distribution of popular literature. They
circulated large editions of a tract by Horace Greeley, entitled,
"Why am I a Whig?" and of campaign lives of "Old Chapultepec,"
published in English, French, and German. Mr. Buchanan was unusually
active in his opposition to the Whig ticket. "I should regard
Scott's election," he wrote to a friend, "as one of the greatest
calamities which could befall the country. I know him well, and
do not doubt either his patriotism or his integrity; but he is vain
beyond any man I have ever known, and, what is remarkable in a vain
man, he is obstinate and self-willed and unyielding. His judgment,
except in conducting a campaign in the field, is perverse and
unsound; and when, added to all this, we consider that, if elected
at all, it will be under the auspices of Seward and his Abolition
associates, I fear for the fate of this Union." General Scott was
mercilessly abused by the Democratic orators and writers also, who
even ridiculed the establishment of the Soldiers' Home at Washington,
with the contribution levied on the City of Mexico when captured
by him, as the creation of an aristocratic body of military paupers.

The Democratic party, forgetting all previous differences, rallied
to the support of their candidate. A campaign life of him was
written by his old college friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and eloquent
speakers extolled his statesmanship, his military services, and
his devotion to the compromise measures which were to avert the
threatened civil war. A good estimate of his character was told
by the Whig speakers, as having been given to an itinerant lecturer
by the landlord of a New Hampshire village inn. "What sort of a
man is General Pierce?" asked the traveler. "Waal, up here, where
everybody knows Frank Pierce," was the reply, "and where Frank
Pierce knows everybody, he's a pretty considerable fellow, I tell
you. But come to spread him out over this whole country, I'm afraid
that he'll be dreadful thin in some places."

The death of Mr. Webster aided the Democratic candidate. The broken-
down and disappointed statesman died at his loved rural home on
the sea-shore, where, by his request, his cattle were driven beneath
his window so that he could gaze on them once more before he left
them forever. He wrestled with the great Destroyer, showing a
reluctance to abandon life, and looking into the future with
apprehension rather than with hope. When Dr. Jeffries repe