 3G0 « (( J. I /^A^iA^ PR.AKKLiIM THE UNION OF THE STATES. CHAPTER I. • " What God in his mercy and wisdom designed, And armed with his weapons of thunder, Not all the earth's despots and factions combined Have the power to conquer or sunder ! " Americans, let us see how the first stones were gathered, and the foundation of this Union laid. It began under great tribulation ; but God over- ruled its origin, and has been its great support. A reformed church of "poor people," or those in moderate circumstances, called Puritans, dwelt in England at the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and lived in the villages of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. These people, under their pastor, John Robin- son, were assailed day and night by the ministers of the ecclesiastical tyranny which governed and swayed England. 4 THE UNION OF THE STATES. At greut suffering and peril, they resolved to seek safety by exile, in Holland. In 1C07, their first attempt to leave England was arrested, under King James, and some of the Puritans were im- prisoned ; but they had an unfrequented heath in Lincolnshire, where they continued to worship ; and, on procuring the release of their wives and children, in 1 GO 8, they were successful in making their escape to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, these Puritans went to Ley- den, under the guidance of Robinson and Brews- ter, and there betook themselves to industrial pur- suits of all kinds, which fitted them for their future but unsuspected destiny. The desire to advance the Gospel in the Now AVorld, the cherished idea of their minds, finally induced them to turn their thoughts to the settlements in America. Still, the Pilgrims loved their native soil, their native lan- guage, and their Anglo-Saxon liberty ; and so deep was the love of country yet implanted in their affections, that they sought the protection of the English government for the colony they projected in the western M'orld. John Carver and William Bradford repaired to London, and succeeded, after a negotiation of two THE UNION OF THE STATES. 5 years, in obtaining a patent for the Plymouth Com- pany. After an absence of twelve years from their native land, these exiles made ready for embarking across the ocean. They sold their estates, and used their money in fitting out two vessels for the purpose ; but these could accommodate only a part of the congregation. These Pilgrims sailed from Delfthaven, near Leyden, via Southampton, for America, after being a fortnight in England. But the Speedwell proved not to be seaworthy, and they returned to Dart- mouth for repairs. Finding, however, that this vessel could not be trusted for such a voyage, they left Dartmouth for Plymouth, where, with one hundred souls, they embarked, on the 17th of Sep- tember, 1620, for America. Their small vessel, the Mayflower, consisted of only one hundred and eighty tons ; and after a passage of sixty-three days, it reached the harbor of Cape Cod, and this precious cargo of human souls was landed on the Rock of Plymouth Dec. 22d, 1620. While the Mayflower was at anchor, the form of government to which they should conform, as one people, was seriously discussed ; and, after prayer and thanksgiving to almighty God, an instru- 1* 6 THE UNION OF THE STATES. ment or compact was drawn, to which forty-one of the crew subscribed their names ; the rest of the one hundred being the wives and children of these men. This, Americans, was the first republic erected in America, and is the most remarkable instance of the true spirit of liberty upon the record of his- tory. Think of a colony, under the sanction of a royal charter, from an English monarch, coming, under the inspiration of God and liberty, to plant upon American soil republican freedom ! Here is the document : PLYMOUTH C03IPACT. *'In the name of God, amen! We, whose names are underwritten, the royal subjects of our dread Sovereign, King James, having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Chris- tian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern part of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation ; and, in furtherance of the ends THE UNION OF THE STATES. 7 aforesaid, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most con- venient for the good of the colony. ' ' Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." Signed by John Carver, William Brewster, Ed- ward Winslow, and forty-one in all. For five thousand years this vast continent lay upon the bosom of the deep, occupied by untutored man, of the manner and the date of whose origin here we have no account ; but a passage is supposed to have been effected across Behring's Straits, where Asia and America are separated by only forty miles. This continent, nearly as large as Europe and Africa united, extending on both sides of the equa- tor, lying between the western shore of Europe and Africa, and the east of Asia, surrounded by groups of islands on either ocean, presented an impenetra- ble mystery to the eastern world. Xot less remarkable has been the unparalleled development of liberty, growing out of the desire for a retreat for freedom to worship God. The Husuenots of the South came to this land under the b THE UNION OF THE STATES. same inspiration, and suffered even more by perse- cution. Americans, can the conviction that these were the men whose views were carried out in founding this republic now be slighted? We are the only people strong, courageous, and free — the only nation which has the element of dura- bility. When the flag of our country was borne to Mexico, after so long a period of profound peace, it was prophesied by all the world we were to meet an ignominious defeat ; but when the first flash was seen, and the first thunder of cannon heard, American men, who had lived only to protect their homes and firesides, rushed to the scene of action, and fought so gloriously and so triumphantly that the world was lost in admiration at their victories. With our little army of eight or ten thousand op- posed to eight or ten millions of Mexicans, added to barriers which nature had made seemingly in- surmountable, Americans, under the free spirit which formed the republic on the Mayflower, fought like soldiers, and died like freemen ! The same God Avhich had taken the English Pilgrim and set him on Plymouth Rock led the French Huguenot to the South. It was the genius, the heroism, the instinct, of liberty. So have the THE UNION OF TUE STATES. 9 • North and South, when great principles were at stake, commingled as one spirit and one blood ! From the days of '7G, to the day Gen. Scott, at the head of the American army, caused Santa Anna to lay down the sword and boAV to the supremacy of American arms, the North and the South knew no section, divided no interest, when a -common danger perilled our existence as a free people. In 1792, we were thirteen poor and compara- tively feeble states. The whole cotton crop did not exceed three hundred and fifty-seven bales. After Whitney's cotton-gin machine was invented, in 1794, there was an increase in its growth, and in 1795 it amounted to three thousand seven hun- dred and fifty bales. Now, we are a people count- ing thirty millions, with thirty-one states, and an expansive territory, out of which many others will ultimately be made. The constitutions of most of the old states have been altered. Vast resources are being developed, and our cotton-bales count annually nearly four millions. The United States are yet only in their infancy. The growth of their marketable staples, their agri- cultural resources, and their annual incomes, is beyond all present calculations, as well as the 10 THE UNION OF THE STATES. benefits of commerce and art, Avhicli we cannot even conjecture. Our representative government, our religious freedom, our trial by jury, our free press, and other attributes of Anglo-American liberty, urge this people to extend themselves under peaceful arts, and to cherish perpetually the compact of the Union, as the only bond, the everlasting bond, of our national life, and faith, and action. Ancient Rome excited glorious patriotism by heaping bright garlands upon her living sons ; but her nationality and pride forbade her stop- ping there. She looked behind, and forgot not the founders of her political edifice. How much more than Romans should we Americans cherish the sacred ashes of our dead, who gave the Union its fair proportions, and taught the lesson of self- denial and conciliation by which it must be pre- served ! Josiah Quincy went from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina, to enlist the Huguenots with the descendants of the Puritans for our independence, — the descendants of men who were answered in their last prayer, and shown by God the way to this their promised land. THE UNION OF THE STATES. 11 When the Union was endangered for the third time, in 1850, J. C. Calhoun, of South Curuliua, discoursed upon this bond of attachment which bound together Massachusetts and Carolina, and declared, with rapture, shortly before he died, that it was as indissoluble as ever. Webster, too^ who first read the constitution on a cotton handkerchief, wanted that constitution to give its rights to all parts of the Union. When Avarned, in 1850, that his course on the comprom- ise would endanger his hopes for the presidency, the triumph of the Union over selfish ambition showed itself, as he exclaimed, "I would not swerve a hair to be president." Henry Clay, dear to the hearts of millions, from this same loA^e of the Union, was warned in 1839, in the Senate, by William C. Preston, of South Carolina, against unnecessarily exciting the aboli- tionists, as it might interfere with the aspirations he then enjoyed for the presidency. The great American's prompt response is above all Greek or Roman fame — "I had rather be riglit than be president!" The abolitionists became ever after his unrelenting foes, and, in connection with ^Mr. Buchanan's false charge of bribery, of which Bu- 12 THE UNION OF THE STATES. clianan himself was the sole author, and the Romish hierarchy, defeated his prospects and blighted the hopes of his friends forever. Americans, for the fourth time our national existence is in peril ! Its first danger was under Madison ; second, under Jackson ; third, under Taylor and Millard Fillmore ; and lastly, under Franklin Pierce, our jDresent chief magistrate. Under the administration of Gen. Taylor, three Southern States of the Union submitted the question to the people whether they should remain in the Union. Officers of the army and navy were then sounded, to see if they would declare for a Southern republic. They declared for the Union as it is, under the American flag. All the Southern States but one did likewise. It was the Roman firmness of Mr. FiUmore, after the death of Taylor, that saved the Union in 1850. The treaty of peace, which acknowledged our national independence, in 1783, was not only highly honorable to us, but England made far greater concessions to us than she did at that time to Spain or France. In 1785, Congress elected John Adams, by ballot, as the first minister to Great Britain ; and on the 25th of May of that year, the King of THE UNION OF THE STATES. 13 England, ^vllo had waged war upon us as subjects, and attempted to brow-beat us as menials, was humiliated to a public reception of our national ambassador, who represented the new republic. Keenly did England feel the blow w^hich had forced her, before mankind, to recognize our power and dignity among the nations of the earth. George the Third, the king, received Mr. Adams by a speech, to which Mr. Adams replied. He w^as afterwards presented to the queen, who also had a kind word to say of "America and Americans." "You are not," said the king to Mr. Adams, "like the most of your countrymen, attached to France." "I have no attachment but to my native country," said Mr. Adams. "An honest man will have no other," said the king. And this was the feeling under which wc were baptized a free people. Messrs. Jay, Adams, and Franklin, were sent to Paris to obtain formal protection to our com- merce. But while other European nations entered readily into treaties of commerce, England refused to do so, and during the six years of our confeder- acy after peace, no minister was sent to America. Mr. Adams, failins: to induce Great Britain to 9, 14 THE UNION OF THE STATES. send a minister, or to form a treaty of commerce, returned home in 1787. After the Union was organized, the strength and dignity of the government were felt by all foreign nations, and respected. Gen. Washington re- quested Governeur Morris, who was in Europe, to see if England would then send a minister ; to which she readily acceded, and George Hammond presented his credentials from that court in Au- gust, 1791. The strength and dignity obtained for the gov- ernment by the Union of the States were at once felt and manifested by foreign powers. In 1793, when France declared war against England, Gen. Washington issued his celebrated proclamation for neutrality, and recommended to Congress that a special messenger be sent to England, to aid Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, already our accred- ited minister to that court. General Washington determined to save the Union, but just formed ; and, in defiance of the unpopularity of this measure, to preserve the policy of neutrality. He therefore immediately nominated John Jay, and hence the treaty which laid the foundation of this Union's THE UNION OF THE STATES. 15 commercial prosperity, and made its basis still more impregnable. And now, Americans, it is the firmness of the Union, its celebrity, its prosperity, its past happi- ness, attained under our free and fair constitution, which has struck terror to Europern despots, and made them tremble on their thrones. This gov- ernment is the only one upon earth which meets the wants of the masses, and embraces, as far as its limits extend, the entire continent under the shadow of its protecting wings. Under its wise laws and benign policy, nothing can stay our na- tional progress, — nothing, nothing ! The bravest, the freest, the most energetic people on the face of the globe-, have been born under the flag of the American States. Look, my countrymen, at the resources of your mighty republic, and see how the Union has devel- oped them ! Look at your territory, and see how the Union, in its triumphant march, has expanded its boundaries from a fragment to a continent ! Look at your inventive genius, your skilful artists, the busy hum of internal trade, the multiplied products of healthy sinews and free labor, and see how the Union has prospered you ! Look at your 16 THE UNION OF THE STATES. sublime mountaius, your magnificent rivers, your luxuriant prairies, your vast and beautiful lakes, your exliaustless mines of gold and silver, and your rich and beneficent soil, and see why your population has swelled from two million five hun- dred thousand to thirty millions, in eighty years ! It is the Union of these States, under the great- est and best form of government human wisdom ever conceived, that has done it all. It is the cup of love and peace, which has been drunk from the fountain of the constitution, by the whole popula- tion. The nation, from all points of our compass, have met in the circling bond of the Union, and clasped the piUars of the constitution with united heart and hand ; and, under the inspiration of its proud stars and stripes, have exchanged the grate- ful and joyful tokens of faith and affection. What should be the cry of all the inhabitants of this land, but "The Constitution and the Union forever ! " With this glow of magnanimity, with this cry of patriotism, traitors and emissaries from without can as easily upturn the ocean from its bed, or tear the pillars of the Alleghany from their deep foundations, as to break up this THE UNION OF THE STATES. 17 government by the dissolution of this blessed, blood-bought, heaven-descended Union. We know full well the jealousy of foreign des- pots. To arrest our "manifest destiny," by the destruction of republicanism, is the ceaseless aim of the despotisms of Europe, to favor their own self-preservation. Russia, England, France, Aus- tria, Eome, Spain, and every other monarcliical and despotic government, now swell with joy to witness internal dissensions which threaten a sev- erance of the states ; but how much more would they exult in its actual occurrence ! Philip of Macedon, when he set about conquering Greece, did not invade it by an aggressive army, but by creating and cherishing dissensions among the states of Greece. So it is now with European governments. They feel the moral as well as the political reaction upon them of the United States. They know that the principles upon which the Union is founded are subversive of European aris- tocracies. They were aware of the sympathy of Americans with the struggling patriots of Greece, — with the struggling patriots of Italy, in tlie revolution of '48, — and the moral influence which ever reacts in favor of a people panting for free- 18 THE UNION OF THE STATES. dom. They behold, with secret wonder and envy, the rapid growth of the United States in power and greatness. England — we speak of her government partic- ularly — is jealous of us, because she is monarchi- cal, and moves in the reciprocal sympathies of the other monarchies of Europe. But the great body of her people are strongly opposed to a war with the United States. When we speak of England, therefore, we more particularly speak of her gov- ernment, which found, in 1812, that no thunder could be obtained by her arms in a contest with the Americans. Her oligarchy try a more quiet course of action, to sow dissension, and reap the benefit of contention, among the states, by favor- ing any symptoms of disaffection which may spring up to disturb our happy Union. In this unholy antagonism, the press of Europe has heaped its slanders upon us. But its praise or blame neither disturbs our sleep, nor intercepts our influence and onward march. Our commercial marine, on the high seas, is greater than that of France or England, — perhaps both united ; and, in case of danger, our marine and fishermen would supply our navy. England THE UXION OF TUE STATES. 19 fears our strength, Avliile she feels our cotton and breadstuffs essential to her very existence. These motives constrain her to Jesuitical cautiousness in her attempts to divide the Union, by which she expects to treat with both North and South on her own terms. Once let England, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, send us representative men, — men of large ideas, who can understand the principles of our political machinery, and faithfully report the progress and development of our country at home, — then the value and the permanence of the Union can be appreciated, and much useless ex- penditure of money and time may be averted. Bat who is it that now cries out, "Join us, to save the Union " ? Americans, it is the very party — the democratic party — who have shown the people, by their acts, that they are not compe- tent to administer the government of our country. The Missouri Compromise law, which was framed to give peace and perpetuity to the Union, and the repeal of which was in all respects the most atro- cious act ever perpetrated by the representatives of the people, was the achievement, of the demo- 20 THE UNION OF THE STATES. cratic party, under an imbecile democratic presi dent. Americans, the day has come when you must not and will not be deceived by these specious pretences of loving the Union ; and it is idle for that party, which has more than once endangered it, longer to attempt to cheat the people. What are the facts from the records of history ? At the time the government of the United States was formed under the constitution, there was a large tract of land lying north-west of the Ohio Eiver, called, on that account, the North-west Territory ; and, to have all those who participated in the battles of the Revolution possess a common right to it, our fathers passed a law called the Ordi- nance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in all the territory then belonging to the United States. In 1803, we acquired, by a treaty under Mr. Jef- ferson, another tract of land, known as Louisi- ana Territory ; and as the Ordinance of '87 had reference only to the North-west Territory exclu- sively, and not to that which the framers of the constitution never supposed we would possess, agi- tation at once was created between the North and THE UNION OF THE STATES. 21 South as to the motlo of disposing of the slave question on their new territory. In a little while the State of Missouri was formed out of a part of the Louisiana Territory, and knocked for admission into the Union at the door of Congress. The South, at that time, was in a minority in Congress, and i!; was therefore in the power of the North to admit Missouri as a slave state, or to reject it, and insist that the law of 1787, which forbade the extension of the insti- tution of slavery into the North-west Territory, should be made also to apply to the Louisiana Territory. Finally, the South introduced the famous Mis- souri Comproinise, and it was passed by Southern votes. It is true a Northern man introduced the measure ; but the proposition came from the South, and was supported by the South. The South said to the North, " If you will allow us — you being in the majority, and having the control — if you will permit us to carry slavery up to the line of 36 deg. 30 min., we will pledge ourselves not to attempt to carry slavery beyond 30 deg. 30 min." They said, " We will allow every state south of 36 deg. 30 min., that chooses, to adopt slavery or 22 THE UNION OF THE STATES. reject it, as they please ; " but, if they come to Con- gress, as Missouri has done, you will make no opposition to their admission on the ground of slavery, whether it is in or out of their consti- tution. • In the Senate of the United States every senator from the South voted for this Missouri Compromise, but two, and every senator from tlie North voted against it, hwifour. There were then eighteen Northern votes cast in opposition to it, and but two Southern votes ; Mr. Macon, of North Carolina, and Mr. Smith, of South Carolina. When the bill went to the House of Representa- tives, it passed by one hundred and thirty-four to forty-two votes. Forty Southern representatives went for it, and thirty-seven against it. Mr. Clay, Mr. Lowndes, and others from the South, were the chief advocates of the measure ; and the history of the events of that day demonstrates with what enthusiasm that Compromise of 1820 was received by the whole South. Mr, Monroe was President at that period, and before he signed the law it was submitted to Wm. II. Crawford, J. C. Calhoun, and Wm. Wirt, Southern members of his cabinet, who were unanimous as to its constitutionality. THE UNION OF THE STATES. 23 To this law, then, the integrity and honor of the South was pledged. And now, Americans, mark the conduct of this democratic party ! They waited to people all the territory that could be populated by slaves, and then disturbed the peace and prosperity of the country by attempting to take what of right belongs to the North ; for Mis- souri, Arkansas, and Florida, could have all been kept out of the Union, if the North had seen fit. The Missouri Compromise being applied to the Louisiana Territory, all settled down in peace, until the annexation of Texas. The democratic party, in the mean while, having made a scare-croio of a few abolitionists in the North, by introducing a resolution refusing the people their constitutional right of petition, kept alive agitation, as a part of their sacred creed ; and by the passage of the "twenty-first rule" they brought thousands and tens of thousands of these petitioners to Congress, insisting upon their right to be heard. The demo- cratic party then became alarmed at the unpopu- larity of their act, and repealed the twenty-first rule. What was the result ? The people became satisfied, when once their own rights were vindi- cated, and, instead of flooding Congress with these 24 THE UNION OF THE STATES. petitions the succeeding session, it was a rare occiirrence to hear that one was presented. When Texas became a state, the Missouri Com- promise line was applied to it by act of Congress, and that matter was thus settled. It passed the House by a vote of one hundred and twenty to ninety-eight, and every Southern democrat in that assembly voted for it. But not long after this the Mexican war occurred, and California, Utah, and New Mexico, were added to our territory. Oregon had just been organized as a territory, with the ordinance of 1787, which you will bear in mind, Americans, was a prohibition to the extension of slavery, and was signed by Mr. Polk, having as his cabinet adviser James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania ! The next thing to be done was to provide for the Territory of California. The ^Missouri Compromise was then offered in Congress to be applied to it, and every Southern senator voted for it. But, there was other territory acquired from Mexico, which was not included in this legislation, and about which great difficulty was created. Then it was that Mr. Clay, in the decline of life, left his own fireside, to forego all its pleasures in his last ^HE UNION OF THE STATES. 25 hours, to heal the impending strife by aiding in the passage of the Compromise measures of 1850. And let it not be overlooked that the democrats, who caused the twenty-first rule to be enacted in the House, a short time before, to create agitation and disunion at the North, were the stern oppo- nents of the Compromise of 1850, which saved the Union, and restored harmony to all sections. At the beginning of the session, subsequent to the Compromise of 1850, Col. Jackson, of Georgia, offered this resolution : — " Resolved, That we recognize the binding eflicacy of the compromises of the constitution, and believe it to be the inten- tion of the people generally, as we hereby declare it to be ours individually, to abide such compro- mises, and to sustain the laws necessary to carry them out, — the provision for the delivery of fugi- tive slaves and that act of the last Congress for the purpose included, — and we deprecate all further agitation of all questions growing out of that provision, of the questions embraced in the acts of the last Congress known as the Compromise, and of questions generally connected with the institu- tion of slavery, as unnecessary, useless, and dan- gerous ;" when sixty-four voted against it. The 3 26 THE UNION OF THE STATES.* democratic papers of that day said, " We notice the ultra Southern members from South Carolina voted with the free-soilers." That is, against the acquiescence of the two sections in peace, and a settlement of the slavery question. Mr. Hillyer, another member of the House, offered, in addition, this resolution : — " Resolved, That the series of acts passed during the first ses- sion of the Thirty-first Congress, known as the Compromise, are regarded as a final adjustment and a permanent settlemenC of the question therein embraced, and should be regarded, maintained, and executed, as such ; " which was also opposed by sixty-five votes ! And these from the South were every one democrats, who united with the aboli- tionists of the North against the very measures, Americans, which had just restored peace to your distracted country. CHAPTER II. In 1852 Pierce obtained tiie nomination for President by the democratic party, and was elected by fraudulently deceiving the people, and inducing them to believe he was true to the compromises of the Constitution and the Union. The democratic party then got into power by that deception. And what has it done, my countrymen ? Why, it has plunged us into civil war ; and we should also have been in foreign war, but for the respectable position the British cabinet took Avhen they saw that Frank- lin Pierce and the democratic leaders were not rep- resenting, but personating, the American people. They have introduced an insurrectionary and revo- lutionary spirit among the masses, that they may hold out the Union flag, after staining it with blood, and call on the people to rally around it for the safety of the Union. Great Heaven, defend us from this serpent rule another four years ! Defend this people, 0, our nation's God, our people's only 28 THE UNION OP THE STATES. refuge, from James Buchanan's power to perpetu ate this shameful democratic rule, "SYliich is now shaking the edifice of the Union through an execu- tive instrument Tvho sacrilegiously occupies the chair of state ! Out of ten senators in Congress who voted for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, thereby unsettling the compromises of 1820 and 1850, seven of that number have gone over to the fortunes of the democratic party, with Atchison, Douglas, and Franklin Pierce, and just where the American people want them to remain. " Pierce suits us well; " "we know our man," was said with no more truth by Van Buren, in 1852, than it is now said of James Buchanan. It is the inter- est of the democratic leaders to keep up the agita- tion of slavery ; in this they live, move, and have their being ; and James Buchanan is pledged to keep all its elements in full blast, to perpetuate the power of the democratic dynasty. And who is it now, Americans, who can arrest the dangerous evils that democratic misrule has brought upon the land ? We answer, there is but one man now before the people who can restore us to the peace, prosperity, and progress, which were THE UNION OF THE STATES. 29 given the country by the Compromise of 1850 ; and that man is MiUard Fillmore. Mr. Stephen A. Douglas, United States senator from Illinois, is very good democratic authority ; and we give you an extract from his speech made in Richmond in 1852, and published in the Richmond Examiner, an influ- ential democratic paper of that state. Mr. Douglas was denouncing the Baltimore convention for not nominating Mr. Fillmore at that time, and said, " We say — ay, all of us — that Mr. Fillmore was a real God-send ; that he was sent by his Creator, that he was sent by God himself, to rule over the destinies of this country, when the ship of state was sinking in the tempest. (Loud and long-con- tinued cheers.) It was the calming of the waters when the ship was sinking in the tempest. All, therefore, look kindly on Mr. Fillmore ; and we like to give him all the consolation we can, after the bad treatment he received at Baltimore, because he was a whig, and yet did no harm to the coun- try." No, Americans, the most violent political oppo- nent cannot and dare not assume that ]\Iillard Fill- more did not advance the welfare of his country as a whole, and protect all its interests everywhero 3* 30 THE UNION OF THE STATES. Anothsr fact, not to be omitted at this crisis, is, that the democratic party were the first to oppose the introduction of foreigners into the national councils, as well as Eoman Catholics, though they have since courted these influences, and denounced the American party for insisting that none but Americans shall rule America. In the celebrated Virginia democratic resolutions of '98 and '99 are these : " That the General Assembly, nevertheless con- curring in opinion with the Legislature of Massa- chusetts, that every constitutional barrier should be opposed to the introduction of foreign influence into our national councils, ^'Resolved, That the constitution should be so amended that no foreigner who shall not have ac- quired rights under the constitution and laws at the time of making this amendment shall therefore be eligible to the office of senator or representative in the Congress of the United States, nor to any office in the executive or judiciary departments." Now, while the American party has not any prejudice towards respectable foreigners, and makes no war upon them as foreigners, but, as subjects of the Pope of Rome, repudiates their interference THE UNION OF THE STATES. 31 with our just political rights, the democratic party- has opposed them as such ; and we all know that in the State of New Hampshire, a state devoted to the democracy, a Roman Catholic cannot, to this day, hold any civil office, because he is a Catholic. And yet these democratic leaders, who have made all the agitation, and bought and sold the papal vote like a hogshead of tobacco or a bale of cotton, to carry^ their own election and retain the power, put out the signal of disunion, and would have the people cheated into the belief that they alone can save it from dissolution ! Americans, seventy years ago, the greatest work of mankind was completed, when our fathers em- bodied into an organic form the free covenant which 'gave to this nation its life, liberty, and happiness. This formation of the government takes rank in importance above the Revolution, and above tlie Declaration of Independence. You ask why? "We answer, that while the Declaration of Inde- pendence cost the very extreme of sacrifice and the essence of patriotism, the labor to maintain our liberties would have been lo^t, after being won, had not the American Union been the result. And the great error now being committed by the people is 32 THE UNION OF THE STATES. in putting the Declaration in the place of the Constitiitloji, and looking to it as the instrument which governs them. But one fact must be kept alive, — that no one man could have been the author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Livingston, Lee, Hancock, &c., all differed ; and it was these shades of opinion, delicately balanced, which made the Declaration, as it subsequently did the Constitution. And now, my countrymen, has one portion of these states been more benefited by the Union than the other? In other words, has the North or the South been gainers by the national compact ? Take the increase of territory, and look at the question in this sense. In 1803, Louisiana was bought for upwards of twenty-three millions of dollars, in order to control the commerce of the Mississippi valley, which has resulted in a benefit since that time to the free states and territories contiguous of not less, cer- tainly, than a thousand millions of dollars ! Iowa, Minesota, the Nebraska territory, with a certainty of Kansas and the rich prairies south of it, have all inured to the Northern States by that Louisiana purchase. The public lands, also, that have been THE UNION OF THE STATES. 33 and yet remain to be sold, and the grants to Northern railroads, will surely equal two millions more in money, which goes at once to the North ; and makes the result of the Louisiana increase beneficial to that section of the Union upwards of eleven hundred millions of dollars. Then, again, look at Texas. Its annexation cost the country, by the Mexican war, upwards of two hundred and seventeen millions ; by Texas claims, sixteen millions ; by the Gadsden Treaty, ten millions ; making the cost for the acquisition of Texas to the Union two hundred and thirty-three millions. By this the North acquired California, and a specie dividend which has amounted since 1848 to three hundred and fifty millions of gold ! In addition to the gain in gold, this section of the Union has obtained by the Texas annexation a command over the trade of the Pacific. The increase of territory has therefore benefited the whole Union, and facilitated its enterprise, resources, and industry ; and California gave an impetus to the trade of the whol* country, which could not have been felt otherwise in two hundred years. My countrymen, the American Union has God 34 THE UNION OF THE STATES. for its author, and the welfare of the whole people for its basis — the welfare of men, the welfare of the states. Then, in all the majesty of American citizens, let the people stand to their rights, instead of trembling for their bread. The Amer- ican Revolution had one Arnold, but the name of traitor, in this present revolution, is " legion." They hate the doctrine of Washington, which is dear to the people, because it teaches that only *' Americans shall rule America ; " the same doc- trine which made Charlemagne dear to Frenchmen, Robert Bruce to Scotchmen, Alfred the Great to Englishmen ! To intensify the love for the Union of these States, and make " dissolving views" of disunionists, is now the aim of the American party. Other evils may exist singly, and impose but one burden, but the destruction of this Union would subvert the interests of every state. It would change wisdom for folly, religion for sin, propagandism for patriotism, light for dark- ness. It would stop trade, commerce, and the development c/§ our best agricultural resources. It would put an end to our unrivalled systems of education, and the utility of our inventions. It would arrest the increase of our newspaper issues, THE UNION OF THE STATES. 35 and the increase of population. In a word, it would take away the key to all our knowledge, and shut against us tlie very gates of heaven. Humanity demands that this Union he preserved ; equality of rights demands it ; the religion of Jesus Christ demands it ; and, glory to God, the Ruler of the world controls it ! No pen can expose the henefits, or portray the affliction, which would jeopardize trade, interest, lahor, life ! And now, when the Union itself is a candidate for popular suffrage, can any other than an American feeling sweep the land ? The con- stitution comes from the people ; the majesty of sovereignty is in them. "Who are the people ? They are the sons of the soil, and their industry made us free ! Our fjirmers, manufacturers, me- chanics, laborers, artisans, are the tiue constit- uency, and they insist that the right of the American working-man and mechanic can only be secured from foreign competition by maintaining the Union in all its integrity. In the abuse of the ballot-box the American laborer has been cast aside for the outcasts of Europe, until foreign interests, foreiffn laws, foreign regiments, and foreign Ian- 36 THE UNION OF THE STATES. guages, have made the nation totter, by robbing the Union of its pristine strength. My countrymen, do you not remember that Home's name, once a dread to despots, was made a reproach by the very act we are now committing ? She gave to conquered races the right to citizen- ship, and this destroyed her. And the Italian republics of the middle ages were invaded and enslaved by the Guelphs, Ghibelines, Germans, Swiss, Austrians, and French, who broke up the union of those little confederacies, simply because they neglected to guard the nationality of their own people. Athens and Lacedemon, for the same reason, fomented disunion, and prepared the way for Philip of Macedou, a northern conqueror, who accomplished their destruction. Even the Pope of Rome teaches this national principle to his own subjects ; and who but an Italian could succeed his holiness ? And, we say, let France be governed by Frenchmen, Ireland by Irishmen, Germany by Germans, and America by Americans, if this Union of ours is to remain. Like the telegraph, the Union keeps no local office, has no visible link between the states, but is the electric medium which circulates through all their THE IIN^ON OF THE STATES. 37 cxclimges, meets all extremes and centralizes then , and is the ever-present source of the closest polilieal intimacy. Americans, can anything dissolve tliis bright and sparkling cluster of stars, -which make one shining jewel, upon which the Union's image is alone reflected ? Politicians may attempt it ; crazy fanatics may rail at it ; European emissaries may toil for it, and send money to the native traitors to facilitate it ; but we believe that beneath the present agitation and strife, Providence con- ceals a future blessing to this Union, and that is its peace and permanent endurance. "When the Mexican war was declared, there was a majority of the people of this country who believed it aggressive and unjust. The election of 1844 had turned, in a great measure, upon the question of annexing Texas ; James K. Polk, the democratic nominee, favoring it, while Henry Clay, the whig candidate, opposed it. That elec- tion, discarding the foreign vote, was most unques- tionably a triumph to Mr. Clay, and a significant sign of opposition to Texas annexation. But, what effect had that freedom of opinion upon the war ? Why, Americans, you all know, it was no 4 38 THE UNION OF THE STATES. sooner declared than citizens of all parts of the Union rushed to be enrolled and press into battle. In six weeks two hundred thousand were ready to take up arms. In three months two hundred thousand more were enlisted ; and, had it been necessary to vindicate our nationality and preserve the Union, a million of men would readily have gone to the fight. And can any sane mind believe that now, when the internal foes of the Union and the constitution have declared war against them, to be fought in a single day at the ballot-box, that the love for them will be less intensely exhibited ? Who can doubt that the mere suspicion of treason to this government will merge all sectional questions, and occupy with one thought this whole people, who will march to the music of the Union, and sweep out the offenders and the offence ? In the Lite European war in the Crimea, it was difficult for the allies to keep forty thousand men at any one time upon duty. Why ? Because these troops did not move by patriotic emotions, or a cultivated national feeling. Many of them had never held a rifle before, and would miss aim in a hundred successive shots. Americans, on the con- trary, are mostly target-shooters, and rarely waste THE UNION OF THE STATES. 39 ball and powder. As they are in war, so they are in peace ; ready to sacrifice all for the glorious privileges secured to them by the free institutions under which they live. By all, then, my country- men, that is dear to the patriotism of your country, by all that is dear to the glory and transcendent magnitude of its peace and rising prosperity, by all that is dear to your domestic firesides, to your loved homes, and to all that can give value to the landing of the Pilgrims, to the illustrious memory of their deeds, the achievement of the revolutionary battle-fields, the bright galaxy of your heroes and the pride of country, avoid, by some conciliation, the dangers ■ that now surround us, and let not the world point with scorn, and despots laugh in tri- umph over our crushed and ruined liberties. My countrymen, the love borne to the Union by the majorities of the people, with their vital Interests indissolubly bound up in it, repels the idea that they ever will dissolve it while the simple remedy of the ballot-box remains in their hands. They cannot but see the inevitable fate of all the smaller states of the Union, North, Middle, and South. Never again would they have an equality with the larger states. Never again would they 40 THE UNION OF THE STATES. stand as they now do in the Senate. Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Florida, and the like, would suffer' absorption and annihilation. Texas would be destroyed by the Indians on the banks of the Rio Grande. Every Southern state would need all the militia within its own borders to defend itself, and could not fly to the succor of its sister states. If the small states sought foreign aid against the aggression of the larger, that foreign power would afterwards claim them as its vassals. There are now five of these small states, which are just as strongly represented in the United States Senate as the five largest ones in the Union. New York has no more voice there than Rhode Island, Virginia than Florida. Hence, nearly one sixth of the power of the general government, and the treaty-making authority, is now in the smaller states. But, if ever separation comes, remember no revolution will ever make the Union again what it is now. Our civil and religious blessings, our growth, our resources, the development of our wealth, are gone, and the small states lost forever. The neglect of the Bible is, in our judgment, the prominent reason for our past evils and present peril. Can anything be more ominous of destruc- THE UNION OF THE STATES. 41 tion to ;i people, than neglect of moral cnlture, and contempt of the principles of virtue and Chris- tianity ? What other bulwarks can avail to save our Union ? The principles of the Bible, where its spirit imbues the heart, and is acted out in the life, will save us from disunion. Without it, the charm of liberty and the Union is lost. Men are ripe for treason, stratagem, and war. We may make music for a thousand ages, but it will not be that of the song and the shouts of victory of Deborah, when the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh were overthrown. Fillmore's election will give support to private integrity, as well as national credit and honor, and save the reduction of property, products, and com- merce. He will be to the whole people as a strong metallic currency was to England in her bloody war with France — the strong confidence by which she humbled the states of Europe, swept the seas wiLh her navy, and sent Napoleon to St. Helena. Now, what would be the result of rejecting ]Mil- lard Fillmore, whom a kind Providence has allowed you the privilege to elect, if you would save your countr/ ? It is no fancy sketch to tell you these 4* 42 THE UNION OF THE STATES. plain truths. There woukl be a distress, deep and universal, in this country, never felt before. The banks v^ould be drained of their gold, because their credit would ](iiiil ; trade would be crippled, and mer- chants would cease to be able to procure credit at long dates, and therefore obliged to suspend. Manufacturers would not be able to sell their goods, or raise money on them. American industry would then be checked at once. The national debt would be doubled. The taxes upon the people would be increased ten-fold. The credit of the nation would be so reduced that the navy and army would be com- pelled to disband. There w^ould be such distrust among all the industrial walks of the people, that no one could command a barrel of flour, or a bag of coffee, unless the money accompanied the order. The whole country would be in gloom, and the honest yeomen of the land would smite their breasts and cry aloud, "We are deceived, we are des- troyed ! " Everything within and without threat- ens destruction, if Fillmore is now cast aside. The nation's faith and the nation's honor should demand this pledge to be made, and the world reassured that the experiment of self-government has not THE UNION OF THE STATES. 43 failed — that America's fortress is still armed and manned by freemen. 'Now, let us look rationally at the matter, and ask to what amounts the folly of pretending to adA'ocate, at this crisis, the restoration of the Mis- souri Comi)romise. It plainly means nothing at all, hut to keep up a practised art of deceiving honest minds. The day for this has passed ; and it is as pertinent to say the repeal of the Missouri Compromise might have been avoided by defeating Franklin Pierce's election to the presidency in 1852, or that some dead man might have lived, if proper remedies had been seasonably used, as to say now that the Missouri Compromise can ever be restored, as it stood when Pierce and the democratic leaders laid upon it their sacrilegious hands. Some may ask, is this impossible ? We answer, it is ; for, while the South could voluntarily restore it, it is not to be supposed it would, and thereby pass condemnation on its own acts. My countrymen, it is high time to awake from this delusion, and cast aside this phantom which is being embodied into pretended substance, and made an issue in the pending presidential election, when, in tinith, the restoration of the compromise 44 THE UNION OF THE STATES. has no more to do with the election of President than it has with the coronation of Alexander of Russia, or the baptism of the heir of Louis Napo- leon of France. And why ? We answer, Because the question of restoring the compromise will never be made one for any future President to consider in his official station. There is no earthly prospect that Congress, wliich alone could reinstate what it created and has de- stroyed, would pass an act of this nature before Kansas was admitted into the Union as a state. We all know that, with the sectional agitation now existing, such a step would rend the Union at once into fragments. It is morally impossible, therefore, and folly even to entertain such an idea. And you also understand the meaning of your o^vn constitu- tion, and know equally well that Congress caimot, if it wished, lay the weight of a feather upon the institutions of a state of this Union. So, whether Kansas was a free or a slave state, — and God for- bid it should be the latter ! — the Missouri Compro- mise would not and could not be restored. Then, if it is true — and every man and woman in the land knows it — that Kansas will soon be a free state, asking admission into the sisterhood of the THE UNION OF THE STATES. 45 Union, it will require more art, we believe, than all the political demagogues of the country contain, to persuade the American people that the election of the President has anything to do with restoring the Missouri Compromise. And it needs high pressure now to be put upon the public virtue of the country, to awaken it to the true sight of its designing foes ; that the people may at once see that the Union's strength is alone in its devotion to constitutional liberty, and on this alone it must stand or fall. The Convention which made the Constitution in 1787, sent out a letter to all the people, giving them to understand the spirit of compromise upon which it was adjusted, and which the States, to maintain it, must preserve. George Washington signed that letter, and we give its language, as pertinent to our present emergency. "Individuals," said the Convention, "entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to pre- serve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstances as on the object to be attained. In all our delib- erations on this subject, the object which the Con- vention has kept steadily in view, was the consoli- dation of the Union, in which is involved our 46 THE UNION OF THE STATES. prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected." CHAPTER III On the 4th of March, 1857, the present Congress closes its power. The next Congress will begin its session the following December. Before that time, Kansas will either be in the Union, or at the door of Congress for admission. Now, with a large democratic majority from the South in the House, and a democratic majority also in the Senate, is it not an insult to the intelligence of the people to talk of doing anything with the compromise the next session, while the Senate will still hold its democratic majority in the succeeding Congress, thereby putting the compromise restoration at an end forever ! Its repeal, in the language of Mil- lard Fillmore, "was the Pandora's box, out of which have issued aU our present evils." The whole country had for thirty years acquiesced in the compromises of the constitution as sacred ; and the intelligence, justice, and honor, of the people of the South, were opposed to its repeal just as much 48 THE UNION OF THE STATES. as were the people of the North. It was the act of the democratic party — we mean its treacherous leaders, in league with Pierce, whom they used as the instrument to accomplish their long-predeter- mined scheme to foster agitation, and perpetuate their own power. Franklin Pierce was the man for their ends ; hence the occasion to aj)propri- ate him was eagerly embraced. 0, my country- men, be conjured to rise in the majesty of your own intelligence ! Search into these matters, and see for yourselves that the Missouri Compromise is dead, and cannot be restored ; that with it the President you elect will never have anytliing offi- cially to do ; that it is not truthfully any more an issue before the people than the ' ' embargo ' ' which was passed under Mr. Jefferson's administration, or the alien and sedition laws under that of John Adams. Never before was so false an issue made as is now thrust before the people upon the Kansas ques- tion ; as though the majorities of the South did not as fully as the North condemn the leaders of the democratic party and its President for allowing American blood to be shed on American soil by American men. These leaders have incited those THE UNION OF THE STATES. 49 bloody deeds in that temtoiy, rather than inter- posed the goveniment and laws to arrest the civil war, and bring the offenders to punishment. Why, then, should fifteen states of this Union be sen- tenced to the vindictive curses of sixteen others ? In commerce and trade, in the struggle for a na- tional existence, in all the revolutionary battles, and the subsequent association since our independ- ence, the interests of all these states have been identified. The fifteen states of the South do not support now a candidate for their own section, but for the Avholc thirty-one states. And, in proof of this, a majority of these states Avill cast their vote for Millard Fillmore, a native citizen, and resident of the great State of New York. My countrymen, it is treason to the Union to support any candidate on account of this sectional feeling. It is madness on the part of the people, and will be the dying out of all our national fame. It will be death to the great commercial metropo- lis of the country, which has been built up by the common trade of the North and South. This com- merce, which has, in this present year, 1856, swelled to the enormous aggregated amount of four billions five hundred millions, was the origin of our present 5 50 THE UNION OF THE STATES. constitutional goYernment. The cities of New York, Boston, and others, refused to treat with men longer under the unstable articles of the old confederacy of states ; and tliis desire to give secur- ity to the trade of the North and South led to the convention of 1787, which gave us the most glori- ous system of free government which has ever blessed mankind. But then, Americans, that commerce was confined to a few privateers. The effects of the Revolution- ary War were all around us. Now we have the greatest commercial tonnage of any nation on earth, and soon will have more, if we continue as we are, than all the rest together. See, only last year, 1855, while Great Britain had five millions, the United States had five millions two hundred thou- sand, and the rest of the world together had the exact amount of Great Britain ; and wliile, in the last thirty years, the commercial marine has in- creased in Great Britain twenty-eight per cent., it has increased in the United States fifty-eight per cent, in the same period. Americans, it is your country, and New York its great emporium, wliidi has outsailed and outnum- bered the commercial marine of the whole globe ; THE UNION OF THE tSTATES. 