acquired a power that
enabled it to carry many local elections in the various States. It was a
secret organization, the members of which were bound by oath to oppose
the election of foreign-born citizens to office. The salutation, when
one member met another, was, "Have you seen Sam?" If one of them was
questioned about the order, his reply was that he knew nothing, from
which the name was given to what was really the Native American party.
It soon ran its course, but has been succeeded in its cardinal
principles by the American Protective Association of the present day.

Meanwhile, the slavery question was busy at its work of disintegration.
The Democratic party was held together for a time by the Compromise of
1850, to the effect that the inhabitants of the new Territories of New
Mexico andhimself, and was so slow and excessively cautious that
he wore out the patience of the government and finally of the nation
itself.

General Scott's old age and increasing infirmities compelled him in
November to give up the command of the Union armies, and all hopes
centred upon McClellan. He kept drilling the Army of the Potomac, and by
the close of the year had 150,000 well-trained soldiers under his
command. The impatience of the North began to manifest itself, but no
general advance took place, though the Confederate line was gradually
pushed back from its threatening position in front of Washington to its
first position at Bull Run. The Confederacy was also busy in recruiting
and drilling its forces. Knowing that Richmond was the objective point
of the Union advance, the city was surrounded with formidable
fortifications.


DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF.

On