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"WE GO WHHRE EEMOCBATTC PBIJTCIPLES FOIST THE WAY ; WHEN THEY CEASE TO LEAD, WE CEASE TO FOLLOW."
MIME VIII.
EBEA'SBURG. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1852.
NUMBER 36.
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Front the Louisville Journal.
BLIXDXESS.
The fallowing lines will be read with much
interest, partly because they arc the production
efayouns gentleman who for several years
has been utterly blind, and partly because they
are exceei;r.gly fine poetry:
Li::ht of my darkened path, a moment stay ;
With hand attentive thou hast led me far
Since iVuin the grass at early dawn we shook
The glittering dew, and greeted gratefully
I'pon the hill the joy-dispensing morn.
With rambling thou art weary, gentle friend
This gras-y eminence invites repose
Here let us take our leave of waning day.
A th usand insects hum their evening hymn,
The night bird's lonely tune breaks on the hour,
An i through the woods its drowsy ee'ioes creep;
The mellow lowing of the distantiherd,
The lambs, meek bleating and the steeds, wild
neigh
Minding accordant soothe the listening ear,
Aui love for Him inspire who made them all,
The reapers homeward from the half-gleaned
fields
With many a merry laugh and jocund song
Are bound". How happy all, and I rejoice,
Though all to me is night perpetual night
A n!,:ht so dark that I perceive it not,
Aii'K.nly know it by its lack of change,
l'av follows day, night follows night, yet day
Tome is naught but round of wakefulness
And sad renewal of my darkness ; "night
Liriugs back my day,"' when balmy bleep sets
free
My darksome soul to roaia through dreamy
realms,
W hore light once more upon my vision bursts
And cheering face of man mine eyes behold,
0: brighter days reminding '. Oh what joy
In dreaming! "Empty though it seems to minds
W ith joy more stable blest, yet 'tis to me
A joy, nor let cold reason take away
W hut she is loath to give, and to thee, Night
Thou likeness of myself, deep thanks I owe.
Oft I am sad, Tcnsvla. that mine eyes
Are shut forever from the sight of things
15y God created for the joy of nr.n,
And oped to naught but ever-deepening night.
What gloom I It seems of solid substance for
med An l circling round me ; like a blackened wall
It stands impervious even to a ray of thought.
I strive to look far forth, but back recoil
At such unflinching darkness. Oh how sad !
I am the foster-child of night, for day,
My natural mother, long has deemed me dead.
I turn mine eyes to heaven 'tis all a blank;
I turn to earth, and all is shadow there;
Faiu would I look once more on human face
Hut sight of heaven and sight of earth and sight
Of human face I ne'er shall see again,
'lis all a void a universal void ;
I'm lost in this infinity of night,
To which no bounds by space or time eecmed
fixed.
But say, can darkness circumscribe the range
Of thought thought boundless as immensity -Or
smother in its folds that heavenly spark
Which flashed from God's own brightness, and
inspired
The new-made man with immortality?
Look up, my sorrowing soul, nor quench thy
fires
In unavailing grief ; to mortal ken
Inscrutable are the ways of Providence.
For higher sphere than this thou art ordained,
And death, mild death alone can end thy night,
And with night end thy woes, thy fetters break,
Thy doubts remove, ami usher thee to life.
W here day rolls on without a vesper wane,
Where light is God's own presence, and that
light
Forever at its zenith.
I will mourn
No more, nor with unmanly sorrow Ilim
Upbraid, but close mine eyes and be resigned
To momentary darkness, since from God
It comes as well as light. If I have mourned,
'Tis but the natural weakness of the flesh.
Penylla, to the closing gates of day
Now turn thine eyes thy sight is sight to me
Thou art the lamp of my benighted steps.
Tliou seest, methinks, the sun, the setting sun,
Slow merging in a sea of liquid gold,
And shooting slant and far his parting beams.
