element of completeness. It is the triumph of right over wrong-of the democracy single-handed over all factions and all combinations-of fidelity to the constitution and the Union over virtual treason to both. Present my thanks to the Committee of Arrangements, my congratulations to the meeting, and with them, if you please, the subjoined sentiment. In haste, your friend, FRANK. PIERCE. Hon. SAMUEL H. AYER. "The Compromise Measures of 1850 and the New Hampshire Democra cy: Upon the former, the latter have fixed the seal of their emphatic approbation. No North, no South, no East, no West, under the constitution; but a sacred maintenance of the common bond and true devotion to the common brotherhood. In January, 1852, the democracy of New Hampshire in convention presented General Pierce as the democratic candidate for the presidency. This elicited the following letter of declination: CONCORD, January 12, 1852. MY DEAR SIR: I take the liberty to address you, because no channel more appropriate occurs to me through which to express my thanks to the convention over which you presided on the 8th instant, and to the masses there represented. I am far from being insensible to the steady and generous confidence so often manifested towards me by the people of this State; and although the object indicated in the resolution, having particular reference to myself, be not one of desire on my part, the expression is not on that account less gratifying. Doubtless the spontaneous and just appreciation of an intelligent people is the best earthly reward for earnest and cheerful services rendered to one's State and country; and while it is a matter of unfeigned regret that my life has been so barren of usefulness, I shall ever hold this and similar tributes among my most cherished recollections. To these my sincere and grateful acknowledgments 1 desire to add, that the same motives which induced me several years ago to retire from public life, and which since that time have controlled my judgment in this respect, now impel me to say, that the use of my name, in any event, before the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore, to which you are a delegate, would be utterly repugnant to my tastes and wishes. I am, with the highest respect and esteem, your friend, FRANK. PIERCE. Hon. CHAS. G. ATHERTON, Nashville, N. H. The last letter of General Pierce before the meeting of the National Convention was the following, addressed to Colonel Lally, of New Hampshire: TREMONT HOUSE, BOSTON, May 27, 1852. I intended to speak to you more fully upon the subject of the Compromise measures than I had an opportunity to do. The importance of the action of the convention upon this question cannot be over-estimated. I believe there will be no disposition on the part of the South to press reso lutions unnecessarily offensive to the sentiments of the North. But can we say as much on our side? Will the North come cheerfully up to the mark of constitutional right? If not, a breach in our party is inevitable. The matter should be met at the threshold, because it rises above party, and looks at the very existence of the confederacy. The sentiment of no one State is to be regarded upon this subject; but having fought the battle in New Hampshire upon the fugitive-slave law, and upon what we believed to be the ground of constitutional right, we should, of course, desire the approval of the democracy of the country. What I wish to say to you is this: If the Compromise measures are not to be substantially and firmly maintained, the plain rights secured by the constitution will be trampled in the dust. What difference can it make to you or me, whether the outrage shall seem to fall on South Carolina, or Maine, or New Hampshire? Are not the rights of each equally dear to us all? I will never yield to a craven spirit, that, from considerations of policy, would endanger the Union. Entertaining these views, the action of the convention must, in my judgment, be vital. If we of the North, who have stood by the constitutional rights of the South, are to be abandoned to any time-serving policy, the hopes of democracy and of the Union must sink together. As I told you, my name will not be before the convention; but I cannot help feeling that what there is to be done will be important beyond men and parties-transcendently important to the hopes of democratic progress and civil liberty. Your friend, FRANK. PIERCE. Notwithstanding General Pierce's repeated declinations of the great honor of a nomination for the presidency, yet this was destined to fall to his lot. His name had been presented not only by New Hampshire, but by presses and statesmen in other parts of the Union, previous to the Baltimore Democratic National Convention. This body was one of the most able and patriotic representations of the party that ever assembled in council. When it was found that neither of the distinguished statesmen whose names had been brought into the convention could receive the nomination, and that the common sacrifice of preferences would be required by the friends of all, then the high character, distinguished services, and acknowledged qualifications of General Pierce pointed him out as a fit candidate for the great American office which ought neither to be sought nor declined. Virginia, the mother of States and the birth-place of the Father of Democracy, first gave her vote for General Pierce. Other States followed. And the nomination was made amidst an enthusiasm which has been rarely equalled and which could not be surpassed. It was made not only in a spirit of wise statesmanship but of compromise, conciliation and union. It was thus that this true and modest son of the Granite State was made the standard-bearer of the national democratic party. The convention appointed a committee consisting of Colonel Barbour, of Virginia, Hon. J. Thompson, of Mississippi, Hon. Alpheus Felch, of Michigan, and Hon. P. Soulé, of Louisiana, to acquaint General Pierce of his nomination. This committee waited on the General at his residence in Concord, New Hampshire, and delivered to him the following letter: CONCORD, June 17, 1852. SIR: A National Convention of the democratic republican party, which met in Baltimore the first Tuesday in June, unanimously nominated you as a candidate for the high trust of President of the United States. We have been delegated to acquaint you with the nomination, and earnestly to request that you will accept it. Persuaded as we are that this office should not be pursued by an unchastened ambition, it can never be refused by a dutiful patriotism. The circumstances under which you will be presented for the canvass of your countrymen are propitious to the interests which the constitution intrusts to our federal Union, and must be auspicious to your own fame. You come before the people without the impulse of personal wishes, and free from all selfish expectations. You are identified with none of the distractions which have recently disturbed our country, whilst you are known to be faithful to the constitution, to all its guarantees and compromises. You will be free to exert your tried abilities within the path of duty in protecting that repose we happily enjoy, and in giving efficacy and control to those cardinal principles that have already illustrated the party which has selected you as its leader-principles that regard the security and prosperity of the whole country and the paramount power of its laws as indissolubly associated with the perpetuity of our civil and religious