appointment, and afterward by
election. Finally, in 1865, he also resigned. The brothers were much
alike in the quality they brought to the public service; and their
work, as remarkable for its variety as for its dignity, made Samuel an
original promoter of the electric telegraph system and Henry a
defender of Susan B. Anthony when arrested on the charge of illegally
voting at a presidential election.

The Americans nominated Erastus Brooks for governor. He was a younger
brother of James Brooks, who founded the New York _Express_ in 1836.
The Brookses were born in Maine, and early exhibited the industry and
courage characteristic of the sons of the Pine Tree State. At eight
years of age, Erastus began work in a grocery store, fitting himself
for Brown University at a night school, and, at twenty, he became an
editor on his brother's paper. His insistence upon the taxation of
property of the Catholic Church, because, being held in the name of
the Bishops, it should be included under the laws governing personal
holdings in realty, brought him prominently before the Americans, who
sent him to the State Senate in 1854. But Brooks' political career,
like that of his brother, really began after the Civil War, although
his identification with the Know-Nothings marked him as a man of
force, capable of making strong friends and acquiring much influence.

The activity of the Americans indicated firm faith in their success.
Six months before Brooks' nomination they had named Millard Fillmore
for President. At the time, the former President was in Europe. On his
return he accepted the compliment and later received the indorsement
of the old-line Whigs. Age had not left its impress. Of imposing
appearance, he looked like a man formed to rule. The peculiar tenets
of the Americans, except as exemplified in the career of their
candidate for governor, did not enter into Fillmore's campaign. He
rested his hopes upon the conservative elements of all parties who
condemned the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and opposed the
formation of a party which, he declared, had, for the first time in
the history of the Republic, selected candidates for President and
Vice President from the free States alone, with the avowed purpose of
electing them by the suffrages of one part of the Union to rule over
the other part.

This was also the argument of Buchanan. In his letter of acceptance he
sounded the keynote of his party, claiming that it was s