GATES, HORATIO, was born in England, in 1728, and entering the British service in early life, rose by his merits to the rank of major. In 1755, he was with Braddock when that unfortunate commander was defeated, and received in that battle a severe wound, which for some time debarred him from active service. On the conclusion of peace, he settled in Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolution, in 1775. He was then appointed adjutant-general by congress, with the rank of brigadier, and in 1776, received the command of the army in Canada. General Schuyler succeeded him for a few months, in 1777, but he resumed his situation in August, and soon revived the hopes of hiscountry, by the capture of the army under Burgoyne. In 1780, he was appointed to the chief command of the southern districts, but he was afterwards superseded by general Greene, and his conduct was subjected to the investigation of a special court. He was restored to his command in 1782. On the termination of war he resided on his farm in Virginia, till 1790, when he removed to New York, where he lived much esteemed and respected, till his decease in 1806.GERRY, ELBRIDGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and vice-president of the United States, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1744, and received his education at Harvard college. He was graduated at this institution in 1762, and afterwards engaging in mercantile pursuits, amassed a considerable fortune. He took an early part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, and in 1772, was elected a representative from his native town, to the legislature of Massachusetts. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where for several years he exhibited the utmost zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of numerous and severe official labors. In 1784,Mr.Gerry was re-elected a member of congress, and in 1787, was chosen a delegate to the convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, to revise the articles of confederation. In 1789, he was again elected to congress, and remained in that body for four years, when he retired into private life, till the year 1797, when he was appointed to accompany general Pinckney andMr.Marshall on a special mission to France. In October, 1798,Mr.Gerry returned home, and having been elected governor of his native state, and in 1812 vice-president of the United States, he died suddenly at Washington, in November, 1814.GIRARD, STEPHEN, a celebrated banker, was born in France, about the year 1746. At the age of twelve years, in the capacity of cabin boy, he left France for the West Indies, where he resided some time, and whence he made many voyages to the United States. About 1775, he arrived in this country, and for a while kept a small shop in New Jersey. In 1780, he removed to Philadelphia, and by gradual but sure acquisition accumulated a large fortune. He became distinguished for his active philanthropic exertions during the ravages of the yellow fever in that city in 1793. In 1811, when congress refused to recharter the old bank of the United States,Mr.Girard purchased the banking house of that institution, and became a banker. The capital which he first invested in his bank, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and he subsequently augmented it to five millions. During our late war with Great Britain, the government found difficulty in raising the necessary funds, and public credit had sunk so low, that seven per cent. stock was offered at thirty per cent. discount. Of this stockMr.Girard took five millions. At the time of his death, in 1832, he was estimated to be worth from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars, and he was the most wealthy man in the new world. He was buried with public honors. By his will, he distributed his immense riches in the most judicious and liberal manner, among several charitable institutions, and for the purposes of public improvements. One bequest was of two millions, for the erection of a permanent college in Penn Township, for the accommodation of at least three hundred poor white male orphans, above the age of six years. In regulation of this bequest, it is enjoined, that ‘no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of anysect whatever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.’GODMAN, JOHND., an eminent naturalist and physician, was born at Annapolis, in Maryland, and having lost his parents at an early age, was bound apprentice to a printer. He afterwards entered the navy as a sailor boy, and at the age of fifteen commenced the study of medicine. On completing his studies, he settled in Philadelphia as a physician and private teacher of anatomy, and for some time was an assistant editor of the Medical Journal. It was at this period that he published his Natural History of American Quadrupeds, in three volumes, 8vo. Having been elected to the professorship of anatomy in Rutgers’ Medical college, he removed to New York, where he soon acquired extensive practice as a surgeon. Ill health, however, obliged him to relinquish his pursuits, and he returned in 1829 to Philadelphia, where he died in 1830, in the thirty-second year of his age. He possessed much and varied information in his profession, in natural history, and in general literature. Besides the work above referred to, he is the author of Rambles of a Naturalist, and several articles on natural history in the Encyclopædia Americana.GODFREY, THOMAS, the real inventor of the quadrant commonly calledHadley’s, was born in Philadelphia, and pursued the trade of a glazier. He was a great student of mathematics, and acquired by himself a tolerable knowledge of Latin, in order to be able to read mathematical works in that language. In 1730, he communicated the improvement he had made in Davis’s quadrant toMr.Logan, secretary of the commonwealth; and in the following year a full description of a similar instrument was read before the Royal society of London, byMr.Hadley. It was decided that both claimants were entitled to the honor of the invention, and the society presented Godfrey with household furniture to the value of £200. He was intemperate in his habits, and died in 1749.GODFREY, THOMAS, son of the preceding, and a poet of some merit, was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1736. He was at first apprenticed to a watchmaker, but disliking the drudgery of this occupation, he obtained a lieutenant’s commission in the Pennsylvania forces, which were raised in 1758 for the expedition against fort Du Quesne. Subsequently he established himself as a factor in North Carolina, where he died in 1763. His chief works are The Court of Fancy, a poem; and The Prince of Parthia, which was the first American tragedy.GREENE, NATHANIEL, major-general in the army of the United States, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1742. Though enjoying very few advantages of education, he displayed an early fondness for knowledge, and devoted his leisure time assiduously to study. In 1770, he was elected a member of the state legislature, and in 1774, enrolled himself as a private in a company called the Kentish Guards. From this situation he was elevated to the head of three regiments, with the title of major-general. In 1776, he accepted from congress a commission of brigadier-general, and soon after, at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, distinguished himself by his skill and bravery. In 1778, he was appointed quarter-master general, and in that office rendered efficient service to the country by his unwearied zeal and great talents for business. He presidedat the court-martial which tried major Andre, in 1780, and was appointed to succeed Arnold in the command at West Point; but he held this post only a few days. In December of the same year, he assumed the command of the southern army, and in this situation displayed a prudence, intrepidity and firmness which raise him to an elevated rank among our revolutionary generals. In September, 1781, he obtained the famous victory at Eutaw Springs, for which he received from congress a British standard and a gold medal, as a testimony of their value of his conduct and services. On the termination of hostilities, he returned to Rhode Island, and, in 1785, removed with his family to Georgia, where he died suddenly, in June of the following year. He was a man of high energy, courage and ability, and possessed the entire confidence of Washington.HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, was born in the island of Nevis, in 1757. At the age of sixteen, he accompanied his mother to New York, and was placed at Columbia college, where he soon gave proof of extraordinary talent, by the publication of some political essays, of such strength and sagacity that they were generally attributed toMr.Jay. At the age of nineteen he entered the American army, and in 1777, was appointed aid-de-camp of Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In this capacity he served during the remainder of the war, and at the siege of Yorktown led in person the detachment that carried by assault one of the enemy’s outworks. After the war he commenced the study of the law, entered into its practice in New York, and soon rose to distinction. In 1782, he was chosen a member of congress from the state of New York; in 1787, a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the United States, and in 1787 and 1788, wrote, in connection withMr.Jay andMr.Madison, the essays published under the title of The Federalist. In 1789, he was placed by Washington at the head of the treasury department, and while in this situation rendered the most efficient service to the country, by the establishment of an admirable system of finance, which raised public credit from the lowest depression to an unprecedented height. In 1795, he retired from office, in order to secure by his professional labors a more ample provision for his numerous family. In 1798, his public services were again required, to take the second command in the army that was raised on account of the apprehended invasion of the French. On the disbanding of the army, he resumed the practice of the law in New York, and continued to acquire new success and reputation. In 1804, he fell in a duel with colonel Burr, vice-president of the United States, and died universally lamented and beloved. Besides his share in the Federalist, general Hamilton was the author of numerous congressional reports, the essays of Pacificus, and the essays of Phocion. A collection of his works in threevols.8vo, was issued at New York some time after his death. He was a man of transcendent abilities and unsullied integrity; and no one labored more efficiently in the organization of the present federal government.HANCOCK, JOHN, a patriot and statesman, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1737, and under the patronage of a wealthy uncle received a liberal education, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1754. On leaving college, he entered the counting-house of his uncle, by whose sudden death, in 1764, he succeeded to great riches and the management of an extensive business. In 1766, he was chosen a member of the assemblyand soon distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause of the colonies. In 1774, he was elected president of the provincial congress of Massachusetts, and in the following year, president of the continental congress, in which capacity he was the first to affix his signature to the declaration of independence. In this station he continued till October, 1777, when ill health induced him to resign. In 1780, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, and held that office for four successive years, and again from 1787 till his death in 1793. Governor Hancock was hospitable and munificent, a man of excellent talents for business, and a true lover of his country.HARPER, ROBERTGOODLOE, was a native of Virginia, but when very young removed with his parents to North Carolina. His parents were poor, and in early life he passed through a number of vicissitudes. At the age of twenty he found himself in Charleston,S. C., with but a dollar or two in his pocket, and with the intention of studying the profession of the law. Having obtained introduction to a lawyer, he prepared himself under his instruction for the bar, and, in about a twelvemonth, undertook the management of causes on his own account. He then removed from Charleston to an interior district, where he first distinguished himself, politically, by the publication of a series of newspaper essays on a proposed change in the constitution of the state. He was immediately elected to the state legislature, and soon afterwards to congress, where he was an efficient member of the federal party, a powerful advocate of the policy of Washington, and the personal friend of the most distinguished federal statesmen of the day. Many years afterwards, he collected in an octavo volume a number of his circulars and addresses to his constituents, and several of his speeches in congress. In 1797, he published a pamphlet, entitled Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France, which passed through numerous editions, and acquired great celebrity both at home and in Europe. The speeches which he delivered in managing the impeachment of Blount, and the defence of judge Chase, are admirable specimens of argument and eloquence.On thedownfallof the federal party,Mr.Harper resumed the practice of the law in Baltimore, where he married the daughter of the distinguished Charles Carroll. He attended almost every session of the supreme court, from the time of its removal to Washington to that of his death, and was always heard with respect and attention by the court and juries. The federal party having regained the ascendant in Maryland,Mr.Harper was immediately elected a senator in congress; but the demands of his profession soon obliged him to resign his seat. In the years 1819–20, he visited Europe with a portion of his family, and was absent about two years. He died suddenly in Baltimore, in 1825. He was an active leader in the federal party, an able and learned lawyer, well versed in general literature, and political economy, and lived with elegant hospitality.HEATH, WILLIAM, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Roxbury, in 1737, and was bred a farmer. He was particularly attentive to the study of military tactics, and in 1775 he was commissioned as a brigadier-general by the provincial congress. In 1776, he was promoted to the rank of major-general in the continental army, and in the campaign of that year commanded a division near the enemy’s lines, at Kingsbridge and Morrisania. During the year 1777, and till November, 1778,he was the commanding officer of the eastern department, and his headquarters were at Boston. In 1779, he returned to the main army, and was invested with the chief command of the troops on the east side of the Hudson. After the close of the war, he served in several public offices, till the time of his death, in 1814.HENRY, PATRICK, was born in Virginia, in 1736, and after receiving a common school education, and spending some time in trade and agriculture, commenced the practice of the law, after only six weeks of preparatory study. After several years of poverty, with the incumbrance of a family, he first rose to distinction in managing the popular side in the controversy between the legislature and the clergy, touching the stipend which was claimed by the latter. In 1765, he was elected a member of the house of burgesses, with express reference to an opposition to the British stamp act. In this assembly he obtained the honor of being the first to commence the opposition to the measures of the British government, which terminated in the revolution. He was one of the delegates sent by Virginia to the first general congress of the colonies, in 1774, and in that body distinguished himself by his boldness and eloquence. In 1776, he was appointed the first governor of the commonwealth, and to this office was repeatedly re-elected. In 1786, he was appointed by the legislature one of the deputies to the convention held at Philadelphia, for the purpose of revising the federal constitution. In 1788, he was a member of the convention, which met in Virginia to consider the constitution of the United States, and exerted himself strenuously against its adoption. In 1794, he retired from the bar, and died in 1799. Without extensive information upon legal or political topics, he was a natural orator of the highest order, possessing great powers of imagination, sarcasm and humor, united with great force and energy of manner, and a deep knowledge of human nature.HOBART, JOHNHENRY, was born in Philadelphia, on the fourteenth of September, 1775. He was educated at the college in Princeton, New Jersey, and was noted in early life for his industry and proficiency in his studies. On leaving this institution he was engaged a short time in mercantile pursuits, was subsequently a tutor at Nassau Hall, and after two years service in this capacity, he determined upon the study of theology. In 1798, he was admitted into orders, and was first settled in the two churches at Perkiomen, near Philadelphia, but soon after accepted a call to Christ church, New Brunswick. In about a year he removed from this place to become an assistant minister of the largest spiritual cure in the country, comprising three associated congregations in the city of New York. In 1811, he was elected assistant bishop, and in 1816, became diocesan of New York, and in performing the severe duties of the office, his labors were indefatigable. From 1818 to 1823, he was employed in editing the American edition of Mant and D’Ogly’s Bible, with notes. In September, 1823, the state of his health required a visit to Europe, where he remained about two years. He died in 1830. He was incessantly active in performing his religious offices, and made several valuable compilations for the use of the church.HOLLEY, HORACE, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born in Connecticut, in 1781, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1799. On leaving this institution he began the study of the law, which he soon relinquishedfor divinity, and in 1805, was ordained to the pastoral charge of Greenfield Hill,Conn.In 1809, he was installed over the society in Hollis street, Boston, where he remained for ten years, when he accepted an invitation to become president of Transylvania university, in Kentucky. In this situation he continued till 1827, when he died on his passage from New Orleans to New York. His sermons were generally extemporaneous, and were distinguished for power and eloquence.HOLYOKE, EDWARDAUGUSTUS, was born in 