the American party there, became its leader, and was chosen President of the State after the successful struggle for independence. He was next sent by the Legislature of Texas to represent that Commonwealth in the Senate of the United States. He was a man of sterling integrity, strong will, and equally strong idiosyncrasies of character.

In the year 1859 died Washington Irving, who might at the time of his death be regarded as the prince of American literature. For fully fifty years the power of his genius had been unremittingly devoted to the great work of creating for his native land a literary rank among the nations of modern times. On both sides of the Atlantic his name had become familiar as a household word. He it was first of all, who wrung from the reluctant and prescriptive reviews of England and Scotland an acknowledgment of the power and originality of American genius. When Murray, the great bookseller of London, was obliged to pay for the manuscript of Brucebridge Hall, which he had not yet seen, the sum of a thousand guineas, it was no longer doubtful that an American literary genius had appeared destined to universal recognition. Except Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron, no other author of Irving's times had received so munificent a reward for his labor.

CHAPTER CXXIV- DISUNION AND CIVIL WAR.

After the issuance of the Dred Scott Decision the excitement in the United States on the question of slavery became constantly greater and more heated. It had been believed by the pro-slavery party and by the Democratic Administration that the decision in question would allay the troubled waters and produce a calm; but, on the contrary, it appeared rather to be a torch cast among combustibles. In some of the Free States the opposition rose higher and higher, and what were called Personal Liberty Bills were passed, the object of which was to defeat the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. In the fall of 1859 the excitement of the country was still further aroused by the mad scheme of John Brown of Osawatomie to raise a servile insurrection in the South. With a party of twenty-one men, daring as himself, he made a sudden descent on the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, captured the place, and held his ground for nearly two days. The militia of Virginia, and then the national troops, were called out, in order to suppress the revolt. Thirteen of Brown's men were killed, two made their escape, and the rest were captured. The leader and his six companions were given over to the authorities of Virginia, tried, condemned, and hanged. The event was one which to the present day excites the keenest interest and liveliest discussion. Nor may it be easily decided whether an adventurer, supposing himself under the direction of the Higher Law, may in such a manner attack the abuses of a State.

Meanwhile, in Kansas the controversy, ever and anon, broke out with added heat. But the Free-Soil party gradually gained the upper hand, and it became evident that slavery would be interdicted in the Territory. But an issue had now been created between the North and the South. In the former the anti-slavery sentiment spread and became intense. It settled into a conviction which might not be eradicated. In the South, on the other hand, the conviction grew that it was the settled purpose of the Northern people, first to gain the ascendancy in the national Government, and then to attack them and their peculiar institutions. Such was the alarming condition of affairs when the time arrived for holding the nineteenth Presidential election.

The excitement, as usual, rose high. The Free-Soil party had now permanently taken the name of Republican. A great convention of delegates of. that party was held in Chicago, and Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, was nominated for the Presidency. A platform of principles was adopted, in which opposition to the extension of slavery was the one vital issue. In the month of April the Democratic