ed of a railroad
connecting Missouri and California. The Pacific coast had become a
leading part of the Union and its importance was growing every year. But
the building of such a railway, through thousands of miles of
wilderness, across lofty mountains and large rivers, was an undertaking
so gigantic and expensive as to be beyond the reach of private parties,
without congressional assistance. Still all felt that the road must be
built, and, in 1853, Congress ordered surveys to be made in order to
find the best route. The building of the railway, however, did not begin
until the War for the Union was well under way.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1852.

When the time arrived for presidential nominations, the Democratic
convention met in Baltimore, June 12, 1852. The most prominent
candidates were James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, and
William L. Marcy. There was little variance in their strength for
thirty-five ballots, and everybody seemed to be at sea, when the
Virginia delegation, on the next ballot, presented the name of Franklin
Pierce of New Hampshire.

"Who is Franklin Pierce?" was the question that went round the hall,
but, on the forty-ninth ballot, he received 282 votes to 11 for all the
others, and the question was repeated throughout the United States.
Pierce's opponent was General Winfield Scott, the commander-in-chief in
the Mexican War, who had done fine service in the War of 1812, and ranks
among the foremost military leaders of our country. But, personally, he
was unpopular, overbearing in his manners, a martinet, and without any
personal magnetism. No doubt he regarded it as an act of impertinence
for Pierce, who had been his subordinate in Mexico, to presume to pit
himself against him in the political field. But the story told by the
November election was an astounding one and read as follows:

Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, Democrat, 254; Winfield Scott, of New
Jersey, Whig, 42; John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, Free Democrat, 0;
Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, Whig, 0. For Vice-President: William
R. King, of Alabama, Democrat, 254; William A. Graham, of North
Carolina, Whig, 42; George W. Julian, of Indiana, Free Democrat, 0.

The Whig convention which put Scott in nomination met also in Baltimore,
a few days after the Democratic convention. Webster was confident of
receiving the nomination, and it was the disappointment of his life
that he failed. The "Free Democrats," who placed