Having chosen the law as a profession, Franklin became a student in the office of Judge Woodbury, of Portsmouth. Allusion11 has already been made to the friendship between General Benjamin Pierce and Peter Woodbury, the father of the judge. The early progress of Levi Woodbury towards eminence12 had been facilitated by the powerful influence of his father’s friend. It was a worthy13 and honorable kind of patronage14, and bestowed15 only as the great abilities of the recipient16 vindicated17 his claim to it. Few young men have met with such early success in life, or have deserved it so eminently19, as did Judge Woodbury. At the age of twenty-seven, he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme21 Court of the state, on the earnest recommendation of old General Pierce. The opponents of the measure ridiculed22 him as the “baby judge;” but his conduct in that high office showed the prescient judgment23 of the friend who had known him from a child, and had seen in his young manhood already the wisdom of ripened24 age. It was some years afterwards when Franklin Pierce entered the office of Judge Woodbury as a student. In the interval25, the judge had been elected governor, and, after a term of office that thoroughly26 tested the integrity of his democratic principles, had lost his second election, and returned to the profession of the law.
The last two years of Pierce’s preparatory studies were spent at the law school of Northampton, in Massachusetts, and in the office of Judge Parker at Amherst. In 1827, being admitted to the bar, he began the practice of his profession at Hillsborough. It is an interesting fact, considered in reference to his subsequent splendid career as an advocate, that he did not, at the outset, give promise of distinguished27 success. His first case was a failure, and perhaps a somewhat marked one. But it is remembered that this defeat, however mortifying28 at the moment, did but serve to make him aware of the latent resources of his mind, the full command of which he was far from having yet attained30. To a friend, an older practitioner31, who addressed him with some expression of condolence and encouragement, Pierce replied,—and it was a kind of self-assertion which no triumph would have drawn32 oat,—“I do not need that. I will try nine hundred and ninety-nine cases, if clients will continue to trust me, and, if I fail just as I have today, will try the thousandth. I shall live to argue cases in this court house in a manner that will mortify29 neither myself nor my friends.” It is in such moments of defeat that character and ability are mot fairly tested; they would irremediably crush a youth devoid33 of real energy, and, being neither more nor less than his just desert, would be accepted as such. But a failure of this kind serves an opposite purpose to a mind in which the strongest and richest qualities lie deep, and, from their very size and mass, cannot at once be rendered available. It provokes an innate34 self-confidence, while, at the same time, it sternly indicates the sedulous35 cultivation36, the earnest effort, the toil37, the agony, which are the conditions of ultimate success. It is, indeed, one of the best modes of discipline that experience can administer, and may reasonably be counted a fortunate event in the life of a young man vigorous enough to overcome the momentary39 depression.
Pierce’s distinction at the bar, however, did not immediately follow; nor did he acquire what we may designate as positive eminence until some years after this period. The enticements of political life—so especially fascinating to a young lawyer, but so irregular in its tendencies, and so inimical to steady professional labor41—had begun to operate upon him. His father’s prominent position in the politics of the state made it almost impossible that the son should stand aloof42. In 1827, the same year when Franklin began the practice of the law, General Benjamin Pierce had been elected governor of New Hampshire. He was defeated in the election of 1828, but was again successful in that of the subsequent year. During these years, the contest for the presidency43 had been fought with a fervor44 that drew almost everybody into it, on one side or the other, and had terminated in the triumph of Andrew Jackson. Franklin Pierce, in advance of his father’s decision, though not in opposition45 to it, had declared himself for the illustrious man whose military renown46 was destined47 to be thrown into the shade by a civil administration, the most splendid and powerful that ever adorned48 the annals of our country, I love to record of the subject of this memoir49 that his first political faith was pledged to that great leader of the democracy.
I remember meeting Pierce about this period, and catching50 from him some faint reflection of the zeal51 with which he was now stepping into the political arena52. My sympathies and opinions, it is true,—so far as I had any in public affairs,—had, from the first, been enlisted53 on the same side with his own. But I was now made strongly sensible of an increased development of my friend’s mind, by means of which he possessed54 a vastly greater power than heretofore over the minds with which he came in contact. This progressive growth has continued to be one of his remarkable56 characteristics. Of most men you early know the mental gauge57 and measurement, and do not subsequently have much occasion to change it. Not so with Pierce: his tendency was not merely high, but towards a point which rose higher and higher as the aspirant59 tended upward. Since we parted, studious days had educated him; life, too, and his own exertions60 in it, and his native habit of close and accurate observation, had likewise begun to educate him.
