of eleven he was apprenticed to a printer in Burlington, in that State, where he learned that art. In 1811, at the age of twentyone, he commenced printing the Plattsburg Republican, for the proprietors, and continued to do so until 1826, a period of fifteen years, at which time he was appointed Secretary of State by the New-York Legislature. During his connection with the Plattsburg Republican Mr. Flagg's was the principal pen employed upon it, which gave it a wide circulation as well as a controling influence in that part of the State. His activity, energy, and usefulness as a volunteer at the time the British attempted to take Plattsburg, on the 11th of September, 1814, turned public attention to him, and made him popular with all parties. The knowledge and mind which he displayed in his paper induced the Democracy of Clinton County to elect him to the Assembly in the fall of 1822. He took his seat on the 1st of January, 1823, and was again reëlected and took his seat in 1824. In that body he took a distinguished part in the attempted legislation in relation to changing the electoral law, in which he displayed great readiness in debate and tact in legislative proceedings. In the Assembly he was made a leader by his Democratic friends, whom they cheerfully followed. A bill changing the electoral law, taking the appointment from the Legislature, and conferring the election upon the people, had passed the House, but was lost in the Senate in consequence of that body not being able to agree upon the questions whether it should require a majority to elect, and whether the election should be by districts, or by general ticket. Being unable to agree upon these questions the Senate had postponed the subject indefinitely, and the Legislature adjourned. Governor Yates convened the Legislature by proclamation, and submitted the subject to them again. Mr. Flagg denied that any such emergency had occurred as authorized the call, and thereupon moved a concurrent resolution of adjournment, which passed both Houses. This called down upon him the wrath of the Clay and Adams men of the country. Abuse in every form was heaped upon him. But he was right, and Governor Yates was clearly wrong. The Legislature had acted upon the electoral law questions before they adjourned, and he had no right to con

vene them to reconsider and act upon them again. The questions were not new, but old, and had been disposed of.

The talent exhibited by Mr. Flagg while in the Assembly, and his faithful adherence to Democratic principles induced the Democrats in the Legislature to elect him Secretary of State at the winter session of 1826. The duties of this office he performed to the entire satisfaction of those who conferred it, and without complaint from his political adversaries. He was reëlected in 1829, without opposition, and again, in 1832. At this time, the Secretary of State was ex-officio Superintendent of Common Schools. His reports as Secretary of State, if collated, would make many volumes. Each required his personal attention. They were characterized by brevity and clearness, rendering them the more convenient and useful.

On the 11th of January, 1833, Silas Wright, who was then Comptroller, was elected United States Senator, and Mr. Flagg succeeded him as Comptroller. He was reëlected February 1, 1836, and served until the 4th of February, 1839. On the 10th of that month he was commissioned postmaster at Albany, by Mr. Van Buren, which office he held until May 1, 1841, when he was removed under the Harrison administration, by Francis Granger, then Postmaster-General. After this removal he was connected with a paper published in Albany, called The Rough-Hewer. On the 7th of February, 1842, Mr. Flagg was again elected Comptroller, and reëlected February, 1845. The number of reports made by Mr. Flagg, as Comptroller, amounts to many hundreds, and are of the highest value. The truths and principles then developed are applicable to the present day. It was he who first called the attention of the public to the State and municipal debts, contracted or authorized. This document produced very great effect upon the public mind. Neither his accuracy nor integrity was ever called in question. Whenever he wrote or acted, he followed the dictates of honest and just intentions.

The last official position held by Mr. Flagg was that of Comptroller of the city of New York, where he fully sustained his reputation for industry, fidelity, and unflinching firmness. Owing to impaired sight, he declined further official duties.

Mr. Flagg seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of financial matters. All classes placed implicit confidence in his ability and integrity, and, in the worst of times, relied upon him as a safe pilot. When it was necessary for the State to borrow money, and he made the call, giving assurances as to the result, he commanded the resources of the State, from the spinster loaning a hundred dollars, to the capitalist lending his half million. Neither his judgment nor promises ever failed. Although not a lawyer by profession, Governor Wright considered him the best constructionist of statutes he ever saw.

When Mr. Polk become President, he tendered to Governor Wright the place of Secretary of the Treasury, and requested, if he did not accept, that he should recommend a suitable man. The Governor declined, and unhesitatingly recommended Mr. Flagg. Why he was not appointed, is a matter outside of our present purposes. Suffice it to say, that it was not on the ground of doubtful fitness for the place, nor on account of any thing said or done by him. Mr. Polk made a mistake in not following Governor Wright's recommendation.