1728, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1746. He pursued the study of medicine, and in 1749 began to practice his profession in Salem. He was the first president of the Medical society of Massachusetts, and was always considered a learned physician and skilful surgeon. He lived to be over one hundred years of age, and died in 1829. He published various scientific disquisitions.HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, an excellent writer, and signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1737. He was graduated at the college in his native town, and pursued the profession of the law. In 1766, he visited England, where he resided more than two years, and on his return, married and settled in the state of New Jersey. He entered with much zeal into the public measures of the patriotic party, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to congress. In 1779, he was appointed judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania, and for ten years continued to discharge with fidelity the duties of this office. In 1790, he passed to the bench of the district court, and died suddenly in the midst of his usefulness, in 1791.Mr.Hopkinson possessed talents of a quick and versatile character, excelling in music and poetry, and having some knowledge of painting. In humorous poetry and satire he was quite successful, and his well-known ballad of the Battle of the Kegs obtained great popularity. A collection of his miscellaneous works, in three volumes 8vo. was published in 1792.HOPKINS, SAMUEL, a divine, and founder of the sect called Hopkinsians, was born in Connecticut, in 1721, and educated at Yale college. In 1743, he was settled at a place now called Great Barrington, in Massachusetts, and continued there till 1769, when he removed to Newport, Rhode Island. He died in 1803. He published numerous sermons, a Treatise on the Millennium, and a sketch of his own life. His theological learning was extensive, and he was a profound metaphysician.HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Providence, in 1707, and after receiving a school education, turned his attention to agriculture. In 1751, he was appointed chief justice of the superior court of Rhode Island, and in 1756, was elected governor of that state. In 1774, he was chosen a delegate to the general congress at Philadelphia, and was re-elected to that body in 1775 and 1776. In 1776, he was a delegate to congress for the last time, though for several subsequent years he was a member of the general assembly of his native state. He died in 1785. Although his early education was very limited,Mr.Hopkins acquired by his own efforts extensive information. He wrote a pamphlet on the rights of the colonies, was a member of the American Philosophical society, and for many years chancellor of the college of Rhode Island.HOWARD, JOHNEAGER, an officer of the army of the American revolution,was born in Baltimore, in 1752. After serving in the rank of captain, in 1779, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and distinguished himself by his valor and activity during the war. At the battle of Cowpens, colonel Howard, at one time, had in his hands the swords of seven officers, who had surrendered to him personally. He was also present at the battles of Germantown, White Plains, Monmouth, Camden, and Hobkicks hill. On the disbanding of the army, he retired to his patrimonial estates, near Baltimore, and was subsequently governor of Maryland, and member of the senate of the United States. He died in 1827. General Greene said of him, that as a patriot and soldier, he deserved a statue of gold no less than Roman and Grecian heroes.HUMPHREYS, DAVID, minister of the United States to the court of Spain, was born in Connecticut, in 1753, and received his education at Yale college. Soon after the commencement of the revolutionary war, he entered the army, and was successively an aid to Parsons, Putnam, Greene, and Washington. He left the army with the rank of colonel. In 1784, he was appointed secretary of legation to Paris, and was subsequently ambassador to the court of Lisbon, and in 1797, minister plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid. While in the military service, he published a poem addressed to the American armies, and after the war, another on the happiness and glory of America. In 1789, he published a life of general Putnam, and while in Europe, a number of miscellaneous poems. He died in 1818.HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, a governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born in Boston, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard college. He was for a while occupied with commercial pursuits, but soon engaged in the study of law and politics, and was sent agent to Great Britain. On his return he was elected a representative, and after a few years was chosen speaker of the house, and in 1752, judge of probate. After being a member of the council, lieutenant governor and chief justice, in 1771, he received his commission as governor of Massachusetts. In 1774, he was removed from his office, and was succeeded by general Gage. He then repaired to England, fell into disgrace, and died in retirement, in 1780. He is the author of a valuable History of Massachusetts, some occasional essays, and a pamphlet on colonial claims. It is said that no man contributed more effectually to bring about the separation between the colonies and Great Britain than Hutchinson.JAY, JOHN, was born in the city of New York, in 1745. He was graduated at Columbia college, in 1764, and in 1768, was admitted to the bar. He soon rose to eminence as a lawyer, and began to take an active part in politics. In 1774, he was elected a delegate to the first congress. In May, 1776, he was recalled from congress by the provincial convention, to aid in forming the government for the province, and to this it is owing that his name does not appear among the signers of the declaration of independence. Upon the organization of the state government, in 1777,Mr.Jay was appointed chief justice, and held this office till 1779. In November, 1778, he was again chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and three days after taking his seat was elected president of that venerable body. In September, 1779, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain, and he arrived at Cadiz in January of the following year. Having resigned his commission as minister in 1783, in1784 he returned to the United States, and was placed at the head of the department for foreign affairs. In this post he remained till the adoption of the present constitution, when he was appointed chief justice of the United States. In 1794, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Great Britain, and before his return in 1795, he had been elected governor of his native state. In 1798, he was re-elected to this office, and in 1801, went into voluntary retirement. The remainder of his life was passed in the faithful discharge of the charitable duties, and he was publicly known only by the occasional appearance of his name, or the employment of his pen, in the service of philanthropy and piety. He died in 1829. Beside a variety of state papers and political essays,Mr.Jay was the author of the2d,3d,4th,5th, and64thnumbers of the Federalist.JEFFERSON, THOMAS, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743, and was entered a student in the college of William and Mary. On leaving this seminary, he applied himself to the study of the law, under the tuition of the celebrated George Wythe, and was called to the bar in 1766. He soon occupied a high stand in his profession, and at the early age of twenty-five entered the house of burgesses of his native state. In 1774, he published a Summary View of the Rights of British America, a bold but respectful pamphlet addressed to the king. In 1775, he was elected a member of the continental congress, and in the following year drew up the declaration of independence.Between 1777 and1779, he was employed, together with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a commission for revising the laws of Virginia. In 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and continued in office until June, 1781. In the latter year he composed his celebrated Notes on Virginia, and in 1787, published it under his own signature. In November, 1783, he again took his seat in the continental congress, and in May following was appointed minister plenipotentiary, to act abroad with Adams and Franklin in the negotiation of commercial treaties. In 1785, he was appointed to succeedDr.Franklin as minister to the court of Versailles, and performed the duties of this office till 1789, when he returned to his native country, and was placed by president Washington at the head of the department of state. In 1797, he became vice-president, and in 1801, president of the United States. At the expiration of eight years he again retired to private life, and took up his residence at Monticello. He still continued anxious to promote the interest of science and literature, and devoted the attention of several years to the establishment of a university in Virginia. He died on the fourth of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence. In stature,Mr.Jefferson was six feet two inches high. His person was erect and well formed, though spare. In his manners he was simple and unaffected, simple in his habits, and incessantly occupied with the pursuits of business or study. Four volumes of his Correspondence have been published since his decease.JONES, JOHNPAUL, a native of Scotland, was born, in 1747, at Selkirk, and settled in America when young. He distinguished himself by his bravery in the American service, during the contest with the mother country, particularly in a desperate action with the Serapis frigate, which he captured. He died in Paris, in 1792, and was buried at the expense of the national convention. Jones was not only a man of signal courage, but also of great talent, and keen sagacity, wrote poetry, and in France aspiredto be a man of fashion. His memorials and correspondence are quite voluminous.KING, RUFUS, an eminent statesman, was born in Scarborough, in the state of Maine, in the year 1755. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1777, immediately entered as a student at law in the office of the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, at Newburyport, and was admitted to the bar in 1780. In 1784, he was chosen to represent Newburyport in the state legislature, and in the same year was elected a delegate to the old congress. In 1787, he was appointed a delegate to the general convention assembled at Philadelphia, and in 1788 removed from Massachusetts to the city of New York. In 1796, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Great Britain, and remained there for seven years with equal honor to his country and himself. In 1813, he was chosen by the legislature of New York a senator of the United States, and being re-elected in 1820, he continued till the expiration of the term in 1825. Upon his retirement from the senate, he accepted from president Adams an invitation again to represent the United States at the court of Great Britain. During the voyage to England his health was seriously impaired, and his illness induced him to return in about a twelvemonth to his native land. He died in April, 1827.KNOX, HENRY, a revolutionary general, was born in Boston, in 1750, and after receiving a common school education, commenced business as a bookseller, in his native town. Before the commencement of hostilities, he discovered an uncommon zeal in the cause of liberty. When the corps of artillery, in 1776, was increased to three regiments, the command was given to Knox, with the rank of brigadier-general. He distinguished himself by his courage at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, and Monmouth, and contributed greatly to the capture of Cornwallis. Immediately after this event he received from congress the commission of major-general. In 1785, he succeeded general Lincoln in the office of secretary of war, and having filled this department for eleven years, he obtained a reluctant permission to retire into private life. In 1798, when our relations with France were assuming a cloudy aspect, he was called upon to take a command in the army, but the peaceful arrangement of affairs soon permitted him to return into his retirement. He died at Thomaston, Maine, in 1806. In private life he was amiable, in his public character persevering, and of unsurpassed courage.LAURENS, HENRY, a patriot and statesman, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724. After receiving a good school education, he engaged in commerce, and soon amassed an ample fortune. At the breaking out of the revolution he was in London, but he immediately returned to his native country, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to the general congress. He was soon chosen president of this body, and remained so till the close of the year 1778. In 1779, he received the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to Holland, but on his way thither was captured by the British, and committed to the Tower, where he was in confinement fourteen months. He was one of the commissioners for negotiating a peace with Great Britain, and in 1782, he signed with Jay and Franklin the preliminaries of the treaty. His health, however, was much impaired and he soon returned home, and passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1792.LAURENS, JOHN, lieutenant-colonel, son of the preceding, was liberally educated in England, and having returned to his native country, joined the American army in 1777. He displayed prodigies of valor at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Savannah and Charleston, and was killed at the very close of the war by carelessly exposing himself in a trifling skirmish. In 1780, he was sent as a special minister to France, to negotiate a loan; and after being subjected to a vexatious delay, he determined to present a memorial to the king in person at the levee. This purpose he carried into effect, the memorial was graciously received, and the object of negotiation satisfactorily arranged.LAWRENCE, JAMES, a distinguished naval officer, was born in New Jersey, in 1781, and became a midshipman in 1798. In 1803, he was sent to the Mediterranean, as first lieutenant to the schooner Enterprise, and while there distinguished himself by his activity and valor. He remained on this station for three years, and then returned to the United States, having been transferred to the frigate John Adams. In February, 1813, he was in command of the Hornet, and took the fine British brig Peacock, after an action of fifteen minutes. On his return to the United States he was transferred to the frigate Chesapeake, and in June of the same year, while engaged in battle with the frigate Shannon, he received a mortal wound. His last exclamation, as they were carrying him below, was—‘Don’t give up the ship.’ He lingered in great pain for four days, when he died. His remains are interred at New York.LEDYARD, JOHN, an adventurous traveller, was born at Groton, in Connecticut, and was educated at Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire. After having lived for some time among the Indians, he came to England, and sailed with Cook, on his second voyage, as a marine. On his return, he resolved to penetrate on foot across Northern Asia, and proceed to the opposite coast of America. He was, however, seized at Yakutz, and sent out of the Russian dominions. He was next employed by the African association to explore the interior of Africa; but he died at Cairo, in 1789.LEE, ARTHUR, was born in Virginia, in 1740, and received his education in England, taking his degree of M. D. at the university of Edinburgh. He then returned to his native state, and for some years practised physic at Williamsburg; but political affairs were then assuming so interesting an aspect, that he again went to England and entered on the study of law in the Temple. In 1770, he visited London, and became a member of the famous society of the supporters of the bill of rights. His political publications at this period, under the signature of Junius Americanus, were numerous, and procured for him the acquaintance of the leaders of the popular party. In 1776, he was appointed minister to France, in conjunction withDr.Franklin andMr.Deane, and assisted in negotiating the treaty with that nation. In 1779, in consequence of the false accusations ofMr.Deane, complaints of his political conduct were freely circulated at home, and in the following year, he resigned his appointments and returned. In 1781, he was elected to the assembly of Virginia, and by this body returned to congress, where he continued to represent the state till 1785. In 1784, he was employed to arrange a treaty with the six Indian nations. He was next called to the board of treasury, where he continued till 1789, when he went into retirement. He died in 1792.LEE, CHARLES, a major-general in the army of the revolution, wasborn in North Wales, and entered the army while very young. He served at an early age in America, and afterwards distinguished himself under general Burgoyne, in Portugal. He subsequently entered the Polish service, wandered all over Europe, killed an Italian officer in a duel, and in 1773, sailed for New York. Espousing the cause of the colonies, he received a commission from congress in 1775, with the rank of major-general. In 1776, he was invested with the command at New York, and afterwards with the chief command in the southern department. In December, 1776, he was made prisoner by the English, as he lay carelessly guarded at a considerable distance from the main body of the army in New Jersey. He was kept prisoner till the surrender of Burgoyne, in 1777, and treated in a manner unworthy of a generous enemy. In 1778, he was arraigned before a court martial, in consequence of his misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and was suspended from any commission in the army of the United States for one year. He retired to a hovel in Virginia, living in entire seclusion, surrounded by his books and his dogs. In 1782, he went to reside at Philadelphia, where he died in obscurity, in October of the same year. He was a man of much energy and courage, with considerable literary attainments, but morose and avaricious. He published essays on military, literary, and political subjects, which, with his extensive correspondence, were collected in a volume, in 1792. The authorship of the Letters of Junius has been ascribed to him.LEE, HENRY, a distinguished officer in the revolutionary army, was born in Virginia, in 1756, and was graduated at the college in Princeton. In 1776, he was a captain of one of the six companies of cavalry, raised by Virginia, and afterwards incorporated into one regiment, and in 1777, added to the main body of the provincials. At the battle of Germantown, Lee was selected with his company to attend Washington as his bodyguard. In 1780, being raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was sent with his legion to the army of the south, under general Greene, and continued with it till the end of the war. He distinguished himself at the battle of Eutaw springs, and in the ensuing October was sent on a special commission to the commander-in-chief, then employed in the siege of Yorktown. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to congress, from the state of Virginia, and remained in that body till the adoption of the present constitution. He was a member of the state convention which ratified that instrument, and in 1792, he was raised to the chair of governor of Virginia. In 1799, he was again a member of congress, and while there selected to pronounce a funeral oration on the death of Washington. The latter years of his life were embarrassed by want, and it was while confined for debt in the limits of Spottsylvania county, that he prepared for publication his excellent Memoirs of the Southern Campaign. He was severely wounded during the riot in Baltimore, in 1814, and his health rapidly declined. He died on Cumberland island, Georgia, in 1818.LEE, FRANCISLIGHTFOOT, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1734. He inherited a large fortune, and in 1765, became a member of the house of burgesses of his native state, and continued in that body till 1775, when he was chosen a member of the continental congress. He remained in this assembly till 1779, when he entered the legislature of his native state. He died in 1797.LEE, RICHARDHENRY, an eminent patriot, and signer of the declarationof independence, was born in Virginia, in 1732, and received his education in England. He returned to his native country when in his nineteenth year, and devoted himself to the general study of history, politics, law, and polite literature, without engaging in any particular profession. In his twenty-fifth year, he was chosen a delegate to the house of burgesses, where he soon distinguished himself by his powers in debate. In 1764, he was appointed to draught an address to the king, and a memorial to the house of lords, which are among the best state papers of the period. His efforts in resisting the various encroachments of the British government were indefatigable, and in 1774, he attended the first general congress at Philadelphia, as a delegate from Virginia. He was a member of most of the important committees of this body, and labored with unceasing vigilance and energy. The memorial of congress to the people of British America, and the second address of congress to the people of Great Britain, were both from his pen. In June, 1776, he introduced the measure that declared the colonies free and independent states, and supported it by a speech of the most brilliant eloquence. He continued to hold a seat in congress till June, 1777, when he solicited leave of absence, on account of the delicate state of his health. In August of the next year, he was again elected to congress, and continued in that body till 1780, when he declined a re-election till 1784. In that year he was chosen president of congress, but retired at the close of it, and in 1786, was again chosen a member of the Virginia assembly. He was a member of the convention which adopted the present constitution of the United States, and one of the first senators under it. In 1792, he again retired from public life, and died in 1794.LEWIS, MERIWETHER, a celebrated explorer, was born in Virginia, in 1774, and, after receiving a good school education, engaged in agriculture. When general Washington called out a body of militia in consequence of the discontent produced by the excise taxes, young Lewis entered as a volunteer, and from that situation was removed to the regular service. In 1803, he was sent by president Jefferson on an exploring expedition to the north-western part of our continent; and of this expedition, which was completed in about three years, and in which he was accompanied byMr.Clarke, a highly interesting account was afterwards published. Lewis was subsequently appointed governor of the Louisiana territory. He put an end to his own life in 1809. He was a man of energy, perseverance, and of a sound understanding.LINCOLN, BENJAMIN, a major-general in the revolutionary army, was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1733, and until the age of forty years was engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. At the commencement of the revolution, he was elected a member of the provincial congress, in 1776, received the commission of major-general, and employed himself vigorously to improve the discipline of the militia. He was second in command in the army which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. On the day after the battle of Stillwater, he received a dangerous wound in his leg, and was confined for several months by its effects. In the following year, he was appointed to the command of the southern department, and while in this post he attempted the defence of Charleston, but was compelled to capitulate in May, 1780. He was exchanged in November, and in the spring following joined the army on the North river. At the siege of Yorktown he commanded a central division, and shared largely in thedangers and honors of the day. In 1781, he was appointed secretary of the war department, and afterwards on several occasions commissioner to treat with the Indians. On the establishment of peace, he returned to his native state, and in 1787, was appointed to command the troops employed in the suppression of the insurgents in Massachusetts. In 1788, he was chosen lieutenant governor, and in the following year he was a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He died in 1810. He was the author of several published letters and essays; a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences; and president of the society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts.LIVINGSTON, ROBERTR., a celebrated statesman and lawyer, was born in New York, and was educated at King’s college. He engaged in the profession of the law, and was elected to the first general congress of the colonies, where he was one of the committee appointed to prepare the declaration of independence. In 1780, he was appointed secretary of foreign affairs, and at the adoption of the constitution at New York, chancellor of that state. This last office he held till 1801, when he was sent minister plenipotentiary to France. It was in Paris that he formed a personal friendship with Robert Fulton, whom he materially assisted. In 1805, he returned to the United States, and devoted the remainder of his life to the promotion of agriculture and the arts. He died in 1813.LOWELL, JOHN, an eminent lawyer, was born at Newbury, in 1744, and was educated at Harvard college. He studied law, and rising to reputation, in 1761, he removed to Boston, and soon distinguished himself by his political knowledge and eloquence. In 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and on the establishment of the federal government, was appointed a judge of the circuit court of the United States. In these situations he was much respected for his legal knowledge and dignity. He died in 1802.LOWNDES, WILLIAM, a celebrated statesman, was a native of South Carolina, and was for many years a distinguished member of congress. His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, and logical; and his disposition eminently kind, frank, and generous. He was in a high degree ardent and patriotic. He entered congress in 1812, and retained his seat for about ten years, when ill health compelled him to resign. In 1818, he was chairman of the committee of ways and means. He died at sea, in October, 1822, at the age of forty-two. It was said of him in the house, byMr.Taylor of New York, that ‘the highest and best hopes of the country looked to William Lowndes for their fulfilment. The most honorable office in the civilized world, the chief magistracy of this free people, would have been illustrated by his virtues and talents.’M’KEAN, THOMAS, an eminent judge, and a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1734, and, after a course of academic and professional studies, was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years. His political career commenced in 1762, when he was returned a member of the assembly from the county of Newcastle. He was a member of the congress which assembled in New York, in 1765, to obtain relief of the British government for the grievances under which the colonies were suffering. In this body he behaved with much decision and energy. In 1774, he was appointed to the general congress, a delegate from the lower counties in Delaware, and was the only man who, withoutintermission, was a member during the whole period. Of this body he was president in 1781. In 1777, he was appointed chief justice of Pennsylvania, and discharged the duties of this office with impartiality and dignity, for twenty-two years. In 1799, he was elected governor of the state of Pennsylvania, and his administration continued for nine years. In 1808, he retired from public life, and died, much respected and honored, in 1817.MARION, FRANCIS, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, in 1732, and first served in 1761, as a lieutenant against the Cherokees. Soon after the commencement of the revolution, he received a major’s commission, and in 1780, he obtained that of brigadier-general. He continually surprised and captured parties of the British and the royalists, by the secrecy and rapidity of his movements. On the evacuation of Charleston, he retired to his plantation, where he died in 1795. He was bold, generous, and severe in his discipline.MASON, GEORGE, a statesman, was a member of the general convention, which, in 1787, framed the constitution of the United States, but refused to sign his name as one of that body to the instrument which they had produced. In the following year, he was a member of the Virginia convention, to consider the proposed plan of federal government. In union with Henry, he opposed its adoption with great energy, and is the author of one of the articles inserted among the amendments of that instrument. So averse was he to the section which allowed the slave-trade for twenty years, that he declared his vote should be cast against the admission of the southern states into the Union, unless they would agree to discontinue the traffic. He died at his seat in Virginia, in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven.MASON, JOHNMITCHELL, a divine and pulpit orator, was born in the city of New York, in 1770, and after graduating at Columbia college, prepared himself for the sacred ministry. His theological studies were completed in Europe. In 1792, he returned to New York, and was established in the ministry at that place till 1811, when he accepted the appointment of provost in Columbia college. This situation his ill health obliged him to resign, and he visited Europe to repair his constitution. On his return, in 1817, he again resumed his labors in preaching, and in 1821, undertook the charge of Dickinson college, in Pennsylvania. In 1824, he returned to New York, and died in 1829. He was the author of Letters on Frequent Communion; A Plea for Sacramental Communion on Catholic Principles; and a number of essays, reviews, orations, and sermons, published at different times.MATHER, INCREASE, a learned divine, was born at Dorchester, in 1639, was educated to the ministry, and was settled in the North church, Boston, in 1664. He continued there for sixty-two years, discharging the duties of his sacred office with zeal and ability. In 1685, he was appointed to the presidency of Harvard college, which he resigned in 1701. He died in 1723. He was an indefatigable student, and published a variety of works on religion, politics, history, and philosophy.MATHER, COTTON, a celebrated divine, son of the preceding, was born in February, 1663, and was educated for the profession of theology. In 1684, he was ordained minister of the North church in Boston, as colleague with his father. He died in 1728. His learning was marvellous,but his taste was eccentric, and he was very pedantic and credulous. His publications are 382 in number; the most celebrated of which is Magnalia Christi Americani.M’DONOUGH, THOMAS, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, and after his father’s death in 1796, he obtained a midshipman’s warrant, and went out with our fleet to the Mediterranean. In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven, he commanded the American forces on lake Champlain. In the battle of September 11, 1814, after an action of two hours and twenty minutes, he obtained a complete victory, which he announced to the war department in the following terms:—‘The Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal victory on lake Champlain, in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy.’ The state of New York gave him a thousand acres of land on the bay in which the battle was fought. He died in November, 1825, at about the age of thirty-nine years.MIDDLETON, ARTHUR, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in South Carolina, in 1743, and received his education in Europe. Soon after his return home, he began to take an active part in the revolutionary movements, and in 1776, was chosen one of the delegates from his native state to the American congress. At the close of the year 1777, he resigned his seat, leaving behind a character for the purest patriotism and unwavering resolution. In the year 1779, many of the southern plantations were ravaged, and that ofMr.Middleton did not escape. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and kept in confinement for nearly a year. In 1781, he was appointed a representative to congress, and again in 1782. In the latter year he went into retirement, and died in 1787.MONROE, JAMES, was born in Virginia, in 1759, and was educated in William and Mary college. He entered the revolutionary war, in 1776, as a cadet, was at the battles of Haerlem Heights and White Plains, and in the attack on Trenton, and rose through the rank of lieutenant to that of captain. He was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, as aid to lord Sterling. Resuming the study of the law, he entered the office ofMr.Jefferson, and after being a member of the assembly of Virginia and the council, he was elected, in 1783, a member of the old congress. In 1790, he was elected a member of the senate of the United States, in 1794, went as minister plenipotentiary to France, and in 1799, was appointed governor of Virginia. In 1803, he was appointed minister extraordinary to France, in the same year minister to London, and in the next minister to Spain. In 1806, he was again appointed, in conjunction withMr.William Pinkney, minister to London. He was subsequently governor of Virginia; in 1811, was appointed secretary of state, and continued to exercise the duties of this department, and for some time those of the department of war till 1817. In that year he was chosen president of the Union, and in 1821, was re-elected by a vote unanimous, with the single exception of one vote in New Hampshire. He died in New York, on the fourth of July, 1831.MONTGOMERY, RICHARD, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in Ireland, in 1737. He entered the British army, and fought with Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, in 1759. He subsequently left the army and settled in New York. Joining the cause of the colonies, hewas appointed a general in the northern army, and fell at the assault on Quebec, in 1775. By a vote of congress, a monument of white marble, with emblematical devices, was executed byMr.Cassiers, at Paris, and is erected to his memory in front ofSt.Paul’s church, New York. His remains, in pursuance of a resolve of the New York legislature, were disinterred by his nephew, colonel Livingston, in June, 1818, the place of their burial having been pointed out by an old soldier, who attended their burial forty-two years before. They were removed to New York, and again interred inSt.Paul’s church, with the highest civil and military honors. His widow was then living.MORGAN, DANIEL, a distinguished officer in the army of the American revolution, was born in New Jersey, and removed to Virginia in 1755. He enlisted in Braddock’s expedition as a private soldier, and on the defeat of that general, returned to his occupation as a farmer. At the commencement of the revolution he was appointed to the command of a troop of horse, and joined the army under Washington, then in the neighborhood of Boston. He distinguished himself very much in the expedition against Quebec, where he fell into the hands of the enemy. On the exchange of prisoners, he rejoined the American army, was appointed to the command of a select rifle corps, and detached to assist general Gates on the northern frontier, where he contributed materially to the capture of general Burgoyne. After a short retirement from service, on account of ill health, he was appointed brigadier-general by brevet, and commanded the force by which colonel Tarleton was routed at the battle of Cowpens. He soon after resigned his commission. In 1794, he commanded the militia of Virginia called out to suppress the insurrection in Pennsylvania, and continued in the service till 1795. He afterwards was elected to a seat in congress. He died in 1799.MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, an eminent statesman and orator, was born at Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1752, was graduated at King’s college in 1768, and licensed to practice law in 1771. In 1775, he was a member of the provincial congress of New York, and was one of the committee which drafted a constitution for the state of New York. In 1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and in the following year wrote the celebrated Observations on the American Revolution. In 1781, he accepted the post of assistant superintendent of finance, as colleague of Robert Morris; and in 1787, was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States. In 1792, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France, and held this station till his recall by the request of the French government, in 1794. In 1800, he was elected a senator in congress from the state of New York, and in this body was very conspicuous for his political information and his brilliant eloquence. Many of his speeches in congress and orations have been published; and a selection from his correspondence and other valuable papers, with a biographical sketch, byMr.Jared Sparks, was issued in 1832.MORRIS, LEWIS, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born at the manor of Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1726. He was educated at Yale college, and took an early part in the cause of the colonies. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, and while in this body served on several of the most important committees. His rich estates were laid waste by the British army in 1776. He left congressin 1777, and died in 1798. Three of his sons served with distinction in the revolutionary army.MORRIS, ROBERT, a celebrated financier, was a native of England, removed with his father to America, at an early age, and subsequently established himself as a merchant in Philadelphia. In 1775, he was appointed a delegate to congress, and signed the declaration of independence in the following year. In 1781, he was appointed superintendent of finance, and rendered incalculable service by his wealth and credit during the exhausted state of our public funds. It has been said, and with much truth, that ‘the Americans owed, and still owe, as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert Morris, as to the negotiations of Benjamin Franklin, or even to the arms of George Washington.’ He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States in 1787, and afterwards a senator in congress. In his old age he lost his ample fortune, by unfortunate land speculations, and passed the last years of his life confined in prison for debt. He died in 1806.MOULTRIE, WILLIAM, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in England, but emigrated to South Carolina at an early age. He served with distinction in the Cherokee war, in 1760, and in its last campaign commanded a company. At the commencement of the revolution, he was a member of the provincial congress, and a colonel of the second regiment of South Carolina. For his brave defence of Sullivan’s island, in 1776, he received the thanks of congress, and the fort was afterwards called by his name. In 1779, he gained a victory over the British at Beaufort. He afterwards received the commission of major-general, and was second in command to general Lincoln at the siege of Charleston. After the close of the war, he was repeatedly elected governor of South Carolina. He published Memoirs of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia, consisting chiefly of official letters. He died at Charleston, in 1805.MURRAY, ALEXANDER, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland, in 1755. He went early to sea, and being appointed a lieutenant in the navy, obtained a correspondent rank in the army, and distinguished himself at the battles of White Plains, Flatbush, and New York. Being promoted to a captaincy, he served with gallantry to the close of the campaign of 1777. During the war he was engaged in thirteen battles by sea and land, and was once taken prisoner. On the organization of the new government, he was one of the first officers recalled into service, and was engaged for a while to defend the American trade in the Mediterranean. His last appointment was that of commander of the navy-yard in Philadelphia, a post which he held till the time of his death, in 1821. He was a brave officer and much respected.MURRAY, WILLIAMVANS, an American statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1761, and received his legal education in London. On returning to his native state, he engaged in the practice of law, and in 1791 was elected to a seat in congress, where he distinguished himself by his ability and eloquence. He was appointed by Washington minister to the republic of Batavia, and discharged the duties of the office with much ability. He was subsequently envoy extraordinary to the French republic, and assisted in making the convention which was signed at Paris in 1800, between France and the United States. Returning to his stationat the Hague, he embarked in 1801 for his native country, where he died in 1803.OTIS, JAMES, a distinguished statesman, was born at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1725, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1743. He pursued the profession of the law, and establishing himself in Boston, soon rose to eminence. His public career may be said to have opened with his celebrated speech against writs of assistance. At the next election he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and soon became the leader of the popular party. In 1765, he was a member of the congress which assembled at New York. In 1769, he was severely wounded in an assault committed upon him by some British officers; from one of whom he recovered large damages, which he remitted on receiving a written apology. In 1772, he retired from public life, and in May of the following year was killed by a stroke of lightning. He was a good scholar, a learned and able lawyer, a bold and commanding orator, and possessed infinite powers of humor and wit.PAINE, ROBERTTREAT, an eminent lawyer, and a signer of the declaration of American independence, was born at Boston, in 1731, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1749. After a visit to Europe of some years, he commenced the study of the law, and about 1759, settled in its practice in Taunton. He took an early and active interest in public affairs, and in 1774, was appointed a delegate from Massachusetts to the general congress. He was a member of the committee of the convention that drafted the constitution of his native state. Under the government that was organized he was appointed attorney-general, and held this office till 1790, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court. He remained on the bench till 1804. He died at Boston, in 1814. His legal attainments and his general acquirements were extensive, and he was a man of much brilliancy of wit.PAINE, ROBERTTREAT, a poet, son of the preceding, was born at Taunton, in 1773, and graduated at Harvard college in 1792. On leaving college he was placed in a counting-house, but soon turned his attention to literature and theatricals, and published several orations and poems. His poems were very popular and profitable, and by the sale of the song of Adams and Liberty, he received the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars. In 1800, he began the practice of law, but failed of success from the want of industry, and passed the close of his life in poverty. He died in 1811. His works have been collected and published in one volume 8vo, prefaced by a biographical sketch.PARKER, ISAAC, an eminent lawyer, was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard college in 1786. He studied law in the office of judge Tudor, and commenced practice at Castine, in Maine, then an integral part of Massachusetts. Removing to Portland, he was sent for one term to congress as a representative from Cumberland county. He also held for a short time the office of United States’ marshal for that district. In 1806, he was appointed by governor Strong associate judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and soon after took up his residence at Boston. In 1814, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court, and held that office till his sudden death, in July, 1830, at the age of sixty-three years. He was distinguished for urbanity, and his legal opinions are very highly respected.PARSONS, THEOPHILUS, a distinguished lawyer, was born at Byefield, Massachusetts, in 1750, and graduated at Harvard college, in 1769. He studied, and pursued the practice of the law, for some years, in Falmouth now Portland; but when that town was destroyed by the British, he retired to the house of his father in Newbury. About a year afterwards he opened an office in Newburyport. He soon rose to the highest rank in his profession, and made immense acquisitions in legal knowledge. His professional services were sought for in all directions, and after thirty-five years of extensive practice, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts. In 1780, he was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, and of the convention which accepted the federal constitution. He was a powerful speaker, without a rival in knowledge of law, and surpassed by few in his acquaintance with science and classical literature. He continued in the seat of chief justice till his death, in 1813.PENN, WILLIAM, the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus, was the son of admiral Penn; was born, in 1644, in London; and was educated at Christ church, Oxford. At college he imbibed the principles of Quakerism, which, a few years afterwards he publicly professed. He was, in consequence, twice turned out of doors by his father. In 1668, he began to preach in public, and to write in defence of the doctrines which he had embraced. For this he was thrice imprisoned, and once brought to trial. It was during his first imprisonment that he wrote No Cross, No Crown. In 1677, he visited Holland and Germany, to propagate Quakerism. In March, 1680–81, he obtained from CharlesII.a grant of that territory which now bears the name of Pennsylvania; in 1682, he embarked for his new colony; and in the following year he founded Philadelphia. He returned to England in 1684. So much was he in favor with JamesII., that, after the revolution, he was more than once arrested on suspicion of plotting to restore the exiled monarch; but he at length succeeded in establishing his innocence. The rest of his life was passed in tranquillity. He died July 30, 1718. His works have been collected in two folio volumes.PERRY, OLIVERHAZARD, a naval officer of distinction, was born at Kingston, Rhode Island, in August, 1785. He entered the navy of the United States as a midshipman, and in 1812, was advanced to the office of master commandant. In the following year he was appointed to the command of the squadron on lake Erie. On the tenth of September, he achieved a complete victory over the enemy under commodore Barclay, after an action of three hours, and captured the whole squadron. He commanded the Java in the expedition to the Mediterranean, under commodore Decatur. He died in the West Indies, in 1820.PETERS, RICHARD, an eminent judge, was born in June, 1744, and received his education in the city of Philadelphia. He adopted the profession of the law, and soon obtained an extensive practice. At the commencement of hostilities with the mother country,Mr.Peters joined the side of the colonies, and in 1776, was appointed by congress secretary of the board of war. His exertions in this department were highly meritorious and useful, and on resigning the post, in 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and assisted in closing the business of the war. On the organization of the new government,Mr.Peters was appointed judgeof the district court of Pennsylvania, and performed the duties of this office for thirty-six years. During this time he was engaged in several objects of public improvement, and issued several valuable publications in relation to agriculture. As a judge, he possessed powers of a high order, and his decisions on admiralty law form the ground work of this branch of our jurisprudence. Their principles were not only sanctioned by our own courts, but were simultaneously adopted by lord Stowell, the distinguished maritime judge of Great Britain. Judge Peters died in August, 1828.PICKERING, TIMOTHY, a statesman, was born in Salem, in 1746, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1763. He took an active part in the popular cause, and, in organizing the provisional government of Massachusetts, in 1775, was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas for Essex, and sole judge of the maritime court for the middle district. During the war, he was appointed adjutant-general, and subsequently a member of the board of war. From 1790 to 1798, at different intervals, he was employed on various negotiations with the Indians. He was successively postmaster-general, secretary of war, and secretary of state. From the last office he was removed by president Adams, in 1800. From 1803 to 1811, he was a senator in congress from his native state, and from 1814 to 1817, a representative in that body. In public life he was distinguished for firmness, energy, activity and disinterestedness. He died in Salem, in 1829.PIKE, ZEBULONMONTGOMERY, brigadier-general, was born at Lamberton, New Jersey, on the fifth of January, 1779. After the purchase of Louisiana, he was appointed byMr.Jefferson, in 1805, to explore the sources of the Mississippi. On his return, he was sent on a similar expedition to the interior of Louisiana, and on the Rio del Norte was seized by a Spanish force, and deprived of his papers. He returned in 1807. During the late war, he was made brigadier-general, and commanded the land forces in the attack upon York, in Upper Canada, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1813. In the explosion of the British magazine, he was struck by a large stone, and died in a few hours. When the British standard was brought to him, he caused it to be placed under his head, and thus died at the age of thirty-four.PINCKNEY, CHARLESCOTESWORTH, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, received his education in England, and studied law in the Temple. On returning to his native province, in 1769, he devoted himself to the successful practice of his profession. On the commencement of hostilities, he renounced law for the study of military tactics, and was soon promoted to the command of the first regiment of Carolina infantry. He was subsequently aid-de-camp to Washington, and in this capacity at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and remained so till all opportunity of gaining fresh reputation in the field had passed. He was a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, and in 1796 was appointed minister to France. When preparations were making for war on account of the expected French invasion,Mr.Pinckney was nominated a major-general, but he soon had an opportunity of retiring to the quiet of private life. He was afterwards president of the Cincinnati society of the United States. He died in 1825.PINKNEY, WILLIAM, an eloquent lawyer and statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1764, and prepared himself for the bar, under the instruction of judge Chase. He was admitted to practice in 1786, and soon gave indications of possessing superior powers. He was a member of the convention of Maryland, which ratified the federal constitution. In 1796 he was appointed one of the commissioners under the British treaty. The state of Maryland also employed him to procure a settlement of its claims on the bank of England, and he recovered for it the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars. This detained him in England till the year 1804, when he returned and resumed his professional labors. In 1806, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to London, and in 1808, received the authority of minister plenipotentiary. He returned to the United States in 1811, and soon after was appointed attorney-general. This office he held till 1814. During the incursion of the British into Maryland, he commanded a battalion, and was wounded in the battle of Bladensburgh, in August, 1814. He was afterwards representative in congress, minister plenipotentiary to Russia, envoy to Naples, and in 1819, senator in congress. In the last office he continued till his death, in 1822.PINKNEY, EDWARDCOATE, son of the foregoing, was born in London, in 1802, passed his infancy in England, and was placed as a student in Baltimore college at the age of ten or eleven. He entered the navy as a midshipman, and continued in the service for several years. On the death of his father, he quitted the navy and devoted himself to the practice of the law. He published, in 1825, a volume of poems, which possess much beauty. He died in 1828.PREBLE, EDWARD, a distinguished naval officer, was born at Falmouth, in Maine, in 1761, and entered the navy as a midshipman, in 1779. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant, and during the revolutionary war distinguished himself by capturing a British vessel at Penobscot. In 1798, he was appointed to the command of the brig Pickering, and soon after to the Essex. He commanded, in 1803, a fleet sent against the Barbary powers, and repeatedly attacked Tripoli with considerable success. In 1804, he returned to the United States, and died in 1807.PUTNAM, ISRAEL, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, 1718. He received but a meagre education, and removing to Connecticut, engaged in agriculture. In the French war he commanded a company, and was engaged in several contests with the enemy. In 1756, he fell into an ambuscade of savages, and was exposed to the most cruel tortures. He obtained his release in 1759, and returned to his farm. Soon after the battle of Lexington he joined the army at Cambridge, was appointed major-general, and distinguished himself at Bunker’s hill. In 1776, he was sent to complete the fortifications at New York, and afterwards to fortify Philadelphia. In the winter of 1777, he was stationed with a small body at Princeton, and in the spring appointed to a command in the Highlands, where he remained most of the time till the close of 1779, when he was disabled by an attack of paralysis. He died in 1790. He was brave, energetic, and one of the most efficient officers of the revolution.QUINCY, JOSIAH, a distinguished lawyer and patriot, was born in Boston, in 1743, and was graduated at Harvard college. He soon became eminent in the practice of law, and distinguished by his active exertionsin the popular cause. His powers of eloquence were of a very high order. In 1774, he took a voyage to Europe for the benefit of his health, and to advance the interests of the colonies. He died on his return, on the25thof April, 1775, the day the vessel reached the harbor of cape Ann.RAMSAY, DAVID, an historian, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1749, was educated at Princeton college, and commenced the study of medicine. After practising a short time in Maryland, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1773, and soon rose to an extensive practice. He took an active and early part in the cause of the colonies, and was for some time a surgeon in the revolutionary army. In 1782, he was chosen to a seat in congress. He wrote a History of the Revolution in South Carolina; a History of the American Revolution; a Life of Washington; a History of South Carolina; and a History of the United States. He died in 1815.