The town of Hillsborough, in 1829, gave Franklin Pierce his first public honor, by electing him its representative in the legislature of the state. His whole service in that body comprised four years, in the two latter of which he was elected Speaker by a vote of one hundred and fifty-five against fifty-eight for other candidates. This overpowering majority evinced the confidence which his character inspired, and which, during his whole career, it has invariably commanded, in advance of what might be termed positive proof, although the result has never failed to justify61 it. I still recollect2 his description of the feelings with which he entered on his arduous62 duties—the feverish63 night that preceded his taking the chair—the doubt, the struggle with himself—all ending in perfect calmness, full self-possession, and free power of action when the crisis actually came.
He had all the natural gifts that adapted him for the post; courtesy, firmness, quickness and accuracy of judgment, and a clearness of mental perception that brought its own regularity64 into the scene of confused and entangled65 debate; and to these qualities he added whatever was to be attained by laborious66 study of parliamentary rules. His merit as a presiding officer was universally acknowledged. It is rare that a man combines so much impulse with so great a power of regulating the impulses of himself and others as Franklin Pierce. The faculty67, here exercised and improved, of controlling an assembly while agitated68 by tumultuous controversy69, was afterwards called into play upon a higher field; for, during his congressional service, Pierce was often summoned to preside in committee of the whole, when a turbulent debate was expected to demand peculiar70 energy in the chair.
He was elected a member of Congress in 1833, being young for the station, as he has always been for every public station that he has filled. A different kind of man—a man conscious that accident alone had elevated him, and therefore nervously71 anxious to prove himself equal to his fortunes—would thus have been impelled72 to spasmodic efforts. He would have thrust himself forward in debate, taking the word out of the mouths of renowned73 orators75, and thereby76 winning notoriety, as at least the glittering counterfeit77 of true celebrity78. Had Pierce, with his genuine ability, practised this course; had he possessed even an ordinary love of display, and had he acted upon it with his inherent tact55 and skill, taking advantage of fair occasions to prove the power and substance that were in him, it would greatly have facilitated the task of his biographer.
To aim at personal distinction, however, as an object independent of the public service, would have been contrary to all the foregone and subsequent manifestations79 of his life. He was never wanting to the occasion; but he waited for the occasion to bring him inevitably80 forward. When he spoke81, it was not only because he was fully82 master of the subject, but because the exigency83 demanded him, and because no other and older man could perform the same duty as well as himself. Of the copious84 eloquence85—and some of it, no doubt, of a high order—which Buncombe has called forth86, not a paragraph, nor a period, is attributable to Franklin Pierce. He had no need of these devices to fortify87 his constituents88 in their high opinion of him; nor did he fail to perceive that such was not the method to acquire real weight in the body of which he was a member. In truth, he has no fluency89 of words, except when an earnest meaning and purpose supply their own expression. Every one of his speeches in Congress, and, we may say, in every other hall of oratory90, or on any stump91 that he may have mounted, was drawn forth by the perception that it was needed, was directed to a full exposition of the subject, and (rarest of all) was limited by what he really had to say. Even the graces of the orator74 were never elaborated, never assumed for their own sake, but were legitimately92 derived93 from the force of his conceptions, and from the impulsive94 warmth which accompanies the glow of thought. Owing to these peculiarities,—for such, unfortunately, they may be termed, in reference to what are usually the characteristics of a legislative95 career,—his position before the country was less conspicuous96 than that of many men who could claim nothing like Pierce’s actual influence in the national councils. His speeches, in their muscular texture97 and close grasp of their subject, resembled the brief but pregnant arguments and expositions of the sages98 of the Continental99 Congress, rather than the immeasurable harangues100 which are now the order of the day.
