Convention of Missouri as a candidate for Congress, and in the following August was triumphantly elected, upon the general ticket system, a member of the twenty-eighth Congress. Since then he has been successively chosen to represent the same district in the twenty-ninth and thirtieth Congress.

Up to the date of his first election in 1842, the State of Missouri, under Democratic rule, had set her face steadfastly against banks and banking. She had one small bank, under stringent restrictions; but the general character of her currency had continued to be specie, except in the commercial metropolis, where the paper of other states had obtained a considerable circulation. After the general downfall of the banks in 1837, the practice of pushing all kinds of depreciated or worthless paper into this state, to monopolize the produce of the country, rapidly increased, until it is represented to have become an intolerable burden upon the agricultural interests. The modus operandi was for capitalists at the commercial metropolis to borrow large amounts of this paper, give it character by redeeming it until it all got out into the rich produce of the country, then declare it no longer redeemable, and let it go down in the hands of the laboring and productive classes.

To counteract this serious evil, the Democratic party arrayed itself against the introduction of such paper into the state, and demanded legislative restriction against it. The Legislature, at the session of 1838-9, made a vigorous effort to pass the first "Currency Bill," as it was called, but it was defeated by the defection of a few Democrats in the Senate. The evil continued and increased, until, at a subsequent session of the Legislature, the Democratic party passed a bill which put a decided check upon it.

During all the fierce conflicts of political opinions upon this Currency Question, and the defections which resulted from them, Mr. Bowlin was a leading advocate in the commercial metropolis of currency reforms, and, of course, became the peculiar object of denunciation and abuse; but he maintained his position with unyielding firmness.

Although the people had, at the August election of 1842, chosen an overwhelming majority of Democrats in favor of currency reform, yet, upon the meeting of the Legislature in November, it was discovered that a considerable defection in the

ranks had in the interval taken place. The party seemed to be upon the verge of an open betrayal into the hands of their opponents, when an able and powerful article, under the title of "the War begun," exposed and checked the intrigues that were going on, and, by threatening a personal exposure of the parties who stood ready to betray their constituents, caused many of them to pause, reflect, and fall back upon their principles. This article was immediately followed by the introduction into the Democratic Association of St. Louis, by Judge Bowlin, of a series of resolutions, declaring the abstract principles of the Democratic party upon the currency, which, though denounced by the press, and contested inch by inch in the association, and finally voted down, were every where received, and warmly approved, by the democracy of the state. They were in the following words:

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Resolved, That the Independent Treasury system, as designed in the political philosophy of the patriot Jefferson, and established under Mr. Van Buren's administration for the first time, summarily repealed during the first months of Federal supremacy, is the only safe, proper, and constitutional mode of collecting, keeping, and disbursing the public moneys; and we cordially approve now, as we have done on all former occasions, that feature of the act which limited the receipts and disbursements of the treasury, ultimately, to the constitutional currency of gold and silver.

Resolved, That the war which the democracy of the nation have been for years waging against the United States Bank, and which has ended in the exposure and destruction of that most corrupt and profligate institution, was a war, not against that bank alone, but against the corruptions of, and abuses practiced under, our banking and paper-money system; and they will not now, after having proceeded thus far in the good work, lay down their arms, until those corruptions and abuses are corrected, or the system, if past all cure, eradicated.

"Resolved, That we deprecate the attempt to charter any new banking institutions any where, or to give new privileges and immunities to those already in existence, believing that there are already in the country more than enough to secure all proper ends for which such institutions are created. "Resolved, That we approve of the invincible firmness of

the nineteen Democratic senators in the State of Missouri who have voted down the proposition to authorize the Bank of the State of Missouri to issue five dollar notes, believing that such a measure is calculated to retard the progress of Democratic reform, to exclude the precious metals from the country, to stimulate the bank to excessive issues, and to hold out a prospect of relief to the indebted which is altogether illusory.

"Resolved, That it is necessary, for the purification of our currency, that the shinplaster issues from foreign states should be excluded from our state, so that all the smaller channels of circulation should be filled with gold and silver; and we earnestly recommend to our Legislature, now in session, to adopt measures to restrain the circulation of notes of a less denomination than those issued by our own bank."

The advocates of these resolutions were denounced as "Hards," in allusion to their being the supporters of a hard-money currency, while they retorted upon their assailants the title of "Softs," in allusion to their being the vindicators of "shinplasters," as they were called. These titles spread throughout the state, and distinctly marked political parties. It was the policy of the "Hards" to keep open the discussion, and of the "Softs" to smother it. The former succeeded in keeping up a weekly discussion for several months, until the resolutions had done their work, when, at a meager meeting of the association, not a fourth of its members being present, the "Softs," it is asserted, were permitted to perpetrate a political suicide by voting them down.