GATES, HORATIO, was born in England, in 1728, and entering the British service in early life, rose by his merits to the rank of major. In 1755, he was with Braddock when that unfortunate commander was defeated, and received in that battle a severe wound, which for some time debarred him from active service. On the conclusion of peace, he settled in Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolution, in 1775. He was then appointed adjutant-general by congress, with the rank of brigadier, and in 1776, received the command of the army in Canada. General Schuyler succeeded him for a few months, in 1777, but he resumed his situation in August, and soon revived the hopes of hiscountry, by the capture of the army under Burgoyne. In 1780, he was appointed to the chief command of the southern districts, but he was afterwards superseded by general Greene, and his conduct was subjected to the investigation of a special court. He was restored to his command in 1782. On the termination of war he resided on his farm in Virginia, till 1790, when he removed to New York, where he lived much esteemed and respected, till his decease in 1806.
GERRY, ELBRIDGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and vice-president of the United States, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1744, and received his education at Harvard college. He was graduated at this institution in 1762, and afterwards engaging in mercantile pursuits, amassed a considerable fortune. He took an early part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, and in 1772, was elected a representative from his native town, to the legislature of Massachusetts. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where for several years he exhibited the utmost zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of numerous and severe official labors. In 1784,Mr.Gerry was re-elected a member of congress, and in 1787, was chosen a delegate to the convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, to revise the articles of confederation. In 1789, he was again elected to congress, and remained in that body for four years, when he retired into private life, till the year 1797, when he was appointed to accompany general Pinckney andMr.Marshall on a special mission to France. In October, 1798,Mr.Gerry returned home, and having been elected governor of his native state, and in 1812 vice-president of the United States, he died suddenly at Washington, in November, 1814.
GIRARD, STEPHEN, a celebrated banker, was born in France, about the year 1746. At the age of twelve years, in the capacity of cabin boy, he left France for the West Indies, where he resided some time, and whence he made many voyages to the United States. About 1775, he arrived in this country, and for a while kept a small shop in New Jersey. In 1780, he removed to Philadelphia, and by gradual but sure acquisition accumulated a large fortune. He became distinguished for his active philanthropic exertions during the ravages of the yellow fever in that city in 1793. In 1811, when congress refused to recharter the old bank of the United States,Mr.Girard purchased the banking house of that institution, and became a banker. The capital which he first invested in his bank, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and he subsequently augmented it to five millions. During our late war with Great Britain, the government found difficulty in raising the necessary funds, and public credit had sunk so low, that seven per cent. stock was offered at thirty per cent. discount. Of this stockMr.Girard took five millions. At the time of his death, in 1832, he was estimated to be worth from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars, and he was the most wealthy man in the new world. He was buried with public honors. By his will, he distributed his immense riches in the most judicious and liberal manner, among several charitable institutions, and for the purposes of public improvements. One bequest was of two millions, for the erection of a permanent college in Penn Township, for the accommodation of at least three hundred poor white male orphans, above the age of six years. In regulation of this bequest, it is enjoined, that ‘no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of anysect whatever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.’
GODMAN, JOHND., an eminent naturalist and physician, was born at Annapolis, in Maryland, and having lost his parents at an early age, was bound apprentice to a printer. He afterwards entered the navy as a sailor boy, and at the age of fifteen commenced the study of medicine. On completing his studies, he settled in Philadelphia as a physician and private teacher of anatomy, and for some time was an assistant editor of the Medical Journal. It was at this period that he published his Natural History of American Quadrupeds, in three volumes, 8vo. Having been elected to the professorship of anatomy in Rutgers’ Medical college, he removed to New York, where he soon acquired extensive practice as a surgeon. Ill health, however, obliged him to relinquish his pursuits, and he returned in 1829 to Philadelphia, where he died in 1830, in the thirty-second year of his age. He possessed much and varied information in his profession, in natural history, and in general literature. Besides the work above referred to, he is the author of Rambles of a Naturalist, and several articles on natural history in the Encyclopædia Americana.
GODFREY, THOMAS, the real inventor of the quadrant commonly calledHadley’s, was born in Philadelphia, and pursued the trade of a glazier. He was a great student of mathematics, and acquired by himself a tolerable knowledge of Latin, in order to be able to read mathematical works in that language. In 1730, he communicated the improvement he had made in Davis’s quadrant toMr.Logan, secretary of the commonwealth; and in the following year a full description of a similar instrument was read before the Royal society of London, byMr.Hadley. It was decided that both claimants were entitled to the honor of the invention, and the society presented Godfrey with household furniture to the value of £200. He was intemperate in his habits, and died in 1749.
GODFREY, THOMAS, son of the preceding, and a poet of some merit, was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1736. He was at first apprenticed to a watchmaker, but disliking the drudgery of this occupation, he obtained a lieutenant’s commission in the Pennsylvania forces, which were raised in 1758 for the expedition against fort Du Quesne. Subsequently he established himself as a factor in North Carolina, where he died in 1763. His chief works are The Court of Fancy, a poem; and The Prince of Parthia, which was the first American tragedy.
GREENE, NATHANIEL, major-general in the army of the United States, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1742. Though enjoying very few advantages of education, he displayed an early fondness for knowledge, and devoted his leisure time assiduously to study. In 1770, he was elected a member of the state legislature, and in 1774, enrolled himself as a private in a company called the Kentish Guards. From this situation he was elevated to the head of three regiments, with the title of major-general. In 1776, he accepted from congress a commission of brigadier-general, and soon after, at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, distinguished himself by his skill and bravery. In 1778, he was appointed quarter-master general, and in that office rendered efficient service to the country by his unwearied zeal and great talents for business. He presidedat the court-martial which tried major Andre, in 1780, and was appointed to succeed Arnold in the command at West Point; but he held this post only a few days. In December of the same year, he assumed the command of the southern army, and in this situation displayed a prudence, intrepidity and firmness which raise him to an elevated rank among our revolutionary generals. In September, 1781, he obtained the famous victory at Eutaw Springs, for which he received from congress a British standard and a gold medal, as a testimony of their value of his conduct and services. On the termination of hostilities, he returned to Rhode Island, and, in 1785, removed with his family to Georgia, where he died suddenly, in June of the following year. He was a man of high energy, courage and ability, and possessed the entire confidence of Washington.
HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, was born in the island of Nevis, in 1757. At the age of sixteen, he accompanied his mother to New York, and was placed at Columbia college, where he soon gave proof of extraordinary talent, by the publication of some political essays, of such strength and sagacity that they were generally attributed toMr.Jay. At the age of nineteen he entered the American army, and in 1777, was appointed aid-de-camp of Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In this capacity he served during the remainder of the war, and at the siege of Yorktown led in person the detachment that carried by assault one of the enemy’s outworks. After the war he commenced the study of the law, entered into its practice in New York, and soon rose to distinction. In 1782, he was chosen a member of congress from the state of New York; in 1787, a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the United States, and in 1787 and 1788, wrote, in connection withMr.Jay andMr.Madison, the essays published under the title of The Federalist. In 1789, he was placed by Washington at the head of the treasury department, and while in this situation rendered the most efficient service to the country, by the establishment of an admirable system of finance, which raised public credit from the lowest depression to an unprecedented height. In 1795, he retired from office, in order to secure by his professional labors a more ample provision for his numerous family. In 1798, his public services were again required, to take the second command in the army that was raised on account of the apprehended invasion of the French. On the disbanding of the army, he resumed the practice of the law in New York, and continued to acquire new success and reputation. In 1804, he fell in a duel with colonel Burr, vice-president of the United States, and died universally lamented and beloved. Besides his share in the Federalist, general Hamilton was the author of numerous congressional reports, the essays of Pacificus, and the essays of Phocion. A collection of his works in threevols.8vo, was issued at New York some time after his death. He was a man of transcendent abilities and unsullied integrity; and no one labored more efficiently in the organization of the present federal government.
HANCOCK, JOHN, a patriot and statesman, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1737, and under the patronage of a wealthy uncle received a liberal education, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1754. On leaving college, he entered the counting-house of his uncle, by whose sudden death, in 1764, he succeeded to great riches and the management of an extensive business. In 1766, he was chosen a member of the assemblyand soon distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause of the colonies. In 1774, he was elected president of the provincial congress of Massachusetts, and in the following year, president of the continental congress, in which capacity he was the first to affix his signature to the declaration of independence. In this station he continued till October, 1777, when ill health induced him to resign. In 1780, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, and held that office for four successive years, and again from 1787 till his death in 1793. Governor Hancock was hospitable and munificent, a man of excellent talents for business, and a true lover of his country.
HARPER, ROBERTGOODLOE, was a native of Virginia, but when very young removed with his parents to North Carolina. His parents were poor, and in early life he passed through a number of vicissitudes. At the age of twenty he found himself in Charleston,S. C., with but a dollar or two in his pocket, and with the intention of studying the profession of the law. Having obtained introduction to a lawyer, he prepared himself under his instruction for the bar, and, in about a twelvemonth, undertook the management of causes on his own account. He then removed from Charleston to an interior district, where he first distinguished himself, politically, by the publication of a series of newspaper essays on a proposed change in the constitution of the state. He was immediately elected to the state legislature, and soon afterwards to congress, where he was an efficient member of the federal party, a powerful advocate of the policy of Washington, and the personal friend of the most distinguished federal statesmen of the day. Many years afterwards, he collected in an octavo volume a number of his circulars and addresses to his constituents, and several of his speeches in congress. In 1797, he published a pamphlet, entitled Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France, which passed through numerous editions, and acquired great celebrity both at home and in Europe. The speeches which he delivered in managing the impeachment of Blount, and the defence of judge Chase, are admirable specimens of argument and eloquence.On thedownfallof the federal party,Mr.Harper resumed the practice of the law in Baltimore, where he married the daughter of the distinguished Charles Carroll. He attended almost every session of the supreme court, from the time of its removal to Washington to that of his death, and was always heard with respect and attention by the court and juries. The federal party having regained the ascendant in Maryland,Mr.Harper was immediately elected a senator in congress; but the demands of his profession soon obliged him to resign his seat. In the years 1819–20, he visited Europe with a portion of his family, and was absent about two years. He died suddenly in Baltimore, in 1825. He was an active leader in the federal party, an able and learned lawyer, well versed in general literature, and political economy, and lived with elegant hospitality.
HEATH, WILLIAM, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Roxbury, in 1737, and was bred a farmer. He was particularly attentive to the study of military tactics, and in 1775 he was commissioned as a brigadier-general by the provincial congress. In 1776, he was promoted to the rank of major-general in the continental army, and in the campaign of that year commanded a division near the enemy’s lines, at Kingsbridge and Morrisania. During the year 1777, and till November, 1778,he was the commanding officer of the eastern department, and his headquarters were at Boston. In 1779, he returned to the main army, and was invested with the chief command of the troops on the east side of the Hudson. After the close of the war, he served in several public offices, till the time of his death, in 1814.
HENRY, PATRICK, was born in Virginia, in 1736, and after receiving a common school education, and spending some time in trade and agriculture, commenced the practice of the law, after only six weeks of preparatory study. After several years of poverty, with the incumbrance of a family, he first rose to distinction in managing the popular side in the controversy between the legislature and the clergy, touching the stipend which was claimed by the latter. In 1765, he was elected a member of the house of burgesses, with express reference to an opposition to the British stamp act. In this assembly he obtained the honor of being the first to commence the opposition to the measures of the British government, which terminated in the revolution. He was one of the delegates sent by Virginia to the first general congress of the colonies, in 1774, and in that body distinguished himself by his boldness and eloquence. In 1776, he was appointed the first governor of the commonwealth, and to this office was repeatedly re-elected. In 1786, he was appointed by the legislature one of the deputies to the convention held at Philadelphia, for the purpose of revising the federal constitution. In 1788, he was a member of the convention, which met in Virginia to consider the constitution of the United States, and exerted himself strenuously against its adoption. In 1794, he retired from the bar, and died in 1799. Without extensive information upon legal or political topics, he was a natural orator of the highest order, possessing great powers of imagination, sarcasm and humor, united with great force and energy of manner, and a deep knowledge of human nature.
HOBART, JOHNHENRY, was born in Philadelphia, on the fourteenth of September, 1775. He was educated at the college in Princeton, New Jersey, and was noted in early life for his industry and proficiency in his studies. On leaving this institution he was engaged a short time in mercantile pursuits, was subsequently a tutor at Nassau Hall, and after two years service in this capacity, he determined upon the study of theology. In 1798, he was admitted into orders, and was first settled in the two churches at Perkiomen, near Philadelphia, but soon after accepted a call to Christ church, New Brunswick. In about a year he removed from this place to become an assistant minister of the largest spiritual cure in the country, comprising three associated congregations in the city of New York. In 1811, he was elected assistant bishop, and in 1816, became diocesan of New York, and in performing the severe duties of the office, his labors were indefatigable. From 1818 to 1823, he was employed in editing the American edition of Mant and D’Ogly’s Bible, with notes. In September, 1823, the state of his health required a visit to Europe, where he remained about two years. He died in 1830. He was incessantly active in performing his religious offices, and made several valuable compilations for the use of the church.
HOLLEY, HORACE, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born in Connecticut, in 1781, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1799. On leaving this institution he began the study of the law, which he soon relinquishedfor divinity, and in 1805, was ordained to the pastoral charge of Greenfield Hill,Conn.In 1809, he was installed over the society in Hollis street, Boston, where he remained for ten years, when he accepted an invitation to become president of Transylvania university, in Kentucky. In this situation he continued till 1827, when he died on his passage from New Orleans to New York. His sermons were generally extemporaneous, and were distinguished for power and eloquence.
HOLYOKE, EDWARDAUGUSTUS, was born in 1728, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1746. He pursued the study of medicine, and in 1749 began to practice his profession in Salem. He was the first president of the Medical society of Massachusetts, and was always considered a learned physician and skilful surgeon. He lived to be over one hundred years of age, and died in 1829. He published various scientific disquisitions.
HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, an excellent writer, and signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1737. He was graduated at the college in his native town, and pursued the profession of the law. In 1766, he visited England, where he resided more than two years, and on his return, married and settled in the state of New Jersey. He entered with much zeal into the public measures of the patriotic party, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to congress. In 1779, he was appointed judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania, and for ten years continued to discharge with fidelity the duties of this office. In 1790, he passed to the bench of the district court, and died suddenly in the midst of his usefulness, in 1791.Mr.Hopkinson possessed talents of a quick and versatile character, excelling in music and poetry, and having some knowledge of painting. In humorous poetry and satire he was quite successful, and his well-known ballad of the Battle of the Kegs obtained great popularity. A collection of his miscellaneous works, in three volumes 8vo. was published in 1792.
HOPKINS, SAMUEL, a divine, and founder of the sect called Hopkinsians, was born in Connecticut, in 1721, and educated at Yale college. In 1743, he was settled at a place now called Great Barrington, in Massachusetts, and continued there till 1769, when he removed to Newport, Rhode Island. He died in 1803. He published numerous sermons, a Treatise on the Millennium, and a sketch of his own life. His theological learning was extensive, and he was a profound metaphysician.
HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Providence, in 1707, and after receiving a school education, turned his attention to agriculture. In 1751, he was appointed chief justice of the superior court of Rhode Island, and in 1756, was elected governor of that state. In 1774, he was chosen a delegate to the general congress at Philadelphia, and was re-elected to that body in 1775 and 1776. In 1776, he was a delegate to congress for the last time, though for several subsequent years he was a member of the general assembly of his native state. He died in 1785. Although his early education was very limited,Mr.Hopkins acquired by his own efforts extensive information. He wrote a pamphlet on the rights of the colonies, was a member of the American Philosophical society, and for many years chancellor of the college of Rhode Island.
HOWARD, JOHNEAGER, an officer of the army of the American revolution,was born in Baltimore, in 1752. After serving in the rank of captain, in 1779, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and distinguished himself by his valor and activity during the war. At the battle of Cowpens, colonel Howard, at one time, had in his hands the swords of seven officers, who had surrendered to him personally. He was also present at the battles of Germantown, White Plains, Monmouth, Camden, and Hobkicks hill. On the disbanding of the army, he retired to his patrimonial estates, near Baltimore, and was subsequently governor of Maryland, and member of the senate of the United States. He died in 1827. General Greene said of him, that as a patriot and soldier, he deserved a statue of gold no less than Roman and Grecian heroes.
HUMPHREYS, DAVID, minister of the United States to the court of Spain, was born in Connecticut, in 1753, and received his education at Yale college. Soon after the commencement of the revolutionary war, he entered the army, and was successively an aid to Parsons, Putnam, Greene, and Washington. He left the army with the rank of colonel. In 1784, he was appointed secretary of legation to Paris, and was subsequently ambassador to the court of Lisbon, and in 1797, minister plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid. While in the military service, he published a poem addressed to the American armies, and after the war, another on the happiness and glory of America. In 1789, he published a life of general Putnam, and while in Europe, a number of miscellaneous poems. He died in 1818.
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, a governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born in Boston, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard college. He was for a while occupied with commercial pursuits, but soon engaged in the study of law and politics, and was sent agent to Great Britain. On his return he was elected a representative, and after a few years was chosen speaker of the house, and in 1752, judge of probate. After being a member of the council, lieutenant governor and chief justice, in 1771, he received his commission as governor of Massachusetts. In 1774, he was removed from his office, and was succeeded by general Gage. He then repaired to England, fell into disgrace, and died in retirement, in 1780. He is the author of a valuable History of Massachusetts, some occasional essays, and a pamphlet on colonial claims. It is said that no man contributed more effectually to bring about the separation between the colonies and Great Britain than Hutchinson.
JAY, JOHN, was born in the city of New York, in 1745. He was graduated at Columbia college, in 1764, and in 1768, was admitted to the bar. He soon rose to eminence as a lawyer, and began to take an active part in politics. In 1774, he was elected a delegate to the first congress. In May, 1776, he was recalled from congress by the provincial convention, to aid in forming the government for the province, and to this it is owing that his name does not appear among the signers of the declaration of independence. Upon the organization of the state government, in 1777,Mr.Jay was appointed chief justice, and held this office till 1779. In November, 1778, he was again chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and three days after taking his seat was elected president of that venerable body. In September, 1779, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain, and he arrived at Cadiz in January of the following year. Having resigned his commission as minister in 1783, in1784 he returned to the United States, and was placed at the head of the department for foreign affairs. In this post he remained till the adoption of the present constitution, when he was appointed chief justice of the United States. In 1794, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Great Britain, and before his return in 1795, he had been elected governor of his native state. In 1798, he was re-elected to this office, and in 1801, went into voluntary retirement. The remainder of his life was passed in the faithful discharge of the charitable duties, and he was publicly known only by the occasional appearance of his name, or the employment of his pen, in the service of philanthropy and piety. He died in 1829. Beside a variety of state papers and political essays,Mr.Jay was the author of the2d,3d,4th,5th, and64thnumbers of the Federalist.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743, and was entered a student in the college of William and Mary. On leaving this seminary, he applied himself to the study of the law, under the tuition of the celebrated George Wythe, and was called to the bar in 1766. He soon occupied a high stand in his profession, and at the early age of twenty-five entered the house of burgesses of his native state. In 1774, he published a Summary View of the Rights of British America, a bold but respectful pamphlet addressed to the king. In 1775, he was elected a member of the continental congress, and in the following year drew up the declaration of independence.Between 1777 and1779, he was employed, together with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a commission for revising the laws of Virginia. In 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and continued in office until June, 1781. In the latter year he composed his celebrated Notes on Virginia, and in 1787, published it under his own signature. In November, 1783, he again took his seat in the continental congress, and in May following was appointed minister plenipotentiary, to act abroad with Adams and Franklin in the negotiation of commercial treaties. In 1785, he was appointed to succeedDr.Franklin as minister to the court of Versailles, and performed the duties of this office till 1789, when he returned to his native country, and was placed by president Washington at the head of the department of state. In 1797, he became vice-president, and in 1801, president of the United States. At the expiration of eight years he again retired to private life, and took up his residence at Monticello. He still continued anxious to promote the interest of science and literature, and devoted the attention of several years to the establishment of a university in Virginia. He died on the fourth of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence. In stature,Mr.Jefferson was six feet two inches high. His person was erect and well formed, though spare. In his manners he was simple and unaffected, simple in his habits, and incessantly occupied with the pursuits of business or study. Four volumes of his Correspondence have been published since his decease.
JONES, JOHNPAUL, a native of Scotland, was born, in 1747, at Selkirk, and settled in America when young. He distinguished himself by his bravery in the American service, during the contest with the mother country, particularly in a desperate action with the Serapis frigate, which he captured. He died in Paris, in 1792, and was buried at the expense of the national convention. Jones was not only a man of signal courage, but also of great talent, and keen sagacity, wrote poetry, and in France aspiredto be a man of fashion. His memorials and correspondence are quite voluminous.
KING, RUFUS, an eminent statesman, was born in Scarborough, in the state of Maine, in the year 1755. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1777, immediately entered as a student at law in the office of the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, at Newburyport, and was admitted to the bar in 1780. In 1784, he was chosen to represent Newburyport in the state legislature, and in the same year was elected a delegate to the old congress. In 1787, he was appointed a delegate to the general convention assembled at Philadelphia, and in 1788 removed from Massachusetts to the city of New York. In 1796, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Great Britain, and remained there for seven years with equal honor to his country and himself. In 1813, he was chosen by the legislature of New York a senator of the United States, and being re-elected in 1820, he continued till the expiration of the term in 1825. Upon his retirement from the senate, he accepted from president Adams an invitation again to represent the United States at the court of Great Britain. During the voyage to England his health was seriously impaired, and his illness induced him to return in about a twelvemonth to his native land. He died in April, 1827.
KNOX, HENRY, a revolutionary general, was born in Boston, in 1750, and after receiving a common school education, commenced business as a bookseller, in his native town. Before the commencement of hostilities, he discovered an uncommon zeal in the cause of liberty. When the corps of artillery, in 1776, was increased to three regiments, the command was given to Knox, with the rank of brigadier-general. He distinguished himself by his courage at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, and Monmouth, and contributed greatly to the capture of Cornwallis. Immediately after this event he received from congress the commission of major-general. In 1785, he succeeded general Lincoln in the office of secretary of war, and having filled this department for eleven years, he obtained a reluctant permission to retire into private life. In 1798, when our relations with France were assuming a cloudy aspect, he was called upon to take a command in the army, but the peaceful arrangement of affairs soon permitted him to return into his retirement. He died at Thomaston, Maine, in 1806. In private life he was amiable, in his public character persevering, and of unsurpassed courage.
LAURENS, HENRY, a patriot and statesman, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724. After receiving a good school education, he engaged in commerce, and soon amassed an ample fortune. At the breaking out of the revolution he was in London, but he immediately returned to his native country, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to the general congress. He was soon chosen president of this body, and remained so till the close of the year 1778. In 1779, he received the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to Holland, but on his way thither was captured by the British, and committed to the Tower, where he was in confinement fourteen months. He was one of the commissioners for negotiating a peace with Great Britain, and in 1782, he signed with Jay and Franklin the preliminaries of the treaty. His health, however, was much impaired and he soon returned home, and passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1792.
LAURENS, JOHN, lieutenant-colonel, son of the preceding, was liberally educated in England, and having returned to his native country, joined the American army in 1777. He displayed prodigies of valor at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Savannah and Charleston, and was killed at the very close of the war by carelessly exposing himself in a trifling skirmish. In 1780, he was sent as a special minister to France, to negotiate a loan; and after being subjected to a vexatious delay, he determined to present a memorial to the king in person at the levee. This purpose he carried into effect, the memorial was graciously received, and the object of negotiation satisfactorily arranged.
LAWRENCE, JAMES, a distinguished naval officer, was born in New Jersey, in 1781, and became a midshipman in 1798. In 1803, he was sent to the Mediterranean, as first lieutenant to the schooner Enterprise, and while there distinguished himself by his activity and valor. He remained on this station for three years, and then returned to the United States, having been transferred to the frigate John Adams. In February, 1813, he was in command of the Hornet, and took the fine British brig Peacock, after an action of fifteen minutes. On his return to the United States he was transferred to the frigate Chesapeake, and in June of the same year, while engaged in battle with the frigate Shannon, he received a mortal wound. His last exclamation, as they were carrying him below, was—‘Don’t give up the ship.’ He lingered in great pain for four days, when he died. His remains are interred at New York.
LEDYARD, JOHN, an adventurous traveller, was born at Groton, in Connecticut, and was educated at Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire. After having lived for some time among the Indians, he came to England, and sailed with Cook, on his second voyage, as a marine. On his return, he resolved to penetrate on foot across Northern Asia, and proceed to the opposite coast of America. He was, however, seized at Yakutz, and sent out of the Russian dominions. He was next employed by the African association to explore the interior of Africa; but he died at Cairo, in 1789.
LEE, ARTHUR, was born in Virginia, in 1740, and received his education in England, taking his degree of M. D. at the university of Edinburgh. He then returned to his native state, and for some years practised physic at Williamsburg; but political affairs were then assuming so interesting an aspect, that he again went to England and entered on the study of law in the Temple. In 1770, he visited London, and became a member of the famous society of the supporters of the bill of rights. His political publications at this period, under the signature of Junius Americanus, were numerous, and procured for him the acquaintance of the leaders of the popular party. In 1776, he was appointed minister to France, in conjunction withDr.Franklin andMr.Deane, and assisted in negotiating the treaty with that nation. In 1779, in consequence of the false accusations ofMr.Deane, complaints of his political conduct were freely circulated at home, and in the following year, he resigned his appointments and returned. In 1781, he was elected to the assembly of Virginia, and by this body returned to congress, where he continued to represent the state till 1785. In 1784, he was employed to arrange a treaty with the six Indian nations. He was next called to the board of treasury, where he continued till 1789, when he went into retirement. He died in 1792.
LEE, CHARLES, a major-general in the army of the revolution, wasborn in North Wales, and entered the army while very young. He served at an early age in America, and afterwards distinguished himself under general Burgoyne, in Portugal. He subsequently entered the Polish service, wandered all over Europe, killed an Italian officer in a duel, and in 1773, sailed for New York. Espousing the cause of the colonies, he received a commission from congress in 1775, with the rank of major-general. In 1776, he was invested with the command at New York, and afterwards with the chief command in the southern department. In December, 1776, he was made prisoner by the English, as he lay carelessly guarded at a considerable distance from the main body of the army in New Jersey. He was kept prisoner till the surrender of Burgoyne, in 1777, and treated in a manner unworthy of a generous enemy. In 1778, he was arraigned before a court martial, in consequence of his misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and was suspended from any commission in the army of the United States for one year. He retired to a hovel in Virginia, living in entire seclusion, surrounded by his books and his dogs. In 1782, he went to reside at Philadelphia, where he died in obscurity, in October of the same year. He was a man of much energy and courage, with considerable literary attainments, but morose and avaricious. He published essays on military, literary, and political subjects, which, with his extensive correspondence, were collected in a volume, in 1792. The authorship of the Letters of Junius has been ascribed to him.