His congressional life, though it made comparatively so little show, was full of labor, directed to substantial objects. He was a member of the judiciary and other important committees; and the drudgery101 of the committee room, where so much of the real public business of the country is transacted102, fell in large measure to his lot. Thus, even as a legislator, he may be said to have been a man of deeds, not words; and when he spoke upon any subject with which his duty, as chairman or member of a committee, had brought him in relation, his words had the weight of deeds, from the meaning, the directness, and the truth, that he conveyed into them. His merits made themselves known and felt in the sphere where they were exercised; and he was early appreciated by one who seldom erred103 in his estimate of men, whether in their moral or intellectual aspect. His intercourse104 with President Jackson was frequent and free, and marked by friendly regard on the part of the latter. In the stormiest periods of his administration, Pierce came frankly105 to his aid. The confidence then established was never lost; and when Jackson was on his death-bed, being visited by a gentleman from the North (himself formerly106 a democratic member of Congress), the old hero spoke with energy of Franklin Pierce’s ability and patriotism, and remarked, as with prophetic foresight107 of his young friend’s destiny, that “the interests of the country would be safe in such hands.”
One of President Jackson’s measures, which had Pierce’s approval and support, was his veto of the Maysville Road Bill. This bill was part of a system of vast public works, principally railroads and canals, which it was proposed to undertake at the expense of the national treasury—a policy not then of recent origin, but which had been fostered by John Quincy Adams, and had attained a gigantic growth at the close of his Presidency. The estimate of works undertaken or projected, at the commencement of Jackson’s administration, amounted to considerably108 more than a hundred millions of dollars. The expenditure109 of this enormous sum, and doubtless other incalculable amounts, in progressive increase, was to be for purposes often of unascertained utility, and was to pass through the agents and officers of the federal government—a means of political corruption110 not safely to be trusted even in the purest hands. The peril112 to the individuality of the states, from a system tending so directly to consolidate the powers of government towards a common centre, was obvious. The result might have been, with the lapse113 of time and the increased activity of the disease, to place the capital of our federative union in a position resembling that of imperial Rome, where each once independent state was a subject province, and all the highways of the world were said to meet in her forum114. It was against this system, so dangerous to liberty and to public and private integrity, that Jackson declared war, by the famous Maysville veto.
It would be an absurd interpretation115 of Pierce’s course, in regard to this and similar measures, to suppose him hostile either to internal or coastwise improvements, so far as they may legitimately be the business of the general government. He was aware of the immense importance of our internal commerce, and was ever ready to vote such appropriations116 as might be necessary for promoting it, when asked for in an honest spirit, and at points where they were really needed. He doubted, indeed, the constitutional power of Congress to undertake, by building roads through the wilderness117, or opening unfrequented rivers, to create commerce where it did not yet exist; but he never denied or questioned the right and duty to remove obstructions118 in the way of inland trade, and to afford it every facility, when the nature and necessity of things had brought it into genuine existence. And he agreed with the best and wisest statesmen in believing that this distinction involved the true principle on which legislation, for the purpose here discussed, should proceed.
While a member of the House of Representatives, he delivered a forcible speech against the bill authorizing119 appropriations for the Military Academy at West Point. He was decidedly opposed to that institution as then, and at present organized. We allude120 to the subject in illustration of the generous frankness with which, years afterwards, when the battle smoke of Mexico had baptized him also a soldier, he acknowledged himself in the wrong, and bore testimony121 to the brilliant services which the graduates of the Academy, trained to soldiership from boyhood, had rendered to their country. And if he has made no other such acknowledgment of past error, committed in his legislative capacity, it is but fair to believe that it is because his reason and conscience accuse him of no other wrong.
It was while in the lower house of Congress that Franklin Pierce took that stand on the slavery question from which he has never since swerved122 a hair’s breadth. He fully recognized, by his votes and by his voice, the rights pledged to the South by the Constitution. This, at the period when he so declared himself, was comparatively an easy thing to do. But when it became more difficult, when the first imperceptible movement of agitation123 had grown to be almost a convulsion, his course was still the same. Nor did he ever shun124 the obloquy125 that sometimes threatened to pursue the northern man who dared to love that great and sacred reality— his whole, united, native country—better than the mistiness126 of a philanthropic theory.
