Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/252

 198 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS stitution, for economy and frugality in public affairs, and for a strict accountability of public officials to their constituents. No political or per sonal influence could induce him to shield those whom he believed to have defrauded the govern ment. Pierce had ambition, but greed for public office was foreign to his nature. Few, if any, in stances can be found in our history where a man of thirty-eight, in the full vigor of health, volun tarily gave up a seat in the U. S. senate, which he was apparently sure to retain as long as he wished. His refusal at the age of forty-one to leave his law- practice for the place of attorney-general in Polk s cabinet is almost without a parallel. Franklin Pierce, too, was a true patriot and a sincere lover of his country. The Revolutionary services of a father whom he revered were con stantly in his thoughts. Two of his brothers, with that father s consent, took an honorable part in the war of 1812. His only sister was the wife of Gen. John H. McNeil, as gallant an officer as ever fought for his country. To decline a cabinet ap pointment and enlist as a private soldier in the army of his country were acts which one who knew his early training and his chivalrous character might reasonably expect of him. But for slavery and the questions growing out of it, his administra tion would have passed into history as one of the most successful in our national life. To judge him