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 LIBRARY 
 NORTHWESTERN 
 MEDICAL 
 
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THE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY; 
 
 C O N T A I N I N G 
 
 CORRECT PORTRAITS AND BRIEF NOTICES 
 
 O P 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN AMERICAN HISTORY; 
 
 E M B R A C I X G 
 
 DISTINGUISHED WOMEN, NAVAL AND MILITARY HEROES, STATESMEN, CIVILIANS, 
 
 JURISTS, DIVINES, AUTHORS, AND ARTISTS; TOGETHER WITH 
 
 CELEBRATED INDIAN CHIEFS. 
 
 FROM CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 COMPLETE IN SIX VOLUMES. 
 EACH VOLUME WILL CONTAIN ONE HUNDRED PORTRAITS, 
 
 AND BE DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS. 
 
 PART. I. - EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE DISCOVERY, BY COLUMBUS, TO THE DECLARATION OF 
 
 INDEPENDENCE. 
 PART II. -EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO THE WAR OF 1812, 
 
 WITH ENGLAND. 
 PART III. EMBRACING THE PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO THE WAR OF 1812. 
 
 ONE VOLUME TO BE ISSUED ANNUALLY. 
 
 ^/>>-- ; u l 
 BY A. Dt JONES. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 J. MILTON EMERSON AND COMPANY 
 
 MDCCCLIII. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, 
 
 BY A. D. JONES, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 0. A. ALVORD, PRINTER. 
 
 29 OOLD-STRKET, N Y 
 
L( o o I 4 V ' 
 
 Bancroft Library 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 AT history is so valuable as genuine Biography, for it not only gives us the deeds which go to 
 *- ^ make up history, but also, and what is of equal value in its analysis, the motives and circum- 
 stances of these acts. Accordingly, no department of literature is more abundantly or imperfectly 
 supplied than this. On one hand, the sketches of persons have been so brief as to awaken little or 
 no interest ; on the other, so tedious as to exhaust the patience of the reader. Then, again, many 
 biographies have embraced numerous names which are of no particular interest, or taken only a few 
 of the most prominent ones, greatly to the injury of many who have deserved well of their coun- 
 try, and \\ aose lives are necessary to a perfect history of their times. 
 
 We have thought that a just medium between these extremes was necessary to a comprehensive 
 and discriminating historical American Biography, and have aimed in this volume and shall 
 aim, in the succeeding ones to do justice to the memory of those persons whose lives are 
 presented, without drawing too largely on the patience of the reader; while the fact, that every 
 sketch is illustrated with a fine portrait, will render the work invaluable as a faithful daguerreo- 
 type of the persons, as well as the lives of the great actors in American history. 
 
 No pains or expense has been spared to present the work to the public in a manner which shall 
 bear their criticism, and which, we hope, will not fail to secure their approval ; while the wide 
 iijld of labor we have laid out for ourselves will, we trust, be a sufficient apology for any imper- 
 
 
4 t ' A. .T'O : 1 i rr & : L^fJ & t L 1 X 1 C . 
 
 fee tions which may appear. Slkxuld; vye, ,live to complete it; the; work will contain six hundred 
 biographies, and as many portriaifa in six"vdlu^nesir^/al' t qctdvo, 6nc volume to be issued annually, 
 making, together, twelve hundred, jwgbs .of valuable letterpress* 
 
 We commend the Artistical and Mechanical clidrac'teV of our book to the notice of our readers, 
 with the confidence that it will compare favorably with any issues from the press of a similar 
 nature. 
 
 Trusting that we shall so far find favor with the American public as to encourage us in our 
 coming labors, we bid them " farewell for a season." 
 
 NEW YORK, ) A. D. JONES. 
 
 January 1, 1853. ( J. M. EMERSON. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 PAGE 
 59 
 
 Hancock John 
 
 PAGE 
 
 55 
 
 John Q 
 
 119 
 
 
 157 
 
 " Mrs John 
 
 71 
 
 
 189 
 
 " Samuel 
 
 53 
 
 Henry, Patrick 
 
 61 
 
 Allston Washington 
 
 195 
 
 
 81 
 
 I. 
 
 
 Andre, Jolm 
 
 89 
 
 Arnold Benedict . . 
 
 85 
 
 Inman, Henry 
 Irvin"- W 
 
 201 
 167 
 
 15. 
 Bainbrid-'p "William. 
 
 
 J. 
 
 117 
 
 Baird Robert 
 
 . 151 
 
 Jay, John 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 Uarnard , JJ. \) 
 Bayard J. A 
 
 < 1 
 159 
 
 Jefferson Thomas 
 
 45 
 
 
 103 
 
 
 91 
 
 
 175 
 
 Brooks Jol/n 
 
 107 
 
 E. C 
 
 177 
 
 
 
 Bryant, TV . C 
 Buff'oyne Jolm . . 
 
 99 
 
 K. 
 
 203 
 
 Burritt Elilm 
 
 191 
 
 C. 
 
 13 
 
 
 113 
 
 Kosciusko, rhaddcus 
 
 L. 
 La Fsiyettc 
 
 61 
 
 Calhoun J C 
 
 129 
 
 Cass Lewi"* 
 
 181 
 
 
 . 143 
 
 
 .. 105 
 
 Choate Rufus 
 
 173 
 
 Lincoln Benjamin 
 
 70 
 
 
 161 
 
 M. 
 Marshall C J 
 
 91 
 
 Clay, Henry 
 Clinton De Yv'ilt 
 
 211 
 . 1-17 
 
 Mnther Cotton 
 
 
 Columbus, Christopher 
 Cooper J F ... 
 
 9 
 .. 205 
 
 A^cDonou "!! Thoma^ 
 
 131 
 
 Montgomery Richard 
 
 7*) 
 
 D. 
 Dccatur, Stephen 
 Dewee^ W P 
 
 185 
 1 S3 
 
 
 95 
 
 
 199 
 
 0. 
 
 127 
 
 E. 
 
 Endecott John 
 
 7 
 
 P. 
 
 33 
 
 F. 
 Franklin Beni'-imin 
 
 43 
 
 PPVVV O H 
 
 . 145 
 
 Fremont JO ... . . .. 
 
 \ 
 
 119- 
 
 
 137 
 
 Frobisher Martin 
 
 37 
 
 ' ' 
 
 153 
 
 Fulton, Robert 
 
 
 
 Ill 
 
 G. 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 Putnam, Israel 
 
 73 
 
 H 
 
 Haliburton, J 
 Hamilton. Alexander . . 
 
 209 
 
 , 51 
 
 R. 
 Rawson, Rebecca 
 Red Jacket 
 
 29 
 1ST 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eittenhouse, David. 
 Benjamin 
 
 98 
 
 S. 
 
 Schuyler, Philip 105 
 
 Scott, Winfield 179 
 
 Silliraan, Benjamin 65 
 
 Smith, John 15 
 
 Story, Joseph 141 
 
 Stuart, C. Gr 101 
 
 T. 
 
 Taylor, Zachary 139 
 
 Tecumseh 155 
 
 V. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin 193 
 
 Vane, Henry 25 
 
 Van Ness, Marcia 125 
 
 Vespuccius, Americus 11 
 
 W. 
 
 Warren, Joseph 49 
 
 Washington, George 41 
 
 " Martha 65 
 
 Wayne, Anthony 88 
 
 Webster, Noah 183 
 
 West, Benjamin 87 
 
 Winslow, Edward 19 
 
 " Josiah 17 
 
 Penelope 31 
 
 Winthrop, John 23 
 
 R. 207 
 
 Woodbury, Levi 169 
 
 Wool, J. E 197 
 
 Wolfe, James 75 
 
PART I. 
 
 EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE 
 
 DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 FEW men have led a life of such wild and glorious adventure as the subject of this 
 brief memoir; and none have exceeded him in the exhibition of those manly 
 virtues which command the admiration of the world, energy, perseverance, patience, 
 and the power of endurance. Of obscure parentage, without money or influential 
 friends, he compelled wealth to be his servant, and kings to do homage to his genius. 
 Obstacles hopelessly insurmountable to others, only stimulated his energy, and he 
 perceived the guaranty of success when all around him saw only despair. With an 
 unfaltering faith and indomitable will, he fulfilled the prophecy of his soul, and 
 wreathed his brow with laurels which will only grow fresher and greener as time 
 advances. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS was born at Genoa, as is generally conceded, about A. D. 
 1435-36. But little is known of his early life, save that he was remarkable for his 
 love of such studies as peculiarly fitted him for a maritime life, and those great 
 adventures of which Providence made him the principal agent and moving spirit. 
 
 He commenced his maritime career while yet a mere youth, his first voyage being 
 a naval expedition fitted out at Genoa in 1459, by John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, 
 the object of which was to recover the kingdom of Naples for his father, Rene, Count 
 de Provence. 
 
10 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 
 
 For many years after this, the traces of his career are faint, although it is evident 
 that his life passed in a succession of naval or other maritime pursuits. His sagacious 
 mind led him to believe that other lands lay far off towards the setting sun, and he 
 resolved to convince the world that his views were correct. Poor and friendless as 
 he was, he conceived the bold idea which led to the discovery of the Western Conti- 
 nent. Full of this purpose, he sought the aid of powerful courts, first applying to the 
 throne of Portugal, and then to that of Spain. But here he was destined to encounter 
 the fiercest opposition, and it was not until after many years of struggle and disap- 
 pointment that he succeeded in securing the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 who fitted him out with a squadron of three small vessels, carrying in all one hundred 
 and twenty persons, among whom were various private adventurers. With this little 
 fleet, and full of hope and the solemn purpose he had so long and ardently cherished, 
 he set sail from Huelva on the 3d of August, 1492. 
 
 After a long and perilous voyage, in which the terrors of the Atlantic were among 
 the smallest difficulties he had to encounter, his officers, crews, and passengers in 
 almost constant fear and mutiny, his heart was made glad, and the fears of all 
 dissipated, by the joyous cry of " Land, ho ! " on the morning of the 12th of October. 
 1492. 
 
 Columbus speedily landed, and took solemn possession in the name of their 
 Catholic majesties, amidst a wondering crowd of naked savages, who received him 
 with simple sincerity, little dreaming of the strange and sad results which were to 
 grow out of the pageant that filled their dazzled eyes. 
 
 After refreshing and resting his worn-out band, he cruised among the islands (to 
 which he gave the general name of West Indies) for several months, and then, on the 
 4th of January, set sail on his return to Spain. His return was hailed as a triumph, 
 and he was treated with all the pomp and ceremony of a mighty conqueror. 
 
 He soon sailed, with a larger and better provisioned argosy, to the New World, 
 bearing the titles, prerogatives, and honors of admiral, viceroy, and governor of all 
 the countries he had discovered or might discover, and with unlimited powers tc 
 make and administer laws, form governments, erect cities, &c. He reached the 
 place of his destination after a pleasant voyage, and immediately began to carry into 
 execution the plans he had so long and so fondly cherished. But the star of Colum- 
 bus had passed its zenith. He had taken with him the seeds of faction, which 
 speedily germinated and ripened into bitter fruit. Intrigues at court, and treachery 
 in his own quarters, made his lot one of continual strife and discomfort, and he at 
 length returned to Spain rather as a prisoner to answer for misdemeanors than as a 
 conqueror to reap new honors. 
 
 Still again do we find him making a voyage to the New World, only to be received 
 suspiciously and treated with contumely ; and, after a futile effort to regain his 
 wonted sway, he again sought redress at the foot of the throne. But alas ! his 
 guardian angel, the gentle Isabella, "had gone into glory," and Ferdinand was 
 guilty of the meanest duplicity and most accursed ingratitude. Still professing 
 friendship for the great man who had given him a continent, he put him off, day 
 after day, with false promises and cruel evasions, until the old mariner, disgusted 
 and broken-hearted, found a refuge in the grave, and carried up his cause to the 
 court of heaven. 
 
AMERICUS VESPUC1US. 
 
 A LTHO UGH our country bears the name of this gentleman, it is pretty gen- 
 -LJL erally conceded that the honor belongs to Columbus, who was in reality its 
 discoverer. It is claimed, and with a good degree of justice, that both the Norse- 
 men and the Cabots of England saw the continent prior either to Columbus or 
 Vespucius, yet the first occupation of the country is due to Columbus, and it 
 should have been called COLUMBIA, instead of America. But it is too late now 
 to hope for a change ; and since it is so, we are glad that so euphonious a name 
 distinguishes the western continent. 
 
 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS more properly Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, 
 in 1451. He descended from a very ancient house, and belonged to one of the 
 proudest families of that celebrated city. His education was respectable, and he 
 was possessed of a bold and enterprising spirit. Fired with the accounts of the 
 discoveries of Columbus, he became desirous to see the New World for himself, 
 and accordingly, on the 20th of May, 1497, he sailed from Cadiz, as a merchant, 
 with a squadron of four small ships, under command of the celebrated and valiant 
 Ojeda. During this voyage, Americus claims to have seen the continent. He 
 may have done so, but much doubt envelops the matter. At all events, his 
 
 2 
 
12 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS. 
 
 success was such as to induce Ferdinand and Isabella to place a fleet of six ships 
 under his command, when he made his second voyage. On his return, in 1500, 
 he received the same ungracious treatment from the contemptible Ferdinand which 
 had been visited on Columbus ; and he returned to Seville mortified and disgusted 
 at the ingratitude of princes. 
 
 A rank and growing jealousy existed in all the courts of Europe of the glory 
 and wealth achieved by Spain in her new discoveries. Emanuel, King of Portugal, 
 hearing of the humiliation of Vespucci, invited him to his court, and offered to 
 fit out a fleet of three ships, and give him the command. Gladly accepting the 
 proposal of the Portuguese king, he sailed from Lisbon in May, 1501, and explored 
 the coast of South America from Brazil to Patagonia, and returned, laden with 
 riches and honors, to Lisbon, in September, 1502. 
 
 Emanuel was so greatly pleased with the results of this first voyage of discovery, 
 that he placed six larger vessels at the disposal of Vespucci, and he again set sail 
 on his fourth and last voyage, in May, 1503. The great object of this voyage was 
 to discover a western passage to the Molucca Islands. Falling short of provisions, 
 he was foiled in the attempt, and after visiting Brazil, and loading his ships with 
 the valuable wood of that country, and other precious products, he returned to 
 Portugal, after an absence of but little more than a year. The rich cargoes he 
 brought home partially compensated for the want of success in the main purpose 
 of the voyage, and Americus was received with every demonstration of joy and 
 respect. 
 
 Vespucci now retired from the busy scenes of life, and devoted himself to the 
 preparation of a history of his adventures, and to the performance of duties 
 growing out of the office of chief pilot to Spain, to which he had been appointed by 
 Ferdinand. His duties were the drawing and correcting of sea charts. He drew 
 and published the first chart of the American coast, in which he laid claim to be 
 the discoverer of the country. 
 
 In 1507, he published his history of all the voyages he had made to America, 
 and his work was read all over Europe with great delight. It was filled with 
 most glowing accounts of the New World, mixed up with the most splendid 
 fictions, superlatively elaborated sentences and apocryphal events. It was pub- 
 lished just after the death of Columbus, and was thus placed beyond the reach 
 of that eminent navigator, who, had he lived, would doubtless have exposed the 
 pretensions of its author. 
 
 He lived but a few years after this, and died at Tercera, in the sixty-third year 
 of his age, in 1514. 
 
SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
 
 JOHN CABOT, the father of Sebastian, of whom we have no portrait, was a 
 Venetian by birth, but a resident of England at the time of the birth of the 
 subject of this memoir. Under the patronage of King Henry VII. he sailed on a 
 voyage of discovery in 1497, accompanied by his son Sebastian, then only twenty 
 years of age. The elder Cabot had three sons, whom he educated especially as 
 navigators. Sebastian was the second son. In this voyage the continent is said to 
 have been seen for the first time, and was explored from the sixty-seventh degree of 
 latitude to Florida. 
 
 SEBASTIAN CABOT was born at Bristol, England, in 14767. As we have seen, he 
 accompanied his father on his first voyage in 1499. He sailed again under commis- 
 sion from the court of England, in 1517. His object, like that of Vespucius, was to 
 discover a new passage to the East Indies. In this he was disappointed, and re- 
 turned to England without having added to the amount of knowledge obtained on 
 the former voyage. 
 
 In 1525, Ferdinand and Isabella, of Spain, invited him to court, showed him many 
 flattering attentions, and put a fleet under his command, which sailed in April of the 
 same year. He visited the coast of Brazil, and entered a great river, to which he 
 gave the name of Rio de la Plata, running up its course between three and four hun- 
 
14 SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
 
 dred miles. He consumed six years in this voyage, and made many valuable addi- 
 tions to the geography and natural history of the country. On his return to Spain 
 in 1531, he experienced, like all others who shared the patronage of that court, the 
 fickleness and perfidy of the weak and vacillating Ferdinand. 
 
 Cabqt made several other voyages, of which we have no veritable records, and at 
 length retired to Seville, holding the commission of chief pilot to the court of Spain. 
 In this capacity he drew many valuable charts, in which he delineated not only his 
 own, but all others' discoveries. It fell to him, also, to draw up the instructions of 
 those who sailed on new voyages of discovery, some of which are still extant, and 
 exhibit an unusual sagacity in their conception, and a remarkable perspicacity in 
 their execution. 
 
 In his old age he returned to England, and resided once more at Bristol, the place 
 of his birth, supported by a pension from King Edward VI. He was also appointed 
 governor of a company of merchants, associated for the purpose of making voyages 
 of discovery to unknown lands an office for which his vast experience and knowl- 
 edge eminently fitted him. Perhaps no man of his age did more to give an impulse 
 to the commerce of England than Cabot. He was the founder of the " Russian 
 Company," and the projector of several commercial enterprises, from which England 
 derived no inconsiderable importance. He cherished the belief that a north-east pas- 
 sage to China might yet be found, and died in the faith. 
 
 The last account we can find of him is the relation of a pleasing arid characteristic 
 incident, which occurred in 1556, about a year previous to his death. The company 
 had fitted out a vessel, which was just ready to sail on a voyage of discovery ; and, 
 as was his custom, he visited the ship in person to see if every thing was in accord- 
 ance with his instructions. He mingled freely with the seamen and passengers, 
 having a cheerful word for each, and a smile and benediction for all. " The good 
 old man Cabota," says the journal of the voyage, still extant, " gave to the poor most 
 liberal alms, wishing them to pray for the good fortune and prosperous success of 
 our pinnace. And then, at the sign of St. Christopher, he and his friends being 
 rested, and for very joy, that he had seen the towardness of our intended discovery, 
 he entered into the dance himself among the rest of the young and lusty company ; 
 which being ended, he and his friends departed, most gently commending us to the 
 governance of Almighty God." It is a pleasant picture of the greenness and fresh- 
 ness of his soul, although cumbered with the decaying tenement in which it had 
 been enclosed for nearly eighty years. 
 
 Cabot lived but a year after this event, and died at Bristol, in 1557, aged eighty 
 years. He was a most remarkable man. Sagacious, methodical, thorough, and 
 persevering, he was just the man for his office, whether he trod the quarter deck of 
 his vessels, or presided at the board of commerce and navigation, of which he was 
 governor for so many years. He is said to have been a mild and gentle person in 
 all his relations on shore, although he was a rigid and even severe disciplinarian at 
 sea ; and there are some intimations that he was even cruel in his treatment of 
 offenders against the regulations of his squadrons. He is supposed to have been the 
 first navigator who noticed the variations of the magnetic needle, and he published a 
 work in Venice, in 1533, on the subject. He also published a large map, which was 
 engraved by Clement Adams, and placed in the King's Gallery, at Whitehall. On 
 this map was inscribed, in Latin, an account of the discovery of Newfoundland. 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
 
 IN April, 1607, there arrived on the coast of Virginia a fleet of three small vessels, 
 whose joint tonnage amounted to less than two hundred tons, containing a colo- 
 ny, whose master spirit was the hero of this notice, CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. Thrice 
 had the attempt been made to plant a colony on the shores of Virginia, and thrice 
 had it failed. This time they were more successful. They located themselves on the 
 left bank of the James River, about fifty miles from its mouth, and called the place, 
 after the English monarch, Jamestown. The most discordant elements were mixed 
 up in the little company that was destined to be the germ of Virginia's future 
 greatness ; and had it not been for the sagacity and wisdom of Smith, they had, 
 like those who went before them, perished within a twelvemonth. But his genius* 
 and courage were equal to the emergency. When provisions could not be purcha first 
 of the Indians, he seized their idols, and compelled the savages to redeem th rights of 
 corn ; and by his severe example and discipline he kept the turbulent spch they had 
 little colony in subjection. The savages regarded him with awe an<Var was coinci- 
 compassing his life by every ingenious artifice, and now reverencr, and proved him- 
 While on an exploring expedition, he was taken prisoner, after v 
 
16 JOHN SMITH. 
 
 his foes with his own hand. He was carried before Powhatan, and for some time 
 was feasted, and fantastically dressed and carried about as a show. At length, in 
 solemn council, he was condemned to death, and preparations were made to carry the 
 sentence into immediate execution. His head was laid on a stone, and a stalwart 
 Indian stood ready, with a war club, to dash out his brains. Just as the blow was 
 about to descend, Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Powhatan, threw herself upon 
 the victim, and shielded his head in her own bosom. Her entreaties prevailed, and 
 he was liberated and sent back to Jamestown, in rude and savage triumph. 
 
 Here the good sense and courage of Smith prevented the breaking up of the col- 
 ony. Early in the seventeenth century, he was very seriously injured by the prema- 
 ture explosion of his powder flask while on one of his exploring rambles, in conse- 
 quence of which he returned to England for medical advice. He never recovered 
 from the effects of this disaster, and after various adventures he died in London, in 
 1631, in the fifty-second year of his age. 
 
 Few men have exhibited such a love for the romance of life, and few have been 
 more gratified in this respect, than the brave and gallant Captain John Smith. He 
 exhibited this trait in early childhood, engaging in the most reckless and dangerous 
 exploits. At thirteen, he sold his school books and satchel to raise money to run 
 away, it being his purpose to go to sea. At fifteen, he left his master and went into 
 France and the Low Countries. At seventeen, having acquired a little money, he 
 embarked once more to carve out his own fortune, in company with some pilgrims 
 bound for Italy. A violent tempest assailing the ship, Smith, who was deemed the 
 cause of the misfortune, he being the only heretic on board, was thrown over- 
 board, and saved his life by swimming to the shore. After this, he entered the ser- 
 \ ice of Austria, and so won the confidence of the emperor as to be intrusted with an 
 important command. At the siege of Regal, he accepted the challenge of a Turkish 
 lord, and smote off his head, fighting on horseback. A second, and a third, shared 
 the same fate. He was finally taken prisoner, and escaped by slaying his master; 
 and, after visiting Russia, he returned to England, and immediately turned his atten- 
 tion to the colonization of North America. 
 
 Smith published several volumes of his voyages and adventures in America, as 
 well as a map of the whole coast from the Penobscot to the James Rivers, giving both 
 the Indian and the English names of the principal places. 
 
 sea 
 
 offenders 
 first navigator 
 work in Venic 
 engraved by Clemei 
 this map was inscribe 
 
 \ 
 
GOVERNOR JOSIAH WINSLOW. 
 
 JOSIAH WINSLO W was the first New England bom governor. Hitherto that 
 office had been filled by men whose birthplace was abroad. Now they had 
 begun to raise their own officers and magistrates ; and this first American production 
 was an honor to the new world and to his colony. Marshfield claims the honor of his 
 birthplace, and he was born in 1629, just nine years after the arrival of the Pilgrims. 
 He was the son of Edward Winslow, one of the company which came over in the 
 Mayflower, the third governor of Plymouth colony. 
 
 Josiah Winslow was born of brave stock, of which he proved to be no degenerate 
 scion. He was a man of proper person, charming address, a well cultivated mind, 
 and an amiable disposition. These traits, added to his fearless courage and military 
 bearing, all resting on a highly refined piety for their base, eminently fitted him for 
 the then highly important office of governor, and gave him great popularity. His first 
 public act, after he was chosen governor, was the restoration to their civil rights of 
 Isaac Robinson, son of Rev. John Robinson, and Mr. Cudworth, of which they had 
 been deprived on account of their religious opinions. King Philip's war was coinci- 
 dent with his administration, in which war he did eminent service, and proved him- 
 
18 JOSIAH WINSLOW 
 
 self a sagacious leader and a brave warrior. He was mild and tolerant himself, and 
 could not endure the persecutions which were pursued against nonconformists, of 
 whatever name. His moral was fully equal to his physical courage. He encoun- 
 tered public prejudice with the same unblenching resolution that he exposed himself 
 to the bullets and ambushes of the Indians. 
 
 He commenced his public life very early. No sooner had he arrived at the age 
 eligible to office, than he was chosen deputy to the General Court from his native 
 town ; and from that period to his election as governor, he was constantly employed 
 in public business. In 1637, soon after the death of his father, he was elected to the 
 office of commander-in-chief of the military forces of the colony. For many years he 
 was one of the commissioners of the confederated colonies. He was of the number 
 " bom to honors," and they crowned his whole life. Of highly polished manners, 
 greatly gifted in conversation, fond of society, and blessed withal with the means to 
 gratify himself in all these respects, the social and festive scenes of "Careswell" 
 were of the most delightful, refined, and instructive kind. Here, with his beautiful 
 wife presiding, he won for himself the proud distinction of being " the most accom- 
 plished gentleman and the most delightful companion in all New England." 
 
 He married the daughter of Herbert Pelham, Esq., who early took a deep interest 
 in the New England colonies. In 1637 he came over to America, but returned again 
 to England after a short sojourn. 
 
 Governor Winslow never enjoyed very robust health, and his exposures and hard- 
 ships in Philip's war, in which he rendered most important service, exhibiting the 
 stern qualities of a soldier, combined with the shrewdness and circumspection of 
 a diplomatist, doubtless aggravated his disease and accelerated his death, which took 
 place on the 18th of December, 1680, in the fifty-second year of his age. 
 
 Although he died in the prime of life, he departed full of honors, carrying with 
 him the love and respect of the entire colony, and of a numerous circle of friends 
 both in the old world and the new 
 
EDWARD WINSLOW. 
 
 T)Y a wise economy in the moral realm, all great exigencies in the world 
 JLj produce those master spirits which are necessary to guide and regulate them. 
 The golden dreams which the discovery of the New World by Columbus had 
 produced throughout Europe had long been dissipated by the stern truth. In 
 England, all that was sterile and bleak was associated with New England, and 
 nothing was found there to tempt cupidity or promise fame. For many years 
 would the Indians of Massachusetts Bay have remained in undisturbed possession 
 of their broad hunting grounds, had not a spirit of intolerance at home led the 
 austere but devout Puritans, deeming their religious freedom of more value than 
 personal liberty and pleasant homes, to seek, as exiles in an unkindly climate, 
 " freedom to worship God." 
 
 They came here to establish a church they founded an empire ! They came 
 to sow and nourish the plants of religious freedom; and out of it sprang the 
 mighty tree of civil and political liberty! They came to build up a colony and 
 lo, a mighty and independent nation ! 
 
 John Carver was the first governor of the new colony, and William Bradford the 
 second. As no portraits of these eminent men are extant, we are obliged, with 
 
20 EDWARD WINSLOW. 
 
 great reluctance, to pass them by, and come to the third, the subject of this 
 brief memoir. 
 
 EDWARD WINSLOW was born in Droitwich, in England, in 1594. At a very 
 early period of life, he became acquainted with the Puritans, and embraced their 
 doctrines. Determining to share their fortunes, he married among them, and 
 embarked on board the Mayflower. His name comes next after those of Carver 
 and Bradford. Soon after his arrival, he buried his wife, and in due time, married 
 Mrs. Susannah White. Mrs. White was the first white mother in New England, 
 and as this was the first marriage, became also the first white bride. 
 
 Winslow was one of the choice spirits of these trying times. Born and educated 
 in a gentleman's family, he had acquired a suavity of address not common with 
 the Puritans. He exhibited uncommon tact and sagacity in his intercourse with 
 the savages, and in the management of fiscal affairs. With all this he was a man 
 of most unyielding integrity and fervent piety. These qualities caused him to be 
 frequently made ambassador to the court at home, and to the neighboring chiefs, 
 many of whom acquired an affectionate regard for hirn, which ended only with 
 their lives. His visit to the dying Massasoit, to whose necessities he adminis- 
 tered with his own hand, and who by his kind attentions was restored to life, is 
 characteristic, and won for him the love and respect of all the Indians. 
 
 He made frequent voyages to England on the business of the colony, and while 
 there wrote a book on the condition of New England. It was entitled " Good 
 News from New England, or a Relation of Things remarkable in that Plantation, 
 by E. Winslow." On one of his return voyages, in 1624, he imported the first neat 
 cattle ever seen in New England. 
 
 He was first elected governor in 1633, which office he held at various times 
 until 1650. When the Puritans obtained political ascendency in England, Wins- 
 low was there. His talents and character were appreciated by Cromwell, who 
 offered him such distinctions as induced him to remain in England, and he never 
 afterwards returned to America. 
 
 When Cromwell sent out an expedition for the reduction of St. Domingo, 
 Winslow was appointed chief commissioner, with full powers to superintend the 
 operations of the expedition, and to negotiate and make terms with the insurgents. 
 This was the last act in his useful life. He took the fever incidental to the 
 climate, which carried him off on the 9th of May, 1655, in the sixty-second year 
 of his age. 
 
 Thus died a great and good man. The dazzle of military glory or courtly splen- 
 dor rests not on his fame, but a halo of moral grandeur encircles his brow, which 
 outshines all lower glories, and which shall last, and burn, and glorify him, 
 
 " When victors' wreaths and monarchs' gems 
 Shall blend in common dust." 
 
X I 
 
 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 T^HIS beautiful Indian princess, whose romantic story has filled so many bosoms 
 with wondering emotion, and whose sad and early fate has dimmed so many 
 eyes, was the daughter of Powhatan, or Wahunsonacock^ the most powerful of all 
 the chiefs in the sunny regions of James River and Chesapeake Bay, and was born 
 about 1594-5. Her name signifies a run between two hills. She seems to have been 
 as amiable and intelligent as she was beautiful ; and to her love for the English the 
 colony at Jamestown owes its preservation from destruction. We first hear of her 
 on a visit of Smith to Powhatan. That chief being absent, Pocahontas did the 
 barbarous honors on a grand scale, nearly frightening Smith and his associates out 
 of their wits. 
 
 The next year after Smith arrived at Jamestown, he fell into the hands of Pow- 
 hatan, as has been narrated in the brief notice of "the redoubtable captain," in an- 
 other part of this volume. After much feasting and parade, it was decided, "in a 
 
22 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 grand council of more than two hundred grim warriors," that Smith should be put 
 to death. Accordingly two stones were brought into the council chamber, and with 
 great noise and shouting Smith was dragged forth, and his head laid upon one 
 of them, the savages standing by ready with clubs to despatch him. At this mo- 
 ment, Pocahontas, who seems to have conceived a partiality for Smith, although not 
 more than twelve or thirteen years old, threw herself upon his body, and laid her 
 head close to his, entreating her grim and savage sire to spare his victim. Her 
 prayers were effectual, and Smith was restored to his friends. 
 
 At another time, while Smith was on a visit to Powhatan, Pocahontas, learning 
 that it was determined to take his life, conveyed him away into a thick wood, and 
 sent his murderers off in an opposite direction from that in which he lay concealed. 
 
 Subsequently, when the garrison was weak and the colony reduced by sickness 
 and famine, it was resolved by the savages to destroy the colony. Here, again, 
 Pocahontas became the deliverer of Smith and his band of famished men. Alone, 
 amidst the darkness of a dismal and stormy night, she made her way through the 
 dense forest, and rousing Smith from his insecure slumbers, made known to him the 
 danger that impended over him and his companions. Grateful to his youthful 
 savior, he would have heaped upon her those trinkets in which he knew a young 
 maiden savage delighted ; but she resolutely declined them with tears, and betook 
 herself to her dreary return through the wilderness and the storm, happy that she had 
 saved the lives of her friends. 
 
 Pocahontas seems to have been most strongly attached to Captain Smith, but 
 whether it was love or reverence which drew her to him it is impossible to say. 
 From the fact that she was ready so soon to marry another, we are inclined to be- 
 lieve it was the latter. But from the time of Smith's departure for England, in 
 1609, she was seen no more in Jamestown, until she was forcibly and treacherously 
 abducted, in 1611, and held as a hostage by the English for the space of two years, 
 during which time she was kept a prisoner on board a ship. 
 
 It was during this hostageship that Pocahontas formed an attachment with one 
 John Rolfe, with whom, by the consent of Sir Thomas Dale and her kingly father, 
 she entered into the holy bonds of matrimony. She lived happily with her husband, 
 expressing no wish to return again to savage life. She embraced the Christian 
 religion, went to England, was presented to court, and was about to embark once 
 more for her native country, when she fell sick and died, at the early age of twenty- 
 two, leaving one son, from whom have sprung some of the noblest stock of the Old 
 Dominion. 
 
 Her meeting with Smith is described as being truly affecting. Owing to the 
 prejudices of the times, " he objected to being called father by the child of a king, 
 which she was greatly desirous of doing." At their first interview, after sitting in 
 silence for a long time, she said to him, " You promised my father that what was 
 yours should be his, and that you and lie should be all one. Being- a stranger in our 
 country, you called Powhatan father ; and I, for the same reason, will now call you so. 
 You were not afraid to come into my country and strike fear into every body but me ; 
 and are you now afraid to have me call you father ? I tell you, then, I will call you 
 father, and you shall call me child ; and so I will forever be of your kindred and 
 country." 
 
JOHN WINTHROP 
 
 BY some strange mistake, nearly all the early historians of New England have 
 called Winthrop the first governor of Massachusetts. But nothing is more 
 certain than that John Endecott has the honor of first acting in that capacity, as we 
 have already stated in his memoir. Endecott was chosen by the Company in Eng- 
 land before they removed the seat of their authority to the Massachusetts Bay ; and 
 Winthrop was elected first after the transfer. But he also was elected in England, 
 and Endecott served a full year before Winthrop came to this country. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP was born on the 12th of June, 1587, in Groton, Suffolk county. 
 England, of a highly respectable family, and received, in his early life, the best edu- 
 cation that England could offer. He was bred to the law, but being of a religious 
 turn of mind, did not devote himself with much energy to his profession. He was 
 possessed of considerable wealth, and the path of ambition and fame was open 
 before him. He had, however, become converted to the faith of the Puritans, and 
 he resolved to commit his fortunes to the support of the cause in the then infant 
 church in New England. He converted his large estate into ready money, and hav- 
 ing been elected governor of the Massachusetts colony, he embarked for America at 
 the age of forty-two, arriving at Salem on the 12th of June, 1630, and immedi- 
 ately entered on his duties as governor of " the colony of Massachusetts Bay." 
 
24 JOHN W I NT II R OP. 
 
 On the removal of the seat of government to Boston, which occurred soon after, 
 Governor Winthrop took up his residence there, where he resided until his death, 
 which took place on the 26th of March, 1649, in the sixty-third year of his age 
 was a man of polished manners, possessed of great firmness mingled with gentleness, 
 and was admirably adapted to the situation in which he was placed. He ruled wit 
 great discretion in all the financial and political matters of the colony, but with great 
 severity in all things appertaining to religious faith and life. He knew no toleration 
 for heresy, and could not wink at any open immorality. He had withal a very low | 
 estimate of the intelligence of the masses, and deemed them utterly incapable of 
 ruling themselves. When the people of Connecticut were about forming a govern- 
 ment, they sought the advice of Winthrop. Among other things in his answer, he 
 writes thus : The best part of a community is always the least, and of that 
 part the wiser are still less." 
 
 In a speech delivered before the General Court, we have his idea of" a pure democ- 
 racy " You have called us to office," he says, but being called, we have authority 
 from God it is the ordinance of God, and hath the image of God stamped upon it; 
 and the contempt of it hath been vindicated by God with terrible examples of his 
 
 vengeance There is a liberty of corrupt nature which is inconsistent wit 
 
 authority, impatient of restraint, the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the 
 ordinances of God are bent against it. But there is a civil, sacred, federal liberty, 
 which consists in every one's enjoying his property, and having the benefit of the 
 laws of his country; a liberty for that only which is just and good; for this 
 you are to stand with your lives." 
 
 He, however, became more tolerant of religious opinion as he grew older, and was 
 far less harsh in his treatment of those who thought differently from himself, 
 was naturally of a noble and benevolent turn, and the acidity of his faith could not 
 utterly cover the leaven of his generosity. He sympathized deeply with all 
 neighboring colonies, corresponding with, visiting, and advising them in all things 
 pertaining to the general weal. He was endowed with an excellent judgment, which 
 he exercised with great coolness and deliberation. He was also assiduous in his 
 duties, and labored with unwearying diligence to accomplish them. 
 
 Governor Winthrop came to New England possessed of considerable wealth, and 
 died a poor man. Exceedingly benevolent, and deeming no sacrifice too great for 
 the holy cause to which he had consecrated himself, he therefore gave freely of his 
 fortune, as of his time and intellect, in its support. 
 
 An anecdote is related of him which exhibits at one view his benevolence and his 
 humor. During the severe cold of a hard winter, when wood was both scarce and 
 dear, he was told that a poor neighbor was in the habit of drawing his supply of fuel 
 from his wood pile. Is he?" replied the governor, in much seeming anger; send 
 him to me, and I will cure him of his stealing any more." When the culprit came 
 trembling into his presence, he put on his blandest expression, and taking him by the 
 hand, said to him, Friend, it is a cold winter, and I hear that you are meanly pro- 
 vided with wood. You are welcome to help yourself at my wood pile until the 
 winter is over." He afterwards merrily asked his informant if he did not think tha 
 he had cured the man of stealing. 
 
SIR HENRY VANE. 
 
 IT requires a much loftier and nobler courage than that which enables the hero to 
 walk, unblenching, to the cannon's mouth, to set one's self against the popular 
 voice, and confront the executive power that sustains and enforces it. The men who 
 have heroically dared to deny the right of tyrants and tyrant-governments to trample 
 on the liberties of mankind, and freely and cheerfully given " their lives, their fortunes, 
 and their sacred honor," to maintain their denial, are few indeed here and there 
 one in a generation. In that bright galaxy of names, that of SIR HENRY VANE shines 
 as a star of the first magnitude. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane, eldest son to Sir Henry Vane, was born at Hadlow, in Kent, 
 England, about the year 1612. After pursuing a course of studies at the famous 
 Westminster school, he was admitted, at the age of sixteen, as a gentleman com- 
 moner at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Of his life prior to these events nothing is now 
 known, and but little can be gathered concerning him from the time of leaving the 
 university to his emigration to New England, except that he spent a year or two in 
 foreign travel. While abroad, he spent considerable time at Geneva, and there 
 imbibed such sentiments, that on his return home he became quite obnoxious to 
 
26 SIR HENRY VANE. 
 
 both his father and the court. Finding his situation at home an uncomfortable one, 
 and his influence being feared by the government, " he was permitted to depart for 
 New England " a sort of expatriation practised upon many a troublesome and 
 influential patriot of those times. 
 
 In August, 1635, Vane, with a dozen or more others of the same dangerous opin- 
 ions, were freighted to New England " in the good ship Defiance," and were landed 
 at Boston on the 3d of October. The following May, Vane was chosen governor 
 of the colony, " which election was congratulated," says Hubbard, " with a volley of 
 shot by all the vessels in the harbor." It was a compliment of no mean character to 
 Sir Henry, that the choice should have fallen on him, when such men as Winthrop, 
 Endecott, and others, were his colleagues. His administration was a marked one, 
 and in the divided state of feeling then prevalent in the colony, begat for him strong 
 friends and most bitter enemies. This period was, doubtless, the most difficult one 
 in the previous history of the colony. Religious dissensions ran high, and " the 
 church was sadly torn and rent." Mrs. Hutchinson and her party sided with Gov- 
 ernor Vane, while most of the clergy attached themselves to the side of Governor 
 Winthrop. It was in Sir Henry Vane's administration, also, that the dreadful scenes 
 of the Pequot war were enacted, and when, but for the pacific overtures of Roger 
 Williams, the whole New England colonies would have been annihilated. 
 
 At the next election the party of Vane were found to be in the minority, and 
 Winthrop came into the succession. Weary of his office and New England, Gov- 
 ernor Vane returned the same year to England, and, through his father's influence, 
 was soon invested with the dignities and emoluments of offices of high trust and 
 power. He became singularly mixed up with the exciting and bloody scenes ini 
 which Straffbrd and Charles I. lost their heads, as well as during the Protectorate 
 and the Restoration. Under this last regime he was impeached for " compassing" and 
 imagining the death of the king ;" and although not a shadow of evidence was afford- 
 ed to support that charge, he was condemned, and accordingly beheaded, on the 14th 
 of June, 1662, on the same spot where Straffbrd had suffered. His conduct during 
 the trial and execution was such as became a great mind and a Christian spirit. 
 He disdained to make submission, although promised his life. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane was a man of imposing aspect, and he won the respect of all 
 around him by his dignified and easy address. 
 
GOVERNOR ENPECOTT. 
 
 JOHN ENDECOTT, "THE FATHER OF NEW ENGLAND," as he has been called 
 by historians, was born in Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England, in the year 1588. 
 That he was of respectable parentage, that he had a good education and a refined 
 mind, that he was at one time a surgeon, as well as captain of a trainband, seems to 
 be about all that is known of his life, previous to his connection with the " Massa- 
 chusetts Company," who settled the colony first at Naumkeag, or Salem. 
 
 Governor Endecott seems to have embraced Puritanism, under the guidance and 
 through the influence of Rev. Mr. Skelton, who became one of the earliest ministers 
 of the colony, and between whom and the governor the most affectionate relations 
 existed. 
 
 In 1628, Governor Endecott, in company with other influential men, purchased a 
 grant from the " Plymouth Council in England " for the settlement of the " Massa- 
 chusetts Bay," and in June of that year came over and took possession of the same, 
 Endecott having received the appointment of governor of the colony. The model 
 of the government was formed in England, and consisted of a governor and twelve 
 persons, styled " THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL OF LONDON'S PLANTATION IN THE 
 MASSACHUSETTS BAY IN NEW ENGLAND." 
 
 None but stern men, moved by a high religious purpose and sustained by a 
 
 3 
 
28 JOHN ENDECOTT. 
 
 martyr spirit, could have borne " the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune " which 
 their new residence invited. Disease, famine, suffering, hardship, and death filled 
 the measure of their choice, and yet they shrunk not at the trial, nor withdrew their 
 hand from the lot that had fallen to them. In a word, these men were Puritans, 
 only the synonyme for endurance, they gloried in the cross as their crown. And 
 among this band of hardy and pious men, Endecott was an " ensample to the flock." 
 In all their trials, they looked to him for counsel and direction, and they found him 
 always equal to the emergency. Bereaved of the wife of his bosom, whom he dearly 
 loved, he moved among the sick and suffering, administering comfort with his own 
 hand, and imparting courage by the example of his own energy and lofty endurance. 
 
 Governor Endecott was a strict disciplinarian. He could not wink at any flagrant 
 violation of the laws. At Mount Wollaston, Dorchester, one Morton, notorious for 
 his latitudinarianism and contempt of law and the church, had collected a company 
 of men of a similar spirit to himself, erected a May-pole, and christened their place 
 Merry Mount. Their unseemly orgies were a stench in the nostrils of the pious 
 Endecott, and forthwith he went therein " the purifying spirit of authority," (Morton 
 having been just before sent to England to answer to the charges preferred against 
 him,) cut down their May-pole, changed the name of the place to Mount Dagon, 
 and u rebuked the inhabitants for their profaneness, and admonished them to look to 
 it that they walked better." 
 
 In the summer of 1630, the government was entirely transferred from England to 
 the colony, and John Winthrop was chosen governor, who administered the affairs 
 of the company in the same spirit that had governed the conduct of his predecessor. 
 
 Governor Endecott was again married, on the 18th of August, 1630, to Elizabeth 
 Gibson, of Cambridge, England, who came over with Winthrop in the Arabella. 
 
 The first open act of defiance to kingly authority of which we have any record in 
 the history of the colony was performed by Governor Endecott. It was on this wise. 
 He cut the red cross from the king's banner with his sword, and declared that he 
 would never recognize such a relic of Popery. It was a direct insult to the king and 
 the church of England, and would have probably cost him his head had not the 
 unfortunate Charles I., just at that period, been entirely occupied with the storm 
 which had already burst on his head, and which eventually overwhelmed him in 
 ruin, and brought him to the block. It was a daring exploit, and although every true 
 Puritan rejoiced in it, yet their fear of the throne compelled the colony to take notice 
 of the a.ct % an,d to enter their protest against it. 
 
 Governor Winthrop died in 1649 ; and from that time until his death, which 
 occurred on the 15th of March, 1665, at the age of seventy-seven years, Endecott 
 held the office of governor, with the exception of two years, when he was elected 
 deputy governor. This was, perhaps, the most trying time in the early history of the 
 colony, and it needed that a man of great energy and probity should be at the head 
 of the government. During his administration, Charles I. suffered a violent death, 
 Cromwell usurped the government of England, and the Stuarts were again restored 
 to their legitimate authority. In every emergency and difficulty he was found equal 
 to the trial, and won for himself the respect and love of all good and wise men, and I 
 when he fell asleep in the Lord," was interred, as tradition saith, in the " Chapel I 
 burying-ground," with great honor and solemnity. It is a blot on the fair fame of 
 Boston that " no stone marks the resting-place of the FATHER OF NEW ENGLAND." 
 
REBECCA RAWSON. 
 
 THE sober history of New England has been written many times over by men 
 of the most widely differing views, tastes, and opinions. There is no lack of 
 material out of which to form a pretty just estimate of the acts of that history, and 
 the men who performed them. But of the romance of our colonial existence, little 
 has come down to us. Of fiction, we have had enough. We have thought that a 
 considerable volume might be made, filled with the strange and romantic scenes 
 which decorated the warp and woof of that historic web. 
 
 REBECCA RAWSON was the sixth daughter and ninth child of Edward Rawson 
 "the famous secretary," who traced his descent from Sir Edward Rawson, "a 
 doughty knight of ancient memory ." She was born in Boston, May 23, 1656, and 
 her life affords material for as romantic a tale as ever adorned the pages of fiction. 
 She was nursed in the lap of luxury, and was pronounced to be one of the most 
 beautiful and accomplished young ladies in New England. " Beautiful and vain," 
 she considered herself " suitable to wed a lord." An impudent knave from Eng- 
 land, by the name of Ramsey, possessed of a pleasing person and attractive address, 
 passed himself off as Sir Thomas Hale, Jr., nephew to the lord chief justice of that 
 
30 REBECCARAWSON. 
 
 name, and as such paid court to the fair Rebecca, gained her consent, and " in pres- 
 ence of forty witnesses," they were solemnly married, " for better and for worse," by 
 a minister of the gospel, on the 1st of July, 1679. 
 
 She was " handsomely furnished," and immediately sailed for England, with her 
 boxes and bundles, and her lord, her vain bosom swelling with pictures of the gay 
 and giddy life she was to lead at court. In due time she safely arrived, and went 
 on shore in a dishabille, leaving her trunks and packages to be sent after her. Early 
 the next morning, her " lord " took the keys, and told her he would send up the 
 trunks in season for her to dress for dinner. In due time the trunks came, but with 
 them no keys and no husband. After waiting until a late hour, with the greatest 
 impatience, she had the trunks opened by force, and, lo ! not an article of any value 
 was left in them. He had decamped, stripping her of every thing but the dishabille 
 in which she was attired. In an inexpressible astonishment, she ordered a carriage, 
 and drove to the place where she had spent the night before with her husband, and 
 inquired for Sir Thomas Hale. " She was informed that he had not been there for 
 some days. She was sure that he was there the night before. In reply, she was told 
 that one Thomas Ramsey was there the night before, with a young lady, but that he 
 had gone off that morning to Canterbury to see his wife ! " The news fell on her ear 
 like a thunderbolt, and crushed her hopes, and crushed her heart, and crushed her 
 pride. She never saw him again. 
 
 Alone, abandoned, betrayed, ruined, expecting soon to become a mother, with no 
 funds, and too much pride to apply to her friends, she sought a humble abode, and 
 with the aid of her needle and pencil, for thirteen long years supported herself and 
 her child in a genteel manner. Yearning at length to see her friends, she left her 
 child in care of a sister who had come to England to reside, and embarked for 
 Boston, by way of Jamaica. While at this latter port, her vessel was swallowed up 
 by an earthquake ; and thus tragically ended her eventful and melancholy life. 
 
PENELOPE WINSLOW. 
 
 ONE of the most mortifying reflections, in connection with New England history, 
 is the fact, that so little is known of the lives and characters of the mothers and 
 wives of those eminent men who founded our institutions, and framed and adminis- 
 tered our early laws. Unhappy mistake, which supposes that the history of a nation 
 is complete when its public acts are recorded, and the biographies of its eminent men 
 are written. The influence of woman on the character and growth of a nation is 
 universally confessed. How would the present race, sons of the Pilgrims, love to be 
 able to look into the record of those HOMES where such Anaks were born, and 
 study the quiet virtues of the brave dames which bare, and the gentle sisters who 
 held their magic thrall over, those sturdy sons and brothers ! 
 
 The men that knelt on the deck of that emigrant ship at Delft Haven, when the 
 godly and gifted Robinson " lifted up his voice and wept " his prayer for a prosper- 
 ous voyage to the bleak shores of New England, held no more in their strong hearts 
 the destinies of the new world, than those gentler ones who bowed in holy trust and 
 wondrous fortitude by their side. And yet the record of their bosoms and their lives 
 is lost, and scarce a trace can now be discovered. Arid of them all not a portrait is 
 
32 PENELOPE WINSLOW 
 
 to be found, whereby we might refresh our imaginings of their persons or their 
 virtues. 
 
 The portrait of the wife of Governor Josiah Winslow (and of which we have been 
 kindly permitted to take the above copy) is the only one that can be found, as far as 
 we can learn, of any woman prior to 1650-60. It represents the subject of this 
 sketch as young and comely, and " dressed with grace and great becomingness." 
 
 MRS. PENELOPE WINSLOW was the daughter of Herbert Pelham, Esq., an Eng- 
 lish gentleman of considerable distinction. He was among the first to feel and 
 express an interest in the affairs of the new and struggling colony at Plymouth, and 
 contributed liberally towards its support. He never made New England his home ? 
 barely visiting it in 1637. His daughter, it appears, enthralled by the handsome 
 and fascinating son of the elder Winslow, did not scruple to forego the refinements 
 of her English home for the more republican one of the gallant captain, to whom she 
 gave her hand. The date of the marriage we have been unable to ascertain, but it 
 is supposed to be in 1657. 
 
 Mrs. Winslow is represented as a woman of exceeding beauty, and extremely 
 fascinating in her manners. She was very accomplished for the age in which she 
 lived, and presided at her husband's board with great dignity and urbanity. When 
 we take into consideration that her husband acquired the distinction of being the 
 handsomest and most polite man of New England, we can readily conceive how 
 recherche must have been those weekly reunions in the drawing rooms of Careswell, 
 where the beauty, and wit, and talent of the colony were assembled, and where taste 
 and money were lavished to make them brilliant and delightful. 
 
 Mrs. Winslow bore her husband four children, two sons and two daughters, 
 and survived him twenty -three years. She died at " Careswell," Marshfield, 
 December 7, 1703, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 
 
 PT1HIS very gifted and singular man, the founder of the state which bears his 
 JL name, was born in London, October 14, 1644. Before he was fifteen he entered 
 Oxford, and was converted to Quakerism by the eloquence of an itinerant preacher 
 of that sect, and expelled from college for nonconformity before he was sixteen. 
 Honest in his convictions and sturdy in adhering to them, neither the expostulations 
 of his friends, the discipline of his father, nor the threats of the church could shake 
 his faith in his purpose. He studied law in Lincoln's Inn until the year 1665, when, 
 the plague breaking out in his native city, he went to Ireland to manage an estate 
 for his father. Here he joined himself to a fraternity of Quakers, in consequence of 
 which he was recalled. He was so persistent in his adherence to the habits and 
 dogmas of his sect, that his father banished him from his house, and he commenced 
 the life of an itinerant, and was very successful in gaining proselytes to his sect. 
 He was exceedingly obnoxious to the government, and was several times fined and 
 imprisoned but nothing intimidated him. Even in prison he wrote and published 
 books, and sent them forth into the world. 
 
 On the death of his father, a large estate fell to his possession ; but he continued to 
 
3A WILLIAM PENN. 
 
 write, and travel, and preach as before. The crown owing large debts to the estate, 
 Penn asked and obtained, in 1681, a charter of Pennsylvania, where a colony was 
 soon planted, and he himself arrived there the following year. Feeling that he had 
 no moral claim to the soil, he negotiated with the Indians who occupied it, and pur- 
 chased it of them at a price perfectly satisfactory to them. He established the capi- 
 tal, and named it Philadelphia ; drew up a code of laws for his growing colony, or- 
 daining a perfect toleration of religious opinion, and returned to England in 1684, to 
 exert his influence in favor of his suffering brethren there, who were exposed to all 
 the rigors of an unrelenting persecution. His earnest and honest eloquence was not 
 unsuccessful, and he had the pleasure to know that he was the instrument of deliv- 
 erance of more than thirteen hundred of his brethren who had been cast into prison 
 for their heresy. So malignant were his enemies that they succeeded in casting him 
 into prison on the charge of Papacy. He succeeded, however, in obtaining his free- 
 dom, and returned once more to America, when he revised his code of laws, made 
 some alterations in the form of government, at the same time travelling through the 
 country, preaching and writing on the subject which was nearest his heart. In 1700, 
 he sailed again for England, where he resumed his favorite pursuits, arid continued 
 there until 1712, when paralysis put a stop to his active life. He lingered under this 
 disease until 1718, when he was called to his reward on high. 
 
 William Penn was a rare character. "'He combined gentleness and dignity in 
 an eminent degree, sometimes extremely facetious, at others grave and severe ; of an 
 extraordinary greatness of mind, yet without ambition." His intercourse with the 
 Indians was void of treachery, and he won their confidence to an unlimited degree. 
 He overcame them with gentleness and truth, and conquered them without spilling 
 their blood or violating their homes. 
 
 Penn was a laborer in the vineyard of his Master. Besides travelling and preach- 
 ing constantly, he superintended all the affairs of his colony, and wrote innumerable 
 tracts and quite a number of books of considerable pretension, among which were 
 the following: " No Cross no Crown, or several sober Reasons ' against Hat Honor, 
 Titular Respects, ' You ' to a single Person, &c., &c.," 4to., 1659 ; " Serious Apolo- 
 gy for the People called Quakers, against Dr. Jeremy Taylor," 4to., 1669 ; " The 
 Spirit of Truth vindicated, in Answer to a Socinian," 4to., 1672 ; Quakerism a 
 new Nickname for old Christianity," 8vo., 1672 ; " Reason versus Railing, and 
 Truth versus Fiction," 8vo., 1673 ; " The Christian Quaker and his divine Testimo- 
 ny vindicated," folio, 1674. 
 
 Few men have lived whose efforts, through a long life, have been so productive 
 of good, and so free from evil. When the prophecy of the angels, at the advent of 
 the Messiah, shall become a fulfilment, and " peace on earth " shall no longer be the 
 ideal of the SEER, then shall the name of PENN be written high on "the scroll of 
 heaven," and angels shall do homage to it. 
 

 COTTON MATHER. 
 
 eminent divine was born in Boston on the 12th of February, 1662-3. 
 JL After availing himself of the advantages of the free schools of his native 
 town, he entered Harvard College, where he was graduated at the early age of 
 sixteen. Before he was nineteen, he received the degree of M. A. 
 
 Dr. Mather would have ranked high as a scholar, at the present day, and in 
 the times in which he lived was considered a prodigy of learning. Wonderfully 
 precocious, and possessed of a powerful memory, he gathered up knowledge with 
 the greed a miser exhibits in amassing gold. He became the greatest linguist of 
 the age, and wrote more books than any other man. He became known through- 
 out Europe as well as his native country, and was in constant correspondence 
 with the learned men of the world. In forty-one years, he wrote and published 
 two hundred and eighty-three books, averaging nearly seven books to each year. 
 His "Magnalia" was, without doubt, the most remarkable of his productions, 
 and the one that is inseparably connected with his name. He was a firm believer 
 in witchcraft, never doubting but that it was the immediate handiwork of the 
 Father of lies. Perhaps, had he lived in these days, he would have been a full 
 convert to mesmerism and spiritual rappings. 
 
33 COTTON MATHER. 
 
 In 1684, at the early age of twenty-two, he was ordained as colleague with his 
 father, Rev. Increase Mather, D. D., and two years afterwards, commenced his 
 authorship, his first publication being " A Sermon to the Artillery Company in 
 Middlesex." He was married about this time, and losing his wife in 1702, he 
 married again, in less than a year, Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard. His son, Samuel 
 Mather, M. A., thus speaks of this excellent lady : " She was a woman of good 
 sense, and blessed with a complete discretion, with a very handsome, engaging 
 countenance ; and one honorably descended and related. He rejoiced in her as 
 having 1 great spoil" It was his misfortune to follow to the grave, also, this ines- 
 timable woman, who had borne him six children, his first wife having blessed him 
 with nine. He married yet once more, but there was no issue from this third 
 union. He died on the 13th of February, 17278, just sixty-five years of age. 
 
 Dr. Mather was a very fluent writer. He wrote with great ease out of the 
 furnishing of his own mind, and in an off-hand style, which shows the ready and 
 the careless writer. Consequently, his numerous works are destined to be forgotten 
 by posterity, with the exception, perhaps, of his " Magnalia." 
 
 In 1710, he published " An Essay upon the Good to be devised by those who 
 would answer the great End of Life." It was full of sound maxims of life, and 
 has been rendered somewhat famous by the notice taken of it by Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, who was well acquainted with the subject of this memoir, when^the former 
 was a quite young man. When Franklin became an old man, and Dr. Mather 
 slumbered with his fathers, he writes thus to Samuel, son of Cotton Mather, of a 
 little incident in their lives which has become known wherever books are read, 
 through the inimitably practical turn given to it by Franklin : 
 
 " You mention being in your seventy-fifth year ; I am in my seventy-ninth. 
 We are grown old together. It is now more than sixty years since I left Boston, 
 but I well remember both your father and your grandfather ; having heard them 
 both in the pulpit, and seen them at their houses. The last time I saw your father, 
 was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. 
 He received me in his library, and on my taking leave, showed me a shorter way 
 out of the house through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam over- 
 head. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I 
 turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, * Stoop / stoop ! ' I did not under- 
 stand him until I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never 
 missed an occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, ' You are 
 young, and have the world before you ; stoop as you go through it, and you will 
 escape many hard thumps? This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently 
 been of use to me, and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, and misfor- 
 tunes brought upon people by their carrying their heads too high." 
 
SIR MARTIN FROBJSHER. 
 
 TIIHE world is indebted for all its valuable knowledge to a few hopeful and in- 
 JL domitable spirits, who, in their day and generation, were the objects of much 
 ridicule and persecution the " knights de la Mancha " of the age they lived in. It 
 is a blessed consideration, that satire and contempt, persecution and stripes, only 
 stimulate, not imprison, true genius. Faith is an essential element of genius. By 
 its aid it penetrates all mists, reaches all heights, compasses all possibilities, and 
 predicates the true, which the eyes of the million see not, and the lips of the million 
 deny. " Wisdom is hidden with the few." 
 
 The subject of this sketch was a seer, and foretold somewhat that has come to 
 pass. He also rendered very important service to the world by his various voyages 
 of discovery along the shores of the western hemisphere, as we shall see. 
 
 It is matter of much regret that the early history of most of these ancient navigators 
 is so obscure and uncertain. It is often difficult to say, with any preciseness, where 
 or when they were born ; and the record of their death is often no more than that of 
 their birth. From what we can discover, it seems that SIR MARTIN FROBISHER was 
 born near Doncaster, England, about 1536, and that he commenced his voyages of 
 discovery about 1576, or at the age of forty. He must have become interested in 
 
38 SIR MARTIN FROBISHER. 
 
 these matters very young, for the celebrated chronicler, Hakluyt, tells us that " he 
 had been fifteen years on this enterprise before he was able to set out on it." Not 
 only Hakluyt, but Carnden, Stow, and Speed have briefly noticed the voyages of 
 Frobisher. We shall transcribe what Stow says of him, entire ; for, meagre as it isj 
 it seems to embrace all that is known of him. 
 
 " Martin Frobusher, borne neere Doncaster, in Yorkeshire, in his youth gaue him- 
 selfe to Nauigation, he was the first Englishman that discoured the North way to 
 China, and Cathay, and at his first discourie of the way to Cathay at which time for 
 tryall of what he could find there, brought thence a black soft stone like sea coale, 
 supposed to be gold, or siluer Oare, & in that perswasion made two seuerall voyages 
 againe to Cathaye, bringing with them great quantitie of the sayd supposed Oare, I 
 the which after due tryall & much expence prooued not worth any thing, neither fit- 
 for any vse, a great quantity of which stuffe was layed in the nursery at Darford, no ; 
 man regarding it, he was vice-admirall to Sir Francis Drake, at the winning of Saint 
 Domingo, Saint lago, Carthagena, and Saint Augustino. 
 
 " Hee did great seruice in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred eightie and eight,-* 
 vpon the inuincible Spanish Armado, for which he was Knighted, after that hee wal 
 General of tenne ships, to keepe Brest-hauen in Britaine, where the Spaniardes neerJ 
 thereunto had strongly fortified themselues, in whose extirpation he did speciall serl 
 uice by Sea and Land, and was there shotte into the side with a Musket, the wounde: 
 not mortall, he liued vntill hee came to Plimmouth, through the negligence of hisj 
 surgeon that onely tooke out the Bullet, not sufficiently searched the Wound, to take 
 out the Bombaste strucke in with the shotte the sore festered, whereof he dyed, & 
 was buried in Plimmouth, he was very valiant, yet harsh & violent." 
 
 The account of Speed is still more brief, arid is as follows : 
 
 " For the searching and vnsatisfi.ed spirits of the English, to the great glory of oul 
 Nation, could not be contained within the bankes of the Mediterranean or Leuanm 
 Seas, but that they passed farre, towards both the Articke and Antarticke Poles, inl 
 larging their trades into the West and East Indies : to the search of whose passage, 
 that worthy Sea-Captaine Sir Martin Furbusher, made Saile into the North-East" 
 Seas, farre further then any man before him had euer done, giuing to these parts the 
 name of Queene Elizabeths Foreland. 
 
 " The next yeere hee attempted thirty leagues further, when finding Gold Ore 
 was thought) and taking a man, woman, and child, of the Sauage Catayes, he 
 turned into England; but as his gold prooued drosse, so these liued not long, neith* 
 turned that discouery to any great profit, though it was againe the third time assaie 
 by himself, and since by other most famous Nauigators, the Northwest by Englishmi 
 being lately descried, to bee Seas more safe, and the passage of farre better hope." 
 
 Sir Martin had the entire confidence of Elizabeth, and for his gallant deeds in the 
 defence of her kingdom against the famous Spanish Armada, was honored wrl 
 knighthood. 
 
PAR T II. 
 
 EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WAR OF 1812 WITH ENGLAND. 
 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 IT is easy to find a great hero, a great statesman, a great patriot, or a great saint; 
 but we rarely see heroism, statesmanship, patriotism, and religion combining to 
 make A MAN. Providence seems for once to have been profuse in her gifts to the 
 great and good WASHINGTON. Brilliant in nothing, exceeded by many men in all 
 that marks a genius, yet he stands out among and above his race for that rare com- 
 bination of all that is excellent in the character of a man. His patriotism was as 
 incorruptible as it was ardent, and a lofty rectitude marks every small, as well as 
 every great, action of his life. He was a man to be loved as well as venerated, and 
 every true American delights to accord to him the proud: title of " THE FATHER OF 
 HIS COUNTRY." 
 