liberties. The convention did not pretermit the duty of reiterating those principles, and you will find them prominently set forth in the resolutions it adopted. To these we respectfully invite your attention. It is firmly believed that to your talents and patriotism the security of our holy Union, with its expanded and expanding interests, may be wisely trusted, and that, amid all the perils which may assail the constitution, you will have the heart to love and the arm to defend it. With congratulations to you and the country upon this demonstration of its exalted regard, and the patriot hopes that cluster over it, we have the honor to be, with all respect, your fellow-citizens, J. S. BARBOUR, Hon. FRANKLIN PIERCE, of New Hampshire. To this beautiful and appropriate letter, General Pierce made the following admirable reply: CONCORD, N. H., June 17, 1852. GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to acknowledge your personal kindness in presenting to me this day your letter officially informing me of my nomination by the Democratic National Convention as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. The surprise with which I received the intelligence of the nomination was not unmingled with painful solicitude, and yet it is proper for me to say that the manner in which it was conferred was peculiarly gratifying. The delegation from New Hampshire, with all the glow of State pride and all the warmth of personal regard, would not have submitted my name to the convention, nor would they have cast a vote for me, under circumstances other than those which occurred. I shall always cherish with pride and gratitude the recollection of the fact that the voice which first pronounced for me, and pronounced alone, came from the mother of States-a pride and gratitude rising far above any consequences that can betide me personally. May I not regard it as a fact pointing to the overthrow of sectional jealousies, and looking to the perennial life and vigor of a Union cemented by the blood of those who have passed to their reward-a Union wonderful in its formation, boundless in its hopes, amazing in its destiny! I accept the nomination, relying upon an abiding devotion to the interests, the honor, and the glory of our whole country, but, beyond and above all, upon a Power superior to all human might-a Power which, from the first gun of the Revolution, in every crisis through which we have passed, in every hour of our acknowledged peril, when the dark clouds have shut down around us, has interposed as if to baffle human wisdom, outmarch human forecast, and bring out of darkness the rainbow of promise. Weak myself, faith and hope repose there in security. I accept the nomination upon the platform adopted by the convention, not because this is expected of me as a candidate, but because the principles it embraces command the approbation of my judgment; and with them I believe I can safely say there has been no word nor act of my life in conflict. I have only to tender my grateful acknowledgments to you, gentlemen, to the convention of which you were members, and to the people of our common country. I am, with the highest respect, your most obedient servant, Hon. J. S. BARBOUR, J. THOMPSON, PIERRE SOUle. FRANK. PIERCE. The above imperfect sketch will serve to recall the principal points of the career of FRANKLIN PIERCE. Since the death of Levi Woodbury, he has stood foremost in the ranks of the democracy of New England. He attained this position by an able, open, steadfast adherence to principle; by proving himself more than equal to every station he has occupied; by serving his native State with reputation in the halls of legislation, and his country with gallantry and a spirit of self-sacrifice on the fields of battle; by proving himself to be a thorough and consistent republican, a judicious legislator, and a true friend to the constitution of his country. He now stands before the nation as the embodiment of the nationality of the great party by whom he is supported. He bears about him in his own past brilliant career, in the antecedents of the democratic party, and in the enthusiastic action of its representatives in convention, a pledge, if elected, to uphold unfalteringly the great American cause of the UNION, the CONSTITUTION, and the Laws; and on this grand basis to speed on the country in its destined career of FREEDOM and progress. WILLIAM R. KING. WILLIAM RUFUS KING is a native of North Carolina. He was born on the 7th of April, 1786. His father, William King, was one of three brothers, whose ancestor, on the paternal side, coming from the north of Ireland, settled at an early day on James river, in the colony of Virginia. Their mother was descended from a Huguenot family which had been driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. At the time of the Revolution the grandfather was too aged and infirm to participate in that arduous struggle; but he and his three sons were zealous and devoted whigs, (when that term meant something,) and the latter did good and effective service in the glorious cause. The eldest brother commanded a company of State troops, the youngest held a captain's commission in the continental army, and William, the father of Colonel King, took his position in the State line as a common soldier, by the side of some of the best and most patriotic men in the State. During the whole revolutionary war North Carolina was fighting-ground; and whether grappling with the tories or engaged with the myrmidons of Britain, none made greater sacrifices or inet more dangers than did the gallant family of Kings. The war over and independence secured, the father of the subject of our sketch, a planter in independent circumstances, devoted himself to the rearing and education of his children. At the early age of twelve years William R. King was sent to the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. On leaving that institution, where his attention to his studies, and uniformly correct and gentlemanly deportment, had commanded the respect and regard of his fellows and the approbation of the professors, he entered the law office of William Duffy, a distinguished lawyer, residing in the town of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in the autumn of 1805 obtained a license to practise in the superior courts of the State. In 1806 he was elected a member of the legislature of the State from the county of Sampson, in which he was born. He was again elected the year following; but, on the meeting of the legislature, he was chosen solicitor by that body, and resigned his seat. Colonel King continued in the practice of his profession until he was elected a member of Congress from the Wilmington district, in August, 1810, when he was but little more than twenty four years of age; but, as his predecessor's term did not expire before the 4th of March, 1811, Colonel King did not take his seat in the Congress of the United States until the autumn of that year, being the first session of the twelfth Congress. This was a most important period in the history of the country. The governments of England and France had for years rivalled each other in acts destructive of the neutral rights, and ruinous to the commerce of the United States. Every effort had been made-but in vain-to procure an abandonment of orders in council on the one hand, and decrees on the other, which had nearly cut up the commerce of the country by the roots, and a large majority of the people felt that to submit longer to such gross violations of 3 |