His light makes visible our nether world ;
He hides his face, and lo ! the virgin moon
And shining stars, sparks of the deity,
Rejoicing on their nightly rounds, advance ;
ith solemn mein they tread the azure plain,
Silent, yet in their numbers speaking power,
Ani in their glory beaming gratitude.
Thus set my day, thus my long night approach-
Ani may nry night, ere its meridian death
Impend, some excellence in me reveal,
"lich God may deign, in future, time to own.
Spencer county, Ky. J. M. II.
K?A Scott campaign paper is about to be
started at Harrisburg, to be called the'Bomb
'-uelL" A friend of ours will commence a Dem
ocratic Bheet called the "Spear," for the purpose
Jierc-ing the Whigs.
THE PHESIDEA'TIAIi ESCITEMEXT.
All About the Pierce Family.
Eiographical Sketch of Governor Benjamin
Fierce, the Father o General Franklin Pierce.
His early life he tnters the army of the Revolution
he become a captain removes to Xew llamp-
- thire is appointed Brigade - Major Sheriff" -of
Hillsborough County elected representative
councillor Governor retires from public life
dies at hillsborough his character his monu
ment. Benjamin Pierce, the father of Gen. Franklin
Pierce, the Democratic candidate for President
of the United States, was born at Chelmsford, a
town near Lowell, iu the Commonwealth of Mas
sachusetts, in 1757 ; and, as he was the eon of
a farmer, his early life was devoted to agricul
ture. He was descended from a respectable
Irish family, who originally emigrated, along
with many other Irish emigrants, from London
derry, in the north of Ireland, and settled in
New Londonderry, in New Hampshire. On the
memorable nineteenth of April, 1775, the revol
utionary committee of Boston sent out couriers
in every direction, and one of these messengers
caiae up to the door of the farca house, while
young Pierce, then only eighteen years of age,
was plowing in Lis father's field ; and having
delivered a brief message, hastened on to arouse
the country to action. It was the news of the
battle of Lexington which the stranger was com
missioned to proclaim, and which, like a trum
pet's voice, roused all the inhabitants of the land.
Young Pierce left the plough, and, shouldering
his musket, proceeded on foot towards Lexing- i
ton, where he found, on his arrival, that the j
troops had fallen back upon Boston ; and he i
proceeded to Boston, and enlisting as a private
soldier in the army of the revolution, was as
signed to the regiment commanded by CoL Brooks.
In the battle of Bunker Hill, which occurred on
the 17th of June following, Pierce took a part,
and from that time to the close of revolution, he
continued in the service of the country, and lot- i
lowed the fortunes of his regiment, fighting
when it was called into action, and attracting
the notice and winning the commendation of his
superior officers for his gallantry and good con
duct, by which means he rose gradually to the
command of a company, so that at the disband
ing of the revolutionary army, in 1784, he held
the rank of captain. The leaders of the revo.
lution had been driven, by necessity, to the is
suing of paper money ; and in that currency,
already depreciating, the troops wei e paid off. i
Picrce was amongst the sufferers ; and when he
set out to return to his native village, he found
the continental money which he had received
from Congress so far depreciated, that the whole
amount in his possession, the arrears of his pay
for eight years of service, would not suSice pur
chase of a farm, lie was obliged, like many
other officers of the revolution, to go into the
wilderness, where lands were cheap, and begin
the cultivation of wild lands. He removed to
the State of New Hampshire, into the town and j
county of Hillsborough, and having made a
clearing, erected a rude habitation, felling the
trees with his axe, and procuring food for sus
tenance with his gun. In that town his son,
Franklin Pierce, was born, and there lived un
til he removed to Concord, the capitol of the
State, where he now resides.
