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WRITIN_GS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
in the world; nor have I attributed any other imperfections to him. Yet, I am arraigned as the reviler of Mr. Pierce, and it is said that I am his personal enemy. I am not his enemy. I have nothing in the world against Mr. Frank Pierce. I see .that somebody has charged in the Galveston papers that I have had a correspondence with Mr. Pierce, which if it could be seen, would reflect but little credit upon the hero of San Jacinto. What this means, I am not aware. If any correspondence has taken place 6etween President Pierce and myself, I relinquish him from any obligation to withhold it from the public, and this holds for all others who have correspondence of mine. He is welcome to spread it before the world. If I have made any charges against Mr. Pierce, it is that he pledged himself to resist agitation of the subject of slavery, and that he was the very first man to renew the agitation, by securing the repeal of the Missouri Com- promise. The repeal of that Compromise was the sole cause of the reopening of the slavery agitation. When Mr. Pierce came into power the abolitionists were silent; indeed, there were then but four avowed abolitionists in Congress. Now, see how rife is agitation in the North. And I say that Mr. Pierce gave this agitation vitality and kept it in existence. Yes, sir, he did. I told them on the floor of the Senate, I implored them to hear me, and not pass that bill to repeal the Missouri Compromise. I told them that agitation would be inevitable; that it would renew the scenes of 1850; that it would involve us in agitation, the end of which our children would not witness; that it would destroy the peace of our country, and that the democracy of the North, who had been true to the South, could no longer remain so, and that they would either demand a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, or a restoration of the Missouri Compromise. I also told them that it would create fanatical feelings toward the South with men who had heretofore been true to the Union. Now, look at the distracted condition of the parties, and say if they do not testify as to the truthfulness of my predictions. We find that the Demo- cratic party has more wings than the beast of Revelations. It is divided into the old Jackson democracy, the Secession democ- racy, the Disunion democracy, the Nullification democracy, and the Bombshell democracy-five wings. Now, who ever heard of a beast with five wings. In the North there were the Hards and the Softs. All these wings had to be consolidated with the Union- Jackson democracy in order to secure the election of Mr. Pierce.
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