LEE, HENRY, a distinguished officer in the revolutionary army, was born in Virginia, in 1756, and was graduated at the college in Princeton. In 1776, he was a captain of one of the six companies of cavalry, raised by Virginia, and afterwards incorporated into one regiment, and in 1777, added to the main body of the provincials. At the battle of Germantown, Lee was selected with his company to attend Washington as his bodyguard. In 1780, being raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was sent with his legion to the army of the south, under general Greene, and continued with it till the end of the war. He distinguished himself at the battle of Eutaw springs, and in the ensuing October was sent on a special commission to the commander-in-chief, then employed in the siege of Yorktown. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to congress, from the state of Virginia, and remained in that body till the adoption of the present constitution. He was a member of the state convention which ratified that instrument, and in 1792, he was raised to the chair of governor of Virginia. In 1799, he was again a member of congress, and while there selected to pronounce a funeral oration on the death of Washington. The latter years of his life were embarrassed by want, and it was while confined for debt in the limits of Spottsylvania county, that he prepared for publication his excellent Memoirs of the Southern Campaign. He was severely wounded during the riot in Baltimore, in 1814, and his health rapidly declined. He died on Cumberland island, Georgia, in 1818.
LEE, FRANCISLIGHTFOOT, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1734. He inherited a large fortune, and in 1765, became a member of the house of burgesses of his native state, and continued in that body till 1775, when he was chosen a member of the continental congress. He remained in this assembly till 1779, when he entered the legislature of his native state. He died in 1797.
LEE, RICHARDHENRY, an eminent patriot, and signer of the declarationof independence, was born in Virginia, in 1732, and received his education in England. He returned to his native country when in his nineteenth year, and devoted himself to the general study of history, politics, law, and polite literature, without engaging in any particular profession. In his twenty-fifth year, he was chosen a delegate to the house of burgesses, where he soon distinguished himself by his powers in debate. In 1764, he was appointed to draught an address to the king, and a memorial to the house of lords, which are among the best state papers of the period. His efforts in resisting the various encroachments of the British government were indefatigable, and in 1774, he attended the first general congress at Philadelphia, as a delegate from Virginia. He was a member of most of the important committees of this body, and labored with unceasing vigilance and energy. The memorial of congress to the people of British America, and the second address of congress to the people of Great Britain, were both from his pen. In June, 1776, he introduced the measure that declared the colonies free and independent states, and supported it by a speech of the most brilliant eloquence. He continued to hold a seat in congress till June, 1777, when he solicited leave of absence, on account of the delicate state of his health. In August of the next year, he was again elected to congress, and continued in that body till 1780, when he declined a re-election till 1784. In that year he was chosen president of congress, but retired at the close of it, and in 1786, was again chosen a member of the Virginia assembly. He was a member of the convention which adopted the present constitution of the United States, and one of the first senators under it. In 1792, he again retired from public life, and died in 1794.
LEWIS, MERIWETHER, a celebrated explorer, was born in Virginia, in 1774, and, after receiving a good school education, engaged in agriculture. When general Washington called out a body of militia in consequence of the discontent produced by the excise taxes, young Lewis entered as a volunteer, and from that situation was removed to the regular service. In 1803, he was sent by president Jefferson on an exploring expedition to the north-western part of our continent; and of this expedition, which was completed in about three years, and in which he was accompanied byMr.Clarke, a highly interesting account was afterwards published. Lewis was subsequently appointed governor of the Louisiana territory. He put an end to his own life in 1809. He was a man of energy, perseverance, and of a sound understanding.
LINCOLN, BENJAMIN, a major-general in the revolutionary army, was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1733, and until the age of forty years was engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. At the commencement of the revolution, he was elected a member of the provincial congress, in 1776, received the commission of major-general, and employed himself vigorously to improve the discipline of the militia. He was second in command in the army which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. On the day after the battle of Stillwater, he received a dangerous wound in his leg, and was confined for several months by its effects. In the following year, he was appointed to the command of the southern department, and while in this post he attempted the defence of Charleston, but was compelled to capitulate in May, 1780. He was exchanged in November, and in the spring following joined the army on the North river. At the siege of Yorktown he commanded a central division, and shared largely in thedangers and honors of the day. In 1781, he was appointed secretary of the war department, and afterwards on several occasions commissioner to treat with the Indians. On the establishment of peace, he returned to his native state, and in 1787, was appointed to command the troops employed in the suppression of the insurgents in Massachusetts. In 1788, he was chosen lieutenant governor, and in the following year he was a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He died in 1810. He was the author of several published letters and essays; a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences; and president of the society of Cincinnati of Massachusetts.
LIVINGSTON, ROBERTR., a celebrated statesman and lawyer, was born in New York, and was educated at King’s college. He engaged in the profession of the law, and was elected to the first general congress of the colonies, where he was one of the committee appointed to prepare the declaration of independence. In 1780, he was appointed secretary of foreign affairs, and at the adoption of the constitution at New York, chancellor of that state. This last office he held till 1801, when he was sent minister plenipotentiary to France. It was in Paris that he formed a personal friendship with Robert Fulton, whom he materially assisted. In 1805, he returned to the United States, and devoted the remainder of his life to the promotion of agriculture and the arts. He died in 1813.
LOWELL, JOHN, an eminent lawyer, was born at Newbury, in 1744, and was educated at Harvard college. He studied law, and rising to reputation, in 1761, he removed to Boston, and soon distinguished himself by his political knowledge and eloquence. In 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and on the establishment of the federal government, was appointed a judge of the circuit court of the United States. In these situations he was much respected for his legal knowledge and dignity. He died in 1802.
LOWNDES, WILLIAM, a celebrated statesman, was a native of South Carolina, and was for many years a distinguished member of congress. His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, and logical; and his disposition eminently kind, frank, and generous. He was in a high degree ardent and patriotic. He entered congress in 1812, and retained his seat for about ten years, when ill health compelled him to resign. In 1818, he was chairman of the committee of ways and means. He died at sea, in October, 1822, at the age of forty-two. It was said of him in the house, byMr.Taylor of New York, that ‘the highest and best hopes of the country looked to William Lowndes for their fulfilment. The most honorable office in the civilized world, the chief magistracy of this free people, would have been illustrated by his virtues and talents.’
M’KEAN, THOMAS, an eminent judge, and a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1734, and, after a course of academic and professional studies, was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years. His political career commenced in 1762, when he was returned a member of the assembly from the county of Newcastle. He was a member of the congress which assembled in New York, in 1765, to obtain relief of the British government for the grievances under which the colonies were suffering. In this body he behaved with much decision and energy. In 1774, he was appointed to the general congress, a delegate from the lower counties in Delaware, and was the only man who, withoutintermission, was a member during the whole period. Of this body he was president in 1781. In 1777, he was appointed chief justice of Pennsylvania, and discharged the duties of this office with impartiality and dignity, for twenty-two years. In 1799, he was elected governor of the state of Pennsylvania, and his administration continued for nine years. In 1808, he retired from public life, and died, much respected and honored, in 1817.
MARION, FRANCIS, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, in 1732, and first served in 1761, as a lieutenant against the Cherokees. Soon after the commencement of the revolution, he received a major’s commission, and in 1780, he obtained that of brigadier-general. He continually surprised and captured parties of the British and the royalists, by the secrecy and rapidity of his movements. On the evacuation of Charleston, he retired to his plantation, where he died in 1795. He was bold, generous, and severe in his discipline.
MASON, GEORGE, a statesman, was a member of the general convention, which, in 1787, framed the constitution of the United States, but refused to sign his name as one of that body to the instrument which they had produced. In the following year, he was a member of the Virginia convention, to consider the proposed plan of federal government. In union with Henry, he opposed its adoption with great energy, and is the author of one of the articles inserted among the amendments of that instrument. So averse was he to the section which allowed the slave-trade for twenty years, that he declared his vote should be cast against the admission of the southern states into the Union, unless they would agree to discontinue the traffic. He died at his seat in Virginia, in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven.
MASON, JOHNMITCHELL, a divine and pulpit orator, was born in the city of New York, in 1770, and after graduating at Columbia college, prepared himself for the sacred ministry. His theological studies were completed in Europe. In 1792, he returned to New York, and was established in the ministry at that place till 1811, when he accepted the appointment of provost in Columbia college. This situation his ill health obliged him to resign, and he visited Europe to repair his constitution. On his return, in 1817, he again resumed his labors in preaching, and in 1821, undertook the charge of Dickinson college, in Pennsylvania. In 1824, he returned to New York, and died in 1829. He was the author of Letters on Frequent Communion; A Plea for Sacramental Communion on Catholic Principles; and a number of essays, reviews, orations, and sermons, published at different times.
MATHER, INCREASE, a learned divine, was born at Dorchester, in 1639, was educated to the ministry, and was settled in the North church, Boston, in 1664. He continued there for sixty-two years, discharging the duties of his sacred office with zeal and ability. In 1685, he was appointed to the presidency of Harvard college, which he resigned in 1701. He died in 1723. He was an indefatigable student, and published a variety of works on religion, politics, history, and philosophy.
MATHER, COTTON, a celebrated divine, son of the preceding, was born in February, 1663, and was educated for the profession of theology. In 1684, he was ordained minister of the North church in Boston, as colleague with his father. He died in 1728. His learning was marvellous,but his taste was eccentric, and he was very pedantic and credulous. His publications are 382 in number; the most celebrated of which is Magnalia Christi Americani.
M’DONOUGH, THOMAS, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, and after his father’s death in 1796, he obtained a midshipman’s warrant, and went out with our fleet to the Mediterranean. In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven, he commanded the American forces on lake Champlain. In the battle of September 11, 1814, after an action of two hours and twenty minutes, he obtained a complete victory, which he announced to the war department in the following terms:—‘The Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal victory on lake Champlain, in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy.’ The state of New York gave him a thousand acres of land on the bay in which the battle was fought. He died in November, 1825, at about the age of thirty-nine years.
MIDDLETON, ARTHUR, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born in South Carolina, in 1743, and received his education in Europe. Soon after his return home, he began to take an active part in the revolutionary movements, and in 1776, was chosen one of the delegates from his native state to the American congress. At the close of the year 1777, he resigned his seat, leaving behind a character for the purest patriotism and unwavering resolution. In the year 1779, many of the southern plantations were ravaged, and that ofMr.Middleton did not escape. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and kept in confinement for nearly a year. In 1781, he was appointed a representative to congress, and again in 1782. In the latter year he went into retirement, and died in 1787.
MONROE, JAMES, was born in Virginia, in 1759, and was educated in William and Mary college. He entered the revolutionary war, in 1776, as a cadet, was at the battles of Haerlem Heights and White Plains, and in the attack on Trenton, and rose through the rank of lieutenant to that of captain. He was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, as aid to lord Sterling. Resuming the study of the law, he entered the office ofMr.Jefferson, and after being a member of the assembly of Virginia and the council, he was elected, in 1783, a member of the old congress. In 1790, he was elected a member of the senate of the United States, in 1794, went as minister plenipotentiary to France, and in 1799, was appointed governor of Virginia. In 1803, he was appointed minister extraordinary to France, in the same year minister to London, and in the next minister to Spain. In 1806, he was again appointed, in conjunction withMr.William Pinkney, minister to London. He was subsequently governor of Virginia; in 1811, was appointed secretary of state, and continued to exercise the duties of this department, and for some time those of the department of war till 1817. In that year he was chosen president of the Union, and in 1821, was re-elected by a vote unanimous, with the single exception of one vote in New Hampshire. He died in New York, on the fourth of July, 1831.
MONTGOMERY, RICHARD, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in Ireland, in 1737. He entered the British army, and fought with Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, in 1759. He subsequently left the army and settled in New York. Joining the cause of the colonies, hewas appointed a general in the northern army, and fell at the assault on Quebec, in 1775. By a vote of congress, a monument of white marble, with emblematical devices, was executed byMr.Cassiers, at Paris, and is erected to his memory in front ofSt.Paul’s church, New York. His remains, in pursuance of a resolve of the New York legislature, were disinterred by his nephew, colonel Livingston, in June, 1818, the place of their burial having been pointed out by an old soldier, who attended their burial forty-two years before. They were removed to New York, and again interred inSt.Paul’s church, with the highest civil and military honors. His widow was then living.
MORGAN, DANIEL, a distinguished officer in the army of the American revolution, was born in New Jersey, and removed to Virginia in 1755. He enlisted in Braddock’s expedition as a private soldier, and on the defeat of that general, returned to his occupation as a farmer. At the commencement of the revolution he was appointed to the command of a troop of horse, and joined the army under Washington, then in the neighborhood of Boston. He distinguished himself very much in the expedition against Quebec, where he fell into the hands of the enemy. On the exchange of prisoners, he rejoined the American army, was appointed to the command of a select rifle corps, and detached to assist general Gates on the northern frontier, where he contributed materially to the capture of general Burgoyne. After a short retirement from service, on account of ill health, he was appointed brigadier-general by brevet, and commanded the force by which colonel Tarleton was routed at the battle of Cowpens. He soon after resigned his commission. In 1794, he commanded the militia of Virginia called out to suppress the insurrection in Pennsylvania, and continued in the service till 1795. He afterwards was elected to a seat in congress. He died in 1799.
MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, an eminent statesman and orator, was born at Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1752, was graduated at King’s college in 1768, and licensed to practice law in 1771. In 1775, he was a member of the provincial congress of New York, and was one of the committee which drafted a constitution for the state of New York. In 1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and in the following year wrote the celebrated Observations on the American Revolution. In 1781, he accepted the post of assistant superintendent of finance, as colleague of Robert Morris; and in 1787, was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States. In 1792, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France, and held this station till his recall by the request of the French government, in 1794. In 1800, he was elected a senator in congress from the state of New York, and in this body was very conspicuous for his political information and his brilliant eloquence. Many of his speeches in congress and orations have been published; and a selection from his correspondence and other valuable papers, with a biographical sketch, byMr.Jared Sparks, was issued in 1832.