In the autumn of 17S6, Gen. John Sullivan,
who was then President of New Hampshire, and
and whose grandson, John Sullivan, is now At
torney General of that State, determined to form
the militia of the county of Hillsborough into a
brigade, and having sought out Benjamin Tierce,
commissioned him as a brigade major ; and he,
being a veteran soldier, immediately took the
necessary steps for the perfect organization and
discipline of the several regiments. He had al
ready served eight years in the regular army,
and he continued for twenty-one years in the
militia, leaving it finally in the station of Lri
gadier general. Gen. Miller and Gen. John M'
Niel (who was a son-in-law of Benjamin Pierce,)
both of whom served with so much distinction
in the war of 1812, and the latter of whom re
cently deceased at the city of Washington, both
belonged, when they were young men, to the
militia regiment eommanded by the father of
the Democratic nominee ; and it is eaid that
several other valuable officers who have distin
guished themselves, have been proud to declare
that they received their first lessons of military
discipline from Gen. Benjamin Pierce, in the
militia of Hillsborough.
From 1780 to 1802, he was a representative
of the people in the Legislature of the State ;
and, in 1803, was first elected a member of the
Governor's council, where he continued six
years, five of which were passed in the council
of the celebrated Governor John Langdon. This
brings us to the year 1809. Soon after that
time, he was appointed Sheriff of the county of
Hillsborough, which office he held till 1813. In
that year, at the June session of the Legisla
ture, a change was made in the judiciary eys
tem of the State, which resulted in abolishing
the offices of the existing judges, and gave to
the dominant party an opportunity to appoint
their -successors upon the bench. The name of
the highest court of the State, which had been
styled the superior Court of Judicature, was,
by the new law, changed to the Supremo Judi
cial Court. Arthur Livcrmore, Chief Justice of
the former court, was retained as an Associate
Justice in the new one. Jeremiah Smith, of Ex
eter who had resigned his seat on the bench to
accept the office of Governor, was again appoint
ed justice. The remaining scat was filled by
Caleb Ellis, of Claremont, a young but distin
guished member of the bar. This nominal
change in the court3 was made, as the republi
can party contended, for the solo purpose of
getting rid 6f the old court, and was unconstitu
tional. A warm controversy ensued, and both
courts sat and claimed a right to administer the
public business wa3 thrown into confusion, by
the jurors and witnesses sometimes obeying the
summons to attend one court and sometimes the
other. In consequence of the confusion resul
ting from this unsettled state of things Gov.
John Gilman, then Chief magistrate of the State,
convened the Legislature on the 27th day of Oc
tober, several weeks earlier than the day to
which it had been adjourned. At an early pe
riod of this session, Josiah Butler, sheriff of the
county of Rockingham, and Benjamin Pierce,
sheriff of Ilillborongh, were removed by address.
Pierce, however, was elected four years success
ively to the Governor's council, and ultimately
again appointed sheriff of Hillsborough county.
While holding that office an event occurred,
which strongly marked his character and erect
ed for him an enduring monument in the hearts
of the people. It was in the year 1S18, at the !
time when the enormous abuses of the creditor
over the debtor were exciting the attention of
the people, and callin
forth execrations from
tne philanthropic anl liberal everywhere. In
some instances the father of a poor family, was
for years immured in a dungeon for the amount
of the prison charges, and hi3 family, mean
while, were reduced to pauperism and beggary.
No age, no condition was exempt. The poor
and decayed veteran whose best years had been
spent in the serviee of his country, was often
confined with felons, and year rolled on after
jear leaviug him in hopeless imprisonment.
In Amherst jail there were three aged prisoners,
one of whom had groaned in confinement almost
four years. When Pierce was oppointed sheriff,
he gave these prisoners notice that they were to
be released, and appointed a day for their de
liverance, the 20th of November, 1818, the more
grateful to the prisoners that it was to occur
just at the coming on of winter. The inhabi
tants thought the occasion worthy of public dc- j
m0uistrations, and when they had assembled to-
gether at the prison to witness the release, the
sheriff, Benjamin Pierce, having opened the
prison door, thus addressed the three prison
ers :
"Moses Brewer, Isaac Lawrence and Gecrge
Lancy By the return made me by Israel W.
Kelly, Esq., my predecessor in the office of sher
iff for the county of Hillsborough, it appears
that you Moses Brewer, was committed, Decem
ber 13, 1814 ; and you, Isaac Lawrence, wa3
comm-ltted. December 27. 1813 "s and vou. Geo.