In person Mr. Flagg is short and erect, with high forehead and light eyes. His address is frank and cordial with friends, and courteous to adversaries. His memory is remarkably retentive, and his mind well stored with useful knowledge. Although without eyesight, he is well posted upon current topics and events, and is still confided in as a safe adviser. Although nearly forty years in public life, there has never been a whisper against his integrity or faithfulness. His political opinions seem a part of his life, and he cannot throw them aside and adopt others. No extent of interest could induce him to play the hypocrite, or profess what he did not believe. Some who started in public life with him, or joined him on the way, have changed with every popular breeze, and professed every variety of doctrine, while his course has been as true to his early professed faith as the needle to the pole, and he has ever practised what he professed. Such a man is an honor to any country.

97.-FRANKLIN PIERCE AND HIS ADMINISTRATION.

Franklin Pierce, the son of a revolutionary officer, and Governor of New Hampshire, was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23, 1804. Receiving a liberal education, he studied law and commenced practice in 1827, and two years after was elected to the Legislature, where he served four years, and two of them as Speaker. He had many of the elements of popularity, which kept him in public life. At the close of his service in the Legislature, he was elected to Congress, where he served four years, and was then elected to the United States Senate. He served in that body until 1842, when he resigned and resumed the practice of his profession. When the Mexican War commenced, he volunteered as a private, but was soon commissioned as a colonel and then as a brigadier-general by President Polk, who, when signing the latter commission, said to the writer that he was destined to become President of the United States. Mr. Polk's prophecy became history. He fully met the expectation of his friends, and returned with increased reputation, receiving unbounded applause in his State. On returning home from the war, he resumed the practice of the law, with distinguished success. He was soon elected a member of the convention to revise the State constitution, and manfully exerted himself to rid that instrument of the provision excluding Catholics from office in the State.

At the Baltimore Democratic Convention in 1852 he was nominated, and in the fall elected President by a very large vote over General Scott, nominated by the Whigs. On the 4th of March, 1853, he entered upon the duties of President. A dispute with Mexico, concerning our boundary in the Mesilla Valley, resulted in the acquisition of what is now called Arizona. It was under Mr. Pierce's directions that Secretary Marcy wrote his celebrated Martin Koszta letter, which has justly become so famous in the annals of diplomacy.

In January, 1854, Mr. Douglas, Senator from Illinois, made a report to Congress, accompanied by a bill, to create a Territory now constituting the States of Kansas and Nebraska, leaving the Missouri Compromise to stand. Subsequently the bill was recom.

mitted and a new one reported, creating two new Territories and repealing the Compromise Act. This bill passed, and aggravated a controversy, begun long before, which precipitated secession and disunion. It brought the abolitionists and Whigs together, fighting side by side, upon exciting questions. Disunion really began in Kansas. The South claimed the right to remove there with slaves, and the united Whigs and abolitionists disputed that right. Societies with large capital, sometimes incorporated, were established, members of Congress participating, to control the politics of Kansas. Contributions were taken up and sermons preached for the same purpose. Even children were robbed of their pennies to aid the work of politicians. The Word of God and “Minnié and Sharpe's rifles" were mingled in the clergyman's study, if not in his pulpit. This war, for it was emphatically such, was not ended in Mr. Pierce's time, but was left as a fatal legacy for his successor, Mr. Buchanan. It was the cord which bound the Whigs and abolitionists together, proving in the end the instrument with which the Whigs were strangled and the abolitionists secured their power. Mr. Pierce was not responsible for this unfortunate Kansas legislation. He vetoed two bills, one relating to the repair of certain public works, and the other distributing ten millions of acres of public lands to the States for relief of indigent insane. In this he was clearly right, as neither was authorized by the Constitution. His veto of the increased appropriation for the Collins steamers met with the hearty acquiescence of the public. Millions have been squandered upon private steamship companies, without the Government receiving any adequate return. Such acts are unconstitutional. The British minister, Mr. Crampton, became a party to the illegal enlistments in this country for the Crimean War, and his recall was demanded by Mr. Pierce. This being refused, he dismissed both him and the British consuls at Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York. This decision and firmness was highly gratifying to the country. In August, 1856, Congress adjourned without making appropriations for the support of the army, in consequence of a limitation imposed in the army bill, in the House, forbidding its use in sustaining the territorial laws in Kansas. Mr. Pierce convened Congress by procla