in 1840, as in the subsequent canvass of 1848, had professed a purpose to
abolish the system of official removals on account of political opinion,
but, immediately on coming into power, had commenced a proscription
infinitely beyond the example of the democratic party. This course, with
an army of office-seekers besieging the departments, was unquestionably
difficult to avoid, and perhaps, on the whole, not desirable to be
avoided. But it was rendered astounding by the sturdy effrontery with
which the gentlemen in power denied that their present practice had
falsified any of their past professions. A few of the closing paragraphs
of Senator Pierce's highly effective speech, being more easily separable
than the rest, may here be cited.

"One word more, and I leave this subject,--a painful one to me, from the
beginning to the end. The senator from North Carolina, in the course of
his remarks the other day, asked, 'Do gentlemen expect that their friends
are to be retained in office against the will of the nation? Are they so
unreasonable as to expect what the circumstances and the necessity of the
case forbid?' What our expectations were is not the question now; but
what were your pledges and promises before the people. On a previous
occasion, the distinguished senator from Kentucky made a similar remark:
'An ungracious task, but the nation demands it!' Sir, this demand of the
nation,--this plea of STATE NECESSITY,--let me tell you, gentlemen, is as
old as the history of wrong and oppression. It has been the standing
plea, the never-failing resort of despotism.

"The great Julius found it a convenient plea when he restored the dignity
of the Roman Senate, but destroyed its independence. It gave countenance
to and justified all the atrocities of the Inquisition in Spain. It
forced out the stifled groans that issued from the Black Hole of
Calcutta. It was written in tears upon the Bridge of Sighs in Venice,