Lancy, July 2, 1817.
"My unfortunate fellow citizens : The feel
ings excited by a view of your -situation are in
expressible. That those heads, silvered by age
and hardship, and those hearts throbbing with
kindly emotions, should be held for this long
period of time by their fellow citizens, without
the imputation of a crime, in a capacity unpar
alled even in the annals of 'the French Bastile,
or Algerine slavery, always viewed by us with
sentiments of inexpressible horror, is more than
my nature is able to endure. To be immured
in a dungeon, standing on the very soil of liber
ty and in the midst of men boasting its high pri
vileges, is in my mind, with which the ideas and
the value of freedom are closely interwoven, in
finitely worse than to be enslaved in a foreign
land by enemies and barbarians, from whom no
thing better could be expected. But as an of
ficer of the country, I have a duty to perform.
I must cither be governed by the law and suffer
you still to remain, the devoted victims of una
voidable misfortune and honest poverty, shut
out from the genial light of heaven and the vital
air, God's equal gift to all : to endure, perhaps
perish under the privations incident to your sit
uation and the stern ravages of approaching
winter ; forlorn and destitute, with no friend to
comfort, no society to cheer, no companion to
console you or, I must be directed by the pow
erful impulse of humanity, pay the the debt my
self, and bid you leave this dreary and gloomy
abode.
"My unfortunate fellow citizens My duty to
myself will not suffer longer to remain here an
old companion in arms, who fought for the liber
ty of which he is deprived, for no crime but
that of being poor. My duty to my country,
whose honor is deeply implicated by your suffer
ings and it is one of my first wishes that it
should be untarnished and my duty to my God,
who has put it into my power to relieve, irre
sistibly urge me to the latter course. This I
am sensible, takes from me a large sum of mo
ney ; however, the liberal and generous people,
among whom it is my happy lot to reside, may
participate ; if not, none but my children will
have any right to reproach mo ; and I am con
fident they will do no more than say their fath
er was generous to a fault. Ia this view, go ;
receive the uacontaminated air which is diffused
abroad far the comfort of man ; go to your fa
milies and friends, if you have any. Be correct
in your habits. Be industrious and if your
tottering aad emaciated frames are so far ex
hausted as to prevent your getting a comforta
ble suyort, apply to the good people for relief
and may the best of heaven's blessings accom
pany you the remainder of your days."
In 1S27, Benjamin Pierce was elected Gover
nor of the State of New Hampshire ; but in
1828, when the republican party in the North
became divided between the the partisans of
Gencnl Jackson and John Quincy Adams, the
large part sustaining Mr. Adams, Pierce, who
declared for General Jackson, was defeated, but
was reelected in 1829, when the star of the he
ro of ihe Hermitage rose into the ascendant in
New Hampshire. After this he lived in com
parati'e retirement, on his farm, in Hillsbor
ough. ; At the commencement of the last war
with Great Britain, his spirit entered into the
contesi, but the infirmities of age admonished
him that he could hasten no more to the battle
field., Two of his sons," with his consent and
advice entered the public service.
EntUwcd by nature with a strong mind, Gov
ernor Tierce had overcome the obstacles spring
ing frm a want of education, and, by practice
and perseverance, had acquired a knowledge of
business, and a skill in the conduct of public
affaiis. It was not from his high public station
that he acquired a commanding influence, but
fromkis integrity of character, his benevolence,
hospitality, and love of justice. Cheerful in
his deposition, and delighting to contribute to j
the liqppines3 of all around him, youthful viva-,
city fmnd in him a congenial spirit, while sedate
manhKid and sober age discovered in his con
duct nothing to reproach. When he was remo
ved by death, the public felt the loss of a man
who iad Eincorely loved and faithfully served
his fdlow men, and his country. He died in
the Own of Hillsborough, where his remains
are deposited, and over them a monument of
plain hewn granite has been erected, which
stauus In a -prominent position, the -burying
ground of the town, which is on the brow of a
hill, and in full view of the traveller, when pass
ing on the stage route from Amherst to Hills
borough. Such is a faithful outline of the life and pub
lic career of Governor Benjamin Fierce, the
father of General Franklin Pierce, the nominee
of the Baltimore Democratic National Conven
tion, wiich assembled at Baltimore on the 21
day ef June, 1852, and selected its candidate on
the forty-ninth ballot.