51 and now owes the greatness of her trade to the Union of all the states. And who, that knows the intelli- gence of her people, believes for a moment that a city maintaining upwards of eighty-five thousand qualified voters could ever give its vote to a sec- tional issue between these states? Who believes the merchant, the banker, the ship-owner, the prop- erty-holder, the men of the workshop, the master mechanic, and builder, of New York, Boston, and other cities, mil surrender the opportunity, when presented in the presidential election, to vindicate the Union of these states? Will the young men, who have all to hope in the rising greatness of their countiy, hesitate? — will they who look to New York as the national trading and commercial metropolis, and whose ambition would make them run to the music of the Union ? It is the Union as it is, the preservation of the rights of the North and the South, that now calls on the merchants and property-holders of the Empire City of the Union to look to its future name. In New York city, we find, by the comptroller's report in 1856, there is five hundred and thirteen millions of individual wealth ; the city corporations also holding forty-two millions of real property, and a 52 THE UNION OF THE STATES. banking and insurance capital of seventy millions. New York city, then, has a capital involved in the welfare of this Union of six hundred and thirty millions of dollars, with a population of six hundred and thirty thousand. Americans, what unequalled prosperity is here presented ! — a city averaging a thousand dollai-s per capita! And how comes all this? Why, plainly from the concentration of all the trade and commerce of the tliirty-one states of this federal Union. Now, let the business men of the country, the property-owners, young men of all trades, the mechanics, say what would result to New York city alone by the separation of fifteen states of the Union from the other sixteen. Let them tell what would result to the cotton trade, raised exclusively at the South, but exchanged exclusively at the North. In the year 1855, this crop placed to Northern credit alone one hundred and twenty-five millions of dol- lars ; beside more than half a million of cotton-bales w^ere manufactured last year at the North, making another hundred millions to the cotton exchanges that season. And what, too, but Northern ships and Northern men were employed in transporting these three thousand five hundred cotton-bales to be THE UNION OF THE STATES. 63 manufactured at the North ? Americans, who can believe that the practical men of the nation, the manufacturei-s of New England, are not above decep- tion upon the vital question of their own interests, as w^ell as the mechanics and property-holders of New York? Certainly not less than two hundred millions of dollars passed into the hands of carriers, factors, and bankers, in the year 1855 ; and is it not best to trust the hberties and institutions of your countiy again to a man who has fiUed the presidential chair wdth so much benefit to every interest, that every party endorsed him ? Is it not best to take the man who endorsed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when he signed the compro- mises of 1850, which made Kansas a free state ? We say, is it not wise to secure the man whose devotion to the Union of the states has been demon- strated by his acts, while Providence offers us the privilege to place our country once more at peace ? The election of Millard Fillmore would put an end to Kansas fighting in a single day. If needful, he would march the entire army of the United States to that scene of blood, with the gallant Scott at its head. He would allow the actual settlers of that tenitory to settle its government for them- 5* 54 THE UNION OF THE STATES. selves ; and, "by exerting the influence of the gov- ernment for the safety of that people, all strife would cease, and a full sweep be given to the energy and enterprise of settlers in all their free pursuits. Americans, with Fillmore at the helm of state, no more legislation, no more interference from any source, is needed to terminate civil war, and give freedom and peace to Kansas, and lift the pall of human wrong from this rising country ; so that Anglo-Saxon blood may go on to populate, ciA'ilize, emich, and aggrandize the heritage which God has opened for the welfare of our own people, and the good of the human race. It is time to end a censorship which the sixteen Northern states and the fifteen Southern states are each attempting, through fanatical spirits, to exert over the other. It is more baneful to our liberties than that now existing in France, Austria, Russia, or Italy. It is more odious to freemen than the Council of Ten in ancient Venice. We must not forget that conciliation has ever been the bond of this Union, and that it has saved more than once our streets from growing with grass, our rivers from being red with blood, and thousands now in man- THE UNION OF THE STATES. 55 hood from untimely graves. Let us not forget how the Missouri difficulty in 1820 was settled; how the tarilY question, under General Jackson's admin- istration, was adjusted ; how the compromise of ISoO made the North and the South sing aloud with joy ! It was a national arrangement, to which all sections at once consented, and on which all parties harmonized, when a Northern man, with Northern sentiments, who had steadily stood to Northern principles, became a national man, and proved true to the constitution and the Union of all the thirty-one states, and signed that law ! Now, when the interests of the country are all affected, and real estate depreciating in value every day, is it not time to box up every other interest, as our fathers did in the American Revolution? Leave the workshop, the counting-house, the agri- cultural implements lying in the lields of your country, and prepare for the contest for the prin- ciples of your government which is to be fought in November without cannon or bavonet. ^Iv coun- trjTnen, a thousand millions of money could not pay for the ill eifects which may result from the defeat of Millard Fillmore at this crisis of our his- tory ; while his election will be the certain insur- 56 THE UNION OF THE STATES. ance upon your commerce, finance, trade, your shipping, inventions, discoveries, educational bless- ings, your Protestant liberty, and your unbroken union and national renowm. In the light of all these reflections and causes of danger to our safety, and the fear of splitting on the rock of disunion, let us, my countrymen, take warn- ing from the history of all the republics of the past. Where are the communities which have been exalted by prosperity, arts, commerce, and military might ? Where are the treasures of Mneveh, the walls of Babylon, the sceptres of the Caesars ? A thousand warnings come across the ocean from the monarchies and republics of the Old World: — Athens, Thebes, Rome, and Byzantium ; the flourishing states of Holland, of Geneva, of Venice, — of Avhich noth- ing is left but the living monument of liistory. This republic has risen, as it were, from the despot- ism and ashes of the Old World ; and wonderful is our story, mighty our prowess, our progress, our elevation, and we have been saved thus far. For this let us send forth pecans of united praise, and give glory to the Author of our being, and of our national preserA'ation ! And now, we ask, who will not join in prolong- THE UNION OF THE STATES. 67 ing this Union ? Who will prove recreant here ? Speak, ye patriots, ye sons of the soil. East and West, North and South ! Who is able to probe the depth of this subject? It swells the heart with emotions too big for utterance. The Union of the States ! What a theme ! — a theme which sur- passes in importance and magnificence the highest powers of our imagination to conceive, or our pen to portray. How feebly have we spoken ! Come, assemble, ye American men ! Let your glowing eloquence fill with rapture the hstening throng, as you arouse with patriotism, and startle with magic logic, the sons of your soil to the greatness and sublimity of their patrimony ! Come, ye proudest of historians, — Bancroft, Hume, and Hilliard, — and reveal the majesty of Plymouth Ruck, of Bunker Hill, of Yorktown ; the rising enterprise, genius, glory, and boundless prospects of this New World, in the indissoluble charm of this Union ! Come, ye muses, — Apollo, CalHope, Calypso, — and celebrate, in strains as sweet as the harp of David, or an angel's lyre, the ineffable grandeur and loveliness of this western empire, in one un- broken unity of Ijrilliant stars ! Come, assemble, ye patriots, natives of this soil, 58 THE UNION OF THE STATES. ye "\y1io best know how to feel the inspiration which calls you to defend it, if invaded, with mil- lions of bayonets, or to repose, when in peace and prosperity, under the shadow of its outspread and majestic wings ! Come, weigh, ponder, stand on Capitol Hill and survey the whole horizon in the immense field of your vision, and see if you can estimate its value, or reach in debate the height and dignity of this immortal theme ! Then, in this view, to change the tenor of our remarks, what shall we say of the traitor who dares to stand forth, and, with polluted and mur- derous hands, with the associates of Catiline at his back, to strike a fatal blow at this Union, and to pull down its pillars ? Erostratus fired the temple of Ephesus, and then disappeared by the light of the blaze. So will those. South and North, who are piling up fagots to set this Union in a glitter- ing flame, cease their madness, and be swept to the insignificance from whence they were taken, while the Union, on the proud pillars of the constitution, will be found standing as on a rock of adamant ! THE UNION OF THE STATES. 69 EXPLANATION OF MR. FILLMORE'S ALBANY SPEECH. MAYOR perry's ADDRESS. " Mr. Fillmore : Words cannot express the emotions of our hearts to-day, as we receive you back, the distinguished and honored son of this great state ; one who has worthily possessed the highest testimonial which a free people can offer to patriotism and exalted worth, and who is now, by the voluntary action of that people, again selected as their first choice to preside over the destinies of this great republic. The waters of the vast Atlantic could not wash you from our remembrance ; and while separated from us by time and by dis- tance, you have lived, sir, as you must ever live, in our warmest remembrance. During your ab- sence, it has been at once the pride and the pleasure of the American people to present your name again as their choice for the high and glorious position of President of these United States, knowing that you sought not ofBce for office's sake. Knowing that no mean ambition could tempt you from the path of duty, yet fearing that your disposition might incline you to retreat from the cares of public into 60 THE UNION OF THE STATES. the pleasures of private life, we have stood in anxious suspense, until we have received the wel- come announcement of your acceptance of that honor which it is our wish and design to confer upon you. And if anything could add to the pride and pleasure with which we now welcome you, it is a knowledge of the fact, ' that if there be those, either North or South, ivho desire an administration for the North as against the South, or for the South as a(jai?ist the North, they are not the men who should give their suffrages to you.' And, sir, we glory in the patriotic announcement, that you, as the chief magistrate of our united and beloved land, will '■ knoio only your country, your ichole country, and nothing but your country.' It is such a statement as this which will restore peace to our agitated land ; will allay the angry passions ex- cited by bad and designing men ; will roll back the dark and portentous cloud which threatens to arise, and will stay the further progress of fraternal discord and angry strife. Sir, we welcome you, as a man, with warm hearts, because we love you ; but, chiefly, and more than all, we welcome you, because of the proof we derive, both from your past and present course, that the same pure spirit THE UNION OF THE STATES. 61 of patriotism you have ever manifested will con- tinue to influence you in the future ; and that thus * our beloved country, our whole country, and nothing but our country,' may be preserved from the dangers which threaten it, and may be trans- mitted with rencAved glory, and unimpaired by any act of ours, to remotest posterity. " Mr. Fillmore : In the name of the citizens of Albany, and on their behalf, I am proud to bid you a most l^earty welcome." Mr. Fillmore, in response, said : *' We see a political party presenting candidates for the presidency and vice presidency, selected for the first time from the free states alone, with the avowed purpose of electing these candidates by suffrages of one part of the Union only, to rule over the whole United States. Can it be possible that those who are engaged in such a measure can have seriously reflected upon the consequences which must inevitably follow in case of success ? (Cheers.) Can they have the madness or the folly to believe that our Southern brethren would submit to be governed by such a chief magistrate? (Cheers.) Would he be required to follow the 6 62 THE UNION OF THE STATES. same rule prescribed by tliose Tvho elected him in making his appointments ? If a man living south of Mason and Dixon's line be not worthy to be president or vice president, would it be proper to select one from the same quarter as one of his cabinet counsel, or to represent the nation in a foreign country ? or, indeed, to collect the revenue or administer the laws of the United States ? If not, what new rule is the president to adopt in selecting men for ofiice, that the peopje themselves discard in selecting him ? These are serious but practical questions ; and in order to appreciate them fully, it is only necessary to turn the tables upon ourselves. Suppose that the South, having a majority of the electoral votes, should declare that they would only have slaveholders for presi- 'dent and vice president, and should elect such by their exclusive suffrages to rule over us at the North. Do you think we would submit to it ? No, not for a moment ! (Applause.) And do you believe that your Southern brethren are less sensi- tive on this subject than you are, or less zealous of their rights ? (Tremendous cheering.) If you do, let me tell you that you are mistaken. And, therefore, you must see that if this sectional party THE UNION OF THE STATES. 63 succeeds, it leads inevitably to the destruction of tliis beautiful fabric reared by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a priceless inheritance." Here we discover the tme spirit of su])mission to the popular will, and devotion to the entire Union, as it exists under our national constitution. He does not say that the election of the nominee of the republican party would not and ought not to be submitted to by the South. But that, if the principle was earned out, of excluding every South- ern man from participation in government by that party, and the cabinet offices, foreign appoint- ments, judges of the courts, and administrative offices of the government, ivere placed ivholly in the hands of the North, that the South ought no more to submit, than would he and his Northern friends submit, if the South, as the South, should attempt to control and act for the whole country. Americans, this speech was not made to the South, but was delivered at Albany, the head-quar- ters of sectionalism, and addressed to Northern men, warning them of probable danger, and depicting its consequences. Mr. Fillmore, true to the spirit of 64 THE UNION OF THE STATES. Washington's "Farewell Address," "indignantly frowned upon the first dawnimj of the attempt to alienate one portion of our country from the rest ; " while he declares to all the world that he himself will stand to the Union ^ no matter ivhich of the presidential candidates shall he elected hy the free suffrages of the American people. In fine, this appeal to the wisdom and patriotism of the people to cling to the Union of the thirty-one States, and not to suffer a single star to be wrested from the national constellation, was a timely warning to the country. And Mr. Fillmore plainly told his countrymen that it was only under one Union, one Constitution, and one destiny, that we could dwell together as brethren, and hope for or expect the blessing of Heaven. .^^<^£>^^^ THE PACIFIC EAILEOAD. CHAPTER I. The invention of printing, in 1436, prepared the way for the discovery of America in the same age, and made it a necessity. AVhy ? Because it civ- ilized and enlightened men ; and when this was done they wanted more room ; their commerce wanted more field ; their kingdoms wanted more latitude ; their navigation more scope ; in fine, every faculty of man expanded, and with a double energy the great work of revolution had begun. To obtain control over the commerce of the East has been the prize for which the ambition of na- tions had contended for ages ; and to find an easier and more direct route to India was the cause which moved Columbus to set out on the discovery of a western continent. The commerce of the East 66 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. controlled the Avorld. Its riches, transported over deserts by the Arab, furnished London, Lisbon, Amsterdam, &c., with their opulence and grandeur. When the Turks held power on the Bosphorus, this wealth went to Europe and Asia through the Black Sea. When the Venetians wrested that power from the Turks, the Mediterranean became the channel of this Eastern commerce. The attractions of the gold mines of Peru and Mexico, the wars of the Dutch, French, and Danes, did not divert public desire for a direct route from Europe to Asia, until England conquered and established her empire in India over one hundred and fifty millions of people. The French explorers sought this line in vain ; and Lewis and Clark, under President Jefferson, of our own country, met wdth no better success. At last, however, the difficulty is solved ! A railroad through this continent is the power which is to control the commerce of the world ; and the United States alone affords such a route. The Pacific Ocean is then to be the centre of com- merce for the world, and our country thus becomes the centre of civilization. The moment this road is built, Asia, with its five hundred millions; Europe, with its two hun- THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 67 dred and fifty millions; Africa, and all the islands of the ocean on either side, will seek this transit for their commerce. To go to India now, from the United States, is an undertaking which involves the risk of health and life, a voyage of five months, and of twice crossing the equator. With the railroad, twenty days would be the maximum time for penetrating the heart of India from the city of New York. There, we then shall ex- change our products and spend our surplus in the riches of the East. The trade of the East with Europe now is an- nually near four hundred millions, requiring three thousand vessels. With our railroad, the cost and time would be so reduced that it is fair to believe this commerce would be increased to seven or eight hundred millions. American vessels and American seamen will then go into the ports of Japan, now opened to us, and return freighted with the products of China and India. With Asia on one side and Europe on the other, and our steam and sailing vessels at command, there can never be any competition while the na- tion endures. The energy of the Anglo-Saxon has akeady 68 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. demonstrated a power which challenges the admi- ration of mankind. It has been by the Anglo- American that the oceanic currents have been defined, and the Gulf-Stream pointed out to navi- gators all over the world. It was by the Anglo- American that the Dead Sea was explored. The Anglo-American opened by treaty the ports of Japan, after being so long closed to all but the Dutch and Chinese. Americans have proved the existence of an open Polar Sea, and braved the perils of the Arctic Ocean for Sir John Franklin. What have they done within their own borders ? They have taken the Mississippi valley, a wilder- ness thirty-five years ago, and settled it with up- wards of twelve millions of souls. Twenty years ago, where not seven thousand people dwelt, north and north-west of Chicago, they have put upwards of a million. The queen city of the AVest, Cin- cinnati, which contains one hundred and sixty thou- sand people, only dug its cellars a few years ago. In 1820, the first line of packet-ships sailed from the United States to Liverpool, and prudent men predicted them a failure. In 1835, the learned Dr. Lardner declared the navigation of the ocean by steam to to be impracticable. Three THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 69 years after which, the Great Western and Sirius steamers came into the port of New York. The first proposal for a railroad from Boston to Hudson was made thirty years ago, and pronounced an absurdity. Now we have, at least, twenty thou- sand miles of railway constructed in the United States, involving a capital of more than five hun- dred millions of dollars. In 1808, the general government refused assistance to the Hudson and Erie Canal, after New York had appropriated six hundred dollars for a survey. Mr. Jefferson, then president, said, it "might be feasible one hundred years to come " ! The first American who is known to have con- ceived the idea of railroads by steam was Oliver Evans, of Pennsylvania, who made known his plan in 1781 and 1789, after the adoption of the con- stitution. Joel Barlow, in his " Visions of Columbus," in 1787, predicted the Erie Canal in New York, thirty years before it was begun, under De Witt Clinton, in 1817. At that time, political parties took ground against it ; but the energies of Gov. Clinton prosecuted it to success. In ten years it had paid the cost of completion, while its present 7 70 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. annual receipts are half its original cost. Towns and villages immediately rose up by the Wabash and Erie Canal in like manner, and as railroads got on the line the banks of every navigable stream were covered by a population devoted to commer- cial enterprise. The inhabitants of Portland, Maine, have em- barked in the enterprise of building a railroad from there to Nova Scotia, wliich is now completed, and reduces the voyage of Europe to America two thousand miles. It is three thousand from New York to Liverpool. This effort found favor with European as w^ell as American capitalists, and will tend rapidly to commercial prosperity When we consider that England, to save a dis- tance of only twelve miles between London and Dublin, built a bridge across the Straits of Menai at a cost of twelve millions of money, we can better undei'stand the economy of expending money to shorten our route eleven thousand miles to Europe. Everything, therefore, demands, on the same principle, that the Pacific Railroad should be made to shorten and cheapen the transit route for the commerce of Europe and Asia, which we shall THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 71 certainly command. Consider, Americans, how in a few }'ears we have spread from a fragment to a continent ! We have only one sixth less of terri- tory than the fifty-nine states of Europe put together. We are ten times larger than Great Britain and France. We are one and a half times larger than Russia in Europe. And, when the Atlantic and Pacific states shall be united by the railroad, it is impossible to realize how vast and how grand the results will be to us. In a philanthropic view, it is incomparaJDle with any war, or revolution, or discovery, save that of our beloved country, and the national freedom se- cured by our Republican institutions. The railroad will at once become the strongest fortification for the country, and moving batteries of men would be its defence in time of war. The passive intellects of the East will soon feel the attrition of Ameri- can energy and enterprise ; the population that flows in from the Old World will thus be Ameri- canized ; and Protestant education, wliich is as the brain to the body of our institutions, will Iniild up the American systems of free schools, which are the essential element of our liberties. Liberty has expanded our resources on the 72 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. Atlantic, and will, in the same vray, advance them on the Pacific, until the islands of the ocean, and the shores of Asia, shall feel the benign influence of American commerce and American laws. The West, then, demands the Pacific Railroad, to add to the prosperity of the country, to open new outlets for the distribution of commerce, and new sources for our national wealth and enterprise. Americans, it is the navigable rivers on the Atlantic which have populated your states. This made it easy to receive and send off the products of the land, and sent settlers first upon the Avater-courses. As these became populous, the settlers on them drove back into the interior the succeeding emigrants. The valley of the INIississippi was thus peopled. So the borders of the Hudson, Connecticut, and Penobscot Rivers, and Narragansett Bay. At the beginning there were no interior communications to protect the settlements on the rivers, and hence they were not populated so rapidly as the Mississippi valley. Steamers were coeval with that settlement, and this has caused its rapid increase of population. During the early peopling of the country, and before the introduction of steam navigation, pack- horses were used to carry goods; but the danger and THE PACIFIC RMLROAD. to expense rendered this mode of trade exceedingly limited. The usual time, then, was six months to make a journey from New Orleans to St. Louis by water, which is now performed in eight or twelve days. It was the steamboat, and that alone, which opened the commerce of the Mississippi valley. Corn, Avheat, iron, hemp, coal, would all have been comparatively useless without this mode of trans- portation. You see now, Americans, how and why the valleys and rivers of the Mississippi were penetrated. On the coast of the Pacific the case is altogether different. The states and territories we own there never can be settled as the Atlantic states have been. ^YhJl Because neither steamers nor sail-boats can penetrate them. A land route is the only way this ever can- be accomplished. But will an ordi- nary road do it? No, it could never be made to pay expenses of transportation. People would therefore refuse to dwell there, while they could seek the water-courses of the Atlantic and Pacific for settlement. The cause why individual enter- prise entered into our favorite valleys, and occupied them, and grew wealthy,was owing to their access to 7* 74 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. the sea, and other navigable waters, which pene- trated the interior country. Now, what has been done for the Atlantic states by steamboats must be done for the Pacific states by raih'oad. And let us be assured of one thing, that, with a railroad across the continent, the value of the whole country would be increased incalculably beyond what all our rivers have done, or possibly can do. No other inducement ever will carry set- tlers to the interior countries of the Pacific states. But, with a raikoad, they would soon convert that whole country to a flower-garden. The entire year, at all seasons, would be open to the markets. The energy and enterprise of the settlers would increase with the means of transit at hand. The ice in the Atlantic states, in the cold season, has always been a bar to industry ; but this would no longer inter- fere with progress. The Pacific Railroad will, of necessity, do all the business of the waters in those territories ; the Hudson, the Ohio, and Mississippi, would pour their commerce into that railroad passage. Thus this thoroughfare will extend our commerce and spread our population on the Pacific, as the steamboat THE PACIFIC RAILRO-ID. 75 navigation has spread the plains of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Look at California and Oregon, how witliin three years and a half they have gathered a population of at least a half a million ! What has done this ? The gold mines alone. If, then, with a land journey of three or four months, and a costly sea voyage of thirty or forty days, population has thus accumu- lated, what may be expected when the railroad shall have reduced the distance from San Francisco to Washington city to seven days, and the telegraph has brought us into communication in one single day ? For such will actually be the case. CHAPTER II. Americans, what has been the consequence of legiskting for the states of the Pacific abeacly, which cannot be reached under a six weeks' travel ? Let the Indian massacres, and those of Panama, the dangers and sufferings of immigrants, the black catalogue of crime which has made almost a Sodom of California, the utter perversion of the rights of suffrage by the ballot-box, answer. The disorders which have been created there, the villanous prac- tices of stuffing the ballot-box, the elevation of the scum of society and traitors to ofiice, — all these, and other shocking spectacles, which, as a necessity, caused the Vigilance Committee to be appointed by the people for their own protection and safety against these ruffians and nuirderers, are greatly owing to their isolated condition. For these causes, a separate republic on the Pacific must ever suffer the most serious dangers, and especially if there should be cause for for- eign invasion. Nothing will remedy these evils in THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. i i due season but the establishment of a raih'oad to the Pacific. This would at once rectify all the present difficulties, and regenerate the condition of the people. The idea of a Southern repuljlic may at first seem absurd. But would the united interest of Lower California, the western coast of Mexico, a part of the British possessions opposite Vancouver's and Charlotte's Island, and removed from the evils of a French population, be of no account, joined to California ? Would not the commerce and the gold, and its free soil, interfere with the harmony of the Southern States of this Union ? Most un- doubtedly. Why not, then, settle the question, not for a time, but forever, by putting a railway, that shall bind with a cord of iron the states of the Pacific and Atlantic ? Independent of the trade of the United States and Canada, this road would be the great forwarder of the staples of China and the East Indies. The reason is, that it would be the shortest, quickest, and least expensive route. The passage by this land route can be effected from three to five miles per hour quicker than by any sea or wator route that could possibly be devised. 78 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. No one can compute the extent of trade from ? railroad across the continent, connecting the Colum- bia and San Francisco Rivers with New York, China, Japan, Oregon, Australia, the Sandwich Islands, California, the seaports of Europe, United States, and Canada. Americans, these would all commercially centre on this road. The distance from New York to California is thirty-two hundred miles. Allowing the usual rates of railroad travel, with time to eat and to rest on the journey, it Avill require seven days. If in an emergency, and the usual delays were abandoned, the travel could be made with ease in four and a half days, at thirty miles an hour ! Until gold settled California, the merchants of our country had but a limited knowledge of the trade on the western coast of the Pacific, to China, Japan, and India. Consequently, it was the local traffic of California, Oregon, and Australia, that opened to Adew the fact that the commercial capa- bilities of the Pacific are really greater than the Atlantic. The tea trade and sperm whale are confined to the Pacific ; while the great staples, sugar, tobacco, wheat, and corn, grow as well on the Pacific as on the Atlantic. THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 79 The Sandwich, Society, New Hebrides, Friendly, New Britain, Philippine, and Ladrone Islands, are all accessible, by steamboats, from California ; and all their products, therefore, would be turned to use, if the railroad were there. China will unlock her doors as never before when this temptation to extend her commerce is presented. Australia will reap the benefit ; while California, the great out- post of the Pacific, will not pause in the opportu- nity to show the world, and especially this beloved people, what industry will accomplish, in connection with gold, in which resource she is now only second to Great Britain. How has England obtained ascendency over the commerce of the world ? By making it free. England, Holland, and the United States, which compose three fourths of the foreign commerce, acknowledge entire freedom in every commercial pursuit ; and, now that we have entered the Pacific by right and title, with our steamships and our experience, what shall prevent us from acquiring a commercial ascendency over England, Holland, and the world? We ask you, Americans, if anything shall do it ? You say. No. Then get about your railroad, and you may say this in earnest. 80 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. By the improvement in steam and ship-building, our mariners perform the same voyage to-day in half the time they did fifty years ago. We have already made railroads on the two continents, and we are altogether a changed people since 1800. For twenty-five years after that, our commerce had no facility from steamboats or railways ; and it has been but twenty years since we began to realize their full value. All the sources of commerce then were those tributarv to the seaboard, while the wealth of the country was kept, from want of com- munication, beyond their reach. We had not then, either, the men of method and mind equal to the emergencies of trade, as we have now. We had not a monied capital then, as now, opened to all. When we compare ourselves with the past, and see what new facilities of greatness the nation has found out, we should be grateful, elated with our destiny, and ready for action. And if, with our small means, we ha^-e attained such development on our Atlantic borders, what, with our ships, our steamboats, our capital, our experience, and our railroad, are we not destined to accomplish on the Pacific shores ? The railroad will open new strength, and new channels of THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 81 thought, as well as action. It will make our coun- try the agent and carrier of the commerce of the world ; and it becomes all classes of our country — all who regard its prosperity, all who regard the benefit to their children and their children's chil- dren — to rally to the railroad as the great highway of our national prosperity and greatness. While men are quibbUng and blundering about the best route, Nicaragua might make a canal or railroad, and establish trading settlements, Avhich would materially interfere with our prospects. EA'ery day gives greater importance to the political, commercial, geographical, moral, and social reasons which show that we are risking much, losing much, by the delay. The Atlantic was always more formidable to ex- plorers than the Pacific ; conscfpiently the East, in the early ages, was more rapidly populated than the West. The oceans, we must remember, were as much ours by right, before we had a sail or liarbor on our coast, as now. The Pacific temtory was acquired by us through the Mexican war. It was purchased then by the sweat and blood of American men. It has been the means of increasing our com- mercial wealth and greatness. To occupy and enjoy 82 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. this, the raih'oad has been projected by the wisdom of men who, from the beginning, have seen that this territory, obtained at so dear a cost to the United States, must either be made subservient to the interests of the whole country, or be wrested from us for a new republic. It cost just twenty thousand dollars to discover America ; and for this small sum the Queen of Spain had to pledge her jewels, so great were the financial embarrassments of the government from the Moorish wars. It is true, Columbus never saw the United States in its present limits ; but he was at Cuba, five degrees from Florida. Henry of England took six years to determine the proposal which Columbus made him for aid in this same discovery. How incapable was the human mind at that period to comprehend the advantage of spending twenty thousand dollars, to see if there was any such place at all as this New World of ours ! Just as incredu- lous are many to the prospective results of the Pacific Railroad. Yes, with all the light and knowl- edge, and the mathematical demonstrations of its effects upon our national destiny, the timid and circumscribed intellect is as hard to convince as the child is that there is not a man in the moon. THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 83 When America was discovered, England had not a greater population than we had when we declared independence. Printing had been but twenty-one years in use ; the English language had not been spoken a century ; there were but four merchant ships belonging to London, and the people were op- posed to trade. Two centuries elapsed, after that, before England had dug a canal. Manufactures were almost unknown ; and it was upwards of a century after the discovery of America before Eng- land built her first stage-coach. And now, with a railroad access to the entire con- tinent, the blessing of our unequalled government and wise and wholesome laws will make us felt and propitiated by the entire world. What makes Eng- land the first commercial power in the world, but the control she has over the markets of Asia and the continent of Europe ? The possession of California has now added to tlie national wealth of America, by opening to us the same commerce of Asia. Central as the United States are between the two continents of Europe and Asin, and producing the two great staples of tobacco and cotton, wc need but a highway of steam from the Atlantic to tlie Pacific, and mail steamers from California to China, to over- 84 THE PACinC RAILROAD. step England, and claim supremacy in commerce to her. Why has England, thas far, made us depend- ent upon her for commercial news ? Because she has an overland route, ^vhich secures her mail facili- ties. The mails are taken from London to Canton, and vice versa, in sixty-five days ; to us, in seventy- seven days. If we construct a railroad, now, to the Pacific, and connect California with China by mail steamers, the whole distance from Xew York to China will be accomplished in the incredibly short time of twenty-four days. England then would be- come dependent upon the United States, not only for mail facilities, but for the products of Asia, which would be made available through us. England, by her Cape of Good Hope and overland routes, has obtained a monopoly over the East India trade and that of China. The government of the East Indies forces opium to be introduced, which is the important drug for the Chinese markets. The sale of opium amounts to thirty millions annually. Besides, the cotton and other fabrics which England sends to China bring back to Great Britain annu- ally twenty millions of dollars. Nothing but the American trade has saved China from being ex- hausted in money. We deal with China to about THE PACIFIC B.iILEOAD. 85 half the amount of England ; for which >ve send gpecie, or hilLs drawn to our account, payal»le in London. Now, it needs but for us to establish more rapid communications, to enjoy all the advantages England now possesses. Our central position gives this natural facility. We have but to use the appli- ance of science and art which God has given us the Intelligence to appreciate, to take the commercial balance into our own hands. It Is now reduced to a moral certaintv that cotton cannot be grown to any extent in any soil yet found out but that of the United States. It Is, therefore, the first staple of our trade. Tobacco Is next in im- portance, as such. Its use Is now becoming general throughout Europe and in some parts of ^Vsia. It is only kept from China by En;rland, who forces opium up^jn her people, and makes the difficulty of obtaining Ujhacco from as. We alone might substi- tute tobacco for opium, and thus rescue a people perishing so rapidly from the use of that poisonous drug ; the Chinese greatly preferring tobaceo, but the EDgllsh, jealoiLs of our staple, take care to throw every obstacle in the way of itsinti Ion, well knowing that it would entirely suj^ersede the use of the deadly narcotic in which they are 60 8* 86 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. deeply interested. We miglit receive, in return for our tobacco and cotton, tlie amount in tea and silk, for which we now pay twenty-five millions annually. Look at the true state of the case. England has to buy of us the raw material, out of which she fabricates the basis of her foreign trade. She gets our wool and cotton, and makes muslins, cottons, calicoes, handkerchiefs, and cotton yarn, of our cot- ton, and broadcloth, cassimeres, blankets, camlets, of our wool. We also make the same articles. Both export to China ; yet we find, by a compari- son of one year, that ours reach scarcely one tiven- tieth part of England's, for the reason given, — that she commands the market by her mail facilities of communication. Take the trade in tea, and compare our commerce and England's with China, in the sixty years from the time we began to trade with China in that arti- cle, and look at it. The first voyage of commerce from the United States to China was in 1785 ; but the trade was not really opened until 1792. It has so increased that now our importation of tea amounts to sixteen millions of dollars annually. From the beginning of our trade with China, we have im- ported from that country to the value of upwards THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 87 of two hundred and fifty-eight millions of dollars, while our exports have amounted to only a little over eighty-six millions. Thus we have paid China in precious metals upwards of one hundred, and seventy-two millions of dollars ! From 1792, when our trade began with China, to 1827, silver to the amount of eighty-eight mil- lions and upwards had been shipped direct from the United States to China. In 1827, China, owing to the opium trade, had become indebted to England very largely, and American bills, payable in England, began to be used in lieu of coin ; and from 1834, these American bills on Chinese accounts amounted to about sixteen and a half millions, while the specie in that time sent from England was only between seven and eight millions ! So, since 1834, England has been steadily drain- ing our coin to the amount of seventy-five millions seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand seven hun- dred and ninety-seven dollars, and settling with China by bills of credit, for which we have to pay specie to her. CHAPTER III. Now, this drain of England upon us is prepos- terous. Our own products are sufficient to pay for all Ave get from China ; and it is our products which pay a premium to the labor of England, and cause a loss to our manufjicturers and mechanics. It is the increase of our products by the art and value of British labor which actually pays for nearly the wdiole of the teas and raw silk England imports from China. There are other advantages connected with the steamers to transpose the mart from China to the Pacific, meeting the railroad at that terminus. These steamers can be so constructed as to supersede the government force needed there, and save the treasury annually one million and a quarter of dollars. The extensive and unprotected coasts of California and Oregon render them liable to foreign aggression, and demand, in this point of view, the serious consideration of the people. Before the THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 89 acquisition of California we had two liiindred ves- sels employed in trade in the Pacific. Since then, there are, at least, six hundred and fifty American trading vessels. The amount of our property ex- posed there on the coast is nearly seventy millions. The whaling business alone is valued at thirty millions, with an employed force of eighteen thou- sand men in the North Pacific ; and our annual revenue is estimated at ten millions. Our acquisition on the Pacific at once inaugu- rated a new era in the industry, energy, and enter- prise, of the American people. It was their volun- tary labor which levelled mountains, felled forests, and swept the plains with a torrent of emigration, in the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the basin of our lakes. And when the facilities of moving whole bodies of men are given to the people by the railroad, and time and space at once annihilated, the pulpit, the press, and institutions for education, will multiply, and thus expand and strengthen the bonds of our liberties. r The geographical, physical, and moral power of the United States constitute the ])asis of their greatness. Great Britain has thirty-four thousand square miles ; Austria, Hungary, and Italy, three 90 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. hundred thousand ; France, less than two hundred thousand ; we, Americans, over three and a half millions ! Geographically, Russia compares as one to one hundred and twenty ; Austria, as one to nine ; France, as one to five and a half ; United States, as one to ninety-six ! While we have there- fore a field to display our enterprise, all we want is avenues to exert it in its full vigor. This railway will save ten or twelve days over the Panama route. It will ti'ansfer the capital of Europe to us, which is now used in monopolizing the trade of Asia. It will give to Americans the key of the West, and fix forever the channel of Asiatic commerce (which for centuries has been oscillating) upon the best, safest, and quickest route of transit through the heart of this nation. Safety, security, protection, advancement, all require the construction of this Pacific Railroad. The gold of California has now become the essential stimu- lant to all the industrial pursuits of the country. The destruction of the monthly shipment to New York Avould send a shiver through all the commerce, finance, and industry, of this country, that would be incredibly severe, in a single week. Now, consider how easy foreign cruisers and THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 91 privateers could c-ut us off from this receipt of the essential clement of our national vitality ! The gold now comes to us over foreign seas, through foreign territory, and over a circuit of six thousand miles. In the event of war, whole fleets would interpose to take from us this arm of our strength. Ships, and troops, and missions, are now necessary to protect our national interest, and protect our commerce on the Pacific ; the railway would then protect us, and save all our commerce and territory from foreign aggression. Throughout the world's history, nations have been elevated or depressed as they advanced or lost commerce ; and the changes for three thou- sand years in Asiatic commerce have settled the question, that the ocean is the obstacle to foreign trade. Land now has been found the faciUty, and the steam-car the only sure means to keep up dis- tant communications. The United States have consequently the advantage over Europe. We have half the road to India on our own land, the rest on a peaceable sea which washes our shores, and with an impenetrable bar to Europe of the whole diameter of the earth. This railroad, then, will exalt us to be mistress 92 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. of the commerce of the wide world. It will be at the same time the impregnable fortification to save us from the assault of vast armies, or from fierce and bloody battles within our own borders. Who would stop to count the cost of the mere construc- tion, when every interest dear to the hope of citizen and Christian is staked upon the result ? Aside from the commercial and political necessity, the economy and convenience of the nation, the interests of all the people, demand this road now. Americans, take the whole history of the roads in this country in the past twenty-five years, and you will find every dollar invested in them has been worth ten to you. The vast increase of the West in population and lands is only to be ascribed to its roads. In five years Illinois has doubled her population, and in- creased her lands five-fold. In these five years ten or twelve hundred miles of railway have been built. In a moral and educational view, this road must have an immense value. The tendency of popula- tion is all west ; the field for the growth and prosperity of the people is there. In a few years it will decide all ournational measures in Congress; Tin-: PACIFIC RAILROAD. 93 it will control our national rcvonnos ; and, as the agent for transportation of newspapers, cheap books, and all those methods which tend to enlighten and strengthen the Protestant power of our country, the value of the road cannot be computed. The loss to the country by omitting to build this road has been more already than would have supported the entire annual expenses of the government. The American people now almost unanimously demand this railroad as the great necessity of our times, and they require it to- be 1)uilt in whatever latitude the great mass of the population mostly iiTLOve ; — on whatever line is shortest, most expedi- tious in travel, and most convenient to the thirty millions of people who inhabit our thirty-one states and territories. Three routes out of the eight surveyed at gov- ernment expense have been pronounced feasible by the Secretary of War in his report to Congress. These arc the northern, the central, and the south- ern lines. By all of them the harbor of San Fran- cisco is acknowledged to be the essential terminus of the road on the west, as it is now the centre of all our commerce on the Pacific coast. The ques- tion, then, is, what point on the east as a terminus 9 94 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. will correspond with San Francisco, as the centre of the greatest amount of population and commer- cial enterprise on the west? The distance on the southern line from San Fran- cisco to New York is three thousand six hundred and forty-seven miles ; on the northern line, includ- ing distance yet unsurveyed, three thousand six hundred and thirty-four ; on the central Hue, three thousand two hundred and forty miles. This would give a distance of four hundred miles shorter to the central route. Texas has granted to any company that constructs the railroad on the southern route ten thousand two hundred and forty acres of land for every mile of road built. Now, these lands of Texas are the only unimproved lands on this continent where cotton can be cultivated. Cotton is the staple of our commerce ; the rest of the world is depending on us for its growth, and we do not own now a single acre of government land favorable to its production. In this point of view, the grants of land Texas offers become incalculably valuable to our whole country. The charge for transporting goods across the Panama Raih'oad is a tenth less than before its con- struction. Four or five hours now serve to carry THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 95 passengers and freight across the isthmus, Avhich formerly occupied three days of dangerous travel. Freight is now reduced to one hundred and twenty- five dollars the ton. But a railroad from the coast of Texas would not only save time, but reduce the tonnage to one half the amount it now costs from New York to California. The saving of freight, the saving of time, would at once induce every pru- dent and sagacious merchant to adopt the railroad across the continent, and thus gain thirty or forty days. The central route starts from New York to the Pacific, and has already been completed to Iowa City. From New York city it followes the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the great lakes, from Buffalo to Chicago, to Rock Island. The easy passage for a bridge which is placed across the JMississippi at Rock Island seems to have been marked out by Providence as the means to facilitate commerce across the river, and renders the route to San Francisco the most direct and advantageous in the judgment of many eminent men. Next year the route will have reached Council Bluff, ^ill this by indivi(kial enterprise, without government aid ; and which 96 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. will make the next census count in Iowa over a million of inhabitants. All that this route needs from the goYcrnment to complete the road to San Francisco from Iowa City or Council Blufif is a grant of land, taking nothing from the treasury, but augmenting its revenues by bringing the lands into the market. This route is in the centre of about one half of the population of the whole country ; and it is fair to presume, from what has been achieved by the industry and enter- prise of the West, that the road will be built on this route, whether favored by the general govern- ment or not. It was the Erie Canal of New York that made the first great revolution in the trade of the coun- try, and exalted that state in wealth and grandeur. Ohio succeeded Avith her canals between the lakes and the valley, and western trade at once went into New York. The canals of Maryland and Pennsylvania had no water communications from the Atlantic to the Ohio, and failed for that reason ; while New York had a monopoly for thirty years, or until the rail- road penetrated the entire AVest to the banks of the Mississippi. Steam conquers all other motors. The THE TACIFIC RAILROAD. 