He continued in the House of Representatives four years. If, at this period of his life, he rendered unobtrusive, though not unimportant, services to the public, it must also have been a time of vast intellectual advantage to himself. Amidst great national affairs, he was acquiring the best of all educations for future eminence and leadership. In the midst of statesmen, he grew to be a statesman. Studious, as all his speeches prove him to be, of history, he beheld127 it demonstrating itself before his eyes. As regards this sort of training, much of its good or ill effect depends on the natural force and depth of the man. Many, no doubt, by early mixture with politics, become the mere58 politicians of the moment,—a class of men sufficiently128 abundant among us,—acquiring only a knack129 and cunning, which guide them tolerably well through immediate40 difficulties, without instructing them in the great rules of higher policy. But when the actual observation of public measures goes hand in hand with study, when the mind is capable of comparing the present with its analogies in the past, and of grasping the principle that belongs to both, this is to have history for a living tutor. If the student be fit for such instruction, he will be seen to act afterwards with the elevation130 of a high ideal, and with the expediency131, the sagacity, the instinct of what is fit and practicable, which make the advantage of the man of actual affairs over the mere theorist.
And it was another advantage of his being brought early into the sphere of national interests, and continuing there for a series of years, that it enabled him to overcome any narrow and sectional prejudices. Without loving New England less, he loved the broad area of the country more. He thus retained that equal sentiment of patriotism for the whole land with which his father had imbued132 him, and which is perhaps apt to be impaired133 in the hearts of those who come late to the national legislature, after long training in the narrower fields of the separate states. His sense of the value of the union, which had been taught him at the fireside, from earliest infancy134, by the stories of patriotic135 valor136 that he there heard, was now strengthened by friendly association with its representatives from every quarter. It is this youthful sentiment of Americanism, so happily developed by after circumstances, that we see operating through all his public life, and making him as tender of what he considers due to the South as of the rights of his own land of hills.
Franklin Pierce had scarcely reached the legal age for such elevation, when, in 1837, he was elected to the Senate of the United States. He took his seat at the commencement of the presidency of Mr. Van Buren. Never before nor since has the Senate been more venerable for the array of veteran and celebrated137 statesmen than at that time. Calhoun, Webster, and Clay had lost nothing of their intellectual might. Benton, Silas Wright, Woodbury, Buchanan, and Walker were members; and many even of the less eminent18 names were such as have gained historic place—men of powerful eloquence, and worthy to be leaders of the respective parties which they espoused138. To this dignified139 body (composed of individuals some of whom were older in political experience than he in his mortal life) Pierce came as the youngest member of the Senate. With his usual tact and exquisite140 sense of propriety141, he saw that it was not the time for him to step forward prominently on this highest theatre in the land. He beheld these great combatants doing battle before the eyes of the nation, and engrossing142 its whole regards. There was hardly an avenue to reputation save what was occupied by one or another of those gigantic figures.
Modes of public service remained, however, requiring high ability, but with which few men of competent endowments would have been content to occupy themselves. Pierce had already demonstrated the possibility of obtaining an enviable position among his associates, without the windy notoriety which a member of Congress may readily manufacture for himself by the lavish143 expenditure of breath that had been better spared. In the more elevated field of the Senate, he pursued the same course as while a representative, and with more than equal results.
Among other committees, he was a member of that upon revolutionary pensions. Of this subject he made himself thoroughly master, and was recognized by the Senate as an unquestionable authority. In 1840, in reference to several bills for the relief of claimants under the pension law, he delivered a speech which finely illustrates144 as well the sympathies as the justice of the man, showing how vividly145 he could feel, and, at the same time, how powerless were his feelings to turn him aside from the strict line of public integrity. The merits and sacrifices of the people of the Revolution have never been stated with more earnest gratitude146 than in the following passage:—
“I am not insensible, Mr. President, of the advantages with which claims of this character always come before Congress. They are supposed to be based on services for which no man entertains a higher estimate than myself—services beyond all praise, and above all price. But, while warm and glowing with the glorious recollections which a recurrence147 to that period of our history can never fail to awaken148; while we cherish with emotions of pride, reverence149, and affection the memory of those brave men who are no longer with us; while we provide, with a liberal hand, for such as survive, and for the widows of the deceased; while we would accord to the heirs, whether in the second or third generation, every dollar to which they can establish a just claim,—I trust we shall not, in the strong current of our sympathies, forget what becomes us as the descendants of such men. They would teach us to legislate150 upon our judgment, upon our sober sense of right, and not upon our impulses or our sympathies. No, sir; we may act in this way, if we choose, when dispensing151 our own means, but we are not at liberty to do it when dispensing the means of our constituents.
