EARLY MANHOOD -1851-1857 65 



man and woman out of the anti-slavery fold. More than 

 once in those days I hung my head in disgust as I listened 

 to these people, and wondered, for the moment, whether, 

 after all, even the supremacy of slaveholders might not 

 be more tolerable than the new heavens and the new earth, 

 in which should dwell such bedraggled, screaming, de- 

 nunciatory creatures. 



At the next national election the Whigs nominated 

 General Scott, a man of extraordinary merit and of gran- 

 diose appearance ; but of both these qualities he was him- 

 self unfortunately too well aware; as a result the Demo- 

 crats gave him the name of ' ' Old Fuss and Feathers, ' ' and 

 a few unfortunate speeches, in one of which he expressed 

 his joy at hearing that " sweet Irish brogue," brought 

 the laugh of the campaign upon him. 



On the other hand the Democrats nominated Franklin 

 Pierce; a man greatly inferior to General Scott in mili- 

 tary matters, but who had served well in the State politics 

 of New Hampshire and in Congress, was widely beloved, 

 of especially attractive manners, and of high personal 

 character. 



He also had been in the Mexican War, but though he 

 had risen to be brigadier-general, his military record 

 amounted to very little. There was in him, no doubt, 

 some alloy of personal with public motives, but it would 

 be unjust to say that selfishness was the only source of 

 his political ideas. He was greatly impressed by the 

 necessity of yielding to the South in order to save the 

 Union, and had shown this by his utterances and votes in 

 Congress: the South, therefore, accepted him against 

 General Scott, who was supposed to have moderate anti- 

 slavery views. 



General Pierce was elected; the policy of his adminis- 

 tration became more and more deeply pro-slavery; and 

 now appeared upon the scene Stephen Arnold Douglas 

 senator from Illinois, a man of remarkable ability, a 

 brilliant thinker and most effective speaker, with an ex- 

 traordinary power of swaying men. I heard him at vari- 



I.-5 