In the mean time, the Legislature had passed the Currency Bill, and refused to permit the bank to issue small notes, thus, in the judgment of Mr. Bowlin, devising a sovereign remedy for the evil, and putting a final seal upon Softism and its advocates. The "Softs," however, did not disband, but kept up their party distinction, and in 1844 made a ticket for Congress, which was jointly supported by them and the Whigs, and suffered an overwhelming defeat, when "Softism" was literally blotted out in every part of the state save St. Louis. Here they kept up a partial organization for the district election of 1846, when they put a third candidate in the field. Mr. Bowlin triumphed by a large majority over the united vote of his competitors. With this victory in the strong-hold of "Softism," the parties again became united.

On his election to the twenty-eighth Congress, his name was pressed by many of his friends, and taken up by many of the leading papers of the West, as candidate for speaker. But, upon his arrival at Washington, finding that there was no fixed determination to bestow the speakership on the West, and that, in the conflict between him and his most worthy and successful competitor from that region, John W. Davis, of Indiana, its claim would be hazarded, Mr. Bowlin promptly retired.

Representing, in part, one of the states which had failed, or refused to comply with the law of Congress requiring elections to be held by single districts, the right of Mr. Bowlin to a seat, like the right of all the other members from the non-complying states, was challenged on the first day of the session. [See title, HOWELL COBB.] It is enough to say that the claims and rights of the State of Missouri on that occasion suffered no detriment in his hands.

At an early period of the session, he gave evidence of that zeal in behalf of the interests of the West which has marked his whole course in Congress, especially with reference to the navigation of its rivers. He argued that these rivers being of national importance, the government was called upon with as much justice to make improvements on the shores of the Mississippi as on the shores of the Atlantic. He spoke of the great extent of coast in the Valley of the Mississippi; of the rich and fertile lands, whose products were transmitted to market through that channel; of the great number of steam-boats employed in navigating those waters; of the extent of their tonnage, and the large number that were annually sacrificed on the unremoved snags, with the value of the property thus lost. "The history of the world," he said, "presented no example of an amount of destruction of property and loss of life equal to that which was yearly occurring on the rivers of the West. When they heard of a disaster upon the Atlantic, they were naturally shocked; but disasters upon the Western rivers had become so common, that they were announced in the newspapers merely as the ordinary occurrences of the day. They were not even announced as calamities."

He was the early friend of Texas and Oregon. He hailed the admission of the former into the Union with delight, and he saw the scepter of the latter depart from our grasp with feel

ings of unmitigated regret. Believing, to use his own language, that "it was a question of right on one side and bold pretension on the other-of clear title on the one hand and mere pretext on the other," he stood boldly up with that small minority of his own party who, in the House of Representatives, demanded the occupation of the territory to the full line of 54° 40'. [See title, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.]

He has at all times exerted himself to engraft the graduation and reduction principles upon the land system of the United States, and has vindicated and expounded Western interests with a clear and comprehensive perception of the great results which depended upon them. Among the more local concerns to which his attention has been directed, we particularly notice the erection of a marine hospital at or near St. Louis.

It is almost superfluous to say that he has voted with a ready hand all the appropriations for the Mexican war, at the same time defending the proceedings of the President, who, he said, “had done nothing but what he was bound to do by the most solemn obligations of patriotism." To sustain this war, he was willing, when the bill to raise additional revenue was under consideration, to vote for a tax on tea and coffee; and he recorded his name in opposition to the Wilmot Proviso.

Upon the return of Colonel Doniphan's regiment of Missouri Volunteers in 1847, from their perilous march through Mexico, crowned with a succession of brilliant achievements, the citizens of St. Louis determined to give them a reception worthy of their gallant deeds. Neither expense nor labor was spared in making the reception a magnificent affair. On this occasion, Judge Bowlin was selected by his fellow-citizens to deliver the speech, welcoming them back to their homes from the dangers and turmoils of a perilous campaign, and tendering them the hospitalities of the city. In the discharge of this duty, he delivered an address, breathing the noblest sentiments of patriotism, which was repeatedly interrupted by the plaudits of the immense concourse of citizens and soldiers. He bade them a warm and hearty welcome back to their cherished homes in the name of a city proud of her identity with their gallant achievements. He assured them that they were performing no idle ceremony, but tendering them the spontaneous homage due to their patriotism, their valor, and their self-sacrificing devotion to their