“If we were to legislate upon our sympathies—yet more I will admit—if we were to yield to that sense of just and grateful remuneration which presses itself upon every man’s heart, there would be scarcely a limit for our bounty152. The whole exchequer153 could not answer the demand. To the patriotism, the courage, and the sacrifices of the people of that day, we owe, under Providence154, all that we now most highly prize, and what we shall transmit to our children as the richest legacy155 they can inherit. The War of the Revolution, it has been justly remarked, was not a war of armies merely—it was the war of nearly a whole people, and such a people as the world had never before seen, in a death struggle for liberty.
“The losses, sacrifices, and sufferings of that period were common to all classes and conditions of life. Those who remained at home suffered hardly less than those who entered upon the active strife156. The aged157 father and another underwent not less than the son, who would have been the comfort and stay of their declining years, now called to perform a yet higher duty—to follow the standard of his bleeding country. The young mother, with her helpless children, excites not less deeply our sympathies, contending with want, and dragging out years of weary and toilsome days and anxious nights, than the husband in the field, following the fortunes of our arms without the proper habiliments to protect his person, or the requisite158 sustenance159 to support his strength. Sir, I never think of that patient, enduring, self-sacrificing army, which crossed the Delaware in December, 1777, marching barefooted upon frozen ground to encounter the foe160, and leaving bloody161 footprints for miles behind then—I never think of their sufferings during that terrible winter without involuntarily inquiring, Where then were their families? Who lit up the cheerful fire upon their hearths162 at home? Who spoke the word of comfort and encouragement? Nay163, sir, who furnished protection from the rigors164 of winter, and brought them the necessary means of subsistence?’
“The true and simple answer to these questions would disclose an amount of suffering and anguish165, mental and physical, such as might not have been found in the ranks of the armies—not even in the severest trial of that fortitude166 which never faltered167, and that power of endurance which seemed to know no limit. All this no man feels more deeply than I do. But they were common sacrifices in a common cause, ultimately crowned with the reward of liberty. They have an everlasting168 claim upon our gratitude, and are destined, as I trust, by their heroic example, to exert an abiding169 influence upon our latest posterity170.”
With this heartfelt recognition of the debt of gratitude due to those excellent men, the senator enters into an analysis of the claims presented, and proves them to be void of justice. The whole speech is a good exponent171 of his character; full of the truest sympathy, but, above all things, just, and not to be misled, on the public behalf, by those impulses that would be most apt to sway the private man. The mere pecuniary172 amount saved to the nation by his scrutiny173 into affairs of this kind, though great, was, after all, but a minor174 consideration. The danger lay in establishing a corrupt111 system, and placing a wrong precedent175 upon the statute176 book. Instances might be adduced, on the other hand, which show him not less scrupulous177 of the just rights of the claimants than careful of the public interests.
Another subject upon which he came forward was the military establishment and the natural defences of the country. In looking through the columns of the “Congressional Globe,” we find abundant evidences of Senator Pierce’s laborious and unostentatious discharge of his duties—reports of committees, brief remarks, and, here and there, a longer speech, always full of matter, and evincing a thoroughly-digested knowledge of the subject. Not having been written out by himself, however, these speeches are no fair specimens178 of his oratory, except as regards the train of argument and substantial thought; and adhering very closely to the business in hand, they seldom present passages that could be quoted, without tearing them forcibly, as it were, out of the context, and thus mangling179 the fragments which we might offer to the reader. As we have already remarked, he seems, as a debater, to revive the old type of the Revolutionary Congress, or to bring back the noble days of the Long Parliament of England, before eloquence had become what it is now, a knack, and a thing valued for itself. Like those strenuous180 orators, he speaks with the earnestness of honest conviction, and out of the fervor of his heart, and because the occasion and his deep sense of it constrain181 him.
