t Versailles, 24,775 francs; for "The Battle of
Fontenoy," 30,000 francs. Still these pictures were scarcely up to the
standard of the "Barrier of Clichy," and on Vernet's second removal to Rome
his art seemed to decline. After many years spent in Rome and with French
armies in Algiers and in the Orient, Vernet went to Russia, where he was
received with great favor at the Court of the Czar. The highest financial
point in his career was marked by a 50,000-franc commission for a portrait
of the Russian Empress. He returned to France in good time to receive, in
1855, the greatest honors yet showered upon a French painter.

[Sidenote: "Leaves of Grass"]

[Sidenote: American "Know Nothings"]

In America, Longfellow brought out his "Hiawatha" and Walt Whitman
published "Leaves of Grass." At this period the "Know Nothing" Party had
come to be a power in politics. The party had started from a New York
society formed to check the influence of the Pope, for purifying the ballot
and maintaining the Bible in the public schools. It was called the American
Party. Wherever the difference of opinion on the Missouri Compromise in
1854 dissolved party ties in the North, multitudes flocked to the new
party. Before 1855 it had a million and a half of voters. In 1854 it all
but wrecked the old organizations. In Virginia, Henry A. Wise, an old Whig,
led the Democratic Party, and overthrew the new organization. At the
National Convention of the new party, Southern resolutions were adopted by
a vote of 80 to 59. The Northern delegates met and repudiated the
anti-slavery alliance. In 1855 the party carried New York, California and
Massachusetts, and the Democrats carried New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana
and Illinois.

[Sidenote: Stirring party contest]

[Sidenote: Buchanan elected]

The American Convention met in Philadelphia, February 22, and nominated
Fillmore and Donelson. On the same day a convention met at Pittsburg to
effect a national organization of the Republican Party, which appointed a
National Convention for the 17th of June, the anniversary of Bunker Hill.
The Democratic Convention met at Cincinnati. Pierce, Douglas and Buchanan
were candidates. On the seventeenth ballot Buchanan was chosen by unanimous
vote with Breckenridge for Vice-President. The Republican Convention met,
and in it were King, Clay, Wilson and Wilmot. Fremont was made a candidate
by 359 votes against 196 for McLean. For Vice-President, Abraham Lincoln
had