Eioaphical Sketch of General Franklin Pierce.
His birthplace early education enters college
gradmtes at Bond An Am legal studies com
mence practice elected a represen tative Speak
" tr of (lie house chosen to congress becomes U.
S. Senator retires from public life resumes his
profession outbreak ef the tear with Mexico
volunteers as a private soldier commissioned as
colon! generous treatment of the lamented Han
som military career enters the city of Mexico
retires and resumes his profession character of
his oratory private character chivalrous man
ners death of Hansom, personal courage of
Gen. Pierce ability as a commander experi
ence ii legislative business performs the duties
of district attorney Ichalod Bartlett character
of Gen. Pierce as an advoceUc'at the bar cour
tesy nomination by the Baltimore Convention.
General Franklin Pierce was the son of Gov.
Benjamin Pierce, whose biography is given ab
ove, and was bora in the year 1S04, in the town
of Hillsborough, in the county of Hillsborough,
in the interior or rather the western part of the
State of New Hampshire. Hillsborough is a
farming town, hilly, as it3 name imports, hav
ing no considerable village, and has long been
distinguished for its unflinching devotion to the
principles of the Democratic party. After com
pleting his academical Etudies, he entered col
lege, and graduated at Bowdoin College, in
Maine, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Immediately on leaving college, he entered the
office of Judge Gould, a jurist of distinction at
Litchfield, Connecticut ; but subsequently retur
ned to his native State, and finished his studies
at Amherst, the residence of Hon. Charles II.
Atherton, father of Hon. Charles G. Atherton,
late Senator, and is the shire town of the county
of Hillsborough. He was admitted to the bar,
and commenced the practice of law in his native
town, Hillsborough. But he had not been in
practice two years, when ho was elected a rep
resentative in the Legislature of the State, and
during his second year of service in that body,
was elected Speaker of the House, in both of
which positions he manifested eo much talent
and so admirable a capacity for legislative bus
iness, and so thoroughly won the confidence of
the Democratic party, that in the year 1833,
while yet hardly mere than a youth, he was el
ected to a seat in the House of Representatives
of the United States. As a member of the
house, he was not of that number who appear to
desire to distinguish themselves by much spea
king. He was rather quick to hear and slow to
speak ; modest and unassuming, but attentive to
business, and etrongly marked even then by
what he has displayed so much of in his later
life that is, good common sense. Ho was an
unwavering supporter of Democratic measures
was a ready though not a frequent debater ;
and, during his four years continuance in that
body, steadily advanced himself in the warm
friendship of almost all with whom he come in
contact, and rose rapidly in the general confi
dence and good will of the people of New Hamp
shire. In 1837 he was elected, by the Legisla
ture, a Senator from that State. In all these
various and responsible stations, and during the
succeeding five years on the floor of the Senate,
good sense, caution, prudence, modesty, atten
tion to business, and a certain chivalrous and
lofty tone of manners, with kindness and good
temper, rather than frequent speech-making,
enabled Gen. Pierce to quit the Senate in 1842,
with an amount of popularity which few men
have ever possessed on leaving the Senate of
the United States. He had now been more
than ten years in public life, and having enter
ed it very young, felt the necessity of devoting
himself to his private affairs, which had suffer
ed while he was absent. Ho resigned his seat
in 1S42, one year before his term expired, with
the frankly avowed purpose of devoting himself
to his profession, in order to earn a competence
for his family ; and with this view, removed his
office to Concord, the capital of the State. In
the Senate, Gen. Tierce ranked amongst the
high-minded and honorable men of that body.