97 incredible revenues from the central road of Pennsyl- vania, and the Baltimore and Ohio road, for the present year, show this result. It is steam which has given England her power over the continent, by facilitating the transportation of her coal, iron, salt, and other l)ulky articles. Why do the inhabitants of cities and towns enjoy greater advantages than those who are settled over a sparse country ? Because there is an ampler field for purchase, a greater variety of employments for industry to suit the ability and capacity of the laborer, and greater f[uickness in finishing work. Where population is collected the competition is greater. Now, the Pacific Railroad will do for the people of our vast country just what the city or town now does. It will concenti'atc numbers from small and distant places in an incredibly short time. This will at once lead to prosperity. Greece arose to commercial greatness in this way. Towns in Hol- land, Zealand, and Flanders, for centuries prospered by these means. Switzerland thus holds intercourse by the Rhine with Holland. While those countries without roads, or canals, or other water facilities, have never risen intellectually or commercially. 9* 98 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. We have already witnessed the ejDfect of the rail- road upon our vast West, Avhich has conduced to individual comfort and prosperity wherever it has penetrated. There is yet another advantage to be attained by the road across the continent, not to be overlooked by Americans, and that is, its effect upon the diffusion of Protestant principles over our land. CHAPTER IV. The endless holidays of the Catholic church have always checked industry ; and it is a fact to be remembered, that, although the nominal Roman Catholics (but greater proportion infidels) are more numerous than Protestants in Europe, a much larger share of Europe's exports comes from the skill and ingenuity of Protestants than Catholics. In Ireland, linen- weaving, the only great branch of manufacture, is almost wholly in the hands of Protestants. In the vast margin of the West yet to be filled, it becomes a question of the first moment to the nation that it be occupied by Prot- estants, whose education tends to strengthen our liberties, while that of Romanism is designed to subvert them. The West will soon hold the bal- ance in our national exchequer, and elect our chief ruler ; and it is impossible to be too vigilant in promoting and spreading Protestant education over all that portion of our people. The railroad, more 100 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. than soil, more than mines, will tend to this result, by bringing all sections of the Union together, and advancing knowledge to the remotest limits. The revenue of our country arises chiefly by consumption ; and the wealth and power of our whole country would be increased and secured by the increase of a Protestant American population. The individual income of such a people would also be increased. Why ? Because the reward of labor in all the manufacturing and mechanic arts would induce the individual to adopt a uniform pursuit ; while the father of a family would not be compelled, as now, often to sacrifice education and personal comfort for the mere sake of living. Thus, Americans, as the commerce of the country expanded, so would all the arts and pursuits of industry expand, as it grew great and powerful. The Pacific Railroad must increase the medium which circulates and regulates commerce ; it must enlighten and expand the energies of men ; it must spread the influence of American institu- tions over mankind, and dissipate that very dark- ness, under which nun liave been deluded, and their means squandered, to grow rich without labor, or wise without learning. Foreign force and do THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 101 mestic treachery have struck at the foundation of our political edifice. We need at once to balance the public mind by free Protestant culture, so that our people shall reason before they act. Before the discovery of the mines of California and Australia, the coin came from Mexico and South America. Since the discovery of these, a new era has been inaugurated in our commerce with the world. In 1849 and '50, the first flood of gold came into the country ; and in the three following years, '51, '52, and '53, the enormous sum of one hundred and sixty-six millions had been added to the circulation, including about thirty millions in the hands of individuals. This caused a change in the condition of the people, who, see- ing the steady increase in three years, predicted a rise which would, at last, amount to one hundred millions annually. Then everything in specula- tion, expense, and importation, increased. Banks sprang up, and paper was used as gold ; wages and work increased ; railroad bonds were issued by the million ; life and fire insurance companies multiplied. But on what was all this based? Was it upon the gold and silver in the bank vaults of the country ? Not at all ; but upon the fiction 102 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. whicii men without reasoning adopted, and the delusion under which they acted. By the returns of the first six years subsequent to the discovery of gold in California, two hundred millions of that metal had been added to the cir- culation of the world. Australia, though not so long known, brought fifty millions more ; making two hundred and fifty millions more money in use than before the discovery of these mines. By the ofiicial banking returns of the United States and Europe for that period, we find that there was no more money on hand then than before the discovery. Where, then, did this metallic cur- rency go ? Why, it went directly into the hands of the people. It, therefore, was not the instru- ment of the credit structure, which is the proper and only means for making paper the representa- tive of gold and silver ; so that, while this in- crease of gold gave fancied security to the credit it induced, it had not really anything to do with it. The mining districts, including all the valuable metals found on the Pacific, will, in themselves, make the railroad eminently desirable for the trans- portation of these metals. Consider, Americans, that, after eight years of constant mining, nuilfour THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 10 o hundred millions of dollars obtained^ they are still as luxurious as ever. Gold is seen embedded in every stream, mountain, and vale. The copper mines of Lake Superior and Eastern Tennessee have not made even the demand for this metal less profitable. Now, that obtained from the new copper mines of Ajo is wagoned all the way to San Diego, and thence to San Francisco ; and still, with all that cost, a large profit is left to the transporter. The richest silver mines ever dis- covered are in Sonora, in Mexico, which now belong to us. Silver, perfectly pure, has been clipped by the sword of an officer, as a specimen. The Indians have deterred explorers, hitherto, from penetrating these mines ; but, now that they have become American property, we shall find American enterprise entering them. Americans, you perceive these rich mines of gold, iron, silver, and copper, will at once be made accessible by the railroad. Thus it will add to the capital of our country vastly more than it can possibly cost. This Pacific railway will 1)e the harbinger of the future glory and aggrandize- ment of American institutions. In twenty days we shall be in the most populous cities of Europe 104 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. and Asia. We have already consummated treaties which secure commerce and trade to Americans, and protect their lives, property, and religious liberty, in Siam and Japan, so long closed against the trade of the world ; and then we will com- mand the accumulated wealth of seven hundred millions of people, and which has enriched every nation that has had any kind of control over it. England, to maintain her ascendency over this trade, has already three over-land mail routes, and is now engaged in devising three more, to carry this Eastern commerce to the British empire. But a railroad, to do this for England, would have to extend six thousand five hundred miles, and would take fourteen years to huild it. Now, by the com- promise of 1850, which Millard Fillmore signed, as President of the United States, we secured the ten leagues of country on the Pacific coast, which included California, and planted our flag there. And, by this means, — made our blessing, under God, — we can make our national road, which Avill convey us across the continent to the Bay of San Francisco in seven days ; and ten or twelve days from there, by steam, will land Americans in the populous countries of Eastern and Western Asia THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 105 and Western Europe. It will give them a hold on the -wealth of China, which has been increasing for six thousand years, and bring them in contact with her seven hundi'ed millions of inhabitants in twenty days from the day they leave New York. This railroad, then, will put sectional agitation among our people at rest, and set them about these new channels of trade and commerce. We have now control of the cotton market of the world, and the certain prospect of having the same power over wool. Iron, also, in every state but one, is abun- dant enough to supply the whole American conti- nent ; and, in a few years, we shall likewise con- trol the market of this great item in trade. Gold, too, will tluii 1)0 more rapidly diiUiscd over the civilized world, and this will facilitate the activity of our commerce. A areater amount of labor will then be made available, to work the mines of Cali- fornia and Australia, than ever before. The effect of the discovery of the precious metals in California has been to stimulate the latent energies of men to an extent never ^vit- nessed before, and has been the means of forcing the necessity of a railway upon the common sense of the American people. The poor man will be 10 106 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. more benefited than the rich by this road ; and the labor employed in the development of our new territory, and the exploration of its mines, will prevent any superabundance of laborers in the most thickly-settled parts of the country, and stop the poor man from working for the pittance he now does. The manufacturer, also, by the increased free- dom to commerce which the constant and rapid transportation of gold from California and Austra- lia will then command, will find himself better able to cope with the manufacturers of Europe. According to Professor Blake, the great gold field in California, notwithstanding the large in- crease to the circulation of the precious metals, has not yet been fully explored. There is a field seven hundred miles in length, and about fifty in breadth, containing thirty-five thousand square miles, eleven thousand of which arc rich in gold, sometimes extending to the depth of six feet in the sands of the coast. This is repeatedly washed out of the black sand by the tides. The number of square miles worked, but imperfectly, we are assured by Dr. Trask, in his work on geology, never exceeds four hundred at a time ; and fewer persons were THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 107 engaged in mining in 1854 than in 1852, although the product of gold was in '52 forty-five millions of dollars, and in '54 sixty-one millions. This was owing to the increased advantages of working the mines by proper machinery. Now, by the highest authorities we find that the amount of gold in the whole world, in 1848, was two billions nine hundred millions of dollars, or six hundred millions of pounds ; Avhile, by the increase from the mines of California and Australia since that time, at least four billions of dollars have been added to that amount, which would make now, in the whole world, six billions nine hundred millions of dollars of gold, beside what is worked into jewelry and plate. And, Americans, does it not cause a thrill of triumph in your hearts to know that, of this increase to the precious metals, your own State of California has contributed three hundred and thirteen millions two hundred and eighty-five thou- sand five hundred and two dollars and seventy- seven cents ; and other parts of America, seventeen million seven hundred and sixty-six thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars and fifty-seven cents ? CHAPTER V. M. Tegoborski, Counsel of the Empire of Russia, in writing of the influence of the gokl fields of California and Australia, estimates that by them the amount of gold and silver in use in Europe will be doubled in thirteen years, and throughout the whole world in twenty-four years. Beside, what is the effect of the discovery of the mines of California in Europe ? Why, it has raised real estate four per cent, per annum, and advanced all kinds of produce in like manner. It has also advanced the wages of labor in like ratio. How ? Because the poor working-man, before dependent on the employer for the mere sustenance of life, is now driven to another field of operation, and incited by the desire to accumulate, and thus changing often the state of things by making the rich man dependent on the laborer. So those who remained as well as those who went to California were benefited. If that was so THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 109 in Europe, let us turn to our own country, — we, the possessors of California. We see how our commerce is extended ; we see, day hy day, how eagerly the accumulations of gold and silver in our bank-vaults are taken and transported into other countries, to bring back their merchandise to us. ^Vhy ? Because its shipment to England, France, and Germany, equalizes the value of gold, and prevents the dangers to trade which result from keeping it under bars and bolts. The railroad to the Pacific has now become a necessity to the American people, that they may enjoy the free heritage God has given them, opening all the ave- nues to wealth and industry, and making their voice heard on the hills, in the valleys, the cities, and the plains, of the whole eartli. This, Ameri- cans, will be the great triumpli of the American States over commerce, mechanics, and manufac- tures, which nothing can impede beneath the stars. The railway and the canal will bo the true con- querors of the world. Around them will centre the industry and energy of the Anglo-Saxon race. There the Protestant emio-rant will seek his new home. They will become the majority of the 10* 110 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. population, and the consequent possessors of most of the property of the country. The telegraph will then become the electric medium of exchange, which, without a Adsible chain, will link the American Union to the world. " Lo, what hath God wrought ! " were the memo- rable words which passed over the wires of the first telegraph ever made in the United States, a few years since, between Baltimore and Washing- ton, a distance of but forty miles. Now, Ameri- cans, we not only find it in the full exercise of it$ magic power in all the states of this mighty Union, but actually preparing to bring us in speaking dis- tance of the other continent. You all know that the Island of St. John's, Newfoundland, is the most eastern point of North America, and Valencia is the most western harbor of the British Isles. The waters of the St. Law- rence have long since cut Newfoundland from the continent. Now a submarine telegraph has been laid, which brhigs Newfoundland and the main land again in contact ; and the distance from St. John's to New York, of one thousand seven hundred and eighty miles, can be reached by direct communi- cation. But still the ocean was to be crossed to THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. Ill reach Europe, and the question arose how this could best be done. Some proposed extending the line to Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands ; but to this there were insurmountable objections, and, after the investigation of scien- tific men, it was decided that the line must also start from Newfoundland to Europe, a distance of nineteen hundred miles, on account of the depth of the water, essential to the success of the enterprise. The plan devised, and about to be executed, is this : A line of wire three thousand miles long will be placed on two war-ships in mid-ocean, one belonging to the United States, the other to Eng- land, These will each take half the wire. The wire will be covered with gutta percha coatings, and will be made of the best conducting material, accompanied by a machine, invented for the express purpose, by Dr. Whitehouse, of England, in order to ascertain when the wire is ])roken or damaged, and the exact point of interruption. Thus, Americans, by your inventive genius, you are with one grapple about to join Europe to this country by a telegraph, which will start at New- foundland, and end at Valencia, in Ireland, with one thousand nine hundred miles of cable resting 112 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. in the Atlantic Ocean ! This is not an ideal sketch, but a living reality, that in 1857, next year, the British Isles and the United States, though divided by a stormy ocean of three thousand miles, will by science and machinery hold conversa- tional intercourse with each other ; and, at the same time, the distance by railway between Nova Scotia and Portland, JMaine, will have dimhiished our travelling distance from Europe eleven hundred miles ! These mighty works show the mutual benefit England and the United States are each to the other, while they continue as they are. "SVliile the energy of this great American people, too rapid for carrier pigeons, and even steam, and eager to extend and profit by every advantage in commerce, inven- tion, finance, science, and arts, and to move in the rapid march of civilization over the whole globe, has already forged the chain which is to bind us to the three ancient continents of the Eastern world. Well might Mr. Dallas, the American minister, declare that the great telegraph, now making, would afford Americans the opportunity soon to respond to the toast given to Americans in London THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 113 before the dinner ended. " When famine distressed other kimls, in the land of Egypt there was bread." So Avith our beloved country : from tlie diversity of its soil and climate, its power in raising subsistence will so increase as the humbler condition of society advances by intelligence, that it would be physi- cally impossible to arrest the march of the American people in commerce, wealth, or mental activity. Now we come to the great question, who is to make the road to the Pacific, — Congress, that is, the general government, or the people ? We say it cannot be built without the coopera- tion of the government, because there are fifteen hundred miles between Missouri and Cahfornia, over which Congress alone has power to legislate. The constitution, which gives Congress the right to regulate commerce, allows the general government to build the road to California from New York, for a mail route, if it so decided. Congress can give or sell the public lands, as it pleases. Congress can appropriate money, if it pleases, to build a road or roads through the landed estate of the government for mail transportation, or military purposes. We do not advocate the especial claims of either of the three routes surveyed. Each has its advantages ; 114 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. and all may be laterally connected, or ultimately and separately constructed. But, we say, had the present administration done its duty, and favored the building of the road to the Pacific three years ago, — instead of burning Greytown, making Ostend conferences to seize Cuba by " divine " right, and repealing the Missouri Compromise, which has brought upon us intestine war, — our country, instead of being divided, distracted, and agitated, would have been running a new race in dignity, and political and commercial greatness. The administration, on the contrary, early receded from this national measure. The leading presses, which sustained it, followed in elaborate articles against the road. Senators of the same political school declared the measure would be worse than the alien and sedition laws of John Adams. They saw no power in the constitution, while grant after grant, in the last seven years, has been made by Congress to the Southern and Western States. The people saw nothing to prevent it, and with more energy than ever before renewed that demand. When, therefore, the Democratic Convention met at Cincinnati, it was necessary to appease popular THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 115 indignation on the administration's course upon the Pacific Raih'oad ; and while there existed in the minds of the leaders of the party the same de- termination to persevere in their old policy, and prevent the building of a national road to the Pacific, they introduced a sham resolution in favor of that measure, which ruse not being fully under- stood, the resolution tvas three times voted down in the convention, and only passed finally after the members became initiated in the scheme to cheat the people, and understood its introduction Tvas simply to secure their votes. There is one fact about that proceeding which the American people should remember and con- sider in -this connection, and that is, that the Pennsylvania delegation, the friends and neighbors of Mr. Buchanan, to the last, gave their vote against the sham pretence to favor the railroad. And what is still further to be borne in mind is the fjict that the resolution pretending to favor the Pacific Railroad, which was intended to secure the votes of the North and West, was not introduced until after the platform containing a resolution op- posing internal improvements of all kinds had been passed, and after James Buchanan had been nomi- 116 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. nated on it. So we find that not a single demo- cratic paper at the South publishes that raih'oad resolution at all, as embodied in the platform. The American party is fully committed to the fortunes of the Pacific Railroad, in its advocacy of internal improA'ements to promote the common inter- est and welfare of all the states ; and, should it attain to power, it will as certainly secure cooperation from the executive of Millard Fillmore, as that water finds its level. And the people will imme- diately perceive how favorably his action will com- pare with the present administration, commanding, by its precious and beneficent results, the gratitude and favor of the whole country. They know very well that Mr. Buchanan would not sanction the meas- ure if elected to the presidency, as did the whole democratic party know it. But they know the pU- ancy of their candidate, even better than his friends and neighbors ; and that he would appear to be the warm advocate of the Pacific Railroad, or anything else, to secure the suffrages of enough of the Amer- ican people to elect him, with the aid of the foreign vote. And it is only done in other places, where it is necessary to aid the democrats in their pres- ent struggle for a continuance of power under Bu- THE PACIFIC RAILIIOAD. 117 chanan. So that Americans can decieb how much his enterprise has to expect in that quarter. Ill view of the absolute fact that the creed of the democratic party, as emhodicd in the platform of the Cincinnati Conyention, most explicitly opposes the railway to the Pacific, and that no sectional party can make this road, which needs the joint action of the whole thirty-one states, we can dis- cover no possible hope in the next four years for the continental intercourse and commerce, the con- venience and blessings which it will afford this whole people, but in the election of Millard Fill- more, Americans must remember that the only appro- priations for the improvements of our commercial channels, since the days of Gen. Jackson, 1837, have been made during the presidential term of Mr. Fillmore, with the exception of a trifling amount expended under Mr. Tyler. This being so, it becomes now of infinite moment, when this road is needed to preserve the integrity of the Union, as well as to save our Pacific states from a separation from the Atlantic states, that wc should have immediate legislative and executive action on the subject. California was brought into this 11 118 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. Union by the compromise of 1850, and by the tried statesman, Millard Fillmore, who, in his first mes sage to Congress after he became President of the United States, expressed his executive recommend- ation in this strong and explicit language : " The unprecedented growth of our territories on the Pacific in wealth and population, and the consequent increase of their social and commercial relations with the Atlantic states, seems to render it the duty of the government to use all its con- stitutional POWER to improve the means of inter- course with them. The importance of opening a line of communication, the best and most expedi- tious of which the nature of the country will admit, between the valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific, was brought to your notice by my prede- cessor, in his annual message ; and as the reasons which he presented in favor of the measure still exist in full force, I beg leave to call your atten- tion to them, and to repeat the recommendations then made by him." • -^^■a.vedb,'-^ ^/3. ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. CHAPTER I. A RECOGNITION of the Protestant religion as the support of this government has been made by all who have administered it in the tnie spirit of repub- lican freedom. Wasliington, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, and Harrison, offered supplications to God "to make our country continue the object of his divine care and gracious benediction." So do the principles of the American party date their origin with Luther, and were witnessed in the flames which made martjTs of Cranmer and Latimer. These principles came to our shores with the Prot- estant Huguenots of Florida, who were there nuir- dered by the Spanish Inquisition for ' ' seeking free- dom to worship God." They afterwards passed over with the Mayflower, when the Pilgrims landed 120 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. on Plymouth Rock. They appeared prominently in all the Revolutionary battles ; they were em- bodied in the Declaration of Independence, which our fathers signed, and then sealed with their blood. AVlien it was resolved, in the second session of the Continental Congress, 1774, " to open to-morrow with prayer at the Carpenters' HaU," Rev. Mr. Duche, whom Mr. Adams called the most eloquent man in America, made the first prayer, in these precise words : " Lord, our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all king- doms, empires, and governments, look down in mercy, we beseech thee, on these American States, who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on thee. To thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause ; to thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which thou alone canst give. Take them, therefore, heavenly Father, un- der thy nurturing care ; give them wisdom in coun- cil, and valor in the field ; defeat the malicious EOItlANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 121 designs of our cruel adversaries ; convince them of the unrighteousness of their cause ; and if they will still persist in their sanguinary purpose, 0, let the voice of thine own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain tlicm to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle. Be thou present, God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly ; ena])lo them to settle things on the best and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, harmony, and peace, may be effectually re- stored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst thy people. Preserve the health of their bodies and the ^-igor of their minds ; shower down on them and the millions they here represent such temporal blessings as thou seest expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Saviour. Amen ! " - At the close of the Revolution, 2Gth of August, 1783, Washington's first words, when he appeared before Congress, were a grateful acknowledgment to God, who had guided the Americans to battle and victory. And so he subsequently expressed himself, 11* 122 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. wlien. he resigned as commander in chief of the army, 23d of December, that same year. Upon the memorable event of his inaugural as President of the nation, he said : " In this first official act, my fervent supplication is to that Almighty Being, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the peo- ple of the United States a government instituted by themselves. No people can be bound to acknowl- edge and adore the invisible hand -which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States ; and the destiny of the republican model of government is justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally^ staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people." "V\^ien the convention sat to frame our constitu- tion, and when all the governments of modern Eu- rope had been examined \vithout finding one suited to the condition of the American people, Dr. Frank- lin arose nnd addressed the president upon the im- portance of prayer ; that, as " God governs the aftairs of men," no blessing could be expected upon their deliberations Avithout it ; and fliat tlio consti- tution was the result of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty, and beyond the powers of any mortal ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 123 assembly of men, is the indubitable conviction of the American people. Thirteen years before the Declaration of Inde- pendence, Pownal, who had been Governor of three of the colonies, made this prophecy of America's destiny : "A nation to whom all nations will come; a power whom all powers of Europe will court to civil and commercial alliances ; a people to whom the remnants of all ruined people will fly ; whom the oppressed and injured of every nation will seek for refuge," he exclaims, "actuate your sove- reignty, EXERCISE the POWERS AND DUTIES OF YOUR THRONE." And, now, without a monarch, an army, or an aristocracy, it will defy every Judas and Cain, foreign or native, who interposes between the rights, the honor, and the religion, of the American branch of the Anglo-Saxon race. Our national interest and Christianity are insep- araljlc ; and as the people of the land of Bunker Hill, who built and paid for their churches, resisted the right of a foreign Andros to ring their bells, so will Americans, who claim the Protestant as their religion, resist the further aggression upon their 124 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. schools, their property, and their institutions, by the political Romanism, of which they justly complain. At a recent meeting in Hope Chapel, New York city. Dr. 0. A. Brownson, editor of the Bo?nan Catholic Review, said : " We Catholics are here a missionary people. We are here to Catholicize the country. It remains for us Catholics to make it morally, intellectually, spiritually great. We are here God's chosen instruments for that purpose." Mr. McMasters, another jBerce Romish editor, said : " Catholics were here not only to contribute to sup- port their religion, and thereby their priests, but to make the people understand it. If they did not do so, they would be wiped out from the land in a sea of blood." How are the poor papists to understand it, Americans, when the priests keep them in igno- rance, by shutting out the light of truth from their minds ? The leading French journal of the 3rd of April, this year, speaking for the Romish church, says : " Railroads are not a progress ; telegraphs are an analogous invention ; the freedom of industry is not progress ; machines derange all agricultural labor ; industrial discoveries are a sign of abase- ment, not of grandeur." The following is from the Univei'S, their most influential paper in all ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 125 Europe: — "To make Rome the District of Co- lumbia for the whole world, and the Pope the interpreter of the constitution of the United States." This declaration of the above journal expresses, of course, the avowed sentiments of the papists now in our republic. Is it not time, Americans, to expose this w^orn- out foolery, when the great aim of this foreign con- cern is to say mass over our nation's soul ? With papal baptism, papal matrimony, and papal rulers, what is to be the effect on our country, unless Prot- estantism counteract such teaching over the minds of the papal masses ? We have shoAvn, in another chapter, that their device of baptism is a most entangling scheme to proselyte and extort money, and make its votaries slaves. That confession to the priests, in order to salvation, is an invasion upon personal liberty, and uU sorts of human liberty. That the Church of Rome docs interfere with liberty of thought, by den}ing the right to read, buy, or circulate books. And by its decrees in council it has taken the Word of God out of its system, and made it a criminal offence for any subject of their church to have anything to do with that holy ])ook ! By 126 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. their Catechism of the Council of Trent, p. 313 this Romish system says, " Without the presence of the parish priest, or some other priest commissioned by him,, or by the ordinary, and two or three wit- nesses, there can be no marriage.'' They thereby declare that none but Catholic priests can perform the marriage ceremony. They have made this civil rite, then, a sacrament. They can dispense with prohibitions, or make them to suit all circumstances ; and have, for political purposes, removed the im- pediment, and married brothers and sisters ! The Church of Rome, therefore, begins with a rite to make subjects, at birth ; to secure them througli marriage ; to rule them through life ; and by indul- gences and absolution in the Confessional to license practices of aU iniquity ; and sends them to Para- dise, or denies it, in proportion to the amount of money paid. We contend, as a Protestant people, that no power but the Word of God, or argument, and human persuasion, can be la\vfully used to influence the conscience of any man. The constitution regards the religion of men so far as to require men to believe in God, and in the existence of future punishment and reward. Without this ROJLiXISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 127 belief there is no sanctity to oatlis. But the Eomish confessional can absolve oaths, and render any law of our country a nullity which is opposed by the priest ; and, consequently, the priest wields a secret power above our government and the laws of the land. There is not a thief, there is not a murderer, or a perjurer, or an incendiary, or a traitor, if he is a papist, but can go the very next day, or within a week, after the committal of the crime, and get absolution of the priest. K a papist swears in a court of justice on our Protestant Bible, he regards it as having no binding force on his conscience. Is not, then, the confessional a most dangerous and anti-repubUcan power ? The idea that religious opinions and secular trusts have no connection, and do not interfere with the discharge of public or offi- cial duty, has been a sad mistake with Protestants long enough ; and to this mistake or en'or the rapid advancement of Romanism may partly 1)e ascribed. Take marriage as an illustration. Prot- estants hold it in the light of a civil contract, of divine institution, but not peculiar to any church. Catholics make it a sacrament. The people, at first, look at this papal rite and obligation as of very small consequence, and would not regard it in connection with a man's fitness for office, whether 128 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. connection with a man's fitness for office, whether his opinion was for or against it, as a sacrament. Bnt, when it is understood that the descendants from every Protestant marriage in this country are pronounced by that church illegitimate, it becomes a matter of immense consequence to look at the effect of the system in connection with liberty. By a treaty, or concordat, of the French gov- ernment and the Pope, Pius YII., under Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1802, it was agreed to reestablish the cures and sees, under certain conditions. The Pope declared himself very grateful, and publicly said he owed more to Napoleon than any other, next to God. But the laws of the French government in regard to marriage were distressing him, and in 1807 he sent a cardinal from Rome to Paris to negotiate the difficulty. Afterwards the discussion opened at Rome, when the doctrine that no mar- riage was real or valid without the intervention of a priest was decided. But, finding the French code was extending through Europe, he despatched in- structions to his church to counteract the immoral doctrine of marriage as a civil right. The accom- panying are extracts of the Pope's letter to Poland, in 1808, where an attempt was made by law to con ROiLVNISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 129 form to this dogma. " Such a transaction," says the Pope (in this letter), " proposed by a Catholic prelate to a royal minister, upon a subject so sacred, considered in its consequences, in its whole tenor leads directly to consequences Avhich sectaries have proposed to themselves, namely, to make Catholics and l^ishops, and even the Pope liimself, confess that the power of governing men is indivisible. For a Catholic bishop to acknowl- edge 'in Catholic marriages, civil publications, civil contracts, civil divorces, civil judgments, is to grant the prince power over the sacraments and discipline. It is to admit he can alter the forms and the rites ; can derogate from the canons ; can violate ecclesias- tical liberty ; can trouble conscience ; that he has, by consequence, power over things ecclesiastical, essentially privileged, and dependent on the power of the Keys ; Avhich is as much as to say, he can put his hand in the censer, and make his laws pre- vail over the laws of the church. The bishop should either have dissembled, and tolerated a disorder imposed by irresistible force, or he should have informed the royal minister that the code, so far as respects marriage, cannot be applied to Catholic marriages in Catholic countries." 12 CHAPTER II. Then the Pope goes on to say : " If we examine the history of nations, we shall not find a Catholic prince suffering to be imposed on his subjects the obligation to publish their marfiage, or discuss its yaUdity or nullity before a judge of the district. If pastoral remonstrances proved useless, the bishop should still have continued to teach well the flock committed to his care, — " 1st. That there is no marriage if it is not con- tracted in the form which the church has estab- lished to render it valid. "2d. That marriage once contracted according to its forms, no power on earth can sunder it. " 3d. That it remains indissoluble under all acts and circumstances. "4th. In case of doubtful marriage, the church alone decides the validity or invaUdity. " 5th. Marriage, without canonical impediment, is indissoluble, t67ia(t?i;er impediment the lay power RO>LVNISM OrrOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 131 may impose, icitliout the consent of the Universal Church, or of its Supreme Head, the Roman Pon- tif- "Gtli. That every inarriage contracted, notwith- standing a canonical impediment, though abro- gated by the sovereign, ought to be holden null and of no elTect ; a?id that every Catholic is bound in conscience to regard such a marriage as void until made valid by a lawful dispensation of the church, if, indeed, the impediment which renders it null may be removed by a dispensation.'' Americans, you all allow that marriage consti- tutes and perpetuates society ; that it commends itself, as of the first importance, to the civil power. Are you willing, then, to surrender duties so momentous to the order and peace of families and our country, and enacted and sanctioned by our legislatures, to foreign priests, or to any priesthood whatever ? The Romish system, by the Council of Trent, says : " Marriage contracted without the solemn forms of the church is void, which this council could not have done if it depended on the nature of two contracts, which depend on two dis tinct powers, — the one, civil, and dependent on civil laws ; the other, religious, and dependent 132 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. on the laws of the church." The belief that it is necessary to cjo to the Pope of Rome to get a dispen- sation from a canonical impediment, because a man regards marriage as a sacrament, and not a civil contract, and that his union by the civil law would be void, and his children illegitimate, without it, is a sufficient cause, we say, to disqualify any American from holding a civil trust under our Protestant government, and cannot exist without affecting his conduct as a public officer, no matter what may be said or affirmed to the contrary. The system that blesses horses and dogs for money, in the name of the Holy Trinity, may well aff'ord to curse American Protestant liberty. This law of Romish marriage, therefore, is most pernicious and anti-republican. In 1654, after the final rising of the Council of Trent, Pius the Fourth issued a creed, which is received universally by the Roman Catholic Church, and is by a bull enforced upon the profession of every doctor, teacher, and head of a university. No election or promotion is valid without it. An- other papal law requires the same profession of the heads of cathedrals, monastic institutions, and the military order, which law directly interferes with ROJIANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 133 t liberty. INIilncr, a popish writer, in his " End of Controversy," chap, xiv., says : " The same creed, namely, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV., DRAWN up in conformity With the Holy Coun- cil of Trent, and everywhere recited and pro- fessed to the strict letter," &c. In addition to a profession of faith, twelve new articles, as for- eign to the Christian creed as light from darkness, are snhjoined. The following are extracts from each of these articles : 1. "I admit and embrace apostolical and eccle- siastical traditions.'' 2. "I admit the Sacred Scriptures according to the sense which the Holy Mother Church held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures ; nor will I ever interpret them otherwise than accord- ing to the unanimous consent of the fathers."" The first binds the soul to pagan traditions ; the second, to the impossibility of thinking or acting as a responsible being ! 3. "I profess that they arc truly seven sacra- ments, instituted by Jesus Christ, for salvation, namely, Z>ajj^/67/2, confirmation, eucharist, penance, 12* 134 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. extreme unction, orders, and matrimony ; and that they confer grace.'' 4. ^^ Without the sacrament of baptism, ivhich is the sacrament of faith, no one can ever obtain jus- tification.'' That is, without the priest blesses the soul ! 5. '■^ That in the mass there is offered to God a true, proper, propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." Every priest by this act is made to offer up a sacrifice of our blessed Saviour, directly violating that passage which says, " Christ was once offered up." If Christ was only once offered up (not by the priest, but by himself), how can "he be offered up again, and that, too, by a priest ? But this " sacrifice of the mass " is not Christianity : it is papal mystification and paganism, — an absurdity. None but a Catholic priest can ofler up the sacrifice of the "mass," and turn a wafer into a God ! ! ! Who can think of such blasphemy without a shud- der ? But this is not the worst of this turning a "wafer" into God. Rome compels physically all persons, whoever they be, to bow to, and wor- ship, this wafer-God ! ! ! Is not this compulsory law anti-republican ? ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 135 6. This article speaks of Purgatory, — that is, a temporary punishment for the faithful on their way to heaven. " The souls therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful." Prayers, well paid for, are one of the most successful of Rome's deceptions to enrich her treasury. The father, for the soul of his child or wife, employs the official services of the priest, to deliver that soul from the horrors of purgatorial torment ! It makes slaves of the poor laity, whose hard earnings and scanty wages are exacted and given to this end ; while the priests extort and secure endowments from the deceased wealthy, to save them from punishment ! ! We find a church in Venice, in 1743, was in arrears for sixteen thousand four hundred masses ; and Florentine tells of a Spanish priest who was paid for eleven thousand eight hundred masses which he never said ! Thus do the priesthood of Rome traffic in souls ; cheat the people of liberty ; cheat them of their money ; cheat them of their hopes ; cheat them of their salvation ! And this purgatorial lying, extortion, and compulsion, are anti-republican. 7 and 8. These articles profess belief in the doc- trine of heathen worship of saints, and images, and 136 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. relics, — "the image of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God,'' and of other saints. This belief is binding on all. This is anti- Christian, and tends to make the peo- ple heathenish ; and this pagan ignorance is inimi- cal to the whole genius of our republican system. 9. Professes faith in the poiver of indulgences, which directly promotes and gives license for crimes. " I also affir?n that the poiver of indulgence was left by Christ in the church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to a Christian people." They are very "wholesome" for the Pope and priests to fill their coffers with money, and to mul- tiply crimes all over the land. They are sometimes called ^"^ bills of exchange on purgatorij.'" These indulgences are dispensed by the Pope through the priests. They are a bundle of licenses to commit all manner of iniquities. There is always a great demand for these little packages ; and, depending on the foreign will of the Pope, they bring a fine price, and give the hierarchy an un- bounded power over their people of the whole earth. 10. " I acknoivledge the Holy Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church for the Mother a?id Mistress of all churches ; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 137 of Rome, successor to St. Peter, prince of the Apos- tles, Vicar of Christ," " the mistress of all CHURCHES." Is there anything to surpass this arrogant assumption of priestly power, — this direct alle- giance to the Pope? What is it but a slavery, "which our free spirits should denounce, and at which we should revolt ? Is our country safe with such a decree ? 11th. "I likewise, undoubtedly, receive and profess all other things, delivered, defined, and declared, by the sacred canons of the General Coun- cil." This is adopting all i\\Q persecuting, immoral legislation of the " Council of Trent," the " worst of all." Yet, every priest and every papist in our land is bound by oath to receive " all things defined, delivered, and declared," by that Council. " And I condemn, reject, and anathematize, all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the church has condemned, rejected, and anathematized.'' Here at one sweep they curse aU heretics, or Prot estants, wherever they are found. 12th. " This true Catholic faith, ivithout tvhich no man can be saved, which I at present f reel y prof ess, and truly hold, the sane I ivill take care of as far 138 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. as in iLe lies, and shall be most constantly held and confessed by me, whole and unviolatecl, with God's assistance, to the last breath of my life ; and by aU. my subjects, or these, the care of whom,' in my office, belongs to me, shall be held, taught, and preached." "I the same, N, projhse, yow, and SWEAR, so help ME GOD AND THESE HOLY GOSPELS," This is the priest's article especially. He is a slave to the Pope, and is himself a parish Pope to the PEOPLE. Mark this, Americans : the Romish priest swears by an oath that there is no salvation to those who do not belie Ye this creed ; that is, who do not belie Ye in the supremacy of the Pope, indulgences, transub- stantiation, purgatory, image worship, saint ivor- ship, persecution against Protestants, traditions, &c. He swears also to spread these anti-Clmstian and persecuting doctrines among those under his care, and to do all he can to enforce them, without refer- ence to right or liberty, to his life's end ; to sup- press freedom of thought and speech, and to make subjects for the Pope of Rome ! Now, Protestants, all tliis is subYersiYC of our free institutions. If the priests and the papists do not oppose, denounce, ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 139 and persecute to death (whenever they can and dare), all Protestants, they swear to a lie. We repeat, they are bound, by their oath to the Pope of Rome, to receive all the persecuting and tyrannical decrees of the general councils of that church. We say, they are bound to teach and diffuse principles utterly opposed to all the dear and cherished rights of American liberty to your chil- dren ; and they ought not to be intrusted with the education of freemen, if you wish to preserve the precious and glorious privileges of our land. The whole body of papists, by the creed of Pius IV., is fastened and indissolubly bound up with the hierarchy of Rome ! And how dangerous and inimical is it to the liberties of tliis republic ! CHAPTER III. We will now give you the precise oath which binds every Roman Catholic bishop in the United States of America, and in the whole world, to the Pope of Rome and his throne. It is taken from Barrow's unanswered " Treatise on Supremacy," and is a complete feudal oath. Here it is : "I, N, elect of the church of N, will hencefor- ward be faithful and obedient to St. Peter, the Apostle, and to the Holy Roman Church, and to our Lord, the Lord N, Pope N, and to his successors canonically coming in. I will neither advise, con- sent, or do anything, that they may lose life or mem- ber, or that their persons may be seized, or hands any ivise laid upon them, under any pretence whatever. The counsel which they shall intrust me withal, by themselves, their messengers, or letters, I will not Jinowingly reveal to any to their prejudice. I will keep them to defend and keep the holy papacy, and the ROYALTIES OF St. Peter, saviug my order, ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 141 against all men. The legate of the apostolical see, going and coming, I will honorably treat, and help in his necessities. The rights, honors, PRIVILEGES, ^VND AUTHORITY, OF THE HOLY RoMAN Church of our Lord the Pope, and his foresaid successors, I loill endeavor to preserve, defend, in- crease, and advance. I will not be in any council, action, or treaty, in which shall be plotted against our said Lord, and the Romish church, anything to the hurt or prejudice of their persons, right, honor, state, or power ; and if I shall know any such thing to he treated or agitated by any whatsoever, I ivill hinder it to my power, and as soon as I can will signify it to our said lord, or to some other, by luhom it may come to his hiowledge. " The rules of the holy fathers, the apostolic decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, provi- sions, and mandates, I will observe icith all my might, and cause to be observed by others. Here- tics, SCHISMATICS, AND REBELS TO OUR SAID LORD, OR HIS FORESAID SUCCESSORS, I WILL TO MY POWER PERSECUTE AND OPPOSE. I will COmO to a COUHCil wdien I am called, unless I am hindered by a canonical impediment. I will by myself in person VISIT THE threshold OF THE APOSTLES EVERY THREE 13 142 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. YEARS, AND GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO OUR LORD AND HIS FORESAID SUCCESSORS OF ALL MY PASTORAL OFFICE, and of all things any wise belonging to the state of my church, to the discipline of my clergy and people y and, lastly, of the salvation of souls committed to my trust ; and icill, in like manner, humbly receive and diligently execute the apostolic commands. " And if I be detained by a lawful impediment, I will perform all things aforesaid by a certain messen- ger, hereto especially empowered a member of my chap- ter, or some other in ecclesiastical dignity, or else having a parsonage ; or, in default of these, by a priest of the diocese ; or, in default of one of the clergy {of the diocese), by some other secular or regu- lar priest, of improved integrity and religion, fully instructed in all things above mentioned. And such impedime7it I ivill make out by lawful proofs, to he transmitted by the aforesaid messenger to the Cardi- nal proponent of the Holy Roman Church, in the congregation of the sacred council. " The possessions belonging to my table I will nei- ther sell, nor give away, nor mortgage, nor grant anew in fee, nor any icise alienate, — no, not even icith the consent of the chapter of my church, — without con- sulting the Roman Pontiff. And if I shall make any ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 143 alienation, I will thoreby incur the penalties con- tained in a certain constitution put forth about this matter. So help me God, and these Holy Gos- pels." Such is that servile and persecuting oath. This doctrine of the supremacy of the Pope and the priesthood makes bond-slaves of all people who be- long to them. It makes a God on earth of the Pope at Rome. lie is an ambitious tyrant over the priest- hood, and the priests are tyrants over the people. No man can. take this oath to the Pope, and be ^faithful or true citizen of the United States, or a safe and consistent citizen of any country. No Catholic bishop, then, is an honest citizen of the United States ; if he were, he would be a perjurer. In another chapter, we have shown, in the memo- rable contest between the Pope and the republic of Venice, that the Jesuits all turned traitors, and fied from Venice, and went over to the Pope ! The Jesuits, who are the Pope's greatest propagandists, never did, according to all history and the authority of the French Parliament, dwell in any country, without destroying its liberties and its morals. The foreign hierarchy who control the Roman Catholic church in the United States to-day are Jesuits, 144 ROJIANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. from the leading bishops spread over the states, to the Irish priest who came by the last emigrant arrival. It is in accordance with the American principle to examine eyerything presented to us. \ye are carrying forward the glorious emancipation Luther began. The liberty, civil and religious, we so earnestly cherish and develop, is Bible liberty, and its home is on American ground. "Without note or comment, we send that blessed book abroad over the world, the emblem of this ennobling, sublime liberty, and the guardian evidence to all who breathe American air to stand erect as freemen, and to bow, unmolested by papal curses and bulls, in the worship of our God. This blessed volume has been translated into more than one hundred and sixty languages of the earth ; and, without the cost of a single mass or prayer for a soul in purgatory, it is, through American means and Protestant teach- ing, enlightening, and comforting, and instructing, millions of the human family. Two years ago, there was a consecration in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, of Bishops Bailey, McLaughlin, and Dr. Goesbriand, by the papal Nun- cio, Monsignor Bedini. The Jesuits then took that EOMAXISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 145 oath in Latin, as we have given it in correct Eng- lish ; hut the priests puhlishecl a version in English, for i\\Q newspapers, and little pamphlets contain- ing an account of the ceremonies ; one of which pamphlets is now hefore us, and it contains a com- plete and \^i\h\\ forgery . It omitted all the perse- cuting and political part, which the oath we give contains, and which is the exact one used here and at Rome this very day. They always deny this gross deception to Americans, and three fourths of the American Roman Catholic laity also deny it Why ? Because these Jesuits find it expedient to cheat and deceive Protestants and their own papist subjects in this ximerican land. Cruelty is a central principle in the Church of Rome, and, therefore, anti-republican. It is very common, at present, with Roman Cathohcs, to deny that their church approves religious persecution , and in this assertion they are backed up by ignorant or designing Protestants, for political purposes solely. But there is no fact more clearly proved, both by history and the dogmas of their church everywhere contained in their canons and bulls, and carried out in practice to the present day. The prisons of Rome, and all the Italian prisons under 13* 146 ROJ^IANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES- tlie influence of the Pope, are, at this moment, filled with victims groaning under these horrid cruelties. The Inquisition, in some form, and every priest and his devotees, are agents to execute this intolerance. The commentary of Menochius, which is a text- book at all Catholic colleges and seminaries of learning, declares, in connection with the parable of the wheat and the tares, that the Saviour " does not forbid heretics (or Protestants) to be taken away and put to death," and refers to jMeldonatus on this special article of their belief. And these are the words of the authority alluded to: "They who deny that heretics are to be put to death ought much rather to deny that thieves, much rather that murderers, ought to be put to death ; for heretics are the more pernicious than thieves or murderers, as it is a greater crime to steal and slay the souls of men than their bodies." Bellarmine, the papal authority constantly ap- pealed to, says : " Experience teaches us that there is no other remedy (than death) ; for the church has advanced by degrees, and tried every remedy. At nrst she only excovimimicated, then fined, then exiled ; at last she was compelled to have recourse to death. ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 147 ***** If you throw them (Protestants) into prison, or send them into exile, they corrupt their neighbors by their language^ and those who are at a distance by their books ; therefore, the only remedy is, to send them speedily to their proper place." The following is the curse of Pope Benedict VIII. : " May they suffer the curse of God and of the world ; may they suffer it in their body, may their mind become stupefied, may they meet with aU bodily pains, and end in perdition. "May they be damned with the cursed ones, and perish with the wicked. " May they be cursed with the Jews, who did not believe in our Lord, and crucified him. *' May they be cursed with the heretics, Prot- estants, who attempt to overthrow the Holy Mother Church, " May they be damned in the four parts of the world : cursed in the east, abandoned in the west, interdicted in the north, excommunicated in the south. " May they be cursed in the day, excommuni- cated in the night. 148 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. " May they be clamned in heaven, on earth, and in the regions below." Says the historian Bruys : " Secular powers, if need be, may be compelled by church censures to destroy all heretics (Protestants) marked by the church, out of the lands of their jurisdiction.'' — Labb., Tom. 13, p. 934. Bruys' Hist, of the Papacy, Tom. iii., p. 148. The Council of Constance, 1414, in which Pope Martin presided, not only condemned and burned alive Huss and Jerome of Prague, but issued their terrific anathema against the millions of heretics all over Europe, and commanded all kings, emj)er- ors, and princes, forthwith to exterminate by fire and sword. This dogma of persecution is introduced into the class-book at Maynooth Jesuit College, for which England contributes annually thirty thousand pounds sterling. — See Delahogue's Tract. Theolog., cap. 8. De Membris, p. 404, Dublin edit., 1795. The oath which every Roman bishop swears contains this central principle of persecution. The following propositions are taken from Dr. Den's System of Theology, a text-book for every papal theological seminary in the land : ROiLlNISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 149 Isfc. "Protestants are heretics, and as such are worse than Jews and Pagans." 2d. " They are, by baptism and blood, under the power of the Roman Catholic Church." od. " So far from granting toleration to Protest- ants, it is the duty of the church to exterminate the rites of their religion." 4th. "It is the duty of the Roman Catholic Church to compel heretics to submit to her faith." 5th. ' ' That the punishments decreed by the Roman Catholic Church are confiscation of goods, exile, imprisonment, and death." A converted Popish priest, in a late work, says : " During the last three years I discharged the duty of a Romish clergyman, my heart often shud- dered at the idea of entering the confessional. The recitals of the murderous acts I had often heard through tliis iniquitous tribunal had cost me many a restless night, and are still fixed with horror upon my memory. But the most awful of all considera- tions is this, — that through the confessional I have been frequmthj apprised of intended assassinations, and most diabolical conspiracies ; and, still, from the ungodly injunctions of secrecy in the Romish creed, lest, as Peter Dens says, ' the confessional 150 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. sliould become odious,' I dared not give the slight- est intimation to the marked- out victims of slaughter." Pope Urban II. says : "We do not consider those as homicides ayIio, burning with zeal for the Catholic church against excommunicated persons, happen to have killed any of them." Pope Sixtus v., in a public address, applauded the assassination of Henry III.^ of France. The Rhemish translators of the New Testament, on Rev. 17 : 6, " Drunken with the blood of the saints," say : "Protestants foolishly expound it of Rome, for that they put heretics to death, and allow of their punishment in other countries ; but their blood is not called the blood of saints no more than the blood of thieves, man-killers, and other malefactors, for the shedding of which, by order of justice, no commonwealth shall answer." Bellarmine and Maldonatus, two of the highest authorities at Maynooth, teach the same doctrines. The proceedings at Rome in regard to the massacre of St. Bartholomew prove that Rome would have equally gloated over the Gunpowder Plot, if it had ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 151 only been successful. She has never clisavoAvcd any of her atrocious principles, whilst the recent avowals of Dr. Cahill, the Rambler,, and the Shep- herd of the Valley, demonstrate that modern Papists are quite as bloodthirsty as their ancestors. " The Inquisition was first established at Tou- louse, in 1233. It subsequently spread in Spain, Portugal, and other countries, increasing in power" and cruelty. The managers of the inquisitional courts were men of low origin and brutal nature, who had unlimited power from the Pope to put to death any person suspected of heresy ; and heresy, in the Church of Rome, means nothing but opposing the pretensions of the Papacy. Under the tryanni- cal sway of the Inquisition, parents were required to stifle all their natural affections, and children forgot their reverence, gratitude, and love. The immense power of the Inquisitor General we refer to. Among other practices of the Inquisition, it was common for persons to be seized and murdered in order to get possession of their property. It was in vain to search the world for an institution to compare with this in atrocity and merciless bar- barity. ' Deliver yourself up a prisoner to the Inquisition,' filled the soul with horror, and made 152 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. the frame motionless, for it was the prekide to the dungeon and death. The infamous practices of the incjuisitional courts were made up of cruelty, blood, death ! ' ' Romanism has not changed by the light and progress of civilization. In 1825, under Pope Leo XII., the work of the Inquisition was recom- menced with great vigor. It was as dark, baneful, and bloody, as ever. From that period until the late revolution in Italy, scenes of horror transpired, the details of which are known only to their atro- cious authors. In 1849, the Constituent Assembly determined that the tribunal should be abolished, and the building appropriated to some military purpose. In the buildings were the bones of human beings without number, thrown together in a man- ner to shock the feelings. There are to-day a thousand patriots suffering, in gloomy and filthy dungeons, all the horrors that the victims of the Inquisition endured. The truth is, that the spirit of deadly persecution is inherent in Romanism. It is one of its vital forces. "While Romanism prides itself upon its immovability, progress is an integral part of Protestantism ; and its onward march, however slow, is steady and direct." ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 153 To those who think that this spirit of intolerance is relaxed in our day, either in the United States or in other lands, we could present a volume of convincing and overwhelming facts to prove the contrary. But the following specimens will be sufficient : A few years ago, a Protestant minister in the West, after preaching to his own congregation on the subject of Popery, was met by the priest of the town at the church door, and told by him that, ''were it not for the laws of the country, he would cut his throat." "Yes," said the minister, "I know that already." The Rev. Mr. Nast, of Cincinnati, who has been instrumental in the conversion of many Grerman papists, by preaching, lecturing, and publishing a German paper, received a letter a few months since, stating that if he did not stop his efforts, , they would do with their fists what their priests cannot do with their pens, " knock your eyes out.'' An Episcopal clergyman in the West stated that a member of his church married a Roman Catholic lady, who, by his influence, was converted to the Protestant faith. The father of the young lady called to inquire if it was so. "Yes," said the 14 154 ROIklANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. daughter, " it is." On leaving the house, he said to his son-in-law, "Sir, I will never be satisfied till I have washed my hands in your heart's blood." AVho was it, a few years since, that drove six hundred families from the Austrian empire into the Prussian territory, because they would not renounce the reformed religion? It was popish priests. Who was it that drove the Rev. Mr. Eule from Cadiz? Papal authorities, directed to do so by the archbishop of the see. Who flogged a man nearly to death for renounc- ing Popery, in the State of Pennsylvania ? It was a popish priest. In the neighborhood of Doyles- town, a German Catholic attended a funeral sermon of a Protestant minister, after which a priest called and asked him if he had become a Protestant. "If you have," said he, "you have committed a mortal sin; confess your sin to me." " I have confessed my sin to Christ," said the sick man, " and obtained absolution." The priest urged him with increasing warmth to confess ; he declined. The priest then seized a chair, jumped on the bed, and pounded him with it till he broke it in pieces ; he then took from his pocket a raw-hide, and began ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 155 to scourge .him, to compel him to confess. A stranger, passing by, hearing the noise, entered the house, and, finding the priest in the act of scourging the sick man, he seized him by the collar, and dragged him down stairs. Soon after, the man died. The priest was arrested and tried in Doylestown court-house, and fined fifty dollars and costs, and left the country. Who was it that threatened the city of Boston ? It was the lady superior of the convent, Avho, after that unclean and anti-republican cage had been attacked by rioters, said : " The bishop has more than twenty thousand Irishmen at his command, who will tear your houses over your heads, and you may read your riot-acts till your throats are sore ! " We condemn the riot, but did that justify this diabolical and bloody threat of this female Jesuit ? Who was it that persecuted recently four hun- dred Madeira Protestants, and forced them to flee from their native country? The priests of the island. A convert to Protestantism, travelling along the road leading to Scarift; Ireland, in the county of Clare, w^as accosted by some laborers in the field. After threatening him several times, they at length 156 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. suffered him to pass, saying, " If you dare to come this way again, you bloody Sassenah rascal, we '11 blow your brains out ! " — Limerick Standard. A savage-looking ruffian violently attacked the Rev. Mr. Marks, a Protestant clergyman, late of the Molyneux Asylum, in the public streets of Dublin, and, without provocation, knocked the reverend gentleman down. What next ? — Warder. On the evening of Wednesday last, loth inst., as John Honner, a respectable Protestant, was re- turning home from the Macroon Sessions, he was savagely assaulted midway between Castletown and Enniskeane, by some person at present unknown ; no less than sixteen wounds having been inflicted on his head and face, besides several others on his body and limbs ; his skull was severely fractured. — Cork Standard. The names of nearly one hundred persecuted Protestant clergymen are given in the Tipperary Constitution. The manner in which they were treated is thus marked : stoned to death ; mur- dered ; stoned ; fired at ; dangerously assaulted ; abused and persecuted ; plundered ; interrupted and assaulted in the performance of duty ; . house KOMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 157 attacked, demolished, or burned down ; driven from his home, or his country. Some time ago, M. Maurette, a French Roman priest, was brought to the knowle'dge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and, in consequence, abandoned the pale of the idolatrous and apostate church in which he had been brought up. Having convinced himself of the danger of continuing in Babylon, he wished to induce as many as possible of his coun- trymen to flee out of her infected communion. With this view, he published a statement of the reasons that had led him to adopt the Protestant faith, and plainly and forcibly exposed the super- stition of Rome, by the usual arguments employed by the divines of the French Protestant church. For this he was condemned, on the 17th of May, 1844, by the Court of Assizes of L'Ariege, to a year's imprisonment, and a fine of six hundred francs ! You have all heard of the brutish papal persecu- tions at Damascus, where two or three of the un- protected sons of Abraham were recently flogged, soaked in large vessels of water, their eyes pressed out of their sockets with a machine, dragged about by the ears till the blood gushed out, thorns driven 14* 158 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. in between the nails and flesh of their fingers and toes, and candles put under their noses, burning their nostrils. This is Popery ! After hearing of this act of persecution, and hundreds of others constantly taking place in papal countries, and our own country, who will believe that this unchange- able church has changed her system of butchery ? What she has been she is now ; and you, my Prot- estant brethren, would feel it if she had the power. Now, with the fact of the presence of this mighty enemy in our beloved land, what more astonishing than the apathy and blindness of our statesmen, and the slumbering security in which our patriotic citizens, to W'hom liberty is so sweet and dear, fold their arms, and never dream of papal danger? Do they imagine that our country is too great, our resources too vast, our numbers too overwhelming, to feel the slightest apprehension on this subject ? What was it but a spark that kindled up the con- flagration of Rome, and that was to blow up the Parliament of England ? What was it but a Guy Fawkes, employed by the Jesuit priests to make that fatal arrangement, to overturn Protestantism in England ? What was it but one gilded bauble from the Pope that corrupted the royal monarch, ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. 159 Henry II., to submit himself and kingdom to the dictation of the Vatican ? What is it but Pusey- ism, now in the hands of the subtle and scheming Nuncio of Rome, aided by the University of Oxford, and the crafty spies and emissaries of Rome, that is undermining the foundation of Protestantism, and shaking the fancied stability of the throne of the Stuarts, in that land of the early Reformation, and heroic defenders of the bulwarks of liberty ? Do our listless Galbas imagine that the two thousand papal bishops, priests, and Jesuits, with their millions of obedient subjects, and multitudes of endowed nunneries, seminaries, and colleges, planted over our land like so many batteries, with their guns and ammunition ready for action, are sent here and put in operation merely for the idle amusement of that foreign potentate ? Is the prize less tempting, by its surpassing beauty and mag- nificence, than other territories and states, at which its policy has been directed, and over which its skilful and deep-laid plots have triumphed ? There are but a few of our people, comparatively, who are aware of the secret and mighty springs which are at work in the wheels within the wheels of this spiritual and political machine. Its central power 160 ROMANISM OPPOSED TO OUR LIBERTIES. is at Rome ; but its army of chameleon and vigi- lant spies are everywhere. Our people may despise its intrigues, and laugh at the warnings of more reflecting patriots, who stand like sentinels on the watch-towers of liberty ; but so reasoned the inhab- itants of Troy, when the treacherous wooden horse entered within its gates and took the city. L vc^Vvv^ 5^-^oq\V3 HOxN. ERASTUS EROOKS. Erastus Brooks was born in Portland, Maine, January 31, 1815. His mother descended from a family for many generations belonging to New England, and noted for their active participation in our Revolutionary battles. His father, also, rendered efficient service in the ocean scenes of the war of 1812-15. He was the brave, skilful, and success- ful commander of the " Yankee ; " and was lost at sea near the close of the year 1814, while in the public service. Mr. Brooks' mother was left without the aid of fortune. Her son was obliged, therefore, when a boy of only eight years of age, to begin to make his own way in the world. When just large enough to run upon errands, but with the spirit of a man in his child's heart, he directed his course to Boston, and there entered a store, and weighed out sugar and tea and coffee for the customers of his employer. He next sought independence by a trade of his own, and en- deavored to obtain the rudiments of an education by attend- ing an evening school. The subject of our sketch, who is now eminent as an editor of marked ability, commenced his printer's career as the "Printer's Devil," and arose gradu- ally to the position of printer, publisher, and proprietor of a paper, at Wiscasset, Maine, which bore, in honor of his father's sea efforts, the significant title of " The Yankee." Here his habits of industry were displayed in a manner that 1G2 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. won for him the respect and admiration of all who witnessed his career. He set the types of his paper, worked the press with his own hands, by the aid of a boy, and distributed the copies amoug the subscribers himself, at day dawn ! All the work in and out of doors Avas performed without any other assistance than that of a small boy hired for the pur- pose, — as a "roller-boy,*" &c. Young Brooks, now be- comino; more ambitious, thouo-ht he could edit as well as print a paper; and without the usual manuscript before him, he composed as he worked, setting in type his own editorials, and many miscellaneous articles and stories. These first lessons in the editorial profession made it apparent that he needed a better education than he had thus far acquired ; and, without consideriniz; the hard struo;o;le he would be obliged to make, with his extremely limited means, he at once resolved to possess a knowledge of books as well as men. Without any pecuniary assistance from others, he com- menced to prepare himself for college at "Waterville, Maine. He studied the " Liber Primus," Sallust, the Greek Gram- mar, kc, aided in these exercises by a few friends who were students at the college, and by resident gentlemen who felt an interest in one so well worthy of their friendship. His plans were now somewhat altered. He taught school one half of his time, to pay the expenses incidental upon his own education. His board he paid by setting types in a print- ing-office. By the greatest diligence in the pursuit of his studies, Mr. Brooks was soon qualified to enter Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island. He passed through the sophomore and junior classes, took rank with the lat- ter, and was equal in point of attainments to those who had jeached the senior class ; but that stern necessity, which had so oppressed him previously, again interposed a barrier to his onward course. With others partially dependent upon HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 103 him, and no moneyed means of his own, he was obliged to relinquish his scholastic designs : but, like a philosopher, he submitted Avith a good grace to this second disappoint- ment, and returned cheerfully and happily to his types in the printing-office, and his school-teaching. Soon after this, the committee of Haverhill, Mass., pronounced him to be competent to conduct one of the old-fashioned "Grammar Schools" of the state; -which was a compliment well de- served by Mr. Brooks, and proved highly gratifying to him. The happiest day of his life, he has often said, was when he passed muster as a school-teacher in the State of Maine, where he was born. Before Maine became a state, he was pronounced entitled to four hundred and eighty dollars a year, as the per annum pay of one who was compelled to teach boys and girls at least eight hours a day. His taste for literary pursuits still governing him in the choice of a profession, Mr. Brooks became the editor and part owner of the Haverhill Gazette. This position he relinquished in 1836, and repaired to Washington, D. C, and became the correspondent of the New York Daily Ad- vertiser, afterwards merged in the New York Express, and of several New England papers. While in this ca- pacity, Mr. Brooks had ample opportunity for the study of men and events ; and, with his usual diligence, he employed all his spare time in the investigation of all the prominent measures of the day, and the political history of the country. While at Washington, he enjoyed the personal confidence of such men as Clay, Webster, Adams, and Fillmore, and Avith them he both sympathized and acted, politically. At this time Mr. Brooks obtained an interest in the New York Express, which had started in July, 1836, in behalf of Gen. Harrison, and is continued up to the present time, Mr. Brooks continuing as one of its editors and proprietors. This 164 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. excellent newspaper is now in a most prosjjerous condition and is the principal organ, in the State of New York, of the American party. For sixteen consecutive sessions of Con- gress. Mr. Brooks remained in Washington, conducting his paper there, in part, as the Washington editor. In 1843, Mr. Brooks visited Europe, and travelled as far north as Norway, and as far south as Naples and the Lower Danube. In fact, he passed over Europe generally, and penetrated to the heart of Russia. His letters from Europe over the signature of " E. B." are remembered as affordinfr, perhaps, the most graphic account ever written by an Ameri- can traveller of scenes and incidents in the Old World. In 1853, Mr. Brooks was elected to the Senate of the State of New York, by a plurality vote, and distinguished himself by his unequalled energy, and his attention to all the wants of his constituency, and also by his able advocacy of the " Church Property Bill," which was intended to secure to the American Catholics a more equitable disposition of their church property, by transferring it from the hands of the bishops individually, to those of the lay trustees, whose province it properly is to manage the temporal concerns of the congregations. The wise provisions of this celebrated bill were heartily approved of by the trustees of the Cath- olic Church of St. Louis, at Buffalo, N. Y. Indeed, none felt aggrieved at the passage of this salutary law, but the bishops, who wished to hold and possess in their individual right all the property belonging to their congregations. The great danger of a perversion of so great a trust and power by any one man so circumstanced, must be acknowl- edged by all rational men. Of course, the bishops were enraged against those who had participated in the enactment of a law which took from their possession millions of dollars, and Archbishop Hughes, of New York, testified his anger by HON. EKASTUS BROOKS. 165 the publication of a spiteful letter, in Avliich he charged the Hon. Erastus Brooks with the utterance of a falsehdod con- cerning the amount of property held by him (Archbishop Hughes). This commenced a controversy, Avith which the "U'orld is now acquainted. On the part of Archbishop Hughes, it was conducted with the view solely to bear down, by the weight of his own great name, and by the force of hard charges, false accusations, and browbeating, the Ameri- can senator Avho had dared to do right, and confront, in the act of doing so, the powerful Archbishop of New York. Hoping to crush out of sight and out of mind the ugly facts which the honorable senator had dragged into the light of day, and appearing to believe that he could frighten the senator from his position, the archbishop threw, with a desperate energy, all the weight of his position, his power, and his pen, into the controversy. But he had a man to deal with who was schooled in the republican belief, and in the Protestant faith ; one who feared no man, and one, too, who, as a polemical writer, was the archbishop's superior, — superior, because honest, truthful, and straightforward. That ]\Ir. Brooks proved the victor in this renowned con- troversy, was, at its close, conceded by the press and the people throughout this country and Europe. Here is the principle involved : The Pope of Rome is the supreme head and front of the Romish church, throuii-hout the world ; his bishops in America are his personal agents ; these agents, acting by his orders, held in their hands, for the Pope, mil- lions of dollars' worth of property ; so that the Pope of Rome was the director and controller of these millions, for good or evil, in the United States. Now, we, as an indi- vidual and distinct nation, could not with safety allow the temporal and spiritual monarch of a foreign country to wield, through his agents in this country, a power great 15 166 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. enough to control our elections. Therefore, and because it was anti-republican in every respect, our faithful, fearless, and honest legislator, Hon. Erastus Brooks, wrested this fearful power out of the hands of the Pope of Rome, by wresting it from the hands of Archbishop Hughes, that mon- arch's agent in New York. This is the true issue, in a few words. It is difficult to realize the weight of obligation under which, as a people, we labor, to Mr. Brooks, for the incalculable services he has rendered us in freeing us from the terrible power of that immense amount of wealth, which could have been used in the formation of armies of foreigners in our midst ; Avhich could have been employed in the perversion of the legitimate purposes of the ballot-box ; which could have bought up thousands of those corrupt demaeoo'ues with whom all countries are cursed. Indeed, there is no end to the evil uses to which money may be ap- plied, in the hands of individual men, who are better poli- ticians than priests, better temporal commanders than spiritual advisers. But this important event in the history of our state and nation is well understood, and we have only dwelt upon it at this point, in our brief biography of Mr. Brooks, because it merits, whenever mentioned, more than ordinary attention. The controversy ended, and the archbishop, completely foiled, concluded that the next best thing to be done was to defeat Mr. Brooks, who was now renominated for the senator- ship of his district. Accordingly, a Roman Catholic was nominated by the Hughes party to oppose Mr. Brooks, and every scheme and device that the Jesuits and their coadju- tors could bring to bear upon the election were used, without a thought of their character, and with a total disregard as to the cost they imposed. But the people, who had sanctioned the acts of Mr. Brooks, and gloried in the defeat of a cor- HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. 1G7 nipt priesthood, sustained the champion of their rights by returnins; him to the senate chamber of the State of New York, — Avhence his priestly antagonist had endeavored to exclude him, — by a majority of over four thousand, and an increased vote of seven thousand over his first election. More than a thousand of the most prominent citizens of New York, of all ranks and professions, united in the request to have Mr. Brooks continue to represent them ; because no servant of the public had ever shown more deference to the will of his constituents, or been more indefatigable in his efforts to advance the moral, social, commercial, mechanical, and industrial interests of that city. Mr. Brooks is now the nominee of the American party for the governorship of the State of New York, having received in convention the unanimous vote, by acclamation, of eleven hundred and sixty-nine delegates, who met in Rochester as a nomi- nating convention, on the 24th of September last, and who arose to their feet as one man, and shouted the name of Erastus Brooks, — a thing unheard of in the political history of the state or country. This brief sketch of Erastus Brooks may serve to emu- late American youth, and teach them that the only true way to reach preferment, under our republican institutions, is by pursuing a course of moral rectitude, energy, and industry, in whatever sphere of duty they may be engaged. By just such a course Mr. Brooks has arisen, in rapid gradations, from the errand-boy of Boston to the senatorship of his adopted state, where he has represented about three hundred thou- sand people. During the present political campaign, Mr. Brooks has exhibited that untiring industry and energy for which he is remarkable. In addition to his editorial duties, he has spoken at almost every important town in the State of New York, and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and in 168 HON. ERASTUS BROOKS. four of the New England States. Nor has he ever failed to respond, promptly and cheerfully, to the calls of the Ameri- cans of other states ; but is ever ready to labor in the cause of his country, and of the Union and its supporters, Millard Fillmore and Andrew Jackson Donelson, for whose nomina- tion he labored in the National Convention, as one of the delegates at large from the Empire State. He never spares himself, night or day, when he has a duty to perform, and it excites the wonder of all to behold the work he does with the rather delicate frame he has ; but there is an iron will, an indomitable spirit, and a valiant heart within, that sustain him through all. We leave him at this period of his history, as the nominee of the American people, and of all Protestants^ for the gov- ernorship of the State of New York. We leave him as the tried and true man, in the hands of those who know how to appreciate and reward the truly meritorious. I AutKor of theAlsolii < CENTRAL AMERICA. CHAPTER I. It was our fatliers' wisli to keep the administra- tion of this government in an American sphere. They wanted no colonial or territorial dependence. They wanted to maintain the Union, and therefore asserted the right of the American people to the exclusive control of their own matters. They said, in the constitution they left us, that Congress could sell the public lands, that it could admit new states, but not a word was mentioned about organiz- ing any government without the rights of a state. Under this constitution we Americans have sig- nally prospered, while our influence has exerted a mighty power over all the civilized states of the world. There is not a nation with which we have not a commercial and political relation. There is not a country in which our enterprise has not 15* 170 CENTRAL AMERICA. entered, nor an ocean on wliich our ships do not float. American genius is more or less impressed upon every people and clime, and mutual interest and sympathy bind us to mankind. We have no need now, Americans, to fear to assume the prin- ciples whicii have guided us thus triumphantly ; nor can "we limit those principles within our own borders. Our example, our ideas, our discoveries, our inventions, our habits of life, our social, politi- cal, and religious institutions, must ultimately ex- tend our form of government. And to see our maxims securely applied to other people ; to see our laws, the settled principles of equality and justice, administered throughout Christendom ; to see our industry and enterprise exacting equality everywhere, could not but create an honest exulta- tion within the breast of every true American. We, then, my countrpnen, have a mission to perform, out of our country ; we have to throw our weight, in behalf of equality and justice, over the countries of the world, and to guard with a vigihmt eye the principles of Protestantism and Americanism, that our own strength shall increase, our own resources expand, and an additional im- CENTRAL AMERICA. 171 petus be given to our moral, commercial, and polit- ical greatness. On the 1st of July, 1823, Central America formed a federal republic, called the " United Provinces of Central America," doubtless designed to accord with our system of government, and adopting our constitution as its guide. The suc- ceeding year, they emancipated all the slaves in the republic, amounting to about one thousand, and indemnified the owners for the pecuniary loss. The constitution of this republic was ratified in November of that year, and the first federal con- gress was convened the 1st of September, 1825. But this union did not bind the states together like those of the United States of North America. It did not prevent the effusion of blood. And their constitution was but " a passive instrument, power- less for good, and only active for unimportant or pernicious purposes. ' ' The unchecked force of num- bers, influenced by bad, designing men, soon anni- hilated the union, by making the small states tributary to the larger ; a fate, Americans, we shall surely feel, if ever our own beloved Union shall be cursed by separation. On the 20th of July, 1838, in the thirteenth 172 CENTRAL AMERICA. year of the Central American republic, Congress met for the last time under the constitution, and the states returned to their former political system. In 1840, General Francisco Morazan, " the "Wash- ington of Central America," made an effort to restore the union of these states ; but the Jesuit priesthood united with the Indians, under Carrera, in opposing the liberties of the people, and expelled the ' ' father of his country ' ' from his native soil. Morazan subsequently returned, in 1842, to Costa Rica, where he was murdered ; and this consum- mated the destruction of that unfortunate republic in Central America. And, Americans, mark the fate of that country, and you will see, in its feeble- ness, suffering, and horror, but a fiiint picture of what these United States will encounter, if ever the traitors within our borders shall sever the bonds which now hold us as one people. A light from heaven has now guided a son of our American republic, to open the way for the beauti- ful flag of the free, to deliver that misguided people, and bring them out of the humiliating condition to which tyranny and priestcraft have subjected them. Gen. William Walker, now President of Nicaragua, a citizen of the United States, has commenced, and CENTRAL AMERICA. 173 we trust will not fail, to renovate that land. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and his age does not exceed thirty-three years. His personal appearance is not commanding, by any means ; being of small stature, without the prepossession of address or manner. But there is an expression of meekness, accompanied by a nasal tone and slug- gish utterance, which would arrest attention in any assembly ; and these peculiarities made young Walker a subject of interest at a very early age. He was remarkable, as a boy, for the ardor of his friendships, the amiability of his disposition, and his obliging character towards his companions. If a " hard sum," or an " awful lesson," was ex- citing his young friends. Walker was eagerly sought to remove the difficulty. He was never known to be at recitation unprepared, and was so sensitive of his reputation at school, that the slightest mistake or blunder he might make would affect him to tears. He rarely then was known to laugh, although he often participated in the amuse- ments of his companions. But, to give the secret of Walker's rise from the modest school-boy of Nashville to the presidency of Nicaragua, we must tell you he had a good 174 CENTRAL AMERICA. mother, an American woman, who loved God anc her country, and by gentleness, affection, and purity, exemplified and inculcated into the mind of her son the faith and doctrine of our Protestani Bible. He thus, as the eldest of four children, be- came the reliance of his widowed mother, and by the amiability of his disposition, and the sweetness of his temper, supplied the place of a daughter to her as a companion. Walker was educated a Christian youth, and made a proficient in Christian law. This stimu- lated him to spread American principles, and en- listed the sympathy of his fellow-men in his new and important mission of introducing a new admin- istration and laws, exciting enterprise, and pro- claiming human rights and freedom in that darkened land. He was originally intended for the ministry, but a visit to Europe interposed, and he remained in Paris two years to prosecute the studies of law and physics. He returned home, and connected himself with the editorial corps of his country, first at New Orleans, where he was connected with the Crescent, and then with the Herald, at San Fran- cisco, California. His independence, as well as ability, soon made CENTRAL AMERICA. 175 liiin a terror to evil doers ; and an article reflecting upon the judiciary in California caused him to be arraigned for contempt of court. He was con- demned, and made to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, and suffer incarceration. This tyramiy excited the just indignation of even that community, and every public demonstration was made to encourage Walker in his advocacy of the liberties of the people. When he afterwards appeared before the legislature to demand the removal of this unjust judge, he awakened the con- fidence and respect of the assembly, although he failed to secure the expulsion of his enemy. Gen. Walker's first military efiibrt was directed to conquer Sonora, in northern Mexico. But the brig was seized in which his party were to embark, by the interference of the government. This mo- mentary detention was followed by greater suc- cess on the part of Walker ; and, landing in Lower California, in October, 1853, he was soon declared president of that country. The motive which influenced Walker was frankly exposed, namely, to take possession of Mexico, by first securing the provinces of the north. The invasion of Sonora was then made. His numbers 176 CENTRAL AMERICA. became reduced by desertion and starvation, and he and his surviving men, clothed in tattered garments, were compelled to retreat. This expedition occu- pied seven months, when Walker returned to Cali- fornia, and resumed his occupation of editor. In August, 1854, a company, formed for commer- cial purposes, organized in California, and set sail for the gold regions of Central America. After an absence of some months, it was proposed to aug- ment their forces, and send for Walker, to enhst in negotiations with the Spanish American republics. A grant of twenty-one thousand acres of land was offered tliis party to enlist in the democratic cause, and the siege of Granada. Walker demanded fifty-two thousand acres, and would consent to nothing less. This proposition was accepted, and after five months of preparation, attended by formidable opposition on the part of capitalists, he embarked early in May, 1855, upon the enterprise of colonizing these states by Ameri- can means, and on American principles. Sixty- two persons composed this entire expedition, armed each with a rifle, revolvers, and knives. The scenes of massacre and carnage which fol- lowed the dissolution of the union in Central i CENTRAL AMERICA. 177 America, demonstrated tliat these people were unfit for self-government. In Nicaragua and Guatemala, particularly, the strife had become most fearful with the Indian and negro, in opposition to the old Spanish races. Two years ago, Castellan, a republican democrat, without the support of wealth or power, attempted to redeem his oppressed countrymen, by intro- ducing the principles of freedom. He was opposed by Chamorro, a haughty aristocrat, who, by intrigue and wealth, secured his reelection, against the will of the people. Castellan and other political oppo- nents were then thrown into prison. The Supreme Court was abolished, and these men finally banished from the country. Castellan fled to Honduras, where, under the protection of President Cabiinos, the friend and patron of human rights, they conceived the idea of revolutionizing Nicaragua for the sake of liberty. CasteUan and his associates returned and triumphed. He became Provisional Director, which ofQce he held until his death, September, 1855. The priesthood, the most powerful enemy to the rights of the people in Central America, as every- where else where they prevail, now united with the 16 178 CENTRAL AJklERICA. autocrat Cliamorra, to defeat the liberals ; and this proud demagogue obtained almost the entire state of Nicaragua. At this crisis Chamorra died, and, amidst the savage ferocity which followed among his chiefs, who assumed the quarrel. General Walker entered, and arrested the career of bloodshed by the immediate restoration of peace and order. Gen. Walker repaired to Leon, the capital of the state, exhibited his contract, and reported him- self ready for action. The ministry had steadily opposed the coming of the Americans ; and Walker, disgusted by their delay to give him a formal recognition, was about embarking for Honduras to aid the patriot Cabanos against Guatemala, when a courier was despatched entreating him to stop, and the next day the Americans enlisted in the cause of Nicaragua. CHAPTER II. The battle of Eivas was the first to engage the fifty- eight Americans who were then under Walker. He added to that number one hundred natives, who fled at the first fire, leaving the Americans to encounter five hundred of the enemy alone. The fight continued several hours, and while the Ameri- cans left double their own number of the enemy dead on the field, they remained without the loss of a hair of their heads. Walker, seeing the odds of eight to one was too great an exposure, made for a house where the enemy was sheltered, and drove them out and occupied it. These Cha?norri?is then held a council, and decided to dislodge them ; but every attempt was made futile by American shot, which was poured into each as he attempted to approach. At night, however, the Americans fought their way out, and retreated to Virgin Bay. This Rivas battle inspired the Nicaraguans with such awe of American arms, that they 180 CENTRAL AMERICA. regarded it certain death to go within three hundi-ed yards of their rifles. Gen. Bocha owned one hun- dred and eighty killed in that fight, and the conduct which the Americans displayed under such fearful odds soon encouraged the democratic party to hope for success under the intrepid Walker. The battle of Virgin Bay followed next. Here, again, the fifty-eight Americans, with one hundred and twenty natives, were all Walker's force, while the servile party had five hundred and forty. Beside, they had cannon, and were protected by timber, while the Walker party were exposed in the streets. But these enemies to freedom were again routed. Gen. Walker was struck by a spent ball in this battle, and other Americans escaped in a no less remarkable manner. The Americans, after making a good impression at Virgin Bay, proceeded to San Juan, where, with death meeting them at every turn by cholera, this little American band remained, encouraged by the example of their brave commander. From San Juan del Sar, Walker, with his troops, proceeded in October to Granada, where some fighting was done, fifteen of the enemy being killed, and seven taken prisoners. The Americans were fired upon CENTRAL AJIERICA. 181 from the Romisli cliurcli ; and, on approaching it, found men, women, and children, to the number of eighty souls, chained, in abject misery, whom the Americans instantly released. Lieut. Col. Oilman, and twenty-five Americans, w^ere now detailed to obtain the fort, a mile east of the city, which Avas armed by forty men ; and on the morning of the 13th October, 1855, the battle of Granada was fought. Gen. Walker, dis- carding the natives, had but one hundred and ten men, with whom he took the Grand Plaza, captured all their artillery, and, after killing but ten men, from three hundred to four hundred surrendered as prisoners. In this engagement, but one American ■was slightly w^ounded. Walker's power was now felt, and he was then military commander in the vanquished Sebastopol of Nicaragua. On the day succeeding the battle of Granada, the native citizens met, and adopted resolutions offering Walker the Presidency of Ni- caragua. This he declined in favor of Gen. Corral. Col. Wheeler, the American Minister, was then consulted, and requested to take to Gen. Corral, at Leon, a proposition of peace. Wheeler at first declined, under the fear that it might compromise 16* 182 CENTRAL AJIERICA. his gOYernment ; but, becoming satisfied that it did not, he proceeded at once to Riras. Corral was absent ; and, after a few hours, Wheeler ordered his horses, to return, when he was told he could not leave, and armed soldiers were placed at his door. Thus detained for two days, his friends became alarmed at his absence, and sent a special messenger to Rivas, who, unable to enter, was informed by a native woman, true to the instincts of humanity, that the American Minister was a prisoner. The steamer Virgin immediately proceeded to Rivas by the quickest water course, and fired four heavily-loaded cannon on Saint George, the nearest point to the town. Col. Wheeler then informed the governor, through the Minister of War, that, if he was detained another day, his friends would attack Rivas, and exterminate its population. This produced the desired effect, and Wheeler obtained his passports, and an escort of one hundred men to the ship. Reinforcements now began to pour into Nicaragua from California. Col. Fry and Mr. Parker H. French arrived in October, accompanied by brave and spirited men. They were too late to partici- CENTRAL AMERICA. " 183 pate in the conquest of Granada, but there were still enough to engage them in Nicaragua. Col. Fry and Mr. French took passage in the Virgin, at Virgin Bay ; and, determined to take San Carlos by surprise, sent the captain and two men ashore, requesting the immediate surrender of the fort. They were seized and made prisoners, and the steamer was fired into by twelve -pound shot five times. The American riflemen, detached from Walker, under Capt. Tumbull, were then sent ashore, to take the fort ; but their ammunition got wet by the rain, and they were obliged to retreat to Virgin Bay. About an hour after these men left, the New York steamer San Carlos arrived, and was hailed from the fort before reaching it ; and an eighteen-pounder was fired into her, in- stantly killing a mother and child, residents of California, and otherwise committing serious out- rages upon the ship. A few days later, while these passengers were waiting for transit at Virgin Bay, a troop of horse- men surprised them, and fired seventy shots over their heads. The excitement now was appalling, and passengers fled in all directions, while many were subsequently caught, and deprived of their 184 , CENTRAL AMERICA. revolvers. These two steamers, Virgin and San Carlos, then made for Granada, and phiced their passengers under the protection of Col. Wheeler, the American Minister. While this outrage was being perpetrated on passengers at Virgin Bay, Gen. Walker was in Granada, organizing the army, of which he was made general ; and in sixteen days from his en- trance into that city, peace had been made, and a new government organized. Why did Walker thus become the liberator of Nicaragua ? We answer, because his integrity inspired confidence with friends and enemies ; and when he refused the Presidency, it carried convic- tion to the minds of the people that he would not deceive them to glorify himself. On the 19th of October, Gen. Corral was inau- gurated President of the country. A public thanksgiving was made for peace, and oaths taken to perpetuate it. " Look at that man Walker, sent by Providence to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness, to this blood-stained, unhappy country," was the language of Padre Vijil, who subsequently was sent on a mission to the United States, for the recognition of Nicaragua's independence. AValker CENTRAL AMERICA. 