By the defeat of Mr. Van Buren, in the presidential election of 1840, the administration of government was transferred, for the first time in twelve years, to the Whigs. An extra session of Congress was summoned to assemble in June, 1841, by President Harrison, who, however, died before it came together. At this extra session, it was the purpose of the whig party, under the leadership of Henry Clay, to overthrow182 all the great measures which the successive democratic administrations had established. The sub-treasury was to be demolished183; a national bank was to be incorporated; a high tariff184 of duties was to be imposed, for purposes of protection and abundant revenue. The whig administration possessed a majority, both in the Senate and the House. It was a dark period for the Democracy, so long unaccustomed to defeat, and now beholding186 all that they had won for the cause of national progress, after the arduous struggle of so many years, apparently187 about to be swept away.
The sterling188 influence which Franklin Pierce now exercised is well described in the following remarks of the Hon. A. O. P. Nicholson:—
“The power of an organized minority was never more clearly exhibited than in this contest. The democratic senators acted in strict concert, meeting night after night for consultation189, arranging their plan of battle, selecting their champions for the coming day, assigning to each man his proper duty, and looking carefully to the popular judgment for a final victory. In these consultations190, no man’s voice was heard with more profound respect than that of Franklin Pierce. His counsels were characterized by so thorough a knowledge of human nature, by so much solid common sense, by such devotion to democratic principles, that, although among the youngest of the senators, it was deemed important that all their conclusions should be submitted to his sanction.
“Although known to be ardent191 in his temperament192, he was also known to act with prudence193 and caution. His impetuosity in debate was only the result of the deep convictions which controlled his mind. He enjoyed the unbounded confidence of Calhoun, Buchanan, Wright, Woodbury, Walker, King, Benton, and indeed of the entire democratic portion of the Senate. When he rose in the Senate or in the committee room, he was heard with the profoundest attention; and again and again was he greeted by these veteran Democrats194 as one of our ablest champions. His speeches, during this session, will compare with those of any other senator. If it be asked why he did not receive higher distinction, I answer, that such men as Calhoun, Wright, Buchanan, and Woodbury were the acknowledged leaders of the Democracy. The eyes of the nation were on them. The hopes of their party were reposed195 in them. The brightness of these luminaries196 was too great to allow the brilliancy of so young a man to attract especial attention. But ask any one of these veterans how Franklin Pierce ranked in the Senate, and he will tell you, that, to stand in the front rank for talents, eloquence, and statesmanship, he only lacked a few more years.”
In the course of this session he made a very powerful speech in favor of Mr. Buchanan’s resolution, calling on the President to furnish the names of persons removed from office since the 4th of March, 1841. The Whigs, in 1840, as in the subsequent canvass197 of 1848, had professed198 a purpose to abolish the system of official removals on account of political opinion, but, immediately on coming into power, had commenced a proscription199 infinitely200 beyond the example of the democratic party. This course, with an army of office-seekers besieging201 the departments, was unquestionably difficult to avoid, and perhaps, on the whole, not desirable to be avoided. But it was rendered astounding202 by the sturdy effrontery203 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 unreasonable204 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 standing205 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 countenance206 to and justified207 all the atrocities208 of the Inquisition in Spain. It forced out the stifled209 groans210 that issued from the Black Hole of Calcutta. It was written in tears upon the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, and pointed20 to those dark recesses211 upon whose gloomy thresholds there was never seen a returning footprint.
“It was the plea of the austere212 and ambitious Strafford, in the days of Charles I. It filled the Bastile of France, and lent its sanction to the terrible atrocities perpetrated there. It was this plea that snatched the mild, eloquent213, and patriotic Camillo Desmoulins from his young and beautiful wife, and hurried him to the guillotine with thousands of others equally unoffending and innocent. It was upon this plea that the greatest of generals, if not men,—you cannot mistake me,—I mean him, the presence of whose very ashes within the last few months sufficed to stir the hearts of a continent,—it was upon this plea that he abjured214 the noble wife who had thrown light and gladness around his humbler days, and, by her own lofty energies and high intellect, had encouraged his aspirations215. It was upon this plea that he committed that worst and most fatal acts of his eventful life. Upon this, too, he drew around his person the imperial purple. It has in all times, and in every age, been the foe of liberty and the indispensable stay of usurpation217.
“Where were the chains of despotism ever thrown around the freedom of speech and of the press but on this plea of STATE NECESSITY? Let the spirit of Charles X. and of his ministers answer.
