d the shouting died." It seemed more than
a temporary lull. In a great tide of material prosperity, the country
easily forgot the slaves; if out of sight, they were, to most, out of
mind. Webster's speech had a deep significance. He was identified in
Massachusetts with the classes representing commercial prosperity,
social prominence, and academic culture. In these classes, throughout
the North, there was a general apathy as to slavery. The temper of the
time was materialistic. There was indeed enough anti-slavery sentiment,
stirred by the 7th of March speech and the Fugitive Slave law, to change
the balance of power in Massachusetts politics. The Democrats and the
Free Soilers made a coalition, and it triumphed over the Whigs. The
Democrats took the State offices, with George S. Boutwell as Governor;
and Charles Sumner--a scholar, an idealist, an impressive orator, and a
pronounced anti-slavery man, though never an Abolitionist,--was sent to
the Senate to reinforce Seward and Chase.

The Presidential election of 1852 came on. In the Whig convention
Fillmore had some support, especially from the South; Webster had most
of the Massachusetts votes and scarce any others; and choice was made of
General Winfield Scott, in the hope of repeating the victory of 1848
with another hero of the Mexican war. It was to Webster a blow past
retrieval; in bitterness of spirit he turned his face to the wall, in
his old home at Marshfield, and died. The Democratic convention
hesitated between several Northern politicians of trustworthy
subserviency to the South,--Cass, Douglas, and Buchanan--and its choice
fell upon Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, an amiable man, of fair
ability, but easy to manage; he, too, the winner of a trifle of military
glory in the Mexican conquest. Both conventions professed entire content
with the settlements of the compromise. The Free Soilers nominated John
P. Hale of New Hampshire, and made their familiar declaration of
principles. But they had lost their Democratic allies of four years
earlier, and threw only 150,000 votes--less by 100,000 than at the
previous election. The Whig party proved to be on the verge of
dissolution. It had lost its hold on the "conscience vote" of the North,
and was less trusted than its rival by the South. Pierce was chosen by a
great majority; he carried every State except Vermont, Massachusetts,
Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Party politics were dull; commercial and material intere