185 and Corral reviewed tlie army on that day ; and it certainly must have gratified any American to behold the promising prospect of that country, in an American citizen claiming to teach the people the rights and the benefits of democratic freedom. By every monthly steamer from California, ad- venturers flocked to Central America ; and from both sides of the continent Walker's forces were steadily augmented, until they had grown from fifty- eight to upwards of one thousand men. Kor were these emigrants confined to mere adventurers, with- out education or fortune. On the contrary, men imbued with the true spirit of American progress, who could look to the future, and see America's magnificent destiny, were found identified with the " Nicaragua Expedition." The devastation of war was sadly visible over all Central America. Granada, upon whom a new era had then dawned, was reduced from thirty thousand to about eight thousand. Walker was soon placed in emergencies which prove the real character of men, and settle the question of fitness for mental and moral responsibility. A man named Jordan had fired at a native when intoxicated ; and, under the belief that the man would recover, Jordan was 186 CENTRAL a:\ierica. sentenced by court martial to leavo the country. Subsequently, the man, however, died, and Walker ordered Jordan to be shot, next morning, by a file of twelve rifles. The mother of the boy went down upon her knees, and implored Walker's clem- ency. Padre Vijil and others also begged the same, on their knees. But Walker was inexorable. He had made this stern decree to satisfy justice, and no power could dissuade him from its execu- tion. Treason was now discovered in the President of the country, and he too was made to pay the pen- alty of the traitor. Gen. Corral, to whom Walker yielded the chief magistracy, and who, with the Bible in one hand and the treaty in the other, had promised to sustain and respect the government, was proved to have been plotting its entire destruc- tion. Treasonable design on the part of Corral was proved by a fair trial, and he was sentenced to be shot. Walker approved the finding of the court and sentence ; and, on November the 8th, at two o'clock, he ordered Corral to be led to the great square, in the presence of the garrison, and die the death all traitors should die. Rivas then was .made President of the country. CENTRAL AMERICA. 187 At this time, new reinforcements came to Walk- er's aid ; and a letter to him from Col. Kinney, proposing to recognize Gen. Walker as commander- in-chief of the army of Nicaragua, provided Walker would recognize him as Governor of Mos- quito Territory. Walker thus characteristically replied: "Tell Mr. Kinney, or Col. Kinney, or Gov. Kinney, or by whatever name he styles him- self, that, if he interferes with the territory of Nicaragua, and I can lay my hands on him, I will most assuredly hang him." The American minister, Mr. J. H. Wheeler, officially recognized the new government of Nica- ragua, and he was officially received by President Rivas on the 10th of October. On the 17th of No- vember, the Nicaragueuse newspaper was started; and, with an independent press, and a free consti- tutional government, it became at once an important object to have it recognized by all the states of the world, but, above all others, by that of these United States. Col. Parker 11. French was consequently sent as minister i^lenipotentiary to this government. This placed the administration in its usual attitude of weakness before the world ; and, the authorities at Washington becoming alarmed about Central 188 CENTRAL AIMERICA. American matters, the District Attorney of Xew York, Mr. McKeon, was directed to guard us against fillibusteros with a vigilant eye. Here, Americans, with the Cuban affairs and the burn- ing of Greytown staring us in the face, the ad- ministration suddenly becomes frightened at a A^ery harmless fact ! In the mean while the government of Nicaragua, learning the treatment awarded to its accredited minister, immediately dismissed or suspended all official communication with Mr. Wheeler, the American minister, and revoked the apj^ointment of Mr. French, that he might return to Nicaragua. The refusal of Mr. Pierce's administration to recog- nize this ambassador was based upon the unwar- ranted conclusion, in view of the facts, that Walker's government had not been acknowledged by the people of that republic. Col. French, instead of a reception befitting his mission, was arrested on the charge of enlisting soldiers, and the steamer North- ern Light detained from her regular trip, and pas- sengers taken from her. But American acumen was quick to discern the utility of Walker's govern- ment, and the people, undaunted by the. petty refusal of Mr. Pierce to sanction American rule, — CENTRAL AMERICA. 189 which promised reform in a foreign land, — pressed on with alacrity to Nicaragua, under those inalien- able rights which are the heritage of American men. The early explorations in the gold regions of Nicaragua were made under the temporary estab- lishment of peace, and satisfactorily demonstrated that, with the advantage of such machinery as is used in California, the product from them would be infinitely greater. With the common rocker, from five to ten dollars a day were at once realized. The climate of Nicaragua, too, is inviting to settlers ; the fevers do not prevail there, as in California ; the air is cool and salubrious, and labor is rarely impeded at any season of the year. Nothing can surpass the beauty of the natural scenery of Nicaragua. Its plains, valleys, and vol- canoes, the plumage of its birds, its beautiful verd- ure, and the ever- varying hues of its mountain ranges, present attractions for habitation rarely pointed out to man. Then the richness and variety of the products of its soil are not less noted ; and, with the exception of cotton, there is not a vegeta- ble growth in the United States of America that does not flourish in Nicaragua. What is there, then, Americans, to arrest or check 17 190 CENTRAL AMERICA. the advancement of this new republic under Ameri- can men? Nothing but interior impediments, arising from the want of education among the people. La- bor is cheap. It is on the yery road of commercial travel, and between our Pacific and Atlantic states. In point of geographical locality, with an ocean each side, in the great centre of trade, Nicaragua must become a great "highway" of commerce through- out the world. Now, what she needs is the right kind of population. To obtain this, Americans must have the bona fide evidences of interest. With its auspicious position, its gold, and its American pro- tection, we shall see American settlers increasing from year to year. The government of Honduras has made grants already to the Honduras mining and trading com- pany, of New York. The daily discoveries prove the universal presence of this metal. After California was discovered, England became alarmed at the travel across the Central American isthmus, and thought there would be another effort to get a ship canal between the oceans ; and, to arrest Americans in taking exclusive advantage of this central route, England brought about the unique treaty of 1850, made by Mr. Buhver on CENTRAL AMERICA. 191 the part of Great Britain, and Mr. Clayton in be- half of the government at Washington. This " Clayton-Bulwer Treaty" ostensibly settled this disputed region ; and, under this idea, it was con- firmed and ratified. The states of Central Amer- ica supposed it was a full redress for their past grievances ; but too soon they discovered the Avhole affair was a failure, England asserting her claim to the ' ' Ruatan Islands ' ' and the ' ' Mosquito coast." It is useless here to inquire into the fal- lacy of this claim. It is clearly proven she never did of right possess it ; and recent negotiations at London have resulted in the entire withdrawal from this pretension. The effect of our government's refusal to recog- nize the independence of Nicaragua through Mr. French was very disastrous. Guatemala, Hondu- ras, and Costa Rica, immediately followed the example, and refused all correspondence with Walk- er's government. Col. Schlessenger was sent as commissioner to Costa Rica, to inquire into the reasons of its refusal to recognize, stating that Nicaragua desired peace with all the neighboring states. He was treated with scorn, and driven from the country. Gen. Walker instantly declared war 192 CENTRAL AMERICA. against Costa Rica, and the most energetic meas- ures were taken to avenge the insult. The Costa Rican government then authorized its president alone, or in union with other states, to take up arms against Nicaragua, and " drive the foreign invaders from the soil." The militia of Costa Rica, amount- ing to nine thousand, were called into action, and one hundred thousand dollars were immediately raised for their support. The army commenced its march to Nicaragua before the design was known to Gen. Walker. A printing press was taken along, and daily bulletins issued of their progress. Schlessenger, an unprincipled German, was se- lected by Walker, more from the spirit of retaliation than personal regard, to head the forces sent against Costa Rica. This force amounted to two hundred and seven in number, commanded by Schlessenger, when he left Virgin Bay for Costa Rica. These were composed of two American companies from New York and New Orleans, and two other compa- nies of Germans and Frenchmen. The guides left this little band on reaching Costa Rica ; and the brutal conduct of Schlessenger to the troops, requiring them to march under a torrid sun and lie by under a cool moonlight, and innumerable CENTRAL ASIERICA. 193 acts of cruelty and cowardice, soon disgusted the Americans, and inspired their deepest resentment. He showed, besides, marked difference in his treat- ment towards Americans and the other troops. A German, for example, who had committed an act which in military law merited death, was scarcely reprimanded ; while a New Yorker came near being shot for picking up a piece of bread as he was walk- ing. The fear of American fire only prevented that act of the ignominious coward. 17 * CHAPTER III. The battle of Santa Rosa is in all respects the most disreputable engagement wliicli ever occun'ed upon this continent, or was associated with the American name. Santa Rosa was the hacienda occupied by Schlessenger and his forces when they fired upon the enemy. The Americans took their position in the front ranks, and while the battle was raging, Schlessenger appeared at the corner of the house behind the New York troops, and, in utter consternation, cried out, " There they are, boys! there they are!" Then, retreating, ex- claimed, " Campaigne, Francaisc ! " and ran with his best speed, followed by the Frenchmen. The Germans caught the influence, and, dashing their weapons on the ground, fled likewise. The Amer- ican party remained unmoved and undaunted, and as soon as the real intentions of the enemy, were discovered, Lieut. Iliggins gave the order to fire, CENTRAL AMERICA, 195 and never did an angry volley of shot go out with a greater will, or do more effective execution. The enemy fell back, but, on reloading, pressed nearer to the gates of tlie hacienda, when the brave Parker, engaged in checking them, was shot to the heart. Cahart, another brave American, now took his position on the plaza, and shot the enemies' leader as he rode up and down their lines^ and who three times before had fired his rifle into the American ranks. By this time, Major O'Neill, who had gone after Schlessenger, returned, saying *'he wanted to be with the company who would fight ;" and the New York company then, seeing the enemy approaching with such fearful odds, withdrew, under O'Neill's sanction. Here note the fact that this New York company was the only one which fired a volley in that action ! These forty-four men were reduced to twenty-two by the action, and were the last to leave the spot. The enemy, too, on this occasion, beside being double Schlessenger's force, were picked and tried soldiers, who had before fought the Americans at the bloody battle of Rivas. The troops in the American camp were entirely un- prepared for tliis engagement. And it was not 196 CENTRAL AMERICA. remarkable that rowdies and raw recruits should run, wlien their leader took them by surprise and set the example. The whole management of this expedition to invade Costa Eica was defectiye, and served to warn Americans from taking arms again under an incompetent leader, like Schlessenger, or reljdng for cooperation upon men without principle, experience, or patriotism. Schlessenger was caught, and tried by court-martial on two indictments, One was, that he had acted the traitor when Walker sent him as minister to Costa Rica, and that he betrayed his country to that government. The other was, cow- ardice in deserting the American army in that country. Before the court, however, had consum- mated the trial, Schlessenger suddenly disappeared, and joined the ranks of the enemy. After Schlesscnger's defeat by the Costa Ricans, no effort was made to impede their invasion of Nicaragua, and about three thousand concen- trated at Granada. The havoc of property, and the murder of wounded American citizens residing at Virgin Bay and San Juan del Sur, are among the acts of the most atrocious barbarity on record. The Americans, however, found some little redress for CENTRAL AMERICA. 197 these outrages, a few days later, when Col. Green, with but fifteen men, met two hundred Costa Ri- cans, killed twenty-seven and dispersed the remain- der, only losing one man and wounding two others of that little party of Americans. We next find the Costa Ricans entering the city of Rivas, on the 7th of April, to take possession. Gen. Walker, on hearing this at Granada, deter- mined to expel the enemy from Rivas ; and, with only five hundred men, including one hundred natives, he made preparations, in a single day^ to attack the enemy in their stronghold, with a prac- tised force of two thousand seven hundred men. With this democratic party, Walker surprised the enemy by coming in by a route which they had never suspected. But when the troops were seen, as they ascended the eminence to approach the city, the enemy poured do^\^l their batteries with tremen- dous violence, which the American forces returned with such fierce energy and rapidity, that in five minutes they had the entire possession of the plaza. The Costa Ricans fled to their barricades, and, concealing themselves for protection, continued to fire. Then, too, they had the advantage of a cannon, which made them more formidable. The 198 CENTRAL AMERICA. Americans, haA'ing none, determined to seize it. The design was no sooner formed than Lieut. Col. Sanders gave the order to fire on the Costa Ricans, and, regardless of danger, he and his brave fol- lowers rushed in and captured this fatal weapon of war. They took it to the corner of the plaza, and placed it under the management of Capt. McArdle, a ready and accomplished artillerist ; and" in a few minutes that engine, which was destined to destroy Walker's forces, was playing fatally over the enemy. Infuriated to madness, the Costa Ricans tried to recover their gun, but the Mississippi rifles drove them back to concealment. A body of these rifle- men now stationed themselves on a house-top, and during the engagement killed, at least, one hun- dred of the enemy. Seeing the American party invincible, the Costa Ricans, with three hundred remaining, retreated towards San Juan del Sur, where they were met with a reinforcement of two hundred and fifty from Virgin Bay. As soon as Gen. Walker was notified of their approach to San Juan del Sur, he sent a body of men to protect that part of the town in which the American rangers were stationed ; and after signal execution .on their part, the Costa Ricans again were repulsed, with CENTRAL AMERICA. 199 slaughter. More than one hundred dead bodies of the enemy were left to tell the story, while tiuo of the noblest of the democratic party became victims in this action, — Lieut. Morgan, of Gen. Walker's stafi', and Lieut. Doyle, of the army. This fighting was excessive, and showed the de- termined spirit by which the Americans were actu- ated. They fought from morning to night, and when the enemy ceased hostilities it was soon dis- covered to be a ruse to reinforce themselves. Lieut. Gay, who subsequently died from excessive exer- tion and useless exposure to danger, was the man to detect the trick ; and it was decided to rout the Costa Ricans from the place they so much coveted. Ten officers, beside three privates, armed with rifles and Colt's revolvers, equipped themselves for the expedition, and entered the building of the foe to determine on a plan of operation. As soon as they did, they gave the signal and fired, and drove the enemy to the fence without any loss, except a single wound upon one gallant ofliccr, Capt. Breek- enridge. The opposition was at least one hundred, but these thirteen Americans, Avith bullets flying all over them, persisted, and accomplished their 200 CENTRAL AMERICA. purpose of dislodging the enemy, without the loss of a single man, killed or AYOunded. The enemy still obstinately attempted to main- tain their ground, and in the continued action Capt. liueston was killed. Thirty of the enemy now paid the atoning penalty for this brave Ameri- can spirit who had fallen, and the remaining twelve carried such havoc into the Costa Rican ranks that they once more desisted, and sought safer quarters. Retreating and assaihng continued, until, after a loss of ten more of their number, the Costa Eicans again reached the old cathedral, from behind where they renewed the assault on the Americans. Lieut. Gay, who was in the first battle of Rivas, and in all the future engagements of Nicaragua, was now compelled to lay down his life. He Avho projected the engagement died in its triumph. The English and Germans held Minie rifles, which they used dexterously ; and it was by those foreign jacobins, who had joined the despot's party in Central America to put down liberty and tram- ple upon human rights, that most of our American citizens were killed. The Walker party, in this second Rivas engage- ment, was not one fourth as great in number as the CENTRAL AMERICA. 201 Costa Ricans. Beside, all the barricades and fort- resses AYere with the enemy. Gen. Walker, for hours, in this battle, moved about on horseback, un- moved and undismayed, reposing confidently upon the justice of his cause, and sustained continually by the sublimity of his victories. The staff of Gen. Walker demonstrated extraordinary courage and daring, and, with the exception of the brave Capt. Sutter, they all died gallantly and desperately as- serting the rights of human freedom. Col. Kenew, also the volunteer aid of Gen. Walker, was not less noted for his prowess in arms ; while the native force in this battle, under their distinguished leader, Col. Machado, who fell in the engagement, certainly deserved the highest commendation for their eminent courage. This engagement of the 11th of April, 185G, is one of the most remarkable in the history of Central America. The Costa Ricans had actually killed at least six hundred of their number ; how many wounded and deserted was never ascertained. Their quick retreat and abandonment of Rivas tell the unfortunate result to them. And now look at the disparity again. The Americans came off with 18 202 CENTRAL A^IERICA. fresli laurels, liaving had but thirty killed, and the same number wounded. By this time recruits came in numbers from l^ew Orleans, New York, and California, to reinforce the Americans by joining the Nicaraguan army, while public meetings in the United States, and the voice of the press, united in pseans of praise for the brave deeds of Americans on foreign soil. Hostilities now seemed to cease towards Gen. Walker by the northern states of Central America, and the proclamation of President Rivas was ac- cepted by San Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, in the most amicable spirit. The enlistment of soldiers was therefore stopped in these states, and the new levy ceased ; and, the Eivas government of Nicaragua being acknowledged, the surrender of that country to Anglo-Saxon liberty seemed to have been made. There are those, unquestionably, among us, who censure the idea of American expansion, and would squeeze the very thought from the minds of the people. But, Americans, you may search the records of history, in vain, to find that any people were ever condemned or dcfimed for their con- quests. Why have Ctcsar, Alexander, Charles the Fifth, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, been held in CENTRAL AMERICA. 203 admiration by the human race ? Simply because they extended their conquests into foreign territo- ries. And while American youth will study the histories of those heroes with interest and pleasure, they will never be inspired Avith enthusiasm for the opposite class of men. And this sympathy, in- stinctive with Americans, for any people struggling to he free, carried brave men to the Mexican army, to the Russian anny in the Crimea, as well as to Nicaragua, when they beheld their own countrymen, imbued with the true spirit of hberty, and nerved Avith Anglo-American energy, unsheathing the sword upon that soil to accomplish what years of blood- shed might not otherwise have done for that people. Walker has done for Nicaraguan liberty what La- fayette, De Kalb, Pulaski, Kosciusko, had done for American liberty, and for such considerations. "Who, then, can repress patriotic emotion, or deep sympathy for his triumph ? When the people of Nashville, Tennessee, the place of Walker's birth, heard of his brave deeds, they met to testify their joy, and l)ore witness to the singular purity of his character, and his high mental and moral endowments. They had watched his movements with filial solicitude, from the Che- 204 CENTRAL AMERICA. mora and Castellon reyolutions to the battle of Rivas, Tvhicli secured to Nicaragua independence ; and when it was demonstrated that Wallvcr had covered himself with glory, there was no measure to their generous admiration. After the battle of Costa Rica, on the 11th of April, to which the friends of liberty in the United States looked with so much apprehension. Gen. Walker, without ammunition, remained on the spot until next day, and then marched with music to Granada unmolested, leaving the Costa Ricans to evacuate the to^vn. And now, my countrymen, you may inquire whence the determined hostility of the Costa Ricans to the government of Nicaragua. It was the re- sult of British instigation to drive out the Ameri- cans, which English and French agents encouraged, after the government at Washington refused to accept ]\rr. French. When, then, the fortunes of Gen. Wallier seemed about to end, England made offers of thousands of her arms to prejudice the natives against Americans, and, if possible, to get the control of Central America. The conduct of the President of Costa Rica was unparalleled, in denying Americans the right to engage in foreign CENTRAL AMERICA. 205 service, and ordering them when taken prisoners in all cases to be shot. The attempt, then, of Costa Rica to control and prescribe the action of Ameri- cans, was enough to call upon every citizen of the land to bid our people " God speed " in Nicaragua. 18* CHAPTER IV. Is it nothing, Americans, to see a son of this soil opening two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land to the agricultural pursuits and industry of freemen who may choose to go there and occupy it ? Is it nothing to see two millions of people being regenerated from papal ignorance and degradation ? Is it nothing to see this portion of the Western world affording its facilities for commerce, by bring- ing together the extremes of trade, which will benefit mankind ? When we consider that British power nerved the Costa Ricans with twenty-five hundred fighting men, to punish Americans for bringing Nicaragua to the desire for independence, and that France and Spain aided the effort, what American would hesi- tate to give every proper encouragement to Walker? From the moment we acquired California, too, the isthmuses of Nicaragua and Panama have • been important to us. CENTRAL AMERICA. 207 In 1811, Congress declared the Temtory of Florida to be necessary to the United States, and passed a resolution to keep it out of the hands of foreign powers. On the 15th of January, the same day the President approved the act. Congress authorized Mr. Madison to take possession of that territory, and, if required, to use the anuy and navy of the country to defend it ; and such civil and judi- cial power was given as would protect Americans in all their rights of person, property, and religion. My countrymen, no effort was withheld by Eng- land to deprive this Union of Texas ; and, to pre- vent the acquisition of California, wliich she wanted to colonize, her squadron followed ours with a vigi- lant eye. ^Vhen, then, she saw Nicaragua almost in American arms, she set about aiding the Costa Ricans to put Americans down. Can we ever forget how England treated our fathers in their colonial independence ? And yet, what has added so much to her greatness as our nationality ? Had we never possessed California, England could never have penetrated the gold mines of Australia. "Wliat right, then, had she to interfere, because an American hero appeared by invitation in Nicaragua, to fix a higher glory upon his own glorious institu- 208 CENTRAL AMERICA. tions, wliicli open tlie main cliance alike to all the sons of the soil ? It was England's interference that dissolved the union of the Central American states in 1838, just as she is now attempting to separate these United States to-day by intrigue and treachery on the question of slavery, about which she cares nothing, but to use as an instrument of discord to destroy our beautiful system of government. England bound herself by treaty to abandon Central America ; and yet, in the face of her solemn engagement, she has maintained ascendency over the Mosquito territory, held on to the Bay Islands, and en- croached on Honduras ; and, two years after the Clayton and Bulwer treaty was ratified, we find the queen issuing a warrant to erect these islands into a British colony ! Now, Americans, do you not consider it right to extend the protection of your laws to a people who invite you to take up their cause ? Do you not, in the self-relying, self-denying spirit of your ances- tors, wish to see the principles of self-government, upon which they planted this confederacy, made impregnable to tyrants in other lands ? In this sense, every American is a pillar to support the CENTRAL AMERICA. 209 edifice of freedom, and to prepare this people for the perpetuity of Protestant liberty. Look at the length and breadth of our country, beginning ^vith a slip upon the Atlantic, and moving on until it has met the roar of the Pacific. We have. Mexico, nearly equal to our original dimensions. We have secured the territory of the West. And when we see what American energy and American princi- ples have already done in Central America, and consider how our own territory is to be defended, we have no reason to doubt that our stars and stripes will yet float over the Pacific gate of the Nicaragua transit ; because we cannot believe that Americans, now, will ever allow the key of the Gulf of Mexico to fi\ll into the hands of savages. They will not consent that the Central American states, essential to the commerce of the United States, shall ever be owned by their enemies. They will not allow any foreign power to arm Spanish colonists to murder their kinsmen ; which has been the work of European despotisms, who hate our interests, and tremble at the consequences of seeing Central America yield to Anglo-American intelligence, liberty, and laws. And, sooner than witness the unprovoked assault our people have 210 CENTRAL AIMERICA. sustained at Nicaragua and Panama, it ^yould be better far to repeal the neutrality laws, and let Americans defend their own personal rights. Gen. Walker intercepted the letters intended for the Consul General of Costa Rica in London, proving that England furnished arms to the ene- mies of Americans. Beside, the whole British West India squadron went to the San Juan del Norte to testify that government's sympathy, and is there still, because Americans stnick down the foe in Nicaragua, and defended the people who were panting for freedom. The route to CaUfornia was also endangered by the English squadron at the mouth of the river. Now, my countrymen, mark the Jesuit trick ! These bloody Costa Ricans never declared war at all against Nicaragua, but against the Americans in that state, thereby denying them the power to defend the rights of human freedom. Ameri- cans, then, were shot when taken, their houses burned, their bodies consumed to ashes ; and still, as citizens of the United States, claiming protection from no other government. Think you that our Washington, could he rise from the deep slumber CENTRAL AMERICA. 211 of the grave, would refuse his sympathy to the heroic Walker and his adherents ? Read his words ! On the 1st day of January, 1796, in reply to the minister of the French Republic, on the latter presenting- the colors of France to the United States, George "Washington pronounced these noble words: "Born, sir, in a land of liberty; having early learned its value ; having engaged in a perilous conflict to defend it ; having, in a word, devoted the best years of my life to secure its permanent establishment in my own countiy , — my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are iiTesistibly excited, when- soever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom." Had Gen. Walker taken possession of JSlcaragua merely to keep the peace, he would have been justified by the precedent and practice of other nations. At least three countries in Europe are now occupied by the foreign troops of England, France, and Austria. ^^ thing could exceed the enthusiasm of the people, as the stars and stripes were raised at the American legation ; and all the subsequent acts of Gen. Walker, after the estab- lishment of the Rivas government, and the acknowl- 212 CENTRAL AMERICA. edgment by tlie natives tliat he was their deliv- erer, confirms the prophecy of Padre Vijil, a few days before Walker entered Granada, when he said, " Our only hope now is in Heaven and Gen. Walker." Walker has been censured for the execution of Corral, most unjustly. Did not Corral himself select the Americans to try him, having no faith in his own countrymen ? And the two most intimate associates of Corral, who attended him to execu- tion, are now the warmest friends of Walker. AVlien the presidential election again came around, the candidates all sympathized with demo- cratic freedom ; but Walker was called, in prefer- ence to all others, to the presidency ; and, from the day of his inauguration, Nicaragua acquired a position, from which, we believe, she will never willingly recede. After the defection of Rivas, who, it is remembered, absconded with his cabinet on the 21st of June, Gen. Walker, in virtue of the authority placed in him by the treaty, appointed Fermin Ferrer president pro tempore ; and he, Rivas, and Salizar, all were candidates for the suf- frages of the people, as well as Walker. But, Avhile Walker was elected by nearly sixteen thousand CENTRAL AMERICA. 213 votes, the aggregate vote of the other three did not much exceed seven thousand. This election occurred the 10th of last July ; and, on the 12th, Walker took the oath of office. The ceremonies were very imposing. The Ameri- can flag and those of Nicaragua and France were in front of the stage, an open Bible and crucifix placed on it, and a cushion laid upon the floor, on which President Walker knelt reverently, and took the oath of office. On the platform sat the pro- visional President, Ferrer, the bishop. Col. AVlieeler, and some of the field officers and their staffs. An appropriate valedictory was delivered to the people by President Ferrer, and an inaugural by President Walker which would have honored any President of our own country, divested, as it was, of all use- less verbiage, all specious professions, but carrying an intuitive conviction into the minds of the people that they had at last found a man in whose integ- rity and honor they could confide. The assembly then proceeded to the church, according to their old custom, where the Te Deum was performed, with the usual ceremony of blessing the President, to which Walker submitted. Some may say, ""Why did he do this, being a genuine 19 214. CENTRAL AJIERICA. Protestant? " We answer, because reason and the Word of God justified the necessity of temporarily tolerating useless rites, which ignorance and papal prejudice had fastened upon the people. In this way he might hope to enlist their good-Vv'ill, and gradually develop the benign influences of light and liberty, and prepare that down-trodden race to discard the infatuation of Jesuit priests, and the consequent degradation to which they are subjected. And until the population of Central America, or anywhere else, shall haA^e become Americanized by Protestant faith, they are unfitted to tread the American soil as citizens ; and we earnestly dep- recate the idea of the annexation to our own terri- tory of a race of savage idolaters, as the greatest national calamity that could befall us. In all subsequent difficulties by which the safety of the government of Nicaragua and President Walker has been perilled, the same determined courage has signalized the man. He executed Salizar when he was proved a traitor, and issued an exequator to the British consul when he detect- ed his complicity. The want of resources, and the consequent desertion of American troops, have at times since looked fatal to republican hopes ; but, whatever may be the result, it is glorious to recount CENTRAL AIMERICA. 215 the brave deeds of Americans upon that foreign soil ; and it will ever invest it with interest, to know that it is enriched by the blood of American martyrs, which, ultimately, must germinate the eternal prin- ciples of truth and freedom. And, while we are astonished at the unequalled valor of our brave men in a foreign land, we find in their gallant and patriotic doings fresh evidences of the spirit with which they would meet the enemy on their own soil, if called to defend the national honor of their country, her rights, her altars, her homes, and her liberties. We deprecate war, and believe it is opposed to the benevolent principles of Christianity, and we trust no occasion shall ever arise to plunge us into its cruelties ; but, if this inevitable necessity should come, it is a blessing to feel that we are armed with brave defenders, millions of freemen, ready to repel the invader, and triumph mightily over the foe. Cen- tral America is yet in the mists of papal ignorance and delusion, through the influence and tyranny of a heartless, domineering priesthood, which must first be put down, and their power annihilated, before any free government can hope for permanent endurance, and the true sun of liberty rise to bless and gild the horizon of her hopes. REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIONS. CHAPTER I. Lamartine, in his history of the " Girondists," gives the thrilling incident of the tombs of the French kings, despoiled by the populace at St. Denis, who scattered their ashes and monuments to the winds. And the winds gave signs of a vir- tuous national feeling, as they moaned and sighed over the desecration of the dead. We are not now going to invade the mausoleum of our illustrious dead, to look at their vast fame, their sublime self-denial, or their firm patriotism ; but rapidly, as preliminary, to recur to the several administrations of the American government, from the days of Washington to those of Fillmore, be- fore we introduce that of the present executive, of Franklin Pierce ! General Washington was inaugurated President of this Union the 30th of April, 1789. The great ^j>-awi jr.l j:&aiu ■- i\ REVIEW. 217 and powerful opposition to the Constitution in several of the States then caused Congress to adopt sixteen amendments ; and ten of these' were approved by the Legislatures of the several States, in September of that year, and became part of the Constitution in 1791. Two other ar- ticles, adopted by the States, were made by sub- sequent Congresses, in 1794 and 1803, and also became part of the Constitution. The subjects of commerce and finance early en- grossed the attention of the first Congress, under Washington's administration ; and six months were required to frame the laws by which the government was to be administered. The power of appointment to and removal from office was strongly debated ; and, the Constitution being silent on removals, it was decided to be in the power of the President. The Cabinet of Wash- ington was not selected until September, 1789, four months after he was inaugurated. The office of Secretary of the Navy Avas established subse- quently, under Mr. Adams, in 1798. An opposition to the administration of Wash- ington was organized soon after he came to the presidency. His opponents were chiefly those who 19* 218 REVIEW. had opposed the Constitution, and called them- selves Republicans ; while the friends of the administration retained the name of Federalists. Hamilton and Knox sympathized with Wash- ington. Jefferson and Randolph opposed his ad- ministration. These four gentlemen composed his Cabinet. The last years of the first term of Washington's government were intensely exciting. He and his adherents were in favor of preserving friendly re- lations with Great Britain ; while Mr. Jefferson and the opposition declared sympathy for France. In this condition of affairs, weak and feeble, yet divided and distracted, nothing but the almost superhuman strength and wisdom of Washington saved the Union from destruction. At this crisis of public distrust, the leaders of both parties acted as patriots, and, rising above the excitement of party, insisted upon the reelec- tion of Washington ; while the people unanimous- Iv affirmed the wisdom of this decision, through the ballot-box. It was only on the Vice-President, then, that party feeling was exhibited ; and JNIr. Adams, the federal constitutional candidate, was elected REVIEW, 219 by twenty-seven majority over Governor Clinton, who carried New York for the republicans, and received fifty electoral votes. Aaron Burr, the third candidate, received four votes. Mr. Adams then had the support of all the Northern States, except New York ; and South Carolina was the only state south of Maryland that voted for him. In 1793, the second term of Washington's ad- ministration. Congress met in Philadelphia. The House elected a Speaker from the opposition. Jef- ferson resigned, as Secretary of State, the begin- ning of that term ; and Washington, having by experiment seen the effect of a mixed Cabinet, now selected one which agreed with him in the policy of administering the government. It is a singular fact, that all the representatives in Congress from Virginia opposed Washington's administration, except one or two members early in his first term. Washington and his Cabinet agreed, in liis sec- ond term, that this country had no right to take pa^t with France in her war against England ; and in April, 1793, issued the celebrated pro- clamation of neutrality, which has ever since 220 REVIEW. been the policy of this government with foreign powers. To give motion and effect to the Union was the great mission of Washington. He had never stud- ied a profession, — had not even begun the study of the classics. But for fifteen years before the Revolution he had been in the Legislature of Virginia, where he exercised his influence by soundness of judgment and readiness to act. He was never known to speak longer than ten min- utes in any deliberative body ; and in the con- vention which formed the Constitution he spoke but twice — once on taking the presidency, and again near the close, when he asked consent to change the ratio of representation in Congress. He communicated to Congress verbally, and not by written messages, as all the Presidents have done from the time of Mr. Madison. In the dis- cretionary power of the executive, Washington was wise and just. He never displaced any man for opinion, not even under the great party ex- citement about sympathy for France. Yet he preferred to give office to revolutionary patriots, because he knew them to be true Americans, and had tried them. REVIEW. 221 While iu the presidential office, public, and private credit was restored to the country ; all disputes between us and foreign nations were adjusted, except those with France ; and the pros- perity of the Union had arisen to remarkable emi- nence, notwithstanding all hostile opposition. He adhered tenaciously to his foreign policy, and finally overcame the popular clamor for France against England. His example stands replete with wisdom and devotion to the whole Union, and challenges the admiration of all parties to-day. His magnanimity, forbearance, his personal dig- nity, his construction of the Constitution, his sa- cred regard for it, his communications to Congress, and recommendations in regard to the Judiciary, Indian tribes, finance, the mint, as well as his demeanor to all the ministers and officers of the government, make him a model for all to imitate, who shall occupy his official position, or subscribe to the constitutional American principles which he inculcated and enforced. The policy of Mr. Adams' administration was, at first, regarded as identical with that of Wash- ington's. But the political acts of Mr. Adams rendered him very soon unpopular with the feder- 222 REVIEW. alists, though they were stronger in Coiigress than under Washington. Mr. Adams quarrelled with his cabinet, and dismissed Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, and Mr. McHenry, Secretary of War, from office. In May, 1800, he appointed John Marshall, of Vir- ginia, Secretary of State, and Samuel Dexter, of Massachusetts, Secretary of War. Benjamin Stod- dard, of Maryland, in 1798, went into his cabinet, as first Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Adams's administration was renowned for party strife ; for the dispute between France and the United States, which he settled against the federal policy ; for the organization of the navy ; for the passage of the alien and sedition laws, and for causing the down- fall of his party at the end of four years. In 1800, the seat of government was removed to Washington, and Mr. Adams made his last annual speech in the new capitol. Mr. Jefferson's administration, from 1801 to 1809, was distinguished by the acquisition of Louisiana, the surveys of the coast, the exploring expedition of Lewis and Clark across the continent, advantageous Indian treaties, the embargo and other restrictions on commerce, the trial of the REVIEW. 223 gun-boat system, the reduction of the navy, and successful hostilities with the Barbary powers in the Mediterranean. Mr. Jefferson was sustained, throughout his administration, by Congress. He removed and appointed at pleasure ; displacing always federal- ists for republicans. The leading measure of Mr. Madison's adminis- tration was war with England, which made our present nationality, established a system of finance, including a National Bank, revised the tariff on imports, and provided for paying the national debt. He made wise recommendations to Congress for the true interests of the country, and was uniformly sustained by the republican majority in both houses. Mr. Madison revived the custom of stated public levees at the White House, which had been abolished by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Monroe's administration was styled the " era of good feeling." Party acerbity had died out, and the people were absorbed in public pros- perity. Florida was acquired by treaty with Spain under his administration ; the independence of the South American States recognized ; the national debt was reduced, and the revenues increased. 224 REVIEW. When John Quincy Adams came into power, in 1825, party spirit again arose more fiercely than ever before, and the opposition concentrated upon General Jackson. Mr. Adams was sustained eighteen months in Congress by a majority ; after that, the opposition were in the ascendant, in both branches. The peace of the country, however, was not interrupted ; commerce flourished, and foreign and domestic matters were well conducted. The attempt to get free trade with the British West Indies failed ; but the resources of the coun- try were developed by his policy, internal improve- ments advanced, and the tariff was revived. Thirty millions of the public debt were paid ; five millions were appropriated to pension officers of the Revolu- tion. Fourteen millions were expended beside, to benefit the country. Mr. Adams made but few removals from oCQce, which, however beneficial to the public interest, contributed to his defeat. General Jackson's administration followed, and will ever be one of deep interest to the people, and of mark upon the age. Under his administration, the national debt was extinguished, the people returned to specie cur- rency. REVIEW. 225 He refused to sanction a re-cliarter of the United States Bank, and removed tlie public deposits from its vaults, wliicli effected its destruction. He vetoed Mr. Clay's Land Bill, and other internal improvement bills. General Jackson's friends claim that he arrested extravagant speculations, but they have failed to furnish the proof. Mr. Van Buren's administration carried out General Jackson's views of the Sub-Treasury, and continued his cabinet in ofl&ce. He made but few changes and appointments. His administration was supported by a majority in the Senate, but was sometimes in a minority in the lower House of Congress. Under his adminis- tration, in 1837, one thousand financiers, mer- chants, manufacturers, ship-owners, broke down in New York, in less than three weeks, and forty thousand more throughout the country. Failures were thus caused to the amount of five hundred millions ! and involved the banks and the States themselves for several following years. In this great reversion of trade and finance, the social calamity of the country was unparalleled. The wealthy fell to penury. Widows and orphans, left with a competency, were driven to want. 20 226 EE\^Ew. Honest working men, who supported their wives and children upon their daily wages, were thrown out of employment. The savings of years were swept off at a blow, and the prospects of many were ruined forever. Americans, you will reasonably inquire, What caused this financial, commercial and social revo- lution ? It was the mercenary spirit of Van Buren's administration, which had, for years before, infused its poison over the entire country. It was Van Buren's administration which made the first over- tures to the political Roman Catholic Church. It was the shameful recklessness of his partisans to procure votes which caused the public plunder under his administration, and became paramount to commerce, finance, manufactures, justice and honor. William L, Marcy was the leader then, whose cardinal creed has been to plunder the public treasure, when in power. John Tyler's administration was noted for vetoes of National Bank bills, and other measures on which General Harrison had been elected Presi- dent. Through the energy and ability of Mr. Webster the North-Eastern Boundary question REVIEW. 227 was amicably adjusted with England. Texas was annexed by Congress, and its final admission into the Unipn as a State was the last act of his ad- ministration. A revision of the tariff occurred at that period ; and the Whig majority in Congress, with which he went into office, was superseded by large Democratic majorities, the last two years of his administration. James K. Polk's epoch was marked by the war with ]\Iexico, and the consequent annexation of California and Xew Mexico, the settlement of the Oregon question with the English government, the establishment of a Sub-Treasury, a revision of the tariff on imports, with ad valorem duties, a ware- house policy, and also the Department of the Inte- rior was created. Mr. Polk's Democratic majority in the first Congress under his administration, yielded to a small Whig majority in the last two years of his administration. Millard Fillmore came into office upon the death of President Taylor, in the summer of 1850. The Compromise measures were then passed, and the slavery agitation checked. California was admit- ted as a State. The Texas boundary was settled. Public confidence was restored. Commerce pros- 228 REVIEW. perecl ; peace prevailed ; and his administration spread universal contentment among all classes of the people. No internal dissensions agitated the public mind. A large surplus was idle in the treas- ury, and his administration shed untarnished lustre over the whole country. Under these brilliant national advantages, Mr. Fillmore left the presiden- tial office, followed by the respect, confidence, and gratitude of the American people, who had reason to bless the providence of God, which interposed for their deliverance, in making him President. Mr. Fillmore came into power with both houses of Congress in the opposition, and calmly and steadily held the helm of the government, unaided by that prestige. And now, Americans, in taking this hasty but authentic survey of the several administrations of the general government, you cannot but remark how much the character of the 7nan has to do with that of his administration. Take the social, moral, intellectual, and politi- cal character of Washington, as he entered upon the government ; dwell upon the actions of his administration ; compare its results and bearings, while he looked abroad, to the protection of all the REVIEW. 229 interests and rights of the people. Follow on successively to Fillmore, and judge who possesses more suitahle qualifications, more personal integ- rity, higher sense of national honor and patriotism, to fill the elevated office, after Washington, of the chief magistrate of the nation. The name of Fill- more will adorn the page of our American history, and be transmitted to posterity as one of the most successful and illustrious successors of Washington. On the 4th of March, 1853, when Franklin Pierce assumed the government of these United States, the whole world was at peace. England, France, Austria, and Prussia, were quiet. Hun- gary had been split in pieces, and was prostrate. Italy was lying unresistingly at the feet of the papal throne. Nicholas was studying the expan- siveness of Anglo-American liberty ; and nothing remained to remind Europe of the convulsions of '48 and '9 but some pending negotiations between the Sultan of Turkey and the Czar. In Asia there was the same still monotony. In Africa, Liberia was flourishing under practical Clu-istian beneA'O- lence ; thouii'h England had demonstrated her hypocrisy by assaulting Algiers, silencing Egypt and Morocco, and leaving the Cape of Good Hope 20* 230 REVIEW. to an intestine war. In 1852, Franklin Pierce received the nomination of the Democratic Balti- more Convention, and stood erect upon the middle plank of that platform as its Union candidate ! He had zealously labored to obtain the nomina- tion, and, in a contest for the selection among so many leaders of that party, his friends had long cherished the idea that there was hope of the ob- scure New Hampshire candidate, upon the princi- ple of compromise and the Union. Twenty dele- gates in all had, by stratagem, been secured for Pierce in that Convention, as a reserved corps; and for days before it convened in .Baltimore, out- side influences were zealously engaged in the at- tempt to swell that number. In the mean while Mr. Pierce was at home, pre- paring to " surprise " himself by writing a letter, declaring, in the face of the fact, as his friends knew, that he was not before the Convention. Believing he was honest in his love for the Union, twenty-seven states voted for him. And the people rendered a verdict in favor of Democracy unparal- leled since the days of Mr. Monroe ; giving Frank- lin Pierce 254 electoral votes out of the 29G which were then cast for the Presidency ! REVIEW. 231 Never, since the Declaration of Independence, had the Union numbered so many adherents ; and even the opponents of Mr. Pierce acquiesced, on the o'round that it was a 2:lorious decision of the American people, not for Franklin Pierce, but for the Union and the compromise upon which he had been elected. They had nailed our flag tp the mast of liberty, and it floated gracefully in the national breeze. On the 4th of March, 1S53, Mr. Pierce assumed the official duties of Chief Magis- trate of the United States. The people honestly believed that it was theii' sovereign voice that had called him to that post. But Mr. Pierce, who knew more of the particulars of his own nomina- tion and election, and the fraud which had secured both, attributed his success mainly to the foreign vote of the Roman Catholic Church, for which he had most unscrupulously sold himself to secure his election. For this purpose, he received the aid of his adroit friend, Hon. James Buchanan, of Penn- sylvania, who made the bargain with the foreign hierarchy, and is now the so-called Democratic candidate for the succession. When Mr. Pierce was called upon by the Chief Justice to swear " to preserve, protect, and defend 232 REVIEW. the Constitution," it is said he discarded the time- honored fashion of all our former Presidents, and said, " I solemnly affirm ; " and instead of rever- ently kissing the Blessed Word, as all his prede- cessors had done, he merely raised his right hand and held it aloft, in the presence of the spectators, uutil.the pledge was given. Thus his first act was [in ohsequiousness to the Romish hierarchy, to propitiate which he insulted the feelings of Protestants, who regard as sacred God's eternal Book. But the nation was jubilant with joy. Ilis inaugural was filled to overflowing with love for the Union. He announced that every citizen should be protected, from one end of it to the other ; that on every sea and on every soil where our enterprise might rightfully carry the American flag, there American citizenship should be an invio- lable pledge for the security of American rights. He pledged himself to the doctrine that while national expansion was inherent to our existence as a nation, it was only to be accomplished in accordance with - good faith and national honor ; and was, therefore, opposed to any unlawful attempt to seize Cuba by force, however desirable its acqui- REVIEW. 