“It is cold, selfish, heartless, and has always been regardless of age, sex, condition, services, or any of the incidents of life that appeal to patriotism or humanity. Wherever its authority has been acknowledged, it has assailed218 men who stood by their country when she needed strong arms and bold hearts, and has assailed them when, maimed and disabled in her service, they could no longer brandish219 a weapon in her defence. It has afflicted220 the feeble and dependent wife for the imaginary faults of the husband. It has stricken down Innocence221 in its beauty, Youth in its freshness, Manhood in its vigor38, and Age in its feebleness and decrepitude222. Whatever other plea or apology may be set up for the sweeping223, ruthless exercise of this civil guillotine at the present day, in the name of LIBERTY let us be spared this fearful one of STATE NECESSITY, in this early age of the Republic, upon the floor of the American Senate, in the face of a people yet free!”
In June, 1842, he signified his purpose of retiring from the Senate.
It was now more than sixteen years since the author of this sketch224 had been accustomed to meet Frank Pierce (that familiar name, which the nation is adopting as one of its household words) in habits of daily intercourse. Our modes of life had since been as different as could well be imagined; our culture and labor were entirely225 unlike; there was hardly a single object or aspiration216 in common between us. Still we had occasionally met, and always on the old ground of friendly confidence. There were sympathies that had not been suffered to die out. Had we lived more constantly together, it is not impossible that the relation might have been changed by the various accidents and attritions of life; but having no mutual226 events, and few mutual interests, the tie of early friendship remained the same as when we parted. The modifications227 which I saw in his character were those of growth and development; new qualities came out, or displayed themselves more prominently, but always in harmony with those heretofore known. Always I was sensible of progress in him; a characteristic—as, I believe, has been said in the foregoing pages—more perceptible in Franklin Pierce than in any other person with whom I have been acquainted. He widened, deepened, rose to a higher point, and thus ever made himself equal to the ever-heightening occasion. This peculiarity228 of intellectual growth, continued beyond the ordinary period, has its analogy in his physical constitution—it being a fact that he continued to grow in stature229 between his twenty-first and twenty-fifth years.
He had not met with that misfortune, which, it is to be feared, befalls many men who throw their ardor230 into politics. The pursuit had taken nothing from the frankness of his nature; now, as ever, he used direct means to gain honorable ends; and his subtlety—for, after all, his heart and purpose were not such as he that runs may read—had the depth of wisdom, and never any quality of cunning. In great part, this undeteriorated manhood was due to his original nobility of nature. Yet it may not be unjust to attribute it, in some degree, to the singular good fortune of his life. He had never, in all his career, found it necessary to stoop. Office had sought him; he had not begged it, nor manoeuvred for it, nor crept towards it—arts which too frequently bring a man, morally bowed and degraded, to a position which should be one of dignity, but in which he will vainly essay to stand upright.
In our earlier meetings, after Pierce had begun to come forward in public life, I could discern that his ambition was aroused. He felt a young man’s enjoyment231 of success, so early and so distinguished. But as years went on, such motives232 seemed to be less influential233 with him. He was cured of ambition, as, one after another, its objects came to him unsought. His domestic position, likewise, had contributed to direct his tastes and wishes towards the pursuits of private life. In 1834 he had married Jane Means, a daughter of the Rev4. Dr. Appleton, a former president of Bowdoin College. Three sons, the first of whom died in early infancy, were born to him; and, having hitherto been kept poor by his public service, he no doubt became sensible of the expediency of making some provision for the future. Such, it may be presumed, were the considerations that induced his resignation of the senatorship, greatly to the regret of all parties. The senators gathered around him as he was about to quit the chamber234; political opponents took leave of him as of a personal friend; and no departing member has ever retired235 from that dignified body amid warmer wishes for his happiness than those that attended Franklin Pierce.
His father had died three years before, in 1839, at the mansion236 which he built, after the original log-cabin grew too narrow for his rising family and fortunes. The mansion was spacious237, as the liberal hospitality of the occupant required, and stood on a little eminence, surrounded by verdure and abundance, and a happy population, where, half a century before, the revolutionary soldier had come alone into the wilderness, and levelled the primeval forest trees. After being spared to behold185 the distinction of his son, he departed this life at the age of eighty-one years, in perfect peace, and, until within a few hours of his death, in the full possession of his intellectual powers. His last act was one of charity to a poor neighbor—a fitting close to a life that had abounded238 in such deeds. Governor Pierce was a man of admirable qualities—brave, active, public-spirited, endowed with natural authority, courteous239 yet simple in his manners; and in his son we may perceive these same attributes, modified and softened240 by a finer texture of character, illuminated241 by higher intellectual culture, and polished by a larger intercourse with the world, but as substantial and sterling as in the good old patriot9.