In private life, seldom has a political man been
more beloved, even by' his opponents; and very
seldom, if ever, has a retired Senator been ablo
to look back with more satisfaction on his car
eer. Integrity, business habits, industry, and
magnanimity, were the great secrets of his suc
cess in all the various and high stations which
he had occupied. His speeches were generally
short and to the point he never rising unless
he had something to say, and leaving off when
he had done. When he resumed his practice at
the bar, it was with a firm resolution to be with
drawn from public life, end the offices of Gover
nor of the State and Senator, which were more
than once offered to him, he declined. Tresi
dent Polk urged upon him the acceptance of the
office of Attorney General of the United States,
and afterwards that of Secretary of war, both
of which he declined, with a declaration that
he had no desire for public office, and would
not consent to leave his home again, unless, in
case of war, his country should demand his ser
vices. If it be asked, "what is he as a speak
er !" it must be replied, General Pierce is an or
ator. Reasoning power and pathos ere the
characteristics of his addresses to juries, in
which he is known to have had, during his prac
tice, such remarkable succe3. These brilliant
flights of imagination, for which Mr. Choatc,
the great orator cf the Massachusetts bar, is so
much distinguished, do not belong at all to Gen.
Pierce. He goes at once to convince the reason,
or to move the heart; and where the case admits
of combining the two, he weild3 a masterly pow
er. His clear, good common sense and knowl
edge of the human heart, must have struck eve
ry one who has had frequent opportunities to sec
mm in tne management oi trials Leiore a jury.
These marked features in his forensic efforts
have made him sought after, and his profession
al services to be in demand, in all the counties
of the State of New Hampshire.
The breaking out of the Mexican war brought
about the contingency for which he made a res
ervation when he rejected the overtures of Pres
ident Polk, so honorable to him and so flatter
ing to hi3 professional pride ; and he at once en
rolled himself as a volunteer, in the capacity of
a private soldier. As soon as the New Eng
land regiment was raised, he was elected colon
el, and his military services from that time till
the American army entered the halls of the
Montezumas in triumph, have already been giv
en in detail in the columns of the New York
Herald. His treatment of the brave and lam
ented Ransom was magnanimous in the extreme.
Ransom was a military man by profession. He
was educated at Norwich, Vt., under Capt. Al
den Tartridge, who for many years kept a mili
tary school there, for the education of young
men. Ransom was one of his pupils; and after
Capt. Tartridge retired, continued to form clas
ses and give instruction in military tactics. He
was every inch a soldier. Brave, and knowing
himself competent, naturally desired a position
in which he might show his military talents.
Tierce felt this, and generously urged upon
President Folk the appointment of Ransom to
the command of the New England regiment.
But President Tolk, having been associated with
Pierce in Congress, knew his man, sent him a
commission, as colonel, accompanied by one for
Ransom, as major of the same regiment. Ran
som was shot through the head while rushing
on upon the enemy in one of the most bloody
fights iu the whole war. Toor, gallant Ransom
the very soul of honor and valor even now
we seem to see his erect and elegant, but slend
er form, driven on by a spirit seemingly too
mighty for the flesh in which it was encased,
leading up, up the fatal hill, in the face of that
deadly fire to which, in the very pride and ex
ultation of his daring, he fell a victim. Gener
al Tierce was made a brigadier general by a com
mission dated March 3, 1847, and his brigade
consisted of the ninth "regiment, New England
men, the twelfth, men from Texas, Missouri,
Arkansas, northern Mississippi, andLouisianna,
and the fifteenth, raised in Ohio, Iowa, Wiscon
sin, Michigan, the eastern part of Missouri, and
the western part of Indiana. Thus General
Tierce saw ranged under his banner 2,500 men,
assembled from all sections of the Union, and
at the head of thi3 command he landed at Vera
Cruz, from the bark Kepler, on the 2Sth of June
1847. His career from that tinia till the Amer
ican army entered the city of Mexico in triumph,
has all become matter of history. In general,
it may be remarked that he was lavish of perso
nal sacrifices, and magnanimous towards others,
when laurels were to be bestowed. As soon as
the restoration of peace between the two repub
lics became a thing settled, Tierce resigned his
commission, left the city of Mexico, and return
ed home, leaving others to eettle preliminaries,
and quarrel over the distribution of honors.