233 sition. He declared, as a fundamental principle, that American rights rejected all foreign coloniza- tion on this side of the Atlantic. He spoke of the army and navy, and of the great reserve of the national militia, as sacredly to be cherished. He declared that integrity and rigid economy should be the watchwords in all the departments of the government ; that the offices of the country should be considered solely in reference to the duty to be performed ; that good citizens who filled them might expect, and should claim, the benefit of his government ; that he had no implied engagements to ratify, no resentments to remember, no personal wishes to consult, in his selections for office ; and therefore the people must not recognize any claim to office for having voted for him ! He announced two great principles of constitutional doctrine, on the rights of the states separately, and their com- mon rights under the Constitution. He declared it the duty of each one of the states to respect the rights of every ' one of the states, and citizens thereof, and the obligations of the general govern- ment to protect these. He affirmed it as his solemn creed, and with an air of assumed energy and bold- ness, that involuntary servitude, as it existed in 234 REVIEW. differPiit sections of the Union, was an admitted constitutional right ; and that the Compromise laws weve to be kept inviolate in the spirit of national fraternity between the North and the South. He declared this to be the test of loyalty to the American Union. In a word, Pierce entered the presidency pledged to principles on which the Union was founded ; pledged to the compromises of the constitution ; pledged to protect American citizens in all their rights and privileges ; pledged to go for an extension of our republic only when it could be done in an honorable way, and at a proper time ; pledged to retrenchment and reform in all the departments of the government ; pledged to protect all the governmental officials who were faithful to the duties of their office, without reoard to party considerations. But, in spite of all these promises of the inaugural, our republic, the great safeguard of democratic freedom, soon felt the pressure of faithless fratricidal hands. The Union ngain became the common battle-ground. The altar fires were kindled by agitation and civil dis- cord. The canker at the root of our domestic peace became the curse to array man against man, state against state, the North against the South ! REVIEW. 235 And the people soon saw that Gesler, or one of the Tavf|uins, vrould have been as well suited to head the American army in the place of Washing- ton, as was Franklin Pierce to administer this government in the spirit of his supposed love of the Union, and on which alone, regardless of his want of natural or adventitious greatness, he had been elected to office. His Cabinet, instead of judicious advisers, be- came his abettors in evil. The people tried to for- get the antecedents of the members of his Cabinet, which seemed at once to portend disaster, and they silently acquiesced, without a murmur from their devoted lips. The press, which had been the great instrument of bringing the administration into power, still insisted, after it had been chosen, that Pierce was not the man " to keep the promise to the ear, and break it to the hope." At the North and the South, collectors, mail-agents, and the post- officers, disunion men were invariably selected; and the anti- American principle was soon apparent in government patronage at home and abroad. He sent Gadsden, of South Carolina, — who had advo- cated the dissolution of the Union, — as Minister to Mexico. He removed Grayson, of Carolina, 236 REVIEW. who went for it, and put Colcock in his place, who had counselled taking arms against the general government. He gave the consulship of Havana to Clayton, of Mississippi, who was defeated before the people because he went for disunion. He sent Trousdale, of Tennessee, to Brazil, who had been defeated before the people on the same issue. He gave Borland, who opposed the compromise, the mission to Central America. He sent Soule, a French Jacobin, and a disunionist, to Spain ; and sent men to Denmark and Sardinia holding the same sentiments. When Americans remember that it was from the rejection of Mr. Slidell, as Minister to Mexico, pending the Texas annexation, that the Mexican war arose, they can judge with what expectations Mr. Soule went to Spain. AJiUibustcro, with fif- teen millions, and war for Cuba ! Mr. Belmont, another foreigner, an agent for the Rothschilds, was sent to represent our govern- ment at tlie Hague. He was a successful financier in Wall-street, New York. And it has never been denied that he gave a large amount of money to elect Pierce, with the stipulation that he should have his present place to give the Rothschilds REVIEW. 237 certain political iiiilLiuiico in American affairs. Belmont was ex-consul for Austria ; and when Mr. Webster droA'c off Ilulseman, that inveterate foe to our institutions, this foreign minister left Belmont in charge of his official duties, to act for him. It is a well-established fact that Austria takes the lead in Europe in conspiring against American liberty, in connection with the Romish hierarchy. Thus, without a single sympathy with democratic republican freedom, we are nominally represented by a foreign aristocrat. Mr. Robert Dale Owen, at Naples, a socialist from Indiana, who conducted a paper in connection with that infidel virago, Fanny Wright, was sent to the court of Naples. The talent of the country was largely at the command of Mr. Pierce. He needed men, Ameri- can patriots, to protect the republican principle abroad, more than ever before ; men, to protect our citizens, and to see that their interests and their rights were duly regarded, and our commer- cial and political advantages secured. Louis Napoleon was known to be watching and plotting against us. He had practised iniquitous exactions on American vessels, put enormous duties 21 238 REVIEW. on American produce, and excluded Americans from the shores of France, while we were encouraging Frenchmen to come to our own. Under these cir- cumstances we needed a chief magistrate who had energy and spirit to look into these matters, — one who would insist on the reduction of tonnage, cus- tom-house duties, and produce rates which corres- pond with those put upon their subjects by us ; and in all our foreign embassies we required repre- sentatives of the first respectability for talent, moral character, and intelligence, who would transmit correct information on all subjects which concerned the nation, that it might understand whether the diiference was for or against Americans, — in short, that it might understand how America, in every aspect, stands ahead, by the facts and statistics. It was not until late in July following the advent of Mr. Pierce, that a single appointed diplo- mat left our shores ; the government all the while paying two sets of representatives. Kossuth, even, assails the administration for this, and calls it " a degradation of national dignity, bordering upon the ridicule, if not the contempt, of the civil- ized world." For six months the "spoils" en- grossed the entire attention of the administration. REVIEW. 230 Mr. Pierce was determined to eject from office every opponent of his policy — to allow no liberty of political opinion contrary to his own. He gleaned the states of every vestige of opposition iu those dependent on him, in order to gratify his selfish mind. Not a fifty-dollar office under the government escaped his vigilant eye. Mr. Campbell, the Postmaster General, had been a candidate for judgeship, under the first election for that office, by the people in Pennsyl- vania. The bar of Philadelphia, city and county, knew him well, and they came out, over their own signatures, and declared his unfitness. But Mr. Buchanan had bargained with the Romish hierarchy to make this man a member of the Cabinet, on which condition the Jesuits had prom- ised to make him successor to Pierce ; and hence all the true and good men of Pennsylvania were set aside to make way for this Jesuit to fill the high and responsible office of Postmaster General. When the Democrats of Pennsylvania heard it, they addressed a letter to Pierce, and earnestly remon- strated ; but he had been guided by Buchanan's dictation ; the Pope had signified acceptance of his appointment ; and not the united voice of the 240 REVIEW. Democracy in all the States, or Mr. Pierce's wish to the contrary, could then have prevented it. In spite of his incompetency, Campbell was appointed by Mr. Pierce to satisfy the Roman Catholic Church. The political value of every post-office in this country was then sought out, and laid before Campbell, by his agents, who were sent into the states when the office was too obscure to bring the applicant to Washington. To be opposed to the American creed, and to act out Popish big- otry, have been the cardinal principles on which he started into office ; thus establishing a system of espionage upon all the mailable matter of the American people, in exact conformity with the established usage of the Eoman Catholic countries of Europe. In the custom-houses, weighers, gangers, tide- waiters, messengers, and watchmen, were required to be true to Mr. Pierce, and were removed for loyalty to the Union and the American policy. The New York collector was addressed by official letter, from the Secretary of the Treasury, interfer- ing with the politics of that state, and requiring him to provide for the especial friends of the administration. This called forth popular indig- REVIEW. 241 nation over the land. And Mr. Bronson, acting ont the independence of an American, was dis- placed from office. This same financier, at the head of the Treasury, declared that "no man stood, at that day, so high before the American people as Mr. Pierce, save and except one, the immortal Washington ! " This sycophancy vras a subject of perfect ridicule to the American people. The energy and enterprise of our merchants have built up foreign commerce. They have augmented our imports and exports, and opened new channels of communication for our benefit. They are best fitted for the revenue and postal service of the country, but they have been always overlooked, under this administration, for politi- cians without standing or eminence. The diplo- matists abroad have been, and are, under this administration, men generally of this class, both ministers and consulates. The latter, except at Liverpool and Havana and a few other places, are so inadequately paid by fees, that their time is given to private enterprise and speculation for personal advantage, while the commerce of the country is almost totally neglected. Italians, Irish, Germans, Frenchmen, have been largely 21* 242 REVIEW. benefited by this class of appointments, under Mr. Pierce, to the detriment of tlie country. Small men, everywhere, were put into ofiice ; men who " spat upon the platform," like the President, and yet called it the gospel of their political faith. In less than twenty days after Mr. Pierce went into office, he was declared the vacillating tool of his Cabinet, who governed instead of advised, directed instead of consulted him. On the 30th of November, nine months after he swore, before God and his country, to sustain the compromise measures of 1850, wdiicli gave immortality to Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, he publicly ignored them, through the columns of the " Union,'' his organ at Washington ; and declared that the course of this government would not be in accordance with the "laws of adjustment" of 1850 ! That compact which had been, in the judgment of the country, above party, above intrigue, above political bar- gaining, and solemnly held sacred, had been ridi- culed, despised, and set aside, and the flood-gates of turmoil and political contention opened again ^ all over the land ! What contrition, what confes- sion, what penance, can cover tliis iniijuity and wipe out this foul stigma of Franklin Pierce ? He REVIEW. 243 gave our secrets to our enemies, and then parted with our national honor ! This is a deep and burn- ing shame ! Contemning the moral sentiments of the country by which he was elevated, he thus counteracted all the fruits of Mr. Clay's patriotism, and that of his associates in 1850. And all moral obligation of the government being now repudiated, it had no other acknowledged principle than that of public plunder. Before the next meeting of Congress an article appeared in Mr. Pierce's organ, which threatened the action of the Senate on his appointments ; and declared to the senators that except a vote for rejectioji was given on valid, sound, and tenable grounds, ^^ they should have reason for personal and political regret forever.'' For the first time in our national history were senators of Congress ever menaced by a President ! Louis Napoleon of France, nor Victoria of England, could dare to do so much ! It was not enough to interfere with the local politics of the free states through his cabinet, nor to remove every postmaster who loved the Union ; but by a complicity between the President and his Union organ, he defies and threatens the very men whom the constitution 244 REVIEW. empowers to pass sentence on his acts, and without whose concurrence the most of these acts would be nullities. It had a degree of absolutism which be- longed only to the Bey of Tunis, or the Roman hierarchy ; for nothing like it ever before eman- ated from an American President, or an independ- ent press. Congress met in December, 1853, with very large democratic majorities in both houses, reach- ing one hundred in the House of Representatives. The Clerk was, therefore, selected to suit the Presi- dent's choice. The outside influence was unusu- ally great, and the contingent fees of several hun- dred thousand dollars at the discretion of the Clerk was at least a circumstance, at that period. The Doge of Venice, by custom, marries that city to the sea ; but the sea rolls as free as before. So the people who had cast their votes for Pierce were not to be bound by the ceremony of the act of his election, and they no longer felt it an obli- gation to support his administration. They saw he had got in on a false issue ; that he was an em- bodied falsehood, and nothing more. Proof was now adduced which fixed another item of fact in Mr. Pierce's history, viz., that he had sympathized REVIEW. 245 with the election of Martin Van Buren, in 1848, instead of General Cass, the nominee of the party to which he professed attachment. — That he did write a letter in reply to an invitation to attend a convention of Van Burcn's friends, in New York, favorable to his election, which was in the hands of an ojQTice-holder, and was known to the public as the scarlet letter, on account of its treachery. — That the parties, being in office under Mr. Pierce, were delicately situated, and, while they confessed to the fact, did not expose it. — And that, not one only, but various letters were acknowledged to exist of the same import; while the "Patriot," Mr. Pierce's organ in New Hampshire, and known to reflect his sentiments, had steadily opposed the Compromise, until it was about to be made the law of the land. The whole course of Mr. Pierce was an open and full confession that he had not the moral honest)^ or the physical courage to stand to the principles on which he was elected. At a time when, to prevent the absorption of Turkey by Russia, we needed a man of power to speak the sentiments of the United States, and to establish a new Christian power at Constantinople, 246 REVIEW. a third-rate Baltimore lawyer was sent to represent our government. At China, too, we wanted men familiar with the detail of trade, and possessing an intimate knowledge of the condition of things on the Pacific. But, while we needed a repre- sentative man, one of similar grade was sent there. Circulars regulating the dress of our foreign ambassadors seemed more to engross the adminis- tration than matters affecting the great interests of the country. Buchanan and Sandford alone followed the orders of the Secret^ ^y of State ; and, it being a novel circular, it attracted some attention. The Senate committee on foreign relations de- sired to know what directions were given to diplomatists about getting admission in the costume of Franklin. In answer to Mr. Mason, the chair- man of the Senate committee, Marcy proposed a repeal of the costume order, and counselled a "masterly inactivity." In the face of all the gold from California and Australia, the credit of the country was soon forced by the administration beyond its natural bounds ; and the same havoc as that which occurred under Van Buren, in 1837, when the government was plundered by officers of millions, in the name of REVIEW. 247 the States, was seen to he approaching. The Secretary of the Treasnry bought up securities with bonds of the government, which had fifteen years to run, and shipped the specie to Europe in payment of evidences of debt in that quarter, when there was not the slightest necessity, thus fixing an enormous amount as the price by which government bonds should be redeemed. Paper circulation increased beyond that under Van Bu- ren, in 1837. All sorts of credit expanded. Im- ports were swelled from thirty to fifty millions. And by the mismanagement of the surplus reve- nues of the government, in connection with the abstraction of specie to send to Europe, came the terrible crash to credit, commerce, and manufac- tures, in 1854 and 1855, when so many honest operatives, men and Avomen, were starving in the streets, and compelled to accept public charity. In the mean while, sectional agitations were within, and foreign relations threatened without. The administration, instead of advocating the use of money from the treasury, recommended land grants, and this has caused such plunder and spoil, such plucldng and snapping up of the public lands. The Gadsden Treaty with Mexico caused the 248 REVIEW. outlay of twenty millions, wliich excluded us from the rich silver mines of Chihuahua, and served no better purpose than to set up Santa Anna in Mex- ican style. The distribution of the spoils, the appointments of partisans, and the interference in the local politics of the States to defeat the free will of the people, had rendered Pierce's administration odi- ous, and surprised even its worst enemies by its enormities, when the Koszta letter of Marcy was written to make a show of its adherence to Ameri- can nationality. This act of vindication was done after Koszta had been released by Capt. Ingraham, aided and supported by Mr. Brown. But the best evidence of sincerity in this declaration Avas fur- nished four weeks subsequent to that letter, when three American citizens, Wm. Freelum, Wm. Ai- kins, and Harvey C. Parks, sailors, were confined in prison at Havana. These three men sailed from New York, in the bark Jasper, on a trading voyage to Sierra Leone. The ship was diverted from its proper channel of trade without the ngen- cy of these poor sailors ; and, to escape British cruisers, she was finally burnt to the water's edge. These three men, in landing for supplies, were put REVIEW. 249 on a Spanish war schooner, Ilabanero, and taken to Havana and lodged in Punta prison. The case was laid before the government at Washington in July, 1853. One was an Irishman, another a Scotchman, the other an American, but all citizens of the United States. But they were only sailors, and could exert no influence for Mr. Pierce's government ; and, so far from acting on their case, the administration did not ^even inquire into the matter ! And this is Mr. Pierce's inaugural pro- tection ! Capt. Gibson was also treated shamefully at Sumatra by the Dutch. He asked redress of the national government in vain. " Is he worth pro- tecting?" is and has been the rule of action. AVhen the press made this apparent in Gibson's case, and not before, he received some considera- '? tion in his behalf. Again, there was Frederick Wiechee, a Saxon, who came to the United States in 1851, remained some time, and returned tempo- rarily to Leipsic, in Germany, where he sufTercd imprisonment, but finally escaped. The case was exactly parallel with that of Koszta ; yet the administration, who professed a will to protect the one, refused to interfere with the other. Williams 22 250 REVIEW. and Miller, American citizens, were defrauded and injured by the government of Granada, and Miller was imprisoned for claiming his just rights under that government. The matter was laid before the administration without eliciting any attention. All the above cases illustrate the value of the promise of protection in the Inaugural Address. In the summer of 1853, Bishop Hughes, a political Jesuit and demagogue, had the steamer Michigan placed at his disposal at Mackinaw, which actually conveyed this foreign Roman pre- late from place to place on business of the Romish hierarchy ; thus using a government vessel, at the government's expense, to gratify the arrogant vanity of this liege subject of the Pope of Rome ! It presented to the citizens and true patriots of America a most degrading example of the abject sycophancy to which a President of the United States would stoop to get the patronage of this intermeddling Jesuit, and, through him, the votes of the body of the Irish papists. A question arises here. lias the President a right to employ United States vessels, and the treasure of the country, for such personal and sinister purposes? No — it is an outrage on the rights of the people, and a gross REVIEW. 251 f insult to the nation. Tlie same steamer, afterwards, was placed at the disposal of the Pope's Nuncio, Bedini, who travelled with Bishop Hughes. He came with congratulatory letters to Pierce from the Pope. The Pope sent Bedini, not to represent his government here, but to see to the church, and further its papal interests in the United States. To fasten on this nation of freemen its corrupt dogmas and despotism was the sole object of the Nuncio. Pierce did all in his power to facilitate that mission, and caused Captain Bigclow to dis- honor tlie American flag, by publicly escorting the Jesuit butcher who had condemned that noble patriot, Ugo Bassi, to be flayed alive and then shot, for no other crime than a sympathy for republican liberty in Italy. Early in January following the advent of ]\Ir. Pierce, the "Nebraska Bill," intended to repeal the great compromise effected chiefly by the efforts of the illustrious statesman, Henry Clay, in 1850, was concocted by Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Pierce, and reported to the Senate by the .former. The whole country, which by the previ- ous adjustment of 1850 had settled down in peace. 252 REVIEW. was suddenly taken by surprise. No one dreamed of tlie compromise being disturbed, and that the triumph of Mr. Clay, and the tranquillity happily secured by him over the country, were soon to come to an end. This measure, so suddenly sprung upon the country, aroused a feeling of the highest indig- nation. It opened anew the slavery discussion and agitation from one end of the country to the other. It sundered political affiliations, and broke the old established parties of Whig and Democrat into fragments. There were no Franklins, as at the adoption of the constitution, no Websters, Clays, or Calhouns, as in 1850, to calm the troubled waters. Pierce said, in his first message, in relation to the com- promise, that "the repose secured to the country by acquiescence of distinguished citizens should receive no shock during his presidential term." Yet, the moment an undue sectional influence was exerted, and an opportunity presented to his per- sonal ambition, he trampled on the high and sacred pledge of his official station, and thus disappointed the just expectation of the people, by disturbing their tranquillity on a subject so absorbing and agitating as the repeal of the Missouri compromise. REVIEW. 253 What added to the indignation of the country was the fact that Mr. Pierce changed his position from a national President to a narrow politician, and abused the patronage of his office by creating discord both in and out of Congress ; in encourag- ing his intemperate partisans, and bringing for- ward men, North and South, who labored to pro- mote dissension. The magnitude of our national growth, our territorial expansion, our shipping, our foreign intercourse, had been checked and lowered by thrusting men into power who had discredited us abroad, and injured our social position, and our country, in the eyes of enlightened foreigners. Men, devoid of political honesty, who could do mean work for the party in their own State, were sure to succeed. Office-holders have been made to do slaves' labor under this dynasty. Taxed to support the party and carry the elections of the States, they were sent adrift, as soon as any party defection was discovered, although without busi- ness or calling, and unfitted to compete with pri- vate enterprise. It has been proved, by statistics, that more suffering and want have been experienced by those " crushed out " of official employment, by 99* 254 REVIEW. Pierce, than under all tlie previous administrations of the government since it was adopted. When Mr. Webster was Secretary of State, he insisted that all contracts in a foreign land should be enforced by the United States Consuls, whether money, marriage, or business ; and required marriage to conform to the legal mode of the country in which it was celebrated. The certificate of our Consul at Bremen in rela- tion to marriage was made in conformity with the Senate of that country, and was the only expedi- ent the emigrant could adopt to meet the requisi- tions of the New York authorities. Without any investigation, the administration declared it good cause for removing the consul who liad aranted such certificates. This regulation was a judicious act of Mr. Filhnore's administration, to enforce vir- tue among the immigrant population who were thronging to our shores. In one year we find Mr. Pierce and his admin- istration condemned by the American people, with the exception of his particular adherents. He had refused to protect American citizens abroad ; he had interfered with Cuba, by sending a for- eign red republican to the court of Madrid, who REVIEW. 255 got into a duel about a coat, as of paramount importance to war ! He had appointed an Aus- trian aristocrat to represent us at the Hague ; and various other foreigners to personify our nationality before foreign powers, and declare this nation's mission ; besides scores of domestic poli- ticians, without character, learning, or manners. He had deliberately abjured the compromise laws, and declared that his government would not abide the work which Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and tliat host of worthies, in 1850, had wisely framed to give peace and permanence to the Union. He had threatened the Senate of the United States with his official vengeance if they dared to reject his appointments to ofiice. He had been proved to have been, five years before his election, an enemy to the political party which elected him, by sup- porting Van Buren in the place of General Cass, the nominee of the Democratic party. And he selected for office the three men who had constituted the committee, held in the city of New York, in 1848, to aid the election of Martin Van Buren. He had made Van Buren's administration, called the " Spoils Cabinet," the model for imitation ; having Van Buren's old leader as Secretary of 256 REVIEW. state, to provide for bis particular friends and dispute about tbe pbmder. He imitated tbat " Spoils Cabinet" in extravagant expenditures of tbe government, and in appointing an inexperi- enced financier as Secretary of tbe Treasury ; the effect of wbicb was, tbe terrible crusb to credit, commerce, and labor of tbe country, in '54 and '55. At a time wben tbese and tbe social condition of tbe country were in peril, Mr. Gutbrie inflicted a blow upon tbe nation by buying up, to an unex- ampled amount, tbe securities of tbe government, and sending tbe specie to Europe. Tbe issuing of millions upon millions of bonds, witbout a basis of payment, was wbat caused England's terrible revulsion in 1825, and wbicb sbould bave been a warning to our government. Our relations with Mexico, our relations with Spain, tbe fisbery ques- tion, were all set aside by tbe administration to practise its political sagacity in tbe local politics of tbe several States. Tbe versatile genius of Mr. Cusbing, tbe Attorney General, wbo bad sbifted from tbe AVbigs to Jobn Tyler, from Tyler to tbe Coalitionists, and from tbem to Pierce, was em- ployed to interfere witb tbe politics of jNIississippi as well as those of Massachusetts ; and this polit- REVIEW. 257 ical interference he called an " administration meas- ure," to defeat the Union candidate. A similar action occurred to secure disunion leaders in Geor- gia and Alabama. In New York, it had removed an honorable and high-minded collector for having selected men to fill offices under him who were true to the Union. This brought down the denun- ciation of her Dickinson, her Maurice, her Cooley, and other distinguished patriots. In the forty or fifty thousand offices of the coun- try Mr. Pierce has made loyalty to the administra- tion the sole test of merit. The spoils of millions have been used to corrupt the country and foster agitation ; and the nomination and election of Franklin Pierce, by the preceding course of his political managers, evidently proved a fraud upon the country, which had been grossly deceived. Worthless Mexican treaties, absorbing millions of money, were wantonly made by the administra- tion. It created the most extraordinary plunder among the public lands, by recommending land grants. A clerk in the lower house of Congress w^as appointed through the especial dictation of Mr. Pierce. In fine, those who entertained the 258 REVIEW. views of the foreio'ii-liearted executive, or ac- knowleclged the supreme power of the Pope of Rome, and would secure tlie votes of his Irish subjects, were the sure favorites of Mr. Pierce and his administration. The press of the coun- try soon deserted the man who had deserted his principles. Pliny, while looking at the agitation of Vesu- vius, and disregarding the danger, was overwhelmed alive, with the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. So when, at the close of the first year of the Pierce administration, the lava of political misrule and ruin having begun to overspread the land. Pierce looked upon the eruption unconscious of the danger to himself, or the magnitude of the mischief and evils he had brought upon his indignant and deceived countrymen. As if a blasting sirocco had swept over the land, or an earthquake had shaken it, noise and civil discord were rampant, and agitation and confusion shook the very foundations of the White House. But, amid tliis murky atmosphere, the roaring thunder of a people outraged, the lightning flash which might terrify any but a neo- phyte or political automaton, there stood one man REVIEW. 259 listless and unmoved, reproved, rebuked, with the kindling curses of a nation around and upon him, and a responsibility so awful that it might over- whelm an angel, — and that man was Pierce. CHAPTER II. THE SECOND YEAR OF PIERCE's AD^HXISTRATION. On the 20tli of August, 1847, Gen. Scott de- feated the Mexicans before the gates of the capi- tal, in a bloody battle, and expelled them. Santa Anna asked for an armistice, and it was granted for seven days by Scott. The perfidious dictator, Santa Anna, deserved no such magnanimity from Ameri- cans ; and the battles of Chapultepec, Molino del Key, and the Garitas, were the bloody price of such concessions. So, now, while recurring to the train of evils which Franklin Pierce has brought upon the country, we cannot wipe out the dark stain which he has put upon our national honor ; nor can we refrain from holding him and his advis- ers to strict and awful responsibility for those deeds of mal-administration which have filled with indignation every lover of his country. And, re- curring to Santa Anna, it is our solemn duty to warn the people against the example of his "■V- (p^.,^^ ^^ OF rEUNBSSEB REVIEW. 261 trciicheiy, and urging them not to cease hostilities against the heinous acts and dangerous policy of this administration. Let our countrymen improve the bitter experience, through which they have passed and are passing, to save the Union and the land from all the horrors of an intestine war. Less than one year had fully demonstrated the irreparable error of the American people in elect- ing a man as their chief magistrate, without charac- ter or antecedents. No high sense of honor, no principle of action, controlled the policy of his administration. Aliens and leaders of treacherous factions, who compose the influential corps around the executive, have given power to agitation, and, in the room of a patriotic love of country, have substituted the degrading afi6.nities of grovelling peculators. After the scarlet letter was found out, and it had passed into history that the President had written two sets of letters, — one for the North and another for the South, — he announced through his organ at Washington, that all office-holders must support the "Nebraska Bill," which would be made the test of Democracy ! He did this to appease the South, when, in fact, the South never demanded 23 2(32 REVIEW. nor desired the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. When the New Hampshire elections were about to take place, the policy shifted ; hut his friends and neighbors were no longer deceived in the matter. His native state, which had given him a majority of six thousand votes eighteen months before, utterly condemned his administration in the elec- tion of a new Legislature ! But such was his deficiency in political sagacity, he enlisted more ardently in the success of the Nebraska iniquity than ever before. About this time the Black Warrior, bound for New York, from Mobile, Avith a cargo of cotton, touched at Havana on the voyage, where she was seized, on the plea that the cotton did not appear on the manifest, and forcibly retained. The custom- house officei-s had prescribed a convenient form of manifest, which had been used by the Black War- rior for eighteen months previous without molesta- tion. The Crescent City, too, commanded by Capt. Baxter, on her trip to New Orleans, had been similarly treated, the passengers forced to remain, and the ship prevented from entering the port, on another equally flimsy pretext. A special messenger was sent to Spain to Soule in reference i)/'0 REVIEW. '2(31- to the Black Wurrior, but the people had not faitli to believe that the policy adopted by the adminis- tration would ever be carried out. Then, instead of employing the surplus revenue to fit out a suit- able navy, the administration were pressing Con- gress to give twenty millions of the people's money for a comparatively worthless strip of Mexican ter- ritory ! This single scheme, had it been consummated, as the administration wished, would have diverted all the surplus from its proper channel, and plundered the nation, to support the anti-republican principles of an ignominious Mexican despotism. Among other singular coincidences which likened Pierce's administration to that of Martin Van Buren, was the fact that a surplus of twenty-eight millions was found in the treasury at the incoming of both these men to the chief magistracy of the government. In three years, under Van Buren, that whole amount was filched from the treasury, and squan- dered among the States. Six millions were act- ually stolen. And the revolution of politics in 1840 exhibited the just indignation of an outraged people. 264 REVIEW. The aggregate amount of spoils in the first Con- gress under Pierce's administration was three hundred millions by the figures ! This, Americans, was the reason, in connection with the scarlet let- ter and other misdemeanors, why the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was cast into Congress ; which atrocious act has lighted a flame that all the water from Massachusetts Bay to the Gulf of Mexico cannot quench. The loss of 180,000 votes in an administration elected by twenty-seven of the thirty-one states soon told its rapid declension. The Senate admin- istered its rebuke by rejecting the Gadsden treaty, the ofi'spring of the executive, and reducing the amount to ten millions. It was evident Pierce wanted to take twenty millions of the hard money of the people to supply swindlers and speculators in railroad companies in a foreign country ; and, at the same time, such was his inconsistency, that he vetoed a very humane bill for distributing ten mil- lions of acres of land among all the states of the Union for the unhappy lunatics of the country, without taking a dollar from the treasury. This philanthropic enterprise for providing for the main- tenance and welfare of 31,474 people, either luna- REVIEAV. 265 tics or idiots, in our country, found the constitution in its way, and was cast aside by the presidential veto ; but no scruple existed for imposing burdens on the people to pay for the aggrandizement of a Mexican Santa Anna ! To appropriate money for internal improvements was considered by Mr. Pierce unconstitutional ; while, at the same time, it was quite right, in his view, to appropriate lands for western railroads ! Pending the difficulty with the Black Warrior, Americans, travelling in Cuba with their wives and daughters, were insulted ; and a party of these, riding on the Cero, were compelled to alight and kneel in the dust to a small waxen image held by a mulatto priest. But our American minister Soule, being a foreign Roman Catholic, possessed no spirit to exempt from such degrading humiliation American men and women ! Soule was instructed to lay before the Spanish government the demand for reparation in the Black Warrior case ; but the demand was made in vain. Why? Because Calderon, who knew Pierce and the composition of his cabinet, had divested Spain from all fear or terror in the delay. The people paid the first year of Pierce's admin- 23* 266 REVIEW. istratioii sixty-eigiit millions on custom dues, and twenty-tliree millions more in taxes than were re- quired to support the government. Yet not one thing was done to reduce the duties the people had to pay. In spite of the fact that importers cur- tailed their imports, and banks their credit for nine months, there were twenty -seven millions more brought into the country than the previous year. The administration would not allow fewer free arti- cles, and thus curtail their power in the treasury. Never were the people less able than at that time to pay taxes on sugar, coal, and foreign clothing ; but the committee in the lower house of Congress declined to remove the duties on these, to please the President. His financial' policy was to admit articles of foreign manufacture free, wliich could afford to pay, and causing the absolute necessaries to paij, which ought to be free ! At the very time twenty millions were used in buying up government securities at a heavy pre- mium in the fiscal year of 1854, the deficiency bill, for the needful expenses of the government, had to be cut down one million ! And this, too, when a. treaty with a foreign ]Mexican potentate was made to please him, by paying millions of REVIEW. 267 money for a worthless strip of land, and the privi- lege of fighting the Apaches Indians on our own soil ! — for by this treaty the Mexicans got a dis- charge from protecting their own frontiers, and left Americans to pay ten millions for the humbug ! No government on earth ever before purchased its own bonds years before maturity, when they cost a fifth more than their par value ! A project to revise the tarijQf and reduce the revenues, was an ingenious scheme to cheat the people- Pierce would not allow fewer dutiable articles when two hundred and thirty-three millions were bringing a revenue to the government of forty-five and a half millions, — enough for all its expenses ! The first quarter of 1854 brought the sum of nineteen millions. Still the battle-ships of the naval line were all idle at the Jiavy-yards, and no appropriation asked for fitting them for duty. Solon Borland's treaty, about this time, with Central America, recognizing Nicaragua, and repu- diating the Mosquito country, was not even read in cabinet. And, the administration leaving Mr. Buchanan to his semi-oflicial tour in Europe, to enlighten them on foreign afi'airs, turned, its atten- tion nearer home, and set about the election of 2G8 REVIEW. Mayor for the city of Washington. The adminis- tration candidate had the prestige of the Eoman Catholic influence ; and the American party indignantly rebuked the President's interference with the municipal elections of that city, by elect- ing the candidate who represented American prin- ciples, and eschewed the foreign hierarchy. Not one single press in New York sustained Pierce's dynasty in less than fourteen months after its advent ! The Postmaster General, Campbell, true to the doctrine of the Romish church, was busy in restricting knowledge by trying to increase the tax on letter postage. To meet a deficiency of two millions in that department, the policy was attempted of increasing this tax, and reducing sal- aries of clerks, — a revenue accruing all the while nearly double the necessary expenditures of the government. In July, 1854, the Cyane, a sloop-of-war, com- manded by Capt. Ilollins, who was enjoying pay and waiting orders, was directed to proceed in haste to San Juan de Nicaragua, called Greytoivn in honor of the British colonial secretary. Bor- land had communicated to Washington that he had been insulted at Grey town, and that passengers REVIEW. 269 efi route to California had also been detained, and their property put in peril. riollin.s, on reacliing the town, immediately demanded an apology for the insult to Borland, and twenty-four thousand dollars to indemnify the damage done to the steam- ship's company. The Nicaraguan authorities refused flatly to comply with either of these demands. Ilollins then gave them one day to reconsider the matter, and they still refused. He then, after providing means of transit for those who wished to leave, opened the batteries of the Cyane on the town. Finding, however, the bombardment would not avail, as the houses were constructed of mud and palm-leaves, and altogether too flimsy, Hollins de- tailed a corps of marines, under Lieut. Pickering, who burned the town to the ground ! An English man-of-war in the harbor remonstrated against this brutal act in vain. And the 12th of July, 1S54, became the day of a glorious achievement, — the burning of Greytown, — in the annals of Pierce's regime. Grey town was, in all respects, an Ameri- can town. It had been built up by American enter- prise. It had, in 1852, elected an American mayor and common council, and proceeded to change the 270 REVIEW. constitution to accord with republican views. It had only a nominal dependence, therefore, on the Mosquito king, whom it was ready at any moment to discard. The opening of the transit through the country which Americans had obtained against British pretensions had caused the early emigra- tion from the United States ; and, while Ameri- cans waived none of their own rights, as such, all the property in Greytown which was not in their possession belonged to people with whom they were friendly. The United States government had recognized the authorities of Greytown as late as July, 1853. It became enlisted with peculiar interest in its welfare, as being the only spot in Central America where civil and religious liberty had taken root in the soil, and where the laws were as faithfully administered as in the United States. The wdiolc conduct in this matter, whether as regards Borland, the authorities at Washington, or IToUins at the scene of action, is an outrage so de- void of all palliation as to demand the condemna- tion of the civilized world. Llollins had no more right to perpetrate that outrage than he had to destroy any town on the Hudson or Mississippi riv- ers. It was not only atrociously barbarous, but REVIEW. 271 the administration committed an unlawful act against that defenceless village, by making war upon it, which the constitution makes a sufficient ground for impeachment. Congress, only, not President Pierce, is invested with power to declare war. Borland divested himself, by his conduct, of all official prestige, ana ought to have been pun- ished on the spot. lie had interfered with the authorities of Gf-reytown in protecting a murderer against their efforts to obtain him; and when he pointed a loaded rifle at the officer of San Juan, lie forgot his own dignity, and contemned the very authorities his own government recognized. The people very naturally disregarded his official charac- ter. It was proven, however, that no attempt was made upon the person of Borland, even when an indignant people surrounded the house to arrest the murderer Borland had harbored. Why did the administration select this defenceless town to make an exhibition of its belligerent propensities ? For the very reason that it was independent, and cut off from the protection of England and Nicara- gua. And, while the whole civilized world were sneering at the game of "hide and seek " which Pierce had played so long with Cuba, he caught 272 REVIEW. with eagerness the opportunity offered by Borland's misdemeanors, to redeem his own folly by the destruction of a defenceless village, "without the loss of a single man on either side." Pierce's administration inflicted an outrage upon Americans in demanding an apology for Borland, and in asking an indemnity of twenty-five thou- sand dollars for a company owing all its rights and privileges to Nicaragua. And for the protection of the interests of this steamship company the houses and property, as well as ships of Americans, were sacrificed by this administration. And, after all, no indemnity was given — no apology made ! The especial glory of this act is due to President Pierce, Marcy, Dobbin, and their loyal employe, Hollins, who thus became the hero of the Grey- town bombardment. With our fishing interests unadjusted, and at the mercy of British cruisers; Central America on the verge of ruin ; France tax- ing our ships without law ; Spain firing into our steamers, Mr. Marcy was busily engaged in giving his directions about coats ! Finally, the fishing business was discovered to be too complicated for Washington diplomacy. So a part of it was handed over to London, retaining only that which con- REVIEW. 273 cerned the British Provinces. And the govern- ment made so good a bargain in this, that we ad- mit their exports free, and let them tax our own ! News now arrived from Spain that the despatches from Washington, in the Black Warrior case, had been treated with contempt, and Soule was near receiving his passports. All he had done worthy of record, in the mean while, was to fight one duel himself, and have another fought in his family ! Upon the receipt of this intelligence from Spain of the Black Warrior case, the President asked Congress for ten millions to redress the wrong ! When this got to the Senate, from the House, sena- tors very properly wanted to know more about it. They bore in mind, probably, the Gadsden treaty, when Mr. Pierce desired twenty millions, which they thought fit to reduce to ten ! This inquiry, then, drew forth a paper from the President, which showed no war at all, but seemed to want the appropriation as a discretionary fund, which the Senate, with a democratic majority of fifteen at the time, refused to place at the disposal of Mr. Pierce ! The Mexican treaty, negotiated by Mr. Gadsden, was the only one which passed the Con- 24 274 REVIEW. gress of 1854, that of right belonged to the administration of Franklin Pierce. The Japanese treaty originated with the admin- istration of INIillard Fillmore, to which only its accomplishment properly belongs. Pierce did all he possibly could to prevent that achievement, which has opened up this new channel to commer- cial enterprise. Mr. Dobbin wrote to Commodore Perry, in the winter of 1854, that the administra- tion did not approve the purpose for which he had been sent to the Pacific, and directed him to return home immediately, and to send the ships at once to New York and Boston. He spoke contemptuously of the effort to make a treaty Avith Japan, and said it would only result in our humiliation. This was evidently designed to reflect upon Fillmore and Webster, by whom it had been projected. Fortunately the despatch of Mr. Dobbin did not reach Commodore Perry in time, or the ports of Japan, sealed to all but the Chinese and Dutch, would not now have been opened by 'American men. This order from Pierce's Secretary of the Navy to stop Perry from going to Japan, and thus to prevent the treaty, was published to the world in REVIEW. 275 the columns of tlie President's organ, tlie Wash- ington Union. And, would you believe it, Americans, that after the policy of our American statesmen, Fillmore and Webster, had proved suc- cessful over that of English diplomatists, with whom they coped triumphantly, and Commodore Perry had made the treaty, the administration organ came out and claimed the victory ! The colonial reciprocity treaty was also forced on Pierce's administration. It began with that of Millard Fillmore, and in connection with the settle- ment of the fishery question, and was the closing official labor of our lamented Webster. The neu- trality treaty with Eussia was Russia's proposal through Mr. Stockel, the minister from that court. Mr. Pierce only did not refuse to accord with that view, in his communication to the Senate. . The footing of appropriation bills shows that mil- lions more were granted by the Congress of 1854 than ever before in time of peace. In every de- partment of the government increased expenditures were demanded, and the people's money from the treasury lavished to subsidize their free press. The Congress of 1854 was essentially a Pierce Congress ; and, but for the firmness of senators, 276 REVIEW. would have cost the countiy over one hundred millions ! As it was, it escaped with seventy or eighty millions, rejecting the item of ten millions, which the administration asked without being able to tell the people how it was to be applied. We find, then, from the records, that the treaty with Mexico, speculation in land grants, and the burning of Grcytown, by HoUins, which the administration endorsed and passed to their own account, constituted its signal achievements in the Congress of 1854. The English, French, and Americans, from Grey- town, soon knocked at the door of Congress for indemnity ; and the American people saw at what dear cost to themselves they had put a man in the chair at Washington, to meddle with business which did not belong to him, and then leave them to pay for the whistle. It is well known that Millard Fillmore was the man who instituted an investigation into the Gard- iner case, and pressed it to a conclusion under his district attorney. That officer only received for his fidelity and efficiency a removal by Mr. Pierce. [n the face of this fact, the organ of this present REVIEW. 277 administration claimed this as a measure of his executiye. After the New Hampshire antecedents were ex- posed, the Atwood speeches seen, the scarlet letter read, Mr. Pierce was announced as the father of the Nebraska bill, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was called a national measure ! At another time, the coming elections required him to be less courageous ; and his organ says then, he, Mr. Pierce, " only did not oppose it " ! Clerks in all the departments were proscribed, and ref|uired to sink all individuality as Christians and citizens. They were forbidden to hold or express a sentiment in opposition to the Eoman Catholic hierarchy, which meant to repudiate American principles. Pierce proscribed Ameri- cans to give place to foreigners, and ejected them from office for voting for American men. Exam- ples of this course of his political oppression are as thick as autumn leaves. God defend our coun- try from ever havino" another man as its chief magistrate bound to propitiate the papal supremacy of a foreign despot ! Pierce has crushed out Pro- testants for foreign Roman Catholics, until the land groans under the curse. 24* 278 REVIEW. Grant Thorburn states that he saw Americans, who bore honorable scars in our battles, turned out of the federal offices in New York to make way for fresh Irish voters, who had been driven from their country by the Irish Rebellion. But, of all our Presidents from the days of Washington, it was reserved for Franklin Pierce alone to bargain with the Pojje of Rome, who, in pledging papal votes through his Jesuit emissaries here, could seize the opportunity to spread his- malign influence over our beautiful land, and augment the means by which he aims to destroy our liberties. Mr. Kennedy was removed from the census office to prevent the actual number of Romanists from being known to the American people. To accom- plish this purpose, De Bow, a Catholic, was put in his place. The advantage of that post being in the power of the foreign hierarchy, Americans can very well judge how it has been used. On the 30th of August, 1854, Soule demanded his passports, and fled from Spain. lie had acted with so much indiscretion, that in less than twelve months he was compelled to leave to avoid the dis- grace of a dismissal, which he apprehended, from the Spanish government. REVIEW. 