Franklin Pierce had removed from Hillsborough in 1838, and taken up his residence at Concord242, the capital of New Hampshire. On this occasion, the citizens of his native town invited him to a public dinner, in token of their affection and respect. In accordance with his usual taste, he gratefully accepted the kindly243 sentiment, but declined the public demonstration244 of it.
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1
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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2
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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3
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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consolidate
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| v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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11
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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12
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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17
vindicated
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| v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护 | |
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18
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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19
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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20
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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21
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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22
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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24
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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26
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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27
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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28
mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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29
mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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30
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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31
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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32
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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33
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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34
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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35
sedulous
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| adj.勤勉的，努力的 | |
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36
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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37
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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38
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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39
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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40
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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41
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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42
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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43
presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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44
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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45
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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46
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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47
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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48
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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49
memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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50
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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51
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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52
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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53
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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54
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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55
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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56
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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57
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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58
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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59
aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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60
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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61
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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62
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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63
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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64
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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65
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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67
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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68
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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69
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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70
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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71
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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72
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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74
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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75
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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76
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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77
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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78
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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79
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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80
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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81
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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82
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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83
exigency
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| n.紧急；迫切需要 | |
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84
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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85
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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86
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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87
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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88
constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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89
fluency
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| n.流畅，雄辩，善辩 | |
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90
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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91
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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92
legitimately
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| ad.合法地；正当地，合理地 | |
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93
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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94
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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95
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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96
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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97
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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98
sages
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| n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料） | |
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99
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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100
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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101
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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102
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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103
erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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105
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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106
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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107
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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108
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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109
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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110
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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111
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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112
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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113
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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114
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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115
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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116
appropriations
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| n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式） | |
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117
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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118
obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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119
authorizing
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| 授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 ) | |
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120
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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121
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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122
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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124
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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125
obloquy
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| n.斥责，大骂 | |
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126
mistiness
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| n.雾，模糊，不清楚 | |
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127
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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128
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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129
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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130
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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131
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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132
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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133
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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135
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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136
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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137
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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138
espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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139
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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140
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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141
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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142
engrossing
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| adj.使人全神贯注的，引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
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143
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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144
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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145
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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146
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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147
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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148
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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149
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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150
legislate
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| vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法 | |
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151
dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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152
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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153
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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154
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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155
legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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156
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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157
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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158
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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159
sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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160
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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161
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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162
hearths
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| 壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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163
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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164
rigors
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| 严格( rigor的名词复数 )； 严酷； 严密； （由惊吓或中毒等导致的身体）僵直 | |
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165
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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166
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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167
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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168
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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169
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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170
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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171
exponent
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| n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂 | |
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172
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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173
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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174
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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175
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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176
statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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177
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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178
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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179
mangling
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| 重整 | |
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180
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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181
constrain
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| vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制 | |
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182
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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183
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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184
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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185
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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186
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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187
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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188
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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189
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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190
consultations
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| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
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191
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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192
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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193
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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194
democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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195
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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196
luminaries
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| n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式） | |
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197
canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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198
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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199
proscription
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| n.禁止，剥夺权利 | |
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200
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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201
besieging
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的现在分词 ) | |
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202
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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203
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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204
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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205
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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206
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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207
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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208
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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209
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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210
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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211
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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212
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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213
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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214
abjured
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| v.发誓放弃( abjure的过去式和过去分词 )；郑重放弃（意见）；宣布撤回（声明等）；避免 | |
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215
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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216
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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217
usurpation
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| n.篡位；霸占 | |
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218
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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219
brandish
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| v.挥舞，挥动；n.挥动，挥舞 | |
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220
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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221
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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222
decrepitude
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| n.衰老；破旧 | |
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223
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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224
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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225
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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226
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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227
modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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228
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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229
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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230
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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231
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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232
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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233
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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234
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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235
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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236
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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237
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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238
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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239
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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240
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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241
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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242
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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243
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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244
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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