His personal courage, and his ability to com
mand had both been repeatedly displayed. Ha
had rendered all the service required of him by
the exigencies of the country : he had won the
good will, nay, the enthusiastic love, of the
troops under his command. . The men looked
upon him as a friend and a father. There was
no hardship which he was not willing to share
with them ; no allowance of food or water in his
possession, however small, which he was not
willing to divide with a sick and wounded sol
dier, although few suffered more than himself
from the diseases of that deadly climate. He
now stands before the world, with health and
strength renewed, and honors thick upon him,
a candidate for Tresident of the United States ;
and should he be elected, there i3 one immense
advantage which he possesses over General
Scott, viz : experience in public affairs. As
Representative to the Legislature, Speaker of
the House in New Hampshire, Representative to
Congress, Senator, and, lastly, Commissicner in
Mexico, he has seen, and been through the
whole routine of public business. He has pas
sed nine years at least at Washington as a lerr
islator, and has, therefore, thoroughly seen the
working of the machinery of our government.
Ho ha also seen the wcrking of that other ma
chinery the distribution of patronage and
this will be of immense service to him in the be
stowing of appointments and the distribution of
government patronage; points in which some of
our best Presidents have signally failed, and
have involved themselves thereby in inextricable
difficulties with their personal friends and their
party. At the time when the offer of a seat in
the cabinet was tendered to General Pierce, by
President Polk, an occurrence took place char
reteristic of Tierce, and to which we Lave not
seen any allusion made in any of the attempted
sketches cf him with which the press has teem
ed for the last four days. That was the accep
tance of the comparatively trifling nnd unim
portant office of District Attorney for the dis
trict of New Hampshire, which office he actual
ly held, and the duties of which ho was dischar
ging when he received his military commission,
and was called upon to set out for Mexico.
That office at the departure of Gen. Tierce, fell
to his law partner, Mr. Minot.
Very seldom do human annal3 afford an in
stance of a man declining a high, honorable and
lucrative station, like that of Attorney General
cf the United States, for one like that (though
a very honorabla one certainly,) which General
Tierce accepted ; but the one would not inter
fere with his plan, fully determined upon to
pursue the practice of his profession at home; tha
other would ; and therefore it was declined. It
was then that the eloquent and almost unequal
led Ichabod Bartlett, for many years the ac
knowledged head of the bar in New Hampshire,
began to withdraw gradually from the harder
duties of the profession, and General Tierce, by
common consent, took his place at the bar,
though Mr. Barlett still occasionally bursts forth
in all the intellectual glory and light and beauty
of other days, and no one witnesses with more
delight than himself the professional triumpha
of General Tierce. If there be one thing more
than another redcemingin poor and infirm hu
man nature, it is the mutual regard held tow
ards each other by men like these.
General Tierce, at the bar, is one of those
who, though they do not hold with Lord Broug
ham that "though the world should come to ar
end my client must be acquitted," yet make th
case of a client their own, and enter with th
whole energies of their nature into the contest
whiich the rights of a client are involved. Yet
so uniform in his courtesy at the bar that his
deportment might be cited as anjnstance to Ehow
how much is uniformly gained and how little is
ever lost, by observing on all occasions a gener
ous, kind, and courteous demeanor to others
Such is General Franklin Tierce, the candi
date of the Democracy in private -life a gentle
man in his legislative career distinguished for
ability, possessing the highest characteristics of
an efficient and powerful advocate and v-popula.
lar orator crowned with laurels won by fighting
the enemy rather than by wrenching them from
the brows of other men ; and lastly, crowned, at
the age of forty-eight years, with a unanimous
nominntion, which has been hailed by the democ
racy ith one spontaneous outburst of enthusi
asm throughout the entire length and breadth of
the Union.