279 The royal family had retreated from his familiar approaches ; he then turned to the Jacobin democ- racy ; and, that failing him, he rapidly escaped to Bayonne. Mr. Sickles had been sent, in the mean while, to Soule, with a proposal from the administration to loan Spain a large sum of money, and take Cuba for security. But Soule had left, and better for tills country if he had never returned. Consider for a moment what a spectacle our nation presented to the civilized world. Borland shielding a murderer from justice, and causing the destruction of a useful seaport town, and a loss of several hundred thousand dollars to the treasury ; Soule intermeddling with the private interests of Spain, and escaping from the country to save an expulsion ; Belmont, another foreigner, at the Hague, dealing in exchanges, and negotiating a loan for the Czar to carry forward his war with the allies. This arrangement was only saved from consumma- tion by being discovered, through the French minis- ter of foreign aifairs, at Paris. Others of our foreign ambassadors were engaged either in rendering themselves ridiculous by discoursing on universal democratic liberty, or 280 REVIEW seeking subserYiently to conciliate crowned des- pots. While American nationality was thus figuring abroad, a meeting, principally of office-holders and office-seekers, came off at "Washington city, "to express unbounded confidence in the wisdom, patri- otism, and integrity, of President Pierce's adminis- tration." Prominent among t^iose who officiated on that occasion appear the city postmaster, the navy agent, the district attorney, naval store- keeper, timber agent, organ editor, &c. &c., who, like faithful employes, wanted to add fame to the President's notoriety, which it certainly very much needed just at that time. Soon after Pierce came into office, the term of Brigham Young, the Mormon Governor of Utah, expired, and Colonel Steptoe was appointed his successor. Young, with his fifty wives, declared he held office by a " higher law " than the consti- tution, and " defied Pierce to put him out." The " saints " all believed Y^oung superior in power to the President of the United States ; and they have not been mistaken. He set the government and the laws at defiance, and is there still ! Instead of the administration forcibly going into Utah and REVIEW. 281 demanding the surrender of its government into Col. Steptoe's hands, it attempted a ruse upon the Mormons, which signally failed. A battalion of soldiers, commanded by Steptoe, under the pretence of going to California, were directed to stop at the Mormon kingdom, and seize an unsuspecting mo- ment, after obtaining the good-will of these peo- ple, to secure the government. But this did not answer, and Steptoe was obliged to retreat, carrying off forty or fifty women ! No more military have been sent there since, and no further attempt has been made to send a governor. Young, in the mean while, threatens the United States authorities against further invasion of his premises. What a source of mortifying reflection springs up in every intelligent American's mind at this foul and degrading submission of the government of this great and Christian nation, in allowing all the civil and religious power of a territory, under the protection and care of the Union, to be concen- trated in the guilty and licentious Brigham Young ! By the criminal neglect of its duty, the govern- ment has for three years allowed the abominable system of polygamy, so abhorrent to the American 282 REVIEW. people, and at war with American institutions, to be encouraged and fostered on American soil. The population of Utah has increased with extraordinary rapidity in the past three years, by the influx of foreign immigrants, who have been wheedled into this most stupid imposture, and most shamefully and egregiously deceived by " elders " commissioned abroad by Young. This detestable Mormon authority exists at present as the only authority there. The power of the government should be immediately exerted to check and subdue the further progress of this odious usurpation, and the dissolute practices which violate all laws of decency and morality, both of heaven and of man. The longer this anomalous power is suffered to defy the lawful authority of our rulers, the more formi- dable it will become. Our citizens — that is, pub- lic opinion — should force the government to end the career, and drive out of power this heartless despot of a Mormon, and save the poor, deceived immigrants from being ensnared into the trap of so designing a knave, and the country from the humiliation and disgrace of this bold and flagrant iniquity. An act of this character, by this administration, would have been far better than REVIEAV. 283 to have been engaged in the destruction of an American seaport. During this administration, outrages of every nature have been constantly perpetrated upon American citizens abroad ; and their complaints have been wafted to this government in vain. Spain, almost the weakest of European states, in- sulted us by every indignity. Mexico, the weak- est on this continent, shamefully cheated us. Why did the administration adhere to free fish and tax coal by the Reciprocity Treaty? The duty taken from coal would have reduced it to six dollars a ton, and largely benefited all the people. As the revenue of the country expanded, so were politicians now ready to absorb it. Forty millions once supported the government ; and can it be believed that seventy millions under Pierce did not do it ? Bribes of all kinds came into vogue to procure stations under the government, or seats in Congress. Spartan firmness on the part of the people could not keep politicians out of the gold mines at Washington. Authenticated facts prove that as high as twenty-five thousand dollars were given for a seat in Congress, for a main chance at the treasury. 284 REVIEW. While matters were tlms progressing at home, they still looked squally abroad. A minister had been sent to Spain for redress on account of the Black Warrior ; and ships under Commodore Macauley sent to Cuba to enforce it, after it had received no response for so long a time that the public had become wearied out with expectation and anxiety for the denouement. Do Americans know who really prevented the case from being settled ? It was Mr. Soule, whom the President sent to represent us at the Spanish court. He kept the despatch, and declined to show it to the Spanish government, as the admin- istration directed. About four months after Soule had been in Madrid, he visited Ostcnd, and left his secretary in charge of his official duties. In his absence the Secretary of Legation produced the despatch to the Spanish ministers, which stated the terms which would be satisfactory to this government. They were immediately accepted, and the Black Warrior difficulty was settled. This prevented war then with Cuba. Soule, thus foiled by the liojicsty of his .secre- tary, caused him at once to be dismissed from the REVIEW. 285 service, by order of President Pierce ; while Pierce continued to reward Soule, who had not only omitted to present the phm proposed hy liini for settling the matter with Spain, hut had also put indignity upon himself and the lawful authori- ties of the land. JJrigham Young had not set the authorities at Washington more at defiance than Soule had done in Spain. The next effort to embroil us in war with Cuba was not less abortive. The report was that France and England had conspired to Africanize Cuba. The administration were again for war with France, England, and Spain ; and we were to join Russia in alliance against them. Presently the English government heard of this ridiculous nonsense, and Lord Clarendon came out and stated that the negotiations between England and France were about their own business, and had nothing on earth to do with Cuba, Spain, or the United States. In October, 1854, the French papers announced that a Congress of American diplomats, Bu- chanan, Mason, Soule, Vroom, Belmont, , and Owen, were to meet for some secret purpose, either at Paris or Baden Spa. This rumor finally 25 286 REVIEW. resulted in the Ostencl Conference ; and, after a season of the most profound secrecy on the part of the administration, the manifesto appeared as the production of the concurrent wisdom of the .'iuthorities at Washington on the one part, and that of Buchanan, Soule, and Mason, on the other. Pending the difficulty in the Black Warrior case, caused entirely by Soule's refusal to present to the Spanish ministers the proposition of the administration for adjustment, Pierce, instead of acting as became the president of the nation, and instantly removing Soule, proposed to send on two commissioners to assist him. Americans, mark the absurdity, nay, the pusil- lanimity of that act ! The treasury was to be filched to pay two more men to go to Spain to pre- vail upon a refractory minister to do his duty ! In other words, the administration wanted to employ three men, at the government expense, to deliver one letter, which one respectable clerk, from any department, could have done just as well, irrespect- ive of ofl&cial distinction. Messrs. Dallas and Cobb, of Georgia, had been selected for this new mission, when Soule again interposed, and pre- vented its consummation. Then it was that Soule REVIEW. 287 called to his aid Buchanan and Mason ; and hence the origin of the Ostend Congress. Ostend is in Belgium, and the countries that surround it are so utterly opposed to democratic liberty, that the merest suspicion would consign a man to the keeping of the police ; and any meet- ing favorable to republican views would have called the troops of the government to arms. Kossuth, not succeeding in causing our interfer- ence with Austria, after eloquently defending the heroic struggle of Hungary, took passage for Eng- land. Cuba now was the bait held out by Soule, Sanders, & Co. ; and Kossuth and all the other republican refugees at London united in bringing about the Ostend Conference. The whole world was excited at the announcement. Mr. Sickles was sent to Washington before its sitting ; and Mr. Dudley Mann, and Mr. McRea, our Consul to Paris, followed on, upon its close. All the light the people got at these strange sights was that we « were to have Cuba in six months. The Conference met ostensibly to adjust all our differences with Spain. Buchanan, Mason, and Soule, recommended that the United States should buy Cuba at once, or take it some other way, if 288 REVIEW. Spain refused to sell. They said England and France were favorable to the purchase. We here give the exact words of the manifesto to which James Buchanan, as ambassador to the English government, was first to append his name. "After," says the document, "we shall have offered Spain a price for Cuba far beyond its pres- ent value, — that is, one hundred and twenty millions of dollars, — and this shall have been refused, it will then be time to consider the ques- tion. Does Cuba in the possession of Spain seriously endanger our internal peace, and the existence of our cherished Union ? Should this question be answered in the afiirmative, then by every law, human and DI^^XE, we shall be justijied in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power. Under such circumstances, we ought neither to count the cost nor regard the odds luhich Spain might enlist against us. We should be recreant to our DUTY and commit base treason against our posterity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized," etc. Mark it, Americans ! Buchanan first, then Mason and Soulo, declare that " every divine law justifies this government in wresting Cuba from Spain." Spain must either sell Cuba for one REVIEAV. 289 hundred and fifty millions, or tlic divine law requires Americans to take it, and not stop to "count the loss" to themselves in treasure or blood ! This is the civil code and the religion of the Ostend Conference ! This was not all that Conference met to do. It was an inside caucus of Soule, Sickles, Belmont, and Sanders, to put Buchanan on the presidential track to carry out the Ostend principles in 1857, which he is pledged to do if the people elect him. In this unwarrantable proceeding, see our min- ister at the Court of St. James neglecting his proper official duties, omitting to settle the Central American difficulties, delaying the Reciprocity Treaty, and becoming a passive tool in the hands of a political cabal, composed of rcnegadoes and aliens ; — this is enough to make the very stones cry out shame ! shame ! The administration, who cooperated in this movement, never meant that a political rival should reap the benefit ; and, per- ceiving its own folly in the matter, My. Pierce retreated from that engagement as best he could. The next ridiculous attitude in which we were placed abroad was caused by the refusal of Louis Napoleon to allow our Spanish minister, Soule, 25* 290 REVIEW. to enter France. Then there was another flutter about war, and the quarrel of Napoleon and Soule for the alleged interference of the latter in some private matters, with which the public had neither interest nor concern, was going to involve us in a continental revolution, beginning at Paris. Mr. Mason, our minister there, felt it necessary to interpose for our national honor, and refused to hold his mission unless Napoleon withdrew his order. Napoleon backed out. And after Soule was feted at London, he was actually invited to come to Paris ! This was quite a triumph to the authorities at Washington, — almost equal to another Greytown victory ! Our national standing now became so much im- paired abroad, that intelligent foreigners were inquiring what had become of all the respectability on the other side of the Atlantic. Even the little State of Holland presumed to treat us with con- tempt. The case of Gibson was invested with a national interest, as in its decision every Amer- ican citizen, and every ship-owner of the countr}', was concerned. Gibson, it is remembered, had been imprisoned in Sumatra, and escaped to New REVIEW. 291 York. He claimed the indemnity of one hundred thousand dollars from that government. And the administration directed Belmont to get it. Bel- mont caused letters to be written which so alarmed the Dutch government, that they gave up not only all the papers belonging to Gibson, but their own ! Still, Belmont being engaged in the Rothschild loan for Russia, had not time to attend to the business of American citizens. And when Gibson remon- strated at the injustice of the delay, the adminis- tration, through Mr. Marcy, tells Belmont to *' persevere in your demand, resolutely, but temper- ately." Why not have spoken out like men, and demanded the payment, or warned them to expect reprisals ? 0, no ! What was the consequence, Americans ? Why, Belmont sets it aside altogether — suiTenders it — on the ground that the outrage was perpetrated under Dutch laws, which, however barbarous, we were bound to respect. And the administration, after all its proposed energy in the business, bows to tke supremacy of foreign laws which had trampled down an American citizen, and left Gibson without even an appeal for clemency in his behalf to Congress, which was unable to re- 292 REVIEW. joct his claim. This policy of non-interference in behalf of American citizens Avhose lives and prop- erty were endangered every day abroad, and at the mercy of savages, was enough to bleed the nation to the heart. This gross delinquency, too, of his promises, after an inaugural which confidently swaggered about the protection of American rights, and a Koszta letter, written to divert the people, and make them believe Pierce had kept the faith upon which they elected him ! Thus from ignorance or personal malice our people have been made to drink the bitter cup they unwittingly prepared for themselves. Two years had not passed before all the efful- gence Fillmore put upon the country had been darkened, and nothing high or convex could be seen. A large party who had favored Pierce's election were deeply chagrined and disappointed. In the European war we had been made to assume whatever attitude pleased our ambassadors. Mr. Spence put us on the side of Turkey, at Constanti- nople. Mr. Seymour, at St.»Petersburg, on that of Russia. Abandoning the Monroe doctrine ; repudiating the king of Musquito, and then recog- nizing this same king ; sustaining the Dutch REVIEW. 293 against our own countrymen ; making demands on Spain, then backing out ; — these were among the doings abroad. Then look at home, Americans ! Our gokl was steadily going out to England, thence to the continent, to aid the war. There was surplus money enough in the treasury to have saved the country from the terrible crash in 1854. Pierce was told that the condition of the country would not allow putting the sum of twenty-eight millions in the sub-treasury ; and schemes were proposed to place it in the commercial world to avert the crisis. But the administration would not consent to part with the money for purposes higher than its own sinister plans. Such, too, was its skilful financiering, that the Secretary of the Treasury was buying up United States acceptances years be- fore maturity, and giving one dollar and twenty- one cents for every dollar advanced to the nation. Twenty-four millions were being spent in pur- chasing twenty millions of the public • debt, when the credit of the country did not need it. No debtor pressed for it, and it would not sell but at the enormous increase of twenty-one per cent. Four mil- lions of money were then a useless item, paid when the people needed it at home, and at their expense. 294 REVIEW. The inflation of bank paper ; the excessive em- ployment of bonds without a specie basis ; the European war, and the consequent drain upon Euroj)ean gold, caused foreign creditors to demand payment, and cease to loan to our citizens ; and so, in 1854, the blow came, which reduced so many to want and ruin. They who possessed capital in railroad bonds and banks found the dividends suddenly cut off, and themselves reduced to want, or compelled to sacrifice their investments. Thou- sands were thus made beggars, while widows and orphans who had been provided, by deceased pro- tectors, with home and comfort, lost frequently their all. House-building, ship-building, railroad- building, all stopped. Now, we inquire, who could have prevented that revulsion, and saved the misery of the suffering masses in 1854 ? Franklin Pierce and his adminis- tration. In contrast to this suicidal policy, to have seen smiling plenty and peace and progress in all the industrial and mechanic arts ; to have given a fresh impetus to our commercial world ; to have afforded the facility for pushing on our internal improvements, our railroads and canals, would have been far more glorious than to have been engaged REVIEW. 295 in making Ostend piracy a principle of human and divine law. Merchants declared that all they wanted was time — a few weeks more — and they could with- stand the storm. At this very crisis of January, 1854, when government refused its timely sym- pathy, there were idle in the treasury upwards of twelve millions ! And thus the gold lost to the merchants and banks hy the govermnent exportation was the great cause of reducing their business twenty-eight per cent. While the administration was busy in finding out constitutional o])jections to the noble attributes of benevolence in affording national aid to the un- happy class of lunatics, it was engaged also in the objectionable business of recommending land grants to Mormons ! Had Congress refused to grant these, as it had a right to do. Mormon progress would have been checked, and Utah could not now be preparing to approach the door of Congress to ap- ply for admittance into the confederacy of States. Far better had it been for the President, had his constitutional adviser, Mr. Cushing, attempted to show him the fallacy of his reasoning upon land grants and the lunatic bill, than to have been hunt- 296 REVIEW. ing up precedents in France and England to justify the President before the country for an attack on Spain in her colonies. What must the world think of an American administration going to monarchies to find an apology for a republican President, elected under a free democratic constitution ! * But Mr. Gushing, who has been " everything by turns, and nothing long," has shown a greater consistency in his ambition for war than in any- thing else he has professed. Possibly, his miracu- lous escape from the Matamoras ditch has had something to do in fostering this propensity. Every man who lives beyond his means breaks down. So every government administered on a fraudulent basis will reap the fate of its just desert. The prosperity and progress the country sustained under * The original draft of the Ostcnd Manifesto is now in this coun- try, and appears chiefly in the hand-^vriting of James Buchanan. The amendments, whioh exhil)it the " highwayman's plea," the piratical filibustering portions, are written by Buchanan himself. Soule deserves notice, however, for the conception of that confer- ence, and was the first to indite the celebrated document, to make it clear to Buchanan and Mason what was to be done. But Soule, well versed in tactics, saw that capital was to be made by giving Buchanan prominence in the business ; and the old disciple accord- ingly re-wrote the manifesto, and in the spirit worthy of his accom- plished master. REVIEW. 297 Fillmore was now strongly contrasted with the ruin and calamity which followed Pierce's admin- istration. The year 1837, under Van Buren, was not more hopelessly disastrous than that of 1854, under Pierce. The agitation arising from the Kansas-Nebraska bill was deep, intense, and universal ; and discredit and distrust, by the absorption of gold from the healthful channels of trade and commerce, in connection with a partial failure of the crops that year, made it one of serious calamity to the people. Was it strange, then, Americans, that the fall elections at that period should unmistakably declare your feelings for this administration ? They did ; and what then gave the people encouragement and hope, was the promise of probity and prosperity which the ^Vmer- ican party was able to make them. About January, 1855, another case occurred of imprisonment of American citizens at Cuba. jNIr. John S. Thrasher, of New Orleans, addressed the authorities at "Washington in behalf of these pris- oners. From personal knowledge he was able to give a picture of the brutality exercised towards Americans in Havana which should have fired the spirit of every patriot man and woman in the land. 26 298 REVIEW. He stated that their custom was to put Americans in solitary confinement for days or weeks, until they were mentally and physically enfeebled. An attorney of the court then enters, and propounds all manner of questions, which have no sort of bearing on the case, extorting such concessions as to secure the punishment of the prisoner. But, yet, with the Koszta letter and the inaugural before them, theSe Americans, like many others, were left to the savage ferocity of tyrants, by the government of Franklin Pierce. Thank Heaven, we Americans love our country and countrymen still more for the spasmodic throes through which we have passed under this administration. It cannot take from us our energy and industry. It cannot destroy our magnificent cities. It cannot tear up our vast railways, nor make a desolate waste of our cultivated plains. And when the storm has swept it away, we will hold on to our principles, and prosper by our works. The active propagandism and manifest destiny of Mr. Pierce's foreign policy, which began with court costume and ended with the Ostend Confer- ence, was about this period discovered to have REVIEW. 299 originated with Mr. Dudley Mann, the late assistant Secretary of State. This fact was brought to light by the publication of the two remarkable letters of Mr. Mann; one on "Instructions for War with France," the other on " Court Cos- tume." These were written from Paris, the 7th of January, 1853, to this country, for Mr. Pierce's benefit. After arguing the great importance of a treaty of alliance with Switzerland, which the Senate unanimously ratified, Mr. Mann gives an account of the states of Europe, their ability and power for war, as though he had the secrets of every crowned head in his hat. " Go," said he, " speedily to Gen. Cass, Mr. Soule, and all others you may think advisable, and implore them to make a demonstration that will cause a conster- nation at the Tuilleries, by placing ten millions of dollars at the disposal of the President, for pro- tecting our interests against foreign aggression, and to authorize the construction of ten or fifteen war steamers. If the Arabia makes a good run, this will reach you four days before Congress adjourns." Now, Americans, you learn for the first time for what Mr. Pierce wanted that ten millions. The 300 REVIEW. Senate refused him because he could give no account of the purpose to which it was to be applied. It was not to fight Cuba, as we all sup- posed, but to carry forward Mr. Mann's diplomacy, by causing Louis Napoleon to become alarmed, and making an excitement at the Tuilleries ! A beautiful commentary upon American integ- rity and honor, — for a President to connive at so low a trick to declare our greatness before the states of Europe ! Americans have no reason whatever to be in love with the government of Louis Napoleon ; but has that anything to do with the good faith with ^vhich we are bound to deal with him ? Does not one sixth of our cotton go to France ? Does she not purchase annually of us more than five millions of dollars' worth of flour ? Have not more than four hundred of our vessels cleared for French ports in a year ? Except England, British North America, and Cuba, our shipping is more exten- sive in France than any other part of the world. French ships come here in the same proportion. We take ten millions of dollars' worth of their silks annually, and five millions' worth of . their wines. REVIEW. 301 • More Americans reside in France tlian in any other place in Europe except England. But there is one remarkable fact, that, while the fac- tors of France are equal to those of any part of the world, and the population is also ten millions greater than England, she only takes from the United States fifteen millions of our raw mate- rial, while England takes sixty ! Why is this ? Because our goods are taxed in France, and go free to England. We, too, admit French goods free, which makes the tonnage American ships pay in France nine times greater than we exact of them. How much better, then, had Mr. Pierce done his duty, and had this inequality and injustice towards American interests righted, than to haA^e been fol- lowing Mr. Maiin's directions to frighten France by a ruse for war ! How Diuch better to have tried to get the duty off of our raw cotton, beef, and pork, and thus aided the interests. of the Ameri- can people, who could then afford in return to take greater quantities of their silks and wines ! How much better thus to have served the sub- stantial wants of the people, than, by asking ten millions of their money, to make them look in the eyes of mankind 'like a nation of fools! It was 26* • 302 REVIEW. no fault of Mr. Pierce that we have not been in- volved in nctual war with France, more than Spain. We find, in the same way, that the instructions to foreign diplomats, by Mr. Marcy, to have coats "with an American eagle on their buttons, and wear citizen's hats," was also the direction con- tained in Mr. Dudley Mann's letter. Mr. Soule now, finding the Ostend Manifesto re- jected at Washington, by the efforts of Mr. Marcy, it is said, and against the wishes of the President and Mr. Gushing, resigned ! He was naturally indignant at being censured for doing just what he was sent to do, viz., to try and get Cuba, somehow. His speech in New York, before he left our shores, plainly told the people the course he meant to pur- sue, and filled them with apprehensions and dismay. Soule returned, leaving most of the difiiculties with Spain unadjusted. The Ostend proceedings had been kept secret, and the friends of the administration in Congress got it referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations in the House, to elude investigation. The Senate, also, though possessing the power, did not, up to the close of the session, exercise it in this matter. Mr. Dodge was sent, with an -interpreter, to the REVIEW. 303 court of Isabella II., to succeed Mr. Soule ; ana you can make your calculations, Americans, and see how much the Spanish mission alone will cost the government by March, 1857, in outfits and infits ! The homogeneity of this people and the peace of the Union have been hazarded more by this' adminis- tration than by all the former executives since the government was founded. It is a solemn fact, that at the end of two years after Pierce came into office, there had not been one single object of advan- tage to the American people accomplished through his administration. Not one solitary promise made to them was fulfilled. If anything good was be- gun, it never was completed. Did he ever reduce the Koszta letter to practice when Americans were groaning in dungeons in foreign countries, and cry- ing for mercy in vain ? Did not the foreign em- bassy refuse to adopt the costume after he had instructed them to wear it ? Did he not recall liis agent for trying to make war on Cuba, after he sent him for the purpose ? Did he not encourage the violation of the neutrality laws, and then threaten punishment on the offenders ? Did he not refuse Capt. Gibson justice after he had informed iN. 304 REVIEW. the Dutch he should have it ? Did he not negoti- ate for guano in the Gallipagos Islands, and then find there was none there ? Did he not make a treaty with Santa Dominica, and then keep the same treaty from the Senate ? Did he not buy a desert of Mexico, through which to run a railroad, and pay ten millions of the people's money, and then find no route for a road upon it? The Sand- wich Islands and the Netherlands present the same vacillation. Now look at home, and what has been the sole mission but to weaken the integrity of the Union, to upset the Missouri compromise and create agi- tation and strife, and to destroy the American party because it rebuked his administration, and exposed his want of capacity and power to manage Ameri- can affairs as became their high name, and because it rejected the Romish hierarchy, which, dc facto, was the governing power of the country ! It was to put down the American party, there- fore, that Mr. Pierce enlisted for Mr. Wise's elec- tion in Virginia, and compelled the patronage of the government and the executive force at Wash- ington to aid in its consummation. In February, 1854, the Sardinian government REVIEW. 305 sent a ship-load of criminals, fresh from dungeons in Genoa, to New York city. The mayor of that city very properly applied for instructions at Washington, as to the mode of disposing of them. And how was it done, do you think, Americaifs ? By directing the district attorney to receive them as exiles ! The spoils of the New York custom- house had far greater interest for Mr. Pierce's government than the receiving of foreign criminals on our shores. Unscrupulous, reckless spoilsmen at home, with disciples of Lopez, English socialists, German money- changing Jews, and French and American buccaneers, made up the host which was to tear from as our well-earned reputation, and rob us before mankind of our national renown. CHAPTER III THIRD YEAR OF PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION. At a certain crisis in England's history, the French, under the idea that they had become weak in gold, were chary about terms of peace. Mr. Pitt determined upon a loan to remove the fallacy, and in less than fifteen hours and twenty minutes, . the subscription to a sum of eighteen millions was completed. This was called the loyalty loan, be- cause it vindicated the people's integrity to their government. So, the American people were no sooner convinced that their integrity and honor had been compromised by Franklin Pierce's administra- tion in the eyes of all mankind, than they rose in the fall elections, and signally rebuked him. The judicial murders of Manuel Pinto and Fran- cisco Estrampes, by the order of the Consul Gen- eral of Cuba, in April, 1855, excited the indigna- tion of this people. Estrampes was a naturalized citizen, and these men had every reason to believe X REVIEW. 307 jNIr. Pierce cordially sympathized with their con- spiracy for liberty in Cuba. And there is the most indubitable proof that he did. The understanding was that those champions for Cuban liberty were first to strike the blow, then Mr. Pierce was to bring the government of the United States to their aid. It was all arranged, with Pierce's full knowl- edge, that Gen. Quitman was to take the command, and funds were contributed for that purpose. And therefore it was that he sent a secret spy to Cuba in 1855, to look into matters there, and ascertain from their resources, &c., the ability of these con- spirators to sustain themselves. This spy became on intimate terms with Gen. Pinto, a wealthy Span- iard, and by their joint agency they formed a plan by which they searched into the archives of the Consul General's department, and there found a secret treaty. This treaty contained a guarantee of Cuba to Spain by England and France ; and at once proved the folly and danger of any warlike attempt on the part of the conspirators there, or the government of the United States. A large sum of money had been audited by the agent of Mr. Pierce, for this Cuban expedition ; but when he returned and reported to the Presi- Q 08 REVIEW. dent that the democrats of Cuba never could make the first effort for liberty, Mr. Pierce desisted from the design. The subsequent letters which passed between the American spy and Pinto were found upon his person, and, upon this evidence alone, Pinto and Estrampes were garroted ! Commodore Macauley, on this account, was' subsequently received by Gen. Concha with marked consideration. The want of administrative ability had now become the subject of universal complaint. The post office department was conspicuously so, by making the sale of letters and papers an item of revenue ; and it is a notorious foct that bank- bills, checks, and insurance policies, were sold in piles of letters to paper-mills at the North. A Connecticut mill bought two thousand of these let- ters, by which all these facts were brought to light. In other j)laces there were systematic thefts com- mitted on mail matter, while political heresy was always good cause for stopping channels of informa- tion which might affect the welfare of the party in power. Think of this, Americans, that private letters, misguided by bad management of the department at Washington, instead of being returned to the REVIEW. 309 general post-office and advertised according to law, were sold, in indiscriminate lumber heaps, to paper makers ! There has been a singular incongruity in Mr. Pierce's proclivities for war ; for we all remember, when an opportunity was offered him in Mexico to manifest an active love for it, he backed out. Nevertheless, the hallucination still existed that it was his military renown that made him President, as it had done Jackson, Harrison, and Taylor ; and, to insure his continuance another four years, he must get the American people into a general fight, as Greytown was altogether too bloodless a victory for the emergency. So, anything for noise and confusion, to divert the minds of the people from the true state of their case. The sound dues from Denmark was the next belligerent demonstration. He could not stand fire for Cuba, because France and England were both in his way there. So he bullied Denmark, at a time when the king was alienated from his government, and their internal affairs were all distracted. And for what ? Why, only for a few hundred dollars ! For this he was ready to involve the country in war, in comparison with the cost of which, all the dues 27 310 REVIEW. in the next fifty years would have been but a trifle. All Europe was paying these dues long before we existed as a nation. Denmark raised the light- houses and set up the beacons, and why was it so suddenly inconsistent with our national honor to pay the paltry tax ? We have scarcely commerce enough in the Baltic to talk about, much less quar- rel about. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, regarded these dues as lawful, and guaran- teed them to Denmark by treaty. Now, Americans, mark the result of this new- fledged warlike difficulty. The treaty was about to expire, and, instead of a proclamation of war, Mr. Pierce sends forth a circular letter to the American merchantmen to pay the dues, but to pay them under protest ! Thus there has been in every act an indication of savage delight at the prospect of war, but always, fortunately, with some balk to the gross atrocity. Tlie next serious foreign question was that aris- ing from the enlistment of Americans for the Brit- ish service in the Crimea. In Xovember, 1855, the Albion of New York, the British organ, said this proceeding "had the sanction of Mr. REVIEW. 311 Marcy, Secretary of State." The admmistrution organ, in commenting on this, did not deny the fact, which was then regarded tantamount to an acknowl- edgment. A week after the British proclamation of 15th of March, 1855, Avas received here, the district attorney of New York was applied to by Mr. McDonald, the British consul, for permission to establish an ofl&ce in Pearl-street, in that city, to enlist men to send to Halifax to join the foreign legion at Nova Scotia. The office was already open, when the application was made to Mr. McKeon, district attorney, but, being rejected by him, it was closed. The German papers also advertised for recruits. The instructions given in the cases of Spain, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, regarding American citizens, were now announced to British agents, by the district attorney. But, in defiance of this, another house was opened in Chatham-street, New York, and the enlistment went on with as much activity as if all the author- ities at "Washington were dead. In Philadelphia, too, Hertz was in the same business ; and advertisements, near Boston, Massa- chusetts, called for mechanics and machinists for the same object. These facts were made knoAvn by 312 REVIEW. families whose husbands and fathers had been en- ticed away. With the entire knowledge of the fact that enlistments were being made in New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston, every day, under British employes, who paid these men to violate the laws of the country, the administra- tion purposely blinded itself to the sight. Mr. Buchanan was about to leave for home, having failed in the Ostend business and in the settlement of the Central American difficulties, when this new perplexity was added to his busi- ness negotiations. Lord Palmerston, upon being- notified, stated that he had ordered the recruiting to be stopped, both in the United States and the British Provinces, and that the infraction of our laws had been innocently made. When this explanation reached us, what was the administra- tion about, do you think? It was hard at work, Americans, to get up a ground of dispute with England, by raking together in a heap all her sins of omission and commission. Had Mr. Pierce done his duty, there would have been no occasion for any trouble whatever. But this would not have suited the President's purpose, nor subserved his political aspirations. REVIEW. 313 When England received this despatch in due form, she was naturally startled. Seeing, as she had, so many flagrant acts upon the honor of the country passed by, she considered her concession most amicable and just. To bring up Central America, the Dominica quarrel, consuls' conduct, and general matters, all at once, was enough to try her temper ; and she directed her fleet to take position in the West India seas. But, as for that, what cared Americans ? With our free covenant of progress, she might as well have attempted to draw Niaga- ra's waters into her rural districts, as to have ter- rified us. No power, success, or triumph, no badly-admin- istered government here, can make us forget that the American Union is the only fortress in which popular liberty can be defended ; and that here, where the land is baptized in the blood of mar- tyred kinsmen, it was born. Mr. Crampton, the British minister at Wash- ington, made a mistake in studying American politics through Mr. Pierce's policy, and so far forgot himself as to persist in violating our laAvs in the question of enlistment, as was clearly 27* 314 REVIEW. proved, in the trial of Hertz and others, at Phila- delphia. He lost sight of the fact that ambas- sadors ' ' are bound to respect the laws and cus- toms of the country they are in," and if they refuse can be dismissed. And he so far departed from his sphere of duty as to become personally disrespectful and obnoxious to the national exec- utive. Had Pierce's government then acted independ- ently, and instantly dismissed Cramptou, after the English government (with a full knowledge of the facts) failed to recall him, the whole Ameri- can people would have justified him. Instead of which, it vacillated and threatened in order to make an excitement for the Cincinnati Conven- tion, and only dismissed him a few days before. It is more than probable that, but for that Cincin- nati Convention, Mr. Crampton, with all his per- sonal indignities, might still have l)ecn in Wash- ington. In the autumn of 1855 American citizens were murdered at Nicaragua, en route to Califor- nia. It was a most violent case. A mother and child were killed in the cabin of an American steamer, from New York, while on the lake. Ap- REVIEW. 315 plication was made at Washington for power to bring the offenders to punishment, and obtain in- demnity for the loss of property then sustained. Did the administration promptly demand this re- dress? No. Mr. Marcy's letter of the eighth of November, 1855, said " Nicaragua had no respons- ible government," and was in a "miserable con- dition." That, therefore, was the excuse for withholding that protection to American citizens pledged in the inaugural and Koszta letter. But, when Nicaragua was in a better condition, was the case laid before her government for satisfaction to Americans? It was not, because the original refusal was devoid of heartiness, and, as every- body knew, a mere quibble. With just as much reason, and no more, Mr. Parker H. French, an American citizen, was refused at Washington, when he presented himself as the accredited am- bassador from Nicaragua, in the present year, while Padre Vijil, a foreign Romish priest, was accepted, a few weeks later, from the same gov- ernment. Now, Americans, the same objections which forbade the rejection of the first ambassador (had they been tenable) would have prevented the 316 REVIEW. acknowledgment of the last. The government of Nicaragua underwent no change between the periods of sending Mr. French and Padre Yijil. If it merited a representative at Washington at all, it did so when French was sent there. But there was a motive underlying that matter, which the American people now understand. The Cin- cinnati Convention was at hand, the independence of Nicaragua became popular, the people sympa- thized with the nol)le Walker and the gallant American legion who had assisted that govern- ment to democratic liberty, and the Eomish priest- hood in the United States, moreover, must still bo propitiated, and hence the recognition of Nica- ragua's independence. Take away the effort for renomination which Mr. Pierce was then making ; takd away the fact that the Romish hierarchy fjxvored the reception of one of the Pope's agents, and who believes that act of Mr. Pierce would ever have been consummated ? For that nomination, too, he wanted a difficulty with Spain ; for that, he cannonaded Greytown ; for that, he made a little fuss with Holland, and would have embroiled us in war with England, on a point of honor. In this self-aggrandizement, he REVIEW. 317 purchased the votes of Congress to extend the area of bondage, broke down the Missouri com- promise, and embittered the North against the South by attempting to introduce slavery into Kansas by fraud and bloodshed. 0, Americans, the nation is perishing for want of a ruler ! We have no one to whom we can now look to arrest oppression and crime, by inter- posing the law. The whole policy of Franklin Pierce has been to dodge the responsibility of the Kansas difficulty, after he got the people into civil war. It was his infidelity to his high and holy trusts that has disturbed the peace and tranquillity in which Millard Fillmore left the executive of the country. Had Pierce been true to the principles which elected him, that peace would still pre- vail. 'Think, Americans, of your fellow-citizens murdered, your women driven to frenzy, their husbands and fathers chained, their houses burned to ashes, because Franklin Pierce, the President of the United States, did not choose to stop the invasion when it first began ! He knew it all, but could not spare the sacrifice of life and property in sight of the Cincinnati Convention ! Nothing but this pusillanimous conduct on the part of your 318 REVIEW. President, Americans, lias perilled the safety of the Union for the fourth time, under the great covenant which makes us one people. Forty years ago, the American people were in- dignant that Mr. Madison should let the capital be burned; later still, they condemned the disaster Van Buren brought upon the country, the treach- ery of Tyler, and the savage ferocity of Polk, in putting the gallant Taylor, with his little band of heroes, before twenty thousand Mexicans, to be cut to pieces. But what were all those acts, in com- parison with these of Franklin Pierce ? Let the desolation of homes and hearths, of forfeited life and hopes, in Kansas, answer ! It is the administration of Mr. Pierce that has caused "moral treason," "martial law," and "civil war," in Kansas, since the first fraudulent Kansas election. Franklin Pierce, as President of the United States, was the supreme law-ofiicer OA'er that territory ; and it was his imperious duty to have provided a new legishiturc, which would have ex- pressed the free will of the real settlei^s of Kansas, which would have satisfied the North and the South. and prevented the subsequent effusion ot blood Instead of which, he attempted to sustiin the REVIEW. 319 fmudulcnt legislature, and appointed territorial judges who cooperated with the military against the manifest wishes of the majority of tlie people. This was all done to obtain votes in the Cincinnati Convention, recklessly disregardful of public indig- nation in all sections, so long as he got the sanction of a faction of designing men and unscrupulous demagogues. Governor Reeder's testimony, under oath, tells a tale which sickens every true American heart. Mr. Pierce appointed Reeder to please one set of political friends, and dismissed him to please an- other. He said to Recdcr that he cordially ap- proved of his whole course in Kansas, but that Atchison, of Missouri, was inexorable in requiring that he, Reeder, should be removed. Reeder was then supplicated by Pierce to resign ; and when this failed, he sought to bribe him by oflering him the mission to China, or in some other way advan- cing the private interests of Reeder. Unable by any dishonorable proposition to induce Reeder to resign, Mr. Pierce then said he should remove him, not on account of dereliction from duty, but for land speculations ! This was the contemptible sub- terfuge, Americans, of the President of the United 320 REVIEW. states towards a subordinate with whom he ex- pressed himself entirely satisfied, but who, by his own acknowledgments, he was obliged to remove, to please Atchison, of Missouri ! And mark the fact, in the sworn testimony of Eeeder, that the resort to land speculations as the reason for his removal was done after the avowal of Pierce, in a previous interview, that he saw nothing reprehen- sible in that act, whatever ! For the first time in our historv, has the niili- tary of the country been used to justify the bar- barity of its citizens ; and, for the honor of human- ity, we pray to Heaven it may be the last. Governor Shannon, of Ohio, was next sent to Kansas, who, in a short time, was also found not to answer the policy of the administration, which is to force slavery on Kansas, against the wishes of the majority of the people. Why did not Mr. Pierce ask Congress for means to put down these violators of law in Kansas ? He countenanced the brutality for seven or eight months, purposely to obtain votes at Cincinnati in the June convention. And now, Americans, note this solemn fact, that Mr. Pierce has not only perilled the Union, but he REVIEW. 321 has inflicted a wound upon the honor of the South, in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. They never elected Pierce to do any such thing. They never asked or desired that the pledges and com- promises for the peace of this Union should be touched. And, had the South supposed it pos- sible, Franklin Pierce could no more have received its electoral vote, than Benedict Arnold could have been called to Wasliington's place after his treason. Let Americans remember that this act was begun and consummated by a Northern President. Forbid it. Heaven, that a man shall come after Franklin Pierce who adopts and retains his views and policy towards Kansas ! Some may inquire. Can there be such a man ? We tell you yes, and he is James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. There is therefore a deep, earnest, general call, from the independent masses of this people, for change — moral reform, political reform, official honesty, in lieu of official availability ! We have now but one man before iis, as a candi- date for the Presidency, who clings to the great, fundamental principle of the Union, and is honest- ly before the people upon the dignity of the con- stitution ; a man of opinion, of enlarged views, 28 322 REVIEW. able to protect the rights of all, because he re- spects the will of the majority, and has an undy- ing love for the Union of these States, and the imperishable glory of the American name. This man is Millard Fillmore, of New York. Do you ask, Americans, where is the demonstra- tion that the people. North and South, reject the policy of this administration ? We point you to the ballot-box, which, in the language of Erastus Brooks, of New York, is " worth fighting for, and Avorth dying for." The popular majority which elected Pierce was more than sixty-three thousand, and every state but four in the entire Union cast its vote for him. Of these, two Avere Northern and two were Southern States. In the first year of his administration, he was in a popular minority of sixty-seven thousand. In the second year, it had increased to two hundred and twenty-six thousand. In the third year, it had reached three hundred and three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-seven votes ! With this terrible reaction and condemnation by the American people, Pierce, therefore, was deficient for re-nomination three hundred and sixty-seven thousand, and in a minor- ity of three hundred thousand ! ' REVIEW. 323 In this condition of things, Mr. James Buchanan was put upon Pierce's phitform, after endorsing the entire policy of Pierce's administration, and pledg- ing himself, if elected, to keep it in full force the next four years.' The American people, who have already repudiated it, by the unmistakable verdict of three hundred thousand votes, will have another opportunity, in the November elec- tions, to administer a last rebuke, by refusing to accept Mr. Pierce's succession in the selection of Mr. James Buchanan. Thank Heaven, the Ameri- can people can inflict a blow, through their free constitution, in a single day, which the monarchies of all Europe could not do in a century ! The official conduct of President Pierce in ref- erence to the "Naval Retiring Board" is dis- cussed, at length, in another chapter of this work. It is well to remind the people, however, that, of all the acts which merit condemnation, and out- rage the feelings of American men, that, which has wounded ihe honor of and inflicted disgrace and poverty upon the gallant mou of the navy, and their suffering families, is one of the most atro- cious. More than five hundred American families have been most seriously injured by this unparalleled 324 REVIEW. tyranny of Franklin Pierce and Secretary Dobbin Not only liave they deprived the country of the ser\dces of men when they were eminently needed; to exalt our stars and stripes ; not only have they aspersed the fair fame of these men, by con- demning them, in violation of law, and without any form of trial — a right guaranteed by the constitution to the most blood-stained criminal in the land ; but by that act the administration have deprived these men of the advantages of any other honorable calling. Do you ask how? We answer, has it not attached opprobrium to these ofiicers as citizens, by disrating or dismiss- ing them? Does not the fact itself imply moral, physical, or mental incompetency, in the public judgment ? If these officers apply for employment in the merchant service, for example, what is the result ? The insurance companies refuse to grant a policy to a ship in their command, because of this unjust sentence by the government. The edu- cation of these men compelled them to look to the profession as a life service, and hence the difficulty of attempting to compete with the civil employ- ments of our enterprising business men. Athens starved her best men, and Rome neglected hers , / REVIEW. 325 and this led to the ruin of those republics. But England votes lands, and the Queen bestows fine salaries, upon her military men. And in France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, despotisms as they are, there is marked liberality towards this arm of the public service. It shocks the common sense of the people to see these freemen, who have defended our fortress of liberty on every sea and in every clime, ruthlessly thrust aside by an incompetent President, insti- gated by unprincipled demagogues. The veto power, only intended by the constitu- tion to be used with extreme delicacy and caution, and to prevent hasty or indiscreet legislation, which might defeat the free will of the people, has been used by Franklin Pierce with the same arrogant self-conceit that is exercised by the Ro- man pontiff. He has abused this high prerogative of the President, and trampled down the rights and })ri\'ileges of the people with the audacious impudence of a Nero. The French Spoliation bill, which passed Con- gress in 1855, shared the unhallowed fate of the lunatic bill, made for that unfortunate class of our fellow-beings. There never were claims upon earth 28* 326 REVIEW. founded more in justice than those connected with the French Spoliation "bill ; and when, after years of toil on the part of the petitioners for redress, Con- gress at last vindicated the nation's honor, it was crushed by the reckless action of Franklin Pierce. The Collins line of steamers, too, the pride of every honest American, shared the same fate; and, though the appropriation was afterwards made in spite of the executive veto, it remained in its power still to give the notice for discontinu- ing the contract. That policy of Pierce's govern- ment, to crush out American enterprise, and give foreigners the monopoly of the seas, as well as upon the soil of our country, has been steadily pursued towards the Collins steamers, until the blow has finally been struck by Congress, and the notice to stop the government assistance has been given. As a nation we are daily becoming more formidable to foreign powers, and the United States of America is the only country whose mari- time increase can compete successfully with that of Great Britain. Now, more than ever before, every instinct of aiatioual pride and patriotism demanded that these American steamers should have . been retained and cherished, as the only line that can REVIEW. 