an and
diplomatist_.

"The President unites in the kindest regards, with your friend,

"J. Y. MASON."

PRESIDENT PIERCE'S opinion of Major Donelson may be learned from the
following letter, written by him to the Major when the latter was the
editor of the _Washington Union_, the National Organ of the Democratic
party:

"CONCORD, May 30, 1851.

"MY DEAR SIR: I rejoice that the leading organ of our party is
now under your control, and regard the change as most
auspicious at this juncture. There is a great battle before
us--a battle for the Union--a battle for the ascendency of the
principles, the maintenance of which so nobly signalized the
administration of General Jackson. THE TONE, VIGOR, AND
STATESMANLIKE GRASP _which you have brought to the columns of
the Union are not merely important, they are_ ABSOLUTELY
INDISPENSABLE _in this crisis_.

"With great respect, your friend and servant,

"FRANK. PIERCE."

The following article is from the _Nashville Union_, of October 15,
1844, the Tennessee Organ of Democracy, published within a few miles of
where Major Donelson lives, and has passed most of his life. This
article shows what opinion was entertained of him before he became a
_Know-Nothing_:

"The diplomatic agency of this government in Texas is, at this
moment, the most important mission abroad; although it ranks
with those of the second class, its high and important duties
require the talents of one every way qualified for the first
foreign mission on the globe.

"_We congratulate the administration on having been able to
secure the services of one so eminently qualified in all
respects for the station, whose thorough knowledge of the
relations subsisting between the two countries, and whose
intimate acquaintance with the prominent statesmen of this and
that government, will place him in the enjoyment of advantages
which cannot fail to secure to us the most desirable results._

"Major Donelson leaves his plantation near the Hermitage
to-day--proceeding overland to the Mississippi river on his way
to the Texan Capital--and we cannot but participate in the
painful emotions with which the word 'farewell' will be
exchanged between himself and his venerable pa