MORRIS, LEWIS, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born at the manor of Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1726. He was educated at Yale college, and took an early part in the cause of the colonies. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, and while in this body served on several of the most important committees. His rich estates were laid waste by the British army in 1776. He left congressin 1777, and died in 1798. Three of his sons served with distinction in the revolutionary army.
MORRIS, ROBERT, a celebrated financier, was a native of England, removed with his father to America, at an early age, and subsequently established himself as a merchant in Philadelphia. In 1775, he was appointed a delegate to congress, and signed the declaration of independence in the following year. In 1781, he was appointed superintendent of finance, and rendered incalculable service by his wealth and credit during the exhausted state of our public funds. It has been said, and with much truth, that ‘the Americans owed, and still owe, as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert Morris, as to the negotiations of Benjamin Franklin, or even to the arms of George Washington.’ He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States in 1787, and afterwards a senator in congress. In his old age he lost his ample fortune, by unfortunate land speculations, and passed the last years of his life confined in prison for debt. He died in 1806.
MOULTRIE, WILLIAM, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was born in England, but emigrated to South Carolina at an early age. He served with distinction in the Cherokee war, in 1760, and in its last campaign commanded a company. At the commencement of the revolution, he was a member of the provincial congress, and a colonel of the second regiment of South Carolina. For his brave defence of Sullivan’s island, in 1776, he received the thanks of congress, and the fort was afterwards called by his name. In 1779, he gained a victory over the British at Beaufort. He afterwards received the commission of major-general, and was second in command to general Lincoln at the siege of Charleston. After the close of the war, he was repeatedly elected governor of South Carolina. He published Memoirs of the Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia, consisting chiefly of official letters. He died at Charleston, in 1805.
MURRAY, ALEXANDER, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland, in 1755. He went early to sea, and being appointed a lieutenant in the navy, obtained a correspondent rank in the army, and distinguished himself at the battles of White Plains, Flatbush, and New York. Being promoted to a captaincy, he served with gallantry to the close of the campaign of 1777. During the war he was engaged in thirteen battles by sea and land, and was once taken prisoner. On the organization of the new government, he was one of the first officers recalled into service, and was engaged for a while to defend the American trade in the Mediterranean. His last appointment was that of commander of the navy-yard in Philadelphia, a post which he held till the time of his death, in 1821. He was a brave officer and much respected.
MURRAY, WILLIAMVANS, an American statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1761, and received his legal education in London. On returning to his native state, he engaged in the practice of law, and in 1791 was elected to a seat in congress, where he distinguished himself by his ability and eloquence. He was appointed by Washington minister to the republic of Batavia, and discharged the duties of the office with much ability. He was subsequently envoy extraordinary to the French republic, and assisted in making the convention which was signed at Paris in 1800, between France and the United States. Returning to his stationat the Hague, he embarked in 1801 for his native country, where he died in 1803.
OTIS, JAMES, a distinguished statesman, was born at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1725, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1743. He pursued the profession of the law, and establishing himself in Boston, soon rose to eminence. His public career may be said to have opened with his celebrated speech against writs of assistance. At the next election he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and soon became the leader of the popular party. In 1765, he was a member of the congress which assembled at New York. In 1769, he was severely wounded in an assault committed upon him by some British officers; from one of whom he recovered large damages, which he remitted on receiving a written apology. In 1772, he retired from public life, and in May of the following year was killed by a stroke of lightning. He was a good scholar, a learned and able lawyer, a bold and commanding orator, and possessed infinite powers of humor and wit.
PAINE, ROBERTTREAT, an eminent lawyer, and a signer of the declaration of American independence, was born at Boston, in 1731, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1749. After a visit to Europe of some years, he commenced the study of the law, and about 1759, settled in its practice in Taunton. He took an early and active interest in public affairs, and in 1774, was appointed a delegate from Massachusetts to the general congress. He was a member of the committee of the convention that drafted the constitution of his native state. Under the government that was organized he was appointed attorney-general, and held this office till 1790, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court. He remained on the bench till 1804. He died at Boston, in 1814. His legal attainments and his general acquirements were extensive, and he was a man of much brilliancy of wit.
PAINE, ROBERTTREAT, a poet, son of the preceding, was born at Taunton, in 1773, and graduated at Harvard college in 1792. On leaving college he was placed in a counting-house, but soon turned his attention to literature and theatricals, and published several orations and poems. His poems were very popular and profitable, and by the sale of the song of Adams and Liberty, he received the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars. In 1800, he began the practice of law, but failed of success from the want of industry, and passed the close of his life in poverty. He died in 1811. His works have been collected and published in one volume 8vo, prefaced by a biographical sketch.
PARKER, ISAAC, an eminent lawyer, was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard college in 1786. He studied law in the office of judge Tudor, and commenced practice at Castine, in Maine, then an integral part of Massachusetts. Removing to Portland, he was sent for one term to congress as a representative from Cumberland county. He also held for a short time the office of United States’ marshal for that district. In 1806, he was appointed by governor Strong associate judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and soon after took up his residence at Boston. In 1814, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court, and held that office till his sudden death, in July, 1830, at the age of sixty-three years. He was distinguished for urbanity, and his legal opinions are very highly respected.
PARSONS, THEOPHILUS, a distinguished lawyer, was born at Byefield, Massachusetts, in 1750, and graduated at Harvard college, in 1769. He studied, and pursued the practice of the law, for some years, in Falmouth now Portland; but when that town was destroyed by the British, he retired to the house of his father in Newbury. About a year afterwards he opened an office in Newburyport. He soon rose to the highest rank in his profession, and made immense acquisitions in legal knowledge. His professional services were sought for in all directions, and after thirty-five years of extensive practice, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts. In 1780, he was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, and of the convention which accepted the federal constitution. He was a powerful speaker, without a rival in knowledge of law, and surpassed by few in his acquaintance with science and classical literature. He continued in the seat of chief justice till his death, in 1813.
PENN, WILLIAM, the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus, was the son of admiral Penn; was born, in 1644, in London; and was educated at Christ church, Oxford. At college he imbibed the principles of Quakerism, which, a few years afterwards he publicly professed. He was, in consequence, twice turned out of doors by his father. In 1668, he began to preach in public, and to write in defence of the doctrines which he had embraced. For this he was thrice imprisoned, and once brought to trial. It was during his first imprisonment that he wrote No Cross, No Crown. In 1677, he visited Holland and Germany, to propagate Quakerism. In March, 1680–81, he obtained from CharlesII.a grant of that territory which now bears the name of Pennsylvania; in 1682, he embarked for his new colony; and in the following year he founded Philadelphia. He returned to England in 1684. So much was he in favor with JamesII., that, after the revolution, he was more than once arrested on suspicion of plotting to restore the exiled monarch; but he at length succeeded in establishing his innocence. The rest of his life was passed in tranquillity. He died July 30, 1718. His works have been collected in two folio volumes.
PERRY, OLIVERHAZARD, a naval officer of distinction, was born at Kingston, Rhode Island, in August, 1785. He entered the navy of the United States as a midshipman, and in 1812, was advanced to the office of master commandant. In the following year he was appointed to the command of the squadron on lake Erie. On the tenth of September, he achieved a complete victory over the enemy under commodore Barclay, after an action of three hours, and captured the whole squadron. He commanded the Java in the expedition to the Mediterranean, under commodore Decatur. He died in the West Indies, in 1820.
PETERS, RICHARD, an eminent judge, was born in June, 1744, and received his education in the city of Philadelphia. He adopted the profession of the law, and soon obtained an extensive practice. At the commencement of hostilities with the mother country,Mr.Peters joined the side of the colonies, and in 1776, was appointed by congress secretary of the board of war. His exertions in this department were highly meritorious and useful, and on resigning the post, in 1781, he was elected a member of congress, and assisted in closing the business of the war. On the organization of the new government,Mr.Peters was appointed judgeof the district court of Pennsylvania, and performed the duties of this office for thirty-six years. During this time he was engaged in several objects of public improvement, and issued several valuable publications in relation to agriculture. As a judge, he possessed powers of a high order, and his decisions on admiralty law form the ground work of this branch of our jurisprudence. Their principles were not only sanctioned by our own courts, but were simultaneously adopted by lord Stowell, the distinguished maritime judge of Great Britain. Judge Peters died in August, 1828.
PICKERING, TIMOTHY, a statesman, was born in Salem, in 1746, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1763. He took an active part in the popular cause, and, in organizing the provisional government of Massachusetts, in 1775, was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas for Essex, and sole judge of the maritime court for the middle district. During the war, he was appointed adjutant-general, and subsequently a member of the board of war. From 1790 to 1798, at different intervals, he was employed on various negotiations with the Indians. He was successively postmaster-general, secretary of war, and secretary of state. From the last office he was removed by president Adams, in 1800. From 1803 to 1811, he was a senator in congress from his native state, and from 1814 to 1817, a representative in that body. In public life he was distinguished for firmness, energy, activity and disinterestedness. He died in Salem, in 1829.
PIKE, ZEBULONMONTGOMERY, brigadier-general, was born at Lamberton, New Jersey, on the fifth of January, 1779. After the purchase of Louisiana, he was appointed byMr.Jefferson, in 1805, to explore the sources of the Mississippi. On his return, he was sent on a similar expedition to the interior of Louisiana, and on the Rio del Norte was seized by a Spanish force, and deprived of his papers. He returned in 1807. During the late war, he was made brigadier-general, and commanded the land forces in the attack upon York, in Upper Canada, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1813. In the explosion of the British magazine, he was struck by a large stone, and died in a few hours. When the British standard was brought to him, he caused it to be placed under his head, and thus died at the age of thirty-four.
PINCKNEY, CHARLESCOTESWORTH, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army, was born in South Carolina, received his education in England, and studied law in the Temple. On returning to his native province, in 1769, he devoted himself to the successful practice of his profession. On the commencement of hostilities, he renounced law for the study of military tactics, and was soon promoted to the command of the first regiment of Carolina infantry. He was subsequently aid-de-camp to Washington, and in this capacity at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner, and remained so till all opportunity of gaining fresh reputation in the field had passed. He was a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, and in 1796 was appointed minister to France. When preparations were making for war on account of the expected French invasion,Mr.Pinckney was nominated a major-general, but he soon had an opportunity of retiring to the quiet of private life. He was afterwards president of the Cincinnati society of the United States. He died in 1825.
PINKNEY, WILLIAM, an eloquent lawyer and statesman, was born in Maryland, in 1764, and prepared himself for the bar, under the instruction of judge Chase. He was admitted to practice in 1786, and soon gave indications of possessing superior powers. He was a member of the convention of Maryland, which ratified the federal constitution. In 1796 he was appointed one of the commissioners under the British treaty. The state of Maryland also employed him to procure a settlement of its claims on the bank of England, and he recovered for it the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars. This detained him in England till the year 1804, when he returned and resumed his professional labors. In 1806, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to London, and in 1808, received the authority of minister plenipotentiary. He returned to the United States in 1811, and soon after was appointed attorney-general. This office he held till 1814. During the incursion of the British into Maryland, he commanded a battalion, and was wounded in the battle of Bladensburgh, in August, 1814. He was afterwards representative in congress, minister plenipotentiary to Russia, envoy to Naples, and in 1819, senator in congress. In the last office he continued till his death, in 1822.
PINKNEY, EDWARDCOATE, son of the foregoing, was born in London, in 1802, passed his infancy in England, and was placed as a student in Baltimore college at the age of ten or eleven. He entered the navy as a midshipman, and continued in the service for several years. On the death of his father, he quitted the navy and devoted himself to the practice of the law. He published, in 1825, a volume of poems, which possess much beauty. He died in 1828.
PREBLE, EDWARD, a distinguished naval officer, was born at Falmouth, in Maine, in 1761, and entered the navy as a midshipman, in 1779. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant, and during the revolutionary war distinguished himself by capturing a British vessel at Penobscot. In 1798, he was appointed to the command of the brig Pickering, and soon after to the Essex. He commanded, in 1803, a fleet sent against the Barbary powers, and repeatedly attacked Tripoli with considerable success. In 1804, he returned to the United States, and died in 1807.
PUTNAM, ISRAEL, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, 1718. He received but a meagre education, and removing to Connecticut, engaged in agriculture. In the French war he commanded a company, and was engaged in several contests with the enemy. In 1756, he fell into an ambuscade of savages, and was exposed to the most cruel tortures. He obtained his release in 1759, and returned to his farm. Soon after the battle of Lexington he joined the army at Cambridge, was appointed major-general, and distinguished himself at Bunker’s hill. In 1776, he was sent to complete the fortifications at New York, and afterwards to fortify Philadelphia. In the winter of 1777, he was stationed with a small body at Princeton, and in the spring appointed to a command in the Highlands, where he remained most of the time till the close of 1779, when he was disabled by an attack of paralysis. He died in 1790. He was brave, energetic, and one of the most efficient officers of the revolution.
QUINCY, JOSIAH, a distinguished lawyer and patriot, was born in Boston, in 1743, and was graduated at Harvard college. He soon became eminent in the practice of law, and distinguished by his active exertionsin the popular cause. His powers of eloquence were of a very high order. In 1774, he took a voyage to Europe for the benefit of his health, and to advance the interests of the colonies. He died on his return, on the25thof April, 1775, the day the vessel reached the harbor of cape Ann.
RAMSAY, DAVID, an historian, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1749, was educated at Princeton college, and commenced the study of medicine. After practising a short time in Maryland, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1773, and soon rose to an extensive practice. He took an active and early part in the cause of the colonies, and was for some time a surgeon in the revolutionary army. In 1782, he was chosen to a seat in congress. He wrote a History of the Revolution in South Carolina; a History of the American Revolution; a Life of Washington; a History of South Carolina; and a History of the United States. He died in 1815.