327 offer successful competition to the Cunard line of English steamers. Did the revenues of the government compel the withholding of this money from American industry and enterprise ? Did public sentiment oppose this effort which has elevated our national capabilities over the world ? No ; it was in defiance of the will and wishes of the majority of the American people, that narrow-minded, designing men have been found to conspire with Franklin Pierce in the attempted destruction of our beautiful steamers. Had that Collins line existed in the war of 1812, the waters of our lakes and ocean would have re- mained private waters ; and the battles of Niagara, Chippewa, and New Orleans, would never have been fought upon American soil. Thus, in war or peace, these steamers should be made part and parcel of ourselves ; — protected for the national benefit in time of peace, and secur- ing our country from the danger of land operations in time of war. 0, Americans, we want a man to put down all this ; — a man with a whole American heart, who loves his country everywhere ; who loves the peo- ple and all their interests, and will protect, defend, 328 REVIEAV. and cherish their commerce, their shipping, their manufactures, their mechanics, and glory only in their nationality. That man is Millard Fillmore ! We have all the materials and means for building our own ships, and developing our own resources. We can cast our own cannon, make our own rifles, bayonets, and knives ; and Ave have American men to do the work, in lieu of foreign workmen, whom Pierce has harbored, to take it out of American hands, for the sake of keeping the foreign vote, and favoring the Romish hierarchy. While, too, Pierce's administration has been stopping the commerce of the Mississippi and the lakes of the north-west, by refusing to let the people have their own money to remove the difficult and dangerous impediments, the funds of the treasury have been squandered in purchasing pictures to adorn a committee-room connected with public buildings at Washington, at a cost to the people's pockets of three thousand six hundred dollars, and a marble mantel at five hundred dollars for the same sumptuous apartment. Americans, you cannot afford this ! You cannot afford to tax yourselves and your children to please the taste merely of a capricious executive. You REVIEW. 329 foot these bills, remember ; and you have a right to know the advantage of these things. The cost of the machinery in putting up the public buildings at Washington, under Franklin Pierce's foreign administration, has been ascertained, by the investi- gation of a committee of Congress, to have nearly equalled the cost of all the buildings ! Every house-builder in America knows this is all wrong. Money has been expended in transporting bricks from New York and Philadelphia to Washington, at thirteen dollars a thousand, and then being so small as to take thirteen hundred to make a thou- sand ! Under Millard Fillmore's administration, all the jobs upon public buildings were done under honest, bona fide contracts. But Pierce abandoned the old contract system, and has employed mechanics and laborers by the day, in the post-office and capitol extensions. Noav, what is the result of having men dress marble and brick by the day ? Why, they will contrive to dress it as long as a rough surface remains, no matter whether it is ever intended to be seen or not. So the rear wall of the post- office, which never can be seen by the public at all, is finished in a more costly manner than any public 330 REVIEW. building in the United States, and only because it lias given encouragement to foreign over Ameri- can mechanics. In 1852, Walter, the architect of the capitol under Mr. Fillmore, saw the slowness with which men worked when their own interest was advanced thereby, and made a contract with Mr. Emory, the most experienced granite-cutter in Washington, to furnisii it all at one fifth less than it could be done by the day's work. But, in the face of experience, and a perfect knowledge of the fact that the dic- tates of enlightened public economy demanded this policy to be retained, Capt. Meigs, the Pierce employe, acting out the principle of extravagance and folly pursued by the administration, returns to the day-wages system, and thus has caused more money to be expended on the back of the post-ofQce, never to be seen, than on the front of the capitol of the United States! Hon. Edward Ball, of Ohio, in the month of May, 1856, inquired into the prodigal wasteful- ness of the people's money on the part of the em- ployes of the administration of Franklin Pierce. By the introduction of a series of resolutions, the enormous sums expended upon the enlargement of REVIEW. 331 the capitol were sought to be ascertained. The ad- herents of the President were greatly alarmed, and endeavored to suppress all information on the sub- ject. But frauds of the most villanous nature had been discovered, and were exposed by the chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. In the single contract made with Beals and Dixon, the treasury had been robbed of one hundred thousand dollars. This was perpetrated wilfully, because Mr. J. B. Emery, of Baltimore, with all the securities and obligations required by the stip- ulations of the " proposals," offered to do the cor- aice-work at twenty-four dollars and seventy-five cents per foot, while Beals and Dixon charged fchirty-nine dollars per foot. The former gentle- man engaged to do the " architraves over antes " at nine dollars per foot ; but the work was given — no doubt for political purposes — to Messrs. Beals and Dixon to do at the monstrous charge of nine- teen dollars per foot ! For capitals of columns Beals and Dixon charged nine hundred dollars, Mr. Emery offering to do the same w^ork, according io " advertisement" {sham advertisement), at four Tiundred dollars each column ! Another enormous disparity was exhibited in the bid on capitals of 332 REVIEW. antes ; Beals and Dixon charging two hundred and forty dollars, Mr. Emery asking only fifty- eight dollars ! And so on, through the catalogue of iniquity. The corruption existing in the department hav- ing these matters in charge was also made mani- fest. By garbling the figures, and by palpable miscalculations, it was ascertained that the " de- partment " made it appear as though Mr. Emery's bid had amounted to three hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred and fourteen dollars, whereas, in fact, it was only twenty-five thousand eight hundred and ninety-five dollars. By the proper mode of computation — that is to say, according to the rules of the arithmetics used in our American schools — Mr. Emery had offered to do the work on two thousand five hundred feet of rough stone, six hundred and thirteen feet each, for the sum of one thousand three hundred and seventy-five dollars; but the foreigners employed in the Treasury Department, according to the rules of their European method of computation, made it appear that Mr. Emery's charge was seventy- one thousand and seventy-five dollars, or nearly forty dollars per foot. The American arithmeti- KEVTEW. 333 Claris make the sixteen thousand feet of work for which Mr. Emery bid amount to eight thousand eight hundred dollars ; but the foreign clerks of the Treasury Department of Franklin Pierce figure it up to two hundred and forty-four thousand four hundred and eighty dollars. This was done through ignorance of the common rules of the American arithmetic, or for the purpose of keeping Mr. Emery out of the contract, and thus securing it to the government pets, Messrs. Beals and Dixon. Thus the people's money is used to retain the reins of government, in order that a perpetual handling of the treasury's funds may be indulged. The people's money is used to secure the power of robbing the people, year after year. It was not so under the administration of Millard Fillmore. But, in addition to the crime of robbery, that of a violation of the United States law, in reference to the plan of construction of the capitol extension, is chargeable upon the Treasury Department of the present administration. Here is the law. " For the continuation of (lie Treasury building, three hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under the direction of the Presi- dent of the United States, according to the plan 29 4 REVIEW. proposed by Thomas U. Walter, architect, and approved of by the Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on Buihlings and Grounds, at the last session of Congress." Now, what regard have the men at Washington paid to this statute ? Not the least. What are they, then, but outlaws — a pack of outlaws in the Treasury Department of the United States ? ]^]r. Walter's plan has been changed by the superin- tendent and architect having the extension in charge. They have allowed their fancies to run riot, and all their dreams of " palace halls " are being realized at the expense of the American people, who elevated Mr. Pierce to the Presidency, and at the expense of some who had no hand in that sad affair. The plain front originally designed, and the economical plan proposed, under Mr. Fill- more's administration (the idea of the extension having originated in his term of office), have been totally abandoned, and a front of Italian ' ' ginger- bread-work " substituted instead of Mr. Walter's design. The elaborate and costly style substituted is of no consequence to Mr. Pierce ; but the people will be greater dupes than we take them to be, if they tacitly submit to the robbery of their treasury REVIEW. 335 for the purpose of pampering the pets of the ex- ecutive. Fifty thousand dollars, or one hundred thousand dollars, are mere bagatelles to the unscru- pulous Pierce ; and he does not hesitate to sanction the expenditure of such paltry sums, for a single moment, if the votes of the influential contractors can he secured to perpetuate the so-called demo- cratic dynasty. American democrats, however, will object to the perpetuity of the foreign democ- racy, on this principle of wasteful extravagance. During the Fillmore administration the work of the Capitol extension was commenced, under the direction of the Department of the Interior (where it properly belongs), according to the plans of Mr. Walter ; but Mr. Pierce, to suit his own personal purposes, took the control of the work from the Secretary of the Interior, and placed it in the hands of the Secretary of War ; and this last officer at once appointed a military/ officer, the present superintendent, over Mr. Walter, with power to change the plan. Now, Mr. Walter is acknowledged to be the best civil architect in the United States ; but the Pierce managers, having in view the pampering of their own partisans, have seen fit to allow their man. Captain Meigs, to do 336 REVIEW. pretty much as he pleases in the way of nonsensi- cal decorations and extravagant adornments. No matter : the people, who placed Franklin Pierce in power, foot the bills. American mechanics and working-men will "pay the piper," while they are rendered less able to do so by the admission of the cheap pauper laborers of Europe, duty free, into the American labor market. The difference of a million of dollars, between the proposed cost of the Capitol extension, originally designed un- der Mr. Fillmore's administration, and that substi- tuted by Pierce, is an item of no moment. The people will be " democrats; " and as they are will- ing to pay for the glorious privilege of mingling with the Irish Catholics and the foreign demo- crats, instead of being American democrats, why, let them go on until they are tired of ihc: drain upon their pockets. But the cause of President Pierce's disregard of cost is evidenced in his sanction of the em- ployment of any number of German and Italian sculptors, busily engaged in the manufacture of statuary, designed for the pediment of the two wings of the. extension. These graven images are represented to be the liknesses of nothing in the REVIEW. 337 heavens above or the earth beneath, — excepting one of them, which is a model of a German work- ing-man's wife, and is passed off as the Goddess of Liberty. This Italian and German toggery has been procured at an immense cost ; but American working-men will pay for it, by taxation. Foreign sculptors are the only ones employed under Mr. Pierce's administration, but American mechanics are taxed to pay for the work of these Germans and Italians. Is this country worthy to be called American ? Is there any sense or signification in the term America or Americans ? Why not call it Ger- many, or Ireland? How many miserable, de- luded American mechanics there are, who voted for Franklin Pierce, who would now be glad to be em- ployed on the work of the Capitol extension ! But Germans and Italians must be propitiated, for the sake of their votes, and Americans may starve ! Is it nut true that the people should teach their representatives that they are not sent to Congress to vote appropriations of their money, from year to year, to be used by Franklin Pierce, or any other President, without limitation or discrimina- tion ? 29* 338 REVIEW. Pierce's aclministration came into power pledged to preserve peace, by keeping down all causes of agitation among the people, — pledged to reform all useless abuses, and expenditures of their money ; instead of which, he has run up the expenses of the nation from fifty to eighty millions per an- num, and. kept down the internal commercial interests of the country by refusing the improve- ments which the people demanded. He has inter- fered with the domestic peace of the nation, and forced us into all the horrors of civil war. He has deceived, cheated, betrayed the people, at home and abroad. And he has done more to fasten the despotism of the Pope's political church upon the American people than the monarchs of Catholic France, Catholic Austria, and Catholic Spain, ever did together. He graciously received the Pope's Nuncio, sent by him to enforce his claims to property of Amer- ican citizens, and has cultivated the closest inti- macy with this foreign despot, and with those aliens among us whom he knew, in virtue of their imperishable allegiance to the Pope, cannot, whether gone through the forms of naturalization or not, ever become American citizens. The day REVIEW. 339 a bishop or priest of Rome renounces allegiance to the Pope of Rome, that day he forfeits his right to be a priest or bishop, and cannot ad- minister a sacrament, or exercise a single preroga- tive, in the Roman Catholic Church. Franklin Pierce knows, but does not care for this. He knows that Bishop Hughes sold his party the foreign Catholic vote, which elected him to the Presidency ; and the future annalist will do Pierce the justice to record the fact that, while his administration is distinguished but for two original measures, the burning of Greytown and the court costume order, he has been singularly grateful for his elevation to the papal despot, rather than to the free will of the American people. CHAPTER IV. FOURTH YEAR OF PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION. When George the Third, of England, undertook to subdue the American colonies in 1760, and make them bow to the supremacy of Parliament, he sent regiments of troops to Boston, and had fourteen war-vessels pointing their broadsides on the town, to enable his commissioners to extort its unjust taxation ; and, the more effectually to frighten the people into submission, the king's sentries paraded the streets, and compelled the people to have a permit from these red-coats to go to their business places. So, Franklin Pierce has sought, by a similar policy, to terrify the American people now, by dealing with them as a nation of serfs. The only principle of action to which he has been constant has been that Mhich intermeddled with the federal and state elections. For this he violated all the compromises of the constitution. For this he fra- •JCJBnlttB M£yi:^s. OF AT.BAi: ms6 REVIEW 341 tcrnizcd political apostates of all parties and creeds. For this he increased offices and salaries in the country, and squandered the money belong- ing to the people, to multiply agents for elections in all the states. For this he perverted most shamefully the intent of the law, and turned out of the navy two hundred and one officers, without regard to their service or character, to make place for partisans and favorites. For this he has kept the nation two years out of a great national road to the Pacific, and compelled the people to pay for useless surveys of routes, in order to dodge the issue of committing himself to either route. Americans, behold your country ! Indian war rages. CaUfornia, New Mexico, and Oregon, are the scenes of bloody action now, and the soil of Kansas imbrued with fratricidal gore ! Mormons arc coming into the nation by thirty and forty thousand a year, and from INIr. Pierce's conduct in Utah we shall soon have that state, which has overturned all religious and civil au- thority, and outraged decency and morals, asking- admission into our Protestant Union as a Mormon state ! Nothing but the Kansas excitement will deprive Franklin Pierce of the glory of consum- 342 REVIEW. mating tliat act. Kansas excitement ! Yes, Americans, it is more than civil strife. It is a dangerous presentiment that this Union may be dissolved. 0, my countrymen ! pause and con- sider for one moment the awful responsibility which now devolves upon you ! Franklin Pierce has outraged this people ; and his policy, to which his successor is committed, threatens to split the Union into fragments. Had he been but a man who respected the constitution of his countr}-, he would have honestly and faithfully executed the laws, and preserved peace and unity to the settlers of Kansas, no matter from what section they came. But, thank God, there is given to this oiFended people one way, and only one way, of escape at this moment, and that is the election of Millard Fillmore. If this shall be done, the Union and the constitution arc vindicated, and the interests of this nation will continue as one people. Let no false ambition seduce you from the path of duty ; let no desire for political power or place ever swerve you from tenaciously adhering to prin- ciple. Remember the lesson^ Franklin Pierce has taught you, that to gain the Presidency by fraud, is to divest it of all its honor ; and that it is far REVIEW. 343 l)cttc'r to pursue the Avocation in life to Avhicli you are mentally adapted, than to aspire to that to which you are incompetent. Had Mr. Pierce con- tinued in New Hampshire, and contented himself by an honest attention to his business profession, instead of intriguing for the office nature neyer fitted him to fill, he might have lived and died respected by his fellow-men. He would haA'e saved himself the trial Avhich has proved his moral as well as intellectual deficiency, and been secured from temptations to self-aggrandizement which he was unable to resist, and prevented the shock to the peace and liberties of this people which years cannot overcome. My countrymen, if, on the fourth of March, 1857, the conduct and actings of Franklin Pierce's executive were certainly to end forever, this analysis of his administration would not now be written. But such is not the fact. And, so far as the party which nominated James Buchanan are concerned, they have expressly avowed their purpose to perpetuate through him the identical policy which has now brought disaster and blood- shed upon our beloved country. And Pierce's administration, therefore, are as anxiously labor- 344 REVIEW. ing to secure the election of James Buclianan, as if he, Mr. Pierce, "was now before the people. Let every American vote understandingiy in the next presidential election, and know that there is a perfect union and communion between the friends and supporters of these two men, Buchanan and Pierce ; and whoever votes for Buchanan votes just as much to perpetuate the dynasty of Franklin Pierce as though his name were on the ticket. Mr. Buchanan has endorsed the present national executive, and declares himself the platform which broke down the Missouri compromise, which com- promise he himself assisted to make, thirty-six years ago, the repeal of which has opened the flood- gates of internal discord and civil strife in the land. The platform of the Cincinnati Convention, which James Buchanan personates, if carried out, would lead to the inevitable degradation and ruin of the American people. It says, *' The time has come for the people of the United States to de- clare themselves in favor of free seas, and a pro- gressive free trade throughout the world." This doctrine is more baneful to the interests of the American laboring man than even a foreign war. REVIEW. 345 Americans, what is free trade, but taking money directly from your pockets to pay the expenses of the government, instead of putting duties on imported goods, which you do not feel ? If James Buchanan is elected, you are to have equal taxation, which, allowing there are twenty-five millions of people, will make each man, woman, and child, have to pay three dollars apiece yearly. Mr. Buchanan approves, too, of ten cents a day as the wages of labor ! Think of this ! The Cincinnati Convention did not consider the ills we now endure were suQicient, while the government is pampering foreign and domestic pets, and squan- dering eighty millions of the people's money ; so it goes to taxing the poor to increase their burdens. Americans, it would be better now to expend one hundred millions to elect Millard Fillmore, whom you know and have tried, than to elect Buchanan. He may cost us our libe^rties. In the other case, the money would soon be returned to the people ten-fold, in the confidence and prog- ress and peace it would bring upon the whole Union. With a war within our own borders upon a ter^ ritory twice as large as England, Mr. Buchanan 30 34 G REVIEW. is pledged also to carry out the Ostend manifesto, if elected. Now what would ensue, Americans, if that were acted out ? We answer, war, imme- diately, with England, France, and Spain. And all commerce between the United States and the western coast of Europe would that moment cease. This would stop all importations of cotton and bread-stuffs in Europe, and precipitate those countries also into anarchy and revolution. The real meaning of that Ostend manifesto is concealed upon its face. It is deep, dark, and malignant ; and, if ever enforced, it ^vill be by making the American people wade through seas of blood ! As we have already seen, it was the work of European revolutionists and American demagogical tricksters. They who called them- selves Americans were mostly foreign born, with foreign hearts, like Soule & Co. To this degrad- ing business Mr. Buchanan became the pliant tool, because he wished to succeed Franklin Pierce at Washington, and was made to believe, therefore, this was the very best move. It is the interest, aim, and wish of all true Americans to remain at peace ; and, least of all, to go to war with our best customers abroad, from REVIEW. 347 ■whom we buy, and to wliom we sell. And it is all idle to try to force conviction upon the minds of the American people, that it is their duty to inflict a blow upon any nation, without their rights have been sacrificed or their principles in- vaded. We are already possessed of an area of terri- tory only one sixth less than the fifty-nine states of Europe put together. We are ten times larger than Great Britain and France, and one and a half times larger than Russia in Europe. Hence we have no occasion for getting into Avar to acquire more territory, for many years to come. Better far to be making treaties, to send our Protestant Bible, our tracts and missionaries, to enlighten Mexico's eight millions of benighted papists, and other countries upon this continent, than to bring a population of ignorant paupers and criminals, who could never appreciate our Anglo-American liberty, under the segis of American laws. Now, my countrymen, you see, precisely, what you have to expect by perpetuating the demo- cratic executive of Franklin Pierce. The same home and a worse foreign policy, the same anti- American feeling, and contemptible subserviency 348 REVIEW. to the foreign Roman Catholic hierarchy. You ask, how do we know this 1 We answer, that it is as well understood that James Buchanan traded with the foreign Catholic vote in 1852, for Pierce, which put an Irish Catholic in the cabinet, from Pennsylvania, as that he defeated Henry Clay, for the presidency, in Pennsylvania, in 1844, when he practised the gross fraud upon that peo- ple, and declared to them that James K. Polk was a better tariff man than Henry Clay. But for this, Mr. Clay would have filled the office of President, to which he was most clearly elected, by the votes of his devoted countrymen. It is time there was an end to this compact sale of Irish and German votes. And the Amer- ican party fears not to say, that German and Irish bodies, armed under their own flag, must not, and shall not, as foreigners, interfere with our just political rights, to elevate aspiring ximer- ican demagogues, of any party. HON. EDWIN 0. PERRIN. The father of this American, the late Judge Perrin, f Maryland, became one of the earliest settlers of Ohio, an.. at Springfield, in that state, the subject of this sketch was born. The death of his father, and the consequent depri- vation of young Perrin's patrimony by the injudicious management of his estate, obliged him, like most of the public men of our country, to become the architect of his own fortune. After acquiring a suitable education by his industry and energy, he adopted the law as his profession, and studied with Judge Mason, of Ohio. Mr. Perrin sub- sequently removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he mar- ried Miss Stanton, sister of the Hons. Richard and Fred- erick P. Stanton, late Representatives in Congress from Kentucky and Tennessee ; and who, estimable for every excellence and virtue, is also admired for her intelligence, beauty, and accomplishments. Under the administration of Gen. Taylor, Mr. Perrin was appointed navy agent of Memphis, and discharged the duties of that office Avith fidelity and faithfulness, until the acces- sion of Franklin Pierce, who found Mr. Perrin's political principles good cause for removal. He then removed to the city of New York to pursue his profession, and united with the great American party in the attempt to restore the country to its pristine integrity and purity. In the elections of 1855 he became the eloquent defender of American 30* 350 HON. EDWIN 0. PERRIN. principles upon the hustings, and the people greeted him with enthusiasm wherever he was heard in that cause. A company of volunteers, soon after the success of the Ameri- can ticket in New York, was organized as the " Perrin Guard," in that city; and in contending for the prize of a magnificent silver basket, presented by Mr. Perrin, the cap- tain of that company said : " Our distinguished guest, Edwin 0. Perrin : One of Tennessee's ablest orators. AVe extend to him a cordial welcome to the home of his adoption, the Empire City of the Empire State. Long may he live to defend with eloquent tongue our common country and our country's cause ! Having adopted his name, let us emulate his devotion ! " Mr. Perrin closed his speech with the follow- ing: "The Volunteer Soldiery of New York: A standing army in time of peace, and no running army in time of war. Their discipline and courage at home have only been equalled by their patriotism and bravery abroad. May the junior American corps prove worthy descendants of their gallant seniors; maintaining for the future what ihey have so gallantly achieved in the past." After the nomination of the American Presidential ticket, Mr. Perrin appeared again in the political field, to press with eloquence and earnestness the election of Millard Fillmore to the chief magistracy of the nation. Like the heroes of our Revolutionary battles, he put aside all other pursuits for the American cause, and is now winning "golden opinions," througliout the State of New-York, for the intelligent per- suasions and thrilling appeals he is making to the patriotism of the people, and which are the more effectively enforced because of the impregnable defences which surround and elevate his character. COL. GARDNER B. LOCKE. Col. Gardner B. Locke was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee. His parents were Virginians, and his father served in the Revolutionary War. Col. Locke moved to Memphis when that city was but a small trading-point, and its principal commerce was with the Indians. He has been uiuleviating, through life, in his devotion to the principles which now control and influence the action of the American party, and was always a warm admirer and personal friend of Henry Clay. Col. Locke is remarkable for the untiring energy and pertinacity which he brings to the accomplishment of his undertakings, and is a prominent and active advocate of the election of Mr. Eillmore. He has been elected by the peo- ple to the mayoralty of Memphis, and has filled other posts of trust and confidence in his native state. Col. Locke has a strong hold upon the respect and con- fidence of the people of the West. His faithfulness to duty, and the integrity and uprightness of his character, are the sure guarantees that his popularity will be as lasting as it is elevated. ALFRED BREWSTER ELY "Was born in Monson, Hampden County, Massachusetts, on the 30th of January, A. D. 1817, and is now, conse- quently, in the fortieth year of his age. His father is the Rev. Alfred Ely, D.D., who for fifty years has been pastor of the Orthodox Congregational church in Monson ; and whose good report, as one of the noblest and best of Christian men and devoted ministers, is in all the churches. His mother was a daughter of Major-General Timothy Newell, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary AYar. Through his grandmother, on the father's side, INIr. Ely traces his descent directly, and with only five removes, from Elder William Brewster, one of the original Plymouth pilgrims, and famous among the passengers of the Mayflower. "With such an ancestry, he may well be proud of his decided American and Puritan proclivities. Mr. Ely at an early age evinced talents of a superior character. His natural abilities were of high order, and his facilities for acquiring an education were, fortunately, excellent. He was industrious as a student, and, having finished his academical course, entered the freshman class of Amherst College in the fill of 1832. Her3 he remained four years, and graduated with distinguished honor. Mr. Ely left college in the fall of 183G, and, after spending a year in Brattlcboro' , Vermont, as the principal of the high school in that village, went to Fayctteville, North Carolina, ALFRED BRETV'STER ELY. ii'O'6 "where he remained t-^o years, as assistant to his old pre- ceptor, Rev. S. Colton, then principal of the Donaldson Academy in that place. Thence he went to New York, and entered upon the duties of a cashier of one of the banks in that state. But our limited space will not allow of a detailed account of Mr. Ely's rapid rise to an eminent posi- tion at the bar, and in the political party Avhose cause he has espoused. Even in college Mr. Ely was noted for what is now called Native Americanism. His first public perform- ance, after leaving college, was of a Native American char- acter ; and his first lyceum lecture, delivered at Spring- field, soon after he went there, was decidedly of that stamp. Consequently, when the American movement of 1844 was first started, Mr. Ely was already indoctrinated a»d prepared to act. He was an able and indefatigable champion in the election of December, 1844, which resulted in the election of an American mayor. He participated in the convention held at Philadelphia, presided over by that noble man and true-hearted patriot, General Henry A. S. Dearborn, of IMassachusetts. In the enumeration of the principles in the declaration emanating from that body, Mr. Ely's mind and hand were both conspicuous. Always prominent and efficient at all the subsequent conventions, it is unnecessary to enumerate them. In 184G, Mr. Ely introduced the patriotic Order of United Americans into Massachusetts ; the first chapter thereof (Hancock chapter) being instituted in his office, by Hon. Thomas R. Whitney, of New York. Rising rapidly through the diflferent gradations of this noble order, jNIr. Ely has attained to the highest position (that of Arch Grand Sachem), being the third in succession; the other two having been Hon. Thomas R. "Whitney, M.C., and Hon. Jacob Broom, M.C. He still holds this high honor, and is the head and front of that purely American body of 354 ALFRED BREWSTER ELY. true patriots, who form the breakwater against which the floods and storms of the factional elements beat in vain. Thej cannot be driven from their position, although treason may thwart their efforts, and traitors betray them. If there is gratitude in the American heart of Massachusetts, the subject of this brief memoir will be rewarded for his many years of hard labor in behalf of the cause dear to all Americans. Possessing executive talents of the highest order, and gifted with a large stock of common sense, and great independence and integrity of character, he is rarely wrong in his judgments, and is seldom turned from his opinions. He is eminently a national man. Never willing to commit an aggression, he is always the first to resent one. With his stern sense of right, and his unflinching will to vindicate that right, into no safer hands could the welfare of any party or the people be committed. One of the Old Guard Americans, firmest and truest when least was to be gained, Mr. Ely deserves the gratitude, the respect, and the warm esteem and confidence, of all true patriots and Americans. ^// cc /y /? (r'/^^^^ a ^_ MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. The father of this sketch was the late Louis Kopman, of New York. He was introduced into the United States by Robert Southey, the poet, and William Roscoe, the his- torian, of Liverpool, and was eminent in his day as one of the largest importers of British goods in New York and Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Kopman was a scholar, an ac- complished gentleman, and an unobtrusive Christian, in communion with the Church of England ; and after enjoying for three score and ten years the most faultless reputation in erery relation in life, he has transmitted these excellences of character to his son, whose portrait appears in these pages. Mr. Sidney Kopman was born in New York, and was educated to the mercantile profession ; and, after a long ex- perience as clerk in his own city, he became a merchant in Memphis, Tennessee. During the period of the Mexican war, he acted as the efficient chief clerk to Capt. Wm. R. Latimer, of the United States Navy, at the Pcnsacola Navy Yard. He there founded a lodge of the benevolent society of Odd Fellows, and for many years has been an active and prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He con- tributed the leading editorials of the Pensecola Gazette, when in Florida. After the IMexican war closed, j\Ir. Kopman was among the first to make a commercial exploration to California, by 356 MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. the way of Cape Horn. In this perilous voyage of six months, he most miraculously escaped shipwreck at Terra del Fuego, the extreme point of Patagonia. He was at Juan Fernandez, visited the Island of Madeira, was present at the opening of the Chilian congress, and slept two weeks upon the Andes Mountains. He was presented, with several other Americans, to the Emperor of Brazil, at Rio Janeiro, and penetrated the interior of that state to visit the diamond mines ; and, finally, after the completion of a most hazard- ous voyage of twenty-three thousand miles, with the attend- ant evils, at one time, of a threatened famine, he settled down in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, for some months, to make a survey of the country, and then return to New York, by the way of Mexico. The Mercantile Library of his native city, New York, was for many years an object of the deepest solicitude to Mr. Kopman, and to whose energy and action, as a member of that association, may be attributed much of the present position and standing of the institution. He has recently been elected an honorary member of the historical society at Madison, Wisconsin, Mr. Kopman early enlisted in the great national move- ment to regenerate the country, and has been one of the most earnest and active members of the American party. In the formation of organizations in the country, he has efficiently contributed in the three past years, by inducing prominent men, who have visited New York, to unite with the American order, which prepared the way for their indi- vidual cooperation when they returned to their own homes. From four to five hundred members, Avho are now exerting an extended influence in their respective localities, gave their first adhesion to the cause under the earnest pleadings of this true American; while the author cannot neglect MR. SIDNEY KOPMAN. 357 to ackno-\^-lcdge the valuable data furnislied by Mr. Kopman in connection "with this work. Few possess more extended literary acquirements, or a better-cultivated taste, than INIr. Kopman ; and his remark- able gift of remembering all that he has read would not make it inappropriate to style him a moving cyclopedia of useful knowledge. But the crowning virtue of the man is in the beauty of his character, his high moral rectitude, and his pure integrity. 31 THOMAS H. CLAY, ESQ. Thomas H. Clay, Esq., the second son of the illustrious Henry Clay, -was born in Lexington, Ky., on the 23d Sep- tember, 1803. He was educated partly at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and in Transyl- vania University, Lexington, Ky. He studied law in 1825 and '26 with Judge Boyle, Chief Justice of the State of Kentucky, and one of the judges of the Court of Appeals. In 1826 he was licensed to practise law by the Court of Appeals, consisting of Judges Boyle, Ouseley, and Mills. Early in life he became disgusted with the practice of the profession, and abandoned it. In 1837 Mr. Clay married the daughter of a French gentleman residing near Lexington, by whom he has a family of five children, three daughters and two sons. He has never aspired to any political station ; but, having been appointed a delegate to the National Council, held in Philadelphia, in February last, by the American Councils of the Ashland District, he thought it his duty to attend the Council and Nominating Convention, to which, as a delegate, he was also appointed. Endorsing fully the action of the Council and Conven- tion, he ardently desires the success of Fillmore and Donel- son at the approaching election for President and Yice- President. Perhaps in the election of no individual could the son of Henry Clay feel so great an interest as in that THOMAS H. CLAY, ESQ. 359 of his father's old and tried friend, INIillard Fillmore ; and, actuated bj the holiest love for the Union, and the common •welfare of all sections, that great patriot, statesman, and Christian, declared, as he went down to his grave, conscious of having given his best services and his ^Yhole heart to his country, that he preferred and wished that Millard Fill- more might be elected by the people to rule over it. Thomas 11. Clay a,vows his belief that, did his father still live, he would now preside over the destinies of the Ameri- can party, as the only national party, and the last refuge of the American Union. He himself has, within a few weeks, been elected to the Presidency of the Council of the State of Kentucky, and, honoring the high name of his illustrious parent, is laboring to save the Union in its pres- ent emergency. GENERAL NATHAN RANNEY. TuE subject of this sketch was born in Bethlehem, in the State of Connecticut, the 27th of April, 1797. In the war with England, 1812, he entered the army of the United States, though but sixteen years of age; and his deter- mined bravery, "and fearlessness in the discharge of his duties, made him prominent in every battle, and exposed him to every danger in the thickest of the fight. But, his only purpose in enlisting in the war being a patriotic one, he was steadfast in his refusal of all promotion tendered him, and adhered to his original intention of remaining in the service during the five years for which he had enlisted. It cannot be doubted that, had his ambition led him to a different decision, he would long since have occupied the highest rank among the gallant men of the army. In 1819, Gen. Ranney located in St, Louis, Missouri, where, as a prominent member of society and an enterpris- ing merchant, he has eminently assisted in the opening prosperity of St. Louis, and possesses a hold ujion the con- fidence and esteem of the community equal to that enjoyed by any other resident. In 1827, he became a member of the Presbyterian Church. And so faithful, active, and consistent, has he proved, in the discharge of every Christian duty belonging to his religious profession, that he has held the important and responsible position of elder, almost ever since, in the GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 361 congregation ^vith which he worships. "All that I am is through the blessing of God," has been the glorious sen- timent which has emulated this noble American to action, and given him a name that kings, with their scepti-es, might wisely envy. In 1855, the convention of the soldiers of 1812 met in Philadelphia. Gen. Ranney addressed that assembly in these words : " Fellow-Citizexs and Fellow-Soldier.s: Much has been said in relation to the militia of this country, and their services in the late war with Great Britain. They are, indeed, the bulwark and safety of our country ; but, while just honors have been paid to them, the gallant spirits who fought by their side Avith equal honor and equal success — the soldiers of the regular army of 1812 — were not men- tioned. I propose, on this occasion, to make a few remarks in relation to the regular soldiers of that eventful war. "It will be recollected hy most of you, perhaps, that the soldiers and officers of 1812 came from the first fam- ilies of the land. They entered the army, not as mercena- ries, but from patriotic motives, with a determination to serve their country, and drive back the myrmidons of Britain from our sacred soil. [Applause.] I will give you briefly the history of one of those soldiers, Avhich, with some modifications, may be the history of every soldier in the regular army. •• There was a lad belonging to one of the most I'cspecta- ble families of the United States, who, at the age of si.xteen years, was the fiivored of his family. At that age' he left his home and his school, and enlisted as a private in the 29lh Regiment for five years. His father's brother, •who was a colonel in the army, obtained an order for the boy's discharge. The discharge came, and was refused. [Great applause.] A commission was also oflfered him, and that, too, was refused. This lad served under General Wool. He was one of the three hundred who met Gov- ernor Provost eighteen miles from Plattsburg, and who cut 31^^ 362 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. their way, inch by inch, until they reached the banks of the Saranac. He Avas one of thirty who crossed the Sarauac and set fire with hay and tar to the underbrush of dry pine directly under the guns of the British buttery, and returned across the Saranac by floating a hundred yards down that stream, and fainting from the loss of blood. He was but one of a regiment through whose instrumentality, in part, the British lion was made to turn in defeat from the ^Vmer- ican eagle. [Applause.] This same person, in the dark- ness of night, led twenty men into a British town of five hundred inhabitants, and where British guards were sta- tioned to defend it, and took three distinguished prisoners, and carried them safely into the American camp, with loss of only one man wounded. He was made a sergeant, and afterwards a provost-marshal, that being the highest non- commissioned officer in the army. But he did not seek the life of a soldier as a profession. He determined to serve his country as a patriot, and when national honor and na- tional rii^hts were vindicated to return into civil life. Now, in the far West, the lad then, but man now, has reared an interesting family, and maintains a good name there, and commands the respect and honor of his fellow-men. [Voices — "Give us his name! ''J I "11 come to that by and by. I know, fellow-soldiers, that so dearly \locs that man love the quiet and unostentatious position which he now occu- pies, that were Congress at this day to offer to confer upon him a title of Lieutenant-General of our army, or any other trust of a like character, that he would refuse it. If he has vServed his country, it alone is satisfaction. He has but discharged his duty. [Applause.] Eellow-soldiers, many of us will never meet each other again on this side of Jordan. This meeting is interesting to me — more so than any which it has been my fortune to ever attend, since the scenes of that war. We have all fou'j-ht our last fiiiht — but we have still the warfare of life before us. Let us. then, so contend that we shall win a crown of victory, and be led Ity the eternal Cajjtain of our salvation to our last, our eternal home in heaven ! [Great applause, and cries of 'Tell us the name of that boy." J 1 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 363 Fello-R^-soldiers, lie stands now before you. [Renewed ap- plause, and nine cheers for General Ranney.]" In 1836, General Ranney was induced to accept the post of Brigadier-General in the Missouri militia; Avhich he filled with honor to himself, and entire acceptability to those under his command. This constitutes the only military situation he has consented to occupy in his adopted state. In politics, he was an original Jackson democrat, and until the American party was organized he was well known as a leader in the ranks of the democracy of the state. He was among the first to enrol his name upon the records of the party to which he is now attached, and of which he is a firm, bold, and eloquent advocate. He feels, as do his brethren everywhere, all over America, that the safety of the Union and of the nation depends upon guard- ing the ballot-box from the inroads that are being made upon it by the influx of foreigners ; opposition to extremists both of the South and the North ; a conservative, peace- lovinof, and country-loving band of patriots, who are ready and willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their native land. In his youth, he fought for his country ; in his manhood, he has prayed for it ; and in his old age, he is ready to die for it. The same influences-which led Gen. Ranney to battle for his country when a youth of only sixteen summers have again brought him into the present American revolution ; and to an immense gathering of freemen in the rotunda of the court-house of St. Louis, in March, 1856, who liad convened to ratify the American nominations for President and Vice President, he spoke as follows : " Amkric.\xs : We are lioro, not as Northern men from the North, not as Southern men from the South, but as o 64 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. Union men of the United States. We meet to give a hearty sanction to the Philadelphia nomination of President and Vice President. " Wc have had but one Washington and Jackson, one Webster and Clay, and but one Calhoun. " Fillmore and Donelson are good men, — the best in the Union. A better, a stronger, a more suitable nomination, cannot be made by any party, nor one better calculated to succeed. Three times in my life I have rejoiced with ex- ceeding great joy ; first -when, in 1814. at Plattsburgh, one thousand four hundred Americans defeated fourteen thou- sand of Lord Wellington's best troops." "7? -T^ "T? 'ff tP " The constitution must be preserved from violation. The one billion five hundred million dollars of slave property is nothing, compared Avith the worth of the Union. Ay. can the ten thousand millions of property in the world purchase of us the fame of Washington, or the memory of York- town, of Monmouth, of Saratoga, or of Plattsburgh and New Orleans ? No ! the Union must — it shall — it will be saved ! The nation looks to us for its safety. The good men of the North will help us, and our prospects are good. We take no step backward ; our platform is the con- stitution and the rights of the states. "The Christian who throws away his Bible has no re- ligion. The American who throws away the constitution has no country. Americans, let our party do right, and act right, if the heavens fall ! " The third time of my joy was at the nomination of Fillmore and Donelson. My reasons are, that the nominees are worthy ; that the country looked for such men, with the determination to elect them." On the 4th of June, 1856, the American party of Mis- souri held a mass meeting at Hannibal, in that state. Gen. Ranney was present to enforce the principle that " Ameri- cans alone should rule America." And he did it with a GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. 365 loill, ■wbich found its way with electric power into the hearts of thousands. He told the people that " For more than thirty years he was a consistent, an un- flinching democrat, and that he had acted with them in good faith as long as they had continued honest and pure in principles ; but two years ago his conviction was certain that the democratic party had changed, had become corrupt; and he had done what every honest man should do, — thrown himself body and soul into the great American cause ; that he had become a member of the only party truly national, and truly devoted to the preservation of this Union." At a convention held in Burlington, Iowa, in October, 1851. a member from St. Louis, in a set speech, declared that " while the rains of heaven were refreshing and fructifying the earth, and swelling the tide of the Missis- sippi, he thanked his God that not one drop came from South Caholina ! ! ! " Gen. Ranney, his personal friend, born in New England, but loving the whole Union, rebuked him, with this signifi- cant language, for his wanton attack upon a sister state : "Why, sir," said he, "attempt to goad men on to mad- ness, who were placed under different circumstances with ourselves, and of which we know but little ? " He then referred to the glorious history of this chivalric and heroic state, — to the memory of Marion, Sumpter, Greene, and others ; to the battles of Yorktown, Cowpcns, and the Eutaw Springs, and asked the President, in a mild but emphatic manner, if all these were to be forgotten. Ho stated that there was one delegate in that assembly whose body had been scarred, and whose limbs had been disfigured, while fighting side by side with the Carolinian against our ancient foe in the war of 1812. He also referred to the choicest blood of South Carolina 366 GEN. NATHAN RANNEY. ^Vhicli had enriched the plains of Mexico, and said, "Mr. President, shall we be no longer allowed to revere and honor these events, and be compelled to steel our hearts against the noble actors in them ? " Sir, the rains of heaven, falling upon the eastern slope of the Alleghany Mountains, refreshing and fructifying the soil of South Carolina, ran some of it down her rivers, and some of these ' drops ' helped to swell the tide of the sea that floated the Constitution, the Guerriere, the Wasp, and the Hornet, and enabled the American navy to obtain vic- tory and renown," Said Gen. Ranney, " Is this gallant state to be made accountable for all the vagaries of some of her Hotspurs, and mistaken friends ? " Why not attack good old New England, the land of churches and school-houses, and make her accountable for the infamy of the Hartford Convention, and the infernal acts of her hosts of abolitionists, who cast aside the laws of the land, and the authority of the Bible, and ridicule our holy religion? No, Mr. President," said Gen. Ranney. "I love New England, and I love South Carolina; and, with all their fliults, I will love them still." As president of the ]\Iissouri Bible Society, Gen. Ran- ney is also known for his distinguished efforts to advance the circulation of the Word of God, as well as diffuse its spirit among his fellow-men. Gen. Ranney is the artificer of his own fortune, and his industry, intelligence, and energy, have more than supplied any deficiency of early culture ; while the history of his life is replete with every virtue, and, without flaw or blem- ish, may well serve as a model for every American patriot. mi 4 - laso Q< " • >■ I <, <, & ^"^ ^ ^ ' ' ' ., ^^ ^ ^ "^^0^ #" "- S<'"'^' -4 % ^■%. A^ •p ?1 / ^-^ -^ "-^ ^" ^ ^- ■^. ■ !• j5 o^ <^. .%\^,* J' ^ Q. ; :; ^^^ u » .V G^ s^'' O, ''^ ^ * <. . z " '^' * .V .0^ s- .^'^ O. °y : ,^ o^ \ ■^ O -k ?:^ «^ / * / ^ ' "^^0^ -^^ c.^ ^ V. ■o- ,-?i °- "^e^d* % « /I j:^ 9c. :v^^ N^ V ,^^9c. \ ^ 9c. '= ^ -^ " ' -^ aV \> ^ > • ° A -^ \ " r ^ aC) ^ '/, .<. aO cp\^: ' % "--\c^ •^, .^^ ,^ vC^ 9c. - "^ 95/ ■ ,. . . ^ \i-- •oS 9c ^ - .^ ^ 9c. 95, ' , v * 0?)^ ^,