 He was born in Virginia, in 1732. The common schools of the state afforded the 
 only opportunities for his education, and the study of mathematics was his principal 
 delight. At the age of nineteen, he received an appointment in the army w r ith the 
 title of major, and of lieutenant colonel in 1754, and the same year was advanced to 
 a colonelcy. He was elected a member of the House of Burgesses in 1759, and a 
 delegate to the first Continental Congress in 1774. In that day of great peril, when 
 the Congress had done what they could to raise " that glorious old continental army," 
 
4:2 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 all eyes were turned to Washington as its leader, and he was unanimously appointed' 
 its commander-in-chief, where his prudence and firmness, his bravery and wisdom, 
 were the admiration of all calm and wise men, and brought order out of discord, 
 and triumph out of difficulty. 
 
 In May, 1787, that celebrated convention met at Philadelphia for the purpose of 
 forming a constitution, over which Washington was called to preside, and the result 
 of which was that admirable instrument which has ever since been the law of the 
 nation. And when, after being adopted by the states, it became necessary to fulfil 
 its first requisition, namely, the election of the first President of the United States, 
 no other man was thought of but GEORGE WASHINGTON, and he was unanimously 
 chosen to that office. He was, by the unanimous voice of his country, called to serve 
 a second term, and was again inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1793. 
 
 During the administration of his successor, the elder Adams, when war seemed 
 inevitable between France and the United States, Washington was again called 
 from his retirement, and appointed commander-in-chief of the American forces. 
 Fortunately his valuable services were required but for a brief period, and never in 
 actual conflict ; and he once more retired to the shades of Mount Vernon ; from 
 which, to his higher reward, Providence saw fit to call him the succeeding year. 
 He died December 14, 1799, at the age of sixty-eight, and was buried at Mount 
 Vernon, amidst the grateful tears of his countrymen. 
 
 The patriotism of Washington was most severely tested; but nothing could shake 
 it in the heart of the man who peremptorily declined any kind of compensation at 
 the hands of Congress for the inestimable services he had rendered to his country. 
 In the dark and stormy period of 17756, when the hopes of many brave patriots 
 almost died out of their bosoms ; when the public faith was weak in the stability of 
 our institutions ; when Congress seemed paralyzed, and all spirits gathered fear, 
 many of the officers of his army, believing that if the power were placed in the hands 
 of one man, and that man WASHINGTON, the country might yet be saved, through 
 one of their number, proposed to him, in a written communication, that he should 
 consent to be made KING, as the only hope yet left to the country. 
 
 Washington's reply to this proposition is worthy of all praise. " With a mixture 
 of great surprise and astonishment," he writes, " I have read with attention the sen- 
 timents you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, sir, no occurrence in the 
 course of the war has given me more painful sensations than your information of 
 there being such ideas existing in the army as you have expressed, and I must view 
 with abhorrence and reprehend with severity. . . . Let me conjure you, then, if 
 you have any regard for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for 
 me, to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from 
 yourself or any one else, a sentiment of a like nature." 
 
 It was, however, the pure and rational spirit of PIETY which gilds with a charm 
 the whole character of Washington. His consistent recognition of Providence ; his 
 unfaltering faith in the rectitude of the great object which inspired his breast and 
 the breasts of his countrymen ; his invincible repugnance to deceit or treachery in any 
 form ; his untarnished honesty in all he said and did through life, these form a halo 
 of glory, which adds beauty and symmetry to his character, and marks " THE 
 PERFECT MAN AND THE UPRIGH*T." 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 ON a raw, cold morning in October, 1723, might have been seen strolling along 
 Chestnut Street, in the city of Philadelphia, an awkward, green-looking lad, of 
 about seventeen years of age, dirty and ill dressed, with his pockets stuffed out with 
 various articles of his scanty wardrobe, a roll of bread under each arm and another 
 in his hand, which from time to time he munched, as he stared at the various objects 
 which attracted his attention. 
 
 In 1778, there was to be seen moving amidst the gay and richly-dressed courtiers, 
 ministers, and ambassadors of the brilliant court of the King of France, " a venerable 
 man, with straight, unpowdered hair, a round hat, and a plain brown cloth coat/' 
 who commanded the respect of all around him, and whose acquaintance was sought, 
 with eagerness by civilians, statesmen, philosophers, scholars, and kings ; a man 
 whose fame had preceded him as the great philosopher and statesman of that age. 
 
 That friendless and destitute stripling, taking his breakfast from a threepenny 
 ioaf in the open streets of Philadelphia on a chill October morning, and that venera- 
 ble man to whom all sought to render honor in the gay court of Versailles, were one 
 and the same individual, and no less an individual than the world-wide celebrated 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 4 
 
44 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 " The child was father to the man ; " and it was the same invincible energy and 
 faith which had brought him from his brother's printing office in Boston to the then 
 far distant streets of Philadelphia, that elevated that courageous and hopeful stripling 
 to the highest honors and distinctions. To no sudden freak of fortune, to no unex- 
 pected turn of luck, did he owe his wealth, his knowledge, or his position. No; 
 round by round did he ascend the ladder of his greatness, laboriously, and not without 
 <reat perseverance. He has shown us the method in the brief memoir of himself 
 which he has given to the world, and in those maxims of life which he has drawn 
 up for the young and the old. 
 
 Every body knows his history ; and we propose to fill our allotted space with 
 a selection of those wise sayings of Dr. Franklin which have become proverbs in 
 the lips of the world. His philosophy was eminently of the practical kind, and he 
 illustrated it in his own life. 
 
 When he became master of his own business, and set up shop for himself, " in 
 order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman," he says, in the biography 
 he has given of himself, " I took care not only to be really industrious and frugal, 
 but to avoid the appearances to the contrary. I dressed plain, and was seen at no 
 places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting. A book, indeed, 
 sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was seldom, was private, and 
 gave no scandal ; and, to show that I was not above my business, I sometime? 
 brought home the paper I purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheel- 
 barrow. Thus being esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, and paying 
 duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom, 
 others proposed supplying me with books, and I went on prosperously." 
 
 The following hints are from his " Advice to a Young Tradesman," written in 
 1748: 
 
 " Remember that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings per day by his 
 labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle one half of that day, though he spends but six- 
 pence during this diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense ; 
 he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides. 
 
 " Remember that credit is money. If a man lets money lie in my hands after it 
 is due, he gives me the interest, or so much as I can make of it during that time. 
 This amounts to a considerable sum when a man has a good and large credit, and 
 makes good use of it. 
 
 " Remember that money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and 
 BO on. Five shillings turned is six; turned again, it is seven and threepence; and 
 so on, until it becomes a hundred pounds. 
 
 " The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. The 
 sound of your hammer at five in the morning or nine at night, heard by a creditor, 
 makes him easy six months longer ; but if he sees you at a billiard table, or hears 
 your voice at the tavern, when you should be at work, he sends for his money the 
 next day. 
 
 " In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. 
 It depends chiefly on two words industry and frugality ; that is, waste neither 
 time nor money, but make the best use of both." 
 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 T ARROW minds judge of men by the party badge they put on ; enlarged arid 
 liberal ones by the temper they manifest, and the actions they perform. 
 Enough that a man belongs, or has belonged, to one or the other of the great 
 national-political parties ; he is a had man in the eyes of all small men in the oppo- 
 site ranks. To discriminate is the task of the historian the duty of all. 
 
 It is no mean tribute to the worth of Jefferson that he was called so soon to 
 succeed Washington in the administration of the new government of the United 
 States ; that he was deemed a worthy competitor with JOHN ADAMS for that high 
 honor. In those days no mean man could have entered the lists with the slightest 
 prospect of success. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 
 2d of April, 1743. He took his degree at William and Mary's College, and studied 
 law with George Wythe, afterwards chancellor of the State of Virginia. The stern 
 spirit of resistance to tyranny which manifested itself in all he said and did, during 
 the progress of the Revolution, exhibited itself very early in life. One of his seals, 
 while in college, bore the following motto : " Ab eo libertas a quo spiritus;" another, 
 "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." He strongly sympathized with the 
 
46 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 spirit of freedom in the colonies, and, in 1769, signed a resolution not to import any 
 articles from the mother country. In 1772, he married, but lived in the connubial 
 state only ten years, when death took from him his truly amiable and intelligent 
 wife, leaving to his care two infant daughters. While a member of the House of 
 Delegates, in 1773, he advised and arranged the first plan of regular resistance to 
 British aggression, by the formation of committees of correspondence in the different 
 colonies. He took his seat in the General Colonial Congress on the 21st of June, 
 1775, and became one of its most prominent members. In the following year, he 
 was appointed chairman of that immortal committee chosen to draw up a Declara- 
 tion of Independence. This instrument was the work of his pen, and was adopted 
 on the 4th of July, 1776. 
 
 He was chosen commissioner to the court of France with Franklin and Deane, 
 but declined the honor. He also resigned his seat in Congress, and was immediately 
 chosen to the first legislature under the new constitution of Virginia. Here he turned 
 all the powers of his great mind to the revision of the code of laws then existing, 
 and so effectually did he labor, that there is scarcely a section of the present code- 
 that is not the result of his action expressed in his own words. This was the great 
 act of his life, and justly entitles him to the respect and admiration of the world. 
 
 In 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and in 1783, member of Congress 
 from his native state. While a member of this body, Washington resigned his com- 
 mand of the army and retired to private life. Jefferson was the author of the elegant 
 address to the Father of his Country voted on that occasion. 
 
 In 1784, Jefferson went as minister to France, where for five years his talents for 
 diplomacy were often tasked to the utmost, and were always found equal to the 
 trial ; and in 1789, he returned to the United States, where he was received with 
 many marks of public favor. Washington immediately called him into his councils, 
 and he received the appointment of Secretary of State. His great statesmanship 
 eminently qualified him for this important post. He immediately set himself to lay 
 down maxims and rules of foreign intercourse which have governed all our subse- 
 quent administrations. In 1795, he was called to the chair of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society, and was the third president of that institution ; his predecessors 
 being the illustrious Franklin and Rittenhouse, one of the most celebrated men of 
 his times. 
 
 In March, 1801, Mr. Jefferson was inaugurated as third President of the United 
 States, with Aaron Burr as vice president; and again, in 1805, with George Clinton as 
 vice president. That the administration of Mr. Jefferson was an able one, all admit; 
 and we have no desire to enter into a consideration even had we room of the 
 acrimonious party spirit of those times which could see nothing good in an oppo- 
 nent, nothing wrong in a friendly partisan. 
 
 Of Mr. Jefferson's private life, it is enough to say that he was beloved and re- 
 spected by all who knew him ; and his death, which occurred on the ever-glorious 
 anniversary of the declaration of independence in 1826, filled his country with 
 mourning. 
 
MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 OF all the heroes who enlisted in the cause of American freedom, no one is 
 more deserving of our gratitude than La Fayette. A stranger and a French- 
 man, born to wealth and honors, refusing preferment and distinction at home, 
 at his own expense he fitted out an armament for the relief of the American col- 
 onies, when their cause seemed most gloomy and despairing, and came to assist us 
 with his counsels, purse, and troops. Arriving in Charleston, in 1777, he soon 
 joined the army with a major general's commission, which he accepted from 
 Congress only on the conditions that he should be allowed to serve at his 
 own expense, and be permitted to enter the army as a volunteer. In vain the 
 courts of London and Versailles protested against his expedition ; in vain they 
 attempted to intercept his passage a movement as brilliant as it was successful ; 
 an armed force was sent out to the West Indies to arrest his course in vain ; he 
 eluded all pursuit, reached his destination in safety, with " Cur non?" flying at his 
 mast head a worthy ensign for such a man. 
 
 La Fayette was then but twenty years of age ; but his judgment was so profound, 
 and his courage so cool, that the prudent and sagacious Washington confided to 
 him the post of difficulty and of danger, and never found his confidence misplaced. 
 He remained in America two years, sharing freely in all the hardships of our 
 
48 MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 suffering army, and returned to Paris, f bearing honorable scars, and the grateful 
 thanks of all the colonists. The Continental Congress voted him a sword and 
 thanks, which were presented by Benjamin Franklin. He remained in his native 
 land two years, actively engaged in the affairs of his government, and using all 
 his influence, in conjunction with Franklin, then American minister to the court 
 of Versailles, in behalf of the American colonies. He soon returned to the field 
 of strife in America, and after a brilliant campaign, had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 British forces compelled to surrender at Yorktown, and the boastful Cornwall^ 
 give up his sword to the hero Washington. 
 
 Again La Fayette received the thanks of Congress, and the benisons of the col- 
 onies, and was sent home in triumph in an American frigate. The following year, 
 he paid a visit to the United States, and was received amidst the most grateful and 
 expressive manifestations of the people ; his progress through the states being a con- 
 tinued fete. He was received by Congress with great ceremony, and Virginia placed 
 his bust in her capitol, and presented one of a similar kind to the city of Paris. 
 
 On his return to France, he at once entered upon the arena of political strife. 
 already open in that unhappy country, in which his patriotism and love of liberty 
 doomed him to confiscation and prison, and nearly to loss of life. Many of his 
 family laid their necks beneath the keen edge of the guillotine ; others, his wife 
 among them, were shut up in gloomy dungeons. At length the dismal hinges of 
 his prison doors turned once more, and the worn and weary patriot tasted again 
 the free air of heaven. As soon as it was known that he was free, the most urgent 
 invitations were sent to him to visit the United States, " that country dear to his 
 heart." Congress, in the most honorable manner, seconded this voice of the people, 
 and placed the seventy-four gunship, the North Carolina, at his disposal. Declining, 
 however, the honor, he embarked with his son in one of the regular packets, the 
 Cadmus, and reached New York on the 25th of August, 1824. 
 
 Never was a reception so imposing and so spontaneous. One general shout of 
 " WELCOME ! WELCOME ! " burst from all lips, prompted by every heart. The gray- 
 haired men and women who lived in those terrible scenes which in the pride of his 
 early manhood he shared, and in which he poured out his gold as dust, and his 
 blood as water, clasped his knees in tearful joy ; and their children, now grown 
 themselves to lusty sires and fair dames, swelled the paean of his praise with such 
 hosannas as only a ransomed people can offer; while the youth and children gazed in- 
 silent awe on the "good and great La Fayette" and clapped their hands and opened 
 their throats in loud and long huzzas. From city to city, from town to town, from 
 hamlet to hamlet, through the entire borders of the land, for the space of a full 
 year, he journeyed, and the enthusiasm abated not a tittle. Valley and hill top 
 echoed with his beloved name ; joy and thanks rung out from every spire and boomed 
 from every piece of ordnance in the land. It was a spectacle for angels to smile 
 upon, and patriots to rejoice in to carry paleness to the brows of despots, and u to 
 make the devils tremble." 
 
 On returning to his native land, he again entered, heart and soul, into the great 
 scenes which were then enacting there, always pleading for liberty, and doing what- 
 ever lay in his power to establish it in the bosom of his country suffering, laboring, 
 sacrificing, praying for " his dear, dear France," until June, 1834, when his earthly 
 struggle closed, and he opened his eyes on "the glorious freedom of the sons of God." 
 
MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WARREN. 
 
 T in HIS brave revolutionary patriot, whose blood stains the soil of Bunker Hill, 
 -L was the son of a respectable farmer of Roxbury. He was born in 174L 
 entered college in 1755, commenced the practice of medicine in 1762, in 1775 
 received the appointment of major general in the continental army, and the same 
 year, on the ever-glorious 17th of June, 1775, sealed with his blood the protest of 
 freemen against the usurpations of tyranny. 
 
 Had Warren lived, it is easy to perceive that he would have been among the 
 most conspicuous of that holy band who pledged " their lives, their fortunes, and 
 their sacred honor " to the cause of freedom in the New World. Among many of 
 his manly traits of character, we have room to speak only of his indomitable 
 courage. He not only knew no fear, but he seemed to court danger for the very 
 love of it, as the following anecdote will show: 
 
 The "Boston Massacre" took place on the 5th of March, 1770. Its anniversary 
 had been celebrated by an oration for three years. The British residents of Boston 
 had become incensed at the free spirit in which that bloody act was discussed in 
 /hese orations, and in 1775, several British officers openly declared that it should 
 be at the peril of his life, should any patriot attempt to pronounce an oration on 
 
50 MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WARREN. 
 
 the coming anniversary. This threat roused the fiery spirit of Warren, and although 
 he had officiated only the year before, he requested permission to assume the peril 
 and the honor. He received the appointment, and notice was speedily given to 
 that effect. Public expectation was on tiptoe, and on the day appointed, the " Old 
 South " was crammed to its utmost capacity. A large number of British officers 
 were present, some of whom occupied the pulpit steps, and even the pulpit itself. 
 At the time appointed, it was found impossible to penetrate the densely packed 
 masses that filled the aisles and doorways, and Warren, with his friends, was 
 obliged to enter through the pulpit window by a ladder. The officers were struck 
 by his cool intrepidity, and involuntarily yielded up the pulpit, and suffered him to 
 assume his proper place. As he came forward, with a calm brow and flashing eye, 
 he appeared the very impersonation of moral courage and personal bravery. It 
 was a moment of intensest excitement. Stillness that was palpable rested on all 
 lips. Many a heart palpitated with wildest enthusiasm, and many ceased to beat, 
 overwhelmed by the grandeur of the scene ; while faces pale as ashes spoke an 
 intensity of emotion which mocked the poor medium of words. 
 
 When he opened his lips, his voice was firm and unfaltering, while its deep and 
 almost unearthly tones told how fully the spirit was stirred within him. Soon his 
 voice rose, and warming with his theme, in tones of thunder he poured out the 
 vials of his wrath upon the actors in the bloody tragedy of March o, 1770; and 
 hurled defiance in the very teeth of those who, but a few hours before, had threat- 
 ened his life, but who were now awed before the majesty of his sublime courage. 
 
 It was the same unflinching bravery that prompted him, although holding a 
 major general's commission, to decline the proposition of the veteran Prescott to 
 take the command of that sanguinary field, on the 17th of June, 1775, and led him 
 to assume a volunteer's position in the ranks, where he fought, musket in hand, 
 until the battle was lost, and his brave compatriots were driven from the ground. 
 Even then he was among the very last to quit the breastwork, and fell only a few 
 yards from it, fighting to the last. 
 
 No wonder that our independence was achieved, when such spirits leagued for it. 
 All the armies of the earth could not have conquered the invincible spirit of 
 freedom that reigned in such bosoms. What a boon have they bequeathed to us ! 
 What a debt of gratitude do we owe to their blessed memories ! 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 4 LEXANDER HAMILTON was born in the island of Nevis, in the British 
 -XX West Indies, on the llth of January, 1757. He was of Scotch blood on the 
 paternal, and of Gallic on the maternal side. He lost his mother when a child, and 
 his education was intrusted to a Presbyterian clergyman, by the name of Knox, of 
 the island of St. Croix. At twelve years of age, he was placed in the counting room 
 of a merchant of that island, where his talents and ambition soon displayed them- 
 selves. The following prophecy of the future man is from a letter written to a 
 fellow-clerk before he was thirteen: " I contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk, to 
 which my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my charac- 
 ter, to exalt my station ; I mean, to prepare the way for futurity." 
 
 In 1772, Hamilton came to New York, and at the close of 1773, entered Columbia 
 College, where he made-" extraordinary displays of richness of genius and energy of 
 mind." It was during his college life that the country was roused to the consider- 
 ation of British aggression and American independence. He took strong and 
 decided revolutionary grounds, and wrote and spoke in so clear and forcible a 
 manner as to attract the attention of the wisest minds engaged in that controversy. 
 Dr. Cooper, principal of the college, and several others of the ablest tory writers, 
 
52 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 \vere confounded by "the profound principles, able reasoning, and sound policy" of 
 his essays, and would not believe that they were the productions of a youth of 
 seventeen. He also joined a volunteer company of militia while in college, and 
 made himself familiar with all the tactics and theory of war. 
 
 In 1776, Hamilton was appointed to the command of a company of artillery, and 
 from that time up to 1781, he was in constant, active service, mostly as aid to the 
 commander-in-chief. In that capacity he won the admiration and love of all his 
 brother officers, and became, in Washington's own words, "his principal and most 
 confidential aid." General Washington intrusted him with the most delicate and 
 difficult diplomatic duties, and with nearly all his important correspondence. He 
 rendered most essential aid, by his advice and counsel, in restoring the confidence of 
 the army, and improving the currency. Indeed, there is scarcely a plan which was 
 adopted by Congress during the administration of Washington which does not 
 bear the mark of his mighty genius. 
 
 In 1780, he married the second daughter of Major General Schuyler, and devoted 
 his attention to the law. He rose rapidly in his profession, and soon stood at the 
 head of the New York bar. He did not, however, retire from the arena of political 
 strife, and in 1782, took his seat in Congress, where his genius and sound common 
 sense were speedily felt, and "the proceedings of Congress immediately assumed a 
 new and more vigorous tone and character." Pie retired from Congress in 1783, and 
 assumed the practice of his profession in New York, where his clear mind and lucid 
 eloquence won for him the admiration of all. 
 
 But the services of such a man could not be well spared by the country at such a 
 time. In 1786, he was sent to the General Assembly of New York, and was chosen 
 by that body one of the three New York delegates to the General Convention 
 recommended by Congress to be holden in Philadelphia, in May, 1787. His services 
 as a member of that august body were exceedingly valuable; and when, on the 
 recommendation of the convention, the constitution was presented to the people for 
 their adoption, Hamilton, in conjunction with Mr. Jay and Mr. Madison, commenced 
 and completed that series of essays, composing the two volumes of the Federalist, 
 as profound in their logic as they are brilliant in execution and patriotic in spirit, 
 Of these eighty -five papers, Mr. Jay wrote five, Mr. Madison twenty, and Mr. Ham- 
 ilton the balance. 
 
 On the adoption of the constitution, Mr. Hamilton was called by Washington to 
 the head of the Treasury department, where for five years he exhibited the same zeal 
 and fitness for office that had always marked his career. 
 
 From this period until his untimely death he divided his time between the duties 
 of his profession and those of public life, awaking general admiration by the bril- 
 liancy of his talents, and winning the respect and esteem of all by his many amiable 
 virtues. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1804, he fell in mortal combat by the hand of Aaron Burr, 
 and " all America and Europe mourned his untimely fate." 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 4 MONO the names of the brave band of patriots who first offered resistance to 
 JLJL the encroachments of British power on the liberties of the English colonies in 
 America, none is more reverently and affectionately cherished in the American heart 
 than that of the patriarch SAMUEL ADAMS. None bore in his bosom a stouter heart, 
 and none raised a stronger arm to resist the oppressor. He had not the suaviter in 
 modo of Hancock, his compeer and fellow-laborer, nor the genius of Hamilton ; but 
 for stern, unbending republicanism, and unflinching devotion to the cause of free- 
 dom, none exceeded him. With a sound judgment he combined unyielding firm- 
 ness of will, and nothing could dislodge him from the strongholds of his opinion. 
 No man had more individuality of character, and no seductions or bribes from friend 
 or foe could reach his integrity. Governor Hutchinson, in reply to the question from 
 England, why the friendship of Samuel Adams was not secured by the gifts of 
 office, replies, " Such is the obstinacy and inflexible disposition of the man, that he can 
 never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever" Yet he was always poor, and 
 was by no means a stranger to necessity. 
 
 Such a man could not escape the favor of his friends and the notice of his ene- 
 mies. His great mental powers were speedily and constantly called into exercise by 
 *he patriots, while his contemptuous spurning of British bribes of gold and power 
 
54 SAMUEL ADAMS 
 
 awakened the bitterest malice of his and America's enemies. His name was a 
 Shibboleth to the struggling colonists; cherished, loved, and uttered by them with 
 reverence ; while with their oppressors it was dreaded, hated, and denounced. When, 
 seeking to conciliate the outraged patriots, a general amnesty was proposed by the 
 colonial government, and pardon was freely offered to all who would submit, the 
 names of Samuel Adams and John Hancock were excepted, as their offences were 
 of " too flagitious a character to admit of any other consideration than that of con- 
 dign punishment." " Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad," runs the 
 old proverb. Probably no single act of the infamous government of Massachusetts 
 Bay did so much to precipitate the events of the Revolution as the proscription of 
 these noble patriots; and what was intended by their vindictive enemies to "damn 
 them to everlasting fame," placed on their brows a crown of glory which shall for- 
 ever outshine the brightest diadem worn by kingly head. 
 
 Samuel Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, September 27, 1722, and was 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1740, at eighteen years of age; and, at that early 
 period, wrote several able articles in favor of " the right of resisting the magistrates, 
 if the liberties of the commonwealth cannot be otherwise preserved ;" a question pre- 
 pared by himself at the time of his graduation. On quitting college, he commenced 
 the study of the law, to which profession his father designed him ; but maternal in- 
 fluence changed his purpose, and he entered into commercial pursuits, where the 
 capital which had been provided for the purpose was speedily absorbed. Trade, 
 evidently, was not his forte ; and the force of circumstances, together with his un- 
 conquerable love of liberty, soon convinced him and the world that the arena of 
 politics was his natural sphere. 
 
 After acting in many capacities as the servant of his townspeople, Mr. Adams 
 was now a resident of Boston, he was, in 1765, elected to the legislature, of which 
 he was a member for ten years. On the dissolution of the old charter, he was elected 
 a member of the Provincial Convention; and, in 1774, he was sent to the General 
 Congress, where, by his eloquence and burning patriotism, he exerted a mighty influ- 
 ence in behalf of independence. On the adoption of the new constitution of Mas- 
 sachusetts, he was elected to the Senate ; over which body he was at orice called to 
 preside, which duty he performed with dignity and efficiency for several years. In 
 1789, he was chosen lieutenant governor, and on the death of his great compeer, 
 Hancock, in 1794, he succeeded him as governor, which office he held for three terms, 
 when he retired to private life. He did not live long to enjoy the retirement he had 
 so much coveted, and for the enjoyment of which a competency, falling to him late 
 in life, would have greatly aided. He died on the 2d of October, 1803, at the great 
 age of eighty-two. 
 
 We cannot more appropriately bring to a close this hasty notice of this great man 
 than to give his reply to Colonel Fenton, the emissary of General Gage, sent ex- 
 pressly for the purpose of buying up the " obstinate rebel." After offering every flat- 
 tering and tempting bribe in the shape of office and gold, and more than intimating 
 that his liberty, if not his life, hung on his reply, Go," he said, raising himself to 
 his full height, and putting on an attitude of proud and heroic defiance "go tell 
 Governor Gage that my peace has long been made with the King of kings, and that 
 it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an al- 
 ready exasperated people" 
 
JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, the first governor under the present constitution of Mas- 
 sachusetts, was the son of Rev. John Hancock, of Braintree, in Massachusetts, 
 and was born in that towia n,ow @,ma^y'-^ih' the year 1737. In 1754, he was 
 graduated at Harvard Coljege< at, fhe agVof seventeeh/with no particular mark of 
 distinction. On leaving cojiege, he entered the counting-!^6use of his uncle, fn.e of 
 the wealthiest merchant^ of Bostop^ \^hfer^^^^re,rrAain&d six years. He then went 
 abroad for four years; and referred liortte to ? enter upon; the immense fortune of his 
 uncle, who, dying, had mad^birri his heir. 3 *V\" 3 *\ 
 
 Mr. Hancock was blesse'd^WJth: \ pleasipg ,p^rsoj> and winning address, which, 
 with his great wealth, made KmV'at^ricVa" frian of consideration, and being a 
 decided whig, and staking every thing on the die of the Revolution, he became 
 one of the most popular leaders of that glorious struggle, and one of the most ob- 
 noxious to tory authority. When General Gage proclaimed " a general pardon to 
 the rebels," Hancock and Samuel Adams were excepted, " as their offences were of 
 too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than the most condign 
 punishment." 
 
 At this time, Mr. Hancock was president of the Continental Congress. This 
 
56 JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 was in 1774. In this year, he delivered an oration on the anniversary of the "Boston 
 Massacre," which established his reputation as a true friend of his country. About 
 this time, also, he declined the honor of acting as counsellor to the governor, as he 
 had before declined a military commission offered him by General Gage. These acts 
 greatly increased his popularity with the patriots, and irritated the tories exceedingly. 
 While president of this illustrious Congress, in 1776, he placed his name at the head 
 of that immortal paper which declared to the world our independence, where it stands 
 in that round, striking hand which exhibits a bold and fearless spirit, and a resolution 
 never to subscribe to any compromise with tyranny or oppression. 
 
 As we have seen, in 1780, John Hancock was chosen first governor under the new 
 constitution of his native state, which office he continued to hold, with the exception 
 of two years, in which Mr. Bowdoin served in that capacity, until his death, in 
 October, 1793, at the age of fifty-five. 
 
 Possessed of all "the means and appliances to booV Governor Hancock lived in 
 a style of princely magnificence ; and having a heart devising liberal things, with "a 
 hand which knew not how to shut itself," his abode was the very ne plus ultra of a 
 noble and brilliant hospitality. Punctilious in all matters of etiquette, fastidious, 
 even, in the matter and manner of his toilet, and blessed with an exquisite taste in, 
 all his household arrangements, his appointments were au fait, his viands the richest, 
 his wines the rarest and most delicate, and his guests the very elite. But his door was 
 never shut on the people, and the poor were never sent empty-handed and in sorrow 
 from his door. If he had his weak points as who that reads has not? his noble 
 patriotism, his generous benevolence, his upright life lie on them as a thick mantle, 
 and we are gladly blind to their existence. 
 
 To such as would like to see a picture of those ancient days, we present the fol- 
 lowing, from the graphic pen of the author of " Familiar Letters on Public Charac- 
 ters," "taken when the governor was forty-five years old." 
 
 " Governor Hancock was nearly six feet tall, of thin person, stooping a little, and 
 apparently enfeebled by age. His manners were very gracious, of the old style of 
 dignified complaisance. His face had been very handsome. His dress was adapted 
 quite as much to be ornamental ^as, useful. r Gentlemen generally wore wigs when 
 abroad, and caps when at harrie.; ;A^4iw& 7tifhj/(J,trn,e., 1782,) about noon, Hancock 
 was dressed in a red yet\te cap, within which wa etfe'roi fine linen, turned up over 
 the lower edge of the velvet ftbcnit .three, jripjies. He wofe^Wue damask gown, lined 
 with silk; a white stock, a 'white satjri; ejmtoiilfj^of Waistcoat, black satin small- 
 clothes, white silk stocking*?,,, a'jd red morocco slippers'. \ It was a general practice in 
 genteel families to have a* ta-r^aref p&ach^inadeife'yoe evening, and placed in a 
 cooler when the season required it^ /'V^s'ftprs^w'ere jiftvited to partake of it. At this 
 visit, Hancock took from the cooler, standing on the hearth, a full tankard, and drink- 
 ing first himself, then handed it to his guests. At his table might be seen all classes, 
 from grave and dignified clergy down to the gifted in song, narrative, anecdote, and 
 wit, with whom 
 
 ' Noiseless falls the foot of time that only falls on flowers.' " 
 
GOVERNOR HTJTCHINSON 
 
 IT is matter for felicitation that the bitter and unnatural feeling towards Great 
 Britain, which grew out of our Revolution, is fast dying away, and that Amer- 
 icans are becoming able to discriminate between the cruel and unjust policy of the 
 government and the fidelity of many individuals who were connected with it. No 
 epithet has become more odious to American ears than that of tory ; and it is not 
 yet fully divested of the hated definition given to it in the times of our Revolution, 
 "an enemy to freedom, and an abetter of despotism." 
 
 The subject of this memoir was exceedingly unfortunate in the time of his birth. 
 Had he lived either a half century earlier or later, his fame had been equal to almost 
 any of the great men of our history. His toryism was loyalty to his government, 
 and not enmity to freedom ; and had that government triumphed, he would have 
 been glorified as a hero arid a patriot, while " the rebels " would still have been 
 rebels, and suffered the execration ever heaped upon the unsuccessful fomenters of 
 revolution. 
 
 Governor Hutchinson was a man of great learning, probity, honor, and capabil- 
 ities, and, previous to his appointment to the governorship of the colony, was exceed- 
 ingly efficient and popular in the discharge of the duties of the various offices to 
 
58 GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON. 
 
 which he was appointed. The State of Massachusetts has occasion to remember 
 his services in her behalf with gratitude, as well in respect to his powerful influence in 
 the settlement of that wearisome and difficult question of boundary between Massa- 
 chusetts and New York, as in the deep interest he took in colonial history, and the 
 valuable manuscripts he left behind him relating to that subject. But, unfor- 
 tunately for his memory, his sympathies were with his government, and he was 
 guilty of the sin of fidelity to his oath, he was a tory. 
 
 Governor Thomas Hutchinson was a native of Boston, and born in 1711. His 
 great precocity was the subject of much remark, and of just pride to his father, the 
 Hon. Thomas Hutchinson. At the early age of twelve, he was admitted to Harvard 
 College, and received his bachelor's degree in 1727, when only sixteen years old. 
 After leaving college, he entered into mercantile business ; but not succeeding in this, 
 he turned his attention to the law. Such was his character for uprightness and 
 ability, that his townsmen elected him to the important and responsible office of 
 selectman when he was but twenty-seven ; and, at this early age, he was selected as 
 their agent in very important business in England, which duty he performed to the 
 entire satisfaction of the town. The same year he was chosen representative to the 
 General Court, where he remained until 1747, the last three years of which he was 
 honored by being called to preside over that dignified body, of which no member was 
 more efficient than he. In 1750, he was elected a member of his Majesty's Council ; 
 in 1752, was appointed Judge of Probate ; in 1758, Lieutenant Governor ; in 1760, 
 he received the appointment of Chief Justice, holding at one time the offices of 
 Judge of Probate, Councillor, Chief Justice, and Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 Hitherto he had been borne on the tide of popular favor. But now came the 
 trying times of the Revolution. The " Stamp Act," the introduction of British 
 troops " to awe the insurgents," the entrance of the famous tea ships into Boston 
 Harbor, these, and other arbitrary acts of the home government, compelled every, 
 man to take sides with either the Crown or the Revolution. As has been seen, Gov- 
 ernor Hutchinson decided on the former. The result was, that " Boston became too 
 hot for him ;" and, in June, 1774, he sailed, by royal permission, for England, where 
 he lived retired from public life until June, 1780, when he died, being sixty-nine years 
 of age. 
 
 During the last year of Hutchinson's stay in Boston, he became exceedingly bitter 
 towards the Revolution and the " insurgents," and he recommended and adopted 
 many measures highly obnoxious to the citizens and the colony generally. The 
 enraged populace gutted his house, destroying his furniture, library, and paintings, 
 and cast on him every possible indignity. On his return to England, an attempt 
 was made to impeach him, but the lords of the privy council sent to the crown a 
 report highly favorable to his cause, and the attempt failed. He, however, fell into 
 disrepute with all parties, and led the remnant of his life in neglected retirement. 
 
 The history of the colonies which Governor Hutchinson left behind is an invalu- 
 able record of the times he lived in. It is held in high repute for the accuracy of its 
 facts and dates, as well as for the faithful impartiality of its notices of the men who 
 figured in the early history of New England. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, the second President of the United States, was born in Quincy 
 Massachusetts, on the 19th of October, (old style,) 1735 ; was graduated at 
 Harvard University in 1755 ; was admitted to the bar in 1758 ; about this time wrote 
 his celebrated "Essay on the Canon and Federal Law;" in 1766, removed to Bos- 
 ton; was chosen Councillor in 1773; elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, 
 of which he was one of the most efficient members, and was associated with Jeffer- 
 son, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston as a committee to draft a Declaration of 
 Independence, and was "the Colossus of support" to that immortal instrument in 
 that august body. The same year, he was placed on a committee to wait on Lord 
 Howe in reference to the condition of the country; where, being received by his 
 lordship with an imposing military display, and being told that they could not be 
 received as a committee of Congress, but only as private gentlemen, Adams replied, 
 " You may view me in what light you please, sir, except that of a British subject." 
 While in Congress, he served as a member of ninety different committees, and chair- 
 man of twenty-five. In 1778, he was appointed commissioner to France, and, return- 
 ing to America the following year, was chosen a member of the convention called to 
 frame a constitution for Massachusetts under the new form of national government. 
 
 5 
 
<jO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Fie drew up the report of the committee chosen for that purpose, of which he was 
 chairman, which was adopted, and under which Massachusetts, for so many years, 
 prospered and grew into greatness. The same year, he received the appointment of 
 minister plenipotentiary "to negotiate a treaty of peace and a treaty of commerce 
 with Great Britain;" and the following year was appointed to the same office at Hol- 
 land, from which he was suddenly summoned to Paris to consult on a general peace 
 with the commissioners of Austria, Russia, and France, which, after many difficul- 
 ties, was effected in 1783. In 1785, Mr. Adams was appointed minister plenipoten- 
 tiary to the court of St. James, where his profound diplomatic acquirements imparted 
 dignity to his mission, and secured to his country many important advantages. At 
 his own request, he was permitted to resign his charge in 1788, and the same year 
 was elected Vice President of the United States. 
 
 On the retirement of Washington, in 1797, Mr. Adams was chosen his successor, 
 by seventy-one of the electoral votes, Mr. Jefferson having sixty-eight. Mr. Jefferson 
 succeeded him in 1801, and he retired to his farm, in Quincy, where he spent the 
 remainder of his life. In the year 1820, he was chosen a member of the convention 
 to revise the constitution of his native state, that instrument eminently the work 
 of his own mind and pen, and in the same year, at the great age of eighty-five, 
 voted as elector of president and vice president. 
 
 Mr. Adams left his mark upon the institutions of his country, as well as on those 
 of Europe, and lived to behold the fulfilment of the predictions he uttered when the 
 colonies were struggling against the iron-handed despotism of Great Britain. In a 
 letter to his wife, dated July 5, 1776, he writes thus : " Yesterday, the greatest ques- 
 tion was decided that was ever debated in America; and greater, perhaps, never was] 
 and never will be decided among men. A resolution was passed, without one dis- 
 senting colony, ' That these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and 
 independent states.' The day is passed. The 4th of July, 1776, will be a mem- 
 orable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by 
 succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be celebrated 
 with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from onej 
 end of the continent to the other, from this time forward, forever. You will think 
 me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the blood, and 
 toil, and treasure it w r ill cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend 
 these states; yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can 
 see that the end is worth more than all the means; and that posterity will triumph, 
 although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not." 
 
 Mr. Adams was among the few of that brave band who cast "their lives, their 
 fortunes, and their sacred honors" on the die of the Revolution who was permitted 
 to live to witness the permanent establishment of the institutions they bequeathed 
 to their children and posterity. He lived to see his country great and powerful, and; 
 carried successfully through a war with its old enemy, the haughtiest and most in- 
 vincible nation on the earth. He lived to see his son succeed to the honors which a 
 grateful country had bestowed on himself, until, (as if Heaven-appointed,) on the 
 fiftieth anniversary of his country's independence, with the glorious words trembling 
 on his dying lips, "INDEPENDENCE FOREVER!" hand in hand with his old compatriot 
 Jefferson, he passed away amid the firing of guns, the ringing of bells, and the re- 
 joicings of an emancipated people. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 TI1HIS brilliant and powerful orator, whom every American names with pride, 
 JL was born in Virginia, on the 29th of May, 1736. His boyhood was as un- 
 promising as could be well imagined. He was a vagrant truant, hating his books, 
 and delighting in nothing so much as his angle-rod and his gun. At the age of 
 fifteen, his father finding it difficult to meet the expenses of a large and still growing 
 family, Patrick was placed behind the counter of a country store. Here he re- 
 mained a year, when his father set him up in business in company with an elder 
 brother, more idle and negligent, if possible, than himself. The result was as might, 
 have been supposed bankruptcy in a short space of time. 
 
 Young Henry was possessed of an amiable and sensitive spirit, and although too 
 indolent to rouse himself to any great effort, yet his soul was galled at his want of 
 success, and the inevitable ruin which stared him in the face. As he was confined 
 to his store, and could not seek relief in the out-door sports in which he so greatly 
 delighted, he sought to solace his spirit with his flute and such books as fell in his 
 way. In this way, he acquired a love for reading, which grew into a passion, and 
 became the germ of his future greatness. From childhood, he took great delight in 
 the study of character ; and it used to be one of his pastimes to get together in his 
 
62 PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 store a dozen men of the neighborhood, and excite them to discussion, and then 
 silently watch every expression and word and motion, and paint their characters on 
 his own brain, and fancy how they would severally act under given circumstances. 
 This also became the end of his reading the study of human nature. Little did 
 he then think of the mighty power of scrutiny of human character he was unfold- 
 ing and nourishing in his soul, and which in after life enabled him to read so readily 
 the tablet of character, hidden to nearly all other eyes, in the bosom of its possessor. 
 When his company was dull and silent, he would rouse them with accounts of 
 -hat he had read and seen, or entertain them with the creations of a wild but 
 manly imagination ; and when they were sufficiently excited, would resume his 
 taciturnity and observation. 
 
 This was the early self-training of Patrick Henry. Here he began to develop 
 those mighty gifts, which in after life constituted him, as Jefferson declared, "one of 
 the greatest orators that ever lived." " Never was there a man, in any age," says 
 Wirt, " who possessed, in a more eminent degree, the lucid and nervous style of 
 argument, the command of the most beautiful imagery, or that language of passion 
 which burns from soul to soul." 
 
 About this period, with his usual recklessness, at the early age of eighteen, he 
 married and went on a small plantation, where with a couple of slaves he tilled the 
 soil for two years. Wearying of the sweat of labor, notwithstanding his past 
 disastrous experience, he converted all his means into ready money, and embarked 
 once more in trade once more to run a rapid race into bankruptcy and ruin. 
 
 In absolute despair, he determined to study the law a study in which all prog- 
 nosticated failure. In six weeks from the time of entering the office, he passed his 
 examination, astonishing his examiners, not by his acquaintance with the law, 
 but by the strength of his intellect, and the brilliancy of his genius. Having 
 obtained his license, his success was small for three years, during which he 
 suffered all the horrors of poverty ; when an event brought him into notoriety, 
 and placed him at once at the head of the Virginia bar. 
 
 For a long time, tobacco had been a medium of exchange in Virginia, as 
 wampum amongst the Indians, and the price per pound was fixed by law. The 
 salaries of the clergy were generally paid in tobacco. As might have been fore- 
 seen, the fluctuations in prices led to much discussion and discontent. The subject 
 became an engrossing one, and the colony was divided, a large portion of them 
 siding with the clergy, and the balance in favor of the legislature. After much 
 angry discussion in public assemblies, and through the press, the cause was brought 
 to. an issue before the courts of law. Patrick Henry, then about twenty-seven years 
 old, pleaded against the clergy, with such wonderful effect, as at once to astonish 
 every body, and to establish his reputation as a public pleader and orator. 
 
 From this point, the life of Patrick Henry is brilliantly connected with the 
 history of his country. Jefferson says of him, that " he did more than any other 
 man to put the ball of revolution in motion." He died on the 6th day of June, 
 1799, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, with an unshaken reliance upon the Infi- 
 nite, for whom he ever entertained the most profound reverence and love a firm 
 believer in virtue as the only basis of character and happiness. 
 
JOHN JAY. 
 
 PIERRE JAY, the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was one of 
 , those persecuted Huguenots who were driven from France by the cruel revocation 
 of the edict of Nantes. He fled to England. His son, Augustus, barely escaping with 
 his life, came to America, and settled in New York. Here he married, and lived in 
 prosperity until 1751, when he died, leaving one son and three daughters. This son, 
 named Peter, was the father of John. He was a merchant of great respectability in 
 New York, and, having acquired a large fortune, retired to an estate on Long Island. 
 JOHN JAY, the eighth child of Peter, was born in the city of New York, December 
 12, 1745. He was graduated at Columbia College, 1764, with the highest honors of 
 his class, and, in 1768, was admitted to the bar with the most brilliant prospects. A 
 contemporary thus speaks of him : " His talents and virtues gave at that period pleas- 
 ing indications of future eminence. Pie was remarkable for strong reasoning powers, 
 comprehensive views, indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of rnind." 
 
 Mr. Jay would doubtless have risen to great eminence in his profession had he 
 been permitted to pursue it ; but the political horizon was already lowering and 
 threatening, and he could not be indifferent to the great struggle for human freedom 
 
64 JOHN JAY. 
 
 which had even then commenced. He joined the noble brotherhood who leagued 
 for the overthrow of tyranny, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Jefferson, the 
 Adamses, Henry, Hamilton, and the whole host of patriots who took their lives in 
 their hands and "determined to sink or swim with their country." 
 
 Mr. Jay was married in 1774, to Sarah, daughter of William Livingston, Esq., sub- 
 sequently Governor of New Jersey. In the same year, he was elected one of the 
 delegates to the first Congress, and, when he took his seat, was the youngest member 
 on the floor of that house. Yet such were the gravity of his manner, the profound- 
 ness of his knowledge, and ripeness of his judgment, that he was appointed to some 
 of the most important committees of that august body. He wrote that " Address to 
 the People of Great Britain," which the gifted Jefferson pronounced to be " the pro- 
 duction of the finest pen in America," and this without knowing the author. He wrote 
 several other addresses adopted by Congress, all of which bear the stamp of true 
 genius, burning patriotism, and great comprehensiveness. They are as elegant as 
 they are methodical and profound. 
 
 In 1777, New York having adopted a constitution under the new order of things, 
 Mr. Jay was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Between his resigna- 
 tion in the Congress of 1774 and this appointment, he was constantly and actively 
 employed in the most important public duties, and rendered very essential aid to his 
 country. This was by far the gloomiest period in the history of our country, and, 
 while many trembled, and thousands fainted, he was one of that immortal band of 
 heroes who never faltered, never despaired. Glory to those hearts of oak who bore 
 the ark of our liberties fearlessly, steadily, SAFELY through the terrible storms of that 
 unequalled Revolution ! 
 
 On the "special occasion" of the controversy between New York and Vermont, 
 Mr. Jay was elected to Congress, and took his seat in December, 1778, and was im- 
 mediately called to preside over its deliberations. He resigned this office in Septem- 
 ber, 1779, having received the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to Spain, on 
 which mission he sailed in October of the same year. In 1782, he was appointed 
 "commissioner to negotiate a peace with England," in company with Dr. Franklin, 
 John Adams, and Mr. Laurens. In all these duties, most of which were delicate and 
 difficult, and many of which were exceedingly vexatious and annoying, Mr. Jay 
 showed himself equal to his task, and acquitted himself with great credit and patri- 
 otism. It was mainly owing to his firmness that the recognition of the independence 
 of the United States was extorted from Great Britain. His health having become 
 impaired, he resigned his commission, and after spending some time at the watering- 
 places in England, and in the refined society of Paris, he returned home in May, 1784, 
 when his services were immediately required in the capacity of Secretary of Foreign 
 Affairs, in which office he labored until the adoption of the new constitution, when 
 President Washington asked him to select any office he might desire. He accord- 
 ingly solicited and obtained the appointment of Chief Justice of the United States. 
 
 In 1794, Mr. Jay was appointed envoy extraordinary to Great Britain, to negotiate 
 a treaty of commerce, which he effected with great skill and fidelity to his country. 
 On his return, he was elected Governor of New York, which office he felt bound to 
 accept, and accordingly resigned that of chief justice. He served in that capacity 
 until 1801, when he retired to private life, firmly resisting all overtures from Congress 
 and his friends. He died in May, 1829. 
 
^:x. 
 
 MARTHA WASHINGTON 
 
 MARTHA, the beloved wife of President Washington, whose maiden name 
 was DANDRIDGE, was of Welsh descent, and was born in New Kent county, 
 in the colony of Virginia, some time in the month of May, 1732. Very little i.- 
 known of the early life of Miss Dandridge, except that she was exceedingly fair to 
 behold, fascinating in her manners, amiable in disposition, and the reigning belle 
 at Williamsburg, where the English governor and his satellites held their court. It 
 is not to be supposed that she was destitute of admirers among the young gallant .s 
 who figured in " the governor's court ; " but she selected for her companion Colonel 
 Daniel Parke Custis, a man of middle age, possessing many manly charms, and 
 great wealth. How much this latter qualification affected her choice, we shall leave 
 to the casuistry of our fair readers. Tradition and the historian unite in saying that 
 the match was one of affection. She was but seventeen when they were married, 
 in 1749. The fruits of this marriage were four children, one of whom died in in- 
 fancy. Colonel Custis lived but a few years in the enjoyments of his happy home, 
 and died in the prime of life, leaving his young and beautiful widow one of the 
 wealthiest in all Virginia. 
 
 In 1758, Colonel Washington was riding express to Williamsburg, benrim 
 
66 MARTHA WASHINGTON. 
 
 important despatches to the royal council. His route lay through New Kent. 
 There he encountered an old friend, who endeavored, by every persuasive art, to 
 detain him over night. But the punctilious Washington was proof to all seduc- 
 tions, until his friend offered to introduce him to a young and beautiful widow, 
 then residing under his roof. After some awkward and half-sincere protests, the 
 gallant colonel consented to tarry an hour or two, stipulating that he should then 
 be permitted to depart, and make up his delay by travelling far into the night. Hour 
 after hour sped on, and still the handsome cavalier loitered ; and the sun had risen 
 high in the heavens before his astonished body servant, the faithful Bishop, received 
 the command, "forward." Speeding on his way, he despatched his business with 
 the council; and hastening back to the "White House," the residence of Mrs. 
 Custis, he surrendered at discretion to the fascinating widow, whose bright and 
 irresistible artillery had completely carried by storm the heart of the gifted colonel. 
 With much pomp and magnificence they were married, and Colonel Washington 
 immediately took his interesting bride and her children to his estate on the. Potomac, 
 the now world-renowned and classic MOUNT VERNON. The record of this marriage 
 is utterly lost, but it is supposed to have taken place in the year 1759. 
 
 Washington and his lady were tenderly attached to each other, and this devotion 
 continued throughout their long union of nearly a half century. She shared 
 with him all his anxieties, and was his consoling angel amidst the trying and ad- 
 verse scenes of the Revolution ; and when, at length, victory perched on the Amer- 
 ican arms, and "the great, the good, the noble Father of his Country" was loaded 
 with the highest honors that a grateful people could bestow, she stood proudly, yet 
 tearfully, by his side, and shared his triumph too. 
 
 LADY WASHINGTON presided at the presidential mansion, during the administra- 
 tion of her noble spouse, with equal grace and dignity, and, in the retirement of 
 Mount Vernon, assumed and discharged the matronly duties of housekeeper with 
 fidelity and ease. Absolutely declining all further public cares, Washington and his 
 lady looked forward to a few years of quiet and luxurious retirement amidst the 
 rural scenes of their beloved Mount Vernon. But the summons to depart came sud- 
 denly to the veteran soldier, and he left the loving and faithful sharer of his toils 
 and triumphs broken-hearted and alone. For two years she presided still at the des- 
 olated mansion where she had experienced so much real enjoyment, moving about 
 with the same dignity and alertness, but with a brow pinched and shaded with " a 
 rooted sorrow," when she gladly hailed the grim messenger sent to call her to a 
 blessed reunion with the beloved ones who had gone before to the land of rest, and 
 bade adieu to " all of earth," with a serene faith in " Him in whom she had trusted, 
 and whose service, for more than half a century, had been her joy and delight." 
 
THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO. 
 
 AMONG the strangers whose sympathy led them to abandon home and ease to 
 engage in the rough and perilous struggle for freedom which young Amer- 
 iea had waged with old England, towards the close of the eighteenth century, 
 THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO occupied a conspicuous rank. Of handsome person, brave 
 almost to rashness, of gentle and fascinating manners, and possessed, withal, of a 
 nature that scorned the thought of meanness, he endeared himself to his superiors 
 and equals, and left behind him a memory fragrant and perennial. 
 
 Kosciusko was born in Lithuania, Poland, in 1746. He belonged to one of the 
 most ancient and noble families of that unhappy kingdom, whose fate, so sad and 
 romantic, fills one of the darkest pages of history. After availing himself of the 
 best preparatory means, he pursued his studies at the military school at Warsaw, 
 and completed his education at Paris. It was in this city that he made the ac- 
 quaintance of Dr. Franklin, from whom he learned the history of our country, and 
 its struggle for independence. Fired with the story, his heart yearned to strike a blow 
 for freedom, and he proposed to Franklin to offer his services to Washington, then 
 cornmander-in-chief of the American continental army. Franklin, struck with the 
 
68 THADDEUSKOSCIUSKO. 
 
 noble bearing of the young Pole, gave him a letter to Washington, with which he 
 immediately embarked for America. Presenting himself without ceremony at head- 
 quarters, he handed the letter of Franklin to the illustrious Captain of the Revolution, 
 who, on reading it, demanded of the patriotic Pole, " What do you seek here ? " "I 
 came," was his brave reply, "to fight as a volunteer for American independence.'' 
 " What can you do ? " asked his excellency. " Try me," was the laconic and compre- 
 hensive reply of Kosciusko. Charmed with the frank and noble spirit of this young pil- 
 grim to the shrine of Liberty, Washington immediately took him into his family, and 
 made him his aid. From that time until the close of the war, he enjoyed the confi- 
 dence of Washington, and commanded the respect and most sincere affection of the 
 general's staff. 
 
 The services of Kosciusko were invaluable to the American army. His great 
 scientific attainments, and thorough knowledge of the science of engineering, were 
 put into instant requisition, and Congress appointed him engineer, and conferred on 
 him the title of colonel. In the autumn of 1777, Gates, having determined to fix 
 and fortify his camp at Bemis's Heights, afterwards so famous in our revolutionary 
 history, called Kosciusko to aid him in the work. 
 
 After performing this service, Kosciusko was sent to West Point, on the Hudson, 
 to superintend the erection of works of defence on those beautiful and commanding 
 heights. And here, as was befitting, when the labors of his life were closed, a beau- 
 tiful monument was erected to his memory by the students of the Military Academy 
 afterwards established at that place. 
 
 At the close of the war, Kosciusko returned to fight the battles of liberty in his 
 native land, and was appointed major general, under the gallant Poniatowski. Here 
 his bravery and judgment begot him much credit. 
 
 In 1794, a new revolution swept over ill-fated Poland. In the midst of that dread- 
 ful storm, Kosciusko was called to assume the helm of the ship of state, and was 
 appointed dictator, with full and unrestricted powers. In the exercise of this tre- 
 mendous commission, he verified the confidence of his friends, although he failed to 
 secure liberty to his country. Russian power was as it has ever since been too 
 great to be successfully resisted, and the chain was once more riveted on poor, bleed- 
 ing Poland. Kosciusko, himself severely wounded, overpowered by numbers, Was 
 taken prisoner, and shut up in a Russian dungeon, while 
 
 " Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell, 
 And Freedom shrieked, as Kosciusko fell." 
 
 After suffering long the indescribable horrors of a Russian prison, he was at 
 length released, on the accession of Paul, loaded with honors, and offered a commis- 
 sion in the Russian army; which honor he gracefully but firmly declined, although 
 the emperor earnestly entreated him to accept, and offered him his own sword. 
 " What need have I of a sword," he bitterly and mournfully replied, since I have 
 no longer a country to defend ? " 
 
 In 1797, Kosciusko visited the United States, when high honors were conferred 
 on him, and a large grant of land made by Congress, in consideration of his emi- 
 nent services. He remained in America many years, but, towards the close of his 
 life, he went to Switzerland, and died there, October 16, 1817, in the seventy-second 
 year of his age. 
 
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 "VYJ'HEN a great captain dies, whether he fall on the ensanguined field of glory, 
 T T or die amidst the scenes of retirement and of home, the pageant, the pomp, 
 and heraldry of war blaze his death and his deeds to the world ; but when the 
 philosopher passes away, whose life of glorious deeds has been bloodless, and 
 almost unknown to the busy world, the tears of good men keep his memory green, 
 and humanity mourns that earth has been bereft of one of its benefactors. So wept 
 humanity when Rittenhouse expired. 
 
 DAVID RITTENHOUSE was born of humble but honest parents, at Germantown, 
 Pennsylvania, on the 8th of April, 1732. His early life was devoted to the common 
 labors of the farm; but even his childhood gave evidence of a teeming genius be- 
 neath the ploughboy's rough exterior. Figures, diagrams, and pictures covered the 
 implements of his labor, the walls of his room, the fences, and even the stones of 
 the field. Being a delicate child, the arduous duties of husbandry were found to be 
 too much for his strength, and he was "put out" to learn the trade of clock and 
 mathematical instrument making. Here he soon became the master and teacher, 
 and made great improvements in every piece of work he undertook. He also dis- 
 covered fluxions, and for years supposed himself the author of this remarkable 
 
TO DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 
 
 invention, not knowing that Newton and Leibnitz had been quarrelling for that honor 
 for many years. While in this obscure condition, he planned and put into operation 
 an orrery, which represented the situation and relation of all the bodies of the solar 
 system, present, past, and to corne, forever. This masterpiece of genius and mechan- 
 ism was purchased by the government of the college of New Jersey. Another, after 
 the same model, was ordered for the use of the college of Philadelphia. 
 
 In 1770, he removed to Philadelphia, where his reputation soon became world- 
 wide, and his clocks and mathematical, instruments won the highest encomiums. 
 Previous to this, he had made a communication to the Philosophical Society in 
 Philadelphia, in which he calculated, with great exactness, the transit of Venus, 
 which was to take place on the 3d of June, 1769, and he was one of the number 
 appointed to observe it. The day was cloudless, and every thing conspired to render 
 the observation perfect. Twice only, before, had mortal eye looked on such an 
 august ceremonial, and on its revelations hung many of the predictions of astron- 
 omers and philosophers. No wonder that the bosom of our philosopher heaved with 
 many and high emotions ; no wonder he hung with fear and trembling on the slow, 
 leaden-winged seconds which immediately preceded the contact and embrace of 
 those long-separated wanderers of the sky. Slowly they approach ; at length they 
 touch; the exactness of his predictions is verified : the joy, the wonder, the glad sur- 
 prise is too much for his delicate frame, and the transported Rittenhouse swoons! 
 On the 9th of November following, he observed the transit of Mercury. His ac- 
 count of both these transits is recorded in the annals of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society, of which, in 1791, he was chosen president, on the demise of Dr. 
 Franklin, and on which occasion he made a donation to the society of three hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 In 1775, he was appointed one of the commissioners for the settlement of a terri- 
 torial dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia; in 17845, for establishing the 
 western and northern boundaries of Pennsylvania ; and, in 1787, for fixing the 
 boundary line between Massachusetts and New York. In the discharge of these 
 onerous and arduous duties, he secured the approbation of those who employed him, 
 and endeared himself to all those who were associated with him in the various com- 
 missions. He held the office of Treasurer to the State of Pennsylvania from 1777 
 to 1789, and, in 1792, was appointed Director of the Mint, which office he resigned, 
 in 1795, on account of ill health. His health, which had never been robust, had been 
 gradually failing him for years. He foresaw, without alarm, the hastening of his 
 chariot wheels to their goal; for his unclouded faith practical as it was beautiful 
 in the goodness of God and the truth of the Christian revelation enabled him to 
 look through the mists of time into the exhaustless regions of eternity, w T here he 
 should renew his investigations of the Divine Mind under circumstances more pro- 
 pitious to his efforts and his unutterable desires. And when, on a lovely day in 
 June, the messenger of release came to open the portal of heaven to his soul, with 
 an angelic smile he bade his weeping friends farewell, and, with childlike confidence 
 commending his spirit to his heavenly guide, without a doubt or fear, set out on 
 " the uncertain, everlasting journey." 
 
MRS. JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 IN our estimate of the moral forces which cooperated in the formation of the 
 American government, and to which we owe, under Providence, all our political 
 and social greatness, we are not sufficiently conscious of the influence of the gen- 
 tler sex. In the moulding of the characters of those great and good men who 
 wrought out our independence ; in the inspirations of an unselfish and all-sacrificing 
 patriotism which never since have been equalled, and before only among the Isaiahs 
 and Jeremiahs of old time ; in the stem and unbending integrity which no hardship 
 or penury could shake, and no temptations bribe ; in all this we can scarcely esti- 
 mate too highly the influence of woman. Nor is the portion of toil and suffering 
 borne by the Women of our Revolution, in the actual struggle for national freedom, 
 Jisignificant, or undeserving our meed of gratitude and praise. We are proud to 
 ecord our testimonial of their worth, and sincerely regret that the record of so many 
 has passed away forever. 
 
 Mrs. ADAMS, the wife of John Adams, second President of the United Slates, was 
 the daughter of Rev. William Smith, of Wey mouth, and, both in the maternal and 
 paternal line, of regular puritanic descent. Her scholastic education was deficient ; 
 she " never having attended any school in her life," according to her own testimony. 
 
T2 MRS. JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 It was under the wise and faithful instructions of her maternal grandfather, Colonel 
 John Quincy, and his accomplished and excellent wife, that her mind seems to have 
 expanded into unwonted maturity. In later life, she speaks of her residence in this 
 family with enthusiastic thanks. " I have not forgotten," she writes to her daughter, 
 in 1795, " the excellent lessons which I received from my grandmother ; " and again, 
 in 1808, " I cherish her memory with holy veneration, whose maxims I have treas- 
 ured up, whose virtues live in my remembrance ; happy if I could say, they have 
 been transplanted into my life." 
 
 Near the completion of her twentieth year, on the 25th of October, 1764, she was 
 married to John Adams, then a lawyer in the small town of Braintree, now Quincy. 
 For the space of ten years, her life passed in quiet happiness and domestic tranquil- 
 lity. When the needs of the country demanded the services of her husband, who 
 had already become prominent as a defender of his country, the scene changed. 
 Severe were the labors of that trying hour, and all true men and women were called 
 upon to bear their portion of them. Mrs. Adams was of a temper not to shrink 
 from her allotted share. With a cheerful zeal, and a calm serenity, she discharged 
 her household duties, and the business which her husband was obliged to abandon 
 to her care. In the midst of dreadful alarms of battles, and the most anxious 
 solicitude for her husband's safety, with pestilence ravaging her household, herself 
 also a victim, she writes, " I am distressed, but not dismayed. I have been able 
 to maintain a calmness and presence of mind, and I hope I shall, let the exigency 
 of the times be what it will." Her letters, during this period, present a most vivid 
 picture of those days of peril and glory, as well as of the domestic scenes of her 
 own and her neighbors' households. 
 
 In 1778, Mr. Adams was sent abroad, whither, in 1784, he was followed by his 
 consort. In her new relations abroad, she exhibited the same nobility of nature as 
 she had done in her humbler condition, and won for herself the spontaneous homage 
 of all great minds. Her letters, during her absence, are full of interesting facts and 
 sharp analyses of men and society. She returned home on the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution ; and, on the retirement of Washington, Mr. Adams succeeded to the pres- 
 idency by a bare majority, and in the midst of the most bitter and heated political 
 controversy this country has ever known. The position of Mrs. Adams was a trying 
 one, and she demeaned herself with a dignity and firmness which, if it did not dis- 
 arm prejudice, awakened the admiration of all. 
 
 The latter portion of the life of Mrs. Adams was spent in the peaceful enjoyment 
 of an affluent and happy home, amidst the early and cherished scenes and haunts 
 of childhood. She died at Quincy, beloved and respected by all who knew her, on 
 the 28th of October, 1818, at the age of seventy-four. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 A MONG the brave men who fought the early battles of our country, none 
 XlL were braver than Putnam. He was of a kind and peaceful nature, never 
 creating or causing a broil; but when roused by insult or injustice, his lion heart 
 leaped to his hand, and his blows on the heads of wrong-doers fell " fast and 
 furious." When a mere boy, being insulted by another and much larger and older 
 boy, on account of his rustic appearance, he challenged and whipped the offender, 
 greatly to the delight of a crowd of lookers-on. And what schoolboy has not read 
 the thrilling story of "Old Put" and the wolf? 
 
 He served in the old French and Indian war, in which his whole career teemed 
 with acts of romantic chivalry. We cannot relate all his hardships, hair-breadth 
 escapes, and wonderful feats. The following must suffice: 
 
 In 1757, while Putnam bore the rank of major, he was ordered, in company 
 with the intrepid Major Rogers, with a detachment of several hundred men, to 
 watch the movements of the enemy, who were encamped near Ticonderoga. Being 
 discovered, he was compelled, with his command, to retreat through the forest on 
 Fort Edward. He had not gone far when he fell upon an ambush of about five 
 hundred French and Indians. Taken by surprise, Putnam halted his troops, and 
 
74 MAJOR GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 returned the fire of his enemy. He had just crossed a creek, and knew that he 
 could not retreat with safety. Encouraging his men, they held their ground, and 
 the battle became general, and waxed hot. In the early part of the fray, Putnam 
 had become separated from the body, and found himself compelled to defend him- 
 self against several savages at once. Thrice had he slain his antagonist, and his 
 fusee was pressed against the breast of another stalwart savage, who was rushing 
 on him, when it missed fire. The Indian, with an exulting yell, leaped on his 
 victim, with uplifted tomahawk, when Putnam surrendered at discretion. His 
 master immediately bound him to a tree, and joined in the melee once more. 
 While thus bound, a brutal Frenchman discovered him, and, pressing his musket 
 to his side, attempted to discharge it; but it missed fire. After beating him cruelly 
 in the face with the but of his musket, he left him. Just at that instant a solitary 
 young Indian discovered his defenceless position, and amused himself by hurling 
 his tomahawk into the tree close to his head on either side. 
 
 In the course of the fight, the combatants so changed their ground that Major 
 Putnam was exactly between them for some time, the balls from both sides striking 
 the tree, and riddling his clothes. At the close of the fight, he was unbound by 
 his master and led into captivity. Here his sufferings commenced. He was 
 obliged to travel barefoot, and loaded much beyond his strength. Each night 
 he was bound and guarded beyond the possibility of escape. He was treated with 
 great cruelty, and nearly starved, the savages taking special delight in torturing him 
 in every conceivable way. At length a council of war was held, and it was deter- 
 mined to burn him alive. He was bound to a sapling, and dry fagots and pitch- 
 wood were piled high around him, and set on fire. He was so bound that he could 
 move round the tree; the savages, with hellish delight, exulting in his vain endeavors 
 to escape the flames, which were beginning to scorch his flesh. Poor Putnam now 
 gave up all hope, and made up his mind to die like a hero, when a sudden shower 
 of rain dampened the flames. Just at this moment, his master, who had been sep- 
 arated from his party for a few days, made his appearance, and, claiming his prize, 
 scattered the burning brands, and unbound his prisoner, thus saving him from the 
 most excruciating death. 
 
 His master, who, Indian as he was, had some sparks of humanity in his savage 
 breast, dressed his wounds, fed him, put some moccasons on his feet, and a 
 blanket over his shoulders, and protected him from the insults and cruelties of his 
 enemies during the remainder of the march. At night, he was stretched upon his 
 back, on the ground, his hands and feet bound to four saplings as far asunder as 
 his limbs could be stretched. Across him long poles were laid, on each end of which 
 several Indians stretched themselves before they went to sleep. In this painful sit- 
 uation he did not lose -his fortitude, and often, as he afterwards said, amused him- 
 self with the ludicrousness of his situation, and could not forbear smiling as he 
 imagined himself and his tawny masters a rich subject for the pencil of a Hogarth. 
 
 But he survived all his trials and exposures, and was at length exchanged, with 
 others, and lived to fight other battles for his country, and, at the close of the war, to 
 retire to his farm, and live to a good old age, to die in peace and Christian hope. 
 
 General Putnam was born in Salem, Massachusetts, January 7, 1718, and died at 
 Brooklyn, Connecticut, May 29, 1790, aged seventy-two years. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. 
 
 rr^HIS intrepid and gallant young officer, over whose sad fate so many eyes have 
 JL moistened, held, at the time of his death, the rank of major general in the British 
 army. He was born in Westerham, Kent county, England, January 2, 1727. He 
 early turned his thoughts to the army, and, before he was twenty, was already accus- 
 tomed to the smell of the " villanous saltpetre." He held a commission in the expe- 
 dition against Louisburg, and was in nearly every battle fought in that Germanic 
 war. At the peace of Aix la Chapelle, he returned to England, and, receiving a 
 major general's commission, immediately joined an expedition against Canada, 
 then held by the French. Late in June, 1759, he landed at Orleans, an island in 
 the immediate neighborhood of Quebec. 
 
 The French forces were concentrated at this point, and were under the command 
 of General Montcalm, a brave and accomplished officer, and of a high lineage in 
 France. He was strongly posted, and considered his position wholly impreg- 
 nable. Wolfe commenced offensive operations by attacking the French intrench- 
 ments on the left bank of the St. Charles. He was repulsed with loss. Perceiving 
 that nothing could be effected unless the heights, on which the town was built, could 
 be attained, he resolved to make the perilous attempt. With herculean labor and 
 
 6 
 
<6 MAJOR GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. 
 
 consummate skill this was achieved, and nothing was left for Montcalm but to fly 
 or fight. lie resolved to give battle to the English ; a battle upon which was to 
 hang the fate of Quebec, and the question whether French or English rale should 
 sway the future destinies of the Canadas. He immediately marched to the conflict, 
 (Tossing the St. Charles, and showing his bristling front on the ever-memorable 
 4i Plains of Abraham." The charge was impetuous, and well maintained; but the 
 British sustained the shock with undaunted firmness. The fight was sanguinary 
 and brief. Early in the action, General Wolfe received a bullet in his wrist. Hastily 
 wrapping a handkerchief around it, he continued to lead the fray and animate his 
 troops. Quickly after he received another shot in the groin. This he concealed 
 from his soldiers, and continued to command as before. But he was a marked target 
 for a few Canadians who had concealed themselves on the left; and immediately 
 after, whilst charging the French at the head of his grenadiers, he received a third 
 bullet in the breast, and fell on the field of combat mortally wounded. At that mo- 
 ment he forgot himself, and thought only of the issue of the battle. " Support me," 
 he said to an officer near at hand ; " let not my brave soldiers see me drop. The 
 day is ours, keep it." He was taken to the rear, where he anxiously inquired, 
 "How goes the battle?" "They run, they run!" exclaimed the officer. "Who 
 runs ? " he inquired, with great enthusiasm. " The enemy, sir," was the gratifying 
 reply; "they give way everywhere." "Now, God be praised," was his exultant 
 response, " I die happy ! " He never spoke again, and almost immediately expired 
 in the arms of his heart-broken officers, who loved him as a man, and gloried in him 
 as a leader. 
 
 The brave and gallant Montcalm fell at the same time, and the spirits of the two 
 Chivalrous warriors went up together, in the same chariot of fire, to those " Plains of 
 Abraham " where battles never are waged. The remains of the victorious W'olfe 
 were carried to England, and deposited in Westminster Abbey, where a monument 
 was erected to his memory : those of the vanquished Montcalm were thrown into 
 a pit, on the battle field, made by the explosion of a shell, and lie there until this 
 day. What a comment on war ! civilized, Christian war ! 
 
 General Wolfe was the true type of a gentleman-soldier. Urbane and gracious, 
 full of benevolence, seeking out the objects of charity in his camp, he conciliated 
 his men, while by his strict discipline he prevented many of the evils incident to 
 large military bodies. His clear, quick apprehension, his sound judgment and 
 daring courage, eminently fitted him to be a leader. He won the confidence of his 
 troops at once, and they felt almost certain that to follow his lead was to insure a 
 victory. His many manly virtues and his tragical fate have been the theme of song 
 and prose, and will continue to be while the glory of battle is said or sung. 
 
 - 
 
MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
 M 
 
 AJOR GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY was born in the north 
 of Ireland, in 1737. Possessed of a brilliant genius, and a highly-cultivated 
 mind, he entered the English army, at the early age of twenty, with considerable 
 eclat He fought side by side with Wolfe, at the taking of Quebec a place so 
 singularly destined to witness his first and his last battles. On his return to Eng- 
 land, he decided to make America his home ; and, marrying a daughter of Robert 
 R. Livingston, he settled down upon the North River as an American citizen. 
 
 On the breaking out of the Revolution, he took sides with his adopted country, 
 and became a devoted patriot. With a brigadier's commission, he joined the expe- 
 dition against Quebec, in the winter of 1775, under General Schuyler, where he soon 
 assumed the command, in consequence of the illness of his superior, and was hon- 
 ored with the commission of major general. In this arduous campaign, his brilliant 
 military talents fully developed themselves. 
 
 .At the head of a well-disciplined and well-appointed army, brilliant deeds are 
 expected of its commander ; but when these bright feats of arms are exhibited by 
 such an army as the gallant Montgomery commanded, we cannot withhold our 
 tribute of admiration for the noble spirits who direct its movements. True, those 
 
78 MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY. 
 
 soldiers were brave men, fighting for liberty and their homes, but they were destitute 
 of almost all else that constitutes the magazines of war. Half clad, half fed, shoe- 
 less, and nearly destitute of artillery, at midwinter, in the severest climate in the 
 world, overwhelmed with nearly daily avalanches of snow from the exhaustless 
 clouds, it required the genius, the prompt and noble daring of Montgomery to lead 
 such a forlorn hope to victory. Thrice at St. John's, Chambly, and Montreal 
 had his undisciplined and mutinous troops achieved a triumph through the genius 
 of their leader ; and it only wanted that Quebec should be added, to make the list 
 of his conquests complete. Every thing combined to oppose his success. Whole 
 companies deserted, and the remainder of the invading army became so mutinous 
 and turbulent, that even Montgomery, beloved and feared as he was, nearly lost all 
 control of them. The snow, which had been falling incessantly for several days, 
 was piled into large drifts by furious gales, and the cold was most intense. Yet 
 nothing cooled the ardor of Montgomery. He determined to attack the garrison, 
 greatly his superiors in number and force. Covered by a heavy fall of snow, he 
 advanced to the assault. A battery of three guns had been placed so as to command 
 the narrow pass through which the American army was defiling. Already had the 
 enemy discovered, dimly, through the veil of snow, the movements of the intrepid 
 Montgomery, while his clear voice was heard, like the tones of a trumpet, encour- 
 aging his troops " Men of New York! you will not fear to follow where your gen- 
 eral leads. March on ! " Shouts answered this bold appeal, and as he leaped 
 forward over piles of broken ice and rock, and drifted snow, his soldiers trod close 
 upon his heels. At that instant, when within fifty paces of the battery, it opened 
 directly in their faces, and poured such a torrent of grape, that the brave-hearted 
 Montgomery, together with both his aids, and many of his men, was instantly an- 
 nihilated. Terrified at the awful havoc, and the loss of their beloved general, the 
 rest incontinently fled. The death of Montgomery was the token of defeat, and no 
 other name was sufficient to rouse the broken and discomfited ranks of the American 
 army, and shortly after they surrendered themselves prisoners of war. 
 
 The death of this brave officer threw a gloom over the whole country. Congress 
 voted its honors, and a monument to his memory. This vote was subsequently car- 
 ried into execution, and a beautifully chaste monument of white marble erected in 
 front of St. Paul's Church, in the city of New York, with the following inscription : 
 
 This 
 monument is erected by order of Congress, 
 
 25th of January, 1776, 
 to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance of the patriotic conduct, 
 
 enterprise, and perseverance of 
 
 Major General RICHARD MONTGOMERY, 
 
 who, after a series of successes amidst the most discouraging 
 
 difficulties, Fell in the attack on 
 QUEBEC, 31st December, 1775, aged 37 years. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 
 
 BENJAMIN LINCOLN an heroic officer of the Revolution, a skilful diploma- 
 tist, and a ready debater in the councils of his country was born in Hingham, 
 near Boston, on the 23d of January, 1733. 
 
 When the revolutionary war commenced, Lincoln was a lieutenant colonel under 
 commission from Governor Hutchinson. He unhesitatingly threw himself into the 
 cause of the colonists, and, in 1775, was elected member of the Provincial Congress, 
 and by that body appointed one of its secretaries, and a member of the committee 
 of correspondence. In 1776, he received the appointment of brigadier, and soon 
 after that of major general, and the following year entered the continental army, in 
 the same grade, by appointment of Congress, and, in the autumn of the same year, 
 joined the northern army, under Schuyler. He rendered valuable service in that 
 trying campaign, and signalized himself in both of the battles on the plains of Sar- 
 atoga, which proved so disastrous to Burgoyne. He was so severely wounded in 
 the fight of the 7th of October, that he was obliged to leave the army and return 
 home. He rejoined the army, " to the great joy of Washington, who duly appre- 
 ciated his valuable services," in the following August. He was immediately sent to 
 the south, to assume command of the army in that quarter ; which, on his arrival at 
 
FO MAJOR GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 
 
 Charleston, in December, 1778, he found in the most miserably destitute and disor- 
 derly condition. But such were the indefatigable industry and diplomatic energy of 
 the commander, that, in June following, he found himself able to take the field and 
 commence offensive operations, though with small success. 
 
 On the 19th of June, General Lincoln attacked a garrison of the enemy strongly 
 posted at Stono Ferry, which was followed by the chivalrous attack on Savannah 
 in conjunction with the impetuous D'Estaing. In both these actions, the Americans 
 were compelled to retire with a heavy loss. At Charleston, which place he under- 
 took to defend against the siege and blockade of Sir Henry Clinton's army of nine 
 thousand men, he was equally unsuccessful, and, after a brave resistance of more 
 than two months, was compelled to capitulate and render up the city and the army 
 under his command. 
 
 Such was the popularity of General Lincoln with the army, and the whole coun- 
 try, that their confidence was not abated in any degree ; for when, on being ex- 
 changed, in 1781, he rejoined the army, he was sent to cooperate once more with the 
 southern army, and had the high satisfaction of aiding in the reduction of Yorktown, 
 and of conducting the defeated army to the field where they were to lay down then- 
 arms at the feet of the illustrious Washington. 
 
 Immediately on the close of the war, General Lincoln was appointed Secretary 
 of War, retaining his rank in the army. He resigned the office in 1783, and received 
 the thanks of Congress for his patriotic military and civil services. He now retired 
 to his farm, where he passed his time in agricultural and literary pursuits until 
 1786-7, when he once more took the field to quell the famous Shays's insurrection. 
 Having triumphantly accomplished this, he once more sought the seclusion of his 
 home, and, although called repeatedly to the discharge of various public duties, he 
 passed the remainder of his life in comparative quiet and happiness. 
 
 General Lincoln held the post of lieutenant governor, was a member of the con- 
 vention called to ratify the new constitution, and for many years was collector of 
 the port of Boston, besides filling many minor offices. He received from Har- 
 vard University the degree of Master of Arts, was a member of the American Acad- 
 emy of Arts and Sciences, as well as of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 
 and was president of the Society of Cincinnati from its organization to the day of 
 his death. In all these, as well as his private relations, he was trusted, respected, 
 beloved. He closed his honorable and useful life in the seventy-eighth year of his 
 age, at Hingham, on the 9th of May, 1810. 
 
FISHER AMES. 
 
 AMES, so widely known as an eloquent orator and distinguished 
 JL statesman, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1758. 
 He sprung from one of the oldest and most respectable families in the ancient com- 
 monwealth. His father was a physician of some celebrity in Dedham. In 1774 
 he was graduated at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Having com- 
 pleted his academic course with much credit to himself, he determined on the study 
 of law, and opened an office in his native village in the autumn of 1781. 
 
 Although young Ames took a deep interest in the stirring scenes of the Revolu- 
 tion, and sympathized, with his whole heart, with the patriots, he was too young to 
 take any active part in them. When he came to man's estate, he retained his in- 
 terest in the growth and progress of the young states, and was early called by his 
 fellow-citizens to take part in the councils of his native town and state, as well as 
 of those of the nation. Besides the publication of many striking articles in the 
 journals of the day, in which the affairs of the nation were so skilfully discussed as 
 to give evidence of a very thorough knowledge of the science of government and 
 politic?, an opportunity was afforded in the convention called in his native stale., 
 " for the consideration and ratification of the Federal Constitution," and of which in- 
 
^2 FISHER AMES. 
 
 was chosen a member, for a more striking display of his oratorical powers, and the 
 brilliancy of his genius. The speeches he delivered in this convention took his 
 friends and the world by surprise, and at once established his reputation as one of 
 the ablest and most eloquent debaters of that day. 
 
 When at length, in 1789, the general government of the United States went into 
 operation under the Federal Constitution, Mr. Ames was elected a member of Con- 
 gress from his native district, retaining his seat through the whole of Washington's 
 administration, of which he was an able and efficient supporter. During the whole 
 time Mr. Ames was in Congress, he was one of the most efficient debaters of the 
 important questions which came before that body. With a comprehensive insight 
 of the subject in hand, greatly superior to many older and more experienced legis- 
 lators, his eloquent reasoning made the rough places smooth, and carried conviction 
 to the heart and judgment of those who listened to him. When, towards the close 
 of the last session of which he was a member, the question relative to the appropri- 
 ations necessary to carry into effect the British treaty was the subject of debate 
 before the house, Mr. Ames, although in a very feeble state of health, made such an 
 overwhelming argument that the opposition begged that the vote might not then be 
 taken, as the effect of his speech was such as to unfit the members to vote dispas- 
 sionately. What a tribute to his eloquence and reasoning powers ! 
 
 This was the last great effort of his life ; and, feeling that it would be, he made 
 such touching allusion " to his own slender and almost broken thread of life," that 
 his audience was visibly affected ; and he was so much exhausted with the effort 
 that his friends feared that it might greatly accelerate his disease. 
 
 At the close of the session, Mr. Ames travelled at the South, and visited several 
 of the watering-places in Virginia, by which his health was considerably benefited. 
 About this time, the College of New Jersey conferred on him the title of Doctor of 
 Laws. Declining to be a candidate for reelection, he retired to his paternal acres, 
 where, with the exception of consenting to serve a few years as a member of the 
 council, he remained a private citizen to the close of his life. 
 
 A few years before his decease, he was chosen President of Harvard University, 
 but declined the honor on account of his health. Indeed, his disease had so preyed 
 on his constitution that he found himself compelled to give up entirely the duties 
 of his profession, solacing himself with the oversight of his farm, and the pleasures 
 of society and of home. Here, beloved and respected by all, sustained and cheered 
 by an unclouded Christian faith, he waited for the approach of death, and went, at 
 last, 
 
 " Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 A NTHONY WAYNE " Mad Anthony," as he was familiarly called in the 
 -Z\- army, on account of his reckless, headlong courage whose grandfather com- 
 manded a company of dragoons at the battle of Boyne, and whose father exhibited 
 great sagacity and bravery in many engagements with the savages which prowled 
 about his cradle-home, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the first day of 
 the year 1745. He never had much taste for severe study, although he took kindly 
 to mathematics, and, at the age of eighteen, he left the academy at Philadelphia, 
 and entered upon the business of surveying. Entering warmly into the controversy 
 of the colonies with the mother country, he became an ardent patriot, and soon had 
 the first wish of his heart gratified by a military commission. In 1775, he raised a 
 regiment of volunteers, and was chosen its colonel. The next year, he received the 
 appointment of colonel from the Continental Congress, and was placed at the head 
 of one of the Pennsylvania regiments, with which he joined the northern army, 
 fought, and was severely wounded, at the battle of the " Three Rivers," received a 
 brigadier's commission in 1777, was appointed to the command of Ticonderoga, 
 and, in the spring following, joined Washington in New Jersey. 
 
 On the llth and 16th of September, on the field of Brandywine, battle was had 
 
84: MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 for a noble prize between the American and English armies. That prize was the 
 city of Philadelphia. Wayne led the advance on the occasion, and suffered the 
 chagrin of seeing the city fall into the hands of the enemy. At Germantown, also, 
 he fought wHh bravery and prudence, but was compelled to retreat before a superior 
 force. While our army lay in winter quarters at Valley Forge, Wayne was sent 
 into New Jersey to forage, which duty he performed to the delight of his com- 
 mander, and the surprise of the enemy, from under whose very nose he succeeded 
 in carrying off large supplies of cattle and forage. It was of this expedition, and 
 its leader, that the witty Andre employed the satire of his pen in a song set to the 
 music of " Yankee Doodle." The last stanzas of this philippic ran thus : 
 
 " But now, I end my lyric strain 
 
 I tremble as I show it, 
 Lest this same warrior- drover, Wayne, 
 Should ever catch the poet." 
 
 Singularly enough, when Andre was taken, he was delivered into the hands of this 
 same " warrior-drover." 
 
 We next find Wayne at Stony 'Point, which, by a well-devised and promptly- 
 executed stratagem, he assaulted and carried, killing sixty-three, and taking five 
 hundred and forty-three, of the enemy. In the assault, he received a shot in the 
 knee, and fell. Rising instantly on one. knee, he exclaimed, " Forward, my brave 
 fellows, forward ! " For this valuable service, Congress voted him thanks. 
 
 In January, 1781, the Pennsylvania army revolted, and, parading without officers, 
 seized the camion, ammunition, and provisions, and determined to march to Congress, 
 in a body, to present their grievances. Wayne presented himself, and tried all in 
 his power to quell the revolt by words of kindness and threatening. Finding that 
 he produced no effect on them, he drew his pistols, and swore he would shoot the 
 first man who moved. The soldiers presented their muskets, and answered him 
 thus : " We respect and love you ; you have often led us to the battle field ; but you 
 are our leader no longer. Dare but to discharge your pistols, and you are instantly 
 a dead man. We are still attached to the cause, and are ready to meet the enemy 
 in the breach ; but we will have redress" For their insubordination they were dis- 
 missed, with disgrace, from the service, and the ringleaders punished. 
 
 Wayne then went to Virginia, where he served with Washington and La Fayette, 
 and witnessed the happy conclusion of the war at the surrender of Yorktown. After 
 some unimportant services rendered at the south, he retired to private life. 
 
 The Indians on our north-western frontier, aided by the British and tories, had 
 grown insolent, and committed the most wanton ravages and cruelties on that bor- 
 der. Harmar, St. Clair, and other brave officers had yielded to their savage prowess. 
 In 1792, Wayne was appointed to the command of the north-western army. After 
 much manoeuvring, he succeeded in bringing the enemy to battle, and routed them with 
 immense slaughter, the Indian force being twice that of his own. This brought the 
 savages to their senses, and, after holding out for a few months, they at length, on 
 the 3d of August, 1795, signed a treaty of peace. 
 
 In the winter of 1796, in a miserable hut at Presque Isle, this veteran warrior, in 
 the service of his country, breathed his last in the arms of his officers, and was 
 buried on the shores of Lake Erie. 
 
BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
 
 THE career of BENEDICT ARNOLD fills one of the most mournfully instructive 
 pages of history. With talents of the highest cast, it was in his power to have 
 inscribed his name high on that list of worthies who will claim forever the love and 
 reverence of the world. A selfish ambition was his destruction ; and because his 
 country did not think fit to gratify it to its full, he sought to sell that country into 
 perpetual bondage. He thought, too, 
 
 " good, easy man, full surely 
 His greatness was a-ripening ; " 
 
 but the "killing frost" of justice "nipped its root," and he fell to depths of infamy 
 which none but Judas Iscariot before had ever reached. 
 
 Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on the 3d of January, 1740. 
 He was bred an apothecary, and gave early evidence of the genius and bravery 
 which afterwards marked his career. For many years, he was a druggist in New 
 Haven, and commanded a volunteer company in that place when the war of inde- 
 pendence broke out. On hearing of the battle of Lexington, he marched at once to 
 Cambridge, and tendered his services to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, by 
 
86 BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
 
 whom he was well received, and immediately authorized to raise a company of four 
 hundred men for the reduction of Ticonderoga. The result of this expedition may 
 be learned from our life of Ethan Allen. On his return, in the fall of 1775, he was or- 
 dered by Washington, with a force of one thousand men, to penetrate the wilderness 
 of the then " District of Maine," to Canada, to surprise and take the city of Quebec, 
 and reduce the Canadas. The accomplishment of this perilous march was highly 
 creditable to the military genius of its leader, and, although the great object of the cam- 
 paign was not attained, it established the reputation of Arnold as a skilful and heroic 
 officer. On the death of this brave officer, the command devolved on Arnold, and he 
 conducted himself with great bravery, and brought success to the American arms, as 
 well in command of the fleet on Lake Champlain as in the relief of Fort Schuyler, 
 under command of Colonel Gansevoort, which was invested with a British army of 
 eighteen hundred men, under Colonel St. Leger. In the battle of Stillwater, September 
 19, as also in the action of the 7th of October, at Bemis's Heights, he conducted him- 
 self with the utmost gallantry, and " fought like a devil incarnate." At the latter 
 battle, he actually assaulted the whole length of the enemy's lines, amidst a perfect 
 hurricane of round and grape shot; and when at length the intrenchments were 
 forced, at the head of a mere handful of men he entered the works, where his horse 
 was shot from under him, and he himself badly wounded in the leg. 
 
 This was the last active service of Colonel Arnold in behalf of the American 
 cause ; and had that unlucky grape selected his head, instead of falling 
 
 " Like a bright exhalation in the evening, 
 And no man see him more," 
 
 his sun had gone down in glory, and his memory been embalmed in millions of 
 grateful hearts. 
 
 Being rendered unfit for active service, he was appointed to the command of the 
 American garrison at Philadelphia. Here his infamous conduct commenced. He 
 lived in the most extravagant manner, confiscating the property of all such citizens 
 as he suspected of tory inclinations, and indulging in a most dissipated and licen- 
 tious life. Indeed, his habits of extravagance had always been a trait of his char- 
 acter, and had reduced him to bankruptcy and distress. In this juncture, he sought 
 the aid of Congress ; but that body, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, declined 
 to grant his prayer. It was now that the double motive of cupidity and revenge 
 stirred his unmanly soul to " the great and damning act " by which he fell. He 
 turned his eyes to West Point, as the best theatre for carrying on his infernal schemes, 
 and asking, obtained the command of that important point. Here he corresponded 
 and bargained with the enemy for the delivery of that valuable fortress into their 
 hands ; and which, but for the timely discovery of the treason by the arrest of Major 
 Andre, would doubtless have been effected. Andre suffered, while the arch apostate 
 escaped, to be loaded with British honors, and British gold, and British contempt, 
 and to render his name a by-word of infamy, and his memory execrable forever, in 
 all the world. He received a major general's commission in the British army, and 
 fought against his country with some success ; and, at the close of the war, retired 
 to England, where he ppssed most of his time in neglected retirement until his death, 
 which occurred on the 14th of June, 1801. Let the warning on his tombstone be, 
 
 " Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me 
 
BENJAMIN WEST. 
 
 celebrated painter was the tenth child of John West and Sarah Pearson, 
 and was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1738. His parents 
 were Quakers. Just before Benjamin was born, Mrs. West was greatly affected by 
 the preaching of a celebrated Quaker preacher of that age, and, relating her expe- 
 rience to him, he predicted that the child yet to be born would become eminent, and 
 solemnly charged the father to be very careful of its education. His genius for the 
 art in which he became so distinguished manifested itself at the early age of six, 
 when he drew the likeness of a little niece of his, who had been left to his charge 
 in a cradle, which was instantly recognized by his delighted mother ; who, remem- 
 bering the prediction of the preacher, already seemed to see its fulfilment. She 
 eagerly and fondly kissed her little boy ; and he, encouraged by such rewards, made 
 rapid progress. In speaking of this circumstance, Mr. West used to say, " That kiss 
 of my mother's made me a painter." 
 
 Soon after this event he was put to school in the neighborhood, and furnished 
 with pens and paper to amuse himself with drawing, none of his friends dreaming 
 of any other materials being necessary for that purpose. Here he became acquainted 
 with some Indians, who, being struck with the accuracy of his drawings of birds and 
 
8S BENJAMIN WEST. 
 
 animals, furnished him with the pigments with which they bedaubed their faces, and 
 taught him how to use them. To this his mother added indigo, and his studio was 
 furnished. 
 
 Happening to hear of camel's hair pencils, and understanding that there were no 
 camels in the land, he substituted the tip of his favorite pussy's tail, and, when that 
 was worn out, the hair upon her back ; until a fortunate circumstance put him in 
 possession of what he so much coveted a regular palette, pencils, and a box of 
 colors. 
 
 We dwell on these early incidents, because they are not only interesting in them- 
 selves, as furnishing the prophecy of the painter's future triumph, but as a lesson to 
 parents carefully and assiduously to nourish the first germs of genius in their off- 
 spring. Many a great man has been crushed in embryo by the dulness or petulance 
 of his parents, and fallen into hopeless mediocrity. 
 
 The early manifestation of genius in young West gained him many friends, and 
 his way was thus opened to the great world, in which he was destined to make such 
 a sensation. His progress was rapid, and all the details of it interesting. We 
 regret that our restricted limits will not allow us to indulge in the strong desire we 
 have to lay them before our readers. 
 
 Young West removed to Philadelphia at the tender age of eight, and, for a few 
 years, made great proficiency under the tutelage of Provost Smith. His first his- 
 torical piece, the " Death of Socrates," was produced about this time. His father was 
 desirous of placing him in business, while many of his friends thought that he ought 
 to be permitted to cultivate his taste and talent for painting. These judicious friends 
 at length prevailed, and the world has occasion to rejoice in the result. 
 
 In 1759, Mr. West, then just twenty-one, embarked for Italy ; arriving at Leghorn 
 and thence journeying to Rome. This journey was enjoyed by our artist with the 
 greatest zest ; and the wonderful works of art, and the rich exhibitions of nature, 
 filled his soul with tumultuous wonder and delight. He soon made himself re- 
 spected among the best artists of Rome, and established his reputation as a painter 
 of great excellence. By the advice of Mengs, who then stood at the head of the 
 painters in Rome, he went first to Florence, thence to Bologna, and afterwards to 
 Venice, meeting with favor every where. After a brief sojourn in Rome, he went to 
 England. He had no intention of remaining here, but circumstances determined 
 him to change his plan, and he set up his easel in London. Here he was intro- 
 duced to the youthful monarch, who immediately took him under his patronage. 
 While painting his " Departure of Regulus," the plan of the " Royal Academy of 
 Fine Arts " was adopted. Reynolds was chosen its first president, and on his death, 
 in 1791, West succeeded to the chair, and presided over the institution until his 
 death, in 1820, with the exception of a brief interim, in which, having mixed him- 
 self up rather freely with French politics, he lost favor at court, and thought best to 
 resign his office. 
 
 Mr. West was a man of great simplicity of manners, credulous and confiding, dil- 
 igent and temperate in his habits, and of a decidedly religious turn of mind ; and, at 
 the age of eighty-one, he closed his eyes on mortality, with his accustomed cheerful- 
 ness, and with all his mental faculties uneclipsed. 
 
MAJOR JOHN ANDRE. 
 
 accomplished and unfortunate young British officer was born in Eng- 
 land, in 1751. He entered the army at the age of seventeen, and became one 
 of Sir Henry Clinton's aids in 1776, with the title of major. When the traitor 
 Arnold proposed to deliver up West Point and the American army to the British, 
 Andre was appointed to confer with Arnold, and settle the preliminaries of that 
 damnable treachery. Under the name of Anderson, he passed into the American 
 lines, and consummated the treasonable propositions of Arnold. Being disappointed 
 of returning to New York by water, he obtained, through Arnold's influence, a pass 
 from the general officer, and started on his return. He had passed, in perfect se- 
 curity, all the posts and guards on the road, and was proceeding to New York in 
 triumph, when, on the 23d of September, one of three American militiamen, who 
 acted as a scouting party, sprung suddenly from his covert and seized his bridle, or- 
 dering him to halt. This was so unlocked for, that Andre lost his self-possession, 
 and inquired hastily of the soldier, " Where do you belong ? " " Below," was the 
 equivocal reply. " So do I," returned Andre. " I am a British officer, and I trust 
 you will allow me to proceed without detention, as I am on important business." A 
 peculiar smile on the face of the militiaman revealed to him his mistake, and the 
 
90 MAJOR JOHN ANDRE. 
 
 other two men coming up at that moment, he discovered, too late, the fatal trap he 
 had sprung upon himself. He then sought to bribe the American soldiers, offering 
 his purse and watch, and promising them the most ample reward from his govern- 
 ment, if they would allow him to proceed. But they were not of the Arnold stamp, 
 and they sternly rejected all his bribes. On searching him, they found concealed in 
 one of his boots, in Arnold's own handwriting, papers containing exact returns of 
 the state of the forces, stores, ordnance, and defences of West Point, with those of 
 all its dependencies, with various other kinds of information necessary to the success 
 of the British, and all addressed to Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the 
 British forces in New York. 
 
 The three brave men whose patriotism was strong enough to resist such brilliant 
 bribes, and the eloquent appeals of the accomplished Andre, were John Paulding, 
 David Williams, and Isaac Van Wert. They deserve, and will ever receive, the 
 gratitude of their country. 
 
 The board of officers composing the court-martial which was to try Andre, and at 
 whose head was General Greene, found him guilty of being a spy, and sentenced 
 him to be hanged. 'After he found himself fairly a prisoner, he threw off all disguises, 
 and acknowledged every thing; indeed, he was convicted on his own confession. 
 Every effort was made to procure a remission of the dreadful verdict, for he was a 
 dear friend of Sir Henry Clinton's, and a favorite with all the officers ; but it was 
 thought too flagrant a case to go unpunished, and the commander of the American 
 army, though with the deepest commiseration, ordered the sentence of the court to 
 be carried into immediate execution. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 2d of October, 1780, he was led forth to execution. When 
 he saw the fatal gibbet, he manifested some emotion, and exclaimed, " Must I die 
 in this manner ? " and in a moment added, " But it will be only a momentary 
 pang;" and, instantly resuming his wonted serenity, he met his fate with a dig- 
 nity and composure which excited the admiration, and deeply moved the pity, of 
 all who witnessed the sad termination of a life so full of promise. 
 
 Thus perished, in the flower of his youth, one of the most gallant and accom- 
 plished officers in the British army, and of whom an enemy, the gifted Hamilton, 
 thus speaks : 
 
 " There was something singularly interesting in the character and fortunes of 
 Major Andre. To an excellent understanding, well improved by education and 
 travel, he united a peculiar elegance of mind and manners, and the advantage of a 
 most pleasing person. He had a pretty taste for the fine arts, and had made con- 
 siderable proficiency in painting, poetry, and music. His knowledge appeared with- 
 out ostentation, and embellished by a diffidence that rarely accompanies so many 
 talents and accomplishments. His sentiments were elevated, and inspired esteem ; 
 they had a softness that conciliated affection. His elocution was handsome, his ad- 
 dress easy, polite, and insinuating. By his merit he had acquired the unlimited 
 confidence of his general, and was making rapid advances in military rank and 
 reputation." 
 
DANIEL BOONE. 
 
 THIS hardy and brave pioneer, and founder of Kentucky, was born in 1748, in 
 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. While 
 yet a mere boy, his father emigrated to North Carolina, and settled on the banks 
 of the South Yadkin River. The wild and daring spirit, the love of adventure, and 
 fearless intrepidity, which characterized his maturer life, were displayed very early. 
 Before he was twenty, he married the daughter of Mr. Ryan, a neighboring settler, 
 by whom he had several children, and who cheerfully shared with him his lonely 
 and repeated removals from civilized into savage life. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1769, Boone, with a few neighbors, started for the western 
 wilderness, and, at length, " located " on the banks of the Red River, in Kentucky, 
 then an unbroken wilderness, which had never known a white man, nor resounded 
 to the stroke of the axe. We cannot follow our hero through all the vicissitudes of 
 his pioneer life; it was one of great peril and many hardships. Several time? 
 taken prisoner by the Indians, he had the tact to conciliate them, and contrive his 
 
 7 
 
92 DANIEL BOONE. 
 
 escape. Enduring much by reason of hunger and privations, toiling early and late 
 to reduce the savage wastes to a condition of cultivation, he acquired such a passion 
 for his wild and adventurous life, that when, in 1792, Kentucky was admitted to the 
 Union, he struck out still farther into the wilderness, and settled, at length, at 
 St. Charles, on the Missouri River, about forty-five miles above St. Louis. On 
 being asked why, at his time of life, he relinquished the comforts of a home he had 
 redeemed from savage life and rendered comfortable, for the renewed trials of a 
 wilderness home, his answer was, " O, I am too crowded ; I must have more elbow 
 room." 
 
 During this interval of time, Colonel Boone had made many lesser changes in 
 his place of residence, and had often been employed by government on missions 
 of hostile and friendly intent among the Indians ; in all of which he exhibited a 
 statesmanship and courage which won for him the approval of his employers, and 
 the admiration of his savage foes. He resided in this last home about fifteen years, 
 when, losing his wife, who had shared with him all his perilous life, he went to 
 spend the remnant of his days with his son, Major Nathan Boone, and where he 
 died, in 1822, breathing his last in perfect resignation, at the great age of eighty- 
 four years. 
 
 It would far exceed our proposed limits to enter into a minute detail of all the 
 romantic and adventurous exploits of this remarkable man ; we content ourselves 
 with the following: 
 
 While a resident in his father's house, on the Yadkin River, being about eighteen 
 years of age, he, in company with another youth of the neighborhood, got up a k ' fire 
 hunt," which is conducted as follows : One of the party rides through the forest 
 on horseback, with a lighted torch swinging above his head, while the other remains 
 in covert. The torch attracts the attention of the deer, and at a signal from the 
 concealed person the torch is held stationary, and, while the eager eyes of the won- 
 dering animal are fixed on the light, a ball is planted between them, and the " poor 
 fool " falls a victim to his curiosity. On this occasion, Boone was in covert, and, 
 seeing a pair of reflecting eyes through the dim shade of the trees, levelled his rifle, 
 and gave the preconcerted signal. To his astonishment, the animal turned and fled ; 
 and, without a thought, the brave hunter sprung from his hiding-place and pursued. 
 Over hill and moor, through brake and thicket, the race went forward, our hero 
 gaining on the game until, at length, the affrighted and pursued object rushed into 
 the house of his newly-settled neighbor Ryan. Flinging himself through the door, 
 we may judge of the confusion of Boone when he saw the object of his pursuit faint- 
 ing with terror in the old man's arms for it was his beautiful and only daughter ! 
 We need not relate how he wooed and won the fair Rebecca, who came so near 
 being the victim to his bullet. 
 
 While residing on the Kentucky River, a party of three Indians waylaid and took 
 prisoners three young ladies, one of them Boone's daughter. He was absent from 
 the fort at the time, but, returning some hours after, commenced the pursuit alone, 
 overtook the party the following day, and, slaying two of the Indians, returned to 
 the fort, bringing the fair captives with him. 
 
BENJAMIN K\JSE, M. D. 
 
 NO American physician has acquired a wider and higher reputation for learning, 
 skill and genius than Dr. BENJAMIN RUSH ; and certainly he has never had his 
 superior in those personal virtues which adorned his character and made him a fa- 
 vorite with all classes of society. The system of practice which he adopted and 
 advocated has gone much into disuse at the present day, although it still has its ad- 
 vocates, and doubtless will continue to have, until some benefactor to the race shall 
 be able to demonstrate its error. This discussion, however, comes not into our voca- 
 tion, and we leave to the knights of the lancet to settle this bruited question as best 
 they can. 
 
 Dr. Rush was born in Byberry township, Philadelphia county, on the 24th of De- 
 cember, 1745. His father. dying when he was six years old, his mother assumed the 
 charge of his education; and so faithfully did she execute the important trust, that 
 he was able to enter Princeton College at the age of thirteen ; and such had been 
 his progress in his studies, that he obtained his degree before he was fifteen years 
 old. After spending five years in the medical offices of the celebrated physicians 
 Drs. Redman and Shippen, he went to Edinburgh, where, after two years' study in 
 the university in that city, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 
 
94: BENJAMIN RUSH, M. D. 
 
 After taking his degree in Scotland, Dr. Rush went to London and Paris, where 
 he spent a few months, and returned to Philadelphia in the autumn of 1769, when 
 he was elected professor of chemistry in the College of Philadelphia. In 1791, the 
 college being merged in the university, Dr. Rush was appointed professor of the 
 institutes and practice of medicine, and of clinical practice. His lectures were pop- 
 ular, and very fully attended, and his practice greatly extended itself. He adopted 
 the depletory practice, and resorted, on almost all occasions, to the lancet and cal- 
 omel. In his treatment of the yellow fever, which, about this time, desolated Phil- 
 adelphia, the only account of which, that has been preserved, being from notes 
 taken by Dr. Rush at the time, he seems to have been eminently successful. He 
 remained at his post constantly during the three months of its ravages, and gave 
 his services freely to the poor, rejecting enormous offers from the rich, that the chil- 
 dren of poverty should not suffer from want of care. Once he came near falling a 
 victim to the disease. He took no rest, and visited, on an average, one hundred 
 patients daily. He adopted for his own the motto of the great Boerhaave, " The 
 poor are my best patients, for God is their paymaster." 
 
 As might have been expected of such a man, Dr. Rush was an ardent patriot, 
 and took a decided stand with the friends of his country. By his counsels and his 
 pen, he did eminent service to the cause of freedom, and filled several important 
 offices. In 1776, he put his name, as a member of the Continental Congress, to 
 the immortal Declaration of Independence. In 1777, he was appointed head of the 
 medical staff in the Continental army, and was assiduous in his duties, visiting the 
 hospitals, assisting the wounded, and exercising a general oversight of the health of 
 the army. 
 
 Dr. Rush was a great student and writer, and it is through his many printed 
 works that his memory is kept fragrant in the hearts of his countrymen. From his 
 nineteenth to the sixty-fourth year of his age, he was a public writer. Our limits 
 will not allow us to give a list even of his published works. They exhibit exten- 
 sive learning, profound medical science, deep piety, a zealous patriotism and un- 
 bounded benevolence. His moral qualities were such as naturally spring from an 
 elevated and cultivated mind, and a heart deeply penetrated with the love ol " what- 
 soever things are pure and of good report." 
 
 From the age of twenty-four until his death he was in constant and extensive 
 practice. He was cut off suddenly, by a prevailing typhus fever, in the midst of 
 usefulness, on the 19th of April, 1813, being sixty-eight years of age. " He saveo 
 others ; himself he could not save." 
 
 Dr. Rush was married, in 1776, to Miss Julia Stockton, eldest daughter of Richard 
 Stockton, Esq., of New Jersey, whose name appears with that of his son-in-law i\ 
 the original Declaration of Independence. His widow, and a numerous progeny oi 
 sons and daughters, survived him. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN 
 
 DANIEL MORGAN, the poor wagon-boy, " the hero of Quebec, of Saratoga, 
 and the Cowpens, the bravest of the brave, and the Ney of the West," 
 was born of poor and illiterate parents in New Jersey, in 1736. At the age of sev- 
 enteen, he engaged himself as a wagoner to a wealthy planter in Virginia. In the 
 unfortunate expedition of Braddock, he belonged to the army, and drove his own 
 team. It was in this campaign that, under charge of contumacy to a British officer, 
 he actually received five hundred lashes on the bare back. Nothing but an iron 
 frame saved him from annihilation. The worst of it was, the officer afterwards 
 discovered that he was innocent of the charge, on which he made the amende ho- 
 norable before the whole regiment. It was here that those military qualifications first 
 developed themselves, which afterwards crowned his career with unfading glory. It 
 was in this campaign that he received the only severe wound ever inflicted by the 
 bullets of his enemy. On a military expedition, accompanied by two soldiers, he 
 was surprised by the fire of a large party of Indians. The two soldiers were in- 
 stantly killed, and Morgan received a ball in the back part of the neck, which, after 
 dreadfully crushing his jaw, escaped by his mouth. By clinging to the neck of his 
 horse, and urging the animal with his heels, he was carried into the fort, where he 
 
96 MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN. 
 
 arrived in a perfectly senseless condition. But, by judicious treatment, he recovered, 
 living dreadfully to revenge the death of his comrades and his own mutilation It 
 was at this period that he met Colonel Washington, afterwards so renowned in the 
 history of our independence. A most intimate acquaintance sprung up between 
 them, which lasted during life. 
 
 When Morgan heard of the events at Lexington and Concord, he raised a com- 
 pany of riflemen, afterwards so famous in the war, and proceeded to Cambridge, 
 to offer his services to Washington. He was joined to, and led the van of, the expe- 
 dition against Canada, under Arnold, and exhibited the utmost bravery in all the 
 subsequent events of that disastrous campaign, in which, after the most brilliant 
 manoeuvres, he was overpowered by numbers, and became, with his noble band, 
 prisoners of war. While a prisoner, every art was used to seduce him to join the 
 British army ; but he rejected every proposition with scorn. 
 
 He was soon after exchanged, made colonel in the Continental army, placed 
 at the head of the rifle rangers, by Washington, and sent to the assistance of Gates, 
 on the fall of Ticonderoga. He took a very prominent part in the battle of Saratoga, 
 which put a period to the celebrated expedition of Burgoyne, and led to his sur- 
 render. The enemy attributed their defeat on that occasion to the activity and gen- 
 eralship of Morgan and his brave rifle rangers, notwithstanding the self-conceited 
 and narrow-minded Gates, by reason of a petty jealousy, in his report of that bril- 
 liant battle, withheld the credit due to this brave soldier. 
 
 As a mark of their high respect, and for his effective conduct at Saratoga, Con- 
 gress conferred on Morgan the title of brigadier general, and his neighbors named 
 his plantation " Saratoga," which name it bears to this day. On receipt of his com- 
 mission, he was ordered to join Gates, in the south, but did not reach him in season 
 to prevent his defeat at the battle of Camden. Flushed with victory, the British 
 commander sent General Tarleton, one of the bravest and most unrelenting foes to 
 America, with a greatly superior force, to meet and annihilate Morgan. Nothing 
 daunted at the imposing array, seconded by his brave compeers, Colonels Washing- 
 ton, Pickens, and Howard, he met the furious onset with a stout heart and hand ; and 
 such was the ungovernable fury of " the rangers," and the other troops, that Tarle- 
 ton's force was utterly annihilated, and himself obliged to fly for his life. The num- 
 ber of prisoners taken by Morgan in this splendid but bloody affair exceeded that 
 of his whole army. This battle put a finishing stroke to the war in the south, and 
 led ultimately to the surrender of Cornwallis. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred in the military career of Morgan after this. Con- 
 gress voted him and his brave officers thanks and medals ; and soon after the war 
 closed, with all his honors clustering around his glorious name, he retired to his farm 
 at Saratoga. In the interval between this period and 1800, he was a member of 
 Congress for two sessions, and served his country in several capacities with entire 
 satisfaction. In this last-named year, he removed to Winchester, where, after two 
 years of great suffering, he expired on the 6th of July, 1802, aged sixty-six. 
 
CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL. 
 
 ri^HIS eminent lawyer and statesman was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, 
 JL on the 24th of September, 1755. His early education was desultory, and far 
 from being thorough : indeed, he was self-educated. When the question of Amer- 
 ican independence was reaching its culminating point, young MARSHALL was about 
 eighteen, and entered into its discussion with great zeal and devotion. He joined 
 a volunteer company in order to learn the art of war, and made the best use of his 
 knowledge by the training of a company of raw militia in his neighborhood. In 
 1775, he received the appointment of first lieutenant in a company of minutemen. 
 and entered immediately into active service, where he rendered important aid in the 
 defeat of Lord Dunmore, at Great Bridge, and subsequently in driving the English 
 troops from Norfolk. In 1777, he was promoted to the rank of captain, and pro- 
 ceeded north, where he figured in the memorable battles of Brandywine, German- 
 town, and Monmouth. 
 
 On the capitulation of Cornwallis, Mr. Marshall resumed the practice of law, 
 which he had commenced in 1780. He soon rose to distinction as a lawyer, and 
 was called upon to devote his acute mind to political affairs. In 1782, he was senl 
 to the legislature of his native state, and elected a member of the executive council 
 
98 CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL. 
 
 the same year. He was married the following year to Miss Ambler, daughter to the 
 treasurer of the state. 
 
 During the agitation of the momentous questions o state and national policy, in 
 which all America took such deep interest, and which lasted from the close of the 
 war to the year 1800, Mr. Marshall was among the foremost and mightiest cham- 
 pions of ' ; liberty with order," and was always found on the side of Washington, 
 Hamilton, and Madison. He was a member of the state legislature nearly all this 
 time ; was a very active and efficient member of the convention called to consider the 
 expediency of adopting the national constitution ; was engaged in a constantly grow- 
 ing practice of his profession, and discharged a variety of public duties, to which 
 he was called by his fellow-citizens. He also declined the offer of United States 
 Attorney General, as well as that of Minister to France, offered by Washington ; 
 but was persuaded the following year to accept the latter appointment. Return- 
 ing from that unsuccessful mission in 1798, he, at the earnest solicitation of Wash- 
 ington, consented to become a candidate for Congress ; to which he was elected, 
 and took his scat in December, 1799. Pending his election, he was offered a place 
 upon the bench of the Supreme Court, but declined the honor. 
 
 Among the bright stars of that congressional galaxy, Mr. Marshall's name shines 
 as one of the most brilliant. His acute and discriminating reason, his calm and 
 sober judgment, his fearless decision in favor of what he deemed to be right, and 
 which so conspicuously marked his career while he was Chief Justice of the United 
 States, were felt and confessed by all his noble compeers. 
 
 In 1800, he was nominated to the office of Secretary of War, and, notwithstand- 
 ing his most vehement protestation, the nomination was unanimously ratified by 
 the Senate. But the rupture between Adams and Colonel Pickering occurring 
 about this period, Mr. Marshall was offered and accepted the office of Secretary of 
 State, vacated by the resignation of that gentleman. He filled this important sta- 
 tion but a short time, for in January, 1801, he became Chief Justice of the United 
 States, which office he adorned for a period of forty-five years. His death occurred 
 in 1846, at the age of ninety-one. 
 
 What Cicero said of a great man of his own times, may, with equal truth, be 
 applied to Chief Justice Marshall, and form a graceful conclusion to our otherwise 
 imperfect sketch. " Nihil acute inveniri potuit in eis causis, quas scnpsit, nihil (ut ita 
 dicam) subdole, nihil vermte, quod ille non viderit ; nihil subtiliter did, nihil presse, 
 nihil enucleate, quo fieri possit limatius" 
 
LIEUTENANT GENERAL JOHN BURGOYNE. 
 
 ri>HIS gallant and accomplished soldier was the natural son of Lord Bingley, 
 -L and was born in England. Entering the army at an early age, in 1762 he 
 commanded a body of troops sent to Portugal to defend that kingdom against 
 the Spaniards. On his return, he was chosen privy councillor, and elected to Par- 
 liament. During the war of the Revolution, he came to America, and, in 1777, was 
 appointed to the command of the northern army, and ordered to open a communica- 
 tion between New York and Canada, thus cut off New England from the other 
 states, and then overrun the whole country. At the head of a splendid army of 
 about fifteen thousand troops, and several thousand savages, whom he had purchased 
 into his service with gold and promises of spoil ; having most abundant munitions 
 of artillery, and every appointment an army could desire ; surrounded by a brilliant 
 and gallant staff, Burgoyne set out from Quebec in the most imposing manner, 
 issuing the most bombastic and threatening bulletins, and adopting as his motto, 
 " This army must not retreat" 
 
 How this doughty general made his descent on Ticonderoga and Fort George, 
 taking them without scarce a blow ; how he pursued his way through the country 
 towards the Hudson, carrying devastation and spreading terror on every hand; how 
 
100 LIEUTENANT GENERAL JOHN BURGOYNE. 
 
 the affrighted inhabitants fled at his terrible coming, or basely sought his protec- 
 tion by abandoning their country ; how he pursued the retreating American army 
 across the lake to Skeensboro', and thence to Fort Edward, on the Hudson ; how 
 Colonel Ethan Allen taught the proud general a bitter lesson at Bennington, which 
 was soon followed by another from Arnold, at Fort Schuyler ; how the American 
 army, under Gates and Schuyler, gave him a most warm reception at Stillwater , 
 how, at Bemis's Heights, on the plains of Saratoga, that brilliant army, with its 
 splendid appointments, stores and magazines, fell into the hands of our noble army, 
 and how the valiant and boastful Burgoyne gave up his sword into the hands of his 
 captor, Gates, all this we have recorded in the memoirs of those gallant men who 
 aided in bringing about this great deliverance to our oppressed and suffering nation. 
 
 Never was greater disappointment experienced by vainglorying man never was 
 greater exultation of an emancipated people ! The nation breathed again, and hope 
 once more animated the American bosom. 
 
 General Burgoyne marched with his army to Cambridge, a prisoner of war, from 
 whence he sailed, on parole, to England, where he was received with many marks 
 of contempt, denied the presence of his sovereign, and finally was ordered to Amer- 
 ica as a prisoner of war. But the state of his health would not permit it, and he 
 was, after a season, suffered to offer his vindication to his government, and imme- 
 diately resigned his honors and emoluments to the crown, the latter amounting to 
 fifteen thousand dollars per annum. 
 
 Towards the close of the war, when the ministry, and a large majority of Parlia- 
 ment, seemed disposed to prosecute the contest with greater vigor, he took sides 
 with the opposition. " I know," said he, during the debate, " that it is impossible 
 to conquer America. Passion, prejudice, and interest may operate suddenly and 
 partially; but when we see one principle pervading an entire continent, the Amer- 
 icans resolutely encountering difficulty and death for years, it must be a strong 
 vanity and presumption in our minds which can only lead us to imagine that they 
 are not in the right." 
 
 The remainder of his life was spent as a private gentleman, and in the enjoyment 
 of the pleasures of literature, the chase, and society. He wrote several minor works, 
 and kept a very faithful and elegant journal of his American campaign. He died 
 by a fit of the gout, August 4, 1792. 
 
GILBERT STUART. 
 
 GILBERT CHARLES STUART so stands his name upon the church 
 V3T record of his christening, although, from political motives, he afterwards 
 dropped entirely the middle name was bom at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1754. 
 His father was a millwright, and manufacturer of snuff, and originated in Scotland. 
 The youth of Stuart is barren of interest. He is represented as a headstrong boy, 
 casting off parental restraint, and acting agreeably to his own wild impulses ; yet 
 generous and noble in his nature. Having a great passion for music, and the fasci- 
 nation of painting being strong upon him, he was saved from the downward fate in 
 which such strong waywardness and imbecile parental authority so often terminate. 
 
 The well-timed visit of a relative, who was struck with the remarkable talent dis- 
 played in some of his drawings, decided the bias of his mind, and determined him 
 to devote his genius to painting. 
 
 Dr. Waterhouse was an early friend of Stuart, and, in 1773, they founded an 
 academy, in which they studied and practised together until 1775, when Waterhouse 
 went to London. Thither our young artist soon followed. After much hardship, 
 
102 GILBERT STUART 
 
 and some suffering, he received an introduction to the benevolent West, and soon 
 became his pupil. His fame was now made certain, for Mr. West was the bright 
 artistic star of London, and his proficiency was rapid and sure. 
 
 He returned to America in 1793, being drawn thither, as he declared, by a burn- 
 ing desire to paint the picture of the Father of his Country. How admirably he 
 succeeded in the patriotic purpose, all the world know ; and for his noble likeness 
 of Washington all America is grateful. An eminent artist, speaking of this picture, 
 exclaims, a A nobler personification of wisdom and goodness, reposing in the majesty 
 of a serene conscience, is not to be found on canvas." 
 
 After this chef d'ceuvre, Mr. Stuart resided for a short period in Washington, and, 
 in 1805, removed to Boston, where he spent the remnant of his days in the un- 
 dimmed possession of his genius, diligently applying himself to his profession until 
 his death, which occurred in July, 1828. 
 
 We will conclude this hasty sketch with an anecdote, which we do not remember 
 ever to have seen in print, and which exhibits the great power of our artist to por- 
 tray, in his faces, the striking characteristics of his sitters. When Mr. Stuart had 
 completed the picture of the elder Adams, and on which he had bestowed the great- 
 e<t care, he invited a number of the friends of Mr. Adams, among whom was 
 Washington, to see it. At the time appointed, Mr. Adams, with his friends, met 
 the painter in his studio, who had placed the picture in the most favorable light be- 
 side that of Washington. For some minutes a profound silence was observed, when 
 Mr. Adams, advancing close to the pictures, in his usual vehement manner, and 
 pointing to the portrait of Washington, exclaimed, " There is a man, gentlemen, 
 who knew when to keep his mouth shut ; there is one," pointing to his own portrait, 
 " who never did.' 
 
 
JOHN PAUL JONES. 
 
 THIS daring naval commander was the fifth child of John Paul, a poor but re- 
 spectable gardener, and was born at Arbigland, in the south of Scotland, near 
 the Firth of Solway, on the 6th of July, 1747. At the early age of six or eight, he 
 used to be seen rigging out his mimic fleet of chips, and giving imperious commands 
 to imaginary sailors engaged in a bloody naval fight. At twelve, he entered the 
 merchant marine service, and, purchasing his indentures at eighteen, became master 
 of a brig engaged in the American slave trade, which he soon left in disgust. He 
 embarked as passenger in another brig for home. The master and mate both died 
 on the homeward passage, and he was called to her command ; in which office the 
 owners kept him for several voyages, when he was promoted to the command of 
 a large London ship in the West India trade. 
 
 In his voyages, young Paul had made several visits to various parts of the Amer- 
 ican continent; and, in 1773, having occasion to reside in Virginia while the estate 
 of an elder brother, recently deceased, was settled, he became enamoured of the coun- 
 try, and resolved to make it his own. Little dreaming of the scenes of glorious 
 activity that were before him, he resolved to settle down into the life of a Virginia 
 planter. But the stirring scenes of the Revolution roused him from his repose, and 
 
104 JOHN PAUL JONES. 
 
 decided him to engage in the contest for freedom with the colonists. About this 
 time he assumed, as his patronymic, the name of Jones for what reason does not 
 appear. 
 
 When, in 1775, Congress resolved to equip a fleet for the defence of our shores, 
 we find the name of JOHN PAUL JONES at the head of the list of first-class lieuten- 
 ants. As subordinate in the Alfred, and commander in the Providence, he signal- 
 ized himself as a brave and sagacious officer. He is said to have been the first man 
 that ever run up the stars and stripes to masthead. 
 
 As commander of the Ranger, of eighteen guns, he sailed to Brest, and obtained 
 a salute to his flag from the French the first that was ever accorded to it. After 
 a brilliant cruise, he sailed to France, and there obtained, after almost superhuman 
 efforts, and a deep and persevering diplomacy, an old ship called the Due de Duras. 
 After much more plotting and counterplotting, in which he exhibited a tact and skill 
 worthy a much more experienced statesman, he obtained permission to give the old 
 ship a new name, and selected "Le Bon Homme Richard" out of compliment -to 
 Dr. Franklin, whose assistance had largely contributed to his success. 
 
 Having been advanced to a captaincy, Commander Jones put to sea with a fleet 
 of seven vessels, hoisting his flag upon the Bon Homme Richard. To the terror of 
 the English, he cruised along the coast of the United Kingdoms, entering their 
 rivers, and indeed their very harbors, taking prizes and men, burning ships, and com- 
 mitting various other depredations ; and on the 23d of September, 1779, fought, by 
 moonlight, his celebrated, and by far his most bloody and successful, battle with 
 the British frigate Serapis, in size, men, metal and all other appointments, greatly 
 superior to his own ship. In the early part of the action, the vessels became entan- 
 gled, and were lashed side to side, stern to bow, and bow to stern, in which 
 condition they fought with such fury that the Bon Homme was so disabled that she 
 went to the bottom the next day, and the Serapis was so cut up as hardly to be able 
 to carry the victors and their prisoners into port. 
 
 This splendid victory gave the crowning eclat to one of the most brilliant cruises 
 that the world had ever witnessed, and dazzled all Europe, filling America with joy 
 and pride. After many sharp conflicts with the enemy, and daring exploits, and 
 hairbreadth escapes, he reached Philadelphia in the winter of 1781, where he was 
 received with many marks of distinction. Congress voted its thanks, and gave him 
 command of the America, then building at Portsmouth ; the French king invested 
 him with a cross of honor, and his praise was the theme of song and prose all over 
 the nation. 
 
 Before the America was finished, the war had closed, and Commodore Jones 
 passed the rest of his life in bloodless but important public service abroad, and 
 died at Paris on the 18th of July, 1792. 
 
 Ardent in his temperament, and somewhat irascible, fearless of censure, and care- 
 less of applause, acting on his own judgment, and assuming all the responsibility of 
 his conduct, it is not surprising that he had enemies. But a careful investigation of 
 his motives and actions has convinced every one, long ago, of his upright patriotism, 
 unflinching honor, and unbending truth, as well as of his uncommon sagacity and 
 unshrinking valor. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER. 
 
 T^HIS gallant officer was born at Albany, on the 22d of November, 1733. He 
 lost his father early, and the superintendence of his education fell to the charge 
 of his mother, a woman of strong, cultivated mind, and deep religious character. 
 At fifteen, he was put to school at New Rochelle, where he devoted himself to the 
 acquisition of mathematics and the other exact sciences, together with the Latin 
 and French languages. He entered the army on the breaking out of the French 
 war, in 1755. In 1758, his activity and zeal attracted the attention of Lord Howe, 
 who appointed him to office in the commissariat department, the arduous and diffi- 
 cult duties of which he discharged to the entire satisfaction of his general. 
 
 Between the peace of 1763 and the war of the Revolution, COLONEL SCHUYLER 
 filled various civil offices. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the Continental 
 Congress, by which he was immediately elected a major general of the Continental 
 army, and despatched to the command of the army in northern New York. The 
 result justified the choice. Under his vigilant supervision the army improved in 
 ( rder and efficiency. Early in July, he was ordered to the northern frontier of New 
 York, with instructions to reduce Crown Point and Ticonderoga, " and, if practicable, 
 
106 MAJOR GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER. 
 
 to take possession of St. Johns, Quebec, and Montreal," in which he was to be 
 joined by the eastern army, under Arnold, already on its march through the wilder- 
 ness of Maine on its bootless mission. Falling sick, General Schuyler resigned the 
 command of the army to the brave, but unfortunate, Montgomery. The luckless 
 issue of that campaign is too well known to follow it any further in this place. 
 
 But the supplies of the northern army devolved still on General Schuyler, and 
 nothing but an untiring sagacity and comprehensiveness enabled him to keep that 
 army from perishing. In no situation of his life did he exhibit in higher perfection 
 those splendid qualities of mind and heart which constituted him one of the 
 bravest and most chivalrous officers of the Revolution. The effects of his clear- 
 sighted and cool-headed diplomacy were speedily felt ; while before the terrible 
 march of Burgoyne the scattered forces of the northern army were enabled safely to 
 retreat upon the head-quarters of their general. 
 
 In gathering the scattered troops of that defeated army ; in replacing the muni- 
 tions of war which had fallen into the hand of the enemy ; in annoying and im- 
 peding the progress of Burgoyne, and in preparing to give the last blow to his 
 arrogance and pride, Schuyler stood confessed a great and brave soldier ; while in 
 his demeanor towards his officers, and his tender care of his men, the goodness of 
 his heart shone conspicuously, and marked him a man and brother. But he was 
 destined to be robbed of the prize for which he had sacrificed so much, and so nobly 
 striven. By reason of petty jealousies, Congress was led to deprive him of his com- 
 mand on the very eve of the battle of Saratoga, and General Gates was permitted 
 to bear off the palm of glory for which he had not moved a finger. 
 
 Many were the accusations brought against this gallant officer. He was tried, 
 and honorably acquitted ; and Congress offered him repeated honors, all of which 
 he firmly resisted, sending in his resignation, which, after long delay, was accepted, 
 and he withdrew from the army. 
 
 His services did not end with his military career. He was chosen by his fellow- 
 citizens to many high offices of honor and trust. In 1778-9, he was a delegate to 
 the old Congress, and, for several years after, a member of the Senate of the State 
 of New York. He labored assiduously for the adoption of the Constitution of the 
 United States, and was elected to the Senate, on its organization, in 1789. After 
 serving a few years in the Senate of his native state, he was once more elected to 
 the Senate of the United States. Ill health compelled him to resign his seat in that 
 august body, and he spent the remainder of his life in dignified and honorable retire- 
 ment, universally venerated and beloved, and died on the 18th of November, 1804, 
 at the age of seventy-one. 
 
 
JOHN BROOKS. 
 
 OVERNOR JOHN BROOKS was born of poor, but respectable, parents, in 
 vJT Medford, Massachusetts, in 1752. His father was a farmer, and John pursued 
 the same vocation during the early part of his life. Without the advantages of aca- 
 demic instruction, he acquired a sufficient knowledge of his own and the Latin tongue 
 to begin the study of medicine. He commenced the practice of his profession in 
 the adjacent town of Reading, just prior to the difficulties between the colonies and 
 the mother country. He entered with zeal into the spirit of the Revolution, and 
 supported it with his words and his hands. He raised a company of minute-men, 
 and drilled them in military exercises, himself taking lessons from the manoeuvring 
 of the British army in Boston. He took part in the skirmishes at Lexington and 
 Concord, and, on the organization of the army, received the commission of major 
 in Colonel Bridge's regiment. He rendered essential aid in the construction of the 
 works of defence on Breed's Hill, going the rounds with Colonel Prescott, on the 
 night of the 16th of June. They reconnoitred so silently as to hear the sentry on 
 board the British man-of-war proclaim " all's well." He did not partake of the glory 
 or toil of the fight of the 17th, having been despatched, by the commanding officer, 
 to the head quarters of Washington, at Cambridge, which duty he performed on foot. 
 
 8 
 
103 JOHN BROOKS. 
 
 Major Brooks was in constant service, and rendered most important aid to the 
 distressed and ill-disciplined army of freedom. An excellent disciplinarian, his 
 regiment became a model of soldierly bearing, and won the thanks of the com- 
 mander-in-chief. He aided in the construction of the works on Dorchester Heights, 
 ;md, when the British army evacuated Boston, marched with Washington's army to 
 Long Island. In the retreat of the army from Long Island, as well as in the subse- 
 quent affair at White Plains, he distinguished himself as a brave and skilful officer. 
 
 In the spring of 1777, Brooks, having been made lieutenant colonel, was ordered 
 to join the northern army, under Schuyler, and shared the toil and reverses of that 
 disastrous campaign. He took a conspicuous part in the battles of the 19th of Sep- 
 tember and 7th of October, and shared in the glorious result the annihilation of 
 Burgoyne's splendid and boastful hosts. He was with the army in its winter quar- 
 ters at Valley Forge, and was a powerful coadjutor with Baron Steuben in improving 
 the discipline and comfort of our miserably accoutred soldiers. 
 
 When, in the following spring, that wide defection in our army, which came so 
 near annihilating the hopes of every true patriot, was so timely discovered by 
 Washington, Colonel Brooks was one of the fearless few who never faltered, never 
 doubted. Then that noble band fought their most glorious battle, in which, although 
 no blood was spilled, more glory accrued to the victors, and more good to their coun- 
 try, than by all the sanguinary victories of the Revolution. 
 
 At the close of the war, Dr. Brooks resumed his profession in Medford, and, by 
 Hiis urbanity of address and kindness of spirit, soon won upon the regard and affec- 
 tion /of his townsmen, and established himself in a respectable and growing business. 
 He was soon called to public life, in the duties of which he exhibited as great diplo- 
 matic skill as, in the army, he had military knowledge and bravery. He was made 
 a major -general of the Massachusetts militia soon after the close of the war ; was 
 frequently chosen to the General Court of the commonwealth ; was a delegate to 
 the convention of 1788, elected to adopt the new constitution ; for several years was 
 ,a senator in the Senate of Massachusetts, and member of the executive council; 
 was chosen adjutant .general under the administration of Governor Eustis ; and, in 
 ;L816, he succeeded that popular public officer in the chief magistracy of the state, 
 which office he held from 1816 to 1822, discharging its duties with efficiency andj 
 -grace. At his death, he held the office of president of the Massachusetts Medical So- 
 ciety, the Cincinnati Society, the Washington Monument Society, and the Bunker 
 Hill Monument Association. At different periods, he received from the University at< 
 Cambridge the degrees of " Master of Arts" and "Doctor of Laws." He died in; 
 January, 1825. 
 
 Chief Justice Parker speaks thus of Governor Brooks, soon after his decease : 
 " He was one of the last and best samples of that old school of manners which, 
 though it has given way to the .ease and convenience of modern times, will be 
 regretted by some as having carried away with it many of the finest and most del -2 
 icate traits of social intercourse," 
 
BRIGADIER GENERAL HENRY LEE. 
 
 HENRY LEE was born in Virginia, on the 29th of January, 1756, and was 
 graduated from Princeton College in 1774. The troubled period of history 
 in which he entered upon manhood tested the metal of all men of those times. The 
 call of his country upon young Lee found a quick and deep response in his patriotic 
 breast, and, at the age of twenty, we find him in command of a company of horse, 
 one of a regiment raised by Virginia to aid in the war, which had already com- 
 menced, and under the command of Colonel Theodoric Bland. Soon after joining 
 the main army, in the summer of 1 777, for a gallant defence of his troop against 
 the attack of a very superior force of British cavalry, he received the thanks of 
 Washington, and a major's commission. 
 
 In 1779, Major Lee formed a plan for the surprise of the British garrison at Powle's 
 Hook, which he executed with such " prudence, address, and bravery," that Congress 
 voted him a gold medal, commemorative of that brilliant affair, and created him a 
 colonel. In the campaign of 1780, he participated in the dangers of General Greene's 
 retreat before the advance of Cornwallis, forming the rearguard to the retiring army, 
 and exhibiting great courage and address. The retreat safely effected, General 
 Greene despatched Colonel Lee and his legion to watch Cornwallis, and render aid 
 
110 BRIGADIER GENERAL HENRY LEE. 
 
 and encouragement to the whigs of the south. In this desultory duty, he was en- 
 gaged in several smart skirmishes, where the superior skill and bravery of his troop 
 became more than a match for the superior numbers of the enemy. 
 
 The battle of Guilford checked the triumphant march of Cornwallis, and caused 
 him to retire on Wilmington. In this battle, Colonel Lee took a conspicuous part, 
 and rendered essential aid. 
 
 Leaving Cornwallis to act as he might think proper, General Greene made an im- 
 mediate movement southward, for the purpose of restoring South Carolina and 
 Georgia to the Union. This plan, of such importance to our country, was the 
 child of Lee, and readily adopted by Greene. Previous to his departure, General 
 Greene despatched Lee and his horsemen to join our glorious Marion, and with him 
 to assault the minor posts of the enemy in the neighborhood. Forts Watson, Mott, 
 and Granby speedily surrendered to the headlong prowess of these brave brethren 
 in arms ; and on his way to join General Pickens, who had been ordered to attempt 
 the possession of Augusta, Lee surprised and took Fort Galphin. 
 
 On the reduction and surrender of Augusta, which soon followed, Lee rejoined 
 the army of Greene, and rendered essential aid in the siege of Ninety-Six, and the 
 battle of Eutaw Springs. 
 
 Soon after this latter event, Lee was despatched to the army under Washington, 
 then set down before Yorktown, and arrived in season to participate in the glorious 
 events which speedily followed, and which put an end to the war in the south. 
 With this event ended the active military life of this brave man, of whom General 
 Greene said, "His services have been greater than those of any one man attached to the 
 southern army" 
 
 On his return home, Colonel Lee married the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee. 
 Tn 1786, he was selected as one of the Virginia delegates to the general Congress, 
 and held his seat until the adoption of the Federal Constitution. He was also a 
 member of the convention called in his native state for the ratification of that act. 
 In 1792, he was chosen Governor of Virginia, which office he filled for three suc- 
 cessive years. In 1799, he was once more returned to Congress, where, on the death 
 of Washington, he was selected to pronounce the eulogium on that beloved man. 
 It was in this eulogy that occurred those memorable words, repeated so often in con- 
 junction with the revered name of Washington, " First in war, first in peace, and 
 first in the hearts of his countrymen" 
 
 While accidentally at Baltimore, during the year of 1812, in defending the house 
 of his friend from the deadly attacks of an infuriated mob, he received such injuries 
 as to destroy his health, which continued to fail until the 25th of March, 1818, when 
 he expired, in the sixty-third year of his age. 
 
 Open and cordial in his address, frank and confiding in his friendships, free of 
 purse and hospitable of board, bold and chivalrous in the defence of his own, as 
 well as the rights of others, he won the admiration of all his acquaintance, and 
 retained, to their deaths, the love and esteem of his brave superiors, Greene and 
 Washington. 
 
WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 WILLIAM PINKNEY was born at Annapolis, Maryland, March 17, 1764. 
 His father was a staunch loyalist, and sympathized with England in her 
 struggle for supremacy over her American colonies in the war of our Revolution ; 
 while the son was, from earliest life, enlisted on the side of the patriots. 
 
 With an extremely deficient early education, his personal application, and strong 
 and quick natural perceptions, made up for the deficiency, and placed him among 
 the foremost of his acquaintances and friends. He first studied medicine ; but feel- 
 ing that it did not chime with his inclinations, he turned to the law, and was admit- 
 ted to the bar in 1786, removing the same year to Harford county, for the practice 
 of his profession. In 1789, he married Ann Maria, the sister of Commodore 
 Rodgers, by whom he had a numerous family. 
 
 In 1792, Mr. Pinkney was elected a member of the executive council, and, in 
 1795, a delegate to the state legislature. In the year following, he was appointed, 
 by President Washington, a commissioner of the TJnited States, under the seventh 
 
112 WILLIAM PINKNEY. 
 
 
 article of Mr. Jay's treaty, and embarked, accordingly, for England. During his res- 
 idence abroad, questions of most vital importance on international law and reciprocity 
 came before the commissioners, on which he gave his written opinions. These 
 papers exhibit a profound knowledge and clear apprehension of the subjects dis- 
 cussed, and won for him the admiration of the board, and the praise of his govern- 
 ment and countrymen. 
 
 In 1805, shortly after his return from England, he removed to Baltimore, and was 
 immediately appointed Attorney General of Maryland. In the following year, he 
 was once more sent to England, to treat with that government on those aggravating 
 questions which resulted in the war of 1812. After spending several years abroad, 
 mostly occupied in severe diplomatic labors, he returned to the United States in 
 1811, In September of the same year, he was sent to the Senate of Maryland, 
 and, in December following, was appointed, by President Madison, Attorney General 
 of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Pinkney entered with great spirit into the controversies out of which grew the 
 war of 1812 ; taking the democratic side of the question. During the war, he com- 
 manded a battalion, which rendered some service. He fought with bravery at the 
 battle of Bladensburgh, and was severely wounded in that action. Soon after this 
 affair, he was elected to Congress, and, in 1816, was appointed minister to the court 
 of St. Petersburg, 
 
 On the return of Mr. Pinkney from Russia, he was, in 1820, returned as member 
 of the Senate of the United States, where he exhibited his great knowledge, and 
 political as well as legal acumen, in the discussion which took place in that body on 
 the admission of Missouri into the Union. While in the Senate, several very im- 
 portant trials came before the Supreme Court of the United States, in which he 
 Was retained as counsel. These demanded of him almost superhuman exertions, 
 under the pressure of which his health yielded^, and be fell a prey to an acute disease 
 pn the 25th of Febraa^ 1822, 
 
 Thus perished, in the nfty-_ninth year of his age, one of the brightest ornameats 
 of the American bar, an,d most brilliant statesmen and orators of his age.. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL HENRY KNOi. 
 
 FEW men contributed so largely to the success of our revolutionary struggle as 
 the subject of this notice. As the projector, author, and first commander of 
 the artillery connected with the Continental army, and holding the first post of com- 
 mand of that portion of our army during the whole war; having, as he had, the 
 entire confidence and esteem of Washington, and fighting by his side, his opportuni- 
 ties were equal to his desire, and his success tantamount to his genius and bravery. 
 
 General HENRY KNOX was born in Boston, July 25, 1750. He early married the 
 daughter of a staunch loyalist,, and was already an officer in the British army in 
 Boston when the struggle of the Revolution commenced. His whole soul was fired 
 in the cause of freedom, and he contrived to escape from Boston, and, presenting 
 himself at the camp of Washington, offered his services to his country. His wife, 
 who, notwithstanding her tory origin, fully sympathized with the patriots, accompa- 
 nied him in his flight, secreting her husband's sword in the folds of her petticoat. 
 
114 MAJOR GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 
 
 This noble woman adhered to his fortunes through eight years of peril and anxiety, 
 deprivation and labor, and had the holy satisfaction of sharing her husband's joy in 
 the established independence of their native land. 
 
 When young Knox presented himself at Washington's head-quarters, our army 
 was totally destitute of cannon, without which, he felt that it was impossible to 
 cope with the British forces. There was no way of obtaining this needed supply 
 but by transporting it from the dilapidated forts on the Canadian frontier. This 
 dangerous and almost herculean labor was triumphantly performed by the gallant 
 young officer, and an artillery department of respectable force was thus added to 
 our army, the command of which was bestowed upon Knox, with a brigadier gen- 
 eral's commission. These guns were planted on Dorchester Heights, and the British 
 army speedily compelled to evacuate Boston. 
 
 General Knox, at the head of the artillery, was in constant service during the 
 entire contest which succeeded, and generally under the immediate eye of Wash- 
 ington, between whom and himself a strong affection existed, which lasted until the 
 death of his distinguished and beloved commander. In the retreat from White 
 Plains, in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, as well as those of Brandywine, 
 Germantown, and Monmouth, as also at the siege of Yorktown, Knox and his artil- 
 lery rendered most valuable aid, and contributed largely towards the expulsion of 
 the enemy from our southern shores. When Cornwallis delivered up Yorktown, 
 General Knox was one of the commissioners to negotiate the terms of capitulation. 
 
 In 1785, under the old regime, General Knox was Secretary of War until the new 
 organization, when Washington immediately reappointed him to the same office, 
 which he continued to hold until 1794, when Washington, having repeatedly refused 
 to do so, reluctantly consented to accept his resignation, and he retired to his farm, 
 in Thomaston, Maine, where he lived, in dignified and hospitable retirement, until 
 the 25th of October, 1806, when he died suddenly, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.. 
 
 How singular, that the brave warrior should tread so many fields of blood and 
 carnage, and see hundreds falling on all sides, should escape so many thousand 
 deaths, to come at last to his end by the most insignificant means ! The death of 
 this good man, and patriot, and brave soldier, was occasioned by swallowing the 
 bone of a chicken at his dinner! 
 
 We cannot forbear relating a singular incident in the life of this brave man. 
 When on his northern expedition, he fell in with Major Andre, and travelled in his 
 company. The result of this accidental meeting was a mutual attachment, which 
 grew into a strong friendship, so speedily to be concluded by the sanguinary and 
 ignominious termination of the life of one, while the other was a member of the 
 court martial which so reluctantly condemned the accomplished young Briton to the 
 scaffold. General Knox used to say that this was the hardest duty he ever performed. 
 We can well conceive it to have been so. 
 
PART III. 
 
 EMBRACING THE PERIOD 
 
 / 
 
 SUBSEQUENT TO THE WAR OF 
 
 1812. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 HERO OF NEW ORLEANS ! The incorrigible, the impracticable, the indom- 
 JL itable, the incorruptible ! Headstrong, but always honest ; rash, but ever patri- 
 otic ; he may have erred to his country's detriment at times, but treason had no place 
 in his breast, and his country's good was his highest aim next to duty to his God. 
 Fear he knew not, either on the battle-field, or before that terrible power, PUBLIC 
 OPINION. His purpose once taken, no threats of his enemies, no persuasion of his 
 friends, and no personal considerations, could shake it. Ever ready to assume the 
 responsibility of his actions, he shrunk from no judgment and dreaded no conse- 
 quences. 
 
 Such a man's life must needs be one of stirring incidents, and such a man's fame 
 must shed resplendent rays over the page of his history, or darken with clouds of 
 Erebus the fair escutcheon of his glory. Accordingly no man has been so deified 
 and damned as the subject of this article, as friends or foes have spoken. But im- 
 partial history will, we think, sustain us in the character we have given him in this 
 brief sketch. 
 
 At fourteen years of age he commenced his military career, during the revolu* 
 tionary war, and at that tender age was taken prisoner together with an elder 
 
118 ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 brother. The child was father to the man. When ordered by a British officer to 
 the performance of some menial duty, he refused compliance, and was severely 
 wounded with the sword which the Englishman disgraced. 
 
 In the early part of the late war with England, Congress having voted to accept 
 fifty thousand volunteers, General Jackson appealed to the militia of Tennessee, when 
 twenty-five hundred enrolled their names, and presented themselves to Congress, with 
 Jackson at their head. They were accepted, and ordered to Natchez, to watch the 
 operations of the British in lower Mississippi. Not long after, he received orders 
 from head-quarters, to disband his men arid send them to their homes. To obey, he 
 foresaw, would be an act of great injustice to his command, and reflect disgrace on 
 the country, and he resolved to disobey. He accordingly broke up his camp and 
 returned to Nashville, bringing all his sick with him, whose wants on the way he 
 relieved with his private means, and there disbanded his troops in the midst of their 
 homes. 
 
 He was soon called to the field once more, and his commission marked out his 
 course of duty on the field of Indian warfare. Here for years he labored, and fought, 
 and diplomatized, with the most consummate wisdom and undaunted courage. It 
 was about this time that the treaty of the " Hickory Ground " occurred, which gave 
 the familiar sobriquet to the general of " Old Hickory." Finding themselves 
 hemmed in on every side, the Indians determined to sue for peace. One of the 
 principal chiefs voluntarily presented himself at Jackson's head-quarters, and with 
 the dignity of a fallen king, which would have shed glory on any civilized hero, 
 supplicated pardon. Jackson was struck with the noble bearing of the prostrate 
 chief, and determining not to be outdone by a' savage, suffered him to depart ii 
 peace, leaving it optional with him to join his tribe and assume a hostile attitude, or 
 to retire from the scene of war ; assuring him that if again he should fall into his 
 hands his life should be the forfeit. 
 
 The crowning glory of his whole military career was the battle of New Orleans; 
 which we pass over with this brief allusion, because so indelibly impressed on every 
 American memory, and not likely speedily to be forgotten by the enemies of our 
 country. 
 
 At the close of the war he returned to his home in Nashville ; but in 1818 was 
 again called on by his country to render his military services in the expulsion of the 
 Seminoles. His conduct during this campaign has been bitterly condemned, and as 
 highly applauded. An attempt in the House of Representatives to inflict a censure 
 on the old hero for the irregularities of this campaign, after a long and bitter debate, 
 was defeated by a large majority. 
 
 In 1828, and again in 1832, General Jackson was elected to fill the presidential 
 chair ; thus occupying that elevated position for eight successive years. It was a 
 season of great financial embarrassment and internal division, and the measures he 
 recommended and adopted were stringent. No man ever received more censure or 
 praise for his administration of public affairs ; and we are not yet sufficiently removed 
 from the scene of action, calmly to judge of all his acts. This judgment must be 
 left to posterity. 
 
JOHN QTJINCY ADAMS. 
 
 FEW men have passed so large a portion of life in active public employment a? 
 the sixth President of the United States. For more than threescore years, he 
 was in the service of his country, serving her in many capacities, from Secretary of 
 Legation at the early age of sixteen, to chief magistrate of the Union. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, on the llth of July, 
 1767. His father was the patriot John Adams, of whom Jefferson said, " He was 
 the great pillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest 
 advocate and champion on the floor of the house." His mother was the daughter 
 of the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, a woman of great beauty and uncom- 
 mon mental and moral endowments, in whose breast the fire of freedom burned as 
 brightly as in that of her illustrious spouse. 
 
 Perhaps there never transpired a happier combination of circumstances, to de- 
 velop true genius, than fell to the lot of young Adams. To say nothing of his 
 parentage, he was born at a period of great mental, political activity, and amidst 
 scenes whose vibrations filled the whole earth with trembling. His childhood passed 
 amidst the smoke and blood of our revolution, and his position placed him in 
 conjunction with those great patriots and statesmen who were the unshrinking 
 
i:0 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 
 advocates and champions of American liberty. From early childhood, he followed 
 his father to foreign courts, and resided abroad mostly until after the scenes of the 
 revolution were brought to a close. Wishing to avail himself of a classical 
 education, he returned to his native land, and in 1786, entered Harvard College, as 
 a junior, at the age of eighteen ; and, on graduating, entered the law office of 
 Theophilus Parsons, afterwards the dignified chief justice of Massachusetts for so 
 many years. 
 
 Mr. Adams was more a statesman and politician than a lawyer, and during the 
 bitter controversies of Washington's administration, wrote, several series of political 
 articles in the Boston newspapers, which won for him the esteem of the president, 
 and the applause of some of the greatest minds in both this country and England; 
 and which doubtless occasioned his appointment as Minister of the United States 
 at the Hague, in 1794, at the early age of twenty-seven. 
 
 While minister at Holland, Mr. Adams was married to Miss Louisa Catharine 
 Johnson, daughter of Joshua Johnson, Esq., of Maryland, United States consul at 
 the port of London. In 1797, Mr. Adams was transferred to Berlin, whence he 
 was recalled in 1801. Mr. Adams had now entered upon the career which ter- 
 minated only with his life. He was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts in 
 1802 appointed United States Senator in 1803 made Professor of Rhetoric and 
 Belles Lettres in Harvard College in 1805 sent Minister to Russia in 1809 one 
 of the Commissioners in the treaty of Ghent in 1815 Minister to England the 
 same year appointed Secretary of State by Mr. Monroe in 1817 elected Pres- 
 ident of the United States in 1825 chosen Member of Congress in 1831, which 
 office he filled with great ability, notwithstanding his great age, until the 21st of 
 February, 1848, when he was struck with paralysis at his post in the House of 
 Representatives, and died two days afterwards, at the great age of eighty. 
 
 Mr. Adams was a man of rare gifts and rich acquisitions. A diligent student, 
 and economical of his time, he found opportunity, amidst all his public cares, tot <. 
 cultivate his tastes for literature and tne sciences. He was one of the finest 
 classical and belles-lettres scholars of his time, and, even in his old age, often aston- 
 ished his hearers with the elegant classical allusions and rhetorical tropes with 
 which he enriched and embellished his own productions. His was, withal, an 
 honest, straightforward mind, which not even his devout attachment to his political | 
 party was able to turn to base account, A dear lover of freedom, he was a bold ; 
 promulgator of human rights, and a fearless defender of the oppressed, wherever 
 they were to be found, and in whatever clime. 
 
 To crown the whole, John Quincy Adams was a CHRISTIAN. Not a mere mem- 
 ber of a conventicle not a pharasaic observer of outward forms alone his 
 religion was part, and largely so, of his nature, and entered into all his words and I 
 acts, and gave a charm and a grace to his old age which RELIGION alorie can give. 
 
i 
 
 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 F there he any mind commanding the reverence of the ages, it is that which 
 
 sees 
 
 " the tops of distant thoughts, 
 Which men of common stature never saw." 
 
 Such was the gift of prophecy with which the Almighty enmantled the soul of 
 ROBERT FULTON, whose monuments of brass and iron bestud every sea and land in 
 the civilized world, and which shall endure as a proud trophy to self-sacrificing, ever- 
 persevering genius while the earth endures. Such was the man whose birth was 
 obscure, and whose childhood passed in neglect and ignorance. 
 
 The father of Robert Fulton was an Irish emigrant, who, dying when he was a 
 young child,- left him without the means of education, and scarcely those of subsist- 
 ence. The place which gave him birth was an obscure town of Pennsylvania ; the 
 year, 1765; the world is his birthplace, all time his natal day! 
 
 The genius of Fulton first manifested itself in drawing and painting, and at 
 seventeen we find him in Philadelphia, not only earning his own livelihood, but 
 supporting his widowed mother and several sisters. He spent all his leisure hours 
 in the cultivation of his intellect, and stored up, during this time, no inconsiderable 
 
122 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 amount of solid learning. In 1786, just as he was twenty-one, he went to Eng- 
 land, and soon found himself domiciliated beneath the roof of his countryman 
 Benjamin West, with whom he remained several years, and between whom and 
 himself a warm friendship sprung up, which death alone interrupted. 
 
 In 1796, Mr. Fulton went to France, and for seven years was an inmate of the 
 family of his countryman Barlow. During this period, he studied, with great suc- 
 cess, the French, Spanish, German, and Italian languages, together with natural 
 philosophy, and the higher branches of mathematics. It was at this time, also, that 
 he determined to carry his long-cherished plan of applying steam to the purpose? 
 of navigation into practical and useful effect. 
 
 For many years steam had been used as a motive power, and many attempts had 
 been made to apply it to navigation ; but to Mr. Fulton belongs the credit of having 
 made the first successful application of steam to this end. In 1806, he returned to 
 his native country, after having invented and made so many successful experiments 
 with his celebrated " Nautilus " or submarine boat. 
 
 Chancellor Livingston had made some unsuccessful experiments in steam naviga- 
 tion previous to Mr. Fulton's return, and had obtained from the New York legisla- 
 ture the passage of an act securing to him, on certain conditions, the exclusive right, 
 for a term of twenty years, to navigate " by steam or fire " all the waters under the 
 jurisdiction of the -state. Meeting with Mr. Fulton in France, he felt certain that 
 his practical good sense and thorough causality would accomplish the desirable 
 results, and immediately associated him in the undertaking, and procured the 
 renewal of the act, in favor of Fulton and himself, for twenty years from the date 
 of its passage. 
 
 After several unsuccessful experiments, each of which, while it subjected them 
 to much ridicule, both from the press and in the market-place, only added to the con- 
 fidence of the persevering operators, they at length brought their boat and ma- 
 chinery to such a degree of perfection, as to advertise her for a particular day on 
 which to make an experimental trip to Albany. At the time appointed, a crowd 
 lined the wharves and shipping in the neighborhood, every one anxious to see how 
 the matter would end. Some jeered, others laughed, a few were sanguine of suc- 
 cess, and the multitude looked on in silence, and awaited the result. But when, at 
 length, Fulton cast off the fasts of " The Clermont," and she stemmed the current 
 of the noble Hudson at the rate of five miles per hour, a sudden change took place 
 in the anxious throng, and one universal and prolonged shout announced to the 
 world the triumph of Fulton ! 
 
 Mr. Fulton died on the 24th of February, 1815, after a short illness occasioned 
 by exposure in superintending the construction of a steam frigate, in the fifty-first 
 year of his age, and was buried with civic and military honors, amidst the most 
 marked expressions of regret and respect. 
 
 
COMMODORE WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE. 
 
 WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE was born at Princeton, New Jersey, May 7, 1774. 
 His early education was received in a common English school. At sixteen 
 years of age, he entered the mercantile business, and went to sea in the employment 
 of a house in Philadelphia. On a voyage to Holland, two years subsequently, as 
 mate of the ship Hope, he saved the life of his captain from the vengeance of a 
 mutinous crew ; for which he was promoted to the command of a ship trading with 
 the Dutch, and continued in the same employ until 1798, when, on the commence- 
 ment of hostilities with France, our government appointed him to the command of 
 the United States schooner Retaliation, of fourteen guns, with the rank of lieutenant 
 in the navy. In 1800, he was promoted to the rank of captain, and sailed in the 
 frigate George Washington, with presents to the Dey of Algiers. From this place, 
 he sailed to Constantinople, bearing an ambassador with presents from the Dey to 
 the Grand Seignior at the latter place. The ambassador was received with insult, 
 and his presents rejected with scorn, while Bainbridge and his flag were treated with 
 every mark of respect. On his return to Algiers, war was declared against France, 
 and the French consul and all other citizens of France were ordered to quit the coun- 
 try in forty-eight hours. Captain Bainbridge received them all on board his frigate, 
 
124: COMMODORE WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE 
 
 and, having landed them at Alicant, sailed for Philadelphia, where he arrived in 
 April, 1801. 
 
 In June following, in command of the Essex frigate, he returned to the Mediter- 
 ranean, to protect our commerce against Tripolitan depredations. In 1803, he was 
 placed in command of the frigate Philadelphia, and joined the squadron under 
 Commodore Preble; and, while the commodore carried on negotiations, Captain 
 Bainbridge proceeded to blockade Tripoli with the Philadelphia and Vixen. In 
 chasing a strange sail, the frigate ran upon a reef of rocks, and was captured by the 
 enemy, and carried into the harbor, where she lay until burned by Decatur, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1804. 
 
 On the breaking out of the war with England, in 1812, Commodore Bainbridge 
 held the command of the navy yard at Charlestown, but was soon after appointed 
 to the command of the Constellation ; and, on the arrival of the Constitution at 
 Boston, he was transferred to that frigate, and in a short time rendered his name 
 and his ship famous in the bloody conflict with the British frigate Java, Captain 
 Lambert, which he captured, with only a loss of nine men. On board the enemy's 
 ship, sixty men, besides the captain, were slain. Finding it impossible to bring the 
 Java to the United States, she was blown up, her crew set on shore at St. Salvador, 
 on parole, and Bainbridge returned home, where he and his crew were received with 
 every demonstration of respect and enthusiasm. This was the second British man- 
 of-war this noble ship had destroyed in a short space of time, and she became the 
 pride of the nation. From the little damage she had sustained in her numerous 
 conflicts with the enemy, she received the sobriquet of " Old Ironsides," a name 
 which awakens a thrill of national pride in the bosom of every American citizen, 
 and has become an idol to every sailor who loves to see the " stars and stripes " 
 floating at his masthead. 
 
 At the close of the war, Commodore Bainbridge sailed once more to the Medil 
 ranean, in command of the Columbus seventy-four. This was the last cruise 
 this gallant naval officer, after which he retired from the sea altogether. 
 
 On his return home, he commanded, for several years, at different naval statioi 
 in the United States, and was also one of the Board of Naval Commissioners. H( 
 died in Philadelphia, on the 27th of July, 1833. 
 
 During the whole course of his public life, Commodore Bainbridge commanded 
 the entire respect of his fellow-officers, and his countrymen generally, and, at 
 death, was sincerely mourned by the nation. 
 
MRS. MARCIA VAN NESS. 
 
 WOMAN'S sphere seldom admits of ostentatious parade, and rarely gives 
 opportunity for deeds which startle or dazzle the world ; but for the man- 
 ifestation of heroic self-endurance, and sublime energy, it is not less rich than that 
 in which moves her lord and master proud, imperious man. And the record of 
 her virtues belongs as much to history as the recital of those deeds which nearly fill 
 the recorded page of the world's actions. 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1782, on the quiet banks of the Potomac, the wife of David 
 Burns, Esq., a civil magistrate of respectable standing, gave birth to a daughter, who 
 was baptized with the name of MARCIA. As she grew up, her physical and mental 
 powers developed in great harmony and beauty. To a person of exquisite form she 
 added a softness and delicacy of mind which made her " the admired of all behold- 
 ers." No pains were spared with her education, and, while the graces were culti- 
 vated, the more solid accomplishments were not neglected. 
 
 As she reached maturity, she insnared the heart of, and, on her twentieth birth- 
 day, honored and blessed with her hand, the Hon. John Van Ness, member of 
 Congress from the State of New York. The union proved to be a happy one, and 
 was crowned, the following year, with a daughter, the only offspring to this 
 
126 
 
 MRS. MARCIA VAN NESS 
 
 .narriage, who grew up in beauty at her father's hearth, adorning his household, 
 and rewarding the tender care and exceeding love of her parents by her deep religious 
 character and lovely temper. At the age of eighteen, she became the wife of Arthur 
 Middleton, Esq., with whom she lived but one short year, when she died in giving 
 birth to the lifeless form of a son. 
 
 It is at this point that the true character of Mrs. VAN NESS began to manifest 
 itself. On their marriage, Mr. Van Ness removed to Washington, where he held, 
 for many years, the highest municipal offices, and, though his health was frail, his 
 house at once became the centre of an elegant hospitality, where the graces and 
 solid domestic qualities of its hostess became the theme of all whose good fortune 
 it was to mingle in the tasteful reunions which enlivened his drawing-rooms, or 
 made merry at his board. The shock produced by the death of this lovely and only 
 child was terrible to the doting mother, and for a season she bowed to the blast 
 like a stricken reed. But her native energy of character, quickened by heavenly 
 confidence in the hand which had chastised, prevailed, and she resumed once 
 more her noble bearing and wonted cheerfulness. True, sadness made its deep 
 lines on her fair face, and added a melancholy sweetness to her voice ; but a 
 stranger would not have guessed 
 
 " How living and how deep the wound " 
 
 which she covered up so sacredly in her own bosom. 
 
 Her home had ever been one of constant care; and this care, maternal and Chris- 
 tian, had extended to the lowest menial of her household. But now she felt that 
 her heart needed a larger sphere of activity. Several years prior to this mournful 
 event, she had been one of a number of lady-patronesses for the establishment of " The 
 Washington City Orphan Asylum," and to this institution she resolved to trans- 
 fer her maternal solicitude and duties ; and, with a delicate and inconceivably beau- 
 tiful instinct, determined to erect as a monument, beside the grave of her daughter, a 
 splendid and spacious building for the use of that benevolent association. This 
 institution she endowed with her fortune, and while she lived devoted most of her 
 time to the superintendency of its affairs as First Directress. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a higher and holier exhibition of a mother's love, and 
 Christian solicitude, and of a nobler consecration of the beautiful gifts with which 
 Providence had endowed this accomplished woman. She died on the 9th of Sep- 
 tember, 1832, after a long and painful illness, at the age of fifty years. 
 
 " Who shall weep when the righteous die ? 
 
 Who shall mourn when the good depart ? 
 When the soul of the godly away shall fly, 
 Who shall lay the loss to heart ? " Brainard. 
 
OSCEOLA 
 
 THIS remarkable Indian, sometimes called Powell, was born in the Eveigladea 
 of Florida, somewhere about the year 1804. His father was chief of the tribe, 
 but not otherwise notorious than by his vagabond son, who spent the earlier years 
 of his life in most inglorious barbarism. He was famous for his sagacity in hunting, 
 his agility and strength in the athletic sports practised among his tribe, such as 
 dancing, racing, shooting, wrestling, etc. As he grew up, he entered fully into the 
 grievances of his tribe with the whites, and when the " war of title," otherwise 
 called the " Seminole war," commenced, he at once took the field in defence of his 
 fatherland. 
 
 The Seminoles the word signifies runaways were formerly a part of the 
 Creek nation, and emigrated to Florida, where they increased and spread themselves 
 abroad, until they became a great and powerful people. As the country became 
 occupied by the whites, the hunting grounds of these " runaways " were needed for 
 the habitation of the white man, and accordingly negotiations were set on foot by 
 our government for the territory they occupied, which resulted in a treaty, stipulating 
 the conditions of the relinquishment of their title. , Here commenced the real diffi- 
 
128 OSCEOLA 
 
 culty, the Seminoles declaring that they had been deceived, and the treaty thereby 
 vitiated, and the government insisting upon its fulfilment. Negotiation followed 
 negotiation, for a series of years, when war was carried into the homes of the poor 
 Indian, and one of the most bloody and merciless struggles took place the whites 
 striving to expel the savages, and the Indians struggling to maintain and defend 
 their homes and hunting grounds. Immense treasures and oceans of blood were 
 expended, and for years nothing was won. 
 
 In the early part of this cruel war, there arose an athletic, noble-looking young 
 man, who, by universal consent, was called to be the deliverer of his people. This 
 was no other than OSCEOLA. With almost superhuman strength and energy, he 
 travelled through the length and breadth of his tribe, encouraging resistance and 
 slaughter to the whites. With the most consummate skill he evaded the American 
 army, and beguiled it into some fatal ambuscade, where it fell a prey to savage 
 cruelty. And when he could no longer avoid taking the field, his presence inspired 
 his brethren, and his wonderful feats in arms gave heart to the timid, and fired each 
 brave with a more determined will. He was foremost in every fray, and his place 
 was sure to be where the blows fell fastest and hardest. The unerring aim of his 
 splendid rifle, and the exact and deadly force of his keen-edged and glittering toma- 
 hawk, told fearfully on the ranks of the whites, while he seemed to bear a charmed 
 mail, through which no American bullet could penetrate. His name became a terror 
 to his enemies, and to his fellow-braves a countersign to victory and glory. 
 
 Thus, for years, did the gigantic mind of this remarkable chief keep at bay the 
 wealth and wisdom of the United States, when at length, in 1838, he fell into a 
 snare, and became a captive. He was taken to Fort Moultrie, in South Carolina, 
 where his mighty spirit chafed itself in its chains, until poor Osceola died of a 
 broken heart, on the 31st day of January, 1839, aged about 35 years. Thus 
 perished, in the early years of his manhood, one of those few aboriginal heroes 
 whose great and teeming lives deserve a full and elaborate record on 'the page of 
 history one who, " from a vagabond child, became," as says the Charleston Mercury, 
 " the master spirit of a long and desperate war. He made himself no man owed 
 less to accident. Bold and decisive in action, deadly but consistent in hatred, dark 
 in revenge, cool, subtle, sagacious in council, he established gradually and surely a 
 resistless ascendency over his adopted tribe, by the daring of his deeds, the constan- 
 cy of his hostility to the whites, and the profound craft of his policy. In council 
 he spoke little he made the other chiefs his instruments ; and what they delivered 
 in public was the secret suggestion of the invisible master. Such was Osceola, who 
 will be long remembered as the man that, with the feeblest means, produced the 
 most terrible effects." 
 
' 
 
 JOHN C. CALHOTJN 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, the most distinguished statesman the South 
 has ever produced, was a native of South Carolina, and was born in Abbe- 
 ville District, on the 18th of March, 1782. He was of Irish descent, both on his 
 father's and mother's side, and his family furnished several distinguished actors in 
 the stirring scenes of the old French, Indian, and Revolutionary wars. Patrick 
 Calhoun, the father of the statesman, was a bold and daring man, and had many 
 personal encounters with the savages who dwelt in that region. An anecdote is 
 related of him which illustrates the hazards of that period of our country's history, 
 and the many shifts to which the inhabitants were often driven. Passing one 
 day through a forest, he fell in with a stalwart Indian. Each was armed with 
 a rifle. The discovery was mutual, and each sought the nearest screen to 
 his person. Calhoun dropped behind a log, and the savage retreated to the 
 nearest tree. They were but a few rods apart, and as the slightest exposure 
 was certain death, each sought to seduce the other from his hiding-place. It 
 occurred to Calhoun, that if he could exhaust the Indian's ammunition, he would 
 have him at his mercy. Gradually raising his hat on a stick an inch or two above 
 the log, he was gratified to find it instantly perforated with the Indian's bullet. He* 
 
130 JOHNC. CALHOUN. 
 
 thus drew the fire of his enemy four times, when the savage, supposing that he ha:l 
 slain his foe, ventured to protrude his head a few inches, which was instantly bored 
 with the bullet of Calhoun, who returned to his home, bearing the red man's 
 scalp as a trophy. 
 
 From such stock was sprung, and amidst such scenes was nursed and grew up, 
 the subject of this memoir. That part of the country where he resided was 
 sparsely settled, and infested with hordes of savages ; schools were scarce and poor, 
 with not an academy within fifty miles. Although he had a great passion for 
 reading, and devoured every book which fell in his way, yet until he was nineteen 
 years of age, his education was nothing. It was at this period, A. D. 1800, that he 
 entered the academy of Rev. Dr. Waddel, in Columbia county, Georgia. This 
 clergyman married a sister of Mr. Calhoun, but at the time spoken of, was living 
 with his second wife. Here his progress was so rapid, that in two years he entered 
 Yale College as a junior, and in 1804, graduated with the highest honors of his 
 class, just four years from the time ,of commencing his Latin grammar. During 
 his college life, he gave brilliant signs of his coming greatness. President Dwight 
 between whom and himself a strong attachment had grown up once said of 
 him, " That boy Calhoun has talent enough to be President of the United States, 
 and will become one yet, I confidently predict." 
 
 The three following years were devoted to the study of his profession. He imme- 
 diately applied for and obtained a license, and opened an office in his native district, 
 where he entered at once into a full and successful practice of the law. But the 
 bar was destined to be shorn of this beam of light. The troublous times of 
 1810-12 called forth the energies of the wisest and the best men, and Mr. Calhoun 
 was unanimously called to the forum. The attack of the British frigate Leopard 
 on the American frigate Chesapeake hastened the crisis, and war was declared by 
 Congress in 1812. Mr. Calhoun could not remain an idle spectator of these passing 
 events. He mixed himself up with them, and was elected to the legislature of his 
 state, where he served two years, with marked ability. Politics ran high, and Mr. 
 Calhoun associated himself with the Republican party. 
 
 In 1811, Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the councils of the nation, as a member of 
 the Twelfth Congress, from his native district. This was one of the most remark- 
 able sessions of Congress ever yet held ; and Mr. Calhoun soon took a leading part 
 in the great controversies which agitated the country, and made his name famous 
 among the great names in that august body. His measures and speeches, through- 
 out the six years he was a member of Congress, exhibit great statesmanship and 
 patriotism. 
 
 When Mr. Monroe came into office, he called on Mr. Calhoun to preside at the 
 bureau of the War Department. He introduced many reforms into that department, 
 and gave a character to our military organization not before attained. 
 
 At the election which sent the names of Adams, Jackson, and Crawford to the 
 House, as candidates for the presidency, Mr. Calhoun was chosen Vice President by 
 a large majority. On resigning that office he was soon returned as United States 
 .Senator, which office he held with distinguished ability up to the time of his 
 (decease, with the exception of a few years, during which he was Secretary of 
 State under Mr. Tyler. He died at Washington, March 31, 1850. 
 
COMMODORE THOMAS MACDONOUGH. 
 
 THE name of MACDONOUGH has a charm which few great names possess. The 
 temptations of place and power are so many and so alluring, that but com- 
 paratively few find themselves able to resist them. This brave officer seems to be 
 among the exceptions. Not only did he keep himself free from all great vices, 
 but he never debauched himself with those lesser sins which the young, hot blood 
 is so ready to call trivial. His more graceless companions set snares for his feet, but 
 he was never caught. It is a pleasure heightened by its rare occurrence to 
 record such Spartan self-conquest, such heroic virtue ; it is the fine, pure setting to 
 the portrait of his gallant deeds. 
 
 In the wintry month of December, 1 783, in the county of Newcastle, and state 
 of Delaware, our hero first saw the light of day. It is a source of regret that the 
 early history of this gallant officer is lost. At the age of fifteen, he obtained a mid- 
 shipman's warrant in the navy. It was his fortune to lead, for some time, a life of 
 inglorious inaction. His character is spoken of in praise, as " a young gentleman 
 of great address and high promise, a favorite with both officers and men." 
 
 In the Tripoline war, Macdonough had an opportunity to test his metal, and to 
 give forth to the world the promise of his future prowess. When the brave Decatur 
 

 132 COMMODORE THOMAS MACDONOUGII 
 
 determined to burn the frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of our 
 enemies, he selected Macdonough as one of the young gallants for that dangerous 
 expedition. His cool and fearless bearing in this bold and hazardous undertaking 
 won for him the thanks of his superiors. 
 
 While first lieutenant of the Siren, as she lay at anchor in the harbor of Gibraltar, 
 and during the absence of the commander, a boat, sent from a British man-of-war, 
 boarded an American brig, anchored near the Siren, and impressed one of its sea- 
 men. Manning a gig, with a greatly inferior force, he overtook the boat of the 
 pressgang, and acted so boldly and promptly as to overawe the officer of the boat, 
 and recapture the seaman who had thus unceremoniously been kidnapped. The 
 British captain, repairing in hot rage on board the Siren, demanded to know of 
 Macdonough how he dared act thus. He replied, " The man is an American sea- 
 man, and I Iiave only done my duty." The captain swaggered, and fumed, and 
 swore that he " would bring his ship alongside, and send him and his craft to the 
 bottom." " That you can do," was the gallant answer to this brutal threat, " but 
 while she swims that man you will not have." After much more fuming and 
 swearing, the British officer said to him, " Supposing I had been in that boat, would 
 you have dared to commit such an act ? " "I should have made the attempt, sir, at 
 all hazards," was the cool reply. " What, sir," in great rage, asked the captain, " if 
 I were to impress men from that brig, would you interfere ? " " You have only to 
 try it, sir," was the pithy answer. It is needless to say that such undaunted courage 
 prevented any further attempts on the brig. 
 
 From the close of the Tripolitan war until the war of 1812, although Macdonough 
 was actively employed, no opportunity offered itself in which his, gallantry was 
 called into exercise ; but, in 1814, when " the flower of Wellington's army and 
 the cream of Nelson's marines " were collected on the borders of the lakes, our gal- 
 lant sailor was ordered to Champlain to superintend the construction of a fleet to 
 resist the attempt of the British to gain entire mastery over the inland waters of our ; 
 country. Nobly did he respond to the call of patriotism in one of the most brilliant 
 naval contests of the whole war, in which he won one of the most decisive victories 
 on record. With a greatly inferior force in ships, in metal, and in men, he utterly 
 annihilated the English squadron, and took every sail, save one or two small gun- 
 boats, which escaped only because the sinking condition of many of his ships 
 required the assistance of every hand in the fleet. 
 
 For this splendid affair, Congress voted him honors and a thousand acres of val- 
 uable land. The cities of New York and Albany also voted him land, and Mac- 
 donough was advanced to the honors and emoluments of the rank of post captain. 
 His health had been gradually failing him for some years, and on the 10th of No- 
 vember, 1825, he died of consumption, in Middletown, Connecticut, where he had 
 resided since the war. 
 
NOAH WEBSTER, LL. D. 
 
 NOAH WEBSTER was bom in West Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, 
 on the 16th of October, 1758. When fourteen years of age, he commenced 
 the study of the classics, under the instruction of the Rev. Nathan Perkins, D. D. ; 
 and in 1774 was admitted a member of the Freshman class in Yale College, and 
 graduated with reputation in 1778. 
 
 In 1781, he was admitted to the practice of the law, a profession which he had 
 studied in the intervals of his regular employment. While engaged in his studies, 
 he noted down every word whose meaning he did not distinctly understand, for the 
 purpose of further examination. The number of words thus noted, of which he 
 could find no definitions at all, or only very imperfect ones, deeply impressed upon 
 his mind the deficiencies of the best dictionaries then in use. 
 
 In 1783, he removed to Hartford, where he published the " First Part of a Gram- 
 matical Institute of the English Language." The second and third parts were pub- 
 lished in the years immediately following. These books, comprising a Spelling 
 Book, an English Grammar, and a compilation for reading, were the first books of 
 the kind published in the United States. In the winter of 1784-5, he published his 
 " Sketches of American Policy." 
 
 In 1789, Mr. Webster married a daughter of William Greenleaf, Esq., of Boston, 
 
134 NOAH WEBSTER, LL. D 
 
 
 a lady of a highly-cultivated intellect, and of great elegance and grace of manner?:. 
 His friend Trumbull speaks of this event in one of his letters to Wolcoit, who was 
 then at New York, in his characteristic vein of humor. " Webster has returned? 
 and brought with him a very pretty wife. I wish him success ; but I doubt, in the 
 present decay of business in our profession, whether his profits will enable him to 
 keep up the style he sets out with. 1 fear he will breakfast upon Institutes, dine 
 upon Dissertations, and go to bed supperless." 
 
 In 1793, he removed to New York, and there established a daily paper, called the 
 Minerva, with which he connected a semi-weekly paper, called the Herald, names 
 which were afterwards changed to those of the Commercial Advertiser, and the 
 New York Spectator. 
 
 In 1795, he published, in vindication of Mr. Jay's treaty with Great Britain, to 
 which there was violent opposition, a series of papers, under the signature of Cvrtius. 
 
 In 1799, he published, in tw r o volumes octavo, his " History of Pestilential Dis- 
 eases." In 1802, he published his celebrated treatise on the " Rights of Neutrals; " 
 and the same year, historical notices of " Banking Institutions and Insurance Of- 
 fices." In 1798, Mr. Webster removed to New Haven. 
 
 In the preface to his " Compendious Dictionary," published in 1806, he announced 
 to the world that he had entered upon the great labor of his life, that of compiling a 
 new and complete dictionary of the English language. 
 
 Mr. Webster removed, in 1812, to Arriherst. Here he entered with his character- 
 istic ardor into the literary and social interests of the place ; and represented the 
 town at different times in the General Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1822, Mr. Webster returned to New Haven. In 1823, he received the degree 
 of LL. D. from Yale College. In June, 1824, he sailed for Europe, with a view to. 
 perfect his work, by consulting literary men abroad, and by examining standard au-^ 
 thors, to which he could not have access in this country. He spent two months at 
 Paris in consulting rare works in the Bibliotheqm du Roi, and then went to Eng- 
 land, where he remained till May, 1825. He spent several months at the University 
 of Cambridge, where he had free access to the public libraries. 
 
 An edition was published in 1828. This contained twelve thousand words, and 
 between thirty and forty thousand definitions, not found in any preceding dictiona 
 ry. An edition was soon after published in England. In 1841, another edition was 
 published in this country, containing, with those in the addenda, about eighteen 
 thousand additional words. 
 
 Besides his principal productions, above mentioned, there are numerous others to 
 be included in a complete list of his writings. Dr. Webster loved truth in all its 
 manifestations, whether in science or art, whether in politics and history or in mor- 
 als and religion. Equally remarkable was his love of virtue. In his last days, he 
 enjoyed the hopes of the gospel. Death took him not by surprise. When, after a 
 short illness, the announcement of his approaching dissolution was made to him, 
 " I am ready," was his simple and sublime reply. " I know in whom I have believed ; 
 I have no doubts, no fears." He died on the 28th of May, 1843, in the eighty-fifth 
 year of his age. 
 
 NOTE. The above sketch has been compiled from the Memoir of Mr. Webster prefixed to his Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
ALBERT GALLATIN. 
 
 ALBERT GALLATIN was born at Geneva, January 29, 1761. He was 
 descended, both on the paternal and maternal side, from some of the oldest 
 and most distinguished families of Geneva and Switzerland. In 1779, he gradu- 
 ated at the university at Geneva, and the following year came to the United States, 
 having declined a commission in the army of one of the German sovereigns, being 
 then only nineteen years of age. Such was his love for a republican form of 
 institution, that he offered his services to our government as soon as he arrived, and 
 was immediately appointed to the command of a fort in Machias, Me., then a part 
 of Massachusetts. In 1782, he was appointed French tutor in the university at 
 Cambridge, but left in 1784, and removed to Virginia. Having received from Eu- 
 rope his patrimony, he purchased a plantation in that state, but from some cause 
 did not settle upon it; and in 1786, he once more changed his location, and planted 
 himself on the banks of the Monongahela, in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Gallatin was soon brought into public life, having been elected in 1789 a 
 member of the convention to amend the constitution of the State, and in the two 
 succeeding years a member of the legislature. In the measures suggested by him 
 for the resuscitation of the credit of Pennsylvania, he gave an earnest of those finan- 
 cial abilities which afterwards rendered him so eminent in the administration of the 
 
136 ALBERT GALLATIN 
 
 national treasury. In 1793, he was married to Miss Hannah, daughter of Jamea 
 Nicholson, Esq., with whom he lived, until within a few months of his own death, in 
 the enjoyment of great domestic peace and happiness. The same year he was 
 elected a Senator of the United States. His eligibility having been assailed on 
 the ground that, though an American anterior to the adoption of the Constitution, 
 and therefore eligible to the Presidency, nine years had not elapsed since his formal 
 naturalization in Virginia, his seat was vacated by a strictly party vote. Immedi- 
 ately on the decision of the Senate being promulgated, and without his knowledge, 
 Mr. Gallatin was elected a member to the House of Representatives from a district 
 of Pennsylvania, where he did not reside, but which continued to him its confidence 
 during his whole congressional career. 
 
 In 1801, Mr. Jefferson called Mr. Gallatin to a seat in his cabinet, and he contin- 
 ued at the head of the treasury department during the whole of Mr. Jefferson's 
 administration. His management of the fiscal affairs of the nation at once estab- 
 lished his reputation as a statesman, and won the confidence of the citizens of the 
 United States. In 1813, he went to St. Petersburg, as one of the Envoys Extraor- 
 dinary to negotiate with Great Britain under the mediation of Russia ; and in 1814, 
 at Ghent, in connection with John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, 
 and Jonathan Russell, he signed the treaty of peace. 
 
 In 1815, Mr. Gallatin, with Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, went to London, where 
 they concluded the commercial convention with Great Britain. In Paris he resided 
 as the Minister of the United States from 1816 to 1823, during which time he was 
 also employed on extraordinary missions to the Netherlands and Great Britain. In 
 his last mission to London, in 182728, he obtained full indemnification for the 
 injuries sustained by our southern fellow-citizens in the violation of the treaty of 
 Ghent, besides concluding three other conventions of national importance. Besides 
 these honors, Mr. Gallatin declined the office of Secretary of State, tendered to him 
 by Mr. Madison, and that of Secretary of the Navy, proffered him by Mr. Monroe. 
 In 1824, he also declined the nomination to the office of vice president of the 
 United States, offered by the democratic party. 
 
 In 1831, he was an efficient member of the Free Trade Convention, and wrote 
 the memorial to Congress, which embodies the views that are now the recognized 
 principles of the democratic party. As President of the National Bank, which 
 office he held from 1831 till he was succeeded in it by his son, Mr. James 
 Gallatin, in 1839, he gave to the other institutions of the city an illustration, in prac- 
 tice, of the correct principles of banking. He was among the earliest advocates 
 of an enlarged system of instruction, and aided largely in the establishment of the 
 New York University. He was, at the time of his death, President of the New 
 York Historical Society, and of the American Ethnological Society, an institute 
 which mainly owes its origin to him. Besides Mr. Gallatiirs numerous writii 
 on currency and other subjects connected with finance, and his official papei 
 which constitute no unimportant part of our national archives, he has publish* 
 some elaborate essays on the Indian language ; and his last intellectual effbi 
 were divided between his investigations of the language and civilization of the 
 Southern and Western tribes of this continent, and his essays against war, addressed 
 to tne interest as well as the moral obligations of nations. 
 
 He died at Astoria, Long Island, on the 12th of August, 1849. 
 
PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC, M. D. 
 
 THE department of medicine abounds with great and heroic names. The deck 
 of a frigate, in a desperate naval engagement, or the most ensanguined field 
 of battle, offers no wider range for the display of all those elements which constitute 
 real greatness, than the sick chamber, or the amputating room of a hospital. The 
 surest mark of genius is self-command the power, in an emergency, as on ordi- 
 nary occasions, to bring into calm and efficient action all the mental and physical 
 energies of one's nature. To none is the occasion oftener presented for the display 
 of this gift than to the surgeon and physician. 
 
 If this be a true definition of greatness, the subject of this memoir is entitled to 
 be called a great man and a genius. PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC was born in the city oi 
 Philadelphia, July 7, 1768. His early education was such as most worthy and judi 
 cious parents, having at heart the best welfare of their child, could provide. Aftei 
 the usual course of study in the University of Pennsylvania, he took his degree oi 
 bachelor of arts in May, 1785, and immediately commenced the study of medicine, 
 under the tutelage of Dr. Adam Kuhn, a quite celebrated physician, and pupil of 
 LinnaBus. After a most thorough course of reading, and a devotion to the means 
 of obtaining a perfect knowledge of his profession rarely equalled, young Physic 
 sailed for Europe, to finish, in the best medical schools in the old, what he had so 
 
133 PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC, M. D. 
 
 well commenced in the new world. He was particularly fortunate in the associ- 
 ations he here formed. Admitted to the " Royal College of Surgeons," in London, 
 young Physic had the rare fortune to receive the marked attentions of the celebrated 
 Hunter, between whom and himself a warm friendship sprung up which lasted to 
 the close of his life. While here, he was appointed house surgeon to St. George's 
 Hospital, for the usual period of one year, and, on leaving it, became an inmate of 
 Mr. Hunter's family. Every inducement was offered Dr. Physic to remain in Lon- 
 don, but he had resolved to devote his knowledge and talents to his own country- 
 men. Receiving his diploma from the college, and bidding his friend Hunter 
 farewell, in the year 1791 he took his final leave of London and went to Edin- 
 burgh, where, for the space of more than a year, he applied himself with the utmost 
 diligence in obtaining all the medical knowledge the rare facilities of the university 
 of that city afforded. Receiving his degree of M. D., he returned to his native coun- 
 try, and established himself as a physician and surgeon in Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. Physic commenced his professional career under the most flattering circum- 
 stances. Possessed of uncommon mental powers by nature, set off with a fine and 
 commanding person, and having enjoyed the most ample opportunities for qualify- 
 ing himself for his duties, opportunities which he had seduously and faithfully 
 improved, he at once rose to eminence in his profession, and entered into a wide 
 and most successful practice. Kind hearted and sympathetic, he w r on the love and 
 confidence of his patients, while, by the pure and upright course of his life, he se- 
 cured the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 While serving in the Bush Hill Hospital, during the prevalence of the yellow 
 fever, Dr. Physic received from the governor the appointment of alderman, and did 
 much in quelling those awful riots which were the result of this sad visitation. 
 On the subsidence of the disease, he removed once more to the city, and devoted 
 himself to the practice of his profession. In 1794, he was elected one of the sur- 
 geons to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and also one of the physicians to the Philadel- 
 phia Dispensary. While holding these offices, he contributed very largely to the 
 materia medica, and to the surgical knowledge and practice, of those institutions. 
 
 In 1797 99, the yellow fever once more ravaged that fated city, and Dr. 
 Physic was found in the front rank of those noble souls who perilled health and life 
 in the cause of humanity. Twice he was stricken down, and his recovery from the 
 last attack was slow and doubtful. In 1800, he married Miss Elizabeth Emlin, by 
 whom he had two sons and as many daughters. In 1801, he was appointed surgeon 
 extraordinary to the Philadelphia Almshouse Infirmary. In 1802, he was elected a 
 member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1805, he was appointed to the 
 chair of surgery in the university. In 1814, he suffered an attack of typhus fever, 
 from the effects of which he never fully recovered. In 1819, he was transferred from 
 the chair of surgery to that of anatomy, in the same institution. In 1821, he re- 
 ceived the appointment of consulting surgeon to the Institution for the Blind, and, 
 in 1822, he was elected president of the Phrenological Society of Philadelphia. In 
 1829, he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of France. In 
 
 1836, he was made an honorary member of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical So- 
 ciety of London. Thus, with his honors clustering around his head, he brought to 
 its close a long, useful, and honorable career, and died on the 15th of December, 
 
 1837, aged sixty-eight years. 
 
ZACHARY TAYLOR. 
 
 MAJOR GENERAL TAYLOR was born in the county of Orange, in Vir- 
 ginia, in the year 1790. After receiving such an education as the times 
 permitted, General Taylor entered the army, with a commission of lieutenant in the 
 7th infantry, under the administration of Jefferson, in 1808. He was then eighteen 
 years of age. When, on the 19th of June, 1812, war was declared, Taylor, who had 
 previously received a captain's commission, held command of Fort Harrison, and r 
 with a handful of men, defended himself against the attack of a large body of Indians^ 
 with such skill and bravery, that Madison bestowed upon him the brevet of major. 
 
 From this period until 1840, Taylor passed his life in an almost incessant warfare 
 with the various savage tribes in the west, where he signalized himself by repeated 
 acts of bravery, and by the exhibition of a sagacious forecast, which won for him the 
 approval of the nation. Meanwhile he had passed through the grades of lieutenant 
 colonel and colonel, and held at this date a brigadier general's commission. 
 
 When it became evident to the government that a war with Mexico must 
 speedily occur, General Taylor was ordered, with his army, to occupy a position on 
 the American side of the Rio Grande, with instructions not to cross the river unless 
 the Mexicans should make the first attack. 
 
 10 
 
40 ZACHARY TAYLOR 
 
 
 On the 25th of July, General Taylor reached the Island of St. Joseph's, and from 
 thence removed to Corpus Christi, in August. From this place he sent out a party 
 of reconnoissance, who recommended Point Isabel as a suitable place for a depot. 
 Here he built Fort Brown, which lies on the Rio Grande, nearly opposite Mata* 
 tnoras. It was now that hostilities commenced, the Mexicans attacking Fort Brown 
 General Taylor heard of the dangerous position of his troops and stores at Point 
 Isabel, and determined to succor and relieve the place. But there was a Mexican 
 army between him and Point Isabel, not less than five thousand strong, ready to 
 dispute every inch of his way. With only two thousand one hundred men, General 
 Taylor determined to cut his way through to Fort Brown. This he effected in one 
 of the most brilliant military campaigns history has ever recorded, during which were 
 fought the glorious battles of Palo Alto and La Resaca de la Palma, and in which 
 fell so many brave and gallant men. 
 
 The attack on Matamoras, the storming of Monterey, the sanguinary battle of 
 Buena Vista, and the hundred skirmishes which took place in that year under 
 General Taylor, form a page in history which will bear comparison with any other 
 that has been written. With one third, and often less, of the force of the Mexicans, 
 General Taylor met them on their own ground ; having to contend with all the difficul- 
 ties of climate, distance of home, and an army composed of a majority of men who 
 had never before seen a battle-field ; and always conquered. His perfect coolness, 
 his majestic courage, his keen sagacity, his admirable generalship, true constitu- 
 ents of a military hero, are apparent in camp, in council, and in the field, and 
 have won for him undying laurels ; while his kind and dignified demeanor ingratiat- 
 ed him with all his officers and soldiers. His name dwelt on every lip, his praise 
 rung in every ear. Every where he was received with marked demonstrations of 
 respect and affection. At New Orleans, the mayor, in his address to the old general, 
 embodied the sentiment of the American public ; for although many were loud in 
 their denunciations of the war, all agreed in according him the same meed of praise. 
 " For such achievements, General, every true American heart, from one end to the 
 other of the republic, is filled with gratitude and admiration. Wherever you direct 
 your steps, upon any spot where the star-spangled banner triumphantly expands its 
 folds to the breeze, you will find a nation's love to greet you ; you will have a whole 
 nation's spontaneous applause, extolling the splendor of your deeds, which your 
 modesty would in vain endeavor to weaken in your own eyes." 
 
 From the battle of Buena Vista to the close of the war, General Taylor remained 
 in a state of inactivity, and could only behold from a distance the triumphal march 
 of Scott from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, without so much as drawing his 
 sword once in all these gallant exploits. 
 
 At length a peace was conquered from Mexico, and General Taylor retired to 
 his farm at Baton Rouge, full of honors as of years. 
 
 In 1848, General Taylor was elected to fill the presidential chair, and was inau- 
 gurated on the 4th of March following. He survived his inauguration but little 
 more than a year, when he sunk under his cares and responsibilities, and yielded up 
 his spirit on the 9th of July, 1850. The fatigues of the camp, the dangers and 
 hardships of many an ensanguined field, could not subdue the old chief; but the 
 intrigues of a cabinet were too much for him, and he fell a prey to the care? and 
 anxieties of his new and exalted condition. 
 
JOSEPH STORY, LL.l) 
 
 distinguished jurist and excellent man was born in Marblehead, Essex 
 county, Massachusetts. In 1798, he was graduated at Harvard College, with 
 marked distinction, and studied law in the office of Judge Putnam, of Salem, 
 where he established himself as a lawyer. He entered early into political life, 
 and was sent to the General Court, for several years, a representative from the an- 
 cient town (now city) of Salem, and presided over that body for a length of time. 
 " In 1809, he was chosen a representative to Congress, to fill a vacancy in Essex 
 South District. He served in this body with much distinction, but declined a 
 reelection. In 1811, he was appointed by President Madison a judge of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States." For sound legal learning, for deep, discrim- 
 inating sagacity, for unswerving rectitude, - those important prerequisites in a 
 judge, no one was his superior. " The wisdom of the selection was immediately 
 indicated by the distinguished ability which he displayed; and each succeeding year 
 added to the splendor and extent of his judicial fame. He moved with familiar 
 steps over every province and department of jurisprudence. All branches of the law 
 have been illustrated and enlarged by his learning, acuteness, and sagacity ; and of 
 some, he has been the creator. His immortal judgments contain copious stores of 
 
142 JOSEPH STORY, LL.D. 
 
 ripe and sound learning, which will be of inestimable value, in all future times, alike 
 to the judge, the practitioner, and the student." 
 
 In 1829, he was appointed Dane Professor of Law, in the Law School of Har- 
 vard University, and removed from Salem to Cambridge, the seat of the college, 
 where he resided until his death, in September, 1845. 
 
 Both in his professorship and his office of Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. 
 Story was a most diligent student and laborious writer. His extended reputation 
 drew multitudes from all parts of the union to the school, and to his untiring exer- 
 tions is to be attributed the great success of the school. " As a teacher of jurispru- 
 dence, he brought to the important duties of the professor's chair the most exuberant 
 learning, the most unwearied patience, a native delight in the great subjects which 
 he expounded, a copious and persuasive eloquence, and a contagious enthusiasm, 
 which filled his pupils with love for the law, and for the master who taught it so 
 well. All his teachings were illumined by the loftiest morality, and never failed to 
 show, that whosoever aspired to the fame of a great lawyer must be also a good 
 man." 
 
 Judge Story early commenced his literary career, and, amidst the cares and duties 
 of office, found time to dally occasionally with the muses, and to roam over the 
 fields of polite learning. But his great labors lay in the duties of his double office 
 as judge, and head of the Law School, which were most assiduously and faith- 
 fully discharged, and in the composition and publication of many valuable works 
 on questions of law and equity, not to mention addresses before various societies, 
 eulogies on eminent men, and contributions to some of the best literary and scien- 
 tific journals of the day. He was a man of whom it might eminently be said, he 
 had no idle hours. His life was crowded with usefulness ; he did much, and did it 
 well. " Whatever subject he touched," these are his own words, in reference to a 
 noble compeer who had just passed away from his side, " was touched with a 
 master's hand and spirit. He employed his eloquence to adorn his learning, and his 
 learning to give solid weight to his eloquence. He was always instructive and 
 interesting, and rarely without producing an instantaneous conviction. A lofty 
 ambition of excellence, that stirring spirit, which breathes the breath of heaven, and 
 pants for immortality, sustained his genius in its perilous course." 
 
WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, D. D. 
 
 THIS celebrated divine, the champion for free thought and free limbs, was born 
 at Newport, Rhode Island, April 7, 1778. As a boy, he was at once beautiful, 
 thoughtful, and amiable, conciliating all hearts, and winning the love of his friends 
 and teachers. He was patient as a pupil, and applied himself diligently to what- 
 ever task was assigned to him ; but in no way precocious or brilliant. At a very 
 early age, he was imbued with religious reverence, and, while a mere child, thought 
 r ith an unusual degree of mental vigor upon the abstruse dogmas of theology. He 
 was the soul of honor, and ever ready to take the part of the oppressed among his 
 playmates. Washington Allston, the poet-painter, describes him as " an open, 
 brave, and generous boy." 
 
 At the age of twelve, he was removed from the home of his childhood, and placed 
 in the family of an uncle, in New London, to prepare himself for college. He was 
 entered as freshman, in Harvard University, in 1794. His collegiate course was 
 marked by close application to his studies, a strict observance of all the re- 
 quirements of the government, and the most faultless deportment. In 1798, he 
 was graduated with the highest honors of his class. 
 
 After spending a couple of years as tutor in the family of David Meade Ran- 
 
WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, D. D. 
 
 dolph, Esq., of Richmond, Virginia, he returned to Cambridge, with the purpose of 
 pursuing his studies preparatory to entering the ministry. In 1801, he was made 
 regent in Harvard University. The following year, having been licensed by the 
 " Cambridge Ministerial Association," he commenced preaching. He soon received 
 an invitation to settle over the Federal Street Society, in Boston, where he received 
 ordination on the 1st of June, 1803. He retained the office of pastor of this church 
 and society until his death, which occurred at Bennington, Vermont, on the 2d of 
 October, 1842, while on a journey for his health. 
 
 Dr. Channing's stature was small, and his appearance ever gave the beholder 
 the most painful convictions of an infirm constitution and a very depressed 
 condition of health. When he rose to speak, his voice, scarcely arising above a 
 tremulous whisper, caused a strong feeling of disappointment and regret ; but, as he 
 warmed with his theme, his form seemed to dilate, until you forgot his diminutive- 
 ness, and his voice rose to such a clear, sonorous note, that every vibration thrilled 
 you to the very soul. Few men were so eloquent as he ; but it was not the elo- 
 quence of the schools. The greatness of his subject, the solemnity of his mission, 
 the consciousness of the immeasurable worth of the human soul, and the solemn 
 and manly earnestness with which he sought to make it free in Christ ; these were 
 the elements of his subduing eloquence an eloquence which enchained the souls 
 of his auditors, and melted them into tenderness and humility. 
 
 Dr. Channing was an uncompromising advocate of human freedom. He sought 
 with all his might to take away the irons from the limbs of the enslaved, and to dis- 
 inthrall the human mind from the fetters of party and the debasing creeds of sects. 
 He was an ardent patriot, and his heart bled for every stain which fell upon the 
 escutcheon of his country's glory. While he abhorred war and all the glory of it, 
 and labored through his life for the abolition of slavery in our land, his indignation 
 knew no bounds towards those who sought to fetter the free-born human mind. He 
 had the highest reverence for the individual and independent man, and he could have 
 no patience with those weaklings who were ready to sell their birthright for a mere 
 mess of pottage, and no charity for the tyrants who were ready lordlily to usurp that 
 glorious prerogative of every human soul. He disdained all party bounds or bands. 
 When the New England church divided on what were called the Unitarian and Cal- 
 vinistic doctrines, he took the liberal side, only as choosing the least of two evils, and 
 labored while he lived to do away all sectarian names and badges, and to bring all 
 real and sincere believers together under the broad and catholic name of CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Dr. Channing was a man of the purest life and spirit. The sins which so easily 
 beset and contaminate many great and good men were shed by the immaculate 
 mantle of his life without leaving a trace behind " in him there was no guile." In 
 his presence, others, who had no very great sins to reproach themselves withal, felt 
 rebuked, and retired from his society with an humiliating consciousness of their n*vn 
 inferiority in all that constitutes " the pure in heart." 
 
COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 
 
 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, the " Hero of Lake Erie," was born in Newport.. 
 Rhode Island, in August, 1785. He was entered as midshipman in the navy 
 of the United States at the early age of twelve, and accompanied his squadron to 
 the Mediterranean during the Tripoline war, where his urbanity and quick appre- 
 hension of his duties secured the decided approval of his superiors. 
 
 At the beginning of the war of 1812, young Perry was ordered to the command 
 of a flotilla of gunboats in the harbor of New York, with the grade of lieutenant. 
 Disgusted with this dull and uneventful service, he was, at his own request, trans- 
 ferred to the lakes, and soon stationed, by Commodore Chauncey, on Lake Erie, 
 Here his free and active spirit had full scope, and, as commander of a squadron 
 which he had been instrumental in creating, he fought one of the most brilliant 
 naval battles on record, and won for himself a renown deathless as the name of the 
 inland sea whose shores echoed to the booming of his victorious cannon. For this 
 action Congress voted him thanks, and created him a captain in the navy. 
 
 The enemy having been driven from the lakes, Commodore Perry was ordered to 
 the command of the small naval force on the Potomac, to aid in the defence of the 
 
14:6 COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 
 
 capital, on which the British, under General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, were 
 concentrating their forces, and which resulted in its downfall. 
 
 In 1815, Commodore Perry was appointed to the command of the Java frigate, 
 and sailed with Decatur's squadron to the Mediterranean, for the purpose of hum- 
 bling the Dey of Algiers, who had taken the opportunity of our occupancy with the 
 war to prey upon our commerce. This mission was successfully accomplished, and 
 the Dey compelled to accede to such terms as our government chose to offer. 
 
 On his return to the United States, and while his ship was lying at Newport, 
 information was brought him of the distressing and perilous condition of a merchant- 
 ship lying on a reef about six miles below. It was midwinter ; but immediately 
 manning his boat, and cheering his men with " Come, my boys, we go to rescue the 
 -shipwrecked mariner," he succeeded in delivering eleven of his fellow-beings from a 
 most painful death. In this act there is more of manly heroism than in a hundred 
 battles bravely fought: those show the dauntless warrior this, the brave man! 
 
 In 1819, Commodore Perry sailed for the West Indies, under sealed orders, to take 
 the command of that station. For a long time those seas had been infested with 
 bands of lawless freebooters, who had become the terror of all navigators of those 
 waters, and our government had resolved to extirpate them, cost what it might. It 
 was a difficult and arduous service, and Perry was selected on account of his pe- 
 culiar fitness for the duty. But he was not permitted to justify the selection. The 
 yellow fever already prevailed in the fleet on his arrival, and he early fell a victim to 
 its ravages. His death occurred on the 23d of August, 1820. In the height of his 
 usefulness, and the very heyday of his existence, he was cut off, amidst the lamen- 
 tations of the whole country. He was buried with military honors, and every mark 
 of respect was paid to his memory by Congress, and many of the state legislatures. 
 
 None of our military or naval officers have received a greater share of popular 
 favor than the subject of this memoir. In person he was elegant and imposing, 
 with an easy address, which made him a favorite with all classes. His talents were 
 of a high order, and he had cultivated them to a large degree. Forecast was his 
 most prominent trait of character; and he rarely failed of success in his plans, so 
 carefully did he calculate beforehand its chances and mischances. 
 
 Beneath a suitable monument, erected to his memory by the legislature of Rhode 
 Island, his ashes repose in his native town ; and thither have flocked, and will still 
 flock, crowds of admiring patriots, to do homage to his memory. 
 

 DE WITT CLINTON. 
 
 THE name of DE WITT CLINTON is forever associated with progress. His endur- 
 ing monument is the great Erie Canal, a work, for its time, never excelled in this 
 country, and although, in the advance of mind, it may be destined to fall more and 
 more into desuetude, it will forever stand out as one of the giant creations of a 
 colossal mind. 
 
 This eminent statesman and politician was born in the state of New York, on the 
 2d of March, 1769. At the close of the revolutionary war, in 1784, he entered Co- 
 lumbia College as junior, and was graduated, in 1786, first scholar in his class. He 
 studied law in the office of Samuel Jones, and was admitted to the bar in 1789, 
 opening his office in the city of New York. Scarcely, however, had he commenced 
 the practice of his profession, when he received an appointment as private secretary 
 to his uncle, Governor Clinton. Thus introduced to political life, he pursued it 
 until death. At this time he held, also, the office of secretary to the regents of the 
 university, and the board of fortifications of New York. 
 
 In 1797, he was elected a member of the Assembly, from the city of New York ; 
 and the next year, he was sent to the state Senate. While in this office, he signal- 
 ized himself as a ready and forcible debater. 
 
118 DE WITT CLINTON. 
 
 In 1802, Mr. Clinton was elected, by the legislature of New York, senator of the 
 United States. He held this office during two sessions, when he resigned, having 
 been elected to the mayoralty of New York city. While in the Senate, he gave his 
 support to Mr. Jefferson and his party. 
 
 Mr. Clinton continued in his office of mayor until 1815, with the exception of two 
 years, and, during this time, he was repeatedly sent to the Senate of his native state, 
 where he introduced a number of important laws, and developed his plans for inter- 
 nal improvement. 
 
 In 1811, he was elected lieutenant governor. While an incumbent of that office, 
 he ran as candidate for President of the United States, in opposition to Mr. Mad- 
 ison, who, however, triumphed over his opponent. This occurred at the time of 
 high political excitement, when the virus of party hate was most deadly ; and Mr. 
 Clinton shared, in common with all unsuccessful aspirants for high honors, its baleful 
 effects. 
 
 The character of Mr. Clinton, however, was too well established in his native 
 state to be easily shaken, and, in 1817, he was elected governor almost without 
 opposition. He was reflected in 1820. On the adoption of the new state constitu- 
 tion, he retired from office, but was again elected in 1824. and retained the office 
 until his death. 
 
 Meanwhile the great project of Mr. Clinton had been carried forward to its grand 
 consummation, and the autumn of 1825 witnessed the triumphant completion of 
 " The Great Erie Canal" and an explosion of joy through the entire length of the 
 land. 
 
 Mr. Clinton was the patron and friend of popular education, and of all those combi- 
 nations of mind which have for their object the improvement of the moral and phys- 
 ical condition of his fellow-men. Agriculture, commerce, internal improvements, edu- 
 cation, the arts and sciences, provisions for the insane, for the sick, for the blind, for 
 the convict, all these received a share of his attention, and found in him an advo- 
 cate and a friend. His was a most versatile mind, and he seemed to be at home in 
 whatever department of political or civil life he happened to be placed. He had a 
 word for all occasions, and a hand for every good work. A man of such a universal 
 genius must be expected to have some strong points of character, and it is not sur- 
 prising that he had a few vigorous and wakeful enemies, who were ever on the 
 watch for his faults, and ready to trumpet them forth to the world ; but he was a 
 man of many virtues, and rejoiced in a mighty army of friends, who knew how to 
 appreciate his worth while living, and to do justice to his memory now that he is 
 no longer in our midst. 
 
 " Such was the individual," writes the venerable President Nott, " who, during a 
 life so short, so changeful, and yet, withal, so fortunate, was able not only to fix 
 some impress of his mind on most of the institutions under which we live, but also 
 to grave the memorial of his being on the bosom of the earth on which we tread, 
 and in lines, too, so bold and so indelible that they may, and probably will, continue 
 legible to successive generations." 
 
 On the llth of February, 1828, while conversing with his family in his study? he 
 expired instantly, of a disease of the heart. 
 
JOHN CHAKLES FREMONT. 
 
 MONGST the explorers of the new world, COLONEL FREMONT has no superior. 
 For all those traits essential to a successful pioneer, courage, genius, forti- 
 ide, perseverance, and indomitabJe heroism, we may look far before we find his 
 equal. Born, bred, and educated in South Carolina, we find him, at the age of seven- 
 teen, teaching mathematics, that he might support his widowed mother and her young- 
 er children. Shortly after, at the recommendation of Mr. Poinsett, then secretary of 
 the navy, he was joined to the expedition under direction of Nicollet, with whom he 
 explored the way to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 On his return to Washington, he offered his services to the government, proposing 
 to penetrate the Rocky Mountains by a new route. His offer was accepted, and his 
 plan approved ; and in 1842, with a mere handful of men, he explored the South 
 Pass, one of the great highways to California and Oregon, examining with great 
 skill its astronomical, geological, geographical, botanical, and hygeian manifestations. 
 His published report of this expedition was read with vivid interest the world over, 
 and established the character of Fremont as a man of thorough scientific research 
 and bold adventure. 
 
 But Colonel Fremont was far from being satisfied. A vast tract of wilderness, 
 over which no white man's foot had ever roamed, lay between his recent tracks and 
 
150 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 
 
 the explorations of Colonel Wilkes, about the tide waters of the Columbia. So, the 
 following year, he set himself to the exploration of this vast tract. " He approached 
 the mountains by a new line, scaled their summits south of the South Pass, deflect- 
 ed to the Great Salt Lake, and pushed examinations right and left along his entire 
 course. He joined his survey to that of Colonel Wilkes, and his orders were 
 fulfilled. He had opened one route to the -Columbia, and he wished to find an- 
 other." Turning his face once more to the vast chain of mountains with whose 
 grand features he was now becoming familiar, with stinted supplies, and a deficient 
 number of men and mules, he began, at the very opening of winter, "that wonderful 
 expedition, filled with romance, achievement, daring, and suffering, in which he was 
 lost from the world nine months, traversing three thousand five hundred miles, in 
 sight of eternal snows, in which he explored and revealed the grand features of Alta 
 California, its great basin, the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacra- 
 mento, explored the fabulous Buenaventura, revealed the real El Dorado, and estab- 
 lished the geography of the western part of our continent." 
 
 In 1844 he was again at the capital, planning another expedition, even while he 
 was preparing the report of the last ; and the following year he again set out for the 
 Pacific, by a new route. This expedition involved him in the war with Mexico, and 
 owing to misunderstanding of the orders of his superiors, he was arrested for disobe- 
 dience and contumely, and sent back to Washington, tried by a court martial, and 
 stripped of his commission. The president offered to reinstate him. " I ask jus- 
 tice, not mercy," was his characteristic reply, and he spurned a sword he could not 
 wear but with dishonor. 
 
 It needed but one more line to complete the surveys he had so successfully 
 carried on ; and although stripped of the patronage of government, he determined to 
 finish his work. Mustering his band of hardy mountaineers, who gloried in him as 
 their leader, he commenced his march once more, through a more than Siberian 
 country. The terrors of that campaign can scarcely be imagined. He lost all his 
 men, horses, mules, provisions, and with barely the breath of life in him, he succeed- 
 ed in reaching a settlement, where he recruited his exhausted energies, enlisted new 
 men, procured a supply of mules and provisions,, and, nothing disheartened, started 
 forward once more on his glorious but perilous march ; penetrated the country of the 
 fierce and remorseless Apaches ; met, awed, or defeated savage tribes ; and in a hun- 
 dred days from Santa Fe, he stood on the glittering banks of the Sacramento. 
 
 Here he was among his friends once more, and they speedily reversed the decision 
 of the court martial, and made him " the first senator from the Golden State." It 
 was a tribute due to his heroism and success. 
 
 The name of Fremont " is identified forever with some of the proudest and most 
 grateful passages in American history. His twenty thousand miles of wilderness 
 explorations, in the midst of the inclemencies of nature, and the ferocities of jealous 
 and merciless tribes : his powers of endurance in a slender form ; his intrepid coolness 
 in the most appalling dangers ; his magnetic sway over enlightened and savage 
 men ; his vast contributions to science ; his controlling energy in the extension of 
 our empire ; his lofty and unsullied ambition ; his magnanimity, humanity, genius, 
 sufferings, and heroism ; make all lovers of progress, learning, and virtue rejoice that 
 Fremont's services have been rewarded by high civic honors, exhaustless wealth, and 
 the admiration and gratitude of mankind." 
 
 
ROBERT BAIRD, D. D. 
 
 EEV. ROBERT BAIRD, one of thirteen children of a sturdy farmer of that 
 ' name, was born near Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 6th 
 of October, 1798. His childhood passed, like that of all farmers' boys, in tending 
 cattle, raking hay, chopping wood, " riding the horse to plough," doing the chores 
 generally, and going to school a few weeks in winter. At fifteen he was sent to a 
 Latin school at Uniontown, whence, after the usual amount of homesickness and 
 study, he went, in the summer of 1816, to Washington College, whose Sophomore 
 class he joined during its last term, and graduated with a fair reputation as a 
 scholar. While in college he took charge of a class of colored children in a Sunday 
 school, where the teacher was first truly taught the rudiments of Christianity, and 
 which resulted in his joining the church in the latter part of his junior year. 
 
 In 1819, he entered the Theological School at Princeton, having supported him- 
 self after he left college by teaching. On leaving the school he once more resorted 
 to his favorite occupation of teaching, and took charge of an academy in Princeton, 
 which situation he held for nearly six years, when he overcame his great diffidence, 
 which had hitherto prevented his preaching, and commenced in earnest his profes- 
 sional career a career as honorable to himself as it has been useful to mankind. 
 
153 ROBERT BAIRD, D. D. 
 
 
 In 1827, Mr. Baird became an agent of the American Bible Society, and after a 
 successful commencement of his mission in the United States, he was appointed as 
 their agent to Caraccas, in South America, but never sailed on his mission ; and the 
 following year accepted the appointment of General Agent of the New Jersey Mis- 
 sionary Society. In the spring of 1829, he was chosen the General Agent of the 
 American Sabbath School Union, and became a resident of the city of Philadelphia. 
 In the fulfilment of his duties, he travelled all over the country, from Maine to Ore- 
 gon, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 Dr. Baird had long felt a deep interest in the religious condition of France, and at 
 his suggestion, a society had been formed, in 1834, called the " French Associa- 
 tion." As the agent of this society he sailed for Havre, and remained in Europe 
 three years. " The winter months he spent in Paris, promoting the objects of the 
 association ; writing and conducting an English service on the Sabbath, The first 
 summer was spent in Switzerland, and during the first year a ' History of Temper- 
 ance Societies' was written, which has been published in the French, Swedish,* 
 Dutch, German, Grecian, Danish, Finnish, and Russian languages, and scattered! 
 broadcast over Europe. 
 
 " In the first tour made by Dr. B. in behalf of the temperance cause, he visited 
 London, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Leipsic Berlin, Sweden, Frankfort j 
 on the Maine, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Brussels. In the winter of 1837-38, he^ 
 made his northern tour through Europe, visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin,; 
 Poland, Austria, and Germany. In the spring, he returned to America, the objects: 
 of the ' Association ' having been accomplished. In the mean time, the ' Foreign/ 
 Evangelical Society' had been formed, and in August, 1839, Dr. Baird returned to< 
 Europe as its agent. In the winter of 183940, he was severely sick, and endured at 
 long confinement. The summer of 1840 was spent in another tour to the north of: 
 Europe. At this time, he lectured throughout Sweden, speaking two or three times* 
 each day in behalf of temperance." 
 
 In 1841 and 1842, he travelled extensively in this country, trying to rouse up the 
 people on the subject of evangelizing Europe, during which he wrote and published- 
 his book on " Religion in America," which has been published in the English, 
 French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Danish, Modern Greek, and Armenian 
 languages. 
 
 In 1846, Dr. Baird attended the World's Temperance Convention at Stockholm 
 as also the "Evangelical Alliance," which met at London. Thus he has crossec 
 the ocean ten times, and spent eight years abroad in the service of the " Foreign 
 Evangelical Society," and other religious institutions, travelling through almost thf 
 entire extent of Europe, besides visiting nearly every large town and humble hamle 
 of our own country. 
 
 For five years Dr. Baird has labored among his own people, writing, lecturing, anc 
 editing the quarterly paper which is the organ of the society. He is a man of man 
 ners most bland, and address most winning, and seems to have been provided by 
 Providence for the special work to which the race have called him, and to which he 
 has devoted the ripest years of his life, and the freshest vigor of his expansive andi 
 all-embracing benevolence. 
 
GENERAL FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 T7RANKLIN PIERCE was bom in Hillsboro', in the State of New Hampshire. 
 J on the 23d of November, 1804. His childhood passed under the shades of the 
 old trees of his rural mountain home, where he is represented as a fair, bright, blue- 
 eyed, curly-headed urchin, whom the neighborhood petted, and all his teachers loved. 
 Having passed a preparatory course at a neighboring academy, young Pierce en- 
 tered Bowdoin College at the early age of sixteen, in the year 1820. Having 
 chosen the law as a profession, he became a student in the office of Judge Wood- 
 bury, of Portsmouth. The last two years of Mr. 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 prac- 
 tice of his profession at Hillsboro'. Success did not at first wait on his efforts, but 
 in a little while he rose, and by degrees has attained the highest rank as a lawyer 
 and advocate. He also entered early in life into politics, and in the year 1829, at 
 the age of twenty-five years, he was elected to his first political public honor, as rep- 
 resentative from his native town to the legislature of the state. He served in that 
 body 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 office he filled 
 to universal satisfaction, for " he was blessed," says his biographer, Hawthorne, 
 
154 GENERAL FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 " with all the natural gifts that adapted him for the post ; courtesy, firmness, quick- 
 ness and accuracy of judgment, and a clearness of mental perception that brought 
 its own regularity into the scene of confused and entangled debate ; and to these 
 qualities he added whatever was to be attained by laborious study of parliamentary 
 rules." 
 
 In 1833, Pierce was elected to Congress, and in 1837, he was chosen a member 
 of the United States Senate, he having barely attained the age necessary to a seat 
 in that body. Soon after his election to the lower branch of the United States Legis- 
 lature, in 1834, he married Miss Jane Means, the daughter of Rev. Dr. Appleton, a 
 former president of Bowdoin College, and on his election to the Senate he removed 
 from Hillsboro' to Concord, the capital of the state. He served through one period 
 of four years, and was reflected in 1841. The following year he resigned his seat, 
 and returned to the practice of his profession at the bar. Of his political career 
 while a member of this august body, it is not our intention to speak. As a public 
 debater he took a high stand, and showed himself diligent and capable in the busi- 
 ness of legislation, while his gentlemanly deportment won for him the respect of 
 political opponents, as well as friends. 
 
 He now devoted himself to the practice of the law, and soon gave evidence of 
 the high stand he was destined to occupy at the bar. A contemporary gives us the 
 clew to his success. " His vigilance and perseverance, omitting nothing in the prep- 
 aration and introduction of testimony, even to the minutest details, which can be 
 useful to his clients ; his watchful attention, seizing on every weak point in the oppo- 
 site case; his quickness and readiness; his sound and excellent judgment ; his keen 
 insight into character and motives ; his almost intuitive knowledge of men ; his in- 
 genious and powerful cross examinations ; his adroitness in turning aside trouble- 
 some testimony, and availing himself of every favorable point ; his quick sense of 
 the ridiculous ; his pathetic appeals to the feelings ; his sustained eloquence, and re- 
 markably energetic declamation, all mark him for a < leader.' " 
 
 In 1846, President Polk offered him the office of Attorney General, an honor 
 which he, however, declined. On the breaking out of the Mexican war, Mr. Pierc 
 was commissioned as brigadier general, and took his departure for the seat of war 
 on the 27th of May, 1847, where, after seeing a good deal of hard service, and mak- 
 ing one of a band of heroes in several hard battles where victory always rested on 
 the American arms, he returned to his home, where he was received with much dis- 
 tinction and many honors. At the present time of writing, he is the regularly-nomi- 
 nated candidate of the democratic party for President of the United States. 
 
 As a member of society, Franklin Pierce is a universal favorite, and by his good- 
 natured and unaffected urbanity ingratiates every one whose good fortune it is to 
 make his acquaintance. As a public speaker he is remarkably successful. A polit- 
 ical opponent thus speaks of him : " He is not only remarkably fluent in his elocu- 
 tion, but remarkably correct. He seldom miscalls or repeats a word. His style is 
 not overloaded with ornament, and yet he draws liberally upon the treasury of 
 rhetoric. His figures are often beautiful and striking, never incongruous. He is al- 
 ways listened to with respectful attention, if he does not always command con- 
 viction." 
 
 P. S. Since writing the above, General Pierce has been elected, by an almost 
 unprecedented majority, to the office of President of the United States. 
 
TEGUMSEH. 
 
 aboriginal race of our country has afforded some of the finest specimens of 
 mental activity that can be found in man's history. Brutal and degraded as 
 the mass may be, from want of a generally diffused education, like all other races, 
 our Indians have their great men great, not only in comparison with their own, 
 but in comparison with all the great men of earth. Civilization has produced few 
 minds that exceed the mind of the " great leader of the Shawanees " in native 
 strength, shrewdness, and dignity, and no one better deserves a place in the history 
 of our great men. 
 
 TECUMSEH, a brigadier general in the British army, was born near the year 1770. 
 From childhood, he was distinguished for his bravery and intrigue. With real sav- 
 age abhorrence of the whites, whom he hated as the invaders of the ashes of his 
 sires, and the peace of his wigwam and hunting grounds, he spared no white man 
 who came within the reach of his rifle or tomahawk. For years he cherished, and 
 at length matured, a plan for the utter expulsion of the whites from the territory of 
 | his own and the neighboring tribes. In his negotiations with the chiefs of the vari- 
 ous tribes from the northern extremes of the lakes to the confluence of the Missis- 
 sippi with the gulf, he exhibited a sagacity and shrewdness, a knowledge of human 
 
 11 
 
156 TECUMSEH. 
 
 nature, and a tireless perseverance, worthy the great diplomatists of the world ; and 
 his success was equal to his efforts. 
 
 He appears to no less advantage as a negotiator with the whites. Governor Har- 
 rison was often put to fault with the shrewdness of his reasoning, and could never 
 succeed in bringing the sturdy warrior to terms, save at the muzzle of his cannon. 
 At the close of a fruitless negotiation at the head-quarters of Harrison, he was told 
 that the matter in hand would be referred to the President. " Well," was his char- 
 acteristic reply, " as the great chief is to determine this matter, I hope the Great 
 Spirit will put sense enough into his head to comply with the demands of my tribe." 
 He said that it would be with great reluctance that he should make war on the 
 whites, but, such was his sense of the wrongs done to his brethren, that unless his 
 demands were complied with, he would fight it out, and he " woukl give no rest to 
 his feet until he had milled all the red men in a like determination" 
 
 In a civilized man, expostulating with the oppressor, who had no other claim than 
 the power of might to his lands, and who threatened to drive him and his brethren, 
 with their wives and their little ones, from the familiar and pleasant lands where 
 their ancestors, time out of mind, had lived and died, and which was endeared by 
 every traditionary event and domestic scene for a thousand years, in a Christian- 
 ised hero, this would be considered the height of the morally sublime, an outburst 
 of patriotism worthy all praise. How can it be any less so in the savage chief? 
 Nay, how is the dignity and patriotism of his revenge enhanced from the very fact 
 of his barbarism ! 
 
 On another occasion, when Tecumseh had closed his speech, and was about to be 
 seated, he discovered that no chair had been provided for him. The defect was 
 soon supplied, and the officer who presented the chair observed, " General, your 
 father requests you to take a chair." " My father ! " exclaimed the indignant chief, 
 assuming his most majestic attitude, " the sun is my father, and the earth is my 
 mother I will repose upon her bosom;" and immediately threw himself, with inimi- 
 table grace, upon the ground, after the fashion of the Indians. 
 
 At length, the negotiations terminated, and appeal was had to arms. The battle 
 of Tippecanoe followed, and then succeeded those sanguinary fights which ended 
 in the battle of the Thames, where, after fighting like a lion at bay, with a fury 
 which he alone could assume, against the most fearful odds, and heaping a barrier 
 of human bodies all around him, a shot through the head laid him low with his 
 foes who had fallen by his hand. Thus was terminated, in the forty-fourth year of 
 his age, the life of as brave a warrior as ever fought for his fatherland. 
 

 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 VWTILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was born in Charles City county, Vir- 
 f T ginia, on the 9th of February, 1773. He was educated at Hamden Sydney 
 College, and immediately prepared himself for the practice of medicine. At this 
 time, the hostilities of the Indians, on our north-western frontier, exeited ihc attention 
 of our young physician, and, having received from President Washington an ensign's 
 commission, he joined the north-western army at the early age of nineteen. In 
 1792, he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and was in several actions under Wayne, 
 who spoke in the highest terms of his bravery and skill. For his courage and cool- 
 ness at the bloody battle of Miami Rapids, he was promoted to the rank of captain, 
 and immediately placed in command of Fort Washington. In 1797, resigning his 
 commission in the army, he was appointed secretary of the North-west Territory. 
 At the age of twenty-six, in 1799, he was elected a delegate to Congress from this 
 territory, where he rendered very valuable service to his constituents, and did him- 
 self great credit. 
 
 On the erection of Indiana into a territorial government, he was appointed its 
 first governor, and he held this office, by reappointment, till 1813. In addition 1o 
 the duties in the civil and military government of the territory, he was commissioner 
 
158 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 and superintendent of Indian affairs ; and, in the course of his administration, he 
 concluded thirteen important treaties with the different tribes. On the 7th of No- 
 vember, 1811, he gained over the Indians the celebrated battle of Tippecanoe, the 
 news of which was received throughout the country with a burst of enthusiasm. 
 During the last war with Great Britian, he was made commander of the north-west- 
 ern army of the United States, and he bore a conspicuous part in the leading events 
 in the campaign of 1812-13, the defence of Fort Meigs, and the victory of the 
 Thames. In 1814, he was appointed, in conjunction with his companions in arms, 
 Governor Shelby and General Cass, to treat with the Indians in the north-west, at 
 Greenville ; and, in the following year, he was placed at the head of a commission 
 to treat with various other important tribes. 
 
 " In 1816, General Harrison was elected a member of Congress from Ohio ; and, 
 in 1828, he was sent minister plenipotentiary to the republic of Colombia. On his 
 return, he took up his residence at North Bend, on the Ohio, sixteen miles below 
 Cincinnati, where he lived upon his farm, in comparative retirement, till he was 
 called by the people of the United States to preside over the country as its chief 
 magistrate." 
 
 Perhaps no man, since Washington, has received such an enthusiastic and spon- 
 taneous welcome throughout the Union as the " Hero of Tippecanoe," and certainly 
 no president has gone into office with so little opposition. The whig party, who 
 nominated him to the office of president, expected much from his administration of 
 the government, and the day of his inauguration was a jubilee. Alas ! how short- 
 sighted is man ! All the fond hopes of that proud hour were scattered speedily, like 
 frost-bitten leaves before the autumnal blast. In one short month, the country 
 resounded to deep and heartfelt lamentations, and all sections of the land bore 
 signs of grief. The " Hero of Tippecanoe," the idol of the millions, he in whom 
 his party had trusted as the savior of their principles, yielded the seals of his office 
 to the Conqueror of all conquerors, and departed for a wider sphere of action, and a 
 nobler field of enterprise. 
 
 President Harrison died at Washington city, on the 4th of April, 1841, in the 
 sixty-ninth year of his age, 
 
 His obsequies were of the most imposing character, and were performed by sin- 
 cere mourners throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
 
 President Harrison was an honest man, a brave general, a shrewd and calm di- 
 plomatist, a kind neighbor and friend, and a firm and consistent lover of his coun- 
 try. In the language of the official notice of his death by the members of his 
 cabinet, " his death was calm and resigned, as his life had been patriotic, useful, 
 and distinguished; and the last utterance of his lips expressed a fervent desire 
 for the perpetuity of the constitution, and the preservation of its true principles. In 
 death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts." 
 
JAMES A. BAYARD. 
 
 rp>HIS distinguished statesman was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 28th 
 JL of July, 1767. Very early in life, he had the misfortune to lose his parents, 
 and was adopted by an uncle, who seems to have acted the part of a kind and 
 faithful guardian. He fitted the child for college, and, after passing the usual time, 
 he was graduated from Princeton College with the highest honors. He pursued the 
 study of the law, and, on being admitted to the bar, removed to Wilmington, in the 
 state of Delaware, and opened his office. No sooner had he reached the constitu- 
 tional age, than he was elected to Congress, and took his seat in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives in May, 1797. He took sides with the administration, and from this 
 time to his death was a firm, consistent, and devoted adherent to the principles of 
 the old federal party. He held his seat in the lower house of Congress until 1804, 
 when the legislature of Maryland elected him to the United States Senate. 
 
 In 1801, just at the close of Mr. Adams's administration, Mr. Bayard was ap- 
 pointed minister to France, but declined it, on the ground that he had taken such a 
 conspicuous part in the recent election, and had been the chief instrument in 
 securing the elevation of Mr. Jefferson. His letter to Mr. Adams, declining the 
 appointment, exhibits his patriotism and uprightness in a most favorable view. 
 
160 JAMES A. BAYARD. 
 
 While a member of the United States Senate, he was the same efficient and 
 unbending friend of his country, and won for himself the sobriquet of " the high 
 priest of the constitution," and "the Goliah of his party." Reflected in 1811, he 
 was engaged in all the fierce struggles that preceded and accompanied the declara- 
 tion of war. He opposed the declaration as hasty and unadvised ; but, when Con- 
 gress had made it an act, he gave his whole strength and talents to the support of 
 all measures necessary to sustain it with dignity and glory to the country. He even 
 assisted with his own hand in the works of defence erected by the citizens of Wil- 
 mington, where he resided. 
 
 Hearing of the war, the Russian czar offered to mediate between England and 
 our own country. The offer was accepted on the part of the United States, and 
 the president immediately issued commissions to Messrs. Bayard and Gallatin to 
 proceed at once to St. Petersburg to negotiate with the emperor. After spending 
 six months in Russia, and hearing nothing from England, they took their departure 
 from St. Petersburg, over land, and reached Amsterdam, by way of Berlin, on the 
 4th of March, 1814. Here they learned that England declined the mediatory offices 
 of Russia, and that Adams, Clay, and Russell had been joined to their commission, 
 a.s ministers plenipotentiary to treat with England. After much delay, England 
 consented to treat, and met our commissioners at Ghent, where a treaty of peace 
 was eventually concluded and signed on the 24th of December, 1814. 
 
 In the conferences and discussions of this notable commission Mr. Bayard took 
 no inconsiderable part, and fully realized the high expectations which his previous 
 course had excited; and his shining qualities of mind marked him at once as a 
 diplomatist and negotiator of the highest order. 
 
 On the 7th of January, 1815, Mr. Bayard left Ghent for Paris, whither he arrived 
 in a few days. Here, on the 4th of March, he was seized with a fatal but lingering 
 and distressing disease. He hastened to London, where he was to meet the com- 
 missioners once more, to negotiate a treaty of commerce, but his ill health did not 
 permit him to take any part in their deliberations. 
 
 While here, he received intelligence of his appointment as minister to Russia, 
 and the ratification of the same by the Senate of the United States. But feeling 
 that the hand of death was upon him, and desirous of closing his eyes on earth 
 amidst the beloved scenes of home, he peremptorily declined the appointment. 
 After many vexatious delays, the ship, which was to bear him to his native shores, 
 at length set sail, and arrived in the Delaware on the 1st of August. He reached 
 his home only to receive the greetings of his beloved wife and children, and witness 
 their heart-breaking lamentations that his tarry with them must be so brief. His 
 death occurred on the 6th of August, 1815. 
 
COMMODORE ALEXANDER CLAXTOiN, U. 8. N. 
 
 ALEXANDER CLAXTON, the subject of this memoir, was bom in the city 
 of Philadelphia, A. D. 1792, his father being at the time a member of the 
 United States Senate. The family removed, with the Executive and Congress, to 
 Washington, when that city became the seat of government. In 1806, young 
 Claxton received an appointment as midshipman in the navy, and was forthwith 
 ordered to the frigate Chesapeake, and was in that vessel when she was overhauled 
 by the Leopard. The only gun fired from the Chesapeake in the encounter was 
 the one at which young Claxton was stationed. 
 
 On the declaration of war in 1812, Mr. Claxton was ordered to the sloop of war 
 Wasp, Captain (afterwards Commodore) Jacob Jones, and was in the action which 
 resulted in the capture of H. B. M. sloop of war Frolic, Captain Wingates. The 
 gallantry of the young lieutenant was particularly commended by Captain Jones, in 
 his official report of the action. 
 
 The Wasp and her prize were captured by the British seventy-four Poictiers, ant) 
 carried into Bermuda. After the exchange of prisoners, which was soon effected, 
 Captain Jones and his officers were ordered to the frigate Macedonian, but being 
 
162 COMMODORE ALEXANDER CLAXTON, U. S. N. 
 
 biockaoed in New London, the entire crew and officers were transferred to Perry's 
 squadron on Lake Erie. 
 
 We next hear of Lieutenant Claxton as second in command under Commodore 
 Porter, at the " battle of the White House," ten miles below Washington, where an 
 ineffectual effort was made to stop the return of the English squadron down the 
 Potomac, after the burning of the city of Washington. 
 
 For his gallantry in the action of the Wasp and Frolic Lieutenant Claxton was 
 voted the thanks of Congress, the privilege of the floor of both houses, and a silver 
 medal. In 1816, he was ordered to the command of the schooner Nonsuch. From 
 (hat time till 1839, he served in command of various vessels in different parts of the 
 world, always with credit to himself, benefit to our commerce, and to the entire 
 satisfaction of the department. On the 12th of March, 1839, he hoisted his broad 
 pennant on board the frigate Constitution, the flagship of the squadron then 
 ordered to the Pacific Ocean. He remained in command of that squadron until his 
 death at Talchuana, which occurred on the 8th of March, 1841, at the early age of 
 forty-nine years. 
 
 In private life, Commodore Claxton was most esteemed ; his frank and open 
 manner was a passport to all hearts, whilst his many virtues endeared him to a 
 host of warm and devoted friends. With those who have served under him, his 
 memory is cherished for the paternal care which watched over their health and 
 comfort ; and the oft-abused and neglected sailor holds in grateful and treasured 
 remembrance the many sacrifices of personal comfort which he made that they 
 should not suffer the consequences of their own imprudence, or become the victims 
 of oppression or fraud. 
 
 A fitting tribute to the memory of this gallant officer is embodied in a work enti- 
 tled " Old Ironsides," the author of which sailed under him. We regret that our 
 limits will not allow us to make any extracts. 
 
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 ONE of the sweetest stars that ever culminated in the firmament of song one 
 that has shed a holier and more hallowing light on the darkened soul of hu- 
 manity than almost any other of the muses' bright constellation, is the author of 
 " Thanatopsis." He has touched the chords of the human heart, and they have vi- 
 brated to the innermost of man's being, stirring up a consciousness of immortality 
 within him, to which he was a stranger until that deep, solemn, and heavenly music 
 was drawn from the " wondrous harp " of his existence, by the magic wand of the 
 sweet poet. 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT was born at Cummington, Connecticut, on the 3d of 
 November, 1794. It was the good fortune of the child to be blessed with a father 
 who had the sagacity to detect, and the skill and tact to encourage and train, the 
 manifestations of genius which exhibited themselves in young Bryant, as soon as he 
 could read. At five, he wrote verses that were quite respectable ; and at ten, his 
 poetry was given to the world, through the newspapers of his neighborhood. At 
 thirteen, he published a political satire called the " Embargo," which got him some 
 applause, and soon passed into the second edition. He was not quite sixteen when 
 he entered William's College in advance. Here he made rapid proficiency, and 
 
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 after remaining less than two years, he asked and obtained an honorable dismission, 
 that he might pursue the study of the law. He first entered the office of Judge 
 Howe, of Worthington, and afterwards that of the Hon. William Baylies, of Bridge- 
 water. In 1815, he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office at Plymouth. 
 
 Mr. Bryant read law faithfully, but amidst all the drudgery that falls to the lot of 
 a law student, and in despite the dusty, dingy, narrow, pent-up box of a lawyer's of- 
 fice, with its pigeon holes, and bundles tied with red tape, and bills, and writs, and 
 executions, and mortgages, and foreclosures, and suits, and nonsuits, he kept the 
 edge of fancy keen and bright, and looked out upon the green pictures of his soul, 
 and played the celestial harp with a touch as pure and light as before. When he 
 was nineteen, he published his " Thanatopsis," " Entrance to a Wood," and several 
 other pieces, in the " North American Review." These publications brought the au- 
 thor into notoriety at once, and he was requested to deliver the poem before the Phi 
 Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University. 
 
 Mr. Bryant removed to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to practise his profes- 
 sion ; and in 1821, he married a young lady of that place. After practising law for 
 a number of years, he determined to remove to New York, and devote himself to 
 literature. In 1825, he became editor of the " New York Review," and about the 
 same time was associated with a number of literary gentlemen and artists in getting 
 up that whilom popular annual, the " Talisman," which was adorned, as was also 
 the " Review " of which he was editor, with some of the choicest effusions of his 
 pen. But the singing days of this great bird of song seem here to have ended. He- 
 lias left the Empyrean, and his feathers have become bedraggled in the miry high- 
 way of politics. His sweet voice, which of yore waked the echoes of the still 
 evening and the green hills, has grown hoarse with the harsh epithets of the polit- 
 ical arena ; for in 1827 he became one of the editors of the " New York Evening 
 Post," which place he still occupies, and from which some few-and-far-between 
 notes of the sweet olden time have come to bless the world. 
 
 We suppose that even poets cannot live by song alone, and that the offspring of 
 poets are liable to " all the ills which flesh is heir to ; " but it sorely grieves us to 
 lose from the world the sweet influences which such a man is capable of diffusing 
 all around him, and we devoutly hope that yet again this bird of song may plume 
 his wings to yet higher and nobler flights in the heaven of harmony,'and gladden 
 the world again with his celestial music. 
 
BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, LL. D. 
 
 BENJAMIN SILLIMAN was born in North Strafford, now Trumbull, Con- 
 necticut, in the year 1779. After the regular course of preparation, he entered 
 Yale College very young, and graduated with honor in 1796. On leaving college, 
 he taught school for some time in Wethersfield ; but having fixed upon the law as 
 his profession, he left his school, and commenced reading Blackstone and Coke, and 
 after a due course of study, he was admitted to the bar in New Haven, in 1802. In 
 1799, he had been appointed a tutor in Yale College, and preferring that post to the 
 drudgery of the law, he concluded to postpone the direct labors of his profession to 
 another time. That time he has not yet seen, and to all human judgment never 
 will, as he has become so involved with the instruction of the college in the various 
 departments of science, that, in all probability, death alone can divorce him from his 
 favorite pursuits. 
 
 In 1802, Mr. Silliman was appointed professor of chemistry in the college. The 
 knowledge he had gleaned on this subject was without any regular instruction, and 
 he deemed himself hardly adequate to take so important a chair in that venerable 
 institution without further preparation. Accordingly he obtained permission to 
 
166 BENJAMIN SILLTMAN, LL. D. 
 
 devote as much time as he should require to prepare himself for the discharge of the 
 duties of his professorship. Repairing at once to Philadelphia, he attended the 
 courses of lectures on chemistry regularly delivered at the university of that city for 
 two winters. During all this time he was busily engaged in performing the most 
 important experiments in his own room ; and such was his zeal that he often con- 
 sumed the greatest part of the night in them. Here, too, he commenced the study 
 of mineralogy, in which he has so distinguished himself since by his lectures and 
 publications on the subject. As connected with the science of chemistry, he also 
 attended the medical lectures of the university, and received the degree of M. D. 
 
 Returning to his Alma Mater, he entered on the discharge of the duties of the 
 chair to which he had been appointed in 1804, and immediately commenced the 
 delivery of a course of lectures in chemistry, on the conclusion of which he took his 
 departure for Europe, whither he proceeded as agent for the college in the procura- 
 tion of books and apparatus, and that he might perfect himself in the studies he 
 had commenced. He was abroad a little more than a year, during which he became 
 acquainted with and was instructed by the most distinguished professors of chemis- 
 try, mineralogy, and geology. 
 
 On the return of Professor Silliman, in the latter part of the year 1805, he com- 
 menced his instructions in the above-mentioned sciences, and has continued to fill 
 that honorable post up to the present day. Besides his regular duties as professor 
 in the college, he has given long and careful courses of public lectures on the various 
 sciences connected with his professorship, in most of the principal cities in the 
 Union, his last course being before the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, with- 
 in the present year. 
 
 Professor Silliman is eminently a working man. He is never idle, and while 
 travelling from place to place in the course of his profession, he found time to 
 study the manners and customs of the people among whom he was thrown, and to 
 give his impressions to the world in sundry well-written and interesting books. In 
 1810, he published " Journal of Travels in England, Holland, and Scotland ; and 
 Two Passages over the Atlantic in the Years 1805 and 1806 ; " and in 1820, 
 " Remarks on a Short Tour made between Hartford and Quebec, in the Autumn of 
 1818." He is also the author of several works on geology and the kindred sciences. 
 In 1851, he commenced the publication of the " American Journal of Science," a 
 work of rare merit, and which has a deserved fame on both sides of the Atlantic. 
 In 1851, he visited Europe again, gathering up much useful knowledge, which we 
 may well hope will be given to the world after it has passed through the laboratory 
 of his discriminating mind. 
 
WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 NEW YORK city has the honor of being the birthplace of this elegant scholar 
 and distinguished writer, where he was born on the 3d of April, 1782. He 
 was the youngest son of a numerous family, and received his academic honors at 
 Columbia College. It was about this period that he commenced his career as a 
 public writer a career as honorable to himself as edifying and instructive to the 
 thousands of his admiring readers. His first efforts were printed in the Morning 
 Chronicle, under the signature of "Jonathan Oldstyle," and were a curious prophecy 
 of his forthcoming greatness. 
 
 In common with all other young men just out of college, Mr. Irving thought that 
 he must have a profession, and with the usual sagacity of such young men, chose 
 that one for which he was least fitted by nature. He decided on the law ; and after 
 reading the allotted time in the office of the celebrated Josiah Ogden Hoffman, duly 
 installed himself as " Counsellor at Law," and opened an office in his native city. 
 It is said that he was never unfortunate enough to have but one client ; and his cause 
 he was altogether too diffident to manage ; and so, turning over both client and 
 cause to one of his brethren who had less modesty, he left the profession in disgust. 
 and what thanks does not the world owe him! decided to pursue the mor*> 
 
168 WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 flowery path of literature. In this choice Mr. Irving evinced a rare judgment 
 some say that he committed a happy blunder as it was to him the only sure one 
 to fame. He had evidence enough of his unfitness for the drudgery of official de- 
 tails and that he was destined to something better during the brief period of his 
 public life as Minister to Spain. The lion to the plough the eagle to the rearing 
 of chickens in a bam yard WASHINGTON IRVING to the petty duties of a public 
 official ! To diplomatize and negotiate is one, and a very good, thing ; to manage 
 the affairs of a state is another, and a higher, thing; but to pour into the living 
 souls of millions of his race the refreshing and strengthening waters of a benev- 
 
 o o O 
 
 olent, holy, and highly intensified intelligence, is the rare blessedness of but here 
 and there one of the numerous family of the children of men. Such men are the 
 benefactors of the race, and such in a remarkable degree is the subject of this 
 imperfect memoir. Much has he written, but nought that he could wish unsaid ; 
 for a hallowing morality clothes all his fiction, and truth his history ; and the fame 
 of his greatness is as pure as it is sparkling. 
 
 The versatility of Mr. Irving's pen is wonderful, and its power to create a laugh 
 "beneath the ribs of death," or wring a tear of genuine sympathy from the eye of 
 cold philosophy, all have been compelled to confess. There is, too, a freshness and 
 a raciness in all he writes, that smacks of nothing but his own high genius, and all- 
 embracing heart. Pick up a stray leaf from any of his many books, and though it 
 have no mark or signature to identify it, yet will you know it by the faithfully 
 daguerreotyped lineaments of his beautiful and harmonious mind. 
 
 But we hope and believe, that what has been is only promise of still better to 
 corne ; for although Mr. Irving is approaching the "sere and yellow leaf," there is 
 in him nothing of " the lean and slippered pantaloon ; " and we know him to be 
 busily engaged in tasks of literature which we predict will throw a halo of glory 
 around his setting sun, and fill the measure of his literary fame. 
 
 Unlike some whose charter of nobility lies in their pen, Mr. Irving is the person- 
 ation of his best fictions ; a true gentleman, a kind neighbor, and a consistent 
 Christian. May it be long before the shadows lie heavily and darkly on " Sunny 
 Side," that "nook as quiet and sheltered as the heart of man could desire, in 
 which to take refuge from the troubles and cares of the world" and the voice that 
 hath so often blessed our childhood, and cheered and strengthened our manhood, 
 solacing our saddened hearts in many of life's dark passages, yes, may it be long 
 Defore that pleasant voice shall be lost in the silence of the dead. 
 
LEVI WOODBURY. 
 
 LEVI WOODBURY was born in Francistown, New Hampshire, in January. 
 1790. He received a solid education at the common schools of his native 
 town, and with a little Latin, Greek, and mathematics, acquired at a neighboring 
 academy, where he spent a few months, he entered Dartmouth College, in 1805, and 
 graduated in 1809, with a high reputation for talents and learning. During the 
 vacations of his collegiate course, Mr. Woodbury taught the common schools of 
 several of the neighboring towns with eminent success. After studying law for the 
 usual term of time, he was admitted to practice, and opened an office at Francis- 
 town, in 1812. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury applied himself very diligently to the duties of his chosen profes- 
 sion, and soon had the satisfaction of knowing that he was rising in character as a 
 member of the bar, and, before he had attained to middle life, to see himself rated 
 as among the foremost of his profession. This was during the exciting period of 
 hostilities between England and our own government, when politics ran high, and 
 no rnan of ordinary ability could keep aloof from the agitating and all-engrossing 
 questions, of the day. Mr. Woodbury was early interested in and advocated with 
 
170 LEVI WOODBURY. 
 
 much zeal the democratic side of these questions. Previous to 1816, the whigs held 
 the ascendency in the state elections; but during this year, through the influence of 
 that most remarkable and devoted politician, Hon. Isaac Hill, democracy rose 
 triumphantly to the ascendant, which position it has held to the present time. On 
 the meeting of the legislature, in 1816, Mr. Woodbury was chosen secretary to the 
 Senate, and, in January following, was appointed one of the three judges of the 
 Superior Court. Much fault was found with this appointment, on account of the 
 unusual youth of the incumbent he being only twenty-six years of age; but the 
 manliness of his acquirements, combined with the strength of his natural gifts, showed 
 that a man is not to be measured by his years. He soon acquired a high legal repu- 
 tation, and his opinions were respected by all his brethren in the same profession. 
 
 In 1819, Judge Woodbury removed to. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and 
 married Miss Clapp, of Portland. In 1823, he was elected governor of his native 
 state. In 1825, he was sent from Portsmouth to the legislature, and, during the 
 same session, was elected by that body a member of the Senate of the United 
 States, where he took his seat at the commencement of the session of 1825-6. 
 
 During the four years Governor Woodbury held a seat in that august body, he 
 took a high and dignified stand, and commanded the respect of his fellow-senators. 
 His duties were arduous, and were discharged with a zeal and fidelity which secured 
 the approval of his constituents. During this period, also, his labors in his profes- 
 sion, which were most arduous, and often delicate, were discharged with great 
 satisfaction to those who engaged his services. 
 
 In April, 1830, he was invited by President Jackson to a seat in the cabinet, He 
 accepted the high honor, and entered immediately on the duties of Secretary of the 
 Navy. On the rejection of Taney as Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Woodbury was 
 nominated to that office, and his nomination was confirmed by the Senate, in 1834. 
 He remained in this office until the close of Mr. Van Buren's administration. The 
 winter previous he had been elected to the United States Senate by the legislature 
 of New Hampshire, and took his seat in that body in 1841. Having served the 
 period for which he was elected with credit to himself, he retired to his New 
 England, where he died in 1851. 
 
HON. DANIEL DEWEY BARNARD, LL. D. 
 
 DANIEL DEWEY BARNARD was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. 
 While he was a mere child, his father removed to Western New York, where 
 he worked upon the farm until he was about twelve, when, for want of something 
 better, his father placed him in the county clerk's office at Canandaigua. At fourteen 
 he became deputy clerk in the office, and at that early age often had the entire charge 
 of the "business of the office. 
 
 His opportunities for education had hitherto been very meagre, and manifesting a 
 decided turn of mind for study, he was sent to Lenox Academy, where he fitted for 
 college, and entered as Sophomore at Williams College, from which he graduated in 
 1818, honored with the delivery of the poem on that occasion. 
 
 Without pursuing any regular course of study, Mr. Barnard took out a license as 
 counsellor, and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court. He opened his office 
 at Rochester, New York, in 1824, and passed immediately into an extensive practice, 
 being employed in the trial of causes both at home and in neighboring counties. 
 In 1826, he was made District Attorney for the county of Munroe, and held that office 
 until, in the fall of 1826, he was put in nomination for Congress, and in 1827 elected 
 
 12 
 
L72 HON. DANIEL DEWEY BARNARD, LL. D. 
 
 by the republican party, in whose principles he was educated. His district included 
 the present Munroe and Livingston counties. The nomination and election were 
 unsought and unexpected by him, and his acceptance withdrew him, while yet a 
 young man, and lately married, from a lucrative practice in the law. He was the 
 youngest member of the twentieth Congress, although one of the most active and 
 efficient. He delivered his first speech on the celebrated " D'Auterive claims," and 
 which was said to be a close and logical argument against the claim. 
 
 It was about this period that the anti-masonic excitement commenced in New 
 York, and spread with wonderful rapidity, not over that state alone, but through all 
 the other states of the Union. From the first, Mr. Barnard steadily resisted this strange 
 and overwhelming fanaticism. No candidate opposed to this lunacy could expect 
 to succeed, and he accordingly lost his election, and returned to Rochester, where he 
 once more devoted himself to the practice of the law. At this time the " Morgan tri- 
 als,'' as they were significantly denominated, were proceeding, and Mr. Barnard became 
 counsel for the defence in a number of instances. The excitement and fatigue he 
 underwent undermined his health, and he determined upon a voyage over sea, as the 
 best means of reestablishing it ; and accordingly, in the fall of 1830, the subject of 
 our memoir sailed for Europe. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and 
 England, and returned home in the summer of 1831. He was in Europe a little less 
 than five months, and was a diligent traveller and observer ; and while abroad he found 
 time to embody, in a series of letters, the impressions made upon him by the new 
 scenes and the interesting events of the period. In the autumn of 1832, Mr. Bar- 
 nard removed to the city of Albany, where, avoiding the more arduous duties of his 
 profession, his services were rendered, as counsellor and adviser, to those who de- 
 sired it. 
 
 In 1839, Mr. Barnard once more took his seat in the House of Representatives at 
 Washington, which he retained until the close of the twenty-eighth Congress, in 
 March, 1845. During this long period, his services were important, and rendered with 
 that aptness and fidelity which have ever marked all the labors of hjs life. 
 
 " As a speaker, Mr. Barnard is clear, convincing, and argumentative. He speaks 
 in a measured and deliberate tone, and occasionally throws out a lofty sentiment, 
 which shows the depth and dignity of his intellect. His manner is earnest, but at 
 the same time courteous and deferential to opponents. The face of Mr. Barnard is 
 that of a student pale, grave, and thoughtful. In stature, he is tall ; he is past the 
 meridian of life." In 1835, the degree of doctor of laws was conferred upon him by 
 Geneva College, and in 1845 the same honor was awarded him by Columbia College, 
 in New York. 
 
HON. RUFUS CIIOATE. 
 
 AS an orator and close, logical reasoner, we have few men in our country who 
 rank higher than the Hon. RUFUS CHOATE, " the great Massachusetts lawyer/' 
 Indeed, we cannot well compare his characteristics as a public speaker with those of 
 any other man, he is sui generis. His manner is now impetuous violent, anon 
 soft as a woman's ; now stirring the intellect and the passions, then touching with 
 the sweetest pathos the seals of the heart's deeper wells, until they melt away, and 
 suffer all their waters of tenderness to come gushing up into your eyes while you listen. 
 All this is aided by a voice sometimes sweeter than any flute, and presently as 
 stirring as the blast of any trumpet. When he addresses a jury or a popular assem- 
 bly, he brings to his aid the entire anatomy of his frame, lips, eyes, arms, legs the 
 very garments which he wears. 
 
 Mr. Choate was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on the 1st of October, 1799. 
 He entered Dartmouth College in 1815. While in college he was noted for remark- 
 able assiduity, and he made a corresponding progress, graduating with much eclot. 
 After leaving college, he was chosen tutor. Having decided to study law, he shortly 
 after resigned his tutorship, and entered the Law School at Cambridge. He after- 
 
174: HON. RUFUS CHOATE. 
 
 wards studied a year with Mr. Wirt, attorney general of the United States, and 
 completed his studies in the office of Judge Cummins, of Salem, Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Choate commenced the practice of his profession in the town of Danvers, in 
 1824. But a considerable portion of the period between his first entry into his pro- 
 fession and his final removal to Boston, in 1834, was passed in Salem. " He dis- 
 tinguished himself," says the "Whig Review, " as an advocate. His legal argu- 
 ments, replete with knowledge ; conducted with admirable skill ; evincing uncommon 
 felicity and power in the analysis and application of evidence; blazing with the 
 blended fires of imagination and sensibility ; and delivered with a rapidity and 
 animation of manner which swept along the minds of his hearers on the torrent 
 of his eloquence, made him one of the most successful advocates at the Essex bar." 
 
 Mr. Choate commenced his political life in 1825, when he was chosen a member 
 of the House of Representatives in the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1827, 
 he was sent to the Senate, where he soon took a prominent part in the debates, and 
 the energy and sagacity which he displayed gave him a wide reputation. In 1832, 
 he was elected member of Congress from the Essex district. He declined a reelec- 
 tion, and in 1834 removed to Boston, to devote himself to his profession. He soon 
 took a position among the most eminent lawyers at the Suffolk bar ; and for seven 
 years his legal services were in continual request. In 1841, on the retirement of Mr. 
 Webster from the Senate, he was elected to fill his place by a large majority of the 
 Massachusetts legislature an honor which Massachusetts bestows on none but 
 men of signal ability and integrity. Since Mr. Choate resigned his seat in the 
 Senate, he has been exclusively devoted to his profession. 
 
 Mr. Choate is still in the prime of life, being only fifty-three, and we may well 
 hope that he will yet render valuable service to his country and to literature. 
 
 We will close our brief sketch of this accomplished scholar, lawyer, and states- 
 man, by quoting a sentence from his second speech on the tariff, exhibiting his 
 tendency to playfulness, whenever opportunity offers, even in his gravest speeches : 
 
 " Take the New England climate, in summer ; you would think the world was 
 coming to an end. Certain recent heresies on that subject may have had a natural 
 origin there. Cold to-day ; hot to-morrow ; mercury at eighty degrees in the morn- 
 ing, with wind at south-west ; and in three hours more a sea turn, wind at east, a 
 thick fog from the very bottom of the ocean, and a fall of forty degrees of Fahren- 
 heit ; now so dry as to kill all the beans in New Hampshire ; then floods carrying 
 off the bridges of the Penobscot and Connecticut ; snow in Portsmouth in July ; and 
 the next day a man and a yoke of oxen killed by lightning in Rhode Island. You 
 would think the world was twenty times coming to an end ! But I don't know how 
 it is : we go along ; the early and the latter rain falls, each in its season ; seedtime 
 and harvest do not fail ; the sixty days of hot, corn weather are pretty sure to be 
 measured out to us. The Indian summer, with its bland south-west, and mitigated 
 sunshine, brings all up ; and "on the twenty-fifth of November, or thereabouts, being 
 Thursday, three millions of grateful people, in meeting houses, or around the family 
 board, gfive thanks for a year of health, plenty, and happiness." 
 
MRS. ANN H. JUDSON. 
 
 "VVTHATEVER religious opinions he may cherish, or however destitute he may 
 Y T be of such opinions, no man can fail to be filled with admiration at such 
 exhibitions of lofty self-sacrifice and magnanimous devotion to deeds of love as 
 present themselves in the lives of those women who, under a strong conviction of 
 duty, taking their lives in their hand, and leaving behind them forever the comforts 
 and luxuries of a Christian civilization, have gone forth to labor and die in most 
 ungenial climes and barbarous lands, in order that they might bring " the heathen 
 for an inheritance " to God. 
 
 Such was the holy self-consecration of ANN HASELTINE, the first wife of Rev, 
 Adoniram Judson, D. D., whose missionary labors have made him notorious through- 
 out the world. She was bom in Bradford, Massachusetts, on the 22d of December, 
 1789. Possessed of unusual personal attractions, and a buoyancy of spirits which 
 nothing could long depress, up to the age of seventeen she led a gay and merry life. 
 Of a social disposition, with a warm, strong heart beating within her bosom, she 
 multiplied her friendships, and formed some strong attachments. At this time, she 
 declares that she thought herself the happiest person on earth. " I so far surpassed 
 all others in gayety and mirth," she adds, " that some of my friends were apprehen- 
 
176 MRS. ANN H. JUDSON. 
 
 sive I had but a short time to continue in my career of folly, and should be suddenly 
 cut off. Thus passed the last winter of my gay life." 
 
 The spring and summer of her seventeenth year, 1806, witnessed an entire change 
 in her life and feelings. She became thoughtful, and greatly anxious concerning her 
 condition. Her anxiety deepened into intense distress, and decided her to consecrate 
 her soul and body to a holy life. In this earnest resolve she found peace. Hers was 
 no half-way character, and she entered into her new life with the same hearty zeal 
 which had marked her worldly career. At once and forever, she renounced her gay 
 companions and all her youthful pursuits, joined the Orthodox church, in her native 
 town, in the following August, and devoted her whole being to prayer, meditation, 
 reading, and active works of piety. " Such was my thirst for religious knowledge," 
 she says, " that I frequently spent a great part of the night in reading religious 
 books." " Besides the daily study of the Scripture, with Guise, Orton, and Scott 
 before her," says her biographer, " she perused, with deep interest, the works of 
 Edwards, Hopkins, Bellamy, Doddridge," etc. She took upon herself, also, the 
 gratuitous charge of some poor, young children ; believing, as she says, " that she 
 ought to do as well as feel." 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1812, in the 23d year of her age, she became the wife of 
 Mr. Judson, and immediately embarked for Burmah, the scene of her future labors, 
 in company with Mr. and Mrs. Newell, who were likewise entering upon the field 
 of foreign missionary enterprise. They reached Calcutta in June following, and 
 were immediately conducted to Serampore by the venerable Dr. Carey, that being 
 his home. Here their trials commenced, which ended only with her life. After 
 great persecution and distress, she reached her home in Burmah, the scene of her 
 coming trials and duties. " Adieu," she exclaims, in a letter to her friends in 
 America, " adieu to polished, refined, Christian society. Our lot is not cast among 
 you, but among pagans, among barbarians, whose tender mercies are cruel." Here, 
 with every conceivable discouragement to encounter, under the debilitating influ- 
 ences of a tropical climate, and far away from the sympathies and cooperation of 
 fellow- Christians, she commenced her arduous duties with the same cheerful zeal 
 and untiring devotion which had ever marked her career, alike unterrified by the 
 physical dangers and social difficulties which assailed her. Her health failing, she 
 returned to America for a brief period, by the way of England, in the year 1822, 
 and then returned to labor, and suffer, and die in the land of her adoption. In the 
 autumn of 1826, this devoted and Christian missionary fell asleep in Jesus, and she 
 and her infant child were committed to the repose of the bosom of their mother 
 oarth. 
 
 
MRS. EMILY C. JUDSON. 
 
 THE name of " Fanny Forrester" is familiar to all the readers of our lighter lit- 
 erature. The playfulness of her fancy, the chaste and sparkling purity of her 
 wit, together with the high moral tone prevailing in all she writes, give her produc- 
 tions a charm that beguiles many a youthful heart, and is not without its effect 
 upon the frostier of her readers. Who would ever guess, while fascinated by one 
 of her lively and exhilarating books, that the author was one day destined to dwell 
 under the palm-trees of Burmah, and become a schoolmistress to the ignorant hea- 
 then of that tropical clime that the gay-hearted, childlike Fanny Forrester should 
 be, one day, the missionary wife of an old man who had already committed her two 
 predecessors to the " golden sands of Burmah " ! Arid yet there is, to our mind, a 
 moral beauty, and even grandeur, in her more recent relations which eclipses her 
 former glory, and excites our profoundest admiration for the high and unselfish mo- 
 tives which prompted her to make so large a sacrifice for so doubtful a good. 
 
 Mrs. EMILY C. JUDSON is a native of the state of New York. Her childhood 
 exhibited the unusual combination of a rare precocity with an amiable desire to 
 promote the happiness of those with whom she was associated. Very early in life, 
 she manifested an unusual tact in "telling stories," which she used to do to admiring 
 
178 MRS. EMILY C. JUDSON. 
 
 groups of her companions, who were ever ready to relinquish their sports to listen to 
 her childish creations. A little later in life, she used to write her stories, and would 
 often sit up all night to complete them, and afterwards read them to her playfellows. 
 She also strung together verses of considerable merit. She embraced religion at an 
 early age, and was baptized by Rev. Mr. Dean, a missionary to China, then on a 
 visit to this country. At that time, she became deeply interested in the missionary 
 enterprise, and greatly desired to devote herself to the work of Christianizing hea- 
 thendom. But these impressions, as also her religious fervor, gradually wore away, 
 and she became fond of worldly society and enjoyments. 
 
 Being desirous of doing something towards her own maintenance and the increase 
 of the somewhat limited resources of her home, she became a teacher in a seminary 
 in Utica. While here, she determined, also, to make her pen a source of profit to 
 herself, at the same time it should be the channel of good things to others. At first, 
 her labors met with an indifferent reception from the public, and contributed but 
 meagrely to the increase of her means. In 1844, by a well-directed and happy 
 letter to the editor of the New York Mirror, she secured the good will and patronage 
 of the fastidious and critical editor of that paper, and was thus brought before the 
 reading public in the most favorable manner. 
 
 Under the sobriquet of " Fanny Forrester," she became a constant, and exceed- 
 ingly popular, contributor to that literary journal, and her letters, tales, and disqui- 
 sitions were copied into almost every newspaper in the land, and delighted and 
 instructed thousands upon thousands, who still, and ever will, remember her with 
 gratitude and delight. A vein of thoughtful tenderness, relieved with a gushing 
 playfulness that will not be restrained, runs through all her compositions, rendering 
 them a very acceptable treat to the readers of light literature. 
 
 But this pleasant career was suddenly cut short by an accidental meeting, in the 
 city of Philadelphia, with Mr. Judson, whose wife she became on the 2d of June, 
 1846, and sailed with him immediately after for the new field of labor into which 
 she joyfully entered. 
 
 In 1850, Mrs. Judson was called to mourn the loss of her fond and devoted hus- 
 band. He died on board ship, far from home, and left his wife and children almost 
 strangers in a heathen land. He, " the Christian hero," sleeps in his " unquiet sep- 
 ulchre " down in the far ocean caves ; and she remains to train his surviving chil- 
 dren in the way of honor and a holy life. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 
 
 W INFIELD SCOTT, the son of a farmer by the name of William Scott, was 
 born near Petersburg, Virginia, on the 13th of June, 1786. He was the 
 youngest of two sons, and had three sisters. His father dying when he was a 
 child, his mother, with a small property, and left with five children, contrived to give 
 him a good education. He chose the legal profession, and was admitted to the bar 
 in 1806, at the age of twenty. When the war of 1812 broke out, he applied for and 
 received a commission of captain of artillery, and accompanied General Hull in his 
 inglorious campaign. 
 
 The first battle of our young hero was fought at Queenstown Heights, under 
 commission from Madison, as lieutentant colonel, with a force of some four hundred 
 men, against a British force of thirteen hundred men ; and, although defeated, such 
 was the desperate valor with which he held out against the overwhelming odds, that 
 the victory seemed rather to hover over the American than the British flag. 
 
 On being exchanged, Scott again repaired to the ground of his former exploits, 
 where he was engaged in several lesser actions, with success, until midsummer, 
 when he took Fort Erie, and fought the bloody battles of Chippewa and Lundy's 
 Lane, in which he exhibited a rare and mature military knowledge, and fought with 
 a bravery that insured success under the most fearful circumstances. In this last 
 
180 MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 
 
 action he was severely wounded, and had to be borne on a litter to Buffalo, thence 
 to Williamstown, and afterwards to Geneva. After recovering sufficiently, he slowly 
 journeyed towards Philadelphia, whither he repaired for further surgical aid. Con- 
 gress voted him a large gold medal, incribed with the names of " Chippewa " and 
 " Niagara," and bearing his likeness. The states of New York and Virginia like- 
 wise bestowed a similar high compliment, by votes of thanks, and by making him 
 valuable gifts. 
 
 After the war, General Scott served his country in several capacities, both as a 
 soldier and a civilian, and his name has been connected with every presidential cam- 
 paign since 1828. In 1841, by the death of General Macomb, he became com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army. Previous to this, he had been sent several times to 
 quell the revolts of some of our most restless tribes of Indians, and was chosen by 
 Jackson as the leader of the army that was to put down South Carolinian nullifica- 
 tion. He was also ordered to Maine, in 1839, to adjust the difficulties between that 
 state and the British government respecting our north-eastern boundary ; and his 
 mission was conducted with skill and wisdom. 
 
 The brilliant military career of General Scott in the late Mexican war not only 
 reflects the highest glory on his name, as the chief who planned and executed all 
 the movements of the American army, from the bombardment of San Juan de Ulloa 
 to the capture of the city of Mexico, but forms one of the most glorious military 
 campaigns on record. It took the world by surprise, and established forever the 
 chivalrous courage and military prowess of our citizen soldiery. When we consider 
 the fearful odds he had to encounter, and take into account the fact that he fought 
 the enemy on his own soil, having to contend with all the deadly influences of cli- 
 mate, we feel that we can confidently assert that it has no parallel in the history of 
 modern warfare. 
 
 We have not time to follow the hero, in detail, throughout that splendid cam- 
 paign. Suffice it to say, that under the walls of San Juan de Ulloa ; in the dispo- 
 sition made of the city and castle after their surrender ; in the orderly line of march 
 taken up from Vera Cruz to the capital ; in the heroic storming of Cerro Gordo ; the 
 capture of Jalapa ; the taking of Perote ; the occupation of Puebla ; the negotia- 
 tions carried on while the enemy rested a while at this latter place ; the battle of 
 Contreras ; the fall of San Antonia ; the bloody action of Churubusco ; the fight at 
 Molino del Rey ; the bombardment and storming of the almost inaccessible Chapul- 
 tepec ; and the final triumphant entrance into the capital of Mexico ; in all these 
 masterpieces of military execution, the head and hand of the commander-in-chief 
 are seen, and place him, at once, among the great and successful military heroes of 
 modern times. 
 
 General Scott was now virtually the governor of Mexico, and he became sole 
 director of public affairs. His position was novel and difficult in the extreme. 
 Alone he performed the duties of Commander-in-chief, President of the country, and 
 Secretary of the Treasury. In no respect did he fail, and in no respect did he come 
 short of the highest expectations of his government. 
 
 On the establishment of peace, General Scott returned in triumph to his home, to 
 receive the congratulations of his friends, and the thanks of his countrymen. At 
 the time of writing this article, he is the regularly-nominated candidate of the whig 
 party for the office of President of the United States. 
 
LEWIS CASS. 
 
 SOME men become famous by a few brilliant actions ; others work their way tc 
 greatness by constant labor ; the first are the geniuses of the world, the last, it& 
 heroes. LEWIS CASS belongs to the latter class. He was born in the village of 
 Exeter, New Hampshire, October 9, 1782. Receiving his education at the far-famed 
 academy of his native village, he followed the fortunes of his family, in 1799, to 
 Ohio, then the land of promise, and the extreme west, and studied law at Marietta, 
 in the office of the late Governor Meigs. He was admitted to the bar in 1802, and 
 followed his profession several years in that place. In 1806, he was sent to the 
 legislature of Ohio, where his unusually strong diplomatic mind began to unfold 
 itself. This was the period of the famous Burr conspiracy, which was believed to 
 have for its object the disunion of the states, and the erection, in the west, of a sep- 
 arate government. The Ohio River, with its numerous islands, was the rendezvous 
 of the conspirators, and their point of departure. The national arm could not reach 
 them in their hiding-place, and it was at the suggestion of Mr. Cass that the states 
 were empowered to act in the matter. This speedily resulted in the dispersion of 
 the men, and the destruction of the mad scheme of separation. 
 
 In 1807, he received the appointment of marshal of the state, which office he filled 
 
182 LEWIS CASS. 
 
 until 1813, when he resigned it. In 1812, he was a volunteer in that famous expe- 
 dition against Canada, under the direction of the imbecile Hull, in which he acted 
 with the rank of Colonel. It is well known that he disapproved of all the weak and 
 timorous measures adopted at head-quarters. Though not present at the capitula- 
 tion, he was involved in it, and became, with the rest, a prisoner of war. 
 
 In the spring of 1813, Colonel Cass was exchanged, and immediately promoted 
 to the rank of brigadier general. Joining General Harrison at Seneca, he aided in 
 the pursuit of Proctor, and shared the victory at the Moravian Towns ; and, at the 
 close of the war, was charged with the military command of Michigan, over which, 
 in 1813, he was called to preside in the civil capacity of governor. 
 
 This was at a period when the whole western and north-western frontiers were 
 occupied with ungovernable hordes of savage Indians, between whom and the 
 United States little fraternity existed. A new mode of treatment was now to be 
 adopted. The rifle had done its work, and the savage was tamed into submission. 
 The policy of the states was now to make them, as far as possible, friends. This was 
 to be effected only by the most consummate negotiation. It is not often that the 
 warrior makes a good negotiator ; but, in the present emergency, Governor Cass was 
 looked to as a man possessing the necessary qualifications. Nor did he disappoint 
 the government. No American, perhaps, has been more extensively and success- 
 fully engaged in that delicate and difficult kind of diplomacy. From 1815 to 1831, 
 when he received the appointment of Secretary of War, under the administration 
 of General Jackson, he was in constant treaty with the various western Indian 
 tribes ; having, during that period, assisted at no less than ten councils with the red 
 men of the wilderness. To say that he did not sometimes fail, would be to say 
 that he was not human ; but to say that his conduct on these trying occasions was 
 marked by great skill and prudence, is only to do him justice. 
 
 In 1828, the " Historical Society of the State of Michigan " was organized, and 
 Governor Cass elected its first president. In the following year, he delivered the 
 first anniversary address, embracing the early history of that growing state. In 
 1830, he received from Hamilton College, in New York, the degree of LL. D. 
 
 Mr. Cass has repeatedly been called to a seat in the national councils, and has 
 ranked on the democratic side of the house. It is not our purpose, nor would it be 
 decorous, to pass an opinion on the party-political measures of living men ; that 
 judgment must be left to posterity. That his talents as a statesman and a lawyer 
 are of a high order, all must allow ; and he has left, and will leave, his mark upon 
 his generation, which other generations will feel and gratefully acknowledge. 
 
WILLIAM POTTS DEWEES, M. D. 
 
 BORN in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, in 1776, a poor and orphan child, without 
 any academical instruction, WILLIAM P. DEWEES entered upon the duties of 
 the medical profession at Abington, about fourteen miles from Philadelphia, at the 
 age of twenty-one, where he speedily engrossed all the valuable practice of the 
 neighborhood, and soon rose to such a degree of eminence as to attract the notice 
 and secure the patronage of Rush, and the friendship of Weistar, Physic, and other 
 eminent men in his profession. At that period, the science of obstetrics was scarcely 
 known in this country. To this branch of his profession, Dr. Dewees gave the full 
 strength of his great mind. Hitherto midwifery had been only an adjunct ; he now 
 determined to make it a separate science ; and to him belongs the honor of first 
 conceiving and delivering a full course of lectures on the subject. He spared no 
 pains to inform himself for his work, and thus armed, and strengthened with the 
 holy consciousness of the need of such a work, he proceeded to his task, and deliv- 
 ered his course to a small body of students in his own office in Philadelphia, to 
 which city he had, meanwhile, removed. 
 
 About this period, Dr. Dewees married the daughter of Dr. Rogers, " of New Eng- 
 land," who in a few years suddenly fell a victim to acute disease. We may as 
 
181 WILLIAM POTTS DEWEES, M. D. 
 
 well add here that, in 1802, he married, as his second wife, Miss Mary Lorrain, the 
 daughter of a highly respectable merchant of Philadelphia. By this union, he be- 
 came the father of five sons and three daughters. This lady, in whose connection 
 he was greatly blessed, shared his prosperity and fame, and, in the days of his gath- 
 ering darkness, cheered and consoled his sinking spirit to the very gate of heaven. 
 
 In the spring of 1806, he applied for, and received from the university, the degree 
 of M. D., that he might be fully prepared as a candidate for the new chair of obstet- 
 rics about to be established in the university. It was not, however, until 1810, that 
 an election of its occupant took place; and then there were several candidates, hav- 
 ing great claims. It fell to the lot of Dr. Thomas C. James, greatly to the disap- 
 pointment of the subject of this memoir. 
 
 In 1812, Dr. Dewees resigned his business, on account of ill health, and removed 
 to Philipsburgh, where he invested his property, which he entirely lost, but regained 
 his health. Again he repaired to the city, and once more entered upon a successful 
 course of practice, and commenced the publication of the result of his study and 
 experience. He published several volumes on the science of obstetrics, on the 
 " Treatment of Children," on the " Diseases peculiar to Woman," and several kin- 
 dred subjects. During this period, his exertions were almost herculean ; for, besides 
 his literary labors, he was engaged in a wide and arduous practice. 
 
 In 1825, Dr. James's health having declined, the trustees of the university elected 
 Dr. Dewees assistant professor with Dr. James, and, in 1834, on the retirement of 
 the latter gentleman from the chair, Dr. Dewees was unanimously elected his suc- 
 cessor. Up to this period, prosperity sat at his hearthstone, and happiness rested on 
 his home. But now, a change was to take place ; and the trivial circumstance of a 
 sprained ankle was made the turning-point. Long confinement to his house, in 
 consequence of this lameness, induced plethora, and in April, 1834, he was stricken 
 with apoplexy. By the early and unremitting care of his medical friends, he was 
 rescued from the grave, and, after resting from his labors, and travelling for a few 
 months, he returned to the duties of his office, apparently restored to health. His 
 hopes, and those of his friends, however, were destined to perish ; and, after many 
 futile attempts to rally, he resigned his office in November of the following year. 
 The students, on his retiring from the office, presented him with a magnificent silver 
 vase, with an inscription expressive of their respect and esteem. The occasion of 
 the presentation of this piece of plate was affecting in the extreme. 
 
 Dr. Dewees sought the restoration of his health in a change of climate, and im- 
 mediately embarked for Cuba. After spending the winter here, he went to Mobile, 
 where he resided for several years, moderately pursuing his profession. In May, 
 1840, he returned to Philadelphia, where, after many months of severe suffering, he 
 expired on the 20th of May, 1841, aged sixty-five years. 
 
COMMODORE STEPHEiN DECATUR. 
 
 4 NOBLER or a braver man never trod the planks of a man-of-war's decks 
 J-\. than STEPHEN DECATUR; while his cool sagacity and clear-headedness were 
 fully equal to his courage. In the destruction of the frigate Philadelphia, a Tripol- 
 itan prize, lying in the harbor of Tripoli, and his attack upon, and capture of, the 
 Tripolitan gunboats, which were anchored under the very muzzles of the guns of 
 the Turkish batteries ; in his gallant capture of the Macedonian ; in the brave chal- 
 lenge he sent to the commander of the British squadron, who had cooped him up in 
 the River Thames, in Connecticut, to pit the two frigates United States and Macedo- 
 nian with any two frigates in the English fleet, (which honor, hovvever, was declined ;) 
 in his energetic negotiations with the Tripolitans, which resulted so gloriously to 
 the government under whose orders he sailed, and whose flag he went to vindicate ; 
 in all these leading acts of his gallant life, as well as in many of minor account, 
 Decatur exhibited the greatest talents for a naval leader, and wreathed for his brows 
 a chaplet of renown which the world shall honor, and his countrymen glory in, until 
 
186 COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR. 
 
 " the sword shall be beaten into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning 
 hook." 
 
 Would that we could drop here the pen of record, and draw the veil of oblivion 
 over the tragic act which caused his sun to disappear in mid-heaven in darkness and 
 smoke. Terrible as war is, had the hero fallen amid the roar of his own victorious 
 cannon, mutilated, mangled, and deformed, his had been the death of fame and 
 glory ; but that he should have fallen by his own hand for we hold every duel-death 
 a case of suicide is cause for regret as deep as it is useless. 
 
 Early in the war of 1812, Decatur superseded Commodore Barron in command 
 of the Chesapeake. From that moment an enmity was established between 
 them, which time only served to acerbate, and which led to many hard words on 
 either side, and, in 1819, to a correspondence between them, which only precipitated 
 matters, and ended in a challenge. The correspondence, afterwards published, was 
 full of the most bitter accusations, cutting sarcasm, and biting irony, and was not 
 justified by the positions the writers occupied in the world. 
 
 Both gentlemen professed to reprobate duelling, yet such was their mutual hatred, 
 that neither would offer conciliation, although the friends of both did what was in 
 their power to prevent the dreadful result. On a raw, chilly morning in March, 
 1820, these brave men, who had fought side by side for glory and their country, met 
 in mortal combat on the field of Bladensburg, so famous for its unholy and bloody 
 sacrifices to a false honor. Even on the Aceldamaic field, efforts were renewed to 
 procure reconciliation, but neither would recede. Accordingly, the combatants took 
 their ground, and each fired at the same instant, and each received the ball of his 
 antagonist. Barron was very dangerously, Decatur mortally, wounded. The latter 
 was conveyed to Washington, where his bereaved wife remained in blessed igno- 
 rance of the dreadful matter until a few moments before the bleeding body of her 
 husband was borne to his home. Her distraction was heart rending, and the whole 
 city was shrouded in gloom. 
 
 " The garlands wither on your brow ; 
 
 Then boast no more your mighty deeds ; 
 Upon Death's purple altar now 
 
 See where the victor-victim bleeds ; 
 All hands must come 
 To the cold tomb ; 
 Only the actions of the just 
 Smell sweet and blossom in the dust." Shirley. 
 
 Commodore Decatur was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, on the 5th of 
 January, 1779, and was killed on the 22d of March, 1820, in the 42d year of his age. 
 
RED JACKET. 
 
 RED JACKET, or SA-GOY-E-WA-THA, as is his Indian name, a chief of the Sen- 
 ecas, was, unquestionably, the most remarkable orator, excepting " the good 
 Logan, the white man's friend," that ever came of Indian stock. He was born about 
 the middle of the last century, near where the city of Buffalo now stands, and which 
 was the residence of the Senecas. He was of a brave but generous nature, and had 
 small delight in the ferocities of Indian warfare. He was sagacious and prudent, 
 very thoughtful, and possessed, withal, of a most determined spirit. He could nei- 
 ther be terrified nor cajoled into any measure. He preserved the utmost decorum 
 and dignity of manner at all times, until in the latter part of his life, when he fell 
 a victim to the accursed " fire-water," which has destroyed so many of his race. His 
 hut was, for years, the resort of the learned and the curious, who went thither to 
 hear " the old man eloquent " discourse on the traditions of his race, or on the ab- 
 struse sciences of philosophy or theology. His dwelling stood on a spot which was 
 secured' to the Seneca tribe, and called the Reservation. Here he dwelt, like a shorn 
 king, receiving the homage of his fallen people, those degraded braves of a de- 
 graded chief, thus affording another proof that civilization destroys, instead of 
 elevating, the savage. 
 
 13 
 
188 RED JACKET. 
 
 In his better days, many were the pious, but fruitless, attempts to convert the 
 intractable Sa-goy-e-wa-tha to Christianity. He resisted all intercession, hurling 
 back the argumentum ad hominem, " Your religion does not make good men of the 
 whites ; what can it do more for the red man ? " In 1805, at the request of a mis- 
 sionary, Rev. Mr. Cram, from Massachusetts, Red Jacket and his tribe held a solemn 
 council on the question of their becoming Christians. After the missionary had 
 done speaking, Red Jacket, after solemn deliberation with his tribe for the space of 
 two hours, declined the proposal in one of the most masterly speeches ever delivered 
 into the ears of men. 
 
 Red Jacket, like some of his white brethren, could not at all understand the mys- 
 teries of the vicarious sacrifice how he and his tribe could, by any method of rea- 
 soning, in justice be made participators in the guilt of the crucifixion. In conversation 
 with a clergyman, who was laboring to let a little light into his benighted soul on 
 this abstruse subject, he observed, " Brother, if you white men murdered the Son 
 of the Great Spirit, as Indians we had nothing to do with it, and it is none of our 
 affair. If he had come to us, we would not have killed him ; we would have treated 
 him well. You must make amends for that crime yourselves." In concert with his 
 tribe, he made a formal complaint to the governor of New York on the troublesome 
 interference of the missionaries, and thenceforward their rights were respected. 
 
 In 1821, a man of the tribe died, as was supposed, through the influence of witch- 
 craft. A woman was accused, tried, and executed as the offending agent. Com- 
 plaint was made against Sa-goy-e-wa-tha and his chiefs, and they had their trial by 
 the judicial authorities of New York. Some severe remarks- were made on the 
 superstition of the Indians in respect to witchcraft. But Red Jacket, who was upon 
 the stand, with flashing eye and knitted brow, yet with a calm tone, exclaimed, 
 " What ! do you denounce us as fools and bigots, because we still continue to 
 believe that which you yourselves sedulously inculcated two centuries ago ? Your 
 divines have thundered this doctrine from the pulpit, your judges have pronounced 
 it from the bench, your courts of justice have sanctioned it with the formalities of 
 law ; and you would now punish our unfortunate brethren for adherence to the super- 
 stitions of our fathers ! Go to Salem ! Look at the records of your government, 
 and you will find hundreds executed for the very crime which has called forth the 
 sentence of condemnation upon this woman, and drawn down the arm of vengeance 
 upon her. What have our brothers done more than the rulers of your people have 
 done ? and what crime has this man committed by executing, in a summary way, 
 the laws of his country and the injunctions of his God ? " 
 
 The meeting between Lafayette and Red Jacket, when the former was last in the 
 United States, is represented as affecting in the extreme. Alluding to the time that 
 had passed since they met in mortal enmity on the field of deadly strife, the general 
 observed to him, that time had much changed them since that meeting. "Ah!" 
 said Red Jacket, " time has not been so severe upon you as it has upon me. It 
 has left to you a fresh countenance, and hair to cover your head ; while to me . . . 
 behold . . . ! " and taking a handkerchief from his head, with an air *of much 
 feeling, he showed his head, which was almost entirely bald. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1830, at the age of eighty years, Sa-goy-e-wa-tha left 
 the world to join those who had gone before him to the hunting grounds of the 
 Spirit-land. 
 
GOVERNOR ROBERT Y. HAYNE. 
 
 THIS eloquent orator and eminent statesman, so long and favorably known, as 
 such, throughout the country, was born near Charleston, South Carolina, on 
 the 10th of November, 1791. Mr. Hayne is an example, added to many others, of 
 what may be accomplished without the aid of academies and colleges. His early 
 education was obtained at the grammar schools in the city of Charleston ; his later 
 training was in the school of life, where "the clink of mind against mind" strikes 
 out those brighter intellectual sparks which illumine the world, and reflect glory 
 from the brow of genius. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, young Hayne entered the office of Langdon Cheeves, a 
 distinguished jurist and lawyer of South Carolina, and, after the usual course of 
 reading, commenced the practice of law in Charleston. On a requisition of the 
 general government on South Carolina for a regiment to defend the southern sea- 
 board, at the opening of the war of 1812, Mr. Hayne volunteered his services, and 
 entered the army as lieutenant, and served in various grades to the termination 
 of the term of his enlistment, when, having received an honorable discharge, he 
 returned to Charleston, and resumed the practice of his profession, in which he soon 
 became prominent. 
 
190 GOVERNOR ROBERT Y. HAYNE. 
 
 Starting with no patrimony, such was the success of our youthful lawyer, that, 
 at the end of a few years, he found himself blessed with a competency. His 
 remarkable powers as an orator soon brought him into political notoriety ; and, as 
 early as 1814, he was elected a member of the house of the state legislature, and in 
 1818, he was chosen speaker of that body, an office which he filled with remarkable 
 dignity and promptitude for one so young. During the same session, he was ap- 
 pointed attorney general to the state, being but twenty-seven years of age. In 1822, 
 he was elected a member of the United States Senate, which office he retained for 
 ten years. 
 
 It was during the latter part of his second term that the nullification difficulties 
 arose between South Carolina and the United States, in which General Hayne took 
 so prominent and conspicuous a position, and which we need not here enlarge upon, 
 as it is fresh in the memory of all our readers. In 1832, he was elected a member of 
 the famous " Union and State- Rights Convention," and, as chairman of " the com- 
 mittee of twenty-one" he reported the " Ordinance of Nullification," which was 
 adopted by the convention, and filled the whole country with alarm and apprehen- 
 sion for the safety of the Union. He was immediately chosen governor of the state, 
 and, on the receipt of President Jackson's famous proclamation against the nullifiers 
 of South Carolina, Governor Hayne sent forth a counter proclamation, "full of 
 lofty defiance and determined resolution." After much angry discussion, plotting 
 and counterplotting, fortunately for the country those difficulties were arranged 
 without bloodshed or disunion. In 1834, he was elected mayor of the city of 
 Charleston, and, in 1837, president of the " Charleston, Louisville, and Cincinnati 
 Railroad Company," which office he held until his death, which took place at Ash- 
 ville, North Carolina, September 24, 1841, in the 50th year of his age. 
 
 " His abilities were of an eminently practical cast ; he was ready in resources, 
 clear in judgment and conception, fluent and graceful in speech, and endowed with 
 a persuasive eloquence which never failed to find its way to the hearts of his audi- 
 ence, and told with equal effect in the popular assembly and in the intelligent legis- 
 lature. In public life, he was pure and patriotic, and few men ever enjoyed a higher 
 degree of public confidence. In private life, he was distinguished for the same spot- 
 less integrity that marked his public career, and for those domestic and social virtues 
 which adorn and dignify human nature. His celebrated passage at arms, in 1830, 
 with the celebrated senator of Massachusetts, [Daniel Webster,] will long live 
 in the recollection of those who witnessed it, as one of the most gallant and in- 
 teresting conflicts ever fought on the field of senatorial debate, and as one in which 
 both of the combatants crowned themselves with laurels of eloquence, and an acces- 
 sion of intellectual fame, however widely opinions may have differed in awarding 
 the palm of victory. To the great railroad enterprise, of which he was the soul as 
 well as the head, he devoted himself with his characteristic zeal, energy, and ability, 
 sustaining it equally by his business talent and his persuasive eloquence." 
 
ELIHU BURRITT. 
 
 ONE of the most remarkable men of the present century is the " Learned Black- 
 smith," who, from the scrubby boy who "blew the bellows" in an obscure 
 country smithy, has, by his own genius and labor, elevated himself to the very 
 head of the learned savans of the world as a linguist. 
 
 ELIHU BURRITT was born at New Britain, Connecticut, on the 8th of December, 
 1811. He labored on the farm of his father until the death of the latter, which 
 event occurred when Elihu was sixteen years of age, previous to which he had been 
 blessed with but three months' instruction at the village school. He now appren- 
 ticed himself to a blacksmith of the town, whom he faithfully served until he was 
 twenty-one. During his apprenticeship, he suffered no moment to pass in idleness. 
 While blowing at the forge, he was studying from some book set up conveniently 
 
192 ELIHU BURRITT. 
 
 against the chimney ; and in this way he mastered the English and Latin grammars, 
 and several other elementary works. On closing his apprenticeship, he attended 
 school for a half year, under the tuition of a brother. In this time, he made won- 
 derful attainments in mathematics, Latin, French and Spanish. JTe then returned 
 to the anvil, and labored fourteen hours each day, to recruit his finances, that he 
 might gratify his thirst for knowledge by purchasing the necessary books. In the 
 autumn, with the vague idea that the very atmosphere of some seat of learning 
 would be propitious to his wishes, he went to New Haven, and, having secured 
 board at an obscure inn, he commenced his studies without instruction, sympathy, 
 or fellow-students. In the spring, he returned to New Britain, having acquired no 
 inconsiderable addition to his previous stock of knowledge ; and after spending some 
 months in several unsuccessful " experiments in living," he resolved to make a voyage 
 to Europe, by working his passage, that he might pursue the study of the Oriental 
 languages, having already mastered the Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, and 
 German. 
 
 See our hero, then, " resolutely on foot," with his face towards Boston, the nearest 
 seaport, with three dollars in his wallet, and in his pocket'** an old silver watch that 
 wouldn't go unless it was carried," and he too poor to get it repaired, with all his 
 " other worldly wealth tied up in a handkerchief." On arriving at Boston, foot sore 
 and weary with a journey of more than one hundred miles, he found no ship to carry 
 him to the treasures which he sought; but hearing that he might find the means of 
 gratifying his thirst at the Antiquarian Library at Worcester, thither he turned his 
 steps. Here he studied and labored at the forge alternately, mastering the Hebrew, 
 Syriac, Danish, Bohemian, Celtic, and the various languages of the Sclavonic and 
 Scandinavian tongues, and perfecting himself in the higher mathematics, About this 
 time, he wrote a letter, in the Celto-Breton tongue, to the president of the " Royal 
 Antiquarian Society of Paris," and received, in return, a very flattering reply, accom- 
 panied by many valuable and interesting documents, which were priceless treasures 
 to our blacksmith-student. 
 
 In 1838, by invitation from Governor Everett, he went to Cambridge, received 
 many attentions from the literati of that ancient seat of learning, declined their 
 earnest solicitations to enter the college, and returned to Worcester, which he has 
 made his home to this day. About this time, he commenced giving public lec- 
 tures on various subjects, but principally on Temperance and Peace, and travelled 
 
 extensively through the country in that capacity. 
 
 In 1845, Mr. Burritt went to England, his great heart intent on propagating his 
 sentiments on the subject of war, and establishing a " Universal Peace League," in 
 which he was eminently successful. After laboring in England, Scotland, and Ire- 
 land for many months, he returned to the United States. 
 
 Mr. Burritt is about forty-one. His passion for knowledge is unabated, and he 
 still pursues his studies with undiminished vigor during the hours not occupied 
 at his forge, at which he daily labors from eight to twelve hours. It is said that 
 there is not a language, which has a written record on earth, that he has not mas- 
 tered ; and he has made considerable progress in deciphering some of those myste- 
 rious figure-writings, the key to which has long ago perished with their authors. 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 MARTIN VAN BU.REN, the eighth President of the United States, was born 
 at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th of September, 1782. After acquiring 
 the best preparation the schools in his neighborhood afforded, he entered upon the 
 study of law in the office of Francis Sylvester, of Kinderhook, where he remained 
 about six years. Before he had completed his law studies, he discovered that the 
 way to celebrity lay through the mazes of politics, and that he who would success- 
 fully pursue it must do so without wavering or doubt. Assuming the politics of his 
 father, who had been a staunch supporter of Jefferson's administration, he entered 
 the arena at a very early age, and so won upon the confidence of his neighbors and 
 friends as to be appointed, before he was eighteen years of age, a delegate to a con- 
 vention, held for important political purposes in his native county. From that hour 
 to the present day he has been intimately associated with the political history of his 
 country, and has held the highest offices the suffrages of his fellow-citizens could 
 bestow. 
 
 In 1802, Mr. Van Buren, with a view to his profession, removed to New York, and 
 completed his studies in one of the first offices in that city, and, after obtaining a 
 
194: MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 license, he returned to Kinderhook, where he opened his office and commenced the 
 practice of his profession. 
 
 In 1807, he was admitted to the higher courts, and fairly entered into competition 
 for the honors and emoluments of the legal course ; where his skill and forensic 
 powers soon entitled him to rank among the foremost of his brethren. In 1808, he 
 was appointed surrogate of Columbia county, the first public office he held. In 
 1812, he was elected to the Senate of New York, where he soon distinguished him- 
 self as a leader of the Madison party, and one of its most eloquent supporters. He 
 was again elected to the Senate in 1816, and, during the four succeeding years, took 
 a prominent part in support of the great measures of internal improvement which 
 have reflected so much credit on the state of New York. 
 
 In the year 1821, Mr. Van Buren entered upon a wider sphere of labor, having 
 been elected by the legislature to the Senate of the United States, where he took his 
 seat in December following. During a course of nearly eight years, Mr. Van Buren 
 distinguished himself for his attention to business, and devotion to the great prin- 
 ciples of his party, and, at the end of that time, was recalled by his fellow-citizens 
 to preside over the councils of his native state, and on the 1st of January, 1829, he 
 took the oath of governor, and entered upon the discharge of his duties. He held 
 this office but a few weeks, for, on the elevation of Andrew Jackson to the presi- 
 dency, he was called to the head of his cabinet, and repaired to Washington to enter 
 upon his duties as Secretary of State in March of the same year. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren held the office of Secretary of State but two years, during which 
 time, however, some of the most important measures of foreign relations came before 
 his notice, and under his administration were successfully adjudicated. In the sum- 
 mer of 1831, he resigned his seat in the cabinet, and was immediately sent as min- 
 ister to the court of St. James. But, on the Senate's refusing to ratify his nomination, 
 lie returned to the United States; and having been put in nomination by his party 
 as Vice President, was elected by a large majority. Having served with much 
 acceptance to his friends in this secondary office, he was triumphantly elected, as 
 the successor of General Jackson, to the office of President, and was inaugurated 
 on the 4th of March, 1837. Having served the constitutional period of time, he 
 retired from the political arena, and has since led a comparatively quiet life. 
 
 Of Mr. Van Buren's political acts, and the character of his administration of the 
 affairs of the nation, it is not our province to speak. As a man, a neighbor, and 
 friend, few public men have attained so desirable a reputation. Amidst all the 
 bitter outpourings of the vials of political wrath, no stain has fallen upon the 
 ermine of his private character, and he still commands the personal respect of men 
 of all political parties. 
 
WASHINGTON ALLSTON. 
 
 rjlHIS eminent painter, and most excellent and amiable man, was born in South 
 JL Carolina, in the year 1780, and was graduated at Harvard College, Cambridge, 
 in 1800. The year following, he embarked for Europe, and remained abroad for 
 eight years, studying the works of the great masters, and enjoying the friendship of 
 the most distinguished poets and painters of England and Italy. Among those with 
 whom he lived on terms of familiar intimacy were Wordsworth, Southey, and 
 Coleridge, each of whom enshrined in verse their affectionate remembrance of hig 
 genius and virtues. He had the instruction and friendship of West, Fuseli, and 
 Reynolds. While in Europe, he not only ingratiated every one with whom he 
 came in contact, but his talents and genius commanded the respect and considera- 
 tion of the masters of his art. A contemporary thus speaks of the genius of the 
 American painter : 
 
 " In painting, the genius of Allston was adapted to the creation of both the beau- 
 tiful and the sublime, although it may be inferred from the nature of his works that 
 the tendencies of his mind were to subjects of stern grandeur, and of strong, deep 
 feeling. His conceptions, taken from the highest departments of art, were always 
 
196 WASHINGTON ALLSTON. 
 
 bold and original. He possessed a powerful, as well as brilliant, imagination, while 
 the execution of his pictures was marked by a rare combination of strength, free- 
 dom, and grace. As a colorist, his qualities are best described by the name applied 
 to him by the artists uf Itaiy, and by which aione ne was known to many mat of 
 the American Titian." 
 
 Among his principal works were " The Dead Man restored to Life by Elijah," " The 
 Angel liberating Peter from Prison," " Jacob's Dream," " Elijah in the Desert," " The 
 Angel Uriel in the Sun," " Saul and the Witch of Endor," " Spalatro's Vision of the 
 Bloody Hand," Gabriel setting the Guard of the Heavenly Host," " Anne Page and 
 Slender," " Beatrice," and other exquisite productions. During the last years of his 
 life, Mr. Allston was engaged upon a chef-d 'ceuvre called " Belshazzar's Feast," which, 
 most unfortunately for the honor of his name and the credit of the art, he was not 
 permitted to complete. Enough is accomplished, however, to show that the ripened 
 mind of the great artist was not marred nor weakened by any manifestation of 
 physical decay. It is the production of a great mind and heart. 
 
 But Mr. Allston was not only a painter ; his scholarship was more than respecta- 
 ble, and he cultivated the muses with considerable success. We believe that the 
 first utterance of his muse, through the press, was in a small volume of poems 
 issued in London, in 1813. Some of these were marked by a considerable degree 
 of talent. He has since increased his reputation as a poet by occasional contribu- 
 tions to the press, some of which exhibit a high order of poetic genius, and rank 
 him with the first class of American poets. 
 
 A few years before his death, Mr. Allston published a tale called " Monaldi ;" a 
 work of great power and beauty, and which gave evidence of his ability to write 
 " elegant prose " as well as beautiful poetry. It is full of delicate touches in its 
 coloring, and shows him to have been possessed of a soul keenly alive to all the 
 beautiful and pure in nature and in humanity. It was just such a production as might 
 have been predicated on acquaintance with the author, for " he was a man of pure 
 character and strong affections, and his daily life was, in some sort, an embodiment 
 of those visions of beauty which belong to the artist and the poet." 
 
 In the classic shades and the genial influences of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 where he had spent the earlier and later portions of his life, in the midst of his 
 labors, Washington Allston, the distinguished " painter-poet and poet-painter," bade 
 adieu to the scenes of earth on the 9th of July, 1843, in the sixty-fourth year of 
 his age. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL. 
 
 MAJOR GENERAL WOOL was born at Newburgh, Orange county, New 
 York. When four years of age, he lost his father, and at twelve, with a 
 small share of education, he entered a store, in Troy, as clerk, where he remained 
 for six years, when " he set up for himself," and was shortly after ruined by the 
 conflagration of his store with all its contents. Soon after this disheartening event 
 he entered the office of John Russell, Esq., a celebrated lawyer in Troy, and read law 
 for the space of one year with great diligence. This was just before the war of 
 1812 with Great Britain. The expectation of this event induced young Wool to 
 seek an appointment in the army. His petition was answered with a captain's com- 
 mission in the thirteenth regiment of the United States infantry. He immediately 
 entered upon the duties of his office, and, after recruiting his company, joined his 
 regiment at Greenbush, where he continued till September, when the regiment was 
 ordered to the Niagara frontier. On the arrival of the regiment at Onondaga, five 
 companies, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Christie, were detached and 
 ordered to Niagara by way of Lake Ontario. Here, Captain Wool got his first 
 taste .of war, and exhibited the same spirit which has since so signally marked his 
 
198 MAJOR GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL. 
 
 military career. In the skirmish in which he was engaged, although the enemy was 
 repulsed, several of the officers of the thirteenth were slain, and several more 
 wounded. Among the latter was Captain Wool, who was shot through both 
 thighs, though not so severely as to prevent his taking a conspicuous share in the 
 succeeding splendid assault on Queenstown Heights. 
 
 For his brave and admirable conduct in these affairs, he was promoted to a 
 major's commission, and for the same heroic conduct in the battle of Plattsburg, 
 he was breveted lieutenant colonel. In 1816, he was made inspector general of 
 division, and, in 1821, of the whole army. In 1832, the government despatched 
 General Wool to Europe for purposes of information connected with military sci- 
 ence, tactics, and improvement generally. He was selected for this mission as 
 having the right qualifications for the office. He sailed in the Charlemagne the 
 last of June, 1832. He arrived in September, and was kindly received by the then 
 " citizen king." He was one of his majesty's suite at a grand review of seventy 
 thousand men and one hundred pieces of artillery. The minister of war conferred 
 upon him power to visit all the military establishments of France, and directions 
 were every where given to receive him with the most marked civilities. 
 
 In 1836, he was despatched to the Cherokee country to superintend the removal 
 of the Indians ; a duty which he performed with entire satisfaction to the govern- 
 ment at Washington. In 1838, during the difficulties which occurred on our Cana- 
 dian frontier, General Wool was ordered to Maine, and instructed to reconnoitre the 
 whole ground in dispute. 
 
 On the commencement of the Mexican war, General Wool joined the army of 
 General Taylor, and accompanied that officer in all his brilliant campaigns, taking 
 a conspicuous part in all its active service until the army covered itself with glory 
 on the plains of Buena Vista. Previous to this, his duties had been arduous, and 
 were performed with a sound discretion and promptitude, which did great credit to 
 his judgment and skill. As inspector general, his was the duty of creating the 
 armies which were to carry victory from Corpus Christi to Buena Vista, and from 
 Vera Cruz to Mexico. 
 
 In 1841, he received a brigadier general's commission, and, in 1847, for his splen- 
 did services at Buena Vista, he was made a major general. On his return to the 
 United States, this hero of two wars was every where received with the honors due 
 to his distinguished services. 
 
LJNDLEY MURRAY. 
 
 LINDLEY MURRAY, with whose name every American schoolboy is familiar, 
 as the author of " Murray's Grammar of the English Language," was born at 
 Swetara, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the year 1745. A miller at first, his father 
 removed to the city of New York, and afterward became an enterprising merchant. 
 At an early age, young Lindley was sent to school at Philadelphia. His teacher in 
 the English department was Ebenezer Kinnersley, the friend and correspondent of 
 Dr. Franklin. On the removal of the family to New York, he was placed under the 
 instruction of a private tutor. Such was his zeal for acquiring an education, and so 
 closely did he apply himself to study, that his health gave way, and he was obliged 
 to abandon his darling project of obtaining a classical education. He entered his 
 father's counting room, and for a time devoted himself to the pursuits and vexa- 
 tions of trade, which were, however, far from being in accordance with his tastes 
 and disposition, notwithstanding the pains taken on the part of his father to make 
 his duties interesting by giving him a share in the profits of the business. But, 
 after all, the yoke was one of servitude, and he longed for the purer air of the school 
 room, and the more stimulating food of literature. His father, withal, was stern 
 
200 LINDLEY MURRAY. 
 
 and rigid in his discipline ; and being unnecessarily punished, as he thought, for a 
 trivial offence, he secretly left his home, and went to Burlington, New Jersey, where 
 he entered himself at a boarding school, and once more resumed his favorite pur- 
 suits. He did not long remain here, however ; for, by an accident, his place of retreat 
 was discovered, and, through the friendly interference of a kind-hearted uncle of his, 
 he was restored to his family, and once more resumed the business he had so uncer- 
 emoniously given up. 
 
 Again tiring of the drudgery and routine of commerce, he persuaded his father, 
 after much reasoning with him on the subject, to allow him to study law, and 
 entered the law office of Benjamin Kissam, Esq., in whose office his fathers legal busi- 
 ness was transacted. He was furnished with a fine library by his father, and had 
 for his fellow-student the afterward celebrated John Jay. After pursuing his studies 
 the allotted space of time, he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice 
 of his profession in the city of New York. He also married an amiable lady about 
 this time, with whom he lived in great harmony until his death. 
 
 Shortly after this event, business called him to England ; after the discharge of 
 which, finding that his health was benefited by the change, he sent for his family, 
 and resided there until 1771, when he returned to New York, and resumed the 
 practice of his profession. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, he 
 retired to Islap, Long Island. At the close of the war, he returned to New York, 
 and once more resumed the business of his father, and purchased a beautiful estate 
 at Bellevue, on the North River. But his health failing, he went again to England, 
 and purchased a small, but beautiful, estate in Yorkshire, where his health, always 
 infirm, gradually failed him. His disease was of the muscles, which shrank away 
 and utterly refused to support his frame, until he was compelled to refrain alto- 
 gether from any muscular effort In 1809, he took his last ride in his carriage; 
 and from that time to the day of his death, sixteen years, he was confined to his 
 room. During this time, he composed a number of books, which were published 
 among them his celebrated " English Grammar," and several works of a religious 
 character. He bore his last, long, and painful illness with a rare Christian fortitude, 
 and calmly fell asleep on the 16th of February, 1826, in the eighty-first year of his 
 age. Both he and his wife were members of the society of Friends, and were 
 greatly respected and beloved by all who knew them 
 
HENRY INMAN. 
 
 ABOUT the commencement of the nineteenth century, on the banks of the Mo- 
 hawk, while yet they were clothed with their aboriginal forests, was born a bright, 
 fair-haired boy, who, as he was the joy of his parents, was destined to become the 
 artist-pet of his country. This beautiful boy's name was HENRY INMAN, who, even 
 among those wilds, far removed from cities and from men, gave early indications of 
 the remarkable genius which was destined to delight the world. 
 
 Inman's father seems to have been a man of considerable intelligence, and he had 
 the sagacity to detect in the mind of the child the indications of early genius, as 
 well as the good sense to nurse it into growth. Feeling that a wider field and more 
 liberal means were necessary for the development of the child's talents, he removed 
 to the city of New York, and placed the fair-haired Henry under a competent teach- 
 er. The passion of the child for works of art was so great, that he spent his leisure 
 hours, his evenings, and his holidays in exploring the city in search of pictures and 
 statuary. 
 
 In those days, Jarvis, an artist of some pretension, had his rooms in Murray Street, 
 which were the resort of the dilettanti. In 1814, Wertmiiler's celebrated picture 
 
202 HENRY INMAN. 
 
 of Danae was then on exhibition, and thither our youthful lover of the fine arts was 
 attracted. He was delighted, and on the entrance of Jarvis, such was his "reverence 
 for an artist," that he lifted his hat from his head and bowed as he passed. " With- 
 out noticing my salutation," says Inman, in speaking of this visit, " he walked rapid- 
 ly towards me, and, with his singular Igok of scrutiny, peered into my face. Sud- 
 denly he exclaimed, " By heavens ! the very head for a painter ! " The result of 
 this interview was " a seven years' apprenticeship " of steady and thorough training, 
 in which he secured the friendship of his master, and made remarkable progress in 
 the art divine. 
 
 In 1823, he opened a studio in Veasey Street, and occupied the first years of his 
 professional life with painting miniatures, vignettes, etc., in which he exhibited some- 
 thing of the masterstrokes which rendered his more finished pieces in after life so 
 famous. Among these earlier productions, " Rip Van Winkle," " The Death of 
 the Last of the Mohicans," and " The Death of Leatherstocking," have a fame as 
 enduring as that of their great producer. 
 
 Inman became a member of the " Association of Artists," in 1825, and when the 
 New York National Academy of Design " was established, he was chosen one of 
 its first vice presidents. Somewhere about 1830 he removed to a beautiful estate 
 near Philadelphia, which he had recently purchased, where he remained until 1834, 
 when he once more opened his studio in the heart of New York city. From this 
 time until his death, he devoted himself to the painting of portraits. So successful 
 was he in this department of his art, that people flocked to his studio from all parts 
 of the country, and from beyond sea, to secure a true " counterfeit presentment " of 
 themselves. 
 
 Another attraction of that studio was the frank and winning address of its master. 
 His rare colloquial gifts so beguiled the sitter that he forgot the penance of the 
 attitude, and appeared himself. This accounts or the entire absence of constraint 
 in all his pictures. He was an artist born, and pursued his avocation because he 
 loved and gloried in it. 
 
 Mr. Inman was a great worker. In the " Inman Gallery," a collection of his 
 paintings made after his death, there are one hundred and twenty-six pieces, mostly 
 portraits ; and this does not, probably, contain one half of the productions of his 
 pencil. Although Mr. Inman received the highest price for his pictures, he died 
 a poor man, having involved himself, with thousands of others, in the mad specula- 
 tions of 1836. 
 
JAMES KENT, LL. D. 
 
 FTHHE name of Chancellor Kent is the pride and boast of the whole race of the 
 JL Knickerbockers. It forms one part of the great judicial trine Marshall, 
 Story, Kent which reflects so much honor on the legal history of our country. 
 JAMES KENT was born on the 31st of July, 1763, in what was then a part of 
 Dutchess county, called the precinct of Fredericksburg, now Putnam county, in the 
 state of New York. At the age of five, he was sent to an English school at Nor- 
 walk, residing with his maternal grandfather for several years. In 1773, he was 
 placed at a Latin school in Connecticut, and between this and entering Yale Col- 
 lege, in 1777, he had the aid of several instructors, under whose tutelage he made 
 rapid proficiency. He had scarcely become domiciliated at New Haven, when the 
 troubles of that stormy period broke up the college, and dispersed the students. 
 During the recess thus occasioned, the boy, then scarcely past sixteen, fell in with 
 " Blackstone's Commentaries," with which he was so much pleased that he deter- 
 mined to devote himself to the legal profession ; and accordingly, on leaving college 
 in 1781, which he did with a high reputation for scholarship, he commenced the 
 study of the law under the direction of Hon. Egbert Benson, then attorney general 
 of the state of New York, and subsequently a judge of the Supreme Court. 
 
 14 
 
204 JAMES KENT, LL. D. 
 
 His natural thirst for knowledge, his great love for the profession, and his habits 
 of severe application could not fail to insure success, and in April, 1785, he was 
 admitted as attorney to the Supreme Court. During the time occupied with master- 
 ing the principles of his profession, he read, besides the English books on the com- 
 mon law, the large works of Grotius and Puffendorf, and, by way of relaxation, 
 many of the best writers in history, poetry, mathematics, voyages, and travels, 
 About this time he married, and removed to Poughkeepsie, where he opened an 
 ' office and commenced the practice of his profession, being admitted as counsellor to 
 the same court in 1787. 
 
 It was at this period that he began that course of self-training, the value and 
 benefits of which the world has seen and experienced. Methodical in all his arrange- 
 ments, he divided the day into six portions. As soon as the birds commenced their 
 matins, he rose, and devoted the morning, until eight, to Latin, two hours to Greek, 
 and the remainder of the time before dinner to law ; while the afternoon was given 
 to French and English authors, the evening being consecrated to friendship and 
 recreation, for which no man had a keener zest. 
 
 Mr. Kent did not escape the entanglements of politics, but entered heartily into 
 the great political discussions of that exciting period, joining the federal party, and 
 acting with Hamilton and his compeers, who always entertained for him the utmost 
 respect In 1790, and again in 1792, he was elected to the state legislature. In 
 the following year, he removed to the city of New York, and, in December, was 
 appointed professor of law in Columbia College. While occupying this chair, in 
 ithe discharge of the duties of which he displayed those vast stores of legal lore 
 which be had been accumulating for years, he was honored by his college with the 
 degree of LL. D., and he afterwards received the- same honors from Harvard and 
 'Dartmouth. In 1796, he was made master in chancery, and in 1797, he was 
 .appointed, by Governor Jay, to a vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court. In 
 1800^ in connection with Mr. Justice Radcliff, he was appointed to revise the legal 
 code of the state, a work which these gentlemen accomplished with much ability, 
 [n 1804, he was made chief justice of the Supreme Court, which seat he filled most 
 (honorably until 1814, when he was appointed chancellor. In this high office he 
 'remained until 1823, when having attained the age of sixty, the constitutional limit, 
 ,he -resigned. Being now more at leisure, he revised his lectures, and gave them to 
 the world, in four volumes, under the title of " Commentaries on American Law," 
 a work which has become a text book. From this time until his death, he kept up 
 the same industrious and temperate habits which had marked his whole career, 
 receiving the spontaneous respect of the intelligent and virtuous in the community 
 in which he lived. 
 
Cr 
 
 JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER. 
 
 IT has often been said that America has no literature. If it be meant that the 
 literature of our country has no claim to antiquity, that we have no long cat- 
 alogue of "noble authors" reaching into the dust and rubbish of the past, the 
 remark may be true. But if it be meant that we have no thinkers and writers who 
 will compare favorably with their contemporaries across the sea, then the accuracy 
 of the assertion becomes very questionable. Europe, doubtless, furnishes a host that 
 outnumbers " the small army " of those who make literature a vocation in America. 
 We are not of those who imagine that there is no country like our own country, 
 and there are no intellects like American intellects ; nor, on the other hand, can we 
 consent to the condemnation of what we produce, because it is homebred. There 
 are intellects purely American of which we are proud, and to which we are disposed 
 to render the tribute of our respect and admiration. Among this number is the sub- 
 ject of the present sketch, and we think that he will compare not unfavorably 
 with the "great northern wizard." His path lies through the flowery fields of 
 fiction, but he has, like Scott, bound his phantasms so fast by history, that one 
 almost forgets that he is not dealing with sober facts. Whether we sit with him on 
 some sunny slope, and gaze over the rich landscape his wizard wand has enchanted 
 
JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER 
 
 from the depths of his own rich imagination ; or prowl with "Leatherstocking " 
 through the dusky and savage-begirt forests; or scud under bare poles over the 
 frightened and laboring sea; or mingle in the ensanguined fray on the slippery 
 decks of the " Red Rover," there is a freshness and reality about it that makes us 
 forget that all our sympathies are excited for ideal beings, or that we are feasting 
 our mental eye on painted emptiness. His writings may not have the finish of 
 Irving, or the severe correctness of style to be found in Scott, but there is a life- 
 likeness about what he has written that gushes out like some bubbling spring on 
 the mountain side, and sends a refreshing coolness to the lips. 
 
 We cannot say as much for his attempt at history or learned disquisition, although 
 he has written some very creditable books in these departments ; but as a novel 
 writer, we think that he stands second to none among his contemporaries. 
 
 JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER, whose family is of quite ancient descent, and main- 
 tained a very honorable position in the history of the country, was born at Borden- 
 town, New Jersey, on the 15th of September, 1789. At the age of ten, his father, 
 Judge Cooper, removed to his estate at Cooperstown, where the child was put under 
 the training of the Rev. Mr. Ellison, the rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany, where 
 he was fitted for college. After spending a few years in studying the classics, he 
 entered the navy, at still a very early age, and, during a few years of service, gave 
 such evidence of his fitness for a naval leader, that a commission was about to be 
 tendered to him, when he fell a victim to Cupid, and surrendered himself to the 
 bands of Hymen. After his marriage, he gave himself up to pleasure, travel, and 
 literature for some years, during which time he stored his mind with the rich 
 materials which he has since wrought into such delightful fabrics. 
 
 After various contributions to the literary journals, his first serious attempt at 
 novel writing came before the world under the title of " Precaution." Then came 
 the " Spy," and " Pioneers," and " Pilot," and a whole brood of fluttering successors, 
 the very enumeration of which we have no room for, each adding to the fame of 
 their author, as each was perused by enthusiastic and expectant readers. His last 
 work was published in 1849, and Mr. Cooper's mortal remains were committed to 
 the dust in 1851. But he still lives in the hearts of grateful millions, whose spirits 
 have been stirred within them by his touching pathos, and whose love of country 
 has been warmed into new life by the patriotism of his eloquent pen. 
 
HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 
 
 IF the prestige of high lineage be any thing worth, ROBERT C. WINTHROP may 
 felicitate himself on his noble descent, he being only the sixth in direct line from 
 " the great and good John Winthrop," " the famous governor of Massachusetts Bay." 
 His father was a distinguished citizen of Massachusetts, and at one time lieutenant 
 governor of that commonwealth. His grandfather, Wait Still Winthrop, was loaded 
 with the honors of office, and was, before his death, for some years Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Next in the line of ascent comes John, the 
 eldest son of the patriarch whose name became so famous in the early annals of 
 New England. This " eldest son " was a man of high repute, and one time was 
 governor of the State of Connecticut. 
 
 Thus descended through a whole line of great men, the subject of our brief me- 
 moir came into the world, it would seem, to give the lie to the trite saying, that " the 
 children of wise men are generally fools," for his career, thus far, has been alike hon- 
 orable to the name and creditable to himself. 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop was born in Boston, on the 12th of May, 1809, and was educat- 
 ed at Harvard ; where, in 1828, he received his diploma, and with it one of the three 
 
208 HON ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 
 
 highest honors awarded to his class. He studied law under the direction of Daniel 
 Webster, and was admitted to the bar of Boston in 1831. But law was not so much 
 to the taste of Mr. Winthrop as the study of government. Without any particular 
 political or national emergency by which to foist himself into notoriety, he entered 
 into public life in 1834, being then elected to the legislature of Massachusetts, and 
 has since continued in the public service. He was the representative of Boston in the 
 state legislature for six years, during the last three of which he was the speaker of the 
 popular branch of that body. The duties of this honorable post he discharged with 
 remarkable dignity and urbanity, for one so young and inexperienced in public life. 
 Whig in principle, he soon became a distinguished leader of that party, and has to 
 the present time retained the early and honorable confidence reposed in him. 
 
 His congressional career began in 1840. The resignation, in that year, of the 
 representative from Boston, Mr. Abbott Lawrence, led to the choice of Mr. Winthrop 
 by a decisive majority. He thus took his seat in the House of Representatives at the 
 second session of the twenty-sixth Congress. In 1841, he was reflected to Congress, 
 where he took a high position, both as an orator and a statesman. His gentlemanly 
 bearing ; the utter absence of coarseness or abuse of his antagonist, whose arguments 
 he undertook to answer ; the chaste and classic drapery of all he said on the floor 
 of the house ; the amiable and frank deportment which marked his intercourse with 
 society, these soon made him a favorite with his party, and commanded the entire 
 respect of the opposite side of the house. 
 
 A personal and private affliction compelled Mr. Winthrop to resign his seat in the 
 summer of 1842. His place was supplied by the Hon. Nathan Appleton, who relin- 
 quished it at the close of that session, to enable his friend to resume his former seat 
 at the commencement of the following winter ; which the latter did after an election 
 almost without opposition. Mr. Winthrop continued to represent the city of Boston 
 until, in the winter of 1851, he was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United State? 
 Senate occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Webster. In 1848, Mr. Winthrop was 
 elected to the speakership of the honorable body of which he had been a member 
 for six years. In this position he has manifested the same calm and sharp discrim- 
 ination, urbane and energetic administration of his high and difficult office, which 
 marked his early presidency over the " Great and General Court " of his native 
 commonwealth. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop is yet in the ful] tide of his popularity, and has scarcely reached his 
 full maturity, being only about forty-three years of age. 
 
AD- 
 
 JUDGE HALLIBURTON. 
 
 NO man has yet taken up the pen to portray the peculiarities of an unculti- 
 vated, but " real cute " Yankee, one whose universal genius drives him into 
 all climes, and among all people, and leads him to " take up," as occasion demands, 
 every avocation that ingenuity can devise, from a schoolmaster down to the pedler 
 of tin ware and Yankee notions, who has so well and accurately performed his 
 task as the subject of this brief sketch. Wherever in Yankeedom " The Clock- 
 maker " is read, its truthfulness bating a slight tinge of caricature is seen and 
 gladly confessed on all hands. It is somewhat humiliating to our national pride 
 that such a work should be the production of a foreigner, and like Le Sage, the French- 
 man, who wrote the most perfect novel that Spain ever gave to the world, we 
 mean Gil Bias, Judge Halliburton, Nova Scotian as he is, has plucked one of the 
 proudest plumes from the wing of the American eagle. 
 
 JUDGE HALLIBURTON was bom about the year 1794, in Nova Scotia, and was bred 
 to the law. He was placed upon the bench at an early age. He was ever a keen 
 observer of mankind, and the sense of the ludicrous seems to have been strong within 
 him, if we may judge by the productions of his pen and his laughter-loving and 
 kindly face. 
 
 " Like many other famous literary productions, Sam Slick appears to have been 
 
210 JUDGE HALLIBURTON. 
 
 the result of an accidental inspiration. The author was a provincial judge, and in 
 riding his circuit he had often encountered many peripatetic Yankees, with their 
 packs of small merchandise, or their wooden clocks, which it seems to be their mis- 
 sion to sell to the rest of the world. Being a man of keen observation and a lover 
 of humor, the judge amused himself, probably while stopping a night at a dull tav- 
 ern, by jotting down some of the odd remarks he had listened to from the pedlers he 
 had encountered on his road, or met in the bar rooms of public houses. These jot- 
 tings he sent anonymously to the editor of a weekly journal published in Halifax ; 
 they were printed from time to time, and their truthfulness and humor were at once 
 perceived and relished. They were widely copied in our own papers, and owing to 
 the great desire to read them, the publisher of the journal in which they first ap- 
 peared collected them into a volume and published them. They were soon after 
 published in London, at the time when the reading public was absorbed with the 
 Pickwick Papers, and for a while divided attention with those popular and amusing 
 sketches. The author, seeing what favor had been bestowed upon his careless off- 
 spring, no longer felt any desire to deny their parentage ; and he no sooner an- 
 nounced his name than he became famous at a bound. Judge Halliburton had 
 been many years riding his circuit and deciding the fishy disputes of the Nova 
 Scotians, unknown to the world ; but as the author of Sam Slick, his name became 
 a household word wherever the English language was spoken." 
 
 Judge Halliburton has published several other books, but none of them will com- 
 pare with his first careless, offhand descriptions of the Yankee pedler. His " Old 
 Judge " is a capital thing in its way, and does credit to his head and his heart, but 
 it wants the racy originality of the " Clockmaker." It consists of a series of 
 sketches, descriptive of ordinary life in Nova Scotia. It was published in Fraser's 
 Magazine, but has not since been published in book form by itself. 
 
 Judge Halliburton is still in the very prime of life, and we hope that he may 
 seriously give himself to the writing of a perfect history of his own province a 
 thing which has never been well done, and which, we are quite sure, he is the only 
 living Nova Scotian any way adequate to the task. " He writes with great ease, is 
 perfect master of a pure style, and had he turned his. thoughts to literature instead 
 of law, in the outset of his life, he would have occupied an eminent position in the 
 republic of letters. He is a native of Nova Scotia, and of Scotch parentage, and is 
 the first British colonist, since the independence of the United States, that has dis- 
 tinguished himself in literature. His peculiar humor has been most felicitously 
 characterized by an English journalist as the sunny side of common sense" 
 
 " Sam Slick's characteristics," says the editor of the Dollar Magazine, " are those 
 which the pure Yankee most prides himself upon, and although, when placed by the 
 side of any one live specimen of the race, he may appear like an exaggeration, yet 
 he is undoubtedly true to nature, and will serve to give to future generations and to 
 distant people an idea of one of the most marked phases in the character of the 
 Americanized Englishman. Our cousins over the water are in the habit of 
 amusing themselves with our Yankee peculiarities, as they may well do, for in us 
 Yankees they see themselves sublimated, after an Atlantic transmigration. The 
 genuine Yankee is, in fact, but a perfected John Bull, and our cousins in the " fast- 
 anchored isle " may behold in us their own possibilities, as clairvoyants see in their 
 spiritual visions the forms which they will one day wear themselves." 
 
HENRY CLAY. 
 
 4 MERICA has produced a few men, each of whom is a tower of strength, and 
 -/"-L- whose memories, as they pass away, are fragrant in all the land. The subject 
 of this memoir is among the foremost of these few. 
 
 HENRY CLAY was the son of a respectable clergyman, and was born in Hanover 
 county, Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. When a mere child, he lost his father, 
 in consequence of which he received no other education than what was to be ob- 
 tained at the common schools of that time, which were none of the best. But his 
 genius and application supplied the place of means, and he soon found himself in 
 the ascending scale. At nineteen, we find him a student of law, and at twenty 
 admitted to its practice. He soon after removed to Lexington, Kentucky, where he 
 speedily obtained a very lucrative practice. His political career commenced soon 
 after, and his first public acts do credit to his nature. He enlisted himself with 
 much fervor in favor of the emancipation of slaves, a subject which lay near his 
 heart throughout his long life. 
 
 In 1803, he was elected to the legislature of Kentucky, and soon ranked with the 
 ablest men in that body. In 1806, he was elected to the United States Senate for 
 one year, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of General Adair. On 
 
212 HENRY CLAY 
 
 eaving the Senate, he was again elected to the legislature, and, the following ses- 
 sion, was chosen speaker, which station he held for several successive sessions, 
 during which time he frequently took part in the debates which occurred in that 
 body. 
 
 In 1809, Mr. Clay was again chosen United States senator. Here he at once 
 took his position as a powerful debater and most eloquent orator. No man held 
 more complete mastery over the " ear of the Senate " than the " orator of Kentucky ; " 
 and during the time he occupied a seat in that body, he commanded the respect and 
 esteem of his associates. 
 
 In 1811, his term of office having expired, he was elected to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, and, on taking his seat in that body, was chosen speaker by a tri- 
 umphant vote, a station he held until 1814. It was during this period that the 
 war between England and the United States occurred. Mr. Clay took the ground 
 that the war should be prosecuted " with an energy correspondent to the spirit of the 
 country." He advocated the increase of the navy and army, and all the means 
 necessary to carry on the war with vigor. 
 
 In 1814, Mr. Clay was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate a peace 
 with Great Britain ; and he and his coadjutors assembled at Ghent the following 
 year, and accomplished their mission. From Ghent, Mr. Clay, joined to Messrs. 
 Adams and Gallatin, proceeded to England, as one of a commission to treat on the 
 subject of a commercial intercourse between the two countries. This mission 
 resulted in a commercial convention, which became the basis ot all our com- 
 mercial intercourse with other powers, and has proved of inestimable value to the 
 interests of commerce throughout the world. 
 
 Returning to this country with great credit, he was again chosen to a seat in the 
 United States House of Representatives. He held his seat in this body until 1825, 
 when he was appointed Secretary of State by President Adams. 
 
 Since that time, Mr. Clay has passed nearly all his time in the national councils, 
 only leaving his post at the summons of the " king of terrors," and which occurred 
 only within a few months of the writing of this article. 
 
 During the short session of Congress in 18323, Mr. Clay originated and brought 
 forward his famous " Compromise measures," which reconciled the disunionists of 
 South Carolina to their membership in the Union, and laid, at least for a season, 
 that troublesome ghost of Nullification which seems to be the periodical nightmare 
 of the nation. 
 
 Mr. Clay has always exerted his gigantic powers of mind in favor of internal 
 improvements, and a liberal policy towards all those powers with whom we have 
 intercourse. 
 
 Mr. Clay declined the offers of a mission to Russia, and a place in the cabinet, 
 made him by President Madison, as also by President Monroe of a seat in his cab- 
 inet, and the mission to England ; and twice has he been an unsuccessful candidate 
 for the presidency. 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 WE have thougnt that our Biography would be quite incomplete, should 
 we confine ourselves to sketches of the lives of those men and women 
 only whose portraits have been preserved ; as there are many, especially of the 
 earlier actors in American history, who have left no "counterfeit presentiment" 
 of themselves to posterity. "We have accordingly concluded to add a Supplement 
 to each volume, embracing such eminent characters as come into this category. 
 "We believe that this will greatly add to the value of our work, and meet the 
 unqualified approval of our readers. 
 
 J. M. EMEKSOK & Co. 
 
 NEW YORK, Jan. 1, 1853. 
 
INDEX TO THE SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 Page 
 
 Allen, Ethan, 217 
 
 'Bertram, William, 219 
 
 Belcher, Jonathan, 220 
 
 Benezet, Anthony, 222 
 
 Brewster, William, 225 
 
 Calvert, Leonard, 227 
 
 Carver, John, 228 
 
 Clymer, George, 230 
 
 Elliot, John, 232 
 
 Gorton, Samuel, 234 
 
 Heath, William, 236 
 
 Hooper, William, 237 
 
 Johnson, Samuel, 240 
 
 Judson, Sarah B., 242 
 
 Lewis, Francis, 246 
 
 Massasoit, 249 
 
 Oglethorpe, James, 251 
 
 Priestley, Joseph, 253 
 
 " Redman, John, 256 
 
 Tennent, William, 258 
 
 Walton, George, : 261 
 
 Williams, Roger, 263 
 
 Winthrop, John, 265 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ETHAN ALLEN. 
 
 THIS sturdy patriot, whom British gold could not tempt, nor British prisons 
 subdue, the rough, but brave, uneducated, but sagacious Yankee, ~~ was born 
 in Salisbury, Connecticut, and, when a mere child, emigrated with his parents to 
 Vermont. In the famous controversy between New York and Vermont, which pre- 
 ceded the Revolution a few years, he became the leader of that band of fearless 
 spirits called " The Green Mountain Boys ; " and, although the government of New 
 York set a price upon his head, he not only escaped capture, but won the victory in 
 several skirmishes with the government troops. 
 
 When, however, the contest for American independence opened on the plains of 
 Lexington and Concord, forgetting all private and lesser feuds, he devoted himself 
 'to the cause of his country. Opportunity was not long wanting for the demonstra- 
 tion of his patriotism. A plan had been formed by some gentlemen in Connecticut 
 for surprising and reducing Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point. They communi- 
 cated the project to Colonel Allen, and proposed that he should take command of 
 the expedition. Nothing could have been more consonant to his wild and daring 
 spirit, and he readily embraced the proposition. Speedily collecting two hundred 
 and thirty of his hardy Green Mountain Boys, he marched to Castleton. Here, 
 unexpectedly, he met Colonel Arnold, who had been commissioned by the Massa- 
 chusetts committee to raise four hundred men for the same purpose. Having failed 
 to raise the men, Arnold joined the expedition of Allen, and they proceeded on 
 their way, reaching the shores of Champlain, opposite Ticonderoga, on the evening 
 of the 9th of May, 1775. With great difficulty boats enough were obtained to 
 transport eighty-three of his men at a time. These were at length landed on the 
 shore near the garrison ; but as the day began to dawn, it would not do to await the 
 coming of the rear, and Colonel Allen determined to accomplish by surprise what 
 he knew he could not do by force." Nor were his troops a whit behind. Stealthily, 
 and with the utmost caution, they crept to the gate, where a sentry snapped his gun 
 in the very face of Allen, and then retreated through the gate. So closely was he 
 followed by the brave leader of this brave band, that he could not close the gate 
 until they were formed inside, ready for action. Three hearty hurrahs awakened the 
 garrison, and the disarmed sentry pointing to the room where the commander, Cap- 
 tain De La Place, was still wrapped in profound slumber, Colonel Allen rushed to his 
 bedside, and greeted the astonished commandant with the sight of a glittering sword, 
 and a sudden summons to surrender the fort. " In whose authority do you make 
 this demand ? " inquired the astounded officer. " I demand it," replied Allen, in a 
 voice of thunder, " in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 
 Seeing the folly of resistance, the fort, with all its valuable stores and munitions of 
 war, was instantly surrendered. Crown Point was taken the same day, and soon 
 after, a sloop of war falling into his hands, Allen was left complete master of the 
 lake and the surrounding country. 
 
218 MAJOR GENERAL ETHAN ALLEN 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, he was sent on a mission of conciliation to the 
 people of Canada, with small success, we believe. While there, he met Colonel 
 Brown, who proposed to him an attack on Montreal. There was just enough of ro- 
 mance and impossibility in the mad plan to jump with his dare-devil spirit, and he 
 eagerly made arrangements with Brown to carry the scheme into execution. On the 
 night appointed, Allen was at his post, with a force of one hundred and ten men, but 
 the promised aid of Brown was not forthcoming. At break of day, he was attacked 
 with a force six times greater than his own, and, after a stubborn resistance, he sur- 
 rendered ; but not until after he had made good his retreat for a mile, and his force 
 was reduced to thirty-one men. 
 
 This ended the military career of Colonel Allen. He had been too formidable 
 an enemy not to be looked after with the greatest care. He was heavily ironed, 
 and treated with unnecessary cruelty. He was sent to England, with the com- 
 fortable assurance that the gallows awaited his arrival. For some reason, he was 
 kept in England but a short month, when he was sent to Halifax, and, after staying 
 here in prison from June until October, he was removed to New York. After re- 
 maining in easy confinement for the space of a year or more, he was exchanged, and 
 returned to his home, where he was received with every demonstration of joy and 
 respect, and was immediately commissioned as major general of the militia of the 
 State of Vermont. It was during this period that the British tried to bribe him to 
 make over Vermont to Canada a bribe which he spurned in such terms as to make 
 the cheeks of his corrupters tingle with shame. But the old soldier's labors were 
 over, and he died suddenly, at his estate in Colchester, February 13, 1789 
 
WILLIAM BARTRAM. 
 
 WILLIAM BARTKAM, F. R. S., an eminent botanist, was born near the city 
 of Philadelphia, April 20, 1739. From his childhood he had a taste for ob- 
 serving and collecting plants, and when only eleven years of age, volunteered to ac- 
 company his father in one of his tours through the uninhabited parts of the Southern 
 States, in search of nondescript vegetable productions and fossils. 
 
 After his return to Pennsylvania, he was sent to the college of Philadelphia, where 
 he diligently pursued his studies until his sixteenth year, at which time he was placed 
 with a merchant. He soon, however, abandoned mercantile pursuits for others more 
 congenial to his mind. Botany and natural history were his favorite studies, and in 
 these he soon made great proficiency, insomuch, that in a few years his fame had 
 reached the continent, and spread throughout Europe. 
 
 The important discoveries he made had no sooner reached England, than he was 
 employed by Dr. Fothergill, and several other eminent naturalists, to make a tour of 
 discovery through the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, and to communicate to 
 them whatever was new and interesting in natural science. The result of these trav- 
 els, so creditable to his eminent acquirements, he afterwards published in a thick 
 octavo volume. 
 
 Mr. Bartram now retired to the enchanting spot, and took charge of the celebrated 
 gardens commenced by his father on the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. To these he 
 devoted the whole of his attention, and year after year enriched it with valuable 
 plants from both hemispheres. Here he also pursued his researches into nature, and 
 formed, for future celebrity, the mind of the celebrated author of the American 
 Ornithology. 
 
 In 1792, after the junction of the two rival faculties of medicine in Philadelphia, 
 Mr. Bartram was unanimously elected to the chair of Botany and Natural History 
 in the University of Pennsylvania. This honor, however, he declined, and it was 
 afterwards conferred on the late eminent naturalist, Dr. B. S. Barton. 
 
 Mr. Bartram had the honor of being a member of the American Philosophical So- 
 ciety of Philadelphia, as well as of most of the learned and scientific societies of 
 Europe. 
 
 Mr. Bartram ended a life of usefulness and celebrity, and quietly sunk into the 
 arms of death, at his favorite retreat on the banks of the Schuylkill, July, 22, 1823, 
 at the advanced age of eighty-five years. 
 
 Besides " Travels through the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas," Mr. Bartram 
 published a " Table of American Ornithology," " Tracts and Observations on Natural 
 History, and newly discovered Plants ;" besides numerous communications to the 
 American Philosophical Society, which have been published in their " Transactions." 
 
 The manuscripts and correspondence of the father and son, if published, would 
 form a curious and interesting volume ; and we sincerely hope, for the cause of sci- 
 ence, their labors will ere long be given to the world by some lover of science. 
 
 15 
 
JONATHAN BELCHER. 
 
 JONATHAN BELCHER, Governor of Massachusetts and New Jersey, was the 
 son of the Honorable Andrew Belcher, of Cambridge, one of his majesty's 
 Council in the province of Massachusetts Bay, and was born about the year 1618. 
 His father took peculiar care in regard to the education of this son, on whom the 
 hopes of the family were fixed. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1699. 
 While a member of this institution, his open and pleasant conversation, joined with 
 his manly and generous conduct, conciliated the esteem of all his acquaintance. Not 
 long after the termination of his collegiate course, he visited Europe, that he might 
 enrich his mind by his observations upon the various manners and characters of men, 
 ,md might return furnished with that useful knowledge which is gained by intercourse 
 with the world. 
 
 During an absence of six years from his native country, he was preserved from 
 hose follies into which inexperienced youth are frequently drawn, and he even main- 
 rained a constant regard to that holy religion of which he had early made a profes- 
 sion. He was everywhere treated with the greatest respect. The acquaintance which 
 :ie formed with the Princess Sophia and her son, afterwards King George II., laid 
 rhe foundation of his future honors. After his return from his travels, he lived in 
 Boston in the character of a merchant with great reputation. He was chosen a mem- 
 ber of the Council, and the General Assembly sent him as an agent of the province 
 'to the British Court in tha year 1729. 
 
 After the death of Governor Burnet, he was appointed by his majesty to the gov- 
 ernment of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1T30. In this station he continued 
 eleven years. His style of living was elegant and splendid, and he was distinguished 
 tor hospitality. By the depreciation of the currency his salary was much diminished 
 in value, but he disdained any unwarrantable means of enriching himself, though ap- 
 parently just, and sanctioned by his predecessors in office. He had been one of the 
 principal merchants of New England, but he quitted his business on his accession to 
 the chair of the first magistrate. Having a high sense of the dignity of his commis- 
 sion, he was determined to support it even at the expense of his private fortune. 
 Frank and sincere, he was extremely liberal in his censures both in conversation and 
 letters. This imprudence in a public officer gained him enemies, who were deter- 
 mined on revenge. He also assumed some authority, which had not been exercised 
 before, though he did not exceed his commission. These causes of complaint, together 
 with a controversy respecting a fixed salary, which had been transmitted to him from 
 his predecessors, and his opposition to the Land Bank Company, finally occasioned 
 his removal. His enemies were so inveterate and so regardless of justice and truth, 
 that as they were unable to find real grounds for impeaching his integrity, they 
 forged letters for the purpose of his ruin. On being superseded, he repaired to court, 
 where he vindicated his character and conduct, and exposed the base designs of his 
 enemies. He was restored to the royal favor, and was promised the first vacant gov- 
 
JONATHAN BELCHER. 221 
 
 eminent in America. This vacancy occurred in the province of New Jersey, where 
 he arrived in 1747, and where he spent the remaining years of his life. In this prov- 
 ince his memory has been held in deserved respect. 
 
 When he first arrived in this province, he found it in the utmost confusion by 
 tumults and riotous disorders., which had for some time prevailed. This circum- 
 stance, joined to the unhappy controversy between the two branches of the legisla- 
 ture, rendered the first part of his administration peculiarly difficult ; but by his firm 
 arid prudent measures he surmounted the difficulties of his situation. He steadily pur- 
 sued the interests of the province, endeavoring to distinguish and promote men of 
 worth without partiality. He enlarged the charter of Princeton College, and was its 
 chief patron and benefactor. Even under the growing infirmities of age, he applied 
 himself, with his accustomed assiduity and diligence, to the high duties of his office. 
 He died at Elizabethtown, August 31, 1757, aged seventy-six years. His body was 
 brought to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it was entombed. 
 
 Governor Belcher possessed uncommon gracefulness of person and dignity of de- 
 portment. He obeyed the royal instructions on the one hand, and exhibited a real 
 regard to the liberties and happiness of the people on the other. He was distin- 
 guished by his unshaken integrity, by his zeal for justice, and care to have it equally 
 distributed. Neither the claims of interest, nor the solicitations of friends, could 
 move him from what appeared to be his duty. He seems to have possessed, in ad- 
 dition to his other accomplishments, that piety whose lustre is eternal. His religion 
 was not a mere formal thing which he received from tradition, or professed in con- 
 formity to the custom of the country in which he lived ; it was real and genuine, for 
 it impressed his heart and* governed his life. He had such views of the majesty and 
 holiness of God, of the strictness and purity of the divine law, and of his own ur 
 worthiness and iniquity, as made him disclaim all dependence on his own righteous 
 ness, and led him to place his whole hope for salvation on the merits of the Loru 
 Jesus Christ, who appeared to him an all-sufficient and glorious Saviour. He ex- 
 pressed the humblest sense of his own character, and the most exalted views of the 
 rich, free, and glorious grace offered in the Gospel to sinners. His faith worked by 
 love, and produced the genuine fruits of obedience. It exhibited itself in a life of 
 piety and devotion, of meekness and humility, of justice, truth, and benevolence. 
 He searched the holy Scriptures with the greatest diligence and delight. In his fam- 
 ily he maintained the worship of God, himself reading the volume of truth, and ad- 
 dressing in prayer the Majesty of heaven and of earth, as long as his health and 
 strength would possibly admit. In the hours of retirement he held intercourse with 
 heaven, carefully redeeming time from the business of this world to attend to the 
 more important concerns of another. Though there was nothing ostentatious in his 
 religion, yet he was not ashamed to avow his attachment to the Gospel of Christ, 
 even when he exposed himself to ridicule and censure. When the Rev. Mr. White- 
 field was at Boston in the year 1740, he treated that eloquent itinerant with the 
 greatest respect. He even followed him as far as Worcester, and requested him to 
 continue his faithful instructions and pungent addresses to the conscience, desiring 
 him to spa/re neither ministers nor rulers. He was indeed deeply interested in the 
 progress of holiness and religion. As he approached the termination of his life, he 
 often expressed his desire to depart, and to enter the world of glory. 
 
ANTHONY BENEZET, 
 
 A NTHONY BENEZET, a philanthropist of Philadelphia, was born at St. Quintins, 
 -<LJL a town in the province of Picardy, France, January 31, 1713. About the time 
 of his birth the persecution against the Protestants was carried on with relentless 
 severity, in consequence of which many thousands found it necessary to leave their 
 native country, and seek a shelter in foreign lands. Among these were his parents, 
 who removed to London in February, 1715, and, after remaining there upwards of 
 sixteen years, came to Philadelphia in November, 1731. During their residence 
 in Great Britain, they had imbibed the religious opinions of the Society of Friends, 
 and they were received into that body immediately after their arrival in this 
 country. 
 
 In the early part of his life, Benezet was put an apprentice to a merchant ; but 
 soon after his marriage, in 1722, when his affairs were in a prosperous situation, he 
 left the mercantile business, that he might engage in some pursuit which was not so 
 adapted to excite or to promote a worldly spirit, and which would afford him more 
 leisure for the duties of religion and for the exercise of that benevolent spirit for 
 which, during the course of a long life, he was so conspicuous. But no employment, 
 which accorded perfectly with his inclination, presented itself till the year 1742, 
 when he accepted the appointment of instructor in the Friends' English school of 
 Philadelphia. The duties of the honorable, though not very lucrative office of a 
 teacher of youth, he from this period continued to fulfil with unremitting assiduity 
 and delight, and with very little intermission till his death. During the two last 
 years of his life, his zeal to do good induced him to resign the school which he had 
 long superintended, and to engage in the instruction of the blacks. In doing this he 
 did not consult his worldly interest, but was influenced by a regard to the welfare of 
 that miserable class of beings whose minds had been debased by servitude. He 
 wished to contribute something towards rendering them fit for the enjoyment of that 
 freedom to which many of them had been restored. 
 
 So great was his sympathy with every being capable of feeling pain, that he re- 
 solved, towards the close of his life, to eat no animal food. This change in his mode 
 of living is supposed to have been the occasion of his death. His active mind did 
 not yield to the debility of his body. He persevered in his attendance upon his 
 school till within a few days of his decease. He died May 3, 1784, in the severity- 
 second year of his age. 
 
 Such was the general esteem in which he was held, that his funeral was attended 
 by persons of all religious denominations. Many hundred negroes followed their 
 friend and benefactor to the grave, and by their tears they proved that they possessed 
 
ANTHONY BENEZET. 223 
 
 the sensibility of men. An officer, who had served in the army during the war with 
 Great Britain, observed at this time : " I would rather be Anthony Benezet in that 
 coffin, than George Washington, with all his fame." 
 
 He exhibited uncommon activity and industry in every thing which he undertook. 
 He used to say that the highest act of charity was to bear with the unreasonableness 
 of mankind. He generally wore plush clothes, and gave as a reason for it that, after 
 he had worn them for two or three years, they made comfortable and decent gar- 
 ments for the poor. So disposed was he to make himself contented in every situati jn, 
 that when his memory began to fail him, instead of lamenting the decay of his pow- 
 ers, he said to a young friend, "This gives me one great advantage over you, for you 
 can find entertainment in reading a good book only once, but I enjoy that pleasure 
 as often as I read it, for it is always new to me." Few men, since the days of the 
 apostles, ever lived a more disinterested life ; yet, upon his death-bed, he expressed 
 his desire to live a little longer, " that he might bring down self" The last time he 
 ever walked across his room was to take from his desk six dollars, which he gave to 
 a poor widow whom he had long assisted to maintain. In his conversation, he was 
 affable and unreserved ; in his manners, gentle and conciliating. For the acquisition 
 of wealth he wanted neither abilities nor opportunity; but he made himself contented 
 with a little, and with a competency he was liberal beyond most of those whom a 
 bountiful Providence had incumbered with riches. By his will he devised his 
 estate, after the decease of his wife, to certain trustees, for the use of the African 
 school. 
 
 During the time the British army was in possession of Philadelphia he was inde- 
 fatigable in his endeavors to render the situation of the persons who suffered from 
 captivity as easy as possible. He knew no fear in the presence of a fellow-man, how- 
 ever dignified by titles or station ; and such was the propriety and gentleness of his 
 manners in his intercourse with the gentlemen who commanded the British and Ger- 
 man troops, that when he could not obtain the object of his requests, he never failed 
 to secure their civilities and esteem. 
 
 Though the life of Mr. Benezet was passed in the instruction of youth, yet his ex- 
 pansive benevolence extended itself to a wider sphere of usefulness. Giving but a 
 small portion of his time to sleep, he employed his pen both day and night in writing 
 books on religious subjects, composed chiefly with a view to inculcate the peaceable 
 temper and doctrines of the Gospel in opposition to the spirit of war, and to expose 
 the flagrant injustice of slavery, and fix the stamp of infamy on the traffic in human 
 blood. His writings contributed much towards meliorating the condition of slaves, 
 and undoubtedly had influence on the public mind in effecting the complete prohibi- 
 tion of that trade, which, until the year 1808, was a blot on the American national 
 character. 
 
 To disseminate his publications and increase his usefulness, he held a correspond- 
 ence with such persons in various parts of Europe and America as united with him 
 in the same benevolent design, or would be likely to promote the objects which he 
 was pursuing. ~No ambitious or covetous views impelled him to his exertions. 
 Kegarding all mankind as children of one common Father, and members of one great 
 family, he was anxious that oppression and tyranny should cease, and that men 
 should live together in mutual kindness and affection. He himself respected, and he 
 
ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 wished others to respect the sacred injunction, " Do unto others as you would that 
 they should do unto you." 
 
 On the return of peace, in 1783, apprehending that the revival of commerce would 
 be likely to renew the African slave-trade, which during the war had been in some 
 measure obstructed, he addressed a letter to the Queen of Great Britain to solicit her 
 influence on the side of humanity. At the close of this letter he says : " I hope thou 
 wilt kindly excuse the freedom used on this occasion by an ancient man, whose 
 mild, for more than forty years past, has been much separated from the common 
 course of the world, and long painfully exercised in the consideration of the miseries 
 under which so large a part of mankind, equally with us the objects of redeeming 
 love, are suifering the most unjust and grievous oppression, and who sincerely desires 
 the temporal and eternal felicity of the queen and her royal consort." 
 
 He published, among other tracts, " A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies," 
 in a short representation of the calamitous state of the enslaved negroes in the British 
 dominions, 1767 "Some Historical Account of Guinea," with an inquiry into the 
 rise and progress of the slave-trade, 1771 " Observations on the Indian Natives of 
 this Continent," 1784. 
 
ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER. 
 
 THIS worthy Puritan, than whom among all the band of early pilgrims to New 
 England, none were more devout or more beloved, came over to this country ii 
 the May Flower, in company with Carver, Bradford, and Winslow. It is not known 
 where he has born, but it was in the year 1560. lie was partially educated at Cam- 
 bridge, from which place he was called to engage in the service of Davison, Secretary 
 of State to Queen Elizabeth. He discharged the duties of his office with great dis- 
 cretion and success, and received the approval of his sovereign and his master, be- 
 tween whom and himself there existed a most intimate friendship. In the disgrace 
 and loss of property which befel Davison, he found the friendship of Brewster no 
 summer flower. He gave him his sympathy, counsel, and purse, for at this time 
 Brewster was " rich in worldlie geare." 
 
 After he quitted the service of the court he retired into the north of England, and 
 gave himself to the study of theology, and being dissatisfied with the Church, he 
 withdrew, and joined with others in forming the church of which Robinson became 
 pastor. lie went with them to Leyden, and was there chosen ruling elder in the 
 church. He had suffered, meanwhile, many reverses, and his ample patrimony had 
 dwindled away, so that he became the needy recipient of others' bounty. When the 
 church separated he joined the minority, and came with them to Plymouth, where lie 
 exercised his functions of " ruling elder" until the time of his death in 1644. He had 
 repeatedly been solicited to receive ordination and assume the pastoral office, but he 
 always declined, from a modest consciousness of his unfitness for that sacred office. 
 He combined in his character, in a remarkable degree, gentleness and firmness ; a 
 woman's tenderness for others, and heroic endurance for himself. Brought up in lux- 
 ury, accustomed to courts and the most refined society, he submitted to the hardy and 
 trying life appointed him with a most cheerful spirit, and shared his " dish of clams,'' 
 which constituted almost his living, with those as needy as himself; grateful even in 
 his greatest necessity ; thanking God, in his daily grace at meat, " that he could suck 
 of the abundance of the sea, and of the treasure hid in the sands." 
 
 Secretary Morton, in a memoir inserted in " the records of the First Church," thus 
 speaks of this extraordinary and godly man : 
 
 " For his personal abilities he was qualified above many. He was wise, discreet, 
 and well-spoken ; having a grave, deliberate utterance ; of a very cheerful spirit ; 
 very sociable and pleasant among his friends ; of an humble and modest mind ; of a 
 peaceable disposition; undervaluing himself and his own abilities; inoffensive and 
 innocent in his life and conversation, which gained him the love of those without as 
 well as of those within. Yet he would tell them of their faults both privately and 
 publicly, but in such a manner as usually was well taken from him. lie was tender- 
 
226 ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER. 
 
 hearted and compassionate of such as were in misery, but especially of such as had 
 been of good estate or rank and were fallen into want and poverty, either for good- 
 ness' or religion's sake, or by the injury or oppression of others. 
 
 " In teaching he was very stirring, moving the affections ; also very plain and dis- 
 tinct in what he taught ; by which means he became more profitable to his hearers. 
 He had a singular good gift in prayer, either in public or in private, in bringing up 
 the heart and conscience before God, in the confession of sin, and begging the mer- 
 cies of God in Christ for the pardon thereof." 
 
 He had no deceit in himself, and held in utter detestation duplicity and meanness 
 in others. He was also a Puritan of the straitest sect, and had no charity for those 
 who departed from the reputed standard of orthodoxy. His life had been a consistent 
 and pious one, and he beheld the approach of death without fear, and went on his 
 last journey 
 
 " like one 
 
 Who wraps the drapery of his couch about him 
 
 And lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
LEONARD CALVERT, 
 
 LEONARD CALYERT, the first governor of Maryland, was the brother of Ce- 
 cilius Calvert, the proprietor, and who sent him to America, as the head of 
 the colony, in 1633. Accompanied by his brother George, and about two hundred 
 persons of good families, they arrived at Point Comfort, in Virginia, February 24, 
 1634. On the 3d March they entered the Potomac, and sailed up about twelve 
 leagues, and took possession of an island, which he afterwards called St. Clement's. 
 He fired here his cannon, erected a cross, and took possession " in the name of the 
 Saviour of the world, and of the king of England." Thence he went fifteen leagues 
 higher to the Indian town of Potomac, now called New Marlborough, where he was 
 received in a friendly manner by the natives. Thence he sailed twelve leagues higher 
 to the town of Picataway, on the Maryland side, where he found Henry Fleet, an 
 Englishman, who had resided among the natives several years, and was held by them 
 in great esteem. This man was very serviceable as an interpreter. An interview 
 having been procured with the prince Werowanu, Calvert asked him, whether he 
 was willing that a settlement should be made in his country. He replied, " I will 
 not bid you go, neither will I bid you stay ; but you may use your own discretion." 
 Having convinced the natives his designs were honorable and pacific, the governor, 
 by giving a satisfactory consideration, entered into a contract to reside in one part of 
 their town, until the next harvest, when the natives should entirely quit the place. 
 
 Thus on the 27th March, 1634, the governor took peaceable possession of the 
 country of Maryland, and gave to the town the name of St. Mary's, and to the creek, 
 on which it was situated, the name of St. George's. The desire of rendering justice 
 to the natives, by giving them a reasonable compensation for their lands, is a trait in 
 the character of the first planters which will always do honor to their memory. 
 
 This province was established on the broad foundation of security to property, and 
 of freedom in religion. Fifty acres of land were granted in absolute fee to every 
 emigrant, and Christianity was established without allowing pre-eminence to any 
 particular sect. This liberal policy rendered a Roman Catholic colony an asylum 
 for those who were driven from New England by the persecutions which were then 
 experienced from Protestants. After the civil war in England, the parliament as- 
 sumed the government of the province, and appointed a new governor. Cecilius 
 Calvert, the proprietor, recovered his right to the province upon the restoration of 
 King Charles II., in 1660, and within a year or two appointed his son Charles the 
 governor. He died in 1676, covered with age and reputation, and was succeeded 
 by his son. 
 
JOHN CARVER, 
 
 FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF NEW PLYMOUTH. 
 
 THE foremost of the little band who signed the Social Compact on board the May 
 Flower, was Deacon John Carver ; and the first notice we have of him, is in 
 
 1617, when he was sent to England in company with Mr. Robert Cushman, in the 
 agency of the Puritans at Leyden, he being at that time deacon of Mr. Robinson's 
 church. This embassy seems to have been the earliest step of any importance that 
 was taken by the Leyden congregation towards a permanent removal to America, and 
 had for its direct object certain preparatory measures, which were deemed of great 
 importance by this little band of religious exiles, namely, negotiations with the Vir- 
 ginia Company, for certain grants and privileges, and the procuration from the king 
 of his permission to enjoy perfect religious freedom in the new country, for which 
 they hoped soon to embark. Negotiations for these purposes were carried on in 
 England, for a considerable time, with very little satisfaction to the agents ; and, al- 
 though they did not make their unsuccessful return to Holland until May, in the year 
 
 1618, it is evident that Mr. Carver, in the mean time, passed over to the congregation 
 at Leyden, late in the year 1617, for advice and instructions ; Mr. Cushman remaining 
 alone in England to prosecute the business until the return of his associate, with the 
 views of their constituents. This undertaking proving unsuccessful, Mr. Carver was 
 discontinued as Mr. Cushman's coadjutor in the agency; and in February, 1619, the 
 ruling elder of the church, Mr. William Brewster (not Bradford, as commonly stated), 
 was sent in his stead, when Mr. Cushman went over to England the second time, and 
 succeeded in procuring the patent which w T as granted to Mr. John Wincob. However, 
 when Mr. Cushman was sent to England in 1620, to provide the vessel, and make 
 other final arrangements for the removal to America, Mr. Carver accompanied him, 
 although the latter remained at Southampton, while the former procured at London 
 the May Flower, and made the other necessary arrangements with Mr. Thomas Wes- 
 ton, for the transportation of the pilgrims and their families. "While at Southampton, 
 Mr. Carver received the farewell letter from his beloved pastor, Mr. John Robinson, 
 who was with the congregation at Leyden. 
 
 On their arrival in America, our fathers drew up and signed the famous compact, 
 which ranks as the earliest existing essay at forming a republican constitution ; and 
 under this, Mr. Carver was selected to be their first governor. To this office he was 
 chosen for the remainder of the year, which ended in the following March ; and on 
 the twenty-third day of that month he was re-chosen, and confirmed in the same office 
 for the ensuing civil year. The duties of this office he fulfilled with great acceptation 
 until his death, which occurred about one fortnight after his second election. 
 
 When any labor was to be performed or danger to be encountered, Governor Car- 
 
JOHN CARVER. 229 
 
 ver was always among the foremost. He was one of the party who went in the shal- 
 lop, on the sixth of December, 1620, on the voyage of discovery to Grampus Bay ; 
 was present at the " First Encounter," and was also one of those who went on shore 
 at Clarke's Island, on Saturday, the ninth day of December, and who landed on the 
 far-famed rock at Plymouth, on the ever memorable Monday, the eleventh day of 
 December, 1620 ; the day which has been selected for celebration as Forefathers' 
 Day, and which, according to the calendar now in use, happens on the tw T enty-first 
 day of the month, the day of the winter solstice, and the shortest in the year. When 
 John Goodman and Peter Browne were lost, on the twelfth of January, 1620-1, 
 and were, in their belief, in danger of being destroyed by the savages and lions, he 
 and a few others went directly in search of them. On the fourteenth of the same 
 month, while he and Mr. William Bradford were lying sick in the great new Ren- 
 dezvous, where were deposited the ammunition and loaded muskets, they barely 
 escaped with life, the same being consumed with fire, which had accMentally been 
 communicated to it by a spark. We find him next, on the seventh of March, with 
 five others, at the great Ponds ; and on the twenty-second of the same month, he 
 made the first treaty of peace and alliance with Massasoit. a great sagamore of the 
 natives. Our next notice of him, is his re-election to the office of governor, as already 
 mentioned ; and immediately after this follows the account of his illness and death. 
 His last sickness was of short duration, he being seized with that species of apoplexy 
 which, in advanced life, is superinduced by great bodily fatigue and mental exertion. 
 This happened on the fifth day of April, 1621, while he was in the field with the pil- 
 grims who were employed in the domestic labor of planting, and he died in a few 
 days, probably debilitated by his late sickness, and much oppressed and fatigued by 
 his great anxiety and care in attending his sick and dying companions, nearly one- 
 half of whom had gone to their long homes before him. His death was a cause of 
 much lamentation among the colonists, and he was buried by them in the best man- 
 ner possible, and with as much solemnity as they were capable of performing, with 
 several discharges of muskets by all that carried arms. His character is given in 
 full, by Secretary Morton, in the manuscript records of the First Church of Plymouth, 
 in the following words : " Before I pass on, I may not omit to take notice of the sad 
 loss the church and this infant Commonwealth sustained by the death of Mr. John 
 Carver, who was one of the deacons of the church in Leyden, and now had been, and 
 was their first governor ; this worthy gentleman was one of singular piety, and rare 
 for humility, which appeared as otherwise. So by his great condescendency, when 
 as this miserable people were in great sickness, he shunned not to do very mean ser- 
 vices for them, yea, the meanest of them ; he bare a share, likewise, of their labors in 
 his own person, according as their great necessity required ; who, being one also of a 
 considerable estate, spent the main part of it in this enterprise, and from first to last 
 approved himself, not only as their agent in the first transacting of things, but also 
 all along to the period of his life, to be a very beneficial instrument ; he deceased in 
 the month of April, in the year 1621, and now is reaping the fruit of his labor with 
 the Lord."* 
 
 * N. E. Hist. & Geneal. Reg. for 1850. 
 
GEORGE CLYMER. 
 
 EORGE CLYMER, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was 
 vJT born in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1739. He had the misfortune to 
 lose his parents at an early age, but the want of parental protection was faithfully 
 supplied by William Coleman, Esq., under the superintendence of whom he received 
 an excellent education. 
 
 On arriving at a proper age, his mind was turned towards mercantile pursuits, 
 and he accordingly connected himself in business w^ith a Mr. Ritchie. Mr. Clymer's 
 habits of study led him gradually to abandon mercantile pursuits for those of politics 
 and agriculture, as branches which would most materially conduce to the happiness 
 and prosperity of his country. The principles of Mr. Clymer were stern republican- 
 ism, and the period had now arrived when they were put to the test. He was among 
 the first who embarked in opposition to the arbitrary acts and unjust pretensions of 
 Great Britain. When conciliatory measures were found unavailing, he did not hesi- 
 tate to take up arms in defence of the Colonies. Mr. Clymer was chosen a member 
 of the Council of Safety. On the 29th of July, 1T75, he was appointed one of the 
 first continental treasurers, which office he held until after his appointment to the 
 Congress of '76 In this memorable year, he put his seal to that charter of independ- 
 ence which has given us a rank among the nations of the earth. In 1777 he was 
 re-elected to Congress, and continued to be an active and efficient member of that 
 body, until the 19th May following, when the infirm state of his health obliged him 
 to retire. 
 
 After his recovery he was employed 'by Congress in the execution of several im- 
 portant trusts, which he performed with great ability and address. 
 
 In November, 1780, he was for the third time elected to Congress ; from this, until 
 the 12th November, 1782, he was actively engaged in the public service, and pro- 
 moting its welfare by every possible means in his power. 
 
 He was one of the most able advocates for that institution, which became afterwards 
 one of the most powerful supports of the American cause, the national bank. 
 
 In November, 1782, Mr. Clymer having retired from his seat in Congress, re- 
 moved to Princeton, New Jersey, for the purpose of educating his sons at Nassau-Hall. 
 
 This was a happy moment in the life of Mr. Clymer, when conscious of having 
 acted well his part, amidst the turmoils and troubles of an eight years' war, he could 
 sit down in the bosom of his family, and reflect upon the deeds which he had done, 
 and the happiness which it had secured to his country. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten, that the services which he afterwards rendered to Penn- 
 sylvania, in altering her penal code of laws, evidence his wisdom and the benevolence 
 of his mind. 
 
GEORGE CLYMER 231 
 
 As soon as the old Articles of Confederation were found inadequate to bind the 
 States together, a convention was called to form a more efficient constitution for the 
 general government. To this illustrious assembly Mr. Clymer was called, and in 
 which he afterwards evinced and advocated the most enlightened and liberal views. 
 On the adoption of the Constitution, he was once more called to unite his talents with 
 those of the assembled sages of the general legislature. Here he gave his unquali- 
 fied support to all those measures which contributed so largely to the honor and 
 welfare of the nation, and conferred so much distinction upon the administration of 
 Washington. At the expiration of the first congressional term of two years, he de- 
 clined a re-election, which closed his long, laborious, and able legislative career. 
 But he was not permitted to remain in the shade of private life. He was after- 
 wards employed at the head of the excise office, and lastly in negotiating a treaty 
 with the Creek and Cherokee Indians in Georgia. 
 
 This distinguished patriot died at Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on 
 the 23d January, 1813, at the advanced age of seventy-four. 
 
 Mr. Clymer possessed strong intellects from nature, which he improved by culture 
 and study. Retired, studious, contemplative, he was ever adding something to his 
 knowledge, and endeavoring to make that knowledge useful. 
 
 His predominant passion was to promote every scheme for the improvement of his 
 country, whether in sciences, agriculture, polite education, the useful or the fine arts. 
 
 His conversation was of the most instructive kind, and manifested an extensive 
 knowledge of books and men. 
 
 He was a man of irreproachable morals, and of a pure heart. In the domestic 
 circle, and in friendly intercourse, he appeared to peculiar advantage. 
 
JOHN ELLIOT. 
 
 JOHN ELLIOT, commonly called the apostle to the Indians, exhibited more lively 
 traits of an extraordinary character than we find in most ages of the Church, or 
 in most Christian Churches. He who could prefer the American wilderness to the 
 pleasant fields of Europe, was ready to wander through this wilderness for the sake of 
 doing good. To be active was the delight of his soul ; and he went to the hovels 
 which could not keep out the wind and the rain, where he labored incessantly among 
 the aboriginals of America, though his popular talents gave him a distinction among 
 the first divines of Massachusetts. He was born in England in 1604. After receiv- 
 ing his education at the university of Cambridge, he was for some time the instructor 
 of youth. In 1631 he arrived in this country, and in the following year was settled 
 as a teacher of the Church in Roxbury. His benevolent labors were not confined to 
 his own people. Having imbibed the true spirit of the Gospel, his heart was touched 
 with the wretched condition of the Indians, and he became eagerly desirous of making 
 them acquainted with the glad tidings of salvation. There were at the time when 
 he began his labors near twenty tribes of Indians within the limits of the English 
 planters. The Massachusetts language, in which he translated the Bible and several 
 practical pieces, serving the purpose of a missionary ; the first thing he did was to 
 learn this language of the people. An old Indian, who could speak English, was 
 taken into his family, and by conversing freely with him, he learnt to talk it, and 
 soon was able to reduce it to some method ; and he became at last so much master 
 of it, as to publish a grammar, which is printed in some editions of the Indian 
 Bibles. 
 
 In October, 1646, he preached his first sermon to an assembly of Indians at 
 Nonantum, the present town of Newton. After the sermon was finished, he desired 
 them to ask any questions which they thought proper. One immediately inquired 
 whether Jesus Christ could understand prayers in the Indian language ? Another, 
 how all the world became full of people, if they were all once drowned ? A third 
 asked, how could there be the image of God, since it was forbidden in the command- 
 ment? At another time when he preached to them, an old man asked, with tears in 
 his eyes, whether it was not too late for him to repent and turn unto God ? A sec- 
 ond, how it came to pass that sea water was salt, and river water fresh ; how the 
 English came to differ so much from the Indians in the knowledge of God and Jesus 
 Christ, since they all at first had but one father ; and why, if the water is larger than 
 the earth, it does not overflow the earth ? It was his custom to spend weeks together 
 to instruct them in divine things, and how they could improve their condition upon 
 the earth. He partook with them their hard fare, with locks wet with the dews of 
 the night, and exposed to attacks from the beasts of the forest ; or to their spears 
 and arrows who were fiercer than wolves, and more terrible in their bowlings. None 
 
JOHtf ELLIOT. 233 
 
 of these things moved him ; like a brave soldier he fought the good fight of faith, 
 bearing every suffering with cheerfulness, and every pain with resignation. They 
 often threatened him, when alone with them in the wilderness, w T ith evil, if he did 
 not desist from his labors ; but he was a man not to be shaken in his purpose by the 
 fear of danger. He said to them : " I am about the work of the great God, and my 
 God is with me ; so that I neither fear you nor all the sachems in the country ; and 
 do you touch me if you dare." 
 
 In his missionary tours he planted a number of churches, and visited all the 
 Indians in Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies, pursuing his way as far as Cape 
 Cod. The first Indian Church, formed after the manner of the Congregational 
 Churches in New England, was established at Natick in 1660. Mr. Elliot afterwards 
 administered to them baptism and the Lord's supper. He made every exertion to 
 promote the welfare of .the Indian tribes ; he stimulated many servants of Jesus to 
 engage in the missionary work, and lived to see twenty-four aboriginal fellow- 
 preachers of the Gospel of Christ. In 1661 he published the New Testament in the 
 Indian language. 
 
 He possessed an influence over the Indians which no other missionary could ob- 
 tain. During the war with the sachem Philip, 1675, he appears in a character very 
 interesting to the community. He was their shield. He plead their cause with great 
 firmness, and prevented their extermination by an infuriate multitude. 
 
 After living eighty-six years in this world of trial, the spirit of this excellent 
 divine took its flight to a better world, May 20, 1690. Few of his family were alive 
 to lament his death ; but he was lamented by the whole family of virtue, and by all 
 the sincere friends of religion. Though he lived many years, they were filled with 
 usefulness; succeeding generations mentioned his name with profound respect; his 
 labors were applauded in Europe and America ; and all who now contemplate his 
 active services, his benevolent zeal, his prudence, his upright conduct, his charity, 
 are ready to declare his memory precious. Such a man will be handed down to fu- 
 ture times, an object of admiration and love, and appear conspicuous in the historic 
 page, when distant ages celebrate the worthies of New England. 
 
 Besides his translation of the Bible into the Indian tongue, he published the 
 " Glorious Progress of the Gospel among the Indians," &c., 1649 " The Tears of 
 Repentance," 1653 " A Further Account of the Gospel among the Indians," 1659 
 "The Christian Commonwealth," 1660 "The Jews in America," 1660, intended 
 to prove that the Indians were descendants of the Jews " The Harmony of the 
 Gospels," 1678, &c. 
 
SAMUEL GORTON 
 
 SAMUEL GORTON", the first settler ot Warwick, Rhode Island, came to this 
 country in 1636, and in a few years occasioned much disturbance in the church 
 of Boston by the wild sentiments on religion which he advanced. He soon went to 
 Plymouth, in which colony he was subjected to corporal punishment for his errors, 
 and whence he removed, in June, 1638, to Rhode Island. At Newport he received 
 the same discipline on account of his contempt of the civil authority. He purchased 
 some land near Pawtuxet River, in the south part of Providence, in January, 1641. 
 Under the cover of this purchase he encroached upon the lands of others, and com- 
 plaints having been entered against him in the court of Massachusetts, he was re- 
 quired to submit himself to the jurisdiction of that colony, and to answer for his 
 conduct. This summons he treated with contempt ; but being apprehensive that he 
 was not in a place of safety, he crossed the river at the close of 1642, and with eleven 
 others purchased of Miantonimoh, the Narraganset sachem, a tract of land at Mishaw- 
 omet, for which he paid one hundred and forty-four fathoms of wampum. The deed 
 was signed January IT, 1643. The town, of which he now laid the foundation, was 
 afterwards called Warwick. In May following he and his party were seized by order 
 of the general court of Massachusetts, and carried to Boston, where he was required 
 to answer to the charge of being a blasphemous enemy of the Gospel and its ordi- 
 nances and of all civil government. His ingenuity embarrassed the judges, for while 
 he adhered to his own expressions, which plainly contradicted the opinions which 
 were embraced in Massachusetts, he yet, when examined by the ministers, professed 
 a coincidence with them generally in their religious sentiments. The letter which he 
 wrote to the governor before his seizure, was addressed " To the great, honored, idol 
 gentleman of Massachusetts," and was filled with reproaches of the magistrates and 
 ministers ; but in his examination he declared that he had reference only to the cor- 
 rupt state of mankind in general. He had asserted, that Christ suffered actually 
 before he suffered under Pontius Pilate ; but his meaning was, as he said to the court, 
 that the death of Christ was actual to the faith of the fathers. The ordinances, he 
 thought, were abolished after the revelation was written, and thus he could admit 
 that they were the ordinances of Christ, because they were established for a short 
 time by him. But this equivocation did not avail him. His opinions were undoubt- 
 edly erroneous, and if errors are to be punished by the civil magistrate, his punish- 
 ment was not unjust. All the magistrates but three were of opinion that he should 
 be put to death, but the deputies wore in favor of milder measures. Gorton, with a 
 number of his companions, was sentouced to imprisonment and hard labor, and pro- 
 hibited from passing the limits of the town to which he was sent, and from propa- 
 gating his heresies under pain of d^ta. After a few months, dissatisfaction of many 
 people with his imprisonment, and other causes, induced the court to substitute ban- 
 
SAMUEL GORTON. 35 
 
 ishment in its place. In 1644 he went to England, with a deed from the Narraganset 
 Indians, transferring their territory to the king ; and he obtained an order from Par- 
 liament securing to him the peaceable possession of his lands. He arrived at Boston 
 in 1648, and thence proceeded to Shawomet, which he called Warwick, in honor of 
 the Earl of Warwick, who had given him much assistance . in eifecting his object. 
 Here he officiated as a minister and disseminated his doctrines, in consequence of 
 which a large part of the descendants of his followers have neglected all religion to 
 the present day. He died after the year 1676 at an advanced age. Without the 
 advantages of education, he made himself acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek 
 languages, that he might better understand the Scriptures, though he had affected to 
 despise human learning. He violently opposed the Quakers, as their principles were 
 hostile to his antinomian sentiments. He believed that the sufferings of Christ were 
 within his children, and that he was as much in this world at one time as at another ; 
 that all which is related of him is to be taken in a spiritual sense ; that he was in- 
 carnate in Adam, and was the image of God, wherein he was created. He was zeal- 
 ous for a pure church, and represented those as Pharisaical interpreters who could 
 establish churches, that admitted of falling from God in whole or in any part, as the 
 true churches of Christ. He published Simplicity's Defence against the Seven- 
 Headed Policy, which was answered by Mr. Winslow ; Antidote against Pharisaical 
 Teachers ; Saltmarsh Returned from the Dead, 1655 ; A Glass for the People of New 
 England. Allen's Bwg. Diet. 
 
 16 
 
WILLIAM HEATH. 
 
 WILLIAM HEATH, a major-general in the American army during the revolu- 
 tionary war, was born at Eoxbury, Massachusetts, about the year 1737. 
 
 At an early period of the contest of the colonies with Great Britain, he was an 
 active officer of the militia ; and, in consideration of his zeal and patriotism in the 
 cause of liberty, he was appointed by the Provincial Congress, in 1775, a brigadier- 
 general. 
 
 In August, 1776, he was by Congress promoted to the rank of major-general in 
 the continental army. 
 
 From 1777 to 1778 he was the commanding officer of the Eastern Department, 
 and on him was devolved the arduous and responsible duty of keeping in charge the 
 officers and troops captured at Saratoga. In all his proceedings with these turbulent 
 captives, he supported the authority of Congress and the honor and dignity of his 
 office. In the most interesting and critical circumstances in which a general could 
 possibly be placed, he uniformly exhibited a prudence, animation, decision, and firm- 
 ness, which have done him honor, and fully justified the confidence reposed in him. 
 j[n consideration of his faithful performance of this trust, he was appointed by Con- 
 gress in 1779 a commissioner of the Board of War. 
 
 iO 
 
 In 1780 he was directed by General Washington to repair to Rhode Island to 
 make arrangements for the reception of the French fleet and army. 
 
 In May, 1781, he was directed by the commander-in-chief to repair to the New 
 England States, to represent to their respective executives the distressing condition 
 of our army, and to solicit a speedy supply of provisions and clothing, in which he 
 was successful. 
 
 As a senior major-general, he was more than once commander of the right wing of 
 our army, and during the absence of the commander-in-chief, at the siege of York- 
 town, he was intrusted with the command of the main army posted at the highlands 
 and vicinity. On hostilities having ceased between the two armies, General Wash- 
 ington, in 1784, addressed a letter to General Heath, expressing his thanks for his 
 meritorious services, and his real affection and esteem. 
 
 Immediately after the close of the war, General Heath was called again into public 
 service in civil life, and continued to hold a seat in the legislature of Massachusetts 
 till 1793, when he was appointed, by Governor Hancock, judge of probate for the 
 county of Norfolk. He was also a member of the State Convention which ratified 
 the federal constitution. 
 
 In 1806 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, but declined ac- 
 cepting the honor. He was more than once an elector of President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 He died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, January 24, 1814, aged seventy-seven years. 
 
WILLIAM HOOPER, 
 
 WILLIAM HOOPER was a native of Boston, province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 where he was born on the 17th of June, 1742. 
 
 His father's name was also William Hooper. He was born in Scotland, in the 
 year 1702, and soon after leaving the university of Edinburgh emigrated to America. 
 He settled in Boston, where he became connected in marriage with the daughter of 
 Mr. John Dennie, a respectable merchant. Not long after his emigration, he was 
 elected pastor of Trinity Church, in Boston, in which office, such were his fidelity 
 and affectionate intercourse with the people of his charge, that long after his death he 
 was remembered by them with peculiar veneration and regard. 
 
 William Hooper, a biographical notice of whom we are now to give, was the eldest 
 of five children. At an early age he exhibited indications of considerable talent. 
 Until he was seven years old, he was instructed by his father ; but at length became 
 a member of a free grammar-school in Boston, which at that time was under the care 
 of Mr. John Lovell, a teacher of distinguished eminence. At the age of fifteen he 
 entered Harvard university, where he acquired the reputation of a good classical 
 scholar ; and at length, in 1760, commenced bachelor of arts with distinguished 
 honor. 
 
 Mr. Hooper had destined his son for the ministerial office. But his inclination 
 turning towards the law, he obtained his father's consent to pursue the studies of that 
 profession in the office of the celebrated James Otis. On being qualified for the bar, 
 he left the province of Massachusetts with the design of pursuing the practice of his 
 profession in North Carolina. After spending a year or two in that province, his 
 father became exceedingly desirous that he should return home. The health of his 
 son had greatly suffered in consequence of an excessive application to the duties of 
 his profession. In addition to this, the free manner of living generally adopted by 
 the wealthier inhabitants of the South, and in which he had probably participated, 
 had not a little contributed to the injury of his health. 
 
 Notwithstanding the wishes of his father, in regard to his favorite son, the latter 
 at length, in the fall of 1767, fixed his residence permanently in North Carolina, 
 and became connected by marriage with Miss Ann Clark, of Wilmington, in that 
 province. 
 
 Mr. Hooper now devoted himself with great zeal to his professional duties. He 
 early enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was highly respected by his 
 brethren at the bar, among whom he occupied an enviable rank. 
 
 In the year 1773 he was appointed to represent the town of Wilmington, in wb* 
 he resided^ in the General Assembly. In the following year he was elected to a 
 
WILLIAM HOOPER. 
 
 in the same body, soon after taking which he was called upon to assist in opposing a 
 most tyrannical act of the British government, in respect to the laws regulating the 
 courts of justice in the province. 
 
 The former laws in relation to these courts being about to expire, others became 
 necessary. Accordingly, a bill was brought forward, the provisions of which were 
 designed to regulate the courts as formerly. But the advocates of the British gov- 
 ernment took occasion to introduce a clause into the bill, which was intended to 
 exempt from attachment all species of property in North Carolina which belonged to 
 non-residents. This bill having passed the Senate, and been approved of by the 
 Governor, was sent to the House of Representatives, where it met with a most spir- 
 ited opposition. In this opposition Mr. Hooper took the lead. In strong and ani- 
 mated language he set forth the injustice of this part of the bill, and remonstrated 
 against its passage by the House. In consequence of the measures which were pur- 
 sued by the respective houses composing the General Assembly, the province was 
 left for more than a year without a single court of law. Personally, to Mr. Hooper 
 the issue of this business was highly injurious, since he was thus deprived of the 
 practice of his profession, upon which he depended for his support. Conscious, how- 
 ever, of having discharged his duty, he bowed in submission to the pecuniary sacri- 
 fices to which he was thus called, preferring honorable poverty to the greatest pecu- 
 niary acquisitions, if the latter must be made at the expense of principle. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of August, 1774, Mr. Hooper was elected a delegate to the 
 General Congress, to be held at Philadelphia. Soon after taking his seat in this 
 body, he was placed upon several important committees, and, when occasion required, 
 took a share in the animated discussions which were had on the various important 
 subjects which came before them. On one occasion, and the first on which he ad- 
 dressed the House, it is said, that he so entirely riveted the attention of the members 
 by his bold and animated language, that many expressed their wonder that such elo- 
 quence should flow forth from a member from North Carolina. 
 
 In the following year Mr. Hooper was again appointed a delegate to serve in the 
 Second General Congress, during whose session he was selected as the chairman of a 
 committee appointed to report an address to the inhabitants of Jamaica. The draught 
 was the production of his pen. It was characterized for great boldness, and was 
 eminently adapted to produce a strong impression upon the people for whom it was 
 designed. In conclusion of the address, Mr. Hooper used the following bold and 
 animated language : 
 
 " That our petitions have been treated with disdain, is now become the smallest 
 part of our complaint : ministerial insolence is lost in ministerial barbarity. It has, 
 by an exertion peculiarly ingenious, procured those very measures which it laid us 
 under the hard necessity of pursuing, to be stigmatized in parliament as rebellious: 
 it has employed additional fleets and armies for the infamous purpose of compelling 
 us to abandon them : it has plunged us in all the horrors and calamities of a civil 
 war : it has caused the treasure and blood of Britons (formerly shed and expended 
 for far other ends), to be spilt and wasted in the execrable design of spreading slav- 
 ery over British America. It will not, however, accomplish its aim ; in the worst 
 of contingencies a choice will still be left, which it never can prevent us from 
 making." 
 
WILLIAM HOOPER. 239 
 
 Iii January, 1776, Mr. Hooper was appointed, with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Liv- 
 ingston, a committee to report to Congress a proper method of honoring the memory 
 of General Montgomery, who had then recently fallen beneath the walls of Quebec. 
 This committee, in their report, recommended the erection of a monument, which, 
 while it expressed the respect and affection of the colonies, might record, for the 
 benefit of future ages, the patriotic zeal and fidelity, enterprise and perseverance of 
 the hero, whose memory the monument was designed to celebrate. In compliance 
 with the recommendation of this committee, a monument was afterwards erected by 
 Congress in the city of New York. 
 
 In the spring, 1776, the private business of Mr. Hooper so greatly required his 
 attention in North Carolina, that he did not attend upon the sitting of Congress. He 
 returned, however, in season to share in the honor of passing and publishing to the 
 world the immortal Declaration of Independence. 
 
 On the twentieth of December, 1776, he was elected a delegate to Congress for 
 the third time. The embarrassed situation of his private affairs, however, rendered 
 his longer absence from Carolina inconsistent with his interests. Accordingly, in 
 February, 1777, he relinquished his seat in Congress, and not long after tendered to 
 the General Assembly his resignation of the important trust. 
 
 But although he found it necessary to retire from this particular sphere of action, 
 he was, nevertheless, usefully employed in Carolina. He was an ardent friend to his 
 country, zealously attached to her rights, and ready to make every required personal 
 sacrifice for her good. Nor like many other patriots of the day, did he allow himself 
 to indulge in despondency. While to others the prospect appeared dubious, he would 
 always point to some brighter spots on the canvas, and upon these he delighted to 
 dwell. 
 
 In 1786 Mr. Hooper was appointed by Congress one of the judges of a federal 
 court, which was formed for the purpose of settling a controversy which existed be- 
 tween the States of New York and Massachusetts, in regard to certain lands, the 
 jurisdiction of which each pretended to claim. The point at issue was of great im- 
 portance, not only as it related to a considerable extent of territory, but in respect of 
 the people of these two States, among whom great excitement prevailed on the sub- 
 ject. Fortunately, the respective parties themselves appointed commissioners to 
 settle the dispute, which was at length amicably done, and the above federal court 
 were saved a most difficult and delicate duty. 
 
 In the following year, the constitutional infirmities of Mr. Hooper increasing, his 
 health became considerably impaired. He now gradually relaxed from public and 
 professional exertions, and in a short time sought repose in retirement, which he 
 greatly coveted. In the month of October, 1790, at the early age of forty-eight years, 
 he was called to exchange worlds. 
 
 As a politician, Mr. Hooper was characterized for judgment, ardor, and constancy. 
 In times of the greatest political difficulty and danger, he was calm, but resolute. 
 He never desponded ; but, trusting to the justice of his country's cause, he had an 
 unshaken confidence that Heaven would protect and deliver her. Lives of the 
 Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
SAMUEL JOHNSON, D,D, 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, D. D., first president of King's College, New York, was 
 born in Guilford, Connecticut, October 14, 1696* He early felt an unconquerable 
 desire for the acquisition of knowledge, and was graduated at Yale College in 1714. 
 In-the succeeding year the ignorance and incapacity of the instructors of the seminary 
 at Saybrook induced the students to abandon it. Some of them went to Wethersfield, 
 where a school was established under the care of Messrs. Williams and Smith ; and 
 some of them put themselves under the tuition of Mr. Johnson at' Guilford. In Octo- 
 ber, 1716, the trustees and general court directed the college to be removed to New 
 Haven, and Mr. Johnson was chosen one of the tutors. The first commencement in 
 New Haven was held in September, 1717, and Mr. Andrew, of Milford, officiated as 
 rector, and on the same day degrees were conferred at Wethersfield. There was a 
 party who wished to have the college established in this last place ; but the General 
 Assembly required all the scholars to repair to New Haven. They complied at first, 
 but soon returned. The affair was settled by an agreement on the part of the As- 
 sembly to confirm the degrees which had been conferred at Wethersfield, and to build 
 a state-house in the neighboring town of Hartford at the public expense. Mr. John- 
 son continued as tutor at the college till March 20, 1720, when he was ordained the 
 minister of West Haven. Having an aversion to extemporary performances, it was 
 his practice to use forms of prayer, and to write only one sermon in a month. He 
 usually preached the discourses of others, minuting down only the heads, and ex- 
 pressing himself, when his remembrance of the words of the author failed him, in 
 language of his own. Having embraced the Arminian doctrines, and by close exam- 
 ination having become a convert to the Episcopalian worship and church government, 
 he resigned his charge at West Haven, and embarked at Boston with President Cut- 
 ler for England, November 5, 1722. Having received ordination as a missionary for 
 Stratford, Connecticut, he arrived at that place in November, 1723. His predecessor 
 and friend, Mr. Pigot, was immediately removed to Providence. Mr. Johnson was 
 now the only Episcopalian minister in Connecticut, and there were but few families 
 of the English church in the colony. They were not increased in Stratford by means 
 of his labors, but in the neighboring towns, where he sometimes officiated, many fam- 
 ilies conformed. The desire of escaping the congregational tax, by joining a church 
 whose minister received a salary from a foreign society, and the petty quarrels which 
 exist in most congregations, were causes, according to Mr. Hobart, of no inconsider- 
 able influence in multiplying the Episcopalians in Connecticut. Between the years 
 1725 and 1736 Mr. Johnson was engaged in a controversy on the subject of episco- 
 pacy with Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Foxcroft, and Mr. Graham. Entering on a new course 
 of studies, he procured the works of Mr. John Hutchinson, and embraced many of 
 his sentiments. He regarded him as a person of a stupendous genius, little inferior 
 
SAMUEL JOHNSON, D.D. 241 
 
 even to that of Sir Isaac Newton, whose principles he opposed; and he thought, that 
 in his writings he had discovered many important, ancient truths, had effectually 
 confuted the Jews, infidels, Arians, and heretics of other denominations, and proved 
 that the method of redemption by Jesus Christ was better understood in the patri- 
 archal and Mosaic ages than was generally imagined. In 1754 he was elected presi- 
 dent of the college which had been lately instituted at New York. He went to that 
 place in April and soon commenced his labors. The charter was procured October 
 31, 1754. In March, 1763, he resigned, and was succeeded by the Rev. Myles 
 Cooper. He passed the remainder of his days in the peaceful retreat of Stratford, 
 resuming his former charge, and continuing in the ministry till his death, January 6, 
 1772, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. 
 
 Dr. Johnson was in his person rather tall, and in the latter part of his life consid- 
 erably corpulent. While his countenance was majestic there was also something in 
 it which was pleasing and familiar. He was Happy in a calmness of temper which 
 was seldom discomposed. Those who knew him generally loved and revered him. 
 The same good disposition, which rendered him amiable in private life, marked all 
 his proceedings of a public nature, and may be discovered in his controversial writ- 
 ings. Benevolence was a conspicuous trait in his character. He seldom suffered a 
 day to pass without doing to others some good offices relating to their temporal or 
 spiritual affairs. His conversation was enlivened by the natural cheerfulness of his 
 disposition, yet in his freest discourse he retained a respect to his character as a cler- 
 gyman. He possessed a quick perception and sound judgment, and by incessant 
 study through a long life he became one of the best scholars and most accomplished 
 divines of which Connecticut can boast. By his acquaintance with Dean Berkeley, he 
 became a convert to the peculiar metaphysical opinions of that great man. His piety 
 was unmingled with gloom or melancholy, and he contemplated with admiration and 
 gratitude the wonderful plan of redemption by the incarnation and sufferings of the 
 eternal Son of God. An account of his life, written by the Rev. Dr. Chandler, was 
 given to the public in 1805. 
 
 He published, Plain Reasons for conforming to the Church, 1733; two tracts in 
 the controversy with Mr. Graham ; A Letter from Aristocles to Authades ; a defence 
 of it in a letter to Mr. Dickinson ; a System of Morality, 1746, designed to check the 
 Progress of Enthusiasm ; a Compendium of Logic, 1752 ; a Demonstration of the 
 Reasonableness, Usefulness, and Great Duty of Prayer, 1761 ; a sermon on the Beau- 
 ties of Holiness in the Worship of the Church of England ; a Short Vindication of the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel ; an English Grammar and a Catechism, 1765 ; a 
 Hebrew Grammar, 1767 ; this evinced an accurate acquaintance with that language, 
 and it was reprinted with improvements in 1771. Allen's Biog. Diet. 
 
SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 AMONG our portraits may be found those of the first and third wives of the 
 celebrated missionary, Rev. Dr. Judson. His second wife left behind no por- 
 trait, and as we were desirous to present the family group complete, we have thought 
 best to add a sketch of her life in our supplement. For the materials of the following 
 sketch, we are indebted to Arabella Stuart's Biography of the three Mrs. Judsons. 
 
 Sarah B. Hall was the eldest of thirteen children. Her parents were Ralph and 
 Abiah Hall, who removed during her infancy from Alstead, New Hampshire, the 
 place of her birth, to Salem, in the State of Massachusetts. Her parents, not being 
 wealthy, she was early trained to those habits of industry, thoughtfulness, and self- 
 denial which distinguished her through life. 
 
 Gentle and affectionate in disposition, and persuasive and winning in manners, 
 there was yet an ardor and enthusiasm in her character, combined with a quiet firm- 
 ness and perseverance, that insured success in whatever she attempted, and gave 
 promise of the lofty excellence to which she afterwards attained. All who have 
 sketched her character notice one peculiarity and it is one which commonly attends 
 high merit her modest unobtrusiveness. She was very fond of little children, and 
 easily won their affections ; but showed little disposition, even in childhood, to mingle 
 in the sports of those of her own age. 
 
 Her early poetical attempts evince uncommon facility in versification, and talent, 
 that if cultivated, might have placed her high in the ranks of those who have trod 
 the flowery paths of literature : but hers was a higher vocation ; and poetry, which 
 was the delightful recreation of her childhood, and never utterly neglected in her 
 riper years, was never to her any thing more than a recreation. Her effusions at the 
 age of thirteen are truly remarkable, when we consider the circumstances under which 
 they were written. 
 
 Sarah, from her earliest. years, took great delight in reading. At four years, says 
 her brother, she could read readily in any common book. Her rank in her classes 
 in school was always high, and her teachers felt a pleasure in instructing her. On 
 one occasion, when about thirteen, she was compelled to signify to the principal of a 
 female seminary that her circumstances would no longer permit her to enjoy its ad- 
 vantages. The teacher, unwilling to lose a pupil who was an honor to the school, 
 and who so highly appreciated its privileges, remonstrated with her upon her inten- 
 tion, and finally prevailed on her to remain. Soon after she commenced instructing 
 a class of small children, and was thus enabled to keep her situation in the seminary 
 without sacrificing her feelings of independence. 
 
 Her first deep and decided convictions of sin seem to have been produced, about 
 
SARAH B. JUDSON. '243 
 
 the year 1820, under the preaching of Mr. Cornelius. Her struggles of mind were 
 fearful, and she sunk almost to the verge of despair ; but hope dawned at last, and 
 she was enabled to consecrate her whole being to the service of her Maker. She 
 soon after united with the first Baptist Church in Salem, under the care of Dr. 
 Belles. 
 
 The missionary spirit was early developed in her heart. Even before her con- 
 version, her mind was often exercised with sentiments of commiseration for the 
 situation of ignorant heathen and idolaters ; and after that event, it was the leading 
 idea of her life. 
 
 Shortly after her conversion, says her brother, she observed the destitute condi- 
 tion of the children in the neighborhood in which she resided. With the assistance 
 of some young friends as teachers, she organized, and continued through the favora- 
 ble portions of the year, a Sunday-school, of which she assumed the responsibility of 
 superintendent ; and at the usual annual celebrations she, with her teachers and 
 scholars, joined in the exercises which accompany that festival. 
 
 The strong bias of her mind towards a missionary life, was well known to her 
 mother, who even remembered with a tender interest an incident connected with it. 
 Sarah had been deeply affected by the death of Col man, who in the midst of his 
 labors among the heathen had suddenly been called to his reward. Some time after- 
 ward she returned from an evening meeting, and, with a countenance radiant with 
 joy, announced what her pastor had mentioned in the meeting that a successor to 
 Colman had been found ; a young man in Maine named Boardman had determined 
 to raise and bear to pagan Burmah the standard which had fallen from his dying 
 hand. With that maternal instinct which sometimes forebodes a future calamity, 
 however improbable, her mother turned away from her daughter's joyous face, for 
 the thought flashed involuntarily through her mind that the young missionary would 
 seek as a companion of his toils a kindred spirit ; and where would he find one so 
 congenial as the lovely being before her? 
 
 Her fears were realized. Some lines written by " the enthusiastic Sarah" on the 
 death of Colman, met the eye of the " young man in Maine," who was touched and 
 interested by the spirit which breathes in them, and did not rest till he had formed 
 an acquaintance with their author. This acquaintance was followed by an engage- 
 ment ; and in about two years Sarah's ardent aspirations were gratified she was a 
 missionary to the heathen. 
 
 George Dana Boardrnan, the successor to Colman before spoken of, was the son 
 of a Baptist clergyman in Livermore, Maine, and was born in 1801. Though feeble 
 in body, he had an ardent thirst for knowledge, which often made him conceal illness 
 for fear of being detained from school. 
 
 When the news of the death of Mr. Judson's fellow-missionary, Colman, reached 
 America, his soul was filled with desire to supply the place of that beloved laborer 
 in the Burman field, and as soon as his engagements allowed, he hastened to offer 
 his services to -the Board of Foreign Missions, and was at once accepted as a mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1825, the marriage took place, Miss Hall being then twenty- 
 one years old, and Mr. Boardman twenty-four. On the day following their marriage 
 they left Salem for the place of embarkation. They were to sail first to Calcutta, and 
 
244' SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 if, on reaching there, the troubles in Burmah should prevent their going at once to 
 that country, they were to remain in Calcutta, and apply themselves to the acquisition 
 of the Burman language. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman, with her husband, took her final leave of her beloved native land 
 on the 16th of July, 1825. From Chitpore, four miles above Calcutta, Mr. Board- 
 man writes : " It gives me much pleasure to write you from the shores of India. 
 Through the goodness of God, we arrived at Sand-Heads on the 23d ult, after a 
 voyage of 127 days. We were slow in our passage up the Hoogly, and did not arrive 
 in Calcutta until the 2d inst. We had a very agreeable voyage religious service at 
 meals, evening prayers in the cabin, and, when the weather allowed, public worship 
 in the steerage on Lord's-day morning. 
 
 " At noon, December 2d, we came on shore, and were received very kindly by the 
 English missionaries. We found Mrs. Colman waiting with a carriage to bring us 
 out to this place. The cottage we occupy was formerly the residence of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Eustace Carey. Mr. and Mrs Wade, Mrs. Colman, Mrs. Boardman, and myself, 
 compose a very happy American family. But we long to be laboring in Burmah." 
 
 The place fixed upon as the seat of government in the newly-acquired British ter- 
 ritory in Burmah was Amherst, on the Martaban river, about seventy-five miles east- 
 ward of Eangoon. To this new city of Amherst Mr. and Mrs. Boardman came in the 
 spring of 1827, and jpined Mr. and Mrs. Wade and Mr. Judson. It was bitterly 
 painful to them to learn that the wife of the latter, that noble and beloved woman 
 whose life had been preserved as if by miracle, in a thousand dangers, and from 
 whose society and intercourse they had hoped and expected the greatest pleasure and 
 profit, was the tenant of a lowly grave beneath the hopia-tree ; and even more imme- 
 diately distressing to find that her heart-broken husband was just about to consign 
 to the same dreary bed the only relic remaining to him of his once lovely family 
 the sweet little Maria. One of Mr. Boardman's first labors in Burmah was to make 
 a coffin for the child with his own hands, and to assist in its burial. Poor babe ! 
 " so closed its brief, eventful history." 
 
 On consultation, it was determined that Mr. and Mrs. Wade should remain in 
 Amherst, and that Mr. and Mrs. Boardman should proceed to Maulmain, a town 
 twenty-five miles up the river, which had sprung into being in the same manner as 
 Amherst, and was nearly as populous, and that Mr. Judson should divide his time 
 between the two stations. 
 
 In pursuance of this plan Mr. Boardman removed his family, which had been in- 
 creased by the addition of a lovely daughter, now about five months old, to the new 
 city of Maulmain. On the evening of May 28th Mr. Boardman makes this entry in 
 his journal : " After nearly two hours of wanderings without any certain dwelling- 
 place, we have to-day become inhabitants of a little spot of earth, and have entered 
 a house which we call our earthly home. None but those who have been in similar 
 circumstances can conceive the satisfaction we now enjoy." ..." The population of 
 the town is supposed to be 20,000. One year ago it was all a thick jungle, without 
 an inhabitant /" 
 
 In accordance with instructions received from America, it was decided that Mr. 
 and Mrs. Boardman should remove to Tavoy. This city is situated on the River 
 Tavoy, 150 miles south of Maulmain, and had at that time a population of 6000 
 
SARAH B. JUDSON. 245 
 
 Burmans and 3000 foreigners. The city was the stronghold of the religion of Gau- 
 dama, and the residence of two hundred priests. 
 
 On arriving at Tavoy they were kindly received by Mr. Burney, the English resi- 
 dent, and within ten days from their arrival had procured a house and begun to 
 teach inquirers in the way -of salvation. 
 
 In December of the year 1828 Mrs. Boardman was called to a trial which, of all 
 others, was most fitted to make her feel that every earthly dependence is at best but 
 a broken reed. Her almost idolized husband, her guide, her only human support, 
 protector, and companion, was attacked by that insidious and incurable malady which 
 was destined at no distant day to close his career of usefulness on earth, and send 
 him early to his reward. A copious hemorrhage from the lungs warned him that his 
 time for earthly labor was short, and seemed to increase his desire to work while his 
 day lasted. As soon as his strength was sufficiently restored after his first attack, 
 namely, in February, 1829, he resolved to fulfil his long-cherished intention to visit 
 the Karens in their native villages. 
 
 On the revolt of Tavoy from the British rule, Mr. Boardman took his family again 
 to Maulmain until quiet should be restored to Tavoy. The scenes of suffering through 
 which they were called to pass were well calculated to awe the stoutest heart ; but 
 this noble woman bore all with true heroic fortitude and Christian cheerfulness. 
 Shortly after her return to Tavoy she lost her second child, and came near the borders 
 of the unseen world herself. But the greatest trial of her life was at hand ; for in the 
 autumn of 1830 she committed to their last resting-place the mortal remains of her 
 loving and devoted husband. She bore this calamitous stroke with great fortitude ; 
 and, on calm consideration, resolved to remain in India, and do what she could to 
 carry on the work among the Karens, so successfully commenced by her husband. 
 
 On the 10th of April, 1834, Mrs. Boardman was married to one whose character 
 she afterwards declared to be " a complete assemblage of all that woman could wish 
 to love and honor," the Rev. Dr. Judson. With him she removed to her new home 
 in Maulmain, which had undergone wonderful changes since she left it in 1828. 
 Then, the only church there had three native members ; now, she found there three 
 churches, numbering two hundred members ! Her duties now were different from 
 what they had been, but not less important. 
 
 After eleven years of devotion and trial, Mrs. Judson, whose health had been 
 gradually failing, resolved on a voyage across the Atlantic, and, having reached the 
 Island of St. Helena, she died on ship-board, in the summer of 1845, aged forty-two 
 years. 
 
 Arrangements were made to carry the body on shore. The Kev. Mr. Bertram, 
 from the Island, came on board, and was led into the state-room where lay all that 
 was mortal of Mrs. Judson. "Pleasant," he says, "she was even in death. A sweet 
 smile beamed on her countenance, as if heavenly grace had stamped it there. The 
 bereaved husband and three weeping children fastened their eyes upon the loved re- 
 mains, as if they could have looked forever." 
 
 The coffin was borne to the shore, the boats forming a kind of procession, their 
 oars beating the waves at measured intervals as a sort of funeral knell. The earth 
 received her dust, and her bereaved husband continued his sad voyage towards his 
 native land, again a widowed mourner. 
 
FRANCIS LEAYIS. 
 
 FRANCIS LEWIS was a native of Landaff, in South "Wales, where he was born 
 in 1713. His father was a clergyman, belonging to the Established Church. 
 His mother was the daughter of Dr. Pettingal, who was also a clergyman of the 
 Episcopal Establishment, and had his residence in North Wales. At the early age 
 of four or five years, being left an orphan, the care of him devolved upon a maternal 
 maiden aunt, who took singular pains to have him instructed in the native language 
 of his country. He was afterwards sent to Scotland, where, in the family of a rela- 
 tion, he acquired a knowledge of the G-aelic. From this he was transferred to the 
 school of Westminster, where he completed his education, and enjoyed the reputation 
 of being a good classical scholar. 
 
 Mercantile pursuits being his object, he entered the counting-room of a London 
 merchant, where, in a few years, he acquired a competent knowledge of the profes- 
 sion. On attaining to the age of twenty-one years, he collected the property which 
 had been left him by his father, and, having converted it into merchandise, he sailed 
 for New York, where he arrived in the spring of 1735. 
 
 Leaving a part of his goods to be sold in New York, by Mr. Edward Annesly, 
 with whom he had formed a commercial connection, he transported the remainder to 
 Philadelphia, whence, after a residence of two years, he returned to the former city, 
 and there became extensively engaged in navigation and foreign trade. About this 
 time he connected himself by marriage with the sister of his partner, by whom he 
 had several children. 
 
 Mr. Lewis acquired the character of an active and enterprising merchant. In the 
 course of his commercial transactions, he traversed a considerable part of the conti- 
 nent of Europe. He visited several of the seaports of Russia, the Orkney and Shet- 
 land islands, and twice suffered shipwreck on the Irish coast. 
 
 During the French or Canadian war, Mr. Lewis was, for a time, agent for supply- 
 ing the British troops. In this capacity, he was present at the time when, in 
 August, 1756, the fort of Oswego was surrendered to the distinguished French gen- 
 eral, Montcalm. The fort was at that time commanded by the British Colonel 
 Mersey. On the tenth of August Montcalm approached it with more than five thou- 
 sand Europeans, Canadians, and Indians. On the twelfth, at midnight, he opened 
 the trenches with thirty-two pieces of cannon, besides several brass mortars and 
 howitzers. The garrison, having fired away all their shells and ammunition, Colonel 
 Mersey ordered the cannon to be spiked, and crossed the river to Little Oswego Fort, 
 without the loss of a single man. Of the deserted fort the enemy took immediate 
 possession, and from it began a fire which was kept up without intermission. The 
 next day Colonel Mersey was killed while standing by the side of Mr. Lewis. 
 
FRANCIS LEWIS. 
 
 The garrison, being thus deprived of their commander, their fort destitute of a 
 cover, and no prospect of aid presenting itself, demanded a capitulation, and surren- 
 dered as prisoners of war. The garrison consisted at this time of the regiments of 
 Shirley and Pepperell, and amounted to one thousand and four hundred men. The 
 conditions required and acceded to were, that they should be exempted from plun- 
 der, conducted to Montreal, and treated with humanity. The services rendered by 
 Mr. Lewis during the war were held in such consideration by the British govern- 
 ment, that at the close of it he received a grant of five thousand acres of land. 
 
 The conditions upon which the garrison at Fort Oswego surrendered to Montcalm, 
 were shamefully violated by that commander. They were assured of kind treatment ; 
 but no sooner had the surrender been made, than Montcalm allowed the chief warrior 
 of the Indians who assisted in taking the fort to select about thirty of the prison- 
 ers, and do with them as he pleased. Of this number Mr. Lewis was one. Placed 
 thus at the disposal of savage power, a speedy and cruel death was to be expected. 
 The tradition is, however, that he soon discovered that he was able to converse with 
 the Indians, by reason of the similarity of the ancient language of Wales, which he 
 understood, to the Indian dialect. The ability of Mr. Lewis thus readily to commu- 
 nicate with the chief, so pleased the latter, that he treated him kindly, and, on arriving 
 at Montreal, he requested the French Governor to allow him to return to his family 
 without ransom. The request, however, was not granted, and Mr. Lewis was sent as 
 a prisoner to France, from which country, being some time after exchanged, he 
 returned to America. 
 
 This tradition as to the cause of the liberation of Mr. Lewis, is incorrect ; no such 
 affinity existing between the Oymreag, or ancient language of Wales, and the lan- 
 guage of any of the Indian tribes found in North America. The cause might have 
 been, and probably was, some unusual occurrence or adventure ; but of ifs precise 
 nature we are not informed. 
 
 Although Mr. Lewis was not born in America, his attachment to the country was 
 coeval with his settlement in it. He early espoused the patriotic cause against the 
 encroachments of the British government, and was among the first to unite with an 
 association which existed in several parts of the country, called the " Sons of Liberty,'' 
 the object of which was to concert measures against the exercise of an undue power 
 on the part of the mother country. 
 
 The independent and patriotic character which Mr. Lewis was known to possess, 
 the uniform integrity of his life, the distinguished intellectual powers with which he 
 was endued, all pointed him out as a proper person to assist in taking charge of the 
 interests of the colony in the Continental Congress. Accordingly, in April, 1775, he 
 was unanimously elected a delegate to that body. In this honorable station he was 
 continued by the Provincial Congress of New York through the following year, 1776, 
 and was among the number who declared the colonies forever absolved from their 
 allegiance to the British crown, and from that time entitled to the rank and privileges 
 of free and independent States. 
 
 In several subsequent years he was appointed to represent the State in the national 
 legislature. During his Congressional career, Mr. Lewis was distinguished for a be- 
 coming zeal in the cause of liberty, tempered by the influence of a correct judgment 
 end a cautious prudence. He was employed in several secret services, in the pur- 
 
248 FRANCIS LEWIS. 
 
 chase of provisions and clothing for the army, and in the importation of military 
 stores, particularly arms and ammunition. In transactions of this kind, his commer- 
 cial experience gave him great facilities. He was also employed on various commit- 
 tees, in which capacity he rendered many valuable services to his country. 
 
 In 1775 Mr. Lewis removed his family and effects to a country seat which he 
 owned on Long Island. This proved to be an unfortunate step. In the autumn of 
 the following year his house was plundered by a party of British light-horse. His 
 extensive library and valuable papers of every description were wantonly destroyed. 
 ]STor were they contented with this ruin of his property. They thirsted for revenge 
 upon a man who had dared to affix his signature to a document which proclaimed 
 the independence of America. Unfortunately, Mrs. Lewis fell into their power, and 
 was retained a prisoner for several months. During her captivity she was closely 
 confined, without even the comfort of a bed to lie upon, or a change of clothes. 
 
 In November, 1776, the attention of Congress was called to her distressed condi- 
 tion, and shortly after a resolution was passed that a lady, who had been taken pris- 
 oner by the Americans, should be permitted to return to her husband, and that Mrs. 
 Lewis be required in exchange. But the exchange could not at that time be effected. 
 Through the influence of Washington, however, Mrs. Lewis was at length released ; 
 but her sufferings during her confinement had so much impaired her constitution, 
 that in the course of a year or two she sunk into the grave. 
 
 Of the subsequent life of Mr. Lewis we have little to record. His latter days 
 were spent in comparative poverty, his independent fortune having, in a great meas- 
 ure, been sacrificed on the altar of patriotism during his country's struggle for inde- 
 pendence. The life of this excellent man and distinguished patriot was extended to 
 his ninetieth year. His death occurred on the 30th day of December, 1803. 
 
 
MASSASOIT. 
 
 THIS renowned sachem was one of the principal Indian chiefs whom the pilgrim 
 band of the May Flower found in possession when they landed at Plymouth, in 
 1620. His first salutation was a friendly one, and he never withdrew his friendship 
 from the whites. He was a mild and pacific prince, and ruled his great and rude 
 people with a deep sagacity united to a strong affection for them, and the manifesta- 
 tion of a constant regard for their interests and happiness. 
 
 Massasoit had several places of residence, the principal of which was Mount Hope, 
 or Pokanoket, near Bristol, Rhode Island, on the Narragansett Bay. He has been 
 called, also, by a variety of names, as Woosamequin, Asuhmequin, Oosamequen, 
 Osamekin, Owsamequin, Owsamequine, Ussamequen, Wasamegin, &c., &c. ; but 
 Massasoit seems to have been the name he bore when the country was first occupied, 
 and by which he has ever since been known in history. He was the chief of the 
 Wampanoags. At first the Indians were very shy of the new-comers, but soon 
 gained confidence, and a treaty of amity and commerce was established between 
 them, by which the Puritans were preserved from utter ruin ; first, by the ravages of 
 famine, and, secondly, by the treachery and ferocity of the surrounding tribes of In- 
 dians. The personal appearance of this celebrated sachem is thus given by Governor 
 Carver, in 1621 : " He is a very lusty man, in his best years, an able body, grave of 
 countenance, and spare of speech ; in his attire little or nothing differing from the 
 rest of his followers, only in a great chain of white bone beads about his neck ; and 
 at it, behind his neck, hangs a little bag of tobacco, which he drank, and gave us to 
 drink. His face was painted with a sad red-like murrey, and oiled both head and 
 face, that he looked greasily. All his followers likewise were, in their faces, in part 
 or in whole, painted, some black, some red, some yellow, and some white ; some with 
 crosses and other antic works ; some had skins on them, and some naked ; all strong, 
 tall men in appearance. The king had in his bosom, hangirg in a string, a great long 
 knife. lie marvelled much at our trumpet, and some of his men would sound it as 
 well as they could." 
 
 Through the influence of this kind-hearted chief a treaty of commerce was made, 
 which resulted greatly to the interests of the colony. On that occasion he replied to 
 some suggestion of fear that the Indians might not be willing to traffic freely : " Am 
 I not Massasoit, commander of the country about us? Is not such and such places 
 mine, and the people of them f They shall take their skins to the English" This 
 his people applauded. In his speech, " he named at least thirty places," over which 
 he had control. 
 
 In 1623 Massasoit was dangerously ill, and sent for aid to his Plymouth friends, 
 who at once responded to his summons, and sent Mr. Winslow, with others, to min- 
 ister to his necessities. " When we came thither," says Mr. Winslow, " we found 
 
250 MASSASOIT. 
 
 the house so full of men, as we could scarce get in, though they used their best dili- 
 gence to make way for us. There were they in the midst of their charms for him, 
 making such a hellish noise, as it distempered us that were well, and, therefore, unlike 
 to ease him that was sick. About him were six or eight women, who chafed his arms, 
 legs, and thighs, to keep heat in him. When they had made an end of their charm- 
 ing, one told him that his friends, the English, were come to see him. Having un- 
 derstanding left, but his sight was wholly gone, he asked, who was come. They told 
 him Winsnow (for they cannot pronounce the letter Z, but ordinarily n in the place 
 thereof). He desired to speak with me. When I came to him, and they told him 
 of it, he put forth his hand to me, which I took. Then he said twice, though very 
 inwardly, Keen Winsnow^ which is to say, Art thou Winslowf I answered, Ahhe, 
 that is, Yes. Then he doubled these words : Matta neen wonckanet namen, Wins. 
 now / that is to say, Oh Winslow, I shall never see thee again /" But contrary to 
 his own expectations, as well as all his friends, by the kind exertions of Mr. Winslow, 
 he in a short time entirely recovered. 
 
 For this attention of the English he was very grateful, and always believed that 
 his preservation at this time was owing to the benefit he received from Mr. Winslow. 
 In his way on his visit to Massasoit, Mr. Winslow broke a bottle containing some 
 preparation, and, deeming it necessary to the sachem's recovery, wrote a letter to the 
 governor of Plymouth for another, and some chickens ; in which he gave him an 
 account of his success thus far. The intention was no sooner made known to Massa- 
 Boit, than one of his men was sent off, at two o'clock at night, for Plymouth, who 
 returned again with astonishing quickness. The chickens being alive, Massasoit was 
 so pleased with them, and, being better, would not suffer them to be killed, and kept 
 them with the idea of raising more. While at Massasoit's residence, and just as they 
 were about to depart, the sachem told Hobomok of a plot laid by some of his subor- 
 dinate chiefs for the purpose of cutting off the two English plantations, which he 
 charged him to acquaint the English with, which he did. Massasoit stated that he 
 had been urged to join in it, or give his consent thereunto, but had always refused, 
 and used his endeavors to prevent it. 
 
 The date of the death of this noble-minded chieftain is not precisely known, but it 
 is generally supposed that it occurred about the year 1660-61, and supposing him to 
 be about forty years old when he first met the English, it would make him not far 
 from eighty years of age at the time of his death. 
 
 We shall close this sketch by relating an anecdote, which exhibits a peculiar trait 
 in Indian life. As Mr. Edward Winslow was returning from a trading voyage south- 
 ward, having left his vessel, he travelled home by land, and in the way stopped with 
 his old friend Massasoit, who agreed to accompany him the rest of the way ; in the 
 mean time, Ousamequin sent one of his men forward to Plymouth, to surprise the 
 people with the news of Mr. Winslow's death. By his manner of relating it, and 
 the particular circumstances attending, no one doubted of its truth, and every one 
 was grieved and mourned exceedingly at their great loss. But presently they were 
 as much surprised at seeing him corning in company with Ousamequin. When it 
 was known among the people that the sachem had sent this news to them, they de- 
 manded why he should thus deceive them. He replied that it was to make him the 
 more welcome when he did return, and that this was a custom of his people. 
 
JAMES OGLETHORPE, 
 
 JAMES OGLETHORPE, the founder of Georgia, was born in England about the 
 year 1688. Entering the army at an early age, he served under Prince Eugene, 
 to whom he became secretary and aid-de-camp. On the restoration of peace he was 
 returned a member of Parliament, and distinguished himself as a useful senator by 
 proposing several regulations for the benefit of trade, and a reform in the prisons. 
 His philanthropy is commemorated in Thomson's Seasons. His benevolence led 
 him in 1732 to become one of the trustees of Georgia, a colony the design of whose 
 settlement was principally to rescue many of the inhabitants of Great Britain from 
 the miseries of poverty, to open an asylum for the persecuted Protestants of Europe, 
 and to carry to the natives the blessings of Christianity. In the prosecution of this 
 design Mr. Oglethorpe embarked in November with a number of emigrants, and 
 arriving at Carolina in the middle of January, 1733, he proceeded immediately to the 
 Savannah River, and laid the foundation of the town of Savannah. He made treaties 
 with the Indians, and crossed the Atlantic several times to promote the interests of 
 the colony. Being appointed general and commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces 
 in South Carolina and Georgia, he brought from England in 1738 a regiment of six 
 hundred men to protect the southern frontiers from the Spaniards. A mutiny was 
 soon excited in his camp, and a daring attempt was made to assassinate him ; but 
 his life was wonderfully preserved, through the care of that Providence which controls 
 all earthly agents and superintends every event. After the commencement of the 
 war between Great Britain and Spain in 1739, he visited the Indians to secure their 
 friendship, and in 1740 he went into Florida on an unsuccessful expedition against 
 St. Augustine. As the Spaniards laid claim to Georgia, three thousand men, a part 
 of whom were from Havana, were sent in 1742 to drive Oglethorpe from the fron- 
 tiers. When this force proceeded up the Alatamaha, passing Fort St. Simon's with- 
 out injury, he was obliged to retreat to Frederica. He had but about seven hundred 
 men, besides Indians ; yet with a part of these he approached within two miles of 
 the enemy's camp, with the design of attacking them by surprise, when a French 
 soldier of his party fired his musket and ran into the Spanish lines. His situation 
 was now very critical, for he knew that the deserter would make known his weakness. 
 Returning, however, to Frederica, he had recourse to the following expedient. He 
 wrote a letter to the deserter, desiring him to acquaint the Spaniards with the de- 
 fenceless state of Frederica, and to urge them to the attack ; if he could not effect 
 this object, he directed him to use all his art to persuade them to stay three days at 
 Fort Simon's, as within that time he should have a reinforcement of two thousand 
 land forces, with six ships of war ; cautioning him at the same time not to drop a hint 
 of Admiral Yernon's meditated attack upon St. Augustine. A Spanish prisoner was 
 Intrusted with this letter, under promise of delivering it to the deserter. But he gave 
 
 17 
 
252 JAMES OGLETHORPE. 
 
 it, as was expected and intended, to the commander-in-chief, who instantly put the 
 deserter in irons. In the perplexity, occasioned by this letter, while the enemy was 
 deliberating what measures to adopt, three ships of force, which the governor of 
 South Carolina had sent to Oglethorpe's aid, appeared off the coast. The Spanish 
 commander was now convinced, beyond all question, that the letter, instead of being 
 a stratagem, contained serious instructions to a spy, and in this moment of consterna- 
 tion set fire to the fort, and embarked so precipitately as to leave behind him a num- 
 ber of cannon with a quantity of military stores. Thus by an event beyond human 
 foresight or control, by the correspondence between the artful suggestions of a mili- 
 tary genius and the blowing of the winds, was the infant colony providentially saved 
 from destruction, and Oglethorpe retrieved his reputation and gained the character of 
 an able general. He now returned to England, and never again revisited Georgia. 
 In 1745 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and was sent against the 
 rebels, but did not overtake them, for which he was tried by a court-martial and hon- 
 orably acquitted. After the return of Gage to England, in 1775, the command of the 
 British army in America was offered to General Oglethorpe. He professed'his read- 
 iness to accept the appointment if the ministry would authorize him to assure the 
 colonies that justice would be done them ; but the command was given to Sir William 
 Howe. He died in August, 1785, at the age of ninety-seven, being the oldest general 
 in the service. Allen's Biograph. Diet. 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, D,D, 
 
 JOSEPH PPJESTLEY, D. D., an eminent philosopher, and voluminous writer, 
 was born at Fieldhead, in Yorkshire, England, March 24, 1733. His father was 
 a cloth-dresser. At the age of nineteen he had acquired in the schools, to which he 
 had been sent, and by the aid of private instruction, a good knowledge of Greek, 
 Latin, and Hebrew, French, Italian, and German ; he had also begun to read Arabic, 
 and learned Chaldee and Syriac. With these attainments, and others in mathemat- 
 ics, natural philosophy, and morals, he entered the academy of Daventry, under Dr. 
 Ashworth, in 1752, with a view to the Christian ministry. Here he spent three 
 years. The students were referred to books on both sides of every question, and re- 
 quired to abridge the most important works. The tutors, Mr. Ashworth and Mr. 
 Clark, being of different opinions, and the students being divided, subjects of dispute 
 were continually discussed. He had been educated in Calvinism, and in early life 
 he suffered great distress from not finding satisfactory evidence of the renovation of 
 his mind by the Spirit of God. He had great aversion to plays and romances. He 
 attended a weekly meeting of young men for conversation and prayer. But before 
 he went to the academy he became an Arminian, though he retained the doctrine of 
 the trinity and of the atonement. At the academy he embraced Arianism. Perus- 
 ing Hartley's observations on man, he was fixed in the belief of the doctrine of ne- 
 cessity. In 1755 he became assistant minister to the independent congregation of 
 Needham Market, in Suffolk, upon a salary of forty pounds a year. Falling, under a 
 suspicion of Arianism, he became pastor of a congregation at Nantwich, in Cheshire, 
 in 1758, where he remained three years, being not only minister but schoolmaster. 
 In 1761 he removed to Warrington, as tutor in the belles-lettres in the academy there. 
 In 1767 he accepted the pastoral office at Leeds. Here by reading Lardner's letter 
 on the Logos he became a Socinian. In 1773 he went to live with the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne, as librarian or literary companion, with a salary of two hundred and 
 fifty pounds a year. During a connection of seven years with his lordship he visited, 
 in his company, France, Holland, and some parts of Germany. He then became 
 minister of Birmingham. At length, when several of his friends celebrated the 
 French Revolution, July 14, 1791, a mob collected and set fire to the dissenting 
 meeting-houses, and several dwelling-houses of dissenters, and among others to that 
 of Dr. Priestley. He lost his library, apparatus, and papers, and was forced to take 
 refuge in the metropolis. He was chosen to succeed Dr. Price at Hackney, and was 
 a lecturer in the dissenting college of that place. But the public aversion to him 
 being strong, and his sons emigrating to the United States, he followed them in April, 
 1794. He settled at Northumberland, a town of Pennsylvania about one hundred 
 and thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia. In this city, for two or three winters 
 after his arrival, he delivered lectures on the evidences of Christianity. In his last 
 
254: JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, D.D. 
 
 sickness he expressed his coincidence with Simpson on the duration of future punish- 
 ment. He died in calmness, and in the full vigor of his mind, February 6, 1804, in 
 the seventy-first year of his age. He dictated some alterations in his manuscripts 
 half an hour before his death. 
 
 Dr. Priestley was amiable and affectionate in the intercourse of private and domes- 
 tic life. Few men in modern times have written so much, or with such facility. 
 His readiness with the pen he attributed, in a great degree, to the habit of writing 
 down, in early life, the sermons which he heard at public worship. To superior abil- 
 ities he joined industry, activity, dispatch, and method ; yet his application to study 
 was not so great, as from the multitude of his works one would imagine, for he sel- 
 dom spent more than six or eight hours in a day in any labor which required much 
 mental exertion. A habit of regularity extended itself to all his studies. He never 
 read a book without determining in his own mind when he would finish it; and at 
 the beginning of every year he arranged the plan of his literary pursuits and scien- 
 tific researches. He labored under a great defect, which, however, was not a very 
 considerable impediment to his progress. He sometimes lost all ideas, both of persons 
 and things, with which he had been conversant. Once he had occasion to write a 
 piece respecting the Jewish passover, in doing which he was obliged to consult and 
 compare several writers. Having finished it, he threw it aside. In about a fortnight 
 he performed this same labor again, having forgotten that he had a few days before 
 done it. Apprised of this defect, he used to write down what he did not wish to for- 
 get, and by a variety of mechanical expedients he secured and arranged his thoughts, 
 and derived the greatest assistance in writing large and complex works. By simple 
 and mechanical methods, he did that in a mouth, which men of equal ability could 
 hardly execute in a year. He always did immediately what he had to perform. 
 Though he rose early and dispatched his more serious pursuits in the morning, yet he 
 was as well qualified for mental exertion at one time of the day as at another. All 
 seasons were equal to him, early or late, before dinner or after. He could also write 
 without inconvenience by the parlor fire with his wife and children about him, and 
 occasionally talking to them. In his diary he recorded the progress of his studies, 
 the occurrences of the day, &c. As a preacher Dr. Priestley was not distinguished. 
 He had no powers of oratory. He was, however, laborious and attentive as a min- 
 ister. He bestowed great pains upon the young by lectures and catechetical in- 
 structions. In his family he ever maintained the worship of God. As a schoolmaster 
 and professor he was indefatigable. With respect to his religious sentiments his 
 mind underwent a number; of revolutions, but he died in the Socinian faith, which he 
 had many years supported. He possesses a high reputation as a philosopher, partic- 
 ularly as a chemist. Commencing his chemical career in 1772, he did more for 
 chemistry in two years than had been done by any of his predecessors. He discov- 
 ered the existence of vital or dephlogisticated air, the oxygen gas of the French 
 nomenclature, and other kinds of aeriform fluids, and many methods of procuring 
 them. He always adhered to the old doctrine of Stahl respecting phlogiston, though 
 the whole scientific world had rejected it, and embraced the theory of Lavoisier. But 
 his versatile mind could not be confined to one subject. He was not only a chemist 
 but an eminent metaphysician. He was a materialist and necessarian. He main- 
 tained that all volitions are the necessary result of previous circumstances, the will 
 
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, D.D. 255 
 
 being always governed by motives; and yet he opposed the Calvinistic doctrine of 
 predestination. The basis of his- necessarian theory was Hartley's observations on 
 man. In order to escape the difficulty, which he supposed would arise from ascribing 
 the existence of sin to the will of God, he embraced the system of optimism ; he con- 
 sidered all evil as resulting in the good of the whole and of each part ; he thought 
 that all intelligent beings would be conducted through various degrees of discipline 
 to happiness. He wrote also upon politics, and it was in consequence of his advo- 
 cating republican sentiments, as well as of his religious opinions, that his situation 
 was rendered so unpleasant in England. He found it a convenient way of learning 
 a science to undertake to teach it, or to make a book or treatise upon the particular 
 subject of his studies. The chart of history used in France was much improved by 
 him, and he invented the chart of biography, which is very useful. Of his numerous 
 publications the following are the principal: a treatise on English grammar, 1761 ; 
 on the doctrine of remission ; history of electricity, 176T ; history of vision, light, and 
 colors ; introduction to perspective, 1770 ; harmony of the evangelists ; catechisms ; 
 address to masters of families on prayer ; experiments on air, 4 vols. ; observations 
 on education ; lectures on oratory and criticism ; institutes of natural and revealed 
 religion ; a reply to the Scotch metaphysicians, Reid, Oswald, and Beattie ; disqui- 
 sitions on matter and spirit, 1777 ; history of the corruptions of Christianity ; letters 
 to Bishop Newcome on the duration of Christ's ministry ; correspondence with Dr. 
 Horseley ; history of early opinions concerning Jesus Christ, 4 vols., 1786 ; lectures 
 on history and general policy ; answers to Paine and Volney ; several pieces on the 
 doctrine of philosophical necessity, in a controversy with Dr. Price ; discourses on 
 the evidences of revealed religion, 3 vols. ; letters to a philosophical unbeliever ; dis- 
 courses on various subjects. He also wrote many defences of Unitarianism, and con- 
 tributed largely to the Theological Repository, which was published many years ago 
 in England. After his arrival in this country he published a comparison of the insti- 
 tutions of the Mosaic religion with those of the Hindoos; Jesus and Socrates com- 
 pared; several tracts against Dr. Linn, who wrote against the preceding pamphlet; 
 notes on the Scriptures, 4 vols. ; history of the Christian church, 6 vols. ; several 
 pamphlets on philosophical subjects, and in defence of the doctrine of phlogiston. 
 Dr. Priestley's life was published in 1806, in two volumes. The memoirs were writ- 
 ten by himself to the year 1787, and a short continuation by his own hand brings 
 them to 1795. Allen's Bioy. Diet. 
 
JOHN REDMAN, M, D, 
 
 DK. REDMAN, first president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 
 was born in that city, Febrnary 27, 1722. After finishing his preparatory edu- 
 cation in the Rev. Mr. Tennent's academy, he entered upon the study of physic with 
 Dr. John Kearsley, then one of the most respectable physicians of Philadelphia. 
 When he commenced the practice of his profession, he went to Bermuda, where he 
 continued for several years. Thence he proceeded to Europe, for the purpose of per- 
 fecting his acquaintance with medicine. He lived one year in Edinburgh ; he at- 
 tended lectures, dissections, and the hospitals in Paris ; he was graduated at Leyden, 
 in July, 1748 ; and after passing some time at Gray's Hospital he returned to Amer- 
 ica, and settled in his native city, where he soon gained great and deserved celebrity. 
 When he was about forty years of age he was afflicted with an abscess in his liver, 
 the contents of which were expectorated, and he was frequently confined by acute 
 diseases ; yet he lived to a great age. In the evening of his life he withdrew from 
 the labors of his profession ; but it was only to engage in business of another kind. 
 In the year 1784 he was elected an elder of the second Presbyterian church, and the 
 benevolent duties of this office employed him and gave him delight. The death of 
 his younger daughter in 1806 was soon succeeded by the death of his wife, with whom 
 he had lived with uninterrupted harmony near sixty years. He himself died of an 
 apoplexy, March 19, 1808, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. 
 
 Dr. Redman was somewhat below the middle stature ; his complexion was dark, 
 and his eyes uncommonly animated. In the former part of his life he possessed an 
 irritable temper, but his anger was transient, and he was known to make acknowledg- 
 ments to his pupils and servants for a hasty expression. As a physician his principles 
 were derived from the writings of Boerhaave, but his practice was formed by the 
 rules of Sydenham. He considered a greater force of medicine necessary to cure 
 modern American, than modern British diseases, and hence he was a decided friend 
 to depletion in all the violent diseases of our country. He bled freely in the yellow 
 fever of 1762, and threw the weight of his venerable name into the scale of the same 
 remedy in the year 1793. In the diseases of old age he considered small and frequent 
 bleedings as the first of remedies. He entertained a high opinion of mercury in all 
 chronic diseases, and he gave it in the natural small-pox with the view of touching 
 the salivary glands about the turn of the pock. He introduced the use of turpeth- 
 mineral as an emetic in the gangrenous sore throat of 1764. Towards the close of his 
 life he read the later medical writers, and embraced with avidity some of the modern 
 opinions and modes of practice. In a sick-room his talents were peculiar. He sus- 
 pended pain by his soothing manner, or chased it away by his conversation, which 
 was occasionally facetious and full of anecdotes, or serious and instructing. He was 
 
JOSEPH REDMAN, M. D. 
 
 remarkably attached to all the members of his family. At the funeral of his brother, 
 Joseph Redman, in 1779, after the company were assembled he rose from his seat, 
 and grasping the lifeless hand of his brother, he turned round to his children and 
 other relations in the room, and addressed them in the following words : " I declare 
 in the presence of God and of this company, that in the whole course of our lives no 
 angry word nor look has ever passed between this dear brother and me." He then 
 kneeled down by the side of his coffin, and in the most fervent manner implored the 
 protection and favor of God to his widow and children. He was an eminent Christian. 
 While he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, he thought humbly of himself, 
 and lamented his slender attainments in religion. His piety was accompanied by 
 benevolence and charity. He gave liberally to the poor. Such was the cheerfulness 
 of his temper, that upon serious subjects he was never gloomy. He spoke often of 
 death, and of the scenes which await the soul after its separation from the body, with 
 perfect composure. He published an inaugural dissertation on abortion, 1748, and a 
 defence of inoculation, 1759. Allen's Blog. Diet. 
 
WILLIAM TENNENT, 
 
 iTTILLIAM TENNENT, minister of Freehold, New Jersey, was born in Ireland, 
 VV June 3, 1T05. He arrived in America when in the fourteenth year of his age. 
 Having resolved to devote himself to the ministry of the Gospel, his intense applica- 
 tion to the study of theology, under the care of his brother at New Brunswick, so im- 
 paired his health as to bring on a decline. He became more and more emaciated, 
 till little hope of life was left. At length he fainted and apparently expired. The 
 neighborhood were invited to attend his funeral on the next day. In the evening his 
 physician, a young gentleman, who was his particular friend, returned to the town, 
 and was afflicted beyond measure at the news of his death. Being told, that when 
 the body was laid out a little tremor of the flesh under the arm had been perceived, 
 he encouraged the hope that the powers of life had not yet departed. On examining 
 the body he affirmed that he felt an unusual warmth, and had it restored to a warm 
 bed, and the funeral delayed. All probable means were used to restore life, but the 
 third day arrived, and the unintermitted exertions of the doctor had as yet been in 
 vain. It was determined by the brother that the funeral should now take place ; but 
 the physician requested a delay of one hour, then of half an hour, and finally of a 
 quarter of an hour. As this last period was near expired, while he was endeavoring 
 to soften the tongue, which he had discovered to be much swollen, by putting some 
 ointment upon it with a feather, the body opened its eyes, gave a dreadful groan, and 
 sunk again into apparent death. The efforts were now renewed, and in a few hours 
 Mr. Tennent was restored to life. His recovery, however, was very slow ; all former 
 ideas were for some time blotted out of his mind ; and it was a year before he was 
 perfectly restored. To his friends he repeatedly stated, that after he had apparently 
 expired he found himself in heaven, where he beheld a glory, which he could not de- 
 scribe, and heard songs of praise before this glory, which were unutterable. He was 
 about to join the throng, when one of the heavenly messengers said to him, " You 
 must return to the earth." At this instant he groaned, and opened his eyes upon 
 this world. For three years afterwards the sounds which he had heard were not out 
 of his ears, and earthly things were in his sight as vanity and nothing. In October, 
 1733, he was ordained at Freehold, as the successor of his brother, the Rev. John 
 Tennent. It was not long before his inattention to worldly concerns brought him into 
 debt. In his embarrassment a friend from New York told him, that the only remedy 
 was to get a wife. " I do not know how to go about it," was the answer. " Then I 
 will undertake the business," said his friend ; " I have a sister-in-law in the city, a 
 prudent and pious widow." The next evening found Mr. Tennent in New York, and 
 the day after he was introduced to Mrs. Noble. Being pleased with her appearance, 
 when he was left alone with her he abruptly told her that he supposed she knew his 
 errand, that neither his time nor inclination would suffer him to use much ceremony, 
 
Library 
 
 WILLIAM TENNENT. 259 
 
 and that if she pleased he would attend his charge on the next Sabbath, and return 
 on Monday and be married. "With some hesitation the lady consented ; and she 
 proved an invaluable treasure to him. About the year 17M, when the faithful preach- 
 ing of Mr. Tennent and Mr. John Rowland was the means of advancing, in a very 
 remarkable degree, the cause of religion in JSTew Jersey, the indignation and malice 
 of those who loved darkness rather than light, and who could not quietly submit to 
 have their false security shaken, was excited against these servants of God. There 
 was at this time prowling through the country a noted man named Tom Bell. One 
 evening he arrived at a tavern in Princeton, dressed in a parson's frock, and was im- 
 mediately accosted as the Rev. Mr. Rowland, whom he much resembled. This mis- 
 take was sufficient for him. The next day he went to a congregation in the county 
 of Hunterdon, and declaring himself to be Mr. Rowland, was invited to preach on 
 the Sabbath. As he was riding to church in the family wagon accompanied by his 
 host on an elegant horse, he discovered, when he was near the church, that he had left 
 his notes behind, and proposed to ride back for them on the fine horse. The proposal 
 was agreed to, and Bell, after returning to the house and rifling the desk, made off- 
 with the horse. Mr. Rowland was soon indicted for the robbery, but it happened 
 that on the very day on which the robbery was committed he was in Pennsylvania 
 or Maryland, and this circumstance being proved by the testimony of Mr. Tennent 
 and two other gentlemen, who accompanied him, the jury brought in a verdict of not 
 guilty. Mr. Rowland could not again be brought before the court ; but the witnesses 
 were indicted for wilful and corrupt perjury. The evidence was very strong against 
 them, for many had seen the supposed Mr. Rowland on the elegant horse. Mr. Ten- 
 nent employed Mr. John Coxe, an eminent lawyer, to conduct his defence. He went 
 to Trenton on the day appointed, and there found Mr. Smith of New York, one of 
 the ablest lawyers in America, and of a religious character, who had voluntarily 
 attended to aid in his defence. He found also at Trenton his brother Gilbert, from 
 Philadelphia, with Mr. Kinsey, one of the first counsellors in the city. Mr. Tennent 
 was asked who were his witnesses ; he replied that he had none, as the persons who 
 accompanied him were also indicted. He was pressed to delay the trial, as he would 
 most certainly be convicted ; but he insisted that it should proceed, as he trusted in 
 God to vindicate his innocence. Mr. Coxe was charging Mr. Tennent with acting 
 the part of an enthusiast, when the bell summoned them to court. The latter had not 
 walked far in the street before he was accosted by a man and his wife, who asked 
 him if his name was not Tennent. The man said that he lived in a certain place in 
 Pennsylvania or Maryland ; that Mr. Tennent and Mr. Rowland had lodged at his 
 house, or at a house where he and his wife had been servants, at a particular time, 
 and on the next day preached ; that some nights before he left home, he and his wife 
 both dreamed repeatedly that Mr. Tennent was in distress at Trenton, and they only 
 could relieve him; and that they, in consequence, had come to that town, and 
 wished to know what they had to do. Mr. Tennent led them to the court-house, and 
 their testimony induced the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty, to the astonish- 
 ment of his enemies. After a life of great usefulness, Mr. Tennent died at Freehold, 
 March 8, 1777, aged seventy-one years. He was well read in divinity, and professed 
 himself a moderate Calvinist. The doctrines of man's depravity, the atonement of 
 Christ, the necessity of the all-powerful influence of the Holy Spirit to renew the 
 
2tJO WILLIAM TENNEtfT. 
 
 heart, in consistence with the free agency of the sinner, were among the leading ar- 
 ticles of his faith. With his friends he was at all times cheerful and pleasant. He 
 once dined in company with Governor Livingston and Mr. Whitfield, when the latter 
 expressed the consolation he found in believing, amidst the fatigues of the day, that 
 his work would soon be done, and that he should depart and be with Christ. He 
 appealed to Mr. Tennent, whether that was not his comfort. Mr. Tennent replied, 
 " What do you think I should say, if I was to send my man Tom into the field to 
 plough, and at noon should find him lounging under a tree, complaining of the heat, 
 and of his difficult work, and begging to be discharged of his hard service ? What 
 should I say ? Why, that he was an idle, lazy fellow, and that it was his business 
 to do the work that I had appointed him." He was the friend of the poor. The 
 public lost in him a firm asserter of the civil and religious rights of his country. 
 Few men have ever been more holy in life, more submissive to the will of God under 
 heavy afflictions, or more peaceful in death. An account which he wrote of the 
 revival of religion in Freehold, and other places, is published in Prince's Chris 
 tian History. Allen's Biog. Diet. 
 
GEORGE WALTON, 
 
 GEORGE WALTON, the last of the Georgia delegation who signed the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, was born in the county of Frederick, Virginia, about the 
 year 1740. He was early apprenticed to a carpenter, who being a man of selfish and 
 contracted views, not only kept him closely at labor during the day, but refused him 
 the privilege of a candle, by which to read at night. 
 
 Young Walton possessed a mind by nature strong in its powers, and though un- 
 cultivated, not having enjoyed even the advantages of a good scholastic education, he 
 was ardently bent on the acquisition of knowledge ; so bent, that during the day, at 
 his leisure moments, he would collect light wood, which served him at night instead 
 of a candle. His application was close and indefatigable ; his acquisitions rapid and 
 valuable. 
 
 At the expiration of his apprenticeship he removed to the province of Georgia, 
 and entered the office of a Mr. Young, with whom he pursued the preparatory studies 
 of the profession of law, and in 1774 he entered upon its duties. 
 
 At this time the British government was in the exercise of full power in Georgia. 
 Both the governor and his council were firm supporters of the British ministry. It 
 was at this period that George Walton, and other kindred spirits, assembled a meet- 
 ing of the friends of liberty, at the liberty pole, at Tondee's tavern in Savannah, to 
 take into consideration the means of preserving the constitutional rights and liberties 
 of the people of Georgia, which were endangered by the then recent acts of the Brit- 
 ish parliament. 
 
 At this meeting Mr. Walton took a distinguished part. Others, also, entered with 
 great warmth and animation into the debate. It was, at length, determined to invite 
 the different parishes of the province, to come into a general union and co-operation 
 with the other provinces of America to secure their constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 In opposition to this plan, the royal governor and his council immediately and 
 strongly enlisted themselves, and so far succeeded by their influence as to induce an- 
 other meeting, which was held in January, 1775, to content itself with preparing a 
 petition to be presented to the king. Of the committee appointed for this purpose 
 Mr. Walton was a member. The petition, however, shared the fate of its numerous 
 predecessors. 
 
 In February, 1775, the Committee of Safety met at Savannah. But notwithstand- 
 ing that several of the members advocated strong and decisive measures, a majority 
 were for pursuing, for the present, a temporizing policy. Accordingly, the committee 
 adjourned without concerting any plan for the appointment of delegates to the Con- 
 tinental Congress. This induced the people of the parish of St. John to separate, in 
 a degree, from the provincial government, and to appoint Mr. Hall a delegate to rep- 
 resent them in the national legislature. 
 
202 GEORGE WALTON. 
 
 In the month of July, 1775, the convention of Georgia acceded to the general con- 
 federacy, and five delegates, Lyman Hall, Archibald Bullock, John Houston, John 
 J. Zubly, and Noble "W. Jones, were elected to represent the State in Congress. 
 
 In the month of February, 1776, Mr. Walton was elected to the same honorable 
 station, and in the following month of October was re-elected. From this time, until 
 October, 1781, he continued to represent the State of Georgia at the seat of govern- 
 ment, where he displayed much zeal and intelligence in the discharge of the various 
 duties which were assigned him. He was particularly useful on a committee, of 
 which Robert Morris and George Clymer were his associates, appointed to transact 
 important continental business in Philadelphia, during the time that Congress was 
 obliged to retire from that city. 
 
 In December, 1778, Mr. Walton received a colonel's commission in the militia, 
 and was present at the surrender of Savannah to the British arms. During the ob- 
 stinate defence of that place Colonel Walton was wounded in the thigh, in consequence 
 of which he fell from his horse, and was made a prisoner by the British troops. A 
 brigadier-general was demanded in exchange for him ; but in September, 1779, he was 
 exchanged for a captain of the navy. 
 
 In the following month Colonel Walton was appointed governor of the State ; and 
 in the succeeding January was elected a member of Congress for two years. 
 
 The subsequent life of Mr. Walton was filled up in the discharge of the most re- 
 spectable offices within the gift of the State. In what manner he was appreciated by 
 the people of Georgia, may be learnt from the fact that he was at six different times 
 elected a representative to Congress ; twice appointed governor of the State ; once a 
 senator of the United States ; and at four different periods a judge of the superior 
 courts, which last office he held for fifteen years, and until the time of his death. 
 
 It may be gathered from the foregoing, respecting Mr. Walton, that he was no 
 ordinary man. He rose into distinction by the force of his native powers. In his 
 temperament he was ardent, and by means of his enthusiasm in the great cause of 
 liberty, rose to higher eminence, and secured a greater share of public favor and con- 
 fidence than he would otherwise have done. 
 
 Mr. Walton was not without his faults and weaknesses. He was accused of a 
 degree of pedantry, and sometimes indulged his satirical powers beyond the strict 
 rules of propriety. He was perhaps, also, too contemptuous of public opinion, 
 especially when that opinion varied from his own. 
 
 The death of Mr. Walton occurred on the second day of February, 1804. During 
 the latter years of his life, he suffered intensely from frequent and long-continued 
 attacks of the gout, which probably tended to undermine his constitution, and to 
 hasten the event of his dissolution. He had attained, however, to a good age, and 
 closed his life, happy in having contributed his full share towards the measure of his 
 country's glory. 
 
ROGER WILLIAMS. 
 
 THE name of Eoger Williams is a shibboleth to- religious liberty. His was one of 
 the first minds in America capable of grasping the enlarged idea, " that no man 
 was accountable to his fellow-man, either in Church or State, for his religious opinions ;" 
 and he boldly declared the same in the teeth of his church, and defended it against 
 the ablest teachers and rulers in the Colonies. For this he suffered all manner of 
 persecution, and was at length banished from civilized society, and driven forth into 
 the wilderness to solicit charity at the hands of the savages, whom he found more 
 tolerant and merciful than his Christian brethren. 
 
 In his lonely march and shelterless bivouacs in that dark forest, with the faithful 
 few who were ready to share his exile, how little did he dream that he was the sower 
 of a seed which should spring up and grow into a mighty tree, destined to overshadow 
 the institutions of a wide-reaching republic, and that millions on millions of freemen 
 should rise up and call him blessed, and countless voices pronounce his name with 
 love and veneration. 
 
 He was " under the cloud," as all men were in that early dawning of religious free- 
 dom, and held, pertinaciously enough it must be confessed, opinions which will not 
 bear the scrutiny of these days of increased light and learning; but that great 
 idea which alone found a resting-place in his pure mind, is a mantle broad enough 
 to cover all, and more than all, his errors and his faults. 
 
 Penetrated with the devout idea that he was under the charge and direction of 
 " Him in whom he believed," he called the spot he selected for his resting-place 
 Providence, never doubting he had been led thither by an invisible Hand. Here he 
 built up his church in the free spirit of toleration, and to it flocked from every quarter 
 of the Colonies the persecuted of all shades of opinion. And here all found a Chris- 
 tian welcome. Jews, Turks, Papists, and Protestants of every belief were allowed 
 not only to cherish but to promulgate their faith and practise their worship, so long 
 as they interfered with no other man's freedom, and violated none of the civil 
 obligations. 
 
 In 1656, when the other colonies of New England united in measures for the pre- 
 vention of the further spread of Quakerism, the colony of Rhode Island was solicited 
 to join the wicked confederacy. Their noble answer which showed how truly the 
 leaven of its tolerant founder had wrought into the whole lump of the body-politic 
 deserves to be written in characters of living light in the firmament : " WE SHALL 
 
 STRICTLY ADHERE TO THE FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THIS COLONY WAS FIRST SET- 
 TLED : TO WIT, THAT EVERY MAN WHO SUBMITS PEACEABLY TO THE CIVIL AUTHORITY, MAY 
 PEACEABLY WORSHIP GOD ACCORDING TO THE DICTATES OF HIS CONSCIENCE WITHOUT MO- 
 
ROGER WILLIAMS. 
 
 Little is known of the early life of Williams, save that he was a remarkably stu- 
 dious and religious lad. He used to take notes of the discourses to which he listened 
 at an early age. Sir Edward Coke, the eminent lawyer, detected him in this, one 
 Sunday, and sent for him to his pew. ' After much persuasion, he overcame the nat- 
 ural timidity of the youth and prevailed upon him to let him look on his notes. Sir 
 Edward was so struck with their correctness, and the judgment manifested in the 
 selection of passages in the discourse, that he took the boy into his care and office, 
 where he prepared himself to be a lawyer. But his religious turn of mind led him to 
 change his views, and he afterwards turned his whole mind and soul to the study of 
 divinity. He became eminent both for his scholarship and piety, and soon after com- 
 mencing his ministry joined the Puritans, and emigrated to this country in 1631. 
 
 His brilliant talents and solid learning soon attracted the attention of the churches. 
 He was invited by the church at Salem to become assistant to Mr. Shelton, but the 
 civil authorities not approving, he accepted a call from the Plymouth church, from 
 whence, after two or three years' residence, he removed to Salem ; from which place, 
 as we have seen, he was banished on account of heresy. 
 
 His influence with the Indians was unbounded, and it was owing solely to his in- 
 tervention that the Narragansetts were prevented from leaguing with the Pequots in 
 " the terrible Pequot War," and brought, instead, into alliance, defensive and offensive, 
 with the English. This alliance doubtless proved the salvation of the colonies in 
 New England. 
 
 Roger Williams lived to see his principles become a fact, and his fond dreams a 
 reality, and went to his grave at the great age of eighty, respected and loved by mul- 
 titudes both of English and Indians, and leaving a name to be cherished and vener- 
 ated by all lovers of religious freedom in all coming ages of the world. 
 
JOHN WINTHROP, 
 
 JOHN" WINTHROP, LL.D.,F.E.S., a distinguished philosopher and astronomer, 
 was graduated at Harvard College, in 1732. In 1738 he succeeded Mr. Green- 
 wood as Hollis professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, and was more 
 eminent for his scholarship than any other man in New England. In mathematical 
 science he was considered as the first during the forty years he continued the profes- 
 sor at Cambridge University. In the year 1740 he made observations upon the 
 transit of Mercury, which were printed in the transactions of the Royal Society. 
 
 In the year 1761 he sailed to St. Johns, in Newfoundland (as it was the most 
 western part of the earth), to observe the transit of Yenus over the sun's disk, as it 
 was an object with the literati to have observations made in that place. The sixth of 
 June was a fine day to observe the transit of the planet, and he gained high reputa- 
 tion when these observations were published. In 1769 he had another opportunity 
 of observing the transit of Venus at Cambridge. As it was the last opportunity that 
 generation could be favored with, he was desirous to arrest the attention of the peo- 
 ple. He read two lectures upon the subject in the college chapel, which he after- 
 wards published, with this motto upon the title-page : " Agite mortales ! et oculos in 
 spectaculum vertite, quod hucusce spectaverunt perpaucissimi ; spectaturi iterum 
 Bunt nulli." 
 
 He received literary honors from other countries besides his own. The Eoyal So- 
 ciety of London elected him a member, and the University of Edinburgh gave him a 
 diploma of LL. D. 
 
 In 1767 he wrote Cogitata de Cometis, which he dedicated to the Royal Society. 
 This was reprinted in London the next year. The active services of Dr. Winthrop 
 were not confined to his duties of professorship at Cambridge. He was a brilliant 
 star in our political hemisphere. The family of the "Winthrops had always been dis- 
 tinguished for their love of freedom and the charter rights of the colonies. When 
 Great Britain made encroachment upon these, by oppressive acts of parliament, after 
 the peace of Paris in 1763, he stepped forth among those who boldly opposed the 
 measures of the crown. After having been a professor for more than forty years, he 
 died at Cambridge, May 3, 1779, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Dr. Winthrop 
 was an excellent classical scholar, and also a biblical critic. The learned Dr. Chaun- 
 cey always spoke of him as one of the greatest theologians he ever met with. In the 
 variety and extent of his knowledge he has seldom been equalled. He was critically 
 acquainted with several of the modern languages of Europe. He had deeply studied 
 the policies of different ages ; he had read the principal Fathers ; and he was thor- 
 oughly acquainted with the controversy between Christians and Deists. His firm 
 faith in the Christian religion was founded upon an accurate examination of the evi- 
 dences of its truths, and the virtues of his life added a lustre to his intellectual power 
 and scientific attainments. 
 
ACCESSION No. 
 
 THE ARCHIBALD CHURCH LIBRARY 
 
 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL 
 
 CHICAGO